CN115208751A - Path selection and scheduling for mobile wireless devices in time sensitive networks - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention relates to a time-sensitive network (TSN) configuration entity, which is responsible for planning and scheduling paths between listeners and talkers in a hybrid network consisting of wired paths and wireless paths, wherein the listeners and talkers are wired or wireless, and the wireless listeners and/or wireless talkers can be associated with a plurality of Access Points (APs) and roam among the APs. In the present invention, the path selection for delay sensitive flows involving wireless links and the scheduling of resources along selected paths between wired and wireless domains is optimized and complex scheduling reconfigurations that increase overhead and may lead to violations of delay and reliability requirements are avoided.

Description

Path selection and scheduling for mobile wireless devices in time sensitive networks

Technical Field

The present disclosure relates to systems and methods for wireless communication, and more particularly to path selection and scheduling for mobile wireless devices in wired/wireless time-sensitive networks.

Background

Extended Time Sensitive Networks (TSNs) to integrate wireless devices introduce a number of challenges that need to be addressed. Path selection and Qbv scheduling for large TSNs requires the execution of computationally expensive algorithms. Ignoring the new challenges (e.g., wireless channel randomness, mobility) posed by wireless transmissions while using the same approach in wired/wireless TSNs may result in already high computational cost increases of path selection and Qbv scheduling algorithms, resulting in higher delays/packet losses due to overhead of reconfiguring paths/scheduling or inefficiencies of using over-configuration.

To address this problem, a new approach is needed to proactively select multiple paths for time-sensitive flows involving wireless links, and to optimize resource scheduling along selected paths between the wired domain and the wireless domain.

Drawings

Fig. 1 is a network diagram illustrating an example network environment for path selection according to one or more example embodiments of the present disclosure.

Fig. 2 illustrates simplified path planning/selection of connected pairs of talkers/listeners according to one or more example embodiments of the present disclosure.

Fig. 3 illustrates simplified path planning/selection to connect pairs of wired/wireless talkers/listeners according to one or more example embodiments of the present disclosure.

Fig. 4 illustrates path planning/selection consisting of fixed and dynamic paths, according to one or more example embodiments of the present disclosure.

Fig. 5 illustrates a wired-wireless TSN fully centralized configuration model, according to one or more example embodiments of the present disclosure.

Fig. 6 shows a block flow diagram in accordance with one or more example embodiments of the present disclosure.

Fig. 7 illustrates fixed and dynamic flow path selection using CUC/CNC/WNC in accordance with one or more example embodiments of the present disclosure.

Fig. 8 illustrates Qbv scheduling for the static and dynamic paths illustrated in fig. 7, according to one or more example embodiments of the present disclosure.

Fig. 9 shows a functional diagram of an example communication station that may be suitable for use as user equipment in accordance with one or more example embodiments of the present disclosure.

Fig. 10 illustrates a block diagram of an example machine on which any of one or more techniques (e.g., methods) may be performed in accordance with one or more example embodiments of the present disclosure.

Fig. 11 is a block diagram of a radio architecture according to some examples.

Fig. 12 is a block diagram illustrating an example front end module circuit for use in the radio architecture of fig. 11, according to one or more example embodiments of the present disclosure.

Fig. 13 illustrates an example radio IC circuit for use in the radio architecture of fig. 11, according to one or more example embodiments of the present disclosure.

Fig. 14 illustrates example baseband processing circuitry for use in the radio architecture of fig. 11, according to one or more example embodiments of the present disclosure.

Detailed Description

The following description and the drawings sufficiently illustrate specific embodiments to enable those skilled in the art to practice them. Other embodiments may include structural, logical, electrical, process, algorithmic, and other changes. Portions and features of some embodiments may be included in or substituted for those of others. Embodiments set forth in the claims encompass all available equivalents of those claims.

Fig. 1 is a network diagram illustrating an example network environment for path selection according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure. Wireless network 100 may include one or more user devices 120 and Access Points (APs) 102 that may communicate in accordance with IEEE802.11 communication standards. The user device 120 may be a mobile device that is non-stationary (e.g., does not have a fixed location), or may be a stationary device.

In some implementations, user device 120 and access point 102 may include one or more computer systems similar to the functional diagram of fig. 9 and/or the example machine/system of fig. 10.

One or more illustrative user devices 120 and/or Access Points (APs) 102 may be operated by one or more users 110. It should be noted that any addressable unit may be a Station (STA). A STA may exhibit a number of different characteristics, each of which shapes its functionality. For example, a single addressable unit may be a portable STA, a quality of service (QoS) STA, a dependent STA, and a hidden STA at the same time. One or more of the illustrative user devices 120 and the AP102 may be STAs. One or more illustrative user devices 120 and/or APs 102 may operate as Personal Basic Service Set (PBSS) control points/access points (PCPs/APs). User' sDevice 120 (e.g., 124, 126, or 128) and/or AP102 may include any suitable processor driven device, including but not limited to a mobile device or a non-mobile device (e.g., a stationary device). For example, the user device 120 may include a user device (UE), a Station (STA), an Access Point (AP), a software-enabled AP (SoftAP), a Personal Computer (PC), a wearable wireless device (e.g., a bracelet, watch, glasses, ring, etc.), a desktop computer, a mobile computer, a laptop computer, an ultrabook, etc ^TM <xnotran> , , , , , , (IoT) , , (PDA) , PDA , , , (, PDA ), , , , , , , , PCS , PDA , (GPS) , (DVB) , , , CSLL (carry small live large) , (UMD), PC (UMPC), (MID), "origami" , (DCC) , , , , A/V , (STB), (BD) , BD , (DVD) , (HD) DVD , DVD , HD DVD , (PVR), HD , , , , , , , , (PMP), (DVC), , </xnotran> Speakers, audio receivers, audio amplifiers, gaming devices, data sources, data receivers, digital cameras (DSCs), media players, smart phones, televisions, music players, and the like. Other devices, including smart devices (e.g., lights, climate controls, automotive components, household components, appliances, etc.), may also be included in the list.

In one or more implementations, the controller 108 (e.g., a wireless TSN controller) may facilitate enhanced coordination between multiple APs (e.g., AP 104 and AP 106). The controller 108 may be a central entity or another AP and may be responsible for configuring and scheduling time-sensitive control and data operations across APs. Wireless TSN (WTSN) management protocols may be used to facilitate enhanced coordination between APs (which may be referred to in this context as WTSN management clients). The controller 108 may enable device admission control (e.g., controlling admission to devices of the WTSN), joint scheduling, network measurements, and other operations. The AP may be configured to comply with the WTSN protocol.

In one or more embodiments, the use of the controller 108 may facilitate AP synchronization and coordination for control and data transmission to ensure delay requirements are met with high reliability for time-sensitive applications on a shared time-sensitive data channel and to enable coexistence with non-time-sensitive traffic in the same network.

In one or more embodiments, the controller 108 and its coordination may be employed in a new frequency band (e.g., 6-7 GHz) in future Wi-Fi standards, where additional requirements for time synchronization and scheduling operations may be used. Such an application of the controller 108 may be for a managed Wi-Fi deployment (e.g., enterprise, industrial, managed home network, etc.) in which time-sensitive traffic may be directed to dedicated channels in existing bands as well as in new bands.

As used herein, the term "internet of things (IoT) device" is used to refer to any object (e.g., appliance, sensor, etc.) that has an addressable interface (e.g., an Internet Protocol (IP) address, a bluetooth Identifier (ID), a Near Field Communication (NFC) ID, etc.) and is capable of sending information to one or more other devices through wired or wireless association. IoT devices may have passive communication interfaces (e.g., quick Response (QR) codes, radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tags, NFC tags, etc.) or active communication interfaces (e.g., modems, transceivers, transmitter-receivers, etc.). IoT devices may have a particular set of attributes (e.g., device status or state (e.g., whether the IoT device is on or off, idle or active, available for task execution or busy, etc.), cooling or heating functions, environmental monitoring or recording functions, lighting functions, sound emitting functions, etc.), which may be embedded in and/or controlled/monitored by a Central Processing Unit (CPU), microprocessor, application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), etc., and configured to be associated with an IoT network (e.g., a local ad-hoc network or the internet). For example, ioT devices may include, but are not limited to, refrigerators, toasters, ovens, microwave ovens, freezers, dishwashers, hand tools, washers, dryers, furnaces, air conditioners, thermostats, televisions, light fixtures, dust collectors, sprinklers, electricity meters, gas meters, etc., as long as the devices are equipped with an addressable communication interface for communicating with the IoT network. IoT devices may also include cell phones, desktop computers, laptop computers, tablet computers, PDAs, and the like. Thus, an IoT network may be composed of "legacy" internet-accessible devices (e.g., laptop or desktop computers, cell phones, etc.) as well as devices that typically do not have internet association (e.g., dishwashers, etc.).

User equipment 120 and/or AP102 may also comprise mesh stations in a mesh (mesh) network, for example, according to one or more IEEE802.11 standards and/or 3GPP standards.

Any user device 120 (e.g., user devices 124, 126, 128) and AP102 may be configured to communicate with each other, wirelessly or by wire, via one or more communication networks 130 and/or 135. The user devices 120 may also communicate with each other peer-to-peer or directly, with or without an AP. Any of the communication networks 130 and/or 135 may include, but are not limited to, any of a combination of different types of suitable communication networks, such as a broadcast network, a wired network, a public network (e.g., the internet), a proprietary network, a wireless network, a cellular network, or any other suitable proprietary and/or public network. Further, any of communication networks 130 and/or 135 may have any suitable communication range associated therewith and may include, for example, a global network (e.g., the internet), a Metropolitan Area Network (MAN), a Wide Area Network (WAN), a Local Area Network (LAN), or a Personal Area Network (PAN). Further, any of the communication networks 130 and/or 135 may include any type of medium that may carry network traffic, including but not limited to coaxial cable, twisted pair, fiber optic, hybrid Fiber Coaxial (HFC) medium, microwave terrestrial transceiver, radio frequency communication medium, white space communication medium, ultra-high frequency communication medium, satellite communication medium, or any combination thereof.

Any user device 120 (e.g., user devices 124, 126, 128) and AP102 may include one or more communication antennas. The one or more communication antennas may be any suitable type of antenna corresponding to the communication protocol used by user devices 120 (e.g., user devices 124, 126, 128) and AP 102. Some non-limiting examples of suitable communication antennas include Wi-Fi antennas, IEEE802.11 standards family compliant antennas, directional antennas, non-directional antennas, dipole antennas, folded dipole antennas, patch antennas, multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) antennas, omni-directional antennas, quasi-omni-directional antennas, and the like. One or more communication antennas can be communicatively coupled to the radio to transmit signals (e.g., communication signals) to user device 120 and/or receive signals from user device 120.

Any user device 120 (e.g., user devices 124, 126, 128) and AP102 may be configured to perform directional transmission and/or directional reception in connection with wireless communication in a wireless network. Any user device 120 (e.g., user devices 124, 126, 128) and AP102 may be configured to perform such directional transmission and/or reception using a set of multiple antenna arrays (e.g., DMG antenna arrays, etc.). Each of the plurality of antenna arrays may be used for transmission and/or reception in a particular respective direction or range of directions. Any user device 120 (e.g., user devices 124, 126, 128) and AP102 may be configured to perform any given directional transmission to one or more defined transmit sectors. Any user device 120 (e.g., user devices 124, 126, 128) and AP102 may be configured to perform any given directional reception from one or more defined reception sectors.

MIMO beamforming in a wireless network may be implemented using Radio Frequency (RF) beamforming and/or digital beamforming. In some embodiments, in performing a given MIMO transmission, user device 120 and AP102 may be configured to perform MIMO beamforming using all or a subset of its one or more communication antennas.

Any user device 120 (e.g., user devices 124, 126, 128) and AP102 may include any suitable radio and/or transceiver for transmitting and/or receiving RF signals in a bandwidth and/or channel corresponding to a communication protocol used by any user device 120 and AP102 to communicate with each other. The radio may include hardware and/or software for modulating and/or demodulating communication signals according to a pre-established transmission protocol. The radio may also have hardware and/or software instructions to communicate via one or more Wi-Fi and/or Wi-Fi direct protocols standardized by the IEEE802.11 standard. In some example embodiments, the radio cooperating with the communications antenna may be configured to communicate via a 2.4GHz channel (e.g., 802.11b, 802.11g, 802.11n, 802.11 ax), a 5GHz channel (e.g., 802.11n, 802.11ac, 802.11 ax), or a 6GHz channel (e.g., 802.11ad, 802.11 ay), an 800MHz channel (e.g., 802.11 ah). The communication antenna may operate at 28GHz and 40 GHz. It should be appreciated that this list of communication channels according to some 802.11 standards is only a partial list, and other 802.11 standards (e.g., next generation Wi-Fi or other standards) may be used. In some implementations, non-Wi-Fi protocols may be used for communication between devices, such as bluetooth, dedicated Short Range Communication (DSRC), ultra High Frequency (UHF) (e.g., IEEE802.11 af, IEEE 802.22), white band frequencies (e.g., white space), or other packetized radio communication. The radio may include any known receiver and baseband suitable for communicating via a communication protocol. The radio components may also include a Low Noise Amplifier (LNA), additional signal amplifiers, analog-to-digital (a/D) converters, one or more buffers, and a digital baseband.

In one embodiment, referring to fig. 1, the ap102 may facilitate path selection with one or more user devices 120.

It is to be understood that the above description is intended to be illustrative, and not restrictive.

Problems with TSN configuration by wireless devices

TSN configuration involves a number of steps and a number of entities, including a central user interface (CUC), a Central Network Controller (CNC) and a network device. In a practical deployment, a TSN system is required to support applications with various latency and reliability requirements for communication between talkers and listeners. Each talker may generate one or more data streams directed to a single or multiple listeners. The TSN configuration entities (e.g., CUC and CNC) are operative to collect information about listeners and talkers, stream requirements, information about network capabilities, and configure with them network resources and TSN capabilities (e.g., time aware (IEEE 802.1 Qbv) scheduling) to meet latency and reliability requirements created by multiple applications.

For service time sensitive flows, also known as Time Triggered (TT) flows, the TSN configuration entity must establish a path across the network connecting the talker and listener and schedule transmissions according to various queue/traffic levels defined in the 802.1Qbv specification to meet the delay and reliability requirements of each flow supported by each pair of talker and listener. Fig. 2 shows a simplified version of a network connecting two talker-listeners pairs, where the circles represent TSN bridges (bridges), the paths being selected to enable the scheduling of reliable and sometimes limited transmissions across the network, as defined by the 802.1Qbv standard. Once the talker and listener are identified and connected and the resources are scheduled, the network configuration remains static. If a new talker-listener pair application is defined and its associated stream requests access to the network, a partial or full reconfiguration of the network is required.

The extended TSNs to integrate wireless devices present a number of challenges that need to be addressed. The random nature of the wireless channel does not allow the TSN configuration entity to know a priori the capabilities of the wireless channel. Path planning and scheduling becomes more challenging, especially when trying to ensure reliability and delay requirements for each flow. Furthermore, scheduling flows in the network becomes more challenging when talkers and/or listeners may move around in the environment.

Fig. 3 shows an example of two paired talkers and listeners connected through a hybrid network including a wired TSN bridge and a wireless TSN bridge (denoted by APs in the figure). It can be seen that as the listener moves, the listener hands off the association/connection to a neighboring AP, which is commonly referred to as roaming (or handoff). As shown, listener 1 roams between AP1 and AP 2 as listener 1 moves from location a to location B. The main problem in wired-wireless TSN scenarios is that in any existing wireless network roaming/handover involves control plane overhead and increased delay, and packets are typically lost due to high delay and connection interruptions. In wired-wireless TSN scenarios, the delay must be bounded and low for time sensitive flows even during mobile/roaming. To address this issue, the present disclosure describes a method to proactively select multiple paths for time-sensitive flows involving wireless links and optimize resource scheduling along the selected paths between the wired domain and the wireless domain to ensure that resources are available to serve the time-sensitive flows in multiple potential paths and to avoid complex scheduling reconfigurations that increase overhead and violate delay and reliability requirements.

In conventional TSN configurations (as shown in fig. 2), the mobile device can cause a significant increase in scheduling complexity and overhead due to reconfiguring paths and scheduling, thereby violating the delay/reliability requirements of time-sensitive flows. Unlike traditional TSN configurations, the present disclosure proposes a new approach, which consists of two main parts:

1) A method of identifying flows that involve wireless links and flows that can only be serviced over fixed (wired) links.

2) Path selection method and program: the path selection is divided into a fixed flow path and a dynamic flow path. A fixed flow path is defined such that a path connecting a wired/wireless talker and a wired/wireless listener remains unchanged regardless of where the talker and/or listener access a network (wired or wireless). In addition, the method includes defining Dynamic Path Switch (DPS) points (bridges) that maximize the fixed flow Path to reduce potential reconfiguration overhead due to mobility or other wireless channel changes.

Fig. 4 illustrates the method of the present disclosure and its main advantages, assuming that there are two listeners. Listener 1 accesses a network associated with AP1 or AP 2. Likewise, listener 2 is associated with AP 2, AP 3, or AP 4. As shown, a fixed flow path is from the talker to the network bridges a, B. Bridges a, B are Dynamic Path Switching (DPS) bridges. All potential paths that can be chosen to reach listeners 1 and 2 branch off from these bridges a, B. The method of splitting the network into two parts (fixed and dynamic) reduces the complexity of scheduling transmissions since the fixed path between the talker and the listener remains the same wherever the talker and/or listener accesses the network, and thus the scheduling of the fixed part remains fixed once the computation is completed. Various methods may be employed to compute the schedule in the dynamic flow path. Such methods are outside the scope of the present disclosure.

Advantages of the methods of the present disclosure

The method of the present disclosure divides the problem into two parts: fixed flow path selection + scheduling and dynamic flow path selection + scheduling to have the CNC/WNC perform path selection and Qbv scheduling for the wireless device. Fixed flow path selection and scheduling is done only once, while dynamic path selection and scheduling is done as the mobile user moves through the environment. The present disclosure may ensure efficient channel utilization during mobility that maintains delay and reliability performance and maximizes network capacity. By selecting the DPS bridge to be generally as close as possible to the APs with which the talker and/or listener may be associated (e.g., average number of relay interruptions), the overall complexity of scheduling TT transmissions may be significantly reduced compared to the conventional approach shown in fig. 2, thereby resulting in independent paths that may not overlap.

Embodiments of the TSN configuration method of the present disclosure

In the following, an embodiment of the TSN configuration method of the present disclosure is given, which illustrates how to configure a wired/wireless network based on a centralized model as shown in fig. 5. A wired-wireless TSN fully centralized configuration model is shown in fig. 5. The thick solid lines represent the physical (data plane) connections between the bridge (circles), the AP, the talker and the listener. The wireless connection is indicated with a thick dashed line. The thin lines represent the logical (control plane) connections between the network devices and the CUC/CNC.

Based on the centralized model as shown in fig. 5, the TSN configuration method of the present disclosure is described step by step according to the steps shown in fig. 6.

Step 1:

the wired and wireless listeners and talkers report quality of service (QoS) requirements and traffic pattern (traffic pattern) information to the CUC. This information is exchanged using a protocol such as UPC-UA. In the present disclosure, it is preferable that the wired/wireless listener/talker adds a field indicating whether it is a wired device or a wireless device as a part of the QoS requirement report. When all talker and listener information is collected, the CUC forwards it to the CNC. Inside the CNC, a Wireless Network Controller (WNC) module is defined, which is responsible for managing wireless devices and resources in the network (e.g., a bridge) that are directly or indirectly affected by the wireless devices and resources. In the present disclosure, it is preferred that the WNC collects information from the wireless talkers/listeners about its capabilities, such as the number of Wi-Fi interfaces, the redundant capabilities of 802.11be, etc. In this disclosure, WNC is shown as part of CNC. In various embodiments, the WNC may also be external to the CNC, connected to the CNC and the CUC.

And 2, step:

the TSN bridge reports to the CNC information including the ethernet port number, ethernet speed, connected end devices, and the TSN bridge's capabilities. In the present disclosure, the AP bridge preferably also reports capability information to the CNC and WNC including the number of Wi-Fi interfaces, channel statistics (e.g., RSSI ranges) between wireless talkers/listeners associated with the AP.

And 3, step 3:

based on the information gathered in the preceding steps, the WNC selects a DPS bridge for the stream connecting the wired/wireless talker and the wired/wireless listener. DPS bridges are selected such that any subset of APs in the network may be accessed from the selected DPS bridge. For example, in fig. 4, bridge a may be used to access AP1 and AP 2. Likewise, bridge B may be used to access AP 2, AP 3, and AP 4, but not AP 1. Once the DPS bridge is selected, a path between the DPS bridge and the AP with which the wireless talker/listener may be associated is defined. In this disclosure, the process is shown as dynamic flow path selection. Prior to selecting a DPS bridge in the network, the WNC performs the following tasks:

1) AP-STA allocation, each wireless talker/listener may have multiple candidate APs, especially considering mobility.

2) Channel assignment to each AP.

Once the DPS bridge is selected, the WNC performs a worst case latency measurement between the DPS bridge and the wireless talker/listener.

And 4, step 4:

for each stream, the CNC learns the DPS bridge characteristics (identity) connecting the wireless talker/listener from the WNC. Along with the characteristics, the CNC also performs path selection and Qbv scheduling using the worst case delay for each DPS bridge, measured in step 3. The CNC schedules only transmissions between DPS bridges (if the talker and listener are wireless and wired talkers/listeners or between wired talkers and listeners (pure wired TSN transmissions)). The AP to which the wireless talker/listener is connected is taken as a DPS bridge if mobility is not considered. This routing remains unchanged over time (if new flows are not considered) and is shown as fixed flow routing.

And 5:

if the CNC can meet the streaming QoS requirements of the end stations (taking into account the worst case delays measured at each DPS bridge), the CNC performs the following actions:

1) The CNC configures the bridges and DPS bridges in the TSN network to meet the QoS requirements of the end stations by setting up the appropriate bridge management objects using a network management protocol (e.g., 802.1 Qcc).

2) The CNC returns the relevant end station streaming information to the CUC by using a user/network configuration port protocol (e.g., YANG model).

If the CNC is unable to meet the end station QoS requirements, it sends an error message to the CUC.

Step 5.1:

after path selection and Qbv scheduling of the fixed stream path, the CNC calculates the target delay between the DPS bridge and the wireless talker/listener. The CNC uses this information to perform dynamic path selection and Qbv scheduling. It is to be noted that the methods of dynamic path selection and Qbv scheduling may be variously modified. Fig. 7 shows an example of dynamic path selection and Qbv scheduling. In a different embodiment, the CNC shares a targeted delay between the DPS bridge and the wireless talker/listener with the WNC. Using this information, the WNC performs dynamic path selection and Qbv scheduling. In fig. 7, bridge D is set as a DPS bridge. VLAN a is a fixed path, and VLANs b1 and b2 are dynamic paths that switch according to the AP with which listener 1 is associated.

Step 5.1.1:

if the WNC can meet the target delay set by CNC, the WNC performs the action in step 5.1.1:

1) The WNC configures bridges and TSN APs in wired and wireless TSN networks to meet target delay constraints set by CNC by setting up appropriate bridge management objects using a network management protocol (e.g., 802.1 Qcc)

2) The WNC returns relevant wireless talker/listener streaming information to the CUC by using a user/network configuration port protocol.

To identify the different routes that may be selected for connection to the mobile device, a mapping of VLAN IDs may be obtained at each DPS bridge. First, the VLAN ID of each route (dynamic flow path) defined by the WNC that connects the DPS bridge to the mobile device needs to be identified. Second, a VLAN ID corresponding to the static route defined by the CNC is required. Fig. 7 shows an example of VLAN IDs in a wired/wireless TSN network. Bridge D is the designated DPS bridge. Where VLAN ID mapping of association VLAN a with VLANs b1, b2 is required to correctly identify and route packets from talker 1 to listener 1. Figure 8 shows an example of Qbv scheduling performed by CNC, WNC and AP corresponding to the static and dynamic paths defined in figure 7.

Step 5.1.1.1:

once the schedule is defined for the AP, the AP schedules transmission of data to or reception of data from the end wireless devices within its scheduling window. If not, the AP returns an error message to the WNC and the network configuration returns to step 5.1.

Step 5.1.2:

if WNC cannot meet the target delay set by CNC, WNC returns an error message to CNC and contains therein updated worst case delay information between DPS bridge and wireless talker/listener, returning to step 3.

Step 6:

and if the CNC cannot meet the streaming service quality requirement, the CNC returns error information to the CUC.

And 7:

if the CNC can support talker/listener quality of service requirements, the CUC configures the talker and listener for streaming and starts the communication.

Step 5.1 triggering

As described above, the fixed path between the talker and the listener remains unchanged, regardless of where the talker and/or listener access the network, e.g., fixed flow path selection and scheduling is performed only once, while dynamic path selection and scheduling is performed as the mobile user moves through the environment. Thus, the scheduling in the dynamic flow path may be calculated following a variety of methods. Dynamic path selection and scheduling (step 5.1) is triggered not only during initial configuration but also when events related to radio channel changes occur. These events are directly affected by the overall minimum delay for a particular flow, which is supported by the network. Examples of such events are a decrease in RSSI or channel capacity of a particular wireless end device, or one of these devices being predicted to roam to a different AP based on an application estimated path of travel. Furthermore, step 5.1 may also be triggered in a scenario where one of the APs in the network is overloaded and one or more talkers/listeners associated with it need to roam to the other APs. In this case, the above network configuration method can be extended to support not only mobile wireless devices (e.g. dynamic flow) with possibly multiple candidate APs, but also static wireless devices (e.g. dynamic flow support for static wireless devices), in which case step 5.1 is triggered by the need for roaming due to overload.

Fig. 9 shows a functional diagram of an exemplary communication station 900 in accordance with one or more example embodiments of the present disclosure. In one embodiment, fig. 9 illustrates a functional block diagram of a communication station that may be suitable for use as AP102 (fig. 1) or user equipment 120 (fig. 1) in accordance with some embodiments. Communication station 900 may also be suitable for use as a handheld device, mobile device, cellular telephone, smartphone, tablet computer, netbook, wireless terminal, laptop computer, wearable computer device, femtocell, high Data Rate (HDR) subscriber station, access point, access terminal, or other Personal Communication System (PCS) device.

Communication station 900 may include communication circuitry 902 and a transceiver 910 for transmitting signals to and receiving signals from other communication stations using one or more antennas 901. The communication circuitry 902 may include circuitry that may operate physical layer (PHY) communication and/or MAC communication for controlling access to a wireless medium, and/or any other communication layer for transmitting and receiving signals. Communication station 900 may also include processing circuitry 906 and memory 908 arranged to perform the operations described herein. In some implementations, the communication circuitry 902 and the processing circuitry 906 may be configured to perform the operations detailed in the above figures, diagrams, and flows.

According to some embodiments, the communication circuitry 902 may be arranged to: contend for the wireless medium, and configure frames or packets for communication over the wireless medium. The communication circuitry 902 may be arranged to transmit and receive signals. The communication circuitry 902 may also include circuitry for modulation/demodulation, up/down conversion, filtering, amplification, and so forth. In some embodiments, processing circuitry 906 of communication station 900 may include one or more processors. In other embodiments, two or more antennas 901 may be coupled to communication circuitry 902 arranged to transmit and receive signals. The memory 908 may store information for configuring the processing circuitry 906 to perform operations for configuring and transmitting message frames and for performing various operations described herein. Memory 908 may include any type of memory, including non-transitory memory, for storing information in a form readable by a machine (e.g., a computer). For example, memory 908 may include a computer-readable storage device, read Only Memory (ROM), random Access Memory (RAM), magnetic disk storage media, optical storage media, flash memory devices, and other storage devices and media.

In some implementations, the communication station 900 may be part of a portable wireless communication device, such as a PDA, a laptop or portable computer with wireless communication capability, a web tablet, a wireless telephone, a smart phone, a wireless headset, a pager, an instant messaging device, a digital camera, an access point, a television, a medical device (e.g., a heart rate monitor, a blood pressure monitor, etc.), a wearable computer device, or another device that may receive and/or transmit information wirelessly.

In some embodiments, communication station 900 may include one or more antennas 901. Antennas 901 may include one or more directional or omnidirectional antennas, including, for example, dipole antennas, monopole antennas, patch antennas, loop antennas, microstrip antennas or other types of antennas suitable for transmission of RF signals. In some embodiments, instead of two or more antennas, a single antenna with multiple apertures may be used. In these embodiments, each aperture may be considered a separate antenna. In some MIMO embodiments, the antennas may be effectively separated for spatial diversity and different channel characteristics that may arise between the antennas and the antennas of the transmitting station.

In some implementations, the communication station 900 may include one or more of a keyboard, a display, a non-volatile memory port, multiple antennas, a graphics processor, an application processor, speakers, and other mobile device elements. The display may be a Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) screen including a touch screen.

Although communication station 900 is illustrated as having several separate functional elements, two or more of the functional elements may be combined and may be implemented by combinations of software-configured elements, such as processing elements including Digital Signal Processors (DSPs), and/or other hardware elements. For example, some elements may comprise one or more microprocessors, DSPs, field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs), ASICs, radio-frequency integrated circuits (RFICs), and combinations of various hardware and logic circuitry for performing at least the functions described herein. In some embodiments, the functional elements of communication station 900 may refer to one or more processes operating on one or more processing elements.

Some embodiments may be implemented in one or a combination of hardware, firmware, and software. Other embodiments may also be implemented as instructions stored on a computer-readable storage device, which may be read and executed by at least one processor to perform the operations described herein. A computer-readable storage device may include any non-transitory memory mechanism for storing information in a form readable by a machine (e.g., a computer). For example, computer readable storage devices may include ROM, RAM, magnetic disk storage media, optical storage media, flash memory devices, and other storage devices and media. In some embodiments, communication station 900 may include one or more processors and may be configured with instructions stored on a computer-readable storage device.

Fig. 10 illustrates a block diagram of an example of a machine 1000 or system on which any one or more of the techniques (e.g., methods) discussed herein may be performed. In other embodiments, the machine 1000 may operate as a standalone device or may be associated (e.g., networked) to other machines. In a networked deployment, the machine 1000 may operate in the role of a server machine, a client machine, or both, in server-client network environments. In an example, the machine 1000 may operate in a peer-to-peer (P2P) (or other distributed) network environment as a peer machine. The machine 1000 may be a PC, a tablet PC, a STB, a PDA, a mobile telephone, a wearable computer device, a network appliance, a network router, a hand-held machine or bridge, or any machine capable of executing instructions (sequential or otherwise) that specify actions to be taken by that machine (e.g., a base station). Further, while only a single machine is illustrated, the term "machine" shall also be taken to include any collection of machines that individually or jointly execute a set (or multiple sets) of instructions to perform any one or more of the methodologies discussed herein, such as cloud computing, software as a service (SaaS), or other computer cluster configurations.

Examples as described herein may include, or may operate on, logic or multiple components, modules, or mechanisms. A module is a tangible entity (e.g., hardware) capable, when operated, of performing specified operations. The modules include hardware. In an example, the hardware may be specifically configured to perform certain operations (e.g., hardwired). In another example, the hardware may include configurable execution units (e.g., transistors, circuits, etc.) and a computer readable medium containing instructions that configure the execution units to perform specific operations when operated. Configuration may occur under the direction of an execution unit or loading mechanism. Thus, when the device is operating, the execution unit is communicatively coupled to the computer-readable medium. In this example, an execution unit may be a member of more than one module. For example, in operation, an execution unit may be configured by a first set of instructions to implement a first module at one point in time and reconfigured by a second set of instructions to implement a second module at a second point in time.

The machine (e.g., computer system) 1000 may include a hardware processor 1002 (e.g., a CPU, a Graphics Processing Unit (GPU), a hardware processor core, or any combination thereof), a main memory 1004 and a static memory 1006, some or all of which may communicate with each other through an interconnect (e.g., bus) 1008. The machine 1000 may also include a power management device 1032, a graphical display device 1010, an alphanumeric input device 1012 (e.g., a keyboard), and a User Interface (UI) navigation device 1014 (e.g., a mouse). In an example, the graphical display device 1010, the alphanumeric input device 1012, and the UI navigation device 1014 may be a touch screen display. The machine 1000 may additionally include a storage device (i.e., drive unit) 1016, a signal generation device 1018 (e.g., a speaker), a routing device 1019, a network interface device/transceiver 1020 coupled to an antenna 1030, and one or more sensors 1028 (e.g., GPS sensors, compasses, accelerometers, or other sensors). The machine 1000 may include an output controller 1034, such as a serial (e.g., universal Serial Bus (USB)), parallel, or other wired or wireless (e.g., infrared (IR), near Field Communication (NFC), etc.) association to communicate with or control one or more peripheral devices (e.g., a printer, card reader, etc.). Operations according to one or more example embodiments of the present disclosure may be performed by a baseband processor. The baseband processor may be configured to generate a corresponding baseband signal. The baseband processor may also include a physical layer (PHY) and MAC circuitry, and may also interface with the hardware processor 1002 for generating and processing baseband signals and controlling the operation of the main memory 1004, storage device 1016, and/or routing device 1019. The baseband processor may be provided on a single wireless circuit card, a single chip, or an Integrated Circuit (IC).

The storage device 1016 may include a machine-readable medium 1022 on which is stored one or more sets of data structures or instructions 1024 (e.g., software) embodying or used by any one or more of the techniques or functions described herein. The instructions 1024 may also reside, completely or at least partially, within the main memory 1004, within static memory 1006, or within the hardware processor 1002 during execution thereof by the machine 1000. In an example, one or any combination of the hardware processor 1002, the main memory 1004, the static memory 1006, or the storage device 1016 may constitute machine-readable media.

The path selection device 1019 may perform any of the operations and processes described and illustrated above.

It is to be understood that the above are only a subset of the path selection device 1019 that may be configured to perform, and that other functions included throughout the present disclosure may also be performed by the path selection device 1019.

While the machine-readable medium 1022 is shown to be a single medium, the term "machine-readable medium" can include a single medium or multiple media (e.g., a centralized or distributed database, and/or associated caches and servers) configured to store the one or more instructions 1024.

Various embodiments may be implemented in whole or in part in software and/or firmware. The software and/or firmware may take the form of instructions contained in or on a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium. Those instructions may then be read and executed by one or more processors to enable performance of the operations described herein. The instructions may be in any suitable form, such as but not limited to source code, compiled code, interpreted code, executable code, static code, dynamic code, and the like. Such computer-readable media may include any tangible, non-transitory media for storing information in one or more computer-readable forms, such as, but not limited to, ROM, RAM, magnetic disk storage media, optical storage media, flash memory, and the like.

The term "machine-readable medium" may include any medium that is capable of storing, encoding or carrying instructions for execution by the machine 1000 and that cause the machine 1000 to perform any one or more of the techniques of the present disclosure, or that is capable of storing, encoding or carrying data structures used by or associated with such instructions. Non-limiting examples of machine-readable media may include solid-state memory, as well as optical and magnetic media. In an example, a mass machine-readable medium includes a machine-readable medium having a plurality of particles with a static mass. Specific examples of the mass machine-readable medium may include non-volatile memory, such as semiconductor memory devices (e.g., electrically programmable read-only memory (EPROM) or electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM)) and flash memory devices); magnetic disks, such as internal hard disks and removable disks; magneto-optical disks; CD-ROM and DVD-ROM disks.

The instructions 1024 may also be transmitted or received over the communication network 1026 via the network interface device/transceiver 1020 using a transmission medium using any of a variety of transmission protocols (e.g., frame relay, IP, transmission Control Protocol (TCP), user Datagram Protocol (UDP), hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP), etc.). Example communication networks may include a LAN, a WAN, a packet data network (e.g., the internet), a mobile telephone network (e.g., a cellular network), a Plain Old Telephone (POTS) network, a wireless data network (e.g., referred to as

Of the IEEE802.11 family of standards, called

IEEE802.16 family of standards), IEEE802.15.4 family of standards, and P2P networks, among others. In an example, the network interface device/transceiver 1020 may include one or more physical jacks (e.g., ethernet jacks, coaxial jacks, or telephone jacks) or one or moreAn antenna to associate with the communication network 1026. In an example, the network interface device/transceiver 1020 may include multiple antennas to wirelessly communicate using at least one of single-input multiple-output (SIMO), multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO), or multiple-input single-output (MISO) techniques. The term "transmission medium" shall be taken to include any intangible medium that is capable of storing, encoding or carrying instructions for execution by the machine 1000, and includes digital or analog communications signals or other intangible medium to facilitate communication of such software.

The operations and processes described and illustrated above may be performed or carried out in any suitable order as desired in various implementations. Further, in some implementations, at least a portion of the operations may be performed in parallel. Moreover, in some implementations, fewer or more operations than are described may be performed.

Fig. 11 is a block diagram of a radio architecture 105A, 105B, according to some embodiments, which may be implemented in any of the example AP102 and/or the example STA 120 of fig. 1. The radio architectures 105A, 105B may include radio Front End Module (FEM) circuits 1104a-B, radio IC circuits 1106a-B, and baseband processing circuits 1108a-B. The radio architectures 105A, 105B as shown include WLAN functionality and Bluetooth (BT) functionality, but the embodiments are not so limited. In this disclosure, "WLAN" and "Wi-Fi" are used interchangeably.

The FEM circuits 1104a-b may include a WLAN or Wi-Fi FEM circuit 1104a and a BT FEM circuit 1104b. The WLAN FEM circuitry 1104a may include a receive signal path including circuitry configured to operate on WLAN RF signals received from the one or more antennas 1101, amplify the receive signals, and provide an amplified version of the receive signals to the WLAN radio IC circuitry 1106a for further processing. BT FEM circuitry 1104b may include a receive signal path that may include circuitry configured to operate on BT RF signals received from one or more antennas 1101, amplify the receive signal, and provide an amplified version of the receive signal to BT radio IC circuitry 1106b for further processing. FEM circuitry 1104a may also include a transmit signal path, which may include circuitry configured to amplify WLAN signals provided by radio IC circuitry 1106a for wireless transmission through one or more antennas 1101. Further, FEM circuitry 1104b may also include a transmit signal path, which may include circuitry configured to amplify BT signals provided by radio IC circuitry 1106b for wireless transmission via one or more antennas. In the embodiment of fig. 11, although the FEM1104a and the FEM1104b are illustrated as being different from each other, the embodiment is not limited thereto and includes within their scope: a FEM (not shown) is used that contains transmit and/or receive paths for both WLAN and BT signals, or one or more FEM circuits are used, where at least some of the FEM circuits share transmit and/or receive signal paths for both WLAN and BT signals.

The radio IC circuits 1106a-b as shown may include a WLAN radio IC circuit 1106a and a BT radio IC circuit 1106b. WLAN radio IC circuitry 1106a may include a receive signal path, which may include circuitry to down-convert WLAN RF signals received from FEM circuitry 1104a and provide baseband signals to WLAN baseband processing circuitry 1108 a. BT radio IC circuitry 1106b may also include a receive signal path, which may include circuitry to down-convert BT RF signals received from FEM circuitry 1104b and provide baseband signals to BT baseband processing circuitry 1108b. The WLAN radio IC circuitry 1106a may also include a transmit signal path, which may include circuitry to up-convert WLAN baseband signals provided by the WLAN baseband processing circuitry 1108a and provide WLAN RF output signals to the FEM circuitry 1104a for subsequent wireless transmission through the one or more antennas 1101. BT radio IC circuitry 1106b may also include a transmit signal path, which may include circuitry to up-convert BT baseband signals provided by BT baseband processing circuitry 1108b and provide BT RF output signals to FEM circuitry 1104b for subsequent wireless transmission via one or more antennas 1101. In the embodiment of fig. 11, although the radio IC circuits 1106a and 1106b are shown as being different from each other, embodiments are not limited thereto and are included within their scope; a radio IC circuit (not shown) containing transmit and/or receive signal paths for both WLAN and BT signals is used, or one or more radio IC circuits are used, wherein at least some of the radio IC circuits share transmit and/or receive signal paths for both WLAN and BT signals.

The baseband processing circuits 1108a-b may include a WLAN baseband processing circuit 1108a and a BT baseband processing circuit 1108b. The WLAN baseband processing circuit 1108a may include memory, such as a set of RAM arrays of a fast fourier transform or inverse fast fourier transform block (not shown) of the WLAN baseband processing circuit 1108 a. Each of the WLAN baseband circuitry 1108a and BT baseband circuitry 1108b may also include one or more processors and control logic to process signals received from a corresponding WLAN or BT receive signal path of the radio IC circuitry 1106a-b and also to generate corresponding WLAN or BT baseband signals for a transmit signal path of the radio IC circuitry 1106 a-b. Each of the baseband processing circuits 1108a and 1108b may also include PHY and MAC circuits and may also interface with devices for generating and processing baseband signals and controlling the operation of the radio IC circuits 1106 a-b.

Still referring to fig. 11, in accordance with the illustrated embodiment, the WLAN-BT coexistence circuit 1113 may include logic to provide an interface between the WLAN baseband circuit 1108a and the BT baseband circuit 1108b to implement use cases requiring WLAN and BT coexistence. Further, a switch 1103 may be provided between the WLAN FEM circuit 1104a and the BT FEM circuit 1104b to allow switching between WLAN and BT radios according to application needs. Further, although the antenna 1101 is depicted as being associated with the WLAN FEM circuit 1104a and the BT FEM circuit 1104b, respectively, embodiments include within their scope: one or more antennas are shared between the WLAN and BT FEMs, or more than one antenna associated to each FEM1104a or 1104b is provided.

In some embodiments, the front-end module circuitry 1104a-b, the radio IC circuitry 1106a-b, and the baseband processing circuitry 1108a-b may be provided on a single wireless circuit card (radio card) (e.g., wireless circuit card 1102). In some other implementations, one or more of the antenna 1101, the FEM circuits 1104a-b, and the radio IC circuits 1106a-b may be provided on a single wireless circuit card. In some other implementations, the radio IC circuits 1106a-b and the baseband processing circuits 1108a-b may be provided on a single chip or IC (e.g., IC 1112).

In some embodiments, wireless circuit card 1102 may comprise a WLAN wireless circuit card and may be configured for Wi-Fi communication, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect. In some of these embodiments, the radio architecture 105A, 105B may be configured to receive and transmit Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexed (OFDM) or OFDMA communication signals over a multicarrier communication channel. The OFDM or OFDMA signal may include a plurality of orthogonal subcarriers.

In some of these multicarrier implementations, the radio architecture 105A, 105B may be part of a Wi-Fi communication Station (STA) (e.g., a wireless Access Point (AP), a base station, or a mobile device including a Wi-Fi device). In some of these embodiments, the radio architecture 105A, 105B may be configured to: signals may be transmitted and received in accordance with particular communication standards and/or protocols, such as any of the IEEE standards, including the 802.11n-2009, IEEE 802.11-2012, IEEE 802.11-2016, 802.11n-2009, 802.11ac, 802.11ah, 802.11ad, 802.11ay, and/or 802.11ax standards, and/or specifications set forth for WLANs, although the scope of embodiments is not limited in this respect. The radio architectures 105A, 105B may also be adapted to transmit and/or receive communications in accordance with other techniques and standards.

In some embodiments, the radio architectures 105A, 105B may be configured for high-efficiency Wi-Fi (HEW) communications in accordance with the ieee802.11ax standard. In these embodiments, radio architectures 105A, 105B may be configured to communicate in accordance with OFDMA techniques, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect.

In some other embodiments, the radio architecture 105A, 105B may be configured to: transmit signals using one or more other modulation techniques and receive signals transmitted using one or more other modulation techniques such as spread spectrum modulation (e.g., direct sequence code division multiple access (DS-CDMA) and/or frequency hopping code division multiple access (FH-CDMA)), time Division Multiplexing (TDM) modulation, and/or Frequency Division Multiplexing (FDM) modulation, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect.

In some embodiments, as further shown in fig. 11, BT baseband circuitry 1108b may conform to a BT-associated standard, such as bluetooth, bluetooth 8.0 or bluetooth 6.0, or any other generation of the bluetooth standard.

In some embodiments, the radio architecture 105A, 105B may include other wireless circuit cards, for example, cellular wireless circuit cards configured for cellular (e.g., 5GPP such as LTE, LTE-Advanced, or 7G communications).

In some IEEE802.11 implementations, the radio architectures 105A, 105B can be configured for communication over various channel bandwidths, including bandwidths having center frequencies of approximately 900MHz, 2.4GHz, 5GHz, and bandwidths of approximately 2MHz, 4MHz, 5MHz, 5.5MHz, 6MHz, 8MHz, 10MHz, 20MHz, 40MHz, 80MHz (continuous bandwidth), or 80+80mhz (160 MHz) (discontinuous bandwidth). In some embodiments, a 920MHz channel bandwidth may be used. However, the scope of the embodiments is not limited to the above center frequency.

Fig. 12 illustrates a WLAN FEM circuit 1104a according to some embodiments. While the example of fig. 12 is described in connection with WLAN FEM circuit 1104a, the example of fig. 12 may be described in connection with example BT FEM circuit 1104b (fig. 11), other circuit configurations may also be suitable.

In some embodiments, FEM circuitry 1104a may include a TX/RX (transmit/receive) switch 1202 to switch between transmit mode and receive mode operation. FEM circuit 1104a may include a receive signal path and a transmit signal path. The receive signal path of FEM circuitry 1104a may include an LNA) 1206 to amplify the received RF signal 1203 and provide an amplified received RF signal 1207 as an output (e.g., to radio IC circuitry 1106a-b (fig. 11)). The transmit signal path of circuit 1104a may include: a Power Amplifier (PA) to amplify an input RF signal 1209 (e.g., provided by the radio IC circuits 1106 a-b) and one or more filters 1212, such as Band Pass Filters (BPFs), low Pass Filters (LPFs), or other types of filters, to generate an RF signal 1215 for subsequent transmission via the example duplexer 1214 (e.g., by the one or more antennas 1101 (fig. 11)).

In some dual-mode implementations for Wi-Fi communication, FEM circuit 1104a may be configured to operate in the 2.4GHz spectrum or the 5GHz spectrum. In these embodiments, as shown, the receive signal path of the FEM circuit 1104a may include a receive signal path duplexer 1204 to separate signals from each spectrum and provide a separate LNA1206 for each spectrum. In these embodiments, the transmit signal path of FEM circuit 1104a may also include power amplifier 1210 and filter 1212 (e.g., BPF, LPF, or another type of filter) for each spectrum and transmit signal path duplexer 1204 to provide signals of one of the different spectrums onto a single transmit path for subsequent transmission through one or more antennas 1101 (fig. 11). In some embodiments, BT communications may utilize a 2.4GHz signal path and may utilize the same FEM circuitry 1104a as is used for WLAN communications.

Fig. 13 illustrates a radio IC circuit 1106a in accordance with some embodiments. The radio IC circuit 1106a is one example of a circuit that may be suitable for use as the WLAN or BT radio IC circuits 1106a/1106b (fig. 11), but other circuit configurations may also be suitable. Alternatively, the example of fig. 13 may be described in connection with the example BT radio IC circuit 1106b.

In some implementations, the radio IC circuitry 1106a can include a receive signal path and a transmit signal path. The receive signal path of radio IC circuitry 1106a may include at least mixer circuitry 1302 (e.g., down-conversion mixer circuitry), amplifier circuitry 1306, and filter circuitry 1308. The transmit signal path of the radio IC circuit 1106a can include at least a filter circuit 1312 and a mixer circuit 1314 (e.g., an up-conversion mixer circuit). Radio IC circuitry 1106a may also include synthesizer circuitry 1304 for synthesizing frequency 1305 for use by mixer circuitry 1302 and mixer circuitry 1314. According to some embodiments, mixer circuits 1302 and/or 1314 may each be configured to provide direct conversion functionality. The latter type of circuit presents a simpler architecture than standard superheterodyne mixer circuits and any flicker noise brought by it can be mitigated by using OFDM modulation, for example. Fig. 13 shows only a simplified version of the radio IC circuitry, and may include (although not shown) embodiments in which each of the depicted circuits may include more than one component. For example, mixer circuits 1314 may each include one or more mixers, and filter circuits 1308 and/or 1312 may each include one or more filters, e.g., one or more BPFs and/or LPFs, as desired by the application. For example, when the mixer circuits are of the direct conversion type, they may each comprise two or more mixers.

In some embodiments, the mixer circuit 1302 may be configured to: the RF signal 1207 received from the FEM circuits 1104a-b (fig. 11) is down-converted based on the synthesized frequency 1305 provided by the synthesizer circuit 1304. The amplifier circuit 1306 may be configured to amplify the downconverted signal, and the filter circuit 1305 may include an LPF configured to: unwanted signals are removed from the down-converted signal to generate an output baseband signal 1307. The output baseband signal 1307 may be provided to baseband processing circuits 1108a-b (FIG. 11) for further processing. In some embodiments, the output baseband signal 1307 may be a zero frequency baseband signal, although this is not required. In some embodiments, mixer circuit 1302 may include a passive mixer, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect.

In some implementations, the mixer circuit 1314 may be configured to: the input baseband signal 1311 is up-converted based on a synthesized frequency 1305 provided by the synthesizer circuit 1304 to generate an RF output signal 1209 for the FEM circuits 1104 a-b. The baseband signal 1311 may be provided by the baseband processing circuits 1108a-b and may be filtered by the filter circuit 1312. The filter circuit 1312 may include an LPF or BPF, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect.

In some embodiments, mixer circuit 1302 and mixer circuit 1314 may each include two or more mixers and may be arranged for quadrature down-conversion and/or up-conversion, respectively, with the aid of synthesizer 1304. In some implementations, mixer circuit 1302 and mixer circuit 1314 may each include two or more mixers, each configured for image rejection (e.g., hartley image rejection). In some embodiments, mixer circuit 1302 and mixer circuit 1314 may be arranged for direct down-conversion and/or direct up-conversion, respectively. In some implementations, mixer circuit 1302 and mixer circuit 1314 may be configured for superheterodyne operation, but this is not a requirement.

According to an embodiment, the mixer circuit 1302 may comprise: quadrature passive mixers (e.g., for in-phase (I) and quadrature-phase (Q) paths). In such embodiments, the RF input signal 1207 from fig. 13 may be down-converted to provide I and Q baseband output signals to be sent to the baseband processor.

The quadrature passive mixers may be driven by zero and ninety degree time-varying LO switching signals provided by quadrature circuits that may be configured to receive an LO frequency (fLO) from a local oscillator or synthesizer, such as LO frequency 1305 of synthesizer 1304 (fig. 13). In some embodiments, the LO frequency may be the carrier frequency, while in other embodiments the LO frequency may be a fraction of the carrier frequency (e.g., half the carrier frequency, one third the carrier frequency). In some embodiments, the zero and ninety degree time-varying switching signals may be generated by a synthesizer, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect. In some embodiments, the LO signals may differ in duty cycle (the percentage of a cycle in which the LO signal is high) and/or offset (the difference between the start of the cycle). In some embodiments, the LO signal may have a duty cycle of 85% and an offset of 80%. In some embodiments, each branch of the mixer circuit (e.g., in-phase (I) and quadrature-phase (Q) paths) may operate at an 80% duty cycle, which may result in a significant reduction in power consumption.

The RF input signal 1207 (fig. 12) may comprise a balanced signal, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect. The I and Q baseband output signals may be provided to a low noise amplifier (e.g., amplifier circuit 1306 (fig. 13)) or filter circuit 1308 (fig. 13).

In some embodiments, output baseband signal 1307 and input baseband signal 1311 may be analog baseband signals, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect. In some alternative embodiments, the output baseband signal 1307 and the input baseband signal 1311 may be digital baseband signals. In these alternative embodiments, the radio IC circuitry may include analog-to-digital converter (ADC) and digital-to-analog converter (DAC) circuitry.

In some dual-mode embodiments, separate radio IC circuits may be provided to process signals in each spectrum or other spectrums not mentioned herein, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect.

In some implementations, the synthesizer circuit 1304 may be a fractional-N synthesizer or a fractional-N/N +1 synthesizer, although the scope of the implementations is not limited in this respect as other types of frequency synthesizers may be suitable. For example, the synthesizer circuit 1304 may be a delta-sigma synthesizer, a frequency multiplier, or a synthesizer including a phase locked loop with a frequency divider. According to some embodiments, the synthesizer circuit 1304 may comprise a digital synthesizer circuit. An advantage of using a digital synthesizer circuit is that although it may still include some analog components, its footprint may be much smaller than that of an analog synthesizer circuit. In some implementations, the frequency input to the synthesizer circuit 1304 can be provided by a Voltage Controlled Oscillator (VCO), but this is not a requirement. Baseband processing circuits 1108a-b (fig. 11) may further provide divider control inputs depending on the desired output frequency 1305. In some implementations, the divider control input (e.g., N) can be determined from a lookup table (e.g., within a Wi-Fi card) based on a channel number and a channel center frequency determined or indicated by the example application processor 1110. The application processor 1110 may include or otherwise be associated with one of the example secure signal converter 101 or the example receive signal converter 103 (e.g., depending on which device the example radio architecture is implemented in).

In some implementations, the synthesizer circuit 1304 can be configured to generate a carrier frequency as the output frequency 1305, while in other implementations, the output frequency 1305 can be a portion of the carrier frequency (e.g., half the carrier frequency, one third of the carrier frequency). In some embodiments, the output frequency 1305 may be an LO frequency (fLO).

Fig. 14 illustrates a functional block diagram of the baseband processing circuit 1108a, according to some embodiments. Baseband processing circuit 1108a is one example of a circuit that may be suitable for use as baseband processing circuit 1108a (fig. 11), although other circuit configurations may also be suitable. Alternatively, the example BT baseband processing circuit 1108b of fig. 11 may be implemented using the example of fig. 13.

The baseband processing circuit 1108a may include a receive baseband processor (RX BBP) 1402 for processing receive baseband signals 1309 provided by the radio IC circuits 1106a-b (fig. 11) and a transmit baseband processor (TX BBP) 1404 for generating transmit baseband signals 1311 for use by the radio IC circuits 1106 a-b. Baseband processing circuit 1108a may also include control logic 1406 for coordinating the operation of baseband processing circuit 1108 a.

In some implementations (e.g., when analog baseband signals are conducted between the baseband processing circuits 1108a-b and the radio IC circuits 1106 a-b), the baseband processing circuit 1108a may include an ADC1410 to convert the analog baseband signals 1409 received from the radio IC circuits 1106a-b to digital baseband signals for RX BBP1402 processing. In these embodiments, baseband processing circuit 1108a may also include DAC1412 to convert the digital baseband signal from TX BBP1404 to an analog baseband signal 1411.

In some implementations, for example, where the OFDM signal or OFDMA signal is communicated by the baseband processor 1108a, the transmit baseband processor 1404 may be configured to: an OFDM or OFDMA signal suitable for transmission is generated by performing an Inverse Fast Fourier Transform (IFFT). The receive baseband processor 1402 may be configured to: the received OFDM signal or OFDMA signal is processed by performing FFT. In some embodiments, the receive baseband processor 1402 may be configured to: the presence of the OFDM signal or the OFDMA signal is detected by performing autocorrelation to detect a preamble (e.g., a short preamble) and by performing cross-correlation to detect a long preamble. The preamble may be part of a predetermined frame structure for Wi-Fi communication.

Referring back to fig. 11, in some embodiments, antennas 1101 (fig. 11) may each include one or more directional or omnidirectional antennas, including, for example, dipole antennas, monopole antennas, patch antennas, loop antennas, microstrip antennas or other types of antennas suitable for transmission of RF signals. In some MIMO implementations, the antennas may be effectively separated to take advantage of spatial diversity and the different channel characteristics that may result. Antennas 1101 may each include a set of phased array antennas, but the embodiments are not limited thereto.

Although the radio architectures 105A, 105B are illustrated as having several separate functional elements, one or more of the functional elements may be combined and may be implemented by combinations of software-configured elements, such as processing elements including Digital Signal Processors (DSPs), and/or other hardware elements. For example, some elements may comprise one or more microprocessors, DSPs, field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs), application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs), radio Frequency Integrated Circuits (RFICs), and combinations of various hardware and logic circuitry for performing at least the functions described herein. In some implementations, a functional element may refer to one or more processes operating on one or more processing elements.

The word "exemplary" is used herein to mean "serving as an example, instance, or illustration. Any embodiment described herein as "exemplary" is not necessarily to be construed as preferred or advantageous over other embodiments. As used herein, the terms "computing device," "user device," "communication station," "handheld device," "mobile device," "wireless device," and "user equipment" (UE) refer to a wireless communication device, such as a cellular telephone, smartphone, tablet computer, netbook, wireless terminal, laptop computer, femtocell, high Data Rate (HDR) subscriber station, access point, printer, point-of-sale device, access terminal, or other Personal Communication System (PCS) device. The device may be mobile or stationary.

As used in this document, the term "communication" is intended to include either transmitting or receiving, or both. This may be particularly useful in the claims when describing the organization of data sent by one device and received by another device, but only the functionality of one of the devices is required to infringe the claims. Similarly, when the functionality of only one of the devices is claimed, the two-way data going between the two devices (both devices transmitting and receiving during going) may be described as "communicating. The term "communicate" as used herein with respect to wireless communication signals includes transmitting wireless communication signals and/or receiving wireless communication signals. For example, a wireless communication unit capable of communicating wireless communication signals may include a wireless transmitter for transmitting wireless communication signals to at least one other wireless communication unit, and/or a wireless communication receiver for receiving wireless communication signals from at least one other wireless communication unit.

As used herein, unless otherwise specified the use of the ordinal adjectives "first", "second", "third", etc., to describe a common object, merely indicate that different instances of like objects are being referred to, and are not intended to imply that the objects so described must be in a given sequence, either temporally, spatially, in ranking, or in any other manner.

The term "access point" (AP) as used herein may be a fixed station. An access point may also be referred to as an access node, a base station, an evolved node B (eNodeB), or some other similar terminology known in the art. An access terminal may also be called a mobile station, user Equipment (UE), a wireless communication device, or some other similar terminology known in the art. Embodiments disclosed herein relate generally to wireless networks. Some embodiments may relate to a wireless network operating according to one of the IEEE802.11 standards.

Some embodiments may be used in conjunction with various devices and systems, such as Personal Computers (PCs), desktop computers, mobile computers, laptop computers, notebook computers, tablet computers, server computers, handheld devices, personal Digital Assistant (PDA) devices, handheld PDA devices, onboard devices, off-board devices, hybrid devices, onboard devices, offboard devices, mobile or portable devices, consumer devices, non-mobile or non-portable devices, wireless communication stations, wireless communication devices, wireless Access Points (APs), wired or wireless routers, wired or wireless modems, video devices, audio-video (A/V) devices, wired or wireless networks, wireless local area networks, wireless video local area networks (WVANs), local Area Networks (LANs), wireless Local Area Networks (WLANs), personal Area Networks (PANs), wireless PANs (WPANs), and the like.

Some embodiments may be used in conjunction with the following devices: one-way and/or two-way radio communication systems, cellular radiotelephone communication systems, mobile telephones, cellular telephones, radiotelephones, personal Communication Systems (PCS) devices, PDA devices that incorporate wireless communication devices, mobile or portable Global Positioning System (GPS) devices, devices that incorporate GPS receivers or transceivers or chips, devices that incorporate RFID elements or chips, multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) transceivers or devices, single-input multiple-output (SIMO) transceivers or devices, multiple-input single-output (MISO) transceivers or devices, devices having one or more internal and/or external antennas, digital Video Broadcasting (DVB) devices or systems, multi-standard radio devices or systems, wired or wireless handheld devices (e.g., smartphones), wireless Application Protocol (WAP) devices, and the like.

Some embodiments may be used in conjunction with one or more types of wireless communication signals and/or systems that conform to one or more wireless communication protocols, such as Radio Frequency (RF), infrared (IR), frequency Division Multiplexing (FDM), orthogonal FDM (OFDM), time Division Multiplexing (TDM), time Division Multiple Access (TDMA), extended TDMA (E-TDMA), general Packet Radio Service (GPRS), extended GPRS, code Division Multiple Access (CDMA), wideband CDMA (WCDMA), CDMA 2000, single carrier CDMA, multi-carrier modulation (MDM), discrete Multitone (DMT), and/or wireless communication systems,

Global Positioning System (GPS), wi-Fi, wi-Max, zigBee, ultra Wideband (UWB), global system for mobile communications (GSM), 2G, 2.5G, 3G, 3.5G, 4G, fifth generation (5G) mobile networks, 3GPP, long Term Evolution (LTE), LTE-Advance, enhanced data rates for GSM evolution (EDGE), and the like. Other embodiments may be used in various other devices, systems, and/or networks.

The following examples relate to further embodiments.

Example 1 may include a Time Sensitive Network (TSN) configuration entity to be responsible for path planning and scheduling between listeners and talkers in a hybrid network consisting of wired and wireless paths, the listeners and talkers being wired or wireless, the wireless listeners and/or wireless talkers being associated with and roaming between a plurality of Access Points (APs), the TSN configuration entity configured to receive traffic pattern information for quality of service requirements of the listeners and talkers.

Example 2 may include the TSN configuration entity of example 1 and/or some other example herein, wherein the TSN configuration entity further comprises: a radio network controller, which is a module responsible for managing wireless devices and resources in a hybrid network.

Example 3 may include the TSN configuration entity of example 2 and/or some other example herein, wherein the path set by the TSN configuration entity includes a wired TSN bridge and a wireless TSN bridge, the wireless TSN bridge includes an AP bridge, at least one of the TSN bridge and the AP bridge is set as a Dynamic Path Switch (DPS) bridge, the path set by the TSN configuration entity is divided into a fixed path and a dynamic path at the DPS bridge, the fixed path being from the talker/listener to the DPS bridge, the dynamic path being from the DPS bridge to the AP, the DPS bridge being selected by the TSN configuration device such that any subset of APs in the network is accessible from the selected DPS bridge.

Example 4 may include example 2 and/or some TSN configuration entity herein, wherein the radio network controller collects information about its capabilities from talkers/listeners.

Example 5 may include example 3 and/or some of the TSN configuration entities herein, wherein the wired TSN bridge and the wireless TSN bridge report their capabilities to the TSN configuration entity, respectively.

Example 6 may include the TSN configuration entity of example 3 and/or some other example herein, wherein prior to selecting the DPS bridge in the network, the wireless network controller performs: allocation between the AP and the listener/talker, and channel allocation by the AP.

Example 7 may include example 3 and/or some of the TSN configuration entities herein, wherein the TSN configuration entity performs fixed path selection and Qbv scheduling using worst case delays measured in the DPS bridge to meet the requirements of the listener and the talker.

Example 8 may include example 7 and/or some of the TSN configuration entities herein, wherein the TSN configuration entity calculates a target delay between the DPS bridge and the wireless talker/wireless listener for performing dynamic path selection and Qbv scheduling.

Example 9 may include example 3 and/or some TSN configuration entity herein, wherein the mapping of VLAN IDs is available at the DPS bridge.

Example 10 may include example 8 and/or some of the TSN configuration entities herein, wherein the TSN configuration entity is to configure the talker and the listener to begin communicating if the selected dynamic path meets the target delay with the AP.

Example 11 may include example 8 and/or some of the TSN configuration entities herein, wherein the selecting of the DPS bridge, the selecting of the fixed path and the Qbv scheduling, and the dynamic path selecting and the Qbv scheduling are repeated until a suitable path consisting of the fixed path, the dynamic path, and the AP meets the requirements of the listener and the talker, and otherwise an error is reported.

Example 12 may include example 3 and/or some TSN configuration entity herein, wherein the path is switched based on movement of the listener.

Example 13 may include example 3 and/or some TSN configuration entity herein, wherein the path switches based on an overload of the AP.

Example 14 may include example 1 and/or some of the TSN configuration entities herein, wherein the TSN configuration device comprises: a central user interface and a central network controller.

Example 15 may include example 12 or 13 and/or some TSN configuration entity herein, wherein, when the path is switched, the fixed path remains unchanged, and the dynamic path selection and scheduling is performed until the newly selected path meets the requirements of the listener and the talker.

Example 16 may include a method for planning paths and scheduling between listeners and talkers in a hybrid network consisting of wired paths, wireless paths, the listeners and talkers being wired or wireless, the wireless listeners and/or wireless talkers being associated with and roaming among a plurality of Access Points (APs), the method comprising: quality of service requirements and traffic pattern information for the listener and talker are received.

Example 17 may include the method of example 16 and/or some other example herein, further comprising: defining a DPS bridge, the path being divided at the DPS bridge into a fixed path from the talker/listener to the DPS bridge and a dynamic path from the DPS bridge to the AP, the DPS bridge being selected by the TSN configuration device such that any subset of APs in the network is accessible from the selected DPS bridge.

Example 18 may include the method of example 17 and/or some other example herein, further comprising: the worst-case delay measured in the DPS bridge is used to perform fixed path selection and Qbv scheduling to meet the requirements of the listeners and talkers.

Example 19 may include the method of example 18 and/or some other example herein, further comprising: a target delay between the DPS bridge and the wireless talker/wireless listener is computed for performing dynamic path selection and Qbv scheduling.

Example 20 may include the method of example 19 and/or some other example herein, further comprising: the selection of DPS bridge, the selection of fixed path and Qbv scheduling, and the dynamic path selection and Qbv scheduling are repeated until the appropriate path, consisting of fixed path, dynamic path and AP, meets the requirements of the listener and talker, otherwise an error is reported.

Example 21 may include an apparatus comprising means for planning paths and scheduling between listeners and talkers in a hybrid network consisting of wired paths, wireless paths, the listeners and talkers being wired or wireless, the wireless listeners and/or wireless talkers being associated with a plurality of Access Points (APs) and roaming between the APs, quality of service requirements and traffic pattern information of the apparatus listeners and talkers.

Example 22 may include the apparatus of example 21 and/or some other example herein, wherein the apparatus defines a DPS bridge, the path being divided at the DPS bridge into a fixed path from the talker/listener to the DPS bridge and a dynamic path from the DPS bridge to the AP, the DPS bridge being selected by the TSN configuration device such that any subset of APs in the network is accessible from the selected DPS bridge.

Example 23 may include the apparatus of example 22 and/or some other example herein, wherein the apparatus repeats the selection of the DPS bridge, the selection of the fixed path and the Qbv schedule, and the dynamic path selection and the Qbv schedule until an appropriate path consisting of the fixed path, the dynamic path, and the AP meets the requirements of the listener and the talker, and otherwise reports an error.

Example 24 may include a method of communicating in a wireless network as above.

Example 25 may include the system to provide wireless network communications as above.

Example 26 may include a device to provide wireless network communications as above.

Embodiments according to the present disclosure are disclosed in particular in the accompanying claims relating to methods, storage media, devices and computer program products, wherein any feature mentioned in one claim category (e.g. method) may also be claimed in another claim category (e.g. system). The dependencies or references in the appended claims are chosen for formal reasons only. However, any subject matter resulting from an intentional reference to any previous claim (in particular multiple dependencies) may also be claimed, such that any combination of a claim and its features is disclosed and claimed regardless of the dependency selected in the appended claims. The subject matter that can be claimed comprises not only the combination of features set out in the attached claims but also any other combination of features in the claims, wherein each feature mentioned in the claims can be combined with any other feature or combination of other features in the claims. Furthermore, any embodiments and features described or depicted herein may be claimed in a separate claim and/or in any combination with any embodiment or feature described or depicted herein or with any feature of the appended claims.

The foregoing description of one or more implementations provides illustration and description, but is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the scope of the implementations to the precise form disclosed. Modifications and variations are possible in light of the above teachings or may be acquired from practice of various embodiments.

Certain aspects of the present disclosure are described above with reference to block diagrams and flowchart illustrations of systems, methods, apparatuses, and/or computer program products according to various implementations. It will be understood that one or more blocks of the block diagrams and flowchart illustrations, and combinations of blocks in the block diagrams and flowchart illustrations, respectively, can be implemented by computer-executable program instructions. Likewise, some blocks of the block diagrams and flow diagrams may not necessarily need to be performed in the order presented, or may not need to be performed at all, according to some implementations.

These computer-executable program instructions may be loaded onto a special-purpose computer or other specific machine, processor, or other programmable data processing apparatus to produce a particular machine, such that the instructions which execute on the computer, processor, or other programmable data processing apparatus create means for implementing one or more functions specified in the flowchart block or blocks. These computer program instructions may also be stored in a computer-readable storage medium or memory that can direct a computer or other programmable data processing apparatus to function in a particular manner, such that the instructions stored in the computer-readable storage medium produce an article of manufacture including instruction means which implement the function specified in the flowchart block or blocks. By way of example, certain implementations may provide a computer program product comprising a computer readable storage medium having computer readable program code or program instructions embodied therewith, the computer readable program code adapted to be executed to implement one or more functions specified in the flow diagram block or blocks. The computer program instructions may also be loaded onto a computer or other programmable data processing apparatus to cause a series of operational elements or steps to be performed on the computer or other programmable apparatus to produce a computer implemented process such that the instructions which execute on the computer or other programmable apparatus provide elements or steps for implementing the functions specified in the flowchart block or blocks.

Accordingly, blocks of the block diagrams and flowchart illustrations support combinations of means for performing the specified functions, combinations of elements or steps for performing the specified functions and program instruction means for performing the specified functions. It will also be understood that each block of the block diagrams and flowchart illustrations, and combinations of blocks in the block diagrams and flowchart illustrations, can be implemented by special purpose, hardware-based computer systems that perform the specified functions, elements or steps, or combinations of special purpose hardware and computer instructions.

Conditional language, such as "may," "can," "might," or "might," unless expressly stated otherwise or otherwise understood within the context of usage, is generally intended to convey that certain implementations may include, while other implementations do not include, certain features, elements, and/or operations. Thus, such conditional language is not generally intended to imply: the features, elements, and/or operations may be required in any manner for one or more implementations or one or more implementations may necessarily include logic for deciding, with or without user input or prompting, whether these features, elements, and/or operations are included or are to be performed in any particular implementation.

Many modifications and other implementations of the disclosure set forth herein will come to mind to one skilled in the art to which this disclosure pertains having the benefit of the teachings presented in the foregoing descriptions and the associated drawings. Therefore, it is to be understood that the disclosure is not to be limited to the specific implementations disclosed and that modifications and other implementations are intended to be included within the scope of the appended claims. Although specific terms are employed herein, they are used in a generic and descriptive sense only and not for purposes of limitation.

Claims (23)

1. A Time Sensitive Network (TSN) configuration entity is responsible for path planning and scheduling between a listener and a talker in a hybrid network consisting of a wired path and a wireless path,

the listeners and talkers being wired or wireless, the wireless listeners and/or the wireless talkers being capable of associating with and roaming among a plurality of Access Points (APs),

the TSN configuration entity is configured to receive quality of service requirements and traffic pattern information for the listener and the talker.

2. The TSN configuration entity of claim 1, wherein,

the TSN configuration entity further comprises: a radio network controller, which is a module responsible for managing wireless devices and resources in the hybrid network.

3. The TSN configuration entity of claim 2, wherein,

the path set by the TSN configuration entity includes wired TSN bridges and wireless TSN bridges, including AP bridges,

setting at least one of the TSN bridge and the AP bridge as a Dynamic Path Switching (DPS) bridge, a path set by the TSN configuration entity being divided at the DPS bridge into a fixed path from the talker/listener to the DPS bridge and a dynamic path from the DPS bridge to the AP,

the DPS bridge is selected by the TSN configuration device such that any subset of APs in the network is accessible from the selected DPS bridge.

4. The TSN configuration entity of claim 2, wherein,

the radio network controller collects information about its capabilities from the talker/the listener.

5. The TSN configuration entity of claim 3, wherein,

the wired and wireless TSN bridges report their capabilities to the TSN configuration entity, respectively.

6. The TSN configuration entity of claim 3, wherein,

prior to selecting the DPS bridge in the network, the wireless network controller performs: an allocation between an AP and the listener/talker, and a channel allocation of the AP.

7. The TSN configuration entity of claim 3, wherein,

the TSN configuration entity performs the fixed path selection and Qbv scheduling using the worst case delay measured in the DPS bridge to meet the requirements of the listener and the talker.

8. The TSN configuration entity of claim 7, wherein,

the TSN configuration entity calculates a target delay between the DPS bridge and the wireless talker/wireless listener for performing the dynamic path selection and Qbv scheduling.

9. The TSN configuration entity of claim 3, wherein,

a mapping of VLAN IDs can be obtained at the DPS bridge.

10. The TSN configuration entity of claim 8, wherein,

the TSN configuration entity configures the talker and the listener to start communication if the selected dynamic path satisfies the target delay with the AP.

11. The TSN configuration entity of claim 8, wherein,

repeating the selection of the DPS bridge, the selection of the fixed path and the Qbv scheduling, and the dynamic path selection and the Qbv scheduling until an appropriate path, consisting of the fixed path, the dynamic path, and the AP, meets the requirements of the listener and the talker, and otherwise reporting an error.

12. The TSN configuration entity of claim 3, wherein,

the path is switched based on the movement of the listener.

13. The TSN configuration entity of claim 3, wherein,

the path is switched based on an overload of the AP.

14. The TSN configuration entity of claim 1, wherein,

the TSN configuration device includes: a central user interface and a central network controller.

15. The TSN configuration entity of claim 12 or 13, wherein,

when the path is switched, the fixed path remains unchanged, and the dynamic path selection and scheduling is performed until the newly selected path meets the requirements of the listener and the talker.

16. A method for planning a path and scheduling between a listener and a talker in a hybrid network consisting of a wired path and a wireless path,

the listeners and talkers being wired or wireless, the wireless listeners and/or the wireless talkers being able to associate with and roam between a plurality of Access Points (APs),

the method comprises the following steps: receiving quality of service requirements and traffic pattern information for the listener and the talker.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein,

further comprising: defining a DPS bridge, said path being divided at said DPS bridge into a fixed path from said talker/said listener to said DPS bridge and a dynamic path from said DPS bridge to said AP,

the DPS bridge is selected by the TSN configuration device such that any subset of APs in the network is accessible from the selected DPS bridge.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein,

further comprising: the fixed path selection and Qbv scheduling are performed using worst case delays measured in the DPS bridge to meet the requirements of the listener and the talker.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein,

further comprising: calculating a target delay between the DPS bridge and the wireless talker/the wireless listener for performing the dynamic path selection and Qbv scheduling.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein,

further comprising: repeating the DPS bridge selection, the fixed path selection and Qbv scheduling, and the dynamic path selection and Qbv scheduling until the appropriate path, consisting of the fixed path, the dynamic path, and the AP, meets the requirements of the listener and the talker, otherwise reporting an error.

21. An apparatus comprising a unit for planning a path and scheduling between a listener and a talker in a hybrid network consisting of a wired path and a wireless path,

the listeners and talkers being wired or wireless, the wireless listeners and/or the wireless talkers being capable of associating with a plurality of Access Points (APs) and roaming between the APs,

the apparatus provides quality of service requirements and traffic pattern information for the listener and the talker.

22. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein,

the apparatus defines a DPS bridge, the path being divided at the DPS bridge into a fixed path from the talker/the listener to the DPS bridge and a dynamic path from the DPS bridge to the AP,

the DPS bridge is selected by the TSN configuration device such that any subset of APs in the network is accessible from the selected DPS bridge.

23. The apparatus of claim 22, wherein,

the apparatus repeats the selection of the DPS bridge, the selection of the fixed path and the Qbv scheduling, and the dynamic path selection and the Qbv scheduling until the appropriate path, consisting of the fixed path, the dynamic path, and the AP, meets the requirements of the listener and the talker, otherwise an error is reported.

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