KR20080007057A - Method for determining channels to be used a wireless network, method for wireless communication, and apparatus for the same - Google Patents

Abstract

A method for determining a channel to be used in a wireless network, a wireless communication method, and a device therefor are provided to effectively scan and select plural channels having different supportable transmission capacities, and to offer the wireless network where a high-speed channel and a low-speed channel can be usable together. A coordinator capable device selects an HRP(High-Rate Physical layer) channel having the lowest energy detection result value among HRP channels which perform energy detection operation(S810). The coordinator capable device decides whether the energy detection result value of the selected HRP channel is lower than the second threshold value(S820). If so, the coordinator capable device selects one of plural LRP(Low-Rate Physical) channels corresponding to the selected HRP channel(S830).

Description

Method for determining channels to be used a wireless network, method for wireless communication, and apparatus for the same

1 is a diagram illustrating a wireless network according to an embodiment of the present invention.

2 illustrates a superframe according to an embodiment of the present invention.

3 is a diagram illustrating frequency bands of an HRP channel and an LRP channel according to an embodiment of the present invention.

4 illustrates a message sequence for channel scanning and selection according to an embodiment of the present invention.

5 is a flowchart illustrating a LRP channel scanning process according to an embodiment of the present invention.

6 is a flowchart illustrating an HRP channel scanning process according to an embodiment of the present invention.

7 is a diagram illustrating energy detection values for respective channels according to an embodiment of the present invention.

8 is a flowchart illustrating a channel selection process according to an embodiment of the present invention.

9 is a block diagram illustrating a wireless communication device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

10A illustrates a transmission spectrum mask of an HRP according to an embodiment of the present invention.

10B illustrates a transmission spectrum mask of an LRP according to an embodiment of the present invention.

<Explanation of symbols on main parts of the drawings>

910: CPU 920: Storage

940: MAC processing unit 950: transceiver

950a: first physical processor 950b: second physical processor

TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to wireless communications, and more particularly, to a technique for determining a channel for use in a wireless network.

Networks are becoming wireless and researches on effective transmission methods in wireless network environments have been required due to the increasing demand for large-capacity multimedia data transmission. In addition, there is a growing need to wirelessly transfer high-quality video such as digital video disk (DVD) video and high definition television (HDTV) video between various home devices.

Currently, a task group of IEEE 802.15.3c is pushing a technical standard for transmitting a large amount of data in a wireless home network. This standard, called mmWave (Millimeter Wave), uses radio waves with a physical wavelength of millimeters (i.e., radio waves with frequencies of 30 GHz to 300 GHz) for large data transmission. In the past, such a frequency band has been used as an unlicensed band for a limited number of purposes, such as for telecommunication carriers, radio astronomy, or vehicle collision prevention.

IEEE 802.11b and IEEE 802.11g have a carrier frequency of 2.4 GHz and a channel bandwidth of about 20 MHz. In addition, IEEE 802.11a and IEEE 802.11n have a carrier frequency of 5 GHz and a channel bandwidth of about 20 MHz. In contrast, mmWave uses a carrier frequency of 60 GHz and has a channel bandwidth of approximately 0.5 to 2.5 GHz. Therefore, mmWave has a much larger carrier frequency and channel bandwidth than the existing IEEE 802.11 standard. As such, when a high frequency signal (millimeter wave) having a wavelength in millimeters is used, a very high transmission rate in the order of several gigabytes (Gbps) can be represented, and the antenna size can be 1.5 mm or less, so that a single chip including an antenna is used. Can be implemented.

In particular, recent researches have been conducted to transmit uncompressed audio or video data (hereinafter, referred to as uncompressed AV data) between wireless devices using the high bandwidth of the millimeter wave. The compressed AV data is loss-compressed in such a manner as to remove portions less sensitive to human vision and hearing through processes such as motion compensation, DCT transform, quantization, variable length coding, and the like. Therefore, the compressed AV data may suffer from deterioration in image quality due to compression loss, and there is a problem in that compression and decompression of AV data between a transmitting device and a receiving device must follow the same standard. On the contrary, since uncompressed AV data includes digital values (eg, R, G, and B components) representing pixel components as they are, there is an advantage in that clearer image quality can be provided.

However, if data having a small amount of information such as a beacon, an ACK packet, or a MAC command packet is transmitted through a channel using a high bandwidth, a radio resource is wasted. Therefore, there is a need to use a low bandwidth channel (low speed channel) for transmitting data having a small amount of information in one wireless network and a high bandwidth channel (high speed channel) for transmitting high capacity data. In this case, a technique for appropriately selecting the high speed channel and the low speed channel is required.

An object of the present invention is to efficiently scan and select a plurality of channels having different supportable transmission capabilities.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a wireless network using a high speed channel and a low speed channel together.

The objects of the present invention are not limited to the above-mentioned objects, and other objects that are not mentioned will be clearly understood by those skilled in the art from the following description.

In order to achieve the above object, the wireless communication method according to an embodiment of the present invention, selecting a first channel and a second channel supporting different data transmission capabilities, and using the selected first channel and second channel And transmitting and receiving data.

In order to achieve the above object, a channel determination method according to an embodiment of the present invention includes scanning a plurality of channels, and selecting a plurality of channels supporting different data transmission capabilities according to the scanning result. .

In order to achieve the above object, a wireless communication apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention, a transceiver for scanning a plurality of channels, and a MAC processing unit for selecting a plurality of channels supporting different data transmission capabilities according to the scanning result Include.

Specific details of other embodiments are included in the detailed description and the drawings.

Advantages and features of the present invention and methods for achieving them will be apparent with reference to the embodiments described below in detail with the accompanying drawings. However, the present invention is not limited to the embodiments disclosed below, but can be implemented in various different forms, and only the embodiments make the disclosure of the present invention complete, and the general knowledge in the art to which the present invention belongs. It is provided to fully inform the person having the scope of the invention, which is defined only by the scope of the claims. Like reference numerals refer to like elements throughout.

Hereinafter, exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

1 is a diagram illustrating a wireless network 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention. The wireless network 100 is preferably a wireless video area network (WVAN) capable of supporting various applications for high speed transmission of A / V (Audio / Video) data. The A / V data transmitted from the WVAN can be uncompressed as well as compressed, for example uncompressed 1080p A / V, uncompressed 1080i A / V, MPEG2 1080p A / V, uncompressed 5.1 Surround sound audio (uncompressed 5.1 surround sound audio).

The illustrated wireless network 100 includes two types of devices: a coordinator 110 and a station 120-1, 120-2, 120-3, hereinafter referred to as identifier # 120. Among them, the adjuster 110 is a liquid crystal display (LCD), a plasma, a flat panel display such as digital lighting processing (DLP), a blue-ray disc (BD) recorder, a high definition digital versatile disc (HD-DVD) recorder, a PVR. May be a sink device such as a personal video recorder, and the station 120 may be a source device such as a set-top box, a BD player, a BD recorder, an HD-DVD player, an HD-DVD recorder, a PVR, or an HD broadcast receiver. (source device). Of course, the present invention is not limited thereto, and the coordinator 110 and the station 120 may be implemented as other types of devices. It is also possible for embodiments in which coordinator 110 is a source device or station 120 is a sink device.

The presence of the wireless network 100 is not affected by the number of stations 120. Accordingly, one or more stations 120 or none at all may exist in the wireless network 100. The station 120 may function as the coordinator 110 according to its own performance, and a device having the capability to function as the coordinator 110 is called a coordinator capable device.

The coordinator 110 adjusts the communication timing in the wireless network 100, and the station 120 performs communication in accordance with the communication timing adjusted by the coordinator 110. To this end, the coordinator 110 may broadcast a beacon including the communication timing information, and the station 120 may know the communication timing by receiving the beacon.

2 shows an example of communication timing managed by the coordinator. This communication timing is called superframe. The superframe 200 includes a beacon section 210, a random access slot (RAS, 220-1, 220-2, hereinafter referred to as identifier # 220), a control time slot (CTS), 230-1, 230-2, hereinafter referred to as identifier # 230 ', and stream time slot (STS, 240-1, 240-2, 240-3, hereinafter referred to as identifier # 240)) It may include.

Beacon section 210 represents the time for the coordinator to transmit the beacon.

The RAS 220 represents the time used by a station that has not been allocated time to communicate with the coordinator or another station to send a command to the coordinator requesting allocation of communication time.

CTS 230 represents the time used to transmit certain control information between stations or between a station and a coordinator.

STS 240 represents the time used to transmit data. For example, the STS 240 may be used when the source device transmits uncompressed A / V data to the sink device. Data transmitted from the STS 240 may be isochronous data or may be asynchronous data.

The number, length, and position of the RAS 220, CTS 230, and STS 240 in the superframe 200 are determined by the coordinator and may be known to the stations through the beacons. The beacon transmission interval corresponds to a superframe period (the length of the superframe), and the superframe 200 may be repeated at regular intervals.

Devices 110 and 120 of wireless network 100 may support two physical layers (PHYs), a high-rate PHY (HRP) and a low-rate PHY. This is it. Of course, the wireless network 100 may also have a device capable of supporting only LRP according to physical performance.

HRP can be used for high speed transmission of data (eg uncompressed A / V data). Preferably, HRP can support a few Gbps of output. The HRP may use adaptive antenna technology to adjust the output direction or the reception direction of the radio signal. In this case, the radio signal output by the HRP is directional. HRP can thus be used for unicast. Since HRP is capable of high speed transmission, it is preferably used to transmit isochronous data such as uncompressed A / V data. That is, HRP may be used to transmit and receive data in the STS 240 of the superframe 200 shown in FIG. However, the present invention is not limited thereto, and HRP may be used to transmit non-isochronous data, medium access control (MAC) commands, antenna steering information, and higher layer control data for A / V devices.

LRP can be used for low speed transmission. LRP, for example, provides a bidirectional link of several Mbps. Since the radio signal output from the LPR is near omni-directional, LRP can be used for broadcast as well as unicast. LRP includes slow isochronous data such as audio, low speed isochronous data, MAC commands including beacons, acknowledgment to HRP packets, antenna steering information, capabilities information, and higher layers for A / V devices. Control data and the like can be transmitted. That is, the LRP may be used to transmit and receive predetermined information in the beacon section 210, the RAS 220, or the CTS 230 of the superframe 200 illustrated in FIG. 2. Of course, HRP may be used instead of LRP, and LRP may be used in the STS 240.

The communication channel used by the HRP (hereinafter referred to as the HRP channel) preferably has a wider bandwidth than the communication channel used by the LRP (hereinafter referred to as the LRP channel). There may be a plurality of HRP channels and LRP channels that the device can support. Among these, each HRP channel may correspond to one or more LRP channels. Preferably, the frequency band of the LRP channel corresponding to the HRP channel is within the frequency band of the HRP channel.

3 is a diagram illustrating frequency bands of an HRP channel and an LRP channel according to an embodiment of the present invention. In the illustrated frequency band, four HRP channels (channels 1-4) are presented, and within the frequency bands of each HRP channel, three corresponding LRP channels (channels 1A-1C, channels 2A-2C, channels 3A-3C, Channels 4A-4C). The HRP channel has a bandwidth of about 2 GHZ and the center frequency may exist around 60 GHz to several GHz. Table 1 shows an example of a specific frequency band of the HRP channel shown in FIG.

Table 1

HRP Channel Index Starting frequency Center frequency Termination frequency One 57.608 GHz 58.608 GHz 59.608 GHz 2 59.720 GHz 60.720 GHz 61.720 GHz 3 61.832 GHz 62.832 GHz 63.832 GHz 4 63.944 GHz 64.944 GHz 65.944 GHz

In the embodiment of Table 1 each HRP channel has a bandwidth of 2GHz. Meanwhile, Table 2 shows an embodiment of a specific frequency band of an LPR channel corresponding to each HRP channel.

[Table 2]

LRP Channel Index Starting frequency Center frequency Termination frequency A f _{c ( HRP )} -203 MHz f _{c ( HRP )} -156.75 MHz f _{c ( HRP )} -110.5 MHz B f _{c ( HRP )} -46.25 MHz f _{c ( HRP )} MHz f _{c ( HRP )} +46.25 MHz C f _{c ( HRP )} +110.5 MHz f _{c ( HRP )} +156.75 MHz f _{c ( HRP )} +203 MHz

In the embodiment of Table 2, f _{c ( HRP )} is the center frequency of the corresponding HRP channel, each LRP channel has a bandwidth of 92.5 MHz. Of course, the frequency bands shown in Table 1 and Table 2 is only one embodiment, and thus the present invention is not limited thereto. HRP and LRP may therefore use different center frequencies and bandwidths.

As described above, the HRP and the LRP may operate in an overlapping frequency band, and in this case, channel use may be coordinated by the MAC in a TDMA (Time Division Multiple Access) method. 3, Table 1, and Table 2 show four HRP channels and three LRP channels corresponding to each HRP channel (12 LRP channels in total). The number of LRP channels and the number of LRP channels corresponding to the HRP channel may vary according to embodiments.

The wireless network according to an embodiment of the present invention is started by the coordinator broadcasting a beacon, in which both an HRP channel and an LRP channel are used. Therefore, devices that want to build new wireless networks (coordinator capability devices) must first determine which HRP channel and LRP channel to use in the wireless network.

4 illustrates a message sequence for channel scanning and selection according to an embodiment of the present invention. The illustrated process is performed by the coordinator capability device. 4 illustrates an operation process between a device management entity (DME) 10 and a medium access control (MAC) / MAC sublayer management entity (MLME) 20. Both the DME 10 and the MAC / MLME 20 perform channel scanning. A hierarchy that is included in the coordinator capability device that intends to perform this.

First, the DME 10 of the coordinator capability device intending to perform channel scanning transmits a channel scanning request message MEME-SCAN.req to the MAC / MLME 20 (S410).

The MLME 20 receiving the channel scanning request message from the DME 10 performs a channel scanning operation (S420). In the channel scanning process, the MLME 20 selects an HRP channel and an LRP channel pair. The selected HRP channel and the LRP channel are channels with the least interference among the plurality of HRP channels and the plurality of LRP channels, respectively, and the interference value is smaller than a preset threshold. The channel scanning operation can be largely classified into an LRP channel scanning process, an HRP channel scanning process, and a channel selection process. Each of these processes will be described later with reference to FIGS. 5 to 7.

When the channel scanning operation is completed, the MLME 20 transmits a channel scanning response message to the DME 10 (S430). The channel scanning response message includes information indicating whether channel scanning is successful. Successful channel scanning means that HRP and LRP channel pairs have been determined to initiate a new wireless network. Thus, if channel scanning is successful, the coordinator capability device can start a new wireless network.

5 is a flowchart illustrating a LRP channel scanning process according to an embodiment of the present invention.

The coordinator capability device performs energy detection on any one of the LRP channels that can be supported by the coordinator (S510). In the present invention, energy is a concept corresponding to the sensitivity of wireless signal reception in a specific channel. The higher the energy detection result value, the higher the wireless signal reception sensitivity in the corresponding channel. Therefore, if the energy detection result is high, the possibility of communication interference with other wireless networks is increased when the corresponding channel is used. On the contrary, if the energy detection result is low, the use of the channel reduces the possibility of communication interference with other wireless networks.

The energy detection operation may be performed for a first threshold time, which may be preset to a time suitable for energy detection for the LRP channel. The first threshold time is preferably longer than the super frame period. This is because the coordinator of another wireless network will transmit a beacon to the corresponding LRP channel within the superframe period if the LRP channel currently being scanned is being used in another wireless network.

When the energy detection task in one LRP channel is completed, the coordinator capability device stores the highest energy detection result value in the corresponding LRP channel (S520).

Thereafter, the coordinator capability device determines whether the energy detection operation has been performed on all the LRP channels that can be supported (S530). If energy detection is performed for all LRP channels, the LRP channel scanning process is terminated. However, if there is an LRP channel for which energy detection has not yet been performed, the coordinator capability device changes the LRP channel for performing energy detection (S540) and performs energy detection for the changed LRP channel (S510).

As such, the Coordinator Capability Device will sequentially scan all LRP channels it can support. When the scanning operation for the LRP channel is completed, the scanning operation for the HRP channel is performed, and the scanning process of the HRP channel is illustrated in FIG. 6.

When the energy detection work for all the LRP channels is completed, the coordinator capability device selects all HRP channels whose energy detection result in the corresponding LRP channel is smaller than the first threshold among all HRP channels that can be supported (S610). For example, assuming that an HRP channel as shown in FIG. 7, an LRP channel corresponding to each HRP channel, an energy detection result value of each LRP channel according to an LRP scanning operation, and a first threshold value exist, a first threshold value is present. LRP channels with lower energy detection results are 1A, 1B, 1C, 2A, 2C, 4A, 4B, and 4C. In this case, it can be seen that the channel 1 710 and the channel 4 720 whose energy detection result values in all corresponding LRP channels are lower than the first threshold are HRP channels that can be selected in step S610. Here, the first threshold may be set to an appropriate value in advance as a criterion for selecting an LRP channel in which communication interference with another wireless network is below a certain level or no communication interference occurs.

 The coordinator capability device performs energy detection on one of the selected HRP channels (S620). The energy detection task for the HRP channel may be performed for a second threshold time. Here, the second threshold time may be set in advance as a time suitable for energy detection for the HRP channel. The second threshold time may be the same as or different from the first threshold time mentioned in step S510 of FIG. 5.

When the energy detection task in one HRP channel is completed, the coordinator capability device stores the highest energy detection result value in the corresponding HRP channel (S630).

Thereafter, the coordinator capability device determines whether energy detection for all HRP channels that have been selected in step S610 has been performed (S640). If there is an HRP channel on which the energy detection operation is not performed, the coordinator capability device changes the HRP channel on which the energy detection is to be performed (S650), and starts an energy detection operation on the changed HRP channel (S620). However, if the energy detection work for all the HRP channels selected in step S610 is completed, the HRP channel scanning process is terminated.

Once the scanning for both the LRP channel and the HRP channel is completed, the coordinator capability device selects the channels needed to start a new wireless network based on the results of the scanning operation. 8 shows a channel selection process according to an embodiment of the present invention.

The coordinator capability device selects the HRP channel having the lowest energy detection result value among the HRP channels on which the energy detection operation is performed (S810). Thereafter, the coordinator capability device determines whether the energy detection result of the selected HRP channel is lower than the second threshold (S820). When the selected HRP channel is used, the second threshold may be set to an appropriate value through a preliminary experiment as a criterion as to whether the communication interference with another wireless network is below a certain level or whether a new wireless network can be operated without communication interference. .

If the energy detection result of the selected HRP channel is not smaller than the second threshold (NO in S820), the coordinator capability device ends the channel selection operation. This case is a case where channel selection has failed, and the coordinator capability device will not form a new wireless network until at least one HRP channel is clear. However, if the selected HRP channel is smaller than the second threshold (YES in S820), the coordinator capability device selects any one of the plurality of LRP channels corresponding to the selected HRP channel (S830). Preferably, the coordinator capability device may select the LRP channel having the lowest energy detection result among the plurality of LRP channels corresponding to the selected HRP. For example, if channel 1 710 is selected as the HRP channel in the embodiment of FIG. 7, the coordinator capability device is the channel having the lowest energy detection result value among the LRP channels 1A, 1B, and 1C corresponding to channel 1. You can select 1A.

When the HRP channel and the LRP channel are selected through the above process, the coordinator capability device can start a new wireless network using the selected channels and transmit and receive necessary data.

In the above description, the device for starting a new wireless network selects an HRP channel and an LRP channel, but the present invention is not limited thereto. For example, the device can select an HRP channel and an LRP channel to send and receive data. That is, a device that selects an appropriate channel may transmit and receive necessary data through the selected channels.

9 is a block diagram illustrating a wireless communication device according to an embodiment of the present invention. The illustrated wireless communication device 900 is a coordinator capability device that performs the channel scanning and selection process described above.

The wireless communication device 900 includes a CPU 910, a storage unit 920, a MAC processing unit 940, and a transceiver unit 950.

The CPU 910 controls other components connected to the bus 930, and is a higher layer of a media access control (MAC) layer (e.g., a logical link control (LLC) layer, a network layer, and a transport layer) among general communication layers. Layer and the application layer). Accordingly, the CPU 910 processes the received data provided from the MAC processor 940 or generates and transmits the transmitted data to the MAC processor 940. For example, the data generated or processed by the CPU 910 may be uncompressed A / V data.

The storage unit 920 stores the received data processed by the CPU 910 or stores the transmission data generated by the CPU 910. The storage unit 920 may be a nonvolatile memory device such as a ROM, a PROM, an EPROM, an EEPROM, a flash memory, or a volatile memory device such as a RAM, a hard disk, Storage media such as an optical disc, or any other memory known in the art.

The MAC processor 940 instructs the transceiver 950 to scan a channel and selects a required channel based on an energy detection result of each channel provided from the transceiver 950. For example, the MAC processor 940 may find the HRP channel and the LRP channel pair having the least interference among all the supported HRP channels and LRP channels. If the interference in the found HRP channel and the LRP channel is smaller than a predetermined threshold, the MAC processing unit 940 may start a new wireless network using the found HRP channel and the LRP channel. To start the wireless network, the MAC processing unit 940 may generate a beacon including information on communication timing and provide the transceiver 950 to broadcast it.

The transceiver 950 performs channel scanning according to the instructions of the MAC processor 940. The transceiver 950 includes a first physical processor 950a and a second physical processor 950b. Among these, the first physical processor 950a is implemented by LRP, and the second physical processor 950b is implemented by HRP. Accordingly, the first physical processor 950a performs the scanning operation on the LRP channel according to the instruction of the MAC processor 940, and the second physical processor 950b performs the scanning operation on the HRP channel according to the instruction of the MAC processor 940. Perform a scanning operation. Channel scanning is a process of measuring the reception sensitivity of a wireless signal for a predetermined time sequentially for each channel and recording the highest energy detection result. At this time, the first physical processor 950a and the second physical processor 950b transmit the energy detection result measured according to channel scanning for each channel to the MAC processor 940.

The second physical processor 950b generates a baseband processor 952b that processes the baseband signal, and generates an actual radio signal from the processed baseband signal, and publicly generates the generated radio signal through the antenna 956b. It may be subdivided into a radio frequency (RF) processor 954b for transmitting by air.

More specifically, the baseband processor 952b performs frame formatting, channel coding, and the like, and the RF processor 954b performs analog wave amplification, analog / digital signal conversion, and modulation. On the other hand, the antenna 956b is preferably configured as an array antenna to enable beam steering. The array antenna may be in the form of a plurality of antenna elements arranged in a line. However, the present invention is not limited thereto. For example, the array antenna may be composed of a plurality of antenna elements arranged in a two-dimensional matrix form, in which case more precise and three-dimensional beam steering is possible.

The first physical processor 950a generates a baseband processor 952a for processing the baseband signal and an RF for generating an actual radio signal from the processed baseband signal and transmitting the generated radio signal to the air through the antenna 956a. The processor 954a may be subdivided. Basic configurations and functions of the baseband processor 952a and the RF processor 954a of the first physical processor 950a include the configurations and functions of the baseband processor 952b and the RF processor 954b of the second physical processor 950b. Similar to However, since the communication channel used by the first physical processor 950a and the second physical processor 950b and the types of data to be transmitted are different from each other as described above, the baseband processor 952a and the baseband processor 952b. May use different types of channel coding schemes or different channel coding parameters from each other. In addition, the RF processor 954a and the RF processor 954b may use different modulation schemes or different frequency bands.

An example of a frequency band that the RF processor 954b can use is shown in Table 1, and an example of a frequency band that the RF processor 954a can use is shown in Table 2. In this regard, a transmit spectral mask of the RF processor 954b according to an embodiment of the present invention is illustrated in FIG. 10A, and a transmit spectral mask of the RF processor 954a is provided. Is as shown in FIG. 10B.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the functions and operations of the MAC processor 940 and the transceiver 950 for searching and selecting the HRP channel and the LRP channel are described with reference to FIGS. 5 to 8. It can be understood through.

Components of the wireless communication apparatus 900 described above with reference to FIG. 9 may be implemented as modules. 'Module' means a software component or hardware component such as a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) or Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), where the module plays some role. However, modules are not meant to be limited to software or hardware. The module may be configured to be in an addressable storage medium and may be configured to execute one or more processors. Thus, as an example, a module may include components such as software components, object-oriented software components, class components, and task components, and processes, functions, properties, procedures, subroutines. , Segments of program code, drivers, firmware, microcode, circuits, data, databases, data structures, tables, arrays, and variables. The functionality provided by the components and modules may be combined into a smaller number of components and modules or further separated into additional components and modules.

On the other hand, those skilled in the art will be able to write a program that can perform the processes described with reference to FIGS. By recording such a program in a computer-readable storage medium and connecting it to a computer, the embodiments described herein and other equivalent embodiments may be implemented, and such cases are also within the scope of the present invention. Should be interpreted as being included.

Although embodiments of the present invention have been described above with reference to the accompanying drawings, those skilled in the art to which the present invention pertains may implement the present invention in other specific forms without changing the technical spirit or essential features thereof. You will understand that. Therefore, it should be understood that the embodiments described above are exemplary in all respects and not restrictive.

According to the embodiment of the present invention as described above has one or more of the following effects.

First, it is possible to effectively scan and select a plurality of channels with different supportable transmission capabilities.

Second, a wireless network using a high speed channel and a low speed channel can be provided.

Claims (37)

Selecting a first channel and a second channel that support different data transmission capabilities; And And transmitting and receiving data using the selected first and second channels. The method of claim 1, And the data transfer capability is a data transfer rate. The method of claim 1, The selecting step, Selecting the first channel among a plurality of first channels; And And selecting the second channel among a plurality of second channels corresponding to the selected first channel. The method of claim 3, wherein Wherein the number of the plurality of second channels is three or more. The method of claim 3, wherein The frequency band of the selected first channel comprises a frequency band of each of the plurality of second channels. The method of claim 3, wherein the selecting of the first channel comprises: Performing energy detection on at least one first channel of the plurality of first channels according to signal reception sensitivity; And Selecting the first channel with the smallest result of the energy detection. The method of claim 6, wherein performing the energy detection, Performing energy detection according to signal reception sensitivity in each of all of the supportable second channels; And Performing energy detection in at least one first channel of the plurality of first channels, the result of energy detection in a corresponding second channel being less than a predetermined threshold. The method of claim 7, wherein And wherein the energy detection on each of the all supportable second channels is performed for a predetermined threshold time for all the supportable second channels. The method of claim 8, And the threshold time is longer than a superframe period representing a communication timing schedule in the wireless network. The method of claim 3, wherein And a result value of energy detection according to signal reception sensitivity in the selected first channel is smaller than a predetermined threshold. The method of claim 3, wherein And wherein the selected second channel has the lowest result of energy detection according to signal reception sensitivity among the plurality of second channels. A method of determining which channel to use in a wireless network. Scanning a plurality of channels; And And selecting a plurality of channels supporting different data transmission capacities according to the scanning result. The method of claim 12, And the data transfer capability is a data transfer rate. The method of claim 12, The plurality of channels includes a plurality of first channels and a plurality of second channels, And the plurality of first channels respectively correspond to at least one of the plurality of second channels. The method of claim 14, And a frequency band of each of the plurality of first channels comprises a frequency band of a corresponding second channel among the plurality of second channels. The method of claim 14, wherein the scanning step, Performing energy detection on the plurality of second channels according to signal reception sensitivity; And Performing energy detection on at least one first channel among the plurality of first channels according to signal reception sensitivity. The method of claim 16, wherein performing energy detection on at least one of the plurality of first channels according to signal reception sensitivity comprises: Performing energy detection on the at least one first channel of the plurality of first channels, the result of energy detection of a corresponding second channel being less than a threshold. The method of claim 16, wherein the selecting step, Selecting a first channel having a smallest result value of the energy detection among the plurality of first channels; And Selecting a second channel having a smallest result of energy detection among second channels corresponding to the selected first channel. The method of claim 18, And the result of the energy detection of the selected first channel is less than a predetermined threshold. The method of claim 16, The energy detection in each of the plurality of second channels is performed for a predetermined threshold time for each of the plurality of second channels. The method of claim 20, And the threshold time is longer than a superframe period indicative of a communication timing schedule in the wireless network. Transmitting and receiving unit for scanning a plurality of channels; And And a MAC processor for selecting a plurality of channels supporting different data transmission capacities according to the scanning result. The method of claim 22, And the data transfer capability is a data transfer rate. The method of claim 22, The plurality of channels includes a plurality of first channels and a plurality of second channels, And the plurality of first channels each correspond to at least one of the plurality of second channels. The method of claim 24, And a frequency band of each of the plurality of first channels comprises a frequency band of a corresponding second channel among the plurality of second channels. The method of claim 24, wherein the transceiver unit, A first physical processor configured to perform energy detection on the plurality of second channels according to signal reception sensitivity; And And a second physical processor configured to perform energy detection based on signal reception sensitivity of at least one first channel among the plurality of first channels. The method of claim 26, And the second physical processing unit performs the energy detection on the at least one first channel having a result value of energy detection of a corresponding second channel smaller than a threshold among the plurality of first channels. The method of claim 26, wherein the MAC processing unit, Select a first channel having the smallest result of the energy detection among the plurality of first channels, and select a second channel having the smallest result of the energy detection among second channels corresponding to the selected first channel. Wireless communication device. The method of claim 28, And the result of energy detection of the selected first channel is less than a predetermined threshold. The method of claim 26, Wherein the energy detection in each of the plurality of second channels is performed for a predetermined threshold time for each of the plurality of second channels. The method of claim 30, And the threshold time is longer than a superframe period indicative of a communication timing schedule in the wireless network. The method of claim 22, The MAC processing unit generates a beacon for starting a wireless network using the selected plurality of channels. The method of claim 32, And the beacon includes information regarding communication timing in the wireless network. The method of claim 32, The transceiver unit transmits the generated beacon through any one of the selected plurality of channels. The method of claim 22, And a transceiver configured to transmit and receive data using the selected plurality of channels. A storage medium having recorded thereon a computer-readable program capable of executing any one of claims 1 to 11. A storage medium having recorded thereon a computer-readable program capable of executing any one of claims 12 to 21.

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