TWI532342B - Communication methods and apparatus relating to cooperative and non-cooperative modes of operation - Google Patents

Description

Communication method and device related to cooperative operation mode and non-cooperative operation mode

Various embodiments are directed to methods and apparatus for wireless communication.

The two types of networks that are common today are ad hoc networks and cellular networks. Special-purpose networks are relatively common when the unlicensed spectrum is open for public use. In the case of such networks, wireless communication devices in the area can establish a network therebetween to control the configuration of communication resources without relying on infrastructure base stations and/or other devices. From a utilization perspective, in an unlicensed spectrum, individual communication devices are generally free to maximize their use of unlicensed spectrum regardless of other devices. Unfortunately, the measures taken by the communication device can adversely adversely affect the communication of the neighboring device, for example, by acting as an interference to the neighboring device.

In the case of a honeycomb of the commonly licensed spectrum, the owner of the spectrum license is usually interested in maximizing the use of the spectrum. It is generally understood that communication devices that work together in a cooperative manner may typically use a given amount of communication resources (such as spectrum) to achieve a comparison with devices that seek to optimize their throughput without regard to the effects on other devices. High overall data throughput. Acting in a cooperative manner may include, for example, responding to interference control signals, such as transmission power level control signals, resource configuration signals, and/or for being optimally optimized for individual communication devices but limited by the device The manner of interference with other devices controls other types of signals transmitted by the wireless communication. Devices in a cellular system are typically designated to operate in a cooperative manner.

While operating in a cooperative manner may be beneficial from an overall system perspective, it may not be beneficial from the perspective of individual wireless communication devices. In fact, when operating in an unlicensed spectrum and/or when operating in the presence of a device operating in a non-cooperative manner, operating in a cooperative manner with respect to the amount of throughput achievable with a communication device operating in a non-cooperative manner It can lead to significant shortcomings in communication capabilities. In the case of an unlicensed spectrum, resource greedy communication devices may have the unique advantage of a resource-aware device that is superior to the cooperation.

In view of the above discussion, it should be appreciated that there is a need to provide flexibility in how wireless communication devices operate relative to other devices (e.g., in a cooperative or non-cooperative manner). It would be desirable to develop methods and/or devices that allow for device flexibility in terms of whether the device operates in a cooperative or non-cooperative manner. It would also be desirable if the device having the flexibility to operate in a cooperative or non-cooperative manner can make decisions based on how to operate in a reasonable manner based on information about the capabilities and/or operation of the adjacent devices.

Various methods and apparatus are described that can be used to facilitate and/or implement a particular network and/or for use in a non-heterogeneous communication system. Although various communication protocols and/or methods are described that may be used together, it is to be understood that many of the features and methods described herein can be used independently or in combination. Therefore, the following summary is not intended to be taken as a limitation In fact, many embodiments may include only one or several of the features, elements, methods or steps discussed in the following summary.

A wireless communication method and apparatus are supported in a communication system including a plurality of wireless communication devices. In this system, the device supports low bit rate communication using one or more beacon signals. The beacon signal includes a beacon signal burst, and the beacon signal burst includes a relatively high power symbol. While the relatively high power of the beacon symbol makes it easy to detect, it has a relatively low incidence over time and/or a very small amount of bandwidth used. Assuming that the beacon signal rarely uses the available bandwidth, the high power beacon signal, while acting as interference to other communications, produces other communication protocols that support relatively high bit rate communications (eg, such as CDMA, Bluetooth, WiFi). Interference with the tolerance of the communication protocol). Moreover, although the beacon symbol is transmitted at a high power compared to the average per symbol power used to transmit the data symbols, the high power beacon symbols are not caused to the wireless communication device, provided that the beacon symbols are transmitted relatively infrequently. Excessive consumption of power.

In various embodiments, beacon signaling is used as a basic communication method and/or protocol whereby a wireless communication device communicates device capabilities and/or other basic information to other devices while also notifying other devices in the zone in which they are present. Thus, beacon signal bursts can be used to communicate things such as device identifiers, device capability information, and/or transfer/negotiate basic device configurations as part of establishing a communication session with another device. Wireless communication devices that can transmit and receive beacon signals can include, for example, mobile communication devices such as wireless handsets and stationary devices such as fixed location base stations.

By using a beacon transmitter/receiver, devices supporting different high bit rate protocols can exchange information using more basic low rate beacon messages that can be easily supported by a wide range of devices. Thus, beacon signals can be used as a basic protocol for switching devices and session information, while other higher rate protocols are used for actual communication of user data, for example, as an initial setting of information via devices that use beacons to transmit information. Part of the communication session established after communication and/or exchange. In various embodiments, beacon signal communication relies primarily on signal timing and/or signal frequency to convey information. Therefore, since many receivers include the ability to distinguish between different frequencies and different reception times, beacon signaling is well suited for OFDM, CDMA, and/or other communication applications.

The use of frequency and signaling timing (eg, timing between repeated bursts and/or beacon transmissions) makes beacon symbol detection and information recovery relatively easy and inexpensive to combine with many existing receiver designs. Implemented in hardware. Therefore, the beacon signal receiver and the information reply module can be implemented at a relatively low cost. In addition, the oversimplified nature of beacon receivers allows for low cost beacon receivers/transmitters, even in the case of some receiver circuits that are not shared between receivers designed for higher bit rate communication protocols. Designed to use these designs in combination with current receivers/transmitters, such as existing OFDM, CDMA, and other types of receivers/transmitters, at a small additional cost.

In many but not necessarily all embodiments, when a beacon signal is used, the phase of the beacon symbol is not used to convey information. This greatly reduces the cost of the receiver compared to, for example, CDMA, WiFi, and/or other types of receivers that rely on phase usage to pass at least some information and thereby achieve a relatively high data transfer rate. And complexity. Compared with the signaling technology that uses phase to transmit information, the amount of information transmitted by the beacon signal that does not use phase to transmit information is relatively low. Therefore, although the use of beacon signals has the advantage of easy detection and low-cost hardware implementation, in many cases where the user data is communicated during the session (for example, it may be necessary to exchange a large amount in a relatively short amount of time) In the case of voice and / or text information) is not practical.

By incorporating beacon symbol transmitters and receivers into devices that support other communication protocols, devices that are not otherwise communicable can exchange basic configuration and device capability information.

In some embodiments, beacon signaling is used as a basic communication method whereby the device discovers the existence of other devices and their capabilities. The device can then select a configuration (e.g., a protocol stack) that is adapted to communicate with the device from which information can be obtained via the use of the beacon signal using one or more higher level agreements.

Due to the low bit rate nature of beacon signaling, a plurality of different sets of device capability combinations (e.g., protocol stacking possibilities) may be predefined and identified by a device capability code. For example, Code 1 can be used to indicate a device capable of supporting CDMA, WiFi, and session initiation protocol signaling. Code 2 can be used to indicate a device capable of supporting CDMA and the start-up protocol signaling (rather than WiFi). Code 3 can be used to indicate a device that can support WiFi and the start-up agreement (not WiFi). The capability code to indicate which versions or sub-versions of a particular protocol suite are supported may be predefined. For example, the code can indicate support for various combinations and versions of PHY, MAC, and link layer protocols rather than just signaling WiFi. In this way, a large amount of device capability information can be transmitted by transmitting a simple code using low bit rate signaling.

The device receiving the beacon signal can respond by transmitting a beacon signal indicating a preferred device configuration for a communication session. The device receiving the beacon signal can responsively change its configuration to the suggested configuration and/or respond by suggesting that the transmitting device change its configuration or use a different device configuration/contract stack. In this way, the device can exchange configuration information and change its configuration so that the two devices can then use different communication protocols (eg, using higher level protocols of the phase, such as CDMA, WiFi, GSM, or some other OFDM protocol) To communicate the session, in exchange for user data (for example, text, voice or video material) as part of the wireless communication session. The device can confirm and/or indicate the acceptance of the configuration suggestion information as part of the beacon handshake.

Although the beacon handshake can be used to negotiate device settings, the device can only receive information from the beacon signal from another device, adjust its configuration based on the received signal and then follow the device from which the beacon signal was received or another Device communication.

In networks where at least some devices support different capabilities and/or multiple communication methods, the use of beacon signaling allows devices in a region to understand other devices in a region and their device capabilities. In systems where three or more devices are located in the same geographic area, the first and second devices that do not support the same higher level communication protocol can establish a communication via a third device that supports multiple higher level communication protocols. During the session, at least one of the plurality of higher level communication protocols is supported by the first device, and the other of the plurality is supported by the second device. Beacon signaling allows the first and third devices to communicate with each other and establish a communication session with respect to device capabilities and/or configuration information, and also allows the second and third devices to communicate with each other regarding device capabilities and/or configuration information And establishing a communication session, all of which enables the first and second devices to use the third communication device as a communication intermediate to establish a communication session. Therefore, through the use of beacon transmissions, special networks can be established between devices, and devices that do not use beacon transmissions will generally not be able to interact and be able to establish communication sessions and allow for on-the-spot and device capabilities and agreements. A special network of communications in a widely changing area.

For example, in the area where the first device supports beacon transmission and WiFi, the second device supports beacon transmission, and the CDMA and Bluetooth and the third device supports beacon transmission, WiFi, and CDMA, the first and the first The second device can establish a communication session, each of the first and second devices individually communicating with the third device using the beacon transmission to establish a higher layer communication link, thereby enabling the third device to act as the first and second Communication intermediate between devices. The use of the beacon signal allows the third device to know the first and second devices and their capabilities such that they can establish an appropriate higher layer communication link between the third devices such that between the first and second devices The peer communication session is possible. Thus, it allows for sufficient communication between the devices to establish a communication session whereby the first device uses WiFi to communicate user data as part of the communication session between the first and third devices, and The second device communicates between the second and third devices using CDMA, wherein the third device acts as a communication intermediate for the communication session between the first and second devices. The use of beacons allows the establishment of such networks on a special basis.

The same or different frequency bands can be used with each of the first, second and third protocols. For example, beacon signaling can occur in the first frequency band, while OFDM and CDMA can occur in the second and third frequency bands, respectively. In other embodiments, the beacon signaling is performed in the same frequency band as the frequency band used for the second and/or third communication protocol.

In various embodiments, the device supports a cooperative mode of operation and a non-cooperative mode of operation. In the case of a cooperative mode of operation, individual devices operate in a manner that results in lower communication performance of the individual device but generally tends to increase overall communication performance in the system. In the case of a non-cooperative mode of operation, the device optimizes its communication performance regardless of the impact on other devices with which it is not communicating (e.g., in terms of interference). Communication performance can be specified in a variety of ways. A common way is based on overall data throughput. Thus, in some embodiments, when in the non-cooperative mode, the communication device maximizes its amount of data delivery regardless of the impact on other devices. Delays are sometimes used as an indicator of performance. In some embodiments, when operating in a non-cooperative mode, the communication device operates to minimize its delay, regardless of the impact on other devices. Minimizing the delay without regard to other devices may involve, for example, transmitting the transmission as fast as possible without delaying the transmission until the other device completes its transmission, knowing that the transmission can be consistent with the expected transmission by another device.

Cooperative mode operations may involve power control and other interference management techniques, and in some cases may involve responding to resource configuration instructions (eg, from a base station or other controller). When operating in a cellular mode of operation, cooperative mode operation is used in some embodiments. When in some embodiments, the non-cooperative mode is used when operating in an unlicensed spectrum and/or when there is a communication device corresponding to another carrier or service provider. In some implementations, when the first device operates in the non-cooperative mode using the first communication protocol and detects a second device that also manages to use the first communication protocol communication, the first device switches to the second communication device A communication protocol that supports but uses the same frequency band as the frequency band that the second communication device is trying to use is supported. Therefore, the signal of the first communication device becomes interference with the second communication device, and the first communication device will not respond to the interference control signal corresponding to the first communication protocol from the second communication device because the first communication The device has intentionally switched to the second communication protocol. The first communication device can switch back to the first communication protocol when the second device leaves the zone. In some embodiments, the first and second communication protocols are WiFi and Bluetooth.

In some embodiments, the device determines whether to operate in a cooperative manner or in a non-cooperative manner based on whether the devices in a region are identified as corresponding to the same communication carrier or different communication carriers. The decision to operate in a cooperative or non-cooperative manner may also be based on whether the devices in the area correspond to the same service provider, owner or group or whether the detected device attempting to share the spectrum corresponds to a different service provider, owning Or group.

In the case of a non-cooperative mode of operation, a device operating in a non-cooperative mode of operation may transmit a signal intended to cause other devices in the region to reduce transmission and/or power levels. This may involve transmitting control signals intended to induce other devices to reduce their transmission level, and/or transmissions that are not intended to convey information but appear to interfere with other devices in the area (allowing other devices to reduce or modify their transmission for release) The signal of the spectrum of the device transmitting the signals.

Numerous additional features, benefits, and/or embodiments are discussed in the following [Embodiment].

FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary utility communication network 100 implemented in accordance with various embodiments. Two exemplary wireless terminals (i.e., first wireless terminal 102 and second wireless terminal 104) are present in geographic area 106. For communication purposes, some frequency bands are available for use by two wireless terminals. The two wireless terminals use the available frequency bands to establish a point-to-point communication link with each other.

Since a dedicated network may not have a network infrastructure, a wireless terminal may not have a general timing or frequency reference. This leads to some of the challenges in the special network. To illustrate, consider how any of the terminals can detect the presence of another.

For simplicity of description, it is assumed hereinafter that a wireless terminal can transmit or receive, but not both transmit and receive, at a given time. It should be understood that those skilled in the art can apply the same principles to the case where the terminal transmits and receives simultaneously.

2 includes a diagram 200 to describe one of two possible mechanisms that two wireless terminals can use to discover each other. The first terminal transmits a signal in time interval 202 and receives the signal in time interval 204. At the same time, the second terminal transmits a signal in time interval 206 and receives the signal in time interval 208. Note that if the first wireless terminal can transmit and receive simultaneously, the time intervals 202 and 204 can overlap each other.

Note that since the two wireless terminals do not have a general timing reference, their TX (transmission) and RX (reception) timings are not synchronized. In particular, Figure 2 shows that time intervals 204 and 206 do not overlap. When the first wireless terminal is listening, the second wireless terminal does not transmit, and when the second wireless terminal transmits, the first wireless terminal does not listen. Therefore, the first wireless terminal does not detect the presence of the second wireless terminal. Similarly, time intervals 202 and 208 do not overlap. Therefore, the second wireless terminal also does not detect the presence of the first wireless terminal.

There are ways to overcome the above false detection problems. For example, a wireless terminal can randomize the time interval between the TX and RX procedures such that over time, the two wireless terminals will be proactively detected each other. However, the cost is the delay and the corresponding battery power consumption. In addition, power consumption is also determined by the power requirements in the TX and RX procedures. For example, less processing power may be required to detect another form of signal than detecting a form of signal.

An advantage of various embodiments is that new signal TX and RX procedures are implemented and used to reduce the delay in detecting the presence of another terminal and the associated power consumption.

According to various embodiments, a wireless terminal transmits a special signal (referred to as a beacon signal) that occupies a fraction of the total amount of available air link communication resources (e.g., in some embodiments, does not exceed 0.1%). In some embodiments, airlink communication resources are measured according to a minimum or basic transmission unit (eg, an OFDM carrier tone symbol in an OFDM system). In some embodiments, airlink communication resources may be measured in terms of degrees of freedom, where degrees of freedom are the smallest unit of resources available for communication. For example, in a CDMA system, the degree of freedom may be a spreading code, corresponding to a symbol period. In general, the degrees of freedom in a given system are orthogonal to each other.

An illustrative embodiment of a frequency division multiplexing system (e.g., an OFDM system) is contemplated. In this system, information is transmitted symbol by symbol. During a symbol transmission period, all available bandwidths are divided into a number of carrier tones, each of which can be used to carry information.

FIG. 3 includes a diagram 300 showing available resources in an exemplary OFDM system. Horizontal axis 301 represents time and vertical axis 302 represents frequency. Vertical lines represent each carrier tone in a given symbol period. Each small block 304 represents a carrier tone symbol that is a single carrier tone air link resource within a single transmission symbol period. The minimum transmission unit in an OFDM symbol is a carrier tone symbol.

The beacon signal includes a sequence of beacon signal bursts (308, 310, 312) that are sequentially transmitted over time. A beacon signal burst includes a small number of beacon symbols. In this example, each beacon symbol burst (308, 310, 312) includes a beacon symbol and 19 nulls. In this example, each beacon symbol is a single carrier tone within a transmission period. In some embodiments, the beacon signal burst includes the same carrier tone beacon symbol within a few transmission symbol periods (eg, one or two symbol periods). Figure 3 shows three small black boxes, each of which (306) represents a beacon symbol. In this case, the beacon symbol uses an air link resource of a carrier tone symbol, that is, a beacon symbol transmission unit is an OFDM carrier tone symbol. In another embodiment, the beacon symbol comprises a carrier tone transmitted over two consecutive symbol periods, and the beacon symbol transmission unit comprises two adjacent OFDM carrier tone symbols.

The beacon signal occupies a small portion of all minimum transmission units. N represents the total number of carrier frequencies of the relevant spectrum. In any relatively long time interval (eg, one or two seconds), the number of symbol periods is assumed to be T. Thus, the total number of minimum transmission units is N*T. According to various embodiments, the number of carrier tone symbols occupied by the beacon signal in the time interval is significantly less than N*T, such as, in some embodiments, no more than 0.1% of N*T.

In some embodiments, the carrier frequency of the beacon symbol in the beacon signal burst is modulated from a burst change (frequency hopping) to another burst. According to various embodiments, the carrier frequency hopping pattern of the beacon symbol is a function of the wireless terminal and may be and sometimes used as an identification of the terminal or identification of the type of the terminal. In general, the information in the beacon signal can be decoded by determining which minimum transmission unit transmits the beacon symbol. For example, in addition to the carrier frequency hopping sequence, the information may include the frequency of the carrier frequency of the beacon symbol in a given beacon signal burst, the number of beacon symbols in a given burst, and the beacon signal. The duration of the burst and/or the interval between bursts.

From the perspective of transmission power, the beacon signal can also be characterized. According to various embodiments, the transmission power of the beacon signal per minimum transmission unit is much higher than the average transmission power of the data and control signals per degree of freedom when the terminal transmitter is in a normal data session (eg, in some embodiments) Medium is above 10 dB). According to some embodiments, the transmission power of the beacon signal per minimum transmission unit is at least 16 dB higher than the average transmission power of the data per degree of freedom and the control signal when the terminal transmitter is in a normal data session. For example, the graph 400 of FIG. 4 plots the transmission power used in each of the carrier tone symbols over a relatively long time interval (eg, one or two seconds) in which the wireless terminal is in the data During the session, that is, the terminal transmits the data and control information using the relevant spectrum. For the purposes of this discussion, the order of these carrier tone symbols (represented by horizontal axis 401) is not critical. The smaller vertical rectangle 404 represents the power of the individual carrier tone symbols that convey user data and/or control information. For comparison, a higher black rectangle 406 is also included to show the power of the beacon carrier tone symbols.

In another embodiment, the beacon signal includes a sequence of beacon signal bursts transmitted in intermittent time periods. A beacon signal burst includes one or more (several) time domain pulses. A time domain pulse signal is a special signal that occupies a small transmission duration over a certain spectral bandwidth. For example, in a communication system with a usable bandwidth of 30 kHz, the time domain pulse signal occupies a significant portion of the 30 kHz bandwidth for a short duration of time. In any relatively long time interval (eg, several seconds), the total duration of the time domain pulses is a fraction of the total duration (eg, no more than 0.1% in some embodiments). Moreover, the transmission power per degree of freedom in the time interval in which the pulse signal is transmitted is significantly higher than the average transmission power per degree of freedom when the transmitter is in the normal data session (e.g., above 10 dB in some embodiments). In some embodiments, the transmission power per degree of freedom in the time interval in which the pulse signal is transmitted is at least 16 dB higher than the average transmission power per degree of freedom when the transmitter is in the normal data session.

Figure 4 shows that the carrier tone symbol can be different from the transmission power of another carrier tone symbol. P _avg represents the average transmission power per symbol of the carrier tone (408). According to various embodiments, the per-carrier tone symbol transmission power of the beacon signal is much higher than P _avg (eg, at least 10 dB above it). In some embodiments, the per-carrier tone symbol transmission power of the beacon signal is at least 16 dB higher than P _avg . In an exemplary embodiment, the per-carrier tone symbol transmission power of the beacon signal is 20 dB higher than P _avg .

In one embodiment, the transmit power per carrier tone symbol of the beacon signal is constant for a given terminal. That is, the power does not change with time or with carrier frequency. In another embodiment, for a plurality of terminals (or even each of the terminals in the network), the per-carrier tone symbol transmission power of the beacon signal is the same.

Figure 500 of Figure 5 illustrates one embodiment of transmitting a beacon signal burst. The wireless terminal continues to transmit beacon signal bursts (eg, beacon signal burst A 502, beacon signal burst B 504, beacon signal burst C 506, etc.) even if the wireless terminal determines that no other terminal exists nearby The machine or even the terminal has detected other terminals and may even have established a communication link with it.

The terminal transmits the beacon signal bursts in an intermittent (i.e., non-continuous) manner such that there are many symbol periods between the bursts of two consecutive beacon signals. In general, the duration of the beacon signal burst is much shorter than the number of symbol periods between two consecutive beacon signal bursts (eg, in some embodiments less than at least 50 times), the symbol period It is expressed as L 505. In one embodiment, the value of L is fixed and constant, in which case the beacon signal is periodic. In some embodiments, the value of L is the same and known for each of the terminals. In another embodiment, the value of L varies over time, for example, according to a predetermined or pseudo-random pattern. For example, the number can be a number distributed between the constants L ₀ and L ₁ , for example, a random number.

Diagram 600 of FIG. 6 illustrates an exemplary embodiment in which receiving beacon signal bursts may occur during some specified time interval and at other times the receiver is turned off to save power. The wireless terminal listens to the associated spectrum and attempts to detect a beacon signal that can be transmitted by a different terminal. The wireless terminal can be continuously in the listening mode for a time interval of several symbol periods, which is referred to as the on time. The turn-on time 602 is followed by a turn-off time 606 during which the wireless terminal is in a power save mode and does not receive any signals. In this off time, in some embodiments, the wireless terminal completely shuts down the receiving module. When the off time 606 ends, the terminal reverts to the on time 604 and begins detecting the beacon signal again. Repeat the above procedure.

Preferably, the length of the on time interval is shorter than the length of the off time interval. In an embodiment, the on time interval may be less than 1/5 of the off time interval. In one embodiment, each of the on-time intervals is the same length, and the length of each of the off-time intervals is also the same.

In some embodiments, if the second wireless terminal actually exists in the vicinity of the first wireless terminal, the length of the closing interval is determined by the first wireless terminal detecting the presence of another (second) wireless terminal The delay requirement depends on. The length of the on-time interval is determined such that the first wireless terminal has a greater probability of detecting at least one beacon signal burst during the on-time interval. In one embodiment, the length of the on-time interval is a function of at least one of a transmission duration of a beacon signal burst and a duration between bursts of consecutive beacon signals. For example, the length of the on-time interval is at least the sum of the duration between the transmission duration of a beacon signal burst and the burst of consecutive beacon signals.

Figure 700 of Figure 7 illustrates how the terminal detects the presence of a second terminal when the two terminals use the beacon signal transmission and reception procedures implemented in accordance with various embodiments.

The horizontal axis 701 represents time. The first wireless terminal 720 arrives at the special network before the second wireless terminal 724 appears. The first wireless terminal 720 uses the transmitter 722 to begin transmitting beacon signals (which include a sequence of beacon signal bursts 710, 712, 714, etc.). The second wireless terminal 724 appears after the first wireless terminal 720 has transmitted the burst 710. It is assumed that the second wireless terminal set 724 (including the receiver 726) begins to turn on the time interval 702. Note that the on time interval is large enough to cover the transmission duration of the beacon signal burst 712 and the duration between bursts 712 and 714. Accordingly, the second wireless terminal 724 can detect the presence of the signature burst 712 during the on time interval 702 even though the first and second wireless terminals (720, 724) do not have a general timing reference.

FIG. 8 illustrates an embodiment of an illustrative state diagram 800 implemented in a wireless terminal device in accordance with various embodiments.

When the wireless terminal is powered on, the wireless terminal enters state 802, wherein the terminal determines the start time of a beacon signal burst to be transmitted. In addition, the wireless terminal determines the start time of the next on-time interval of the receiver. The wireless terminal may, and in some embodiments does, use a transmitter timer and a receiver timer to manage the start times. The wireless terminal waits until any timer expires. Note that any timer may expire in an instant, which means that after powering up, the wireless terminal is about to transmit or detect beacon signal bursts.

After the expiration of the TX timer, the terminal enters state 804. The wireless terminal determines a signal form that includes the bursts of the tone to be used by the burst and transmits the beacon signal burst. Once the transmission is made, the terminal returns to state 802.

After the expiration of the RX timer, the wireless terminal enters state 806. The wireless terminal is in listening mode and searches for beacon signals. If the wireless terminal has not found a beacon signal burst when the on time interval ends, the wireless terminal returns to state 802. In the case where the wireless terminal detects a new beacon signal burst of the wireless terminal, if the wireless terminal intends to communicate with the new terminal, the wireless terminal proceeds to state 808. In state 808, the wireless terminal obtains the timing and/or frequency of the new wireless terminal from the detected beacon signal and then synchronizes its own timing and/or frequency with the new wireless terminal. For example, a wireless terminal can use a beacon location in time and/or frequency as a basis for estimating the timing phase and/or frequency of a new wireless terminal. This information can be used to synchronize two wireless terminals.

Once the synchronization is complete, the wireless terminal can send additional signals to the new terminal (810) and establish a communication link. The wireless terminal and the new wireless terminal can then set a point-to-point communication session. When the wireless terminal has established a communication link with another terminal, the terminal should continue to transmit the beacon signal intermittently so that other terminals (for example, new wireless terminals) can detect the wireless terminal. Moreover, in some embodiments, the wireless terminal continues to periodically enter an on time interval to detect a new wireless terminal.

FIG. 9 provides a detailed illustration of an exemplary wireless terminal 900 (eg, a portable mobile node) implemented in accordance with various embodiments. The exemplary wireless terminal 900 depicted in FIG. 9 is a detailed illustration of a device that can be used as any of the terminals 102 and 104 depicted in FIG. In the embodiment of FIG. 9, the terminal 900 includes a processor 904 coupled to the bus 906, a wireless communication interface module 930, a user input/output interface 940, and a memory 910. Thus, via bus 906, various components of terminal 900 can exchange information, signals, and data. Components 904, 906, 910, 930, 940 of terminal 900 are located inside housing 902.

The wireless communication interface module 930 provides a mechanism by which internal components of the wireless terminal 900 can be used to transmit signals to and from external devices and to another wireless terminal. The wireless communication interface module 930 includes, for example, a receiver module 932 coupled to the duplexer 938 and a transmitter module 934 having a means for coupling the wireless terminal 900, for example, via a wireless communication channel. Connect to the antenna 936 of the other terminal.

The exemplary wireless terminal 900 also includes a user input device 942 (eg, a keypad) and a user output device 944 (eg, a display), and the user input device 942 and the user output device 944 are input/output via the user. The interface 940 is coupled to the bus bar 906. Thus, user input/output devices 942, 944 can exchange information, signals, and data with other components of the terminal 900 via user input/output interface 940 and bus 906. User input/output interface 940 and associated devices 942, 944 provide a mechanism by which a user can operate wireless terminal 900 to perform various tasks. In detail, the user input device 942 and the user output device 944 provide an application (eg, a module, a program, a routine, and the like) that allows the user to control the wireless terminal 900 and the memory 910 of the wireless terminal 900. / or function) functionality.

The processor 904 under the control of various modules (e.g., routines) included in the memory 910 controls the operation of the wireless terminal 900 to perform various signaling and processing. The modules included in the memory 910 are executed when activated or when called by other modules. When executed, the module exchanges data, information and signals. Modules can also share information and information when executed. In the embodiment of FIG. 9, memory 910 of exemplary wireless terminal 900 includes messaging/control module 912 and signaling/control data 914.

The messaging/control module 912 controls processing associated with receiving and transmitting signals (e.g., messages) for managing status information storage, retrieval, and processing. The signaling/control data 914 includes status information such as parameters, status, and/or other information related to the operation of the terminal. In particular, the signaling/control data 914 includes beacon signal configuration information 916 (eg, a symbol period in which a beacon signal will be transmitted and will be signaled using a beacon signal including a frequency carrier tone) And the receiver on time and off time configuration information 918 (eg, the start and end times of the on time interval). Module 912 can access and/or modify data 914, for example, to update configuration information 916 and 918. The module 912 also includes a module 911 for generating and transmitting beacon signal bursts, a module 913 for detecting beacon signal bursts, and for determining and/or implementing timing and/or frequency synchronization information as receiving The synchronization module 915 of the function of the beacon signal information.

10 is a diagram of a flowchart 1000 of an exemplary method of operating a portable wireless terminal in accordance with various embodiments. The operation of the exemplary method begins in step 1002, where the wireless terminal is powered on and initialized and proceeds to step 1004. In step 1004, the wireless terminal is operative to transmit a beacon signal and user profile during the first time interval. Step 1004 includes sub-step 1006 and sub-step 1008.

In sub-step 1006, the wireless terminal is operative to transmit a beacon signal comprising a sequence of beacon signal bursts, each beacon signal burst comprising one or more beacon symbols, each beacon symbol occupying A beacon symbol transmission unit that transmits one or more beacon symbols during each beacon symbol burst. In various embodiments, the transmission power used to transmit the beacon signal is from a battery power source. In some embodiments, the number of beacon symbols in the beacon signal burst occupies less than 10 percent of the available beacon symbol transmission units. In some embodiments, each of the beacon signal bursts transmitted in the beacon signal burst of the sequence has the same period. In other embodiments, at least some of the beacon signal bursts transmitted in the sequence of beacon signal bursts have periods of different lengths.

Sub-step 1006 includes sub-step 1010. In sub-step 1010, the wireless terminal transmits, inter operatively, the beacon signal bursts, wherein a time period between two adjacent beacon signal bursts in the sequence of beacon signal bursts is At least 5 times the duration of either of the two adjacent beacon signal bursts. In some embodiments, the time interval between beacon signal bursts occurring during the first time period is constant with the beacon signal burst that occurs in a periodic manner during the first time period. In some such embodiments, the duration of the beacon signal burst during the first time period is constant. In some embodiments, the time interval between beacon signal bursts occurring during the first time period varies according to a predetermined pattern as the beacon signal bursts occurring during the first time period. In some such embodiments, the duration of the beacon signal burst during the first time period is constant. In some embodiments, the predetermined pattern varies depending on the wireless terminal that performs the transmission step. In various embodiments, the predetermined pattern is the same for all wireless terminals in the system. In some embodiments, the pattern is a pseudo-random pattern.

In sub-step 1008, the wireless terminal is operative to transmit user data during a first time interval, the user data being transmitted using data symbols transmitted at an average power level per symbol, the average power level per symbol The average per beacon symbol power level is less than 50 percent lower than the beacon symbol transmitted during the first time interval. In some embodiments, the average per-symbol transmission power level of each beacon symbol is at least 10 dB higher than the average per-symbol transmission power level of the symbols used to transmit data during the first time period. In some embodiments, the average per-symbol transmission power level of each beacon symbol is at least 16 dB higher than the average per-symbol transmission power level of the symbols used to transmit the data during the first time period.

In various embodiments, the OFDM carrier tone symbols are used to transmit beacon symbols that occupy the carrier frequency of the transmission resources used by the wireless terminal during a time period including a plurality of beacon symbol bursts. The symbol is less than 1 percent. In some such embodiments, the beacon symbol occupies less than 0.1 percent of the carrier tone symbols in a portion of the time period including an interval between a beacon signal burst and a continuous beacon signal burst.

In sub-step 1008, in some embodiments, the wireless terminal is operative to transmit the user over at least 10 percent of the carrier tone symbols of the transmission resources used by the wireless terminal during the first time period data. In some such embodiments, the duration of the beacon signal burst time period occurring during the first time period is shorter than the time period occurring between the bursts of two consecutive beacon signals during the first time period At least 50 times.

In some embodiments, the portable wireless terminal includes an OFDM transmitter that transmits the beacon signal and uses a resource that is a combination of frequency and time to deliver the beacon signal. In some embodiments, the portable wireless terminal includes a CDMA transmitter that transmits the beacon signal and uses a resource that is a combination of code and time to deliver the beacon signal.

11 is a diagram of a flowchart 1100 of an illustrative method of operating a portable wireless terminal (eg, a battery powered mobile node) in accordance with various embodiments. Operation begins in step 1102, where the portable wireless terminal is powered on and initialized. Operation proceeds from start step 1102 to step 1104, in which the portable wireless terminal is operative to transmit a beacon signal comprising a sequence of beacon signal bursts, each beacon symbol burst comprising one or more Each beacon symbol, each beacon symbol occupies a beacon transmission unit, and transmits one or more beacon symbols during each burst. In some such embodiments, the OFDM carrier tone symbols are used to transmit the beacon symbols, and the beacon symbols occupy the carrier frequency of the transmission resources used by the wireless terminal during the time period including the plurality of signal bursts. The tuning symbol is less than 1 percent. Operation proceeds from step 1104 to step 1106.

In step 1106, the portable wireless terminal is operative to transmit user data over at least 10 percent of the carrier symbols used by the wireless terminal during a time period including a plurality of signal bursts. In some such embodiments, the duration of the beacon signal burst occurring during the time period is at least 50 times shorter than the time period occurring between the bursts of two consecutive beacon signals during the time period.

12 is a diagram of a flowchart 1200 of an exemplary method of operating a portable wireless terminal (eg, a battery powered mobile node) in accordance with various embodiments. Operation begins in step 1201 where the wireless terminal is powered on and initialized. Operation proceeds from start step 1201 to step 1202, in which the wireless terminal checks whether the wireless terminal will transmit a beacon signal. If it is determined in step 1202 that the wireless terminal device will transmit a beacon signal, for example, the wireless terminal device is in an operation mode or an operational state in which the wireless terminal device transmits a beacon signal, then operation proceeds from step 1202 to step 1204; otherwise, the operation returns Proceed to step 1202 for another check to see if a beacon signal will be transmitted.

In step 1204, the wireless terminal checks if it is time to transmit a beacon signal burst. If it is determined in step 1204 that the time of transmitting the beacon signal burst is reached, the operation proceeds to step 1206, in which the wireless terminal transmits a beacon signal including one or more beacon symbols, each A beacon symbol occupies a beacon transmission unit. Operation proceeds from step 1206 to step 1202.

If it is determined in step 1204 that the time for transmitting the beacon signal has not been transmitted, the operation proceeds to step 1208, where the wireless terminal determines whether the time of the potential user data transmission has elapsed. If it is determined in step 1208 that the time configured for potential user data transmission is reached, then operation proceeds from step 1208 to step 1210, otherwise operation proceeds from step 1208 to step 1202.

In step 1210, the wireless terminal determines whether the wireless terminal will transmit user data. If the wireless terminal transmits the user profile, then operation proceeds from step 1210 to step 1212, in which the wireless terminal transmits the user profile using the data symbols transmitted at an average power level per symbol, the average The power level per symbol is at least 50 percent lower than the average per-beacon power level of the beacon symbols transmitted by the wireless terminal. If it is determined in step 1210 that the wireless terminal will not transmit the user data at this time, for example, the wireless terminal does not reserve the user data waiting to be transmitted and/or the peer node to which the wireless terminal wants to send the data is not prepared. To receive the user profile, the operation returns to step 1202.

13 is a diagram of a flowchart 1300 of an illustrative method of operating a portable wireless terminal (eg, a battery powered mobile node) in accordance with various embodiments. Operation begins in step 1302 where the wireless terminal is powered on and initialized. Operation proceeds from start step 1302 to steps 1304, 1306, 1308, connection node A 1310, and connection node B 1312. In step 1304, which is performed on a forward basis, the wireless terminal tracks the timing and outputs current time information 1314. The current time information 1314 identifies, for example, an index value in a cyclic timing structure used by the wireless terminal.

In step 1306, the wireless terminal determines whether the wireless terminal will transmit a beacon signal. The wireless terminal uses mode and/or status information 1316 and/or priority information 1318 to determine if the wireless terminal will transmit a beacon signal. If the wireless terminal determines in step 1306 that the wireless terminal will transmit the beacon signal, then operation proceeds to step 1320, in which the wireless terminal sets the beacon action flag 1324. However, if the wireless terminal determines in step 1306 that the wireless terminal will not transmit a beacon signal, then operation proceeds to step 1322, where the wireless terminal clears the beacon action flag 1324. Operation proceeds from step 1320 or step 1322 to step 1306, in which the wireless terminal again tests whether a beacon signal will be transmitted.

In step 1308, the wireless terminal determines whether to clear the wireless terminal for data transmission. The wireless terminal uses mode and/or status information 1326, priority information 1328, and/or peer node information 1330 (eg, information indicating that the peer wireless terminal can receive and can receive user data) to determine whether to clear the wireless The terminal is used for data transmission. If the wireless terminal determines in step 1308 that the wireless terminal is cleared to transmit the user profile, then operation proceeds to step 1332, in which the wireless terminal sets the data transfer flag 1336. However, if the wireless terminal determines in step 1308 that the wireless terminal is not to be cleared for user data transmission, then operation proceeds to step 1334, in which the wireless terminal clears the data transmission flag 1336. Operation proceeds from step 1332 or step 1334 to step 1308, where the wireless terminal again tests whether the wireless terminal is cleared for data transfer.

Returning to connection node A 1310, operation proceeds from connection node A 1310 to step 1338. In step 1338, the wireless terminal checks whether the current time information 1314 indicates a beacon burst interval with respect to the time structure information 1340 and whether the beacon action flag 1324 is set. If the time indicates that it is a beacon burst interval and the beacon action flag is set, then operation proceeds from step 1338 to step 1342; otherwise the operation returns to the input of step 1338 to perform another test of the condition.

In step 1342, the wireless terminal device generates a beacon signal burst that includes one or more beacon symbols, each beacon symbol occupying a beacon symbol transmission unit. The wireless terminal uses the current time information 1314 and the stored beacon signal definition information 1344 to generate a beacon signal burst. The beacon signal definition information 1344 includes, for example, burst signal definition information and/or style information. In some embodiments, the beacon signal bursting information includes identifying, within a set of potential OFDM carrier tone symbols available for carrying the beacon symbol, for transmitting a beacon burst signal corresponding to the generated beacon for the wireless terminal. Information on the subset of OFDM-carrier tone symbols of the beacon symbol. In some embodiments, a carrier tone subset of a beacon signal burst may and sometimes differs from a beacon signal burst to a next beacon signal burst within the same beacon signal, eg, according to a predetermined Frequency hopping style. In some embodiments, the beacon signal information includes information identifying the value of the modulated symbol to be transmitted by the beacon-borne tone symbol of the generated beacon burst signal. In some embodiments, a sequence of beacon signals is bursts to define, for example, a beacon signal corresponding to a particular wireless terminal. In some embodiments, the beacon symbol pattern is used to define a beacon signal, such as a particular pattern within the beacon burst signal.

Operation proceeds from step 1342 to step 1346, in which the wireless terminal transmits the generated beacon burst signal. The wireless terminal uses the stored beacon symbol power level information 1348 to determine the transmission power level of the beacon symbol within the transmitted beacon burst signal. Operation then proceeds from step 1346 to step 1338.

Returning to connection node B 1312, operation proceeds from connection node B 1312 to step 1350. In step 1350, the wireless terminal checks whether the current time information 1314 indicates a data transmission interval with respect to the time structure information 1340, whether the data transmission flag 1336 is set, and whether the wireless terminal has the transmission as indicated by the user reserve information 1352. data. If it is indicated that it is the data transmission interval, the data transmission flag 1336 is set, and the wireless terminal has the data waiting to be transmitted, the operation proceeds from step 1350 to step 1354; otherwise, the operation returns to the input of step 1350 to perform the condition. A test.

In step 1354, the wireless terminal generates a signal including user profile 1356. User profile 1356 includes, for example, audio, video, file and/or textual information/information intended for use with the peer of the wireless terminal.

Operation proceeds from step 1354 to step 1358, in which the wireless terminal transmits a signal including the generation of user data. The wireless terminal uses the stored user data symbol power level information 1360 to determine the transmission power level of the user data symbol to be transmitted. Operation proceeds from step 1358 to step 1350, in which the wireless terminal performs a check associated with user data transmission.

In some embodiments, the number of beacon symbols within the beacon signal burst occupies less than 10 percent of the available beacon symbol transmission units. . In various embodiments, the user data symbols are transmitted at an average per-symbol power level that is at least 50 percent lower than the average per-beacon power level of the transmitted beacon symbols. .

14 includes a diagram 1400 illustrating an exemplary beacon transmission from a portable wireless terminal in accordance with an exemplary embodiment, in which the same beacon burst is repeated between non-beacon burst intervals Signal (beacon burst 1). Each beacon signal burst includes one or more beacon symbols, each beacon symbol occupies a beacon symbol transmission unit, and transmits one or more beacon symbols during each beacon signal burst. The frequency (e.g., OFDM carrier tone) is plotted on the vertical axis 1402 and the time is plotted on the horizontal axis 1404. The following sequence is illustrated in diagram 1400: beacon burst 1 signal interval including beacon burst 1 signal 1406, non-cluster interval 1408, beacon burst 1 signal interval including beacon burst 1 signal 1410, non The burst interval 1412, the beacon burst 1 signal 1414 including the beacon burst 1 signal 1414, the non-cluster interval 1416, the beacon burst 1 signal interval including the beacon burst 1 signal 1418, and the non-cluster interval 1420 . In this example, each beacon burst signal (1406, 1410, 1414, 1418) corresponds to a beacon signal (1422, 1424, 1426, 1428). Moreover, in this example, each beacon burst signal (1422, 1424, 1426, 1428) is identical; each beacon burst signal includes the same beacon symbol.

Figure 14 also includes a diagram 1450 illustrating an exemplary beacon transmission from a portable wireless terminal, wherein the beacon signal includes a composite signal of a sequence of beacon burst signals. Each beacon signal burst includes one or more beacon symbols, each beacon symbol occupies a beacon symbol transmission unit, and transmits one or more beacon symbols during each beacon signal burst. The frequency (e.g., OFDM carrier tone) is plotted on the vertical axis 1452 and the time is plotted on the horizontal axis 1454. The following sequence is illustrated in diagram 1450: beacon burst 1 signal interval including beacon burst 1 signal 1456, non-cluster interval 1458, beacon burst 2 signal interval including beacon burst 2 signal 1460, non Burst interval 1462, beacon burst 3 signal 1464 beacon burst 3 signal interval, non-cluster interval 1466, beacon burst 1 signal 1468 beacon burst 1 signal interval, non-cluster interval 1470 . In this example, the beacon signal 1472 is a composite signal including a beacon burst 1 signal 1456, a beacon burst 2 signal 1460, and a beacon burst 3 signal 1464. Moreover, in this example, each beacon burst signal (beacon burst 1 signal 1456, beacon burst 2 signal 1460, beacon burst 3 signal 1464) is different; for example, each beacon cluster The signaling includes a set of beacon symbols that do not match any of the other two beacon bursts.

In some embodiments, the beacon symbol occupies less than 0.3 percent of the radio resources including a beacon signal burst and an interval between successive beacon signal bursts. In some such embodiments, the beacon symbol occupies less than 0.1 percent of the radio resources including a beacon signal burst and an interval between successive beacon signal bursts. In some embodiments, the radio resources comprise a set of OFDM carrier tone symbols corresponding to a set of carrier tones of a predetermined time interval.

Figure 15 illustrates that in some embodiments, different wireless terminals transmit different beacon signals including different beacon bursts. Different beacon signals transmitted from the wireless terminal may and sometimes are used for wireless terminal identification. For example, consider that the diagram 1500 includes an illustration of a beacon burst signal associated with the wireless terminal set A, and the diagram 1550 includes an illustration of a beacon burst signal associated with the wireless terminal set B. The legend 1502 corresponds to the drawing 1500, and the legend 1552 corresponds to the drawing 1550.

The legend 1502 indicates that with respect to the beacon burst signal of the WTA, the grid box 1510 represents a beacon symbol transmission unit, and the capital letter B 1512 represents a beacon symbol transmitted by a beacon transmission unit. In diagram 1500, vertical axis 1504 represents the frequency (e.g., OFDM carrier tone index), and horizontal axis 1506 represents the beacon transmission unit time index within the beacon burst signal. The beacon burst signal 1508 includes 100 beacon symbol transmission units 1510. Both of these beacon transmission units carry a beacon symbol B 1512. The first beacon symbol has a frequency index = 3 and a time index = 0; the second beacon symbol has a frequency index = 9 and a time index = 6. No other beacon symbol transmission units are used. Thus, in this example, the beacon symbol is transmitted using 2% of the transmission resources of the beacon burst. In some embodiments, the beacon symbol occupies less than 10% of the transmission resources of the beacon burst.

The legend 1552 indicates that for the beacon burst signal of WT B, the grid box 1510 represents a beacon symbol transmission unit, and the capital letter B 1512 represents a beacon symbol transmitted by a beacon transmission unit. In the equation 1550, the vertical axis 1504 represents the frequency (e.g., the OFDM carrier tone index), and the horizontal axis 1556 represents the beacon transmission unit time index within the beacon burst signal. The beacon burst signal 1558 includes 100 beacon transmission units 1510. Both of these beacon transmission units carry a beacon symbol B 1512. The first beacon symbol has a frequency index = 3 and a time index = 2; the second beacon symbol has a frequency index = 7 and a time index = 6. No other beacon symbol transmission units are used. Thus, in this example, the beacon symbol is transmitted using 2% of the transmission resources of the beacon burst.

16 is a diagram 1600 and a corresponding legend 1602 illustrating features of some embodiments, wherein the beacon symbol transmission unit includes a plurality of OFDM symbol transmission units. In this example, a beacon symbol transmission unit occupies two adjacent OFDM symbol transmission units. In other embodiments, a beacon symbol transmission unit occupies a different number of OFDM transmission units (eg, 3 or 4). For example, in the case where precise timing and/or frequency synchronization between wireless terminals may not exist, the use of multiple OFDM transmission units for beacon symbol transmission units may facilitate easy detection of beacon signals. Measurement. In some embodiments, the beacon symbol includes an initial beacon symbol portion followed by an extended beacon symbol portion. For example, the initial beacon symbol portion includes a loop preamble portion followed by a body portion, and the extended beacon symbol portion is a continuation of the body portion.

The legend 1602 illustrates that for the exemplary beacon burst signal 1610, the OFDM transmission unit is represented by a square box 1612, and the beacon symbol transmission unit is represented by a rectangular box 1614 having a thick boundary. The capital letter BS 1616 represents the beacon symbol transmitted by the beacon transmission unit.

In diagram 1600, vertical axis 1604 represents the frequency (eg, OFDM carrier tone index), while horizontal axis 1606 represents the beacon transmission unit time index within the beacon burst signal, and horizontal axis 1608 represents the beacon burst signal. The OFDM symbol time interval index within. The beacon burst signal 1610 includes 100 OFDM symbol transmission units 1612 and 50 beacon symbol transmission units 1614. Both of these beacon symbol transmission units carry a beacon symbol BS 1616. The first beacon symbol has a frequency index = 3, a beacon transmission unit time index = 0, and an OFDM time index 0-1; the second beacon symbol has a frequency index = 9, a beacon transmission unit time index = 3, and OFDM Time index 6-7. No other beacon symbol transmission units are used. Thus, in this example, 45% of the transmission resources of the beacon burst are used to transmit the beacon symbols. In some embodiments, the beacon symbol occupies less than 10% of the transmission resources of the beacon burst.

17 is a diagram 1700 for illustrating an exemplary beacon signal including a sequence of beacon burst signals and illustrating timing relationships for some embodiments. Graph 1700 includes a vertical axis 1702 representing a frequency (eg, an OFDM carrier tone index) and a horizontal axis 1704 representing time. Exemplary beacon signals of the equation 1700 include a beacon burst 1 signal 1706, a beacon burst 2 signal 1708, and a beacon burst 3 signal 1710. The exemplary beacon signal of diagram 1700 is, for example, the composite beacon signal 1472 of diagram 1450 of FIG.

The beacon burst signal 1706 includes two beacon symbols 1707; the beacon burst 2 signal 1708 includes two beacon symbols 1709; the beacon burst 3 signal 1710 includes two beacon symbols 1711. In this example, the beacon symbols in each burst occur in different beacon transmission unit locations in the time/frequency grid. Moreover, in this example, the change in position is based on a predetermined carrier frequency hopping sequence.

Along the time axis 1704, there is a beacon burst 1 signal time interval T _B1 1712 corresponding to the beacon burst 1 signal 1706, followed by a time interval T _BB1/2 1718 between bursts, followed by a beacon corresponding to the beacon The beacon 2 signal 1708 beacon burst 2 signal time interval T _B2 1714, followed by the time interval T _BB2/3 1720 between the bursts, followed by the beacon burst 3 corresponding to the beacon burst 3 signal 1710 Signal time interval T _B3 1716. In this example, the time between beacon bursts is at least 5 times greater than the time of adjacent bursts. For example, T _BB1/2 5 T _B1 and T _BB1/2 5 T _B2 ;T _BB2/3 5 T _B2 and T _BB2/3 5 T _B3 . In this example, each of the beacon bursts (1706, 1708, 1710) has the same duration, for example, T _B1 = T _B2 = T _B3 .

18 is a diagram 1800 for illustrating an exemplary beacon signal including a sequence of beacon burst signals and illustrating timing relationships for some embodiments. Graph 1800 includes a vertical axis 1802 representing a frequency (eg, an OFDM carrier tone index), while horizontal axis 1804 represents time. Exemplary beacon signals of diagram 1800 include beacon burst 1 signal 1806, beacon burst 2 signal 1808, and beacon burst 3 signal 1810. The exemplary beacon signal of diagram 1800 is, for example, the composite beacon signal 1472 of diagram 1450 of FIG.

The beacon burst signal 1806 includes two beacon symbols 1807; the beacon burst signal 1808 includes two beacon symbols 1809; the beacon burst signal 1810 includes two beacon symbols 1811. In this example, the beacon symbols in each burst occur in different beacon transmission unit locations in the time/frequency grid. Moreover, in this example, the change in position is based on a predetermined carrier frequency hopping sequence.

Along the time axis 1804, there is a beacon burst 1 signal time interval T _B1 1812 corresponding to the beacon burst 1 signal 1806, followed by a time interval T _BB1/2 1818 between bursts, followed by a beacon corresponding to the beacon The beacon 2 signal 1808 beacon burst 2 signal time interval T _B2 1814, followed by the time interval T _BB2/3 1820 between the bursts, followed by the beacon burst 3 corresponding to the beacon burst 3 signal 1810 Signal time interval T _B3 1816. In this example, the time between beacon bursts is at least 5 times greater than the time of adjacent bursts. For example, T _BB1/2 5 T _B1 and T _BB1/2 5 T _B2 ;T _BB2/3 5 T _B2 and T _BB2/3 5 T _B3 . In this example, each of the beacon bursts (1806, 1808, 1810) has a different duration, for example, T _B1 ≠ T _B2 ≠ T _B3 ≠ T _B1 . In some embodiments, at least two of the beacon bursts in the composite beacon signal have different durations.

19 is a diagram 1900 illustrating an exemplary air link resource segmented by a wireless terminal in an operational mode in which a wireless terminal transmits a beacon signal. Vertical axis 1902 represents frequency (eg, OFD carrier frequency modulation), while horizontal axis 1904 represents time. In this example, there are beacon transmission resources 1906, followed by other usage resources 1908, followed by beacon transmission resources 1906', followed by other usage resources 1908', followed by beacon transmission resources 1906", followed by other usage resources. 1908", followed by the beacon transmission resource 1906''', followed by other usage resources 1908'''. The beacon transmission resource of FIG. 19 corresponds to, for example, the beacon burst of FIG. 14, and the other usage resources of FIG. 19 correspond to, for example, the non-cluster interval of FIG.

20 depicts an exemplary other usage resource (eg, resource 2000) for an exemplary mode of operation (eg, an active mode of operation) of a wireless terminal in which the wireless terminal transmits a beacon signal and is receivable and/or Or transfer user data. Other usage resources 2000 occur during the non-cluster interval 2002 and include: Beacon Monitoring Resource 2004, User Data Transmission/Reception Resources 2006, and Quiet or Unused Resources 2008. Beacon monitoring resource 2004 represents air link resources (eg, a combination of frequency and time), wherein the wireless terminal detects other beacon signals, for example, from other wireless terminals and/or fixed location reference beacon transmitters. presence. User data resource 2006 represents air link resources (eg, a combination of frequency and time) in which the wireless terminal can transmit user data and/or receive user data. The Quiet Air Link Resource 2008 represents unused air link resources (eg, where the wireless terminal is neither receiving nor transmitting). During the Quiet Resource 2008, the wireless terminal may and sometimes is in a sleep state, in which power consumption is reduced to save energy.

Figure 21 illustrates two exemplary modes of operation of a wireless terminal that transmits a beacon signal by a wireless terminal, such as a non-active mode and an active mode. Graph 2100 corresponds to an exemplary inactive mode of operation, while schema 2150 corresponds to an active mode of operation.

In the exemplary inactive mode of operation, the wireless terminal does not transmit or receive user data. In diagram 2100, the air link resources used by the wireless terminal occupy N carrier frequency 2108. In some embodiments, N is greater than or equal to 100. In diagram 2100, there is a beacon transmission burst resource 2102 having a corresponding duration T _1inactive 2110, followed by a monitoring and receiving beacon information resource 2104 having a corresponding duration T _2inactive 2112, followed by a corresponding duration T _3inactive 2114's quiet resource 2106. In various embodiments, T _1inactive <T _2inactive <T _3inactive . In some embodiments, 4T _1inactive . In some embodiments, T _3inactiv e > 10T _2inactive . For example, in an exemplary embodiment, N>100 (eg, 113), T _1inactive = 50 OFDM symbol transmission time intervals, T _2inactive = 200 OFDM symbol transmission time intervals, and T _3inactive = 2000 OFDM Symbol transmission time interval. In this embodiment, if the beacon symbol is allowed to occupy at most 10% of the burst beacon signal resource, the beacon symbol occupies approximately 0.22% of the total resource.

In an exemplary mode of operation, the wireless terminal can transmit and receive user data. In diagram 2150, the air link resources used by the wireless terminal occupy N carrier frequency 2108. In some embodiments, N is greater than or equal to 100. In diagram 2150, there is a beacon transmission burst resource 2152 having a corresponding duration T _1active 2162, followed by a monitoring and receiving beacon information resource 2154 having a corresponding duration T _2active 2164, followed by a corresponding duration T _3active The user data transmission/reception resource 2156 of 2166 is followed by a quiet resource 2158 having a corresponding duration T _4active 2168. In various embodiments, T _1active <T _2active <T _3active . In some embodiments, T _2active 4T _1active . In some embodiments, (T _3active +T _4active) 10T _2inactive . In various embodiments, T _1inactive = T _1active . In some embodiments, there is a guard interval between at least some of the different types of time intervals.

22 is a diagram 2200 and a corresponding legend 2202 illustrating exemplary wireless terminal air link resource utilization during an exemplary first time interval 2209 including two beacon bursts. The legend 2202 indicates that a square 2204 indicates an OFDM carrier tone symbol (the basic transmission unit of the air link resource). The legend 2202 also indicates that: (i) the beacon symbol is indicated by the shaded square 2206 and transmitted at the average transmission power level P _B , (ii) the user data symbol is indicated by the letter D 2208 and the data symbol is transmitted to have an average Transmission power level P _D , and (iii) P _B 2P _D.

In this example, the beacon transmission resource 2210 includes 20 OFDM carrier tone symbols; the beacon monitoring resource 2212 includes 40 OFDM carrier tone symbols; the user data transmission/reception resource 2214 includes 100 OFDM carrier tone symbols; And the beacon transmission resource 2216 includes 20 OFDM carrier tone symbols.

Beacon transmission resources 2210 and 2216 each carry a beacon symbol 2206. This represents 5% of the transmission resources configured for beacon burst messaging. Forty-eight (48) of the 100 OFDM symbols of the user profile TX/RX resource 2214 carry the user profile symbols transmitted by the wireless terminal. This represents a 48/180 OFDM symbol used by the wireless terminal during the first time interval 2209. Suppose the WT is switched from TX to receive during the 6th OFDM symbol transmission time interval of the user data part, and then transmitted on the 48/90 OFDM carrier tone symbol used by the wireless terminal for transmission during the first time interval. User profile symbol. In some embodiments, when the wireless terminal transmits the user profile, the wireless terminal transmits the user profile on at least 10% of the transmission resources used by the wireless terminal during the time period including the plurality of beacon bursts. .

In some embodiments, user data transmission/reception resources may be and sometimes used differently at different times, for example, specifically for including transmission of user data, specifically for receiving user data, Assigned between reception and transmission (for example, on a time-sharing basis).

23 is a diagram 2300 and corresponding legend 2302 illustrating exemplary wireless terminal air link resource utilization during an exemplary first time interval 2315 including two beacon bursts. The legend 2302 indicates that a square 2304 indicates an OFDM carrier tone symbol (the basic transmission unit of the air link resource). The legend 2302 also indicates that: (i) the beacon symbol is indicated by the large vertical arrow 2306 and transmitted at the average transmission power level P _B , and (ii) the user data symbol is indicated by the small arrows 2308, 2310, 2312, 2314, respectively. Corresponding to different phases (Θ ₁ , Θ ₂ , Θ ₃ , Θ ₄ ) (for example, corresponding to QPSK), and the data symbols are transmitted to have an average transmission power level P _D , and (iii) P _B 2P _D.

In this example, the beacon transmission resource 2316 includes 20 OFDM carrier tone symbols; the beacon monitoring resource 2318 includes 40 OFDM carrier tone symbols; the user data transmission/reception resource 2320 includes 100 OFDM carrier tone symbols; And beacon transmission resource 2322 includes 20 OFDM carrier tone symbols.

Beacon transmission resources 2316 and 2322 each carry a beacon symbol 2306. In this example, the beacon symbols have the same amplitude and phase. This beacon symbol amount represents 5% of the transmission resources configured for beacon burst transmission. Forty-eight (48) of the 100 OFDM symbols of the user profile TX/RX resource 2320 carry the user profile. In this example, different data symbols may and sometimes do have different phases. In some embodiments, different data symbols may and sometimes do have different amplitudes. This data symbol amount represents the 48/180 OFDM symbol used by the wireless terminal during the first time interval 2315. Suppose the WT is switched from TX to receive during the 6th OFDM symbol transmission time interval of the user data part, and then transmitted on the 48/90 OFDM carrier tone symbol used by the wireless terminal for transmission during the first time interval. User profile symbol. In some embodiments, when the wireless terminal transmits the user profile, the wireless terminal transmits the user profile on at least 10% of the transmission resources used by the wireless terminal during the time period including the plurality of beacon bursts. .

In some embodiments, user data transmission/reception resources may be and sometimes used differently at different times, for example, specifically for including transmission of user data, specifically for receiving user data, Assigned between reception and transmission (for example, on a time-sharing basis).

Figure 24 illustrates a descriptive illustration of an alternative to a beacon signal. Diagram 2400 and associated legend 2402 are used to describe an exemplary beacon signal in accordance with various embodiments. Vertical axis 2412 represents the frequency (eg, OFDM carrier tone index), while horizontal axis 2414 represents the beacon resource time index. The legend 2402 identifies that the beacon signal burst is identified by a thick line rectangle 2404, the beacon symbol transmission unit is identified by a square box 2406, and the beacon symbol is represented by bold letter B 2416. The beacon signal resource 2410 includes 100 beacon symbol transmission units 2406. Three beacon burst signals 2404 corresponding to time index values = 0, 4, and 8 are shown. A beacon symbol 2416 is present in each beacon burst signal, and the location of the beacon symbol is within the beacon signal (eg, from a burst signal to a next burst signal according to a predetermined pattern and/or equation) change. In this example, the beacon symbol position has a slope. In this example, the beacon bursts are separated from each other by three times the duration of the beacon burst. In various embodiments, the beacon bursts are separated from each other by at least twice the duration of the beacon symbols. In some embodiments, the beacon burst may occupy two or more consecutive beacon resource time intervals, eg, the same carrier tone is used for multiple consecutive beacon time indices. In some embodiments, the beacon burst includes a plurality of beacon symbols. In some such embodiments, the beacon symbol occupies 10% or less of the beacon signal resource.

FIG. 25 is a diagram of an exemplary portable wireless terminal 2500 (eg, a mobile node) in accordance with various embodiments. The exemplary portable wireless terminal 2500 can be any of the wireless terminals of FIG. The exemplary wireless terminal 2500 includes a receiver module 2502 coupled via a bus bar 2514, a transmission module 2504, a duplex module 2503, a processor 2506, a user I/O device 2508, and a The power module 2510 and the memory 2512 have various components interchangeable data and information on the bus bar 2514.

Receiver module 2502 (e.g., an OFDM receiver) receives signals (e.g., beacon signals and/or user profile signals) from other wireless terminals and/or fixed location beacon transmitters.

A transmission module 2504 (eg, an OFDM transmitter) transmits signals to other wireless terminals, the transmitted signals including beacon signals and user profile signals. The beacon signal includes a sequence of beacon signal bursts, each beacon signal burst includes one or more beacon symbols, and each beacon symbol occupies a beacon symbol transmission unit. One or more beacon symbols are transmitted by transmission module 2504 for each transmitted beacon signal burst.

In various embodiments, transmission module 2504 is an OFDM transmitter that transmits beacon signals and the beacon signals are transmitted using resources that are a combination of frequency and time. In various other embodiments, the transmission module 2504 is a CDMA transmitter that transmits beacon signals and the beacon signals are transmitted using resources that are a combination of code and time.

The duplex module 2503 is controlled to switch the antenna 2505 between the receiver module 2502 and the transmission module 2504 as part of a time division duplex (TDD) spectrum system implementation. The duplex module 2503 is coupled to the antenna 2505 via which the wireless terminal 2500 receives the signal 2582 and transmits the signal 2588. The duplex module 2503 is coupled to the receiver module 2502 via a link 2501, on which the received signal 2584 is transmitted. In some embodiments, signal 2584 is a filtered representation of signal 2582. In some embodiments, signal 2584 is the same as signal 2582, for example, module 2503 acts as a non-screening transmissive device. Duplex module 2503 is coupled to transmission module 2504 via link 2507, on which transmission signal 2586 is transmitted. In some embodiments, signal 2588 is a filtered representation of signal 2586. In some embodiments, signal 2588 is the same as signal 2586, for example, duplex module 2503 acts as a non-screening transmissive device.

User I/O device 2508 includes, for example, a microphone, a keyboard, a keypad, a switch, a camera, a speaker, a display, and the like. The user device 2508 allows the user to enter data/information, access output data/information, and control at least some operations of the wireless terminal, such as initiating a power-on sequence, attempting to establish a communication session, and terminating a communication session.

The power module 2510 includes a battery 2511 that functions as a power source for the portable wireless terminal. The output of power module 2510 is coupled to various components (2502, 2503, 2504, 2506, 2508, and 2512) via power bus 2509 to provide power. Therefore, the transmission module 2504 uses battery power to transmit the beacon signal.

Memory 2512 includes routine 2516 and data/information 2518. The processor 2506 (e.g., CPU) executes routine 2516 and uses the data/information 2518 in the memory 2512 to control the operation of the wireless terminal 2500 and implement the method. The routine 2516 includes a beacon signal generation module 2520, a user profile signal generation module 2522, a transmission power control module 2524, a beacon signal transmission control module 2526, a mode control module 2528, and a duplex control module 2530.

The beacon signal generating module 2520 uses the data information 2518 including the stored beacon signal feature information 2532 in the memory 2512 to generate a beacon signal, the beacon signal including a sequence of beacon signal bursts, each beacon signal The burst includes one or more beacon symbols.

The user profile signal generation module 2522 uses the profile/information 2518 including the user profile information 2534 and the user profile 2547 to generate a user profile signal, the user profile signal including user profile symbols. For example, the information bits representing the user profile 2547 are mapped to a set of data symbols, for example, the OFDM data is modulated according to the cluster information 2564. The transmit power control module 2524 uses the data/information 2518 including beacon power information 2562 and user profile power information 2566 to control the transmit power levels of the beacon symbols and data symbols. In some embodiments, during the first time period, the transmit power control module 2524 controls the data symbols to be transmitted at an average per-symbol power level, the average per-symbol power level being greater than the average of the transmitted beacon symbols. The beacon symbol power level is at least 50 percent lower. In some embodiments, the transmit power control module 2524 controls the average per-symbol transmission power level of each beacon symbol transmitted during the first time period to be greater than the symbol used to transmit the user data during the first time period. The average per-symbol transmission power level is at least 10 dB. In some embodiments, the transmit power control module 2524 controls the average per-symbol transmission power level of each beacon symbol transmitted during the first time period to be greater than the symbol used to transmit the user data during the first time period. The average per-symbol transmission power level is at least 16 dB. In some embodiments, the beacon symbol power level is associated with one or more data symbol power levels with respect to a reference used by the wireless terminal, and the reference may and sometimes does change. In some such embodiments, the first time period is a time interval in which the reference level does not change.

The beacon signal transmission control module 2526 uses the data/information 2518 including the timing structure information 2536 to control the transmission module 2504 to transmit beacon signal bursts. In some embodiments, the time period between two adjacent beacon signal bursts in a sequence of beacon signal bursts is controlled to the duration of either of the two adjacent beacon signal bursts At least 5 times. In various embodiments, at least some of the different beacon signal bursts have periods of different lengths.

The mode control module 2528 controls the mode of operation of the wireless terminal with the current mode of operation identified by the mode information 2540. In some embodiments, various modes of operation include an OFF mode, a receive only mode, a non-active mode, and an active mode. In the inactive mode, the wireless terminal can transmit and receive beacon signals but is not permitted to transmit user data. In the active mode, in addition to the beacon signal, the wireless terminal can transmit and receive user profile signals. In the inactive mode, the wireless terminal is in a quiet (eg, sleep) state of low power consumption for a longer period of time than in the active mode of operation.

The duplex control module 2530 controls the duplex module 2503 to switch the antenna connection between the receiver module 2502 and the transmission module 2504 in response to the TDD system timing information and/or user needs. For example, in some embodiments, the user data interval in the timing structure can be used for receiving or transmitting, which is a function required by the wireless terminal. In various embodiments, the duplex control module 2530 is also operative to turn off at least some of the receiver module 2502 and/or the transmission module 2504 (which saves power when not in use).

The data/information 2518 includes stored beacon signal characteristic information 2532, user data feature information 2534, timing structure information 2536, air link resource information 2538, mode information 2540, generated beacon signal information 2542, generated data signal information. 2544, duplex control signal information 2546 and user data 2547. The stored beacon signal characteristic information 2532 includes one or more sets of beacon clustering information (beacons 1 information 2548, ..., beacons N information 2550), beacon symbol information 2560 And power information 2562.

The beacon bundle 1 information 2548 includes information 2556 for identifying the beacon transmission unit carrying the beacon symbol and beacon burst duration information 2558. The information 2556 identifying the beacon transmission unit carrying the beacon symbol is used by the beacon signal generation module 2520 to identify which beacon transmission units in the beacon signal burst are occupied by the beacon symbol. In various embodiments, other beacon transmission units of the beacon burst are set to null values, for example, no transmission power is applied relative to other beacon transmission units. In some embodiments, the number of beacon symbols in the beacon signal burst occupies less than 10 percent of the available beacon symbol transmission units. In some embodiments, the plurality of beacon symbols in the beacon signal burst occupy less than 10 percent or equal to 10 percent of the available beacon symbol transmission units. The beacon signal burst duration information 2558 includes information defining the duration of the beacon burst 1 . In some embodiments, each of the beacon bursts has the same duration, while in other embodiments, different beacon bursts in the same composite beacon signal may and sometimes do have different durations. In some embodiments, one of the beacon bursts of a sequence has different durations, and this may be suitable for synchronization purposes.

Beacon symbol information 2560 includes information defining beacon symbols, such as modulation values and/or features of beacon symbols. In various embodiments, the same beacon symbol value is used to identify each of the locations to carry the beacon symbols in information 2556, eg, the beacon symbols have the same amplitude and phase. In various embodiments, different beacon symbol values may and sometimes are used to identify at least some of the locations to carry beacon symbols in information 2556, eg, beacon symbol values have the same amplitude but may have two potential phases One of them, thus contributing to the transmission of additional information via the beacon signal. Power information 2562 includes, for example, power gain scale factor information for use with beacon symbol transmission.

User profile information 2534 includes cluster information 2564 and power information 2566. Cluster information 2564 identifies, for example, QPSK, QAM 16, QAM 64, and/or QAM 256, etc., and the modulation symbol values associated with the cluster. Power information 2566 includes, for example, power gain scale factor information for use with data symbol transmission.

Timing structure information 2536 includes identifying intervals associated with various operations (eg, beacon transmission time intervals, intervals for monitoring beacon signals from other wireless terminals and/or fixed location beacon transmitters, user data intervals) Information about silence (eg, sleep) intervals, etc.). The timing structure information 2536 includes transmission timing structure information 2572 including beacon burst duration information 2574, beacon burst spacing information 2576, style information 2578, and data signal transmission information 2580.

In some embodiments, the beacon burst duration information 2574 identifies that the duration of the beacon burst is constant, for example, 100 consecutive OFDM transmission time intervals. In some embodiments, the beacon burst duration information 2574 identifies that the duration of the beacon burst, for example, varies according to a predetermined pattern specified by the style information 2578. In various embodiments, the predetermined pattern is a function of a wireless terminal identifier. In other embodiments, the predetermined pattern is the same for all wireless terminals in the system. In some embodiments, the predetermined pattern is a pseudo-random pattern.

In some embodiments, the beacon burst duration information 2574 and the beacon burst interval information 2576 indicate that the duration of the beacon burst is longer than the end of the confident patch burst to the beginning of the next beacon burst. At least 50 times shorter. In some embodiments, the beacon burst spacing information 2576 indicates that the spacing between beacon bursts is constant with a beacon burst that occurs in a periodic manner during a time period, during which time period, The wireless terminal transmits a beacon signal. In some embodiments, the beacon burst spacing information 2576 indicates that the beacon bursts are transmitted at the same interval regardless of whether the wireless terminal is in the inactive mode or the active mode. In other embodiments, the beacon burst spacing information 2576 indicates, for example, that the wireless terminal is in a non-active mode or an active mode, using different spacing intervals to transmit beacon bursts as a wireless terminal operating mode. The function.

The air link resource information 2538 includes beacon transmission resource information 2568 and other usage resource information 2570. In some embodiments, air link resources are defined in accordance with OFDM carrier tone symbols in a frequency time grid, for example, as part of a wireless communication system such as a TDD system. The beacon transmission resource information 2568 includes information identifying the air link resources for the beacon signal that are configured for the WT 2500, for example, an area for transmitting OFDM carrier tone symbols including beacon bursts of at least one beacon symbol. Piece. The beacon transmission resource information 2568 also includes information identifying the beacon transmission unit. In some embodiments, the beacon transmission unit is a single OFDM carrier tone symbol. In some embodiments, the beacon transmission unit is a set of OFDM transmission units, eg, a set of consecutive OFDM carrier tone symbols. Other usage resource information 2570 includes information identifying airlink resources to be used by the WT 2500 for other purposes, such as beacon signal monitoring, receiving/transmitting user data. For example, corresponding to a quiet state of power saving (eg, a sleep state), it is possible and sometimes deliberate not to pass some of the air link resources. In some embodiments, the beacon symbols are transmitted using air link resources of the OFDM carrier tone symbols, and during a time period, the beacon symbols occupy less than one hundred of the transmission symbols of the transmission resources used by the wireless terminal. In one step, the time period includes a plurality of beacon signal bursts and at least one user profile signal. In various embodiments, the beacon signal occupies less than 0.3 percent of the carrier tone symbol in one of the time periods, the portion of the time period including a beacon signal burst and a continuous beacon signal burst An interval. In various embodiments, the beacon signal occupies less than 0.1 percent of the carrier tone symbol in one of the time periods, the portion of the time period including a beacon signal burst and a continuous beacon signal burst An interval. In various embodiments, during at least some modes of operation (eg, active mode of operation), the transmission module 2504 can transmit user profiles, and when the wireless terminal transmits user profiles, during the time period The user data is transmitted on at least 10% of the carrier frequency modulation symbols of the transmission resources used by the wireless terminal, and the time period includes user data signal transmission and two adjacent beacon signal bursts.

The generated beacon signal 2542 is the output of the beacon signal generating module 2520, and the generated data signal 2544 is the output of the user profile signal generating module 2522. The generated signals (2542, 2544) are directed to the transmission module 2504. User profile 2547 includes, for example, audio, voice, video, text, and/or archival material/information used as input to user profile signal generation module 2522. The duplex control signal 2546 represents the output of the duplex control module 2530, and the output signal 2546 is directed to the duplex module 2503 to control antenna switching and/or to the receiver module 2502 or the transmitter module 2504 to turn off at least some Circuit and save power.

26 is a diagram of a flowchart 2600 of an illustrative method of operating a communication device (eg, a battery powered wireless terminal) in accordance with various embodiments. Operation begins in step 2602 where the communication device is powered on and initialized. Operation proceeds from start step 2602 to step 2604 and step 2606.

In a forward based step 2604, the communication device maintains time information. Time information 2605 is output from step 2604 and used in step 2606. In step 2606, the communication device determines whether a time period is a beacon reception time period, a beacon transmission time period, or a dead time period, and continues differently depending on the determination. If the time period is the beacon reception time period, then operation proceeds from step 2606 to step 2610, in which the communication device performs a beacon signal detection operation.

If the time period is a beacon transmission time period, then operation proceeds from step 2606 to step 2620, in which the communication device transmits at least a portion of the beacon signal, the portion of the transmission including at least one beacon symbol.

If the time period is a dead time period, then operation proceeds from step 2606 to step 2622, in which the communication device avoids transmission and avoids operation to detect the beacon signal. In some embodiments, the communication device enters a silent (eg, sleep) mode in step 2622 and conserves battery power.

Returning to step 2610, operation proceeds from step 2610 to step 2612. In step 2612, the communication device determines if a beacon has been detected. If a beacon has been detected, then operation proceeds from step 2612 to step 2614. However, if no beacon is detected, then operation proceeds from step 2612 via connection node A 2613 to step 2606. In step 2614, the communication device adjusts the communication device transmission time based on the detected portion of the received signal. In step 2604, the adjustment information 2615 obtained from step 2614 is used to maintain time information for the communication device. In some embodiments, the timing adjustment adjusts the beacon signal transmission time period to occur during a time period known to be used by the device transmitting the received beacon signal portion to receive the beacon signal. Operation proceeds from step 2614 to step 2616, in which the communication device transmits a signal (e.g., a beacon signal) in accordance with the adjusted communication device transmission timing. Next, in step 2618, the communication device establishes a communication session with the device from which it is receiving the detected portion of the beacon signal. Operation proceeds from step 2618, 2620 or 2622 via connection node A 2613 to step 2606.

In some embodiments, step 2604 includes at least one of sub-steps 2608 and 2609. In sub-step 2608, the communication device pseudo-randomly adjusts the beginning of at least one of a beacon transmission time period and a beacon reception time period in the time periods of the cyclic sequence. For example, in some embodiments, a particular communication device may not be synchronized with any other communication device at a particular time (eg, after powering on or entering a new region), and sub-step 2608 may be performed one or more times to The probability of detecting a beacon signal from another communication device while having a limited beacon detection time interval in the cycle time structure. Thus, sub-step 2608 can effectively shift the relative timing between the two peer to peer communications devices. In sub-step 2609, the communication device sets the beacon reception and transmission time period to occur on a periodic basis.

In various embodiments, the beacon reception time period is longer than the beacon transmission time period. In some embodiments, the beacon reception and transmission time periods are non-overlapping and the beacon reception time period is at least twice the beacon transmission time period. In some embodiments, the dead time period occurs between beacon reception and beacon transmission time periods. In various embodiments, the silence period is at least twice the one of the beacon transmission time period and the beacon reception time period.

27 is a diagram of an illustrative communication device that is a portable wireless terminal 2700 (eg, a mobile node), in accordance with various embodiments. The exemplary portable wireless terminal 2700 can be any of the wireless terminals of FIG. Exemplary wireless terminal 2700 is, for example, a communication device that is part of a time division duplex (TDD) orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) wireless communication system that supports point-to-point direct communication between mobile nodes. The exemplary wireless terminal 2700 can transmit and receive beacon signals. The exemplary wireless terminal 2700 performs timing adjustment based on the detected beacon signal (eg, from a peer to peer wireless terminal transmitting the beacon signal and/or from a fixed beacon transmitter) to establish timing synchronization.

The exemplary wireless terminal 2700 includes a receiver module 2702 coupled via a busbar 2714, a transmission module 2704, a duplex module 2703, a processor 2706, a user I/O device 2708, and a The power module 2710 and the memory 2712, the various components can exchange data and information on the bus bar 2714.

Receiver module 2702 (eg, an OFDM receiver) receives signals (eg, beacon signals and/or user profile signals) from other wireless terminals and/or fixed location beacon transmitters.

A transmission module 2704 (eg, an OFDM transmitter) transmits signals to other wireless terminals, the transmitted signals including beacon signals and user profile signals. The beacon signal includes a sequence of beacon signal bursts, each beacon signal burst includes one or more beacon symbols, and each beacon symbol occupies a beacon symbol transmission unit. One or more beacon symbols are transmitted by the transmission module 2704 for each transmitted beacon signal burst. The transmission module 2704 transmits at least a portion of a beacon signal (eg, a beacon burst signal) during a beacon transmission time period, the portion of the transmission including at least one beacon symbol, eg, relative to a user data symbol The relatively high power carrier frequency of the power level.

In various embodiments, the transmission module 2704 is an OFDM transmitter that transmits a beacon signal and the beacon signal is transmitted using resources that are a combination of frequency and time. In various other embodiments, the transmission module 2704 is a CDMA transmitter that transmits beacon signals and the beacon signals are transmitted using resources that are a combination of code and time.

The duplex module 2703 is controlled to switch the antenna 2705 between the receiver module 2702 and the transmission module 2704 as part of a time division duplex (TDD) implementation. The duplex module 2703 is coupled to an antenna 2705 via which the wireless terminal 2700 receives the signal 2778 and transmits a signal 2780. The duplex module 2703 is coupled to the receiver module 2702 via a link 2701, on which the received signal 2782 is transmitted. In some embodiments, signal 2782 is a filtered representation of signal 2778. In some embodiments, signal 2782 is the same as signal 2778, for example, where duplex module 2703 acts as a non-screening transmissive device. The duplex module 2703 is coupled to the transmission module 2704 via a link 2707, on which the transmission signal 2784 is transmitted. In some embodiments, signal 2780 is a filtered representation of signal 2784. In some embodiments, signal 2780 is the same as signal 2784, for example, where duplex module 2703 acts as a non-screening transmissive device.

User I/O device 2708 includes, for example, a microphone, a keyboard, a keypad, a switch, a camera, a speaker, a display, and the like. The user device 2708 allows the user to enter data/information, access output data/information, and control at least some operations of the wireless terminal, such as initiating a power-on sequence, attempting to establish a communication session, and terminating a communication session.

The power module 2710 includes a battery 2711 that functions as a power source for the portable wireless terminal. The output of power module 2710 is coupled to various components (2702, 2703, 2704, 2706, 2708, and 2712) via power bus 2709 to provide power. Therefore, the transmission module 2704 uses battery power to transmit the beacon signal.

Memory 2712 includes routine 2716 and data/information 2718. The processor 2706 (e.g., CPU) executes routine 2716 and uses the data/information 2718 in the memory 2712 to control the operation of the wireless terminal 2700 and implement the method. The routine 2716 includes a beacon signal detection module 2720, a silence state control module 2722, a transmission time adjustment module 2724, a transmission control module 2726, a communication session start module 2728, and a beacon detection control module. 2730, timing adjustment module 2732, mode control module 2734, beacon signal generation module 2736, user data signal generation module 2738, user data recovery module 2740, and duplex control module 2742.

The beacon signal detection module 2720 performs a beacon signal detection operation during a beacon reception time period to detect reception of at least a portion of a beacon signal. In addition, in response to the detected beacon signal portion, the beacon signal detection module 2720 sets a detected beacon flag 2750 indicating the reception of a beacon signal portion. The detected beacon signal portion 2754 is the output of the beacon signal detecting module 2720. In addition, in response to the detected beacon signal portion, the beacon signal detection module 2720 sets a detected beacon flag 2750 indicating the reception of a beacon signal portion. In some embodiments, the beacon signal detection module 2720 performs detection as a function of energy level comparison. In some embodiments, the beacon signal detection module 2720 performs detection as a function of detecting beacon symbol style information, for example, in an air link resource corresponding to monitoring of the beacon burst. In some embodiments, the beacon signal detection module 2720 recovers information from the detected beacon signal portion, for example, information identifying the source of the transmitted beacon signal (eg, a wireless terminal). For example, different wireless terminals may and sometimes do have different beacon burst styles and/or signatures.

The silence state control module 2722 controls the wireless terminal operation during a silent period, for example, between a beacon reception and a beacon transmission time period, to detect the beacon signal neither transmitting nor operating.

The transmission time adjustment module 2724 adjusts the transmission time of the communication device based on the detected portion of the received beacon signal. For example, consider that the communication system is, for example, a special network, and the portion of the received beacon signal is from another wireless terminal. As another example, consider that the system includes a fixed location beacon transmitter for reference, and the detected beacon signal portion originates from the transmitter; the transmission time adjustment module 2724 adjusts the transmission time of the wireless terminal to reference Synchronize. Alternatively, if the system does not include a fixed location beacon transmitter, or the wireless terminal cannot detect the beacon signal currently, and the detected beacon signal portion is from another wireless terminal, the transmission time adjustment module 2724 adjusts. The transmission time of the wireless terminal is synchronized with the peer wireless terminal that has transmitted the beacon signal. In some embodiments including fixed location beacons and wireless terminal beacons, fixed location beacons (when available) are used to achieve coarse level system synchronization, and wireless terminal beacons are used to achieve between peers. The higher level of synchronization. The timing offset 2756 based on the detection of the detected beacon signal portion is the output of the transmission time adjustment module 2724.

In various embodiments, the transmission time adjustment module 2724 adjusts the beacon signal transmission time period to occur during a time period of use by a device (eg, other wireless terminal) known to be part of the transmission to receive the beacon. signal. Thus, the transmission time adjustment module 2724 sets the beacon of the WT 2700 to be transmitted such that the time window in which the collision peer attempts to detect the beacon is expected.

The transmission control module 2726 controls the transmission module 2704 to transmit signals, such as beacon signals, based on the adjusted communication device transmission timing. When the stored communication session status information 2758 indicates that the established session is in progress, the transmission control module 2726 controls the transmission module 2704 to repeat the beacon signal partial transmission operation via the set session action flag 2760. In some embodiments, the transmission control module 2726 controls the wireless terminal to repeat the beacon signal partial transmission operation in the wireless terminal inactive mode of operation and the active mode of operation.

The communication session initiation module 2728 is configured to control operation to establish a communication session with another wireless terminal from which the beacon signal is received. For example, after the beacon signal is detected (where the beacon signal originates from another wireless terminal), if the wireless terminal 2700 needs to establish a communication session with the other wireless terminal, the module 2728 is activated. The start of the communication session begins, for example, generating and processing a handshake signal in accordance with a predetermined agreement.

The beacon detection control module 2730 controls the operation of the beacon signal detection module 2720. For example, when the stored communication session status information 2758 indicates that the established session is in progress, the beacon detection control module 2730 controls the beacon signal detection module 2720 via the set session action flag 2760. Repeat the detection operation. In some embodiments, the beacon detection control module 2730 controls the wireless terminal to repeat the beacon detection operation in the wireless terminal inactive mode of operation and the active mode of operation.

The timing adjustment module 2732 pseudo-randomly adjusts the start of at least one of a beacon transmission time period and a beacon reception time period in the time periods of the cyclic sequence. The pseudo-random based timing offset 2752 is the output of the timing adjustment module 2732. In some embodiments, the timing adjustment module 2732 is configured to shift the timing structure of the wireless terminal (operating independently) with respect to other wireless terminals, so as to increase the wireless terminal and the peers in limiting the beacon transmission and/or Or the beacon detection interval can detect the possibility of mutual existence.

The mode control module 2734 controls the communication device to operate in a first mode of operation and a second mode of operation during different times, wherein the communication device transmits the beacon signal. For example, the first operation mode is a non-active mode, wherein the communication device transmits the beacon signal and detects the beacon signal, but is restricted to transmit the user data; the second operation mode is the active mode, wherein the communication device transmits the signal. The signal is signaled, the beacon signal is detected, and the user data is permitted to be transmitted. In some embodiments, another mode of operation (in which mode control module 2734 can control communication device operation) is a search mode in which the wireless terminal searches for beacon signals but is not permitted to transmit.

The beacon signal generation module 2736 generates a beacon signal portion 2748 (e.g., a beacon burst including at least one beacon symbol), and the beacon signal portion 2748 is transmitted by the transmission module 2704. The user profile signal generation module 2738 generates a user profile signal 2774 (eg, a signal that transmits encoded blocks of user data such as voice data, other audio data, video data, text data, archival material, etc.). When the wireless terminal is in the active mode, the user profile generation module 2738 is active and transmits the generated user profile via the transmission module 2704 during the time interval reserved for the user data transmission/reception signal. Signal 2774. The user data recovery module 2740 recovers user data from the received user profile signal 2776, which is received from the peer meeting with the wireless terminal 2700. The received user profile signal 2776 is received via the receiver module 2702, while the wireless terminal is in an active mode of operation during the time interval reserved for user data transmission/reception signals.

The duplex control module 2742 controls the operation of the duplex module 2703. For example, the control antenna 2705 is coupled to a receiver module for receiving time intervals (eg, beacon monitoring time intervals and intervals for receiving user data). Group 2702, and coupled to a transmission module 2704 for transmitting time intervals (eg, beacon transmission time intervals and intervals for transmitting user data). The duplex control module 2742 also controls at least some of the at least one of the receiver module 2702 and the transmission module 2704 to power down during some time intervals, thereby conserving battery power.

The data/information 2718 includes current mode information 2744, current time information 2746, generated beacon signal portion 2748, detected beacon flag 2750, pseudo-random based timing offset 2752, detected beacon signal portion 2754, A timing offset 2756 based on the determination of the detected beacon signal portion, communication session status information 2758, timing structure information 2764, mode information 2768, generated user profile signal 2774, and received user profile signal 2776.

The current mode information 2744 includes information identifying the current mode of operation, sub-modes, and/or operational status of the wireless terminal, eg, whether the wireless terminal is in a mode in which it is received but not transmitting, whether the wireless terminal is in a signal transmission including beacons However, it is not allowed in the inactive mode of user data transmission, or whether the wireless terminal is in the active mode including beacon signal transmission and permitting user data transmission.

The current time information 2746 includes information identifying the wireless terminal time (e.g., the indexed OFDM symbol transmission time period within the structure) relative to the location of the wireless terminal time within the cyclic timing structure maintained by the wireless terminal. The current time information 2746 also includes information identifying the time of the wireless terminal relative to another timing structure (e.g., another wireless terminal or fixed location beacon transmitter).

The communication session status information 2758 includes a session role flag 2760 and peer node identification information 2762. The session flag 2760 indicates whether the session is still active. For example, when the peer node that is in communication with the WT 2700 is powered off, the wireless terminal 2700 stops detecting the beacon signal of the peer and clears the session flag. Peer node identification information 2762 includes information identifying the peer. In various embodiments, peer node ID information is transmitted at least in part via a beacon signal.

Timing structure information 2764 includes information defining the duration, ordering, and spacing of various intervals, such as beacon transmission intervals, beacon detection intervals, user data transmission intervals, and silence intervals. Timing structure information 2764 includes interval timing relationship information 2766. The interval timing relationship information 2766 includes, for example, information defining: (i) the beacon reception time period is longer than the beacon transmission time period; (ii) the beacon reception and the beacon transmission time period are non-overlapping; Iii) the beacon reception time period is at least twice the duration of the beacon transmission time period; (iv) the silence period is at least twice the one of the beacon transmission time period and the beacon reception time period.

Mode information 2768 includes initial search mode information 2769, inactive mode information 2770, and active mode information 2772. The initial search mode information 2769 includes information defining an initial extended duration search mode of the beacon signal. In some embodiments, the duration of the initial search exceeds an expected interval between successive beacon burst transmissions by other wireless terminals that transmit a number of sequences of beacon bursts. In some embodiments, the initial search mode information 2769 is used to perform an initial search upon power up. In addition, for example, if other beacon signals are not detected while in the inactive mode and/or if the wireless terminal desires to perform a faster and/or thorough beacon search than the search achieved using the inactive mode, The wireless terminal then accidentally enters the initial search mode from the inactive mode. The inactive mode information 2770 defines a non-active mode of wireless terminal operation including beacon signal interval, beacon monitoring interval, and silence interval. The inactive mode is a power saving mode in which the wireless terminal saves energy in the silent mode, but can indicate its presence by a beacon signal and can maintain the presence of other wireless terminals with a limited duration beacon monitoring interval. Situational awareness. The active mode information 2772 defines an active mode of wireless terminal operation including a beacon signal transmission interval, a beacon monitoring interval, a user data TX/RX interval, and a silence interval.

28 is a diagram 2800 illustrating an exemplary timeline, sequence of events, and operations for two wireless terminals in a particular network, the terminals knowing each other and achieving this via the use of a wireless terminal beacon signal. Timing synchronization. The horizontal axis 2801 represents the time line. At time 2802, the wireless terminal 1 is powered on and begins initial monitoring of the beacon signal, as indicated by block 2804. Monitoring continues until time 2806, as illustrated by block 2808, at which point the wireless terminal completes its initial search, and as a result, no other wireless terminal is found; then, the wireless terminal 1 enters a beacon transmission interval (where wireless terminal 1 transmits) The beacon signal burst), the beacon monitoring interval (where the wireless terminal monitors the beacon signal), and the repeated inactive mode of operation of the silence interval (where the wireless terminal neither transmits nor receives, thus saves power).

Next, at time 2810, the wireless terminal 2 is powered on and begins initial beacon monitoring as indicated by block 2812. Next, at time 2814, as indicated by block 2815, the wireless terminal 2 detects the beacon signal from the wireless terminal 1, determines that it is trying to establish a communication session with the wireless terminal 1, and determines the time offset so that the wireless The terminal will receive a beacon signal burst from the wireless terminal 2 during the beacon monitoring interval of the wireless terminal 1.

At time 2816, as indicated by block 2818, the wireless terminal 2 has entered a repeating active mode that includes the following: beacon transmission interval, beacon monitoring interval, and user profile interval, and at time 2816, the wireless terminal 2 The beacon signal is transmitted according to the time offset determined in step 2815. Next, as indicated by block 2820, the wireless terminal 1 detects the beacon signal from the wireless terminal 2 and switches to the active mode.

Between time intervals 2816 and 2824, as indicated by block 2822, the wireless terminal 1 exchanges data with the wireless terminal 2 to establish a communication session and then participate in the exchange of user data sessions. In addition, during this time interval, the beacon signal received during the session is used to update the timing and maintain synchronization. The wireless terminal 1 and the wireless terminal 2 may and sometimes are mobile nodes that can be moved during the communication session.

At time 2824, the wireless terminal 1 is powered down, as indicated by block 2826. Next, at time 2828, the wireless terminal 2 determines that the signal has been lost from the wireless terminal 1 and the wireless terminal transitions to the inactive mode, as indicated by block 2830. Signals may also be lost, sometimes and sometimes due to other conditions (eg, wireless terminals 1 and 2 moving far enough apart from each other to make the channel conditions insufficient to maintain the duration).

The arrow sequence 2832 illustrates the wireless terminal 1 beacon signal burst, while the arrow sequence 2834 illustrates the wireless terminal 2 beacon signal burst. It should be observed that the timing between the two wireless terminals has been synchronized, as a function of the received beacon signal from the wireless terminal 1, enabling the wireless terminal 1 to detect wireless from during its beacon signal monitoring interval. The beacon signal of the terminal 2 is burst.

In this example, the powered-on wireless terminal performs monitoring during the initial beacon monitoring period until a beacon is detected or until the initial beacon monitoring period expires (whichever is prior). The initial beacon monitoring period is, for example, an extended duration monitoring period having a duration that exceeds an iteration including a beacon transmission interval. In this example, the initial beacon monitoring period is performed prior to entering the mode in which the beacon signal is transmitted. In some embodiments, the wireless terminal in the inactive mode (the inactive mode includes the beacon transmission interval, the beacon monitoring interval, and the silence interval) accidentally enters a long duration beacon monitoring interval, for example, to cover Extreme conditions in which two wireless terminals happen to start at the same time.

In some other embodiments, the wireless terminal enters an inactive mode that includes a beacon transmission interval after power on and a limited duration beacon monitoring interval, while the first party does not have extended beacon monitoring interval. In some such embodiments, the wireless terminal may and sometimes does perform a pseudo-random time shift while searching for other beacon signals to facilitate its own beacon monitoring interval and other wireless terminal beacon transmission intervals. Alignment.

Figure 2900 of Figure 29 illustrates an exemplary synchronization sequence between two wireless terminals based on beacon signals, in accordance with an illustrative embodiment. The diagram 2902 illustrates timing structure information about the wireless terminal set 1, and the drawing 2904 includes timing structure information about the wireless terminal set 2. After the wireless terminal has synchronized the timing (eg, based on detecting the wireless terminal 2 from the beacon signal of the wireless terminal 1), the drawing 2900 may correspond to FIG. The diagram 2902 includes a wireless terminal set 1 beacon transmission interval 2906, a wireless terminal set 1 beacon reception interval 2908, a wireless terminal set 1 user profile TX/RX interval 2910, and a WT 1 silence interval 2912. The diagram 2904 includes a wireless terminal 2 beacon transmission interval 2914, a wireless terminal 2 beacon reception interval 2916, a wireless terminal 2 user profile TX/RX interval 2918, and a WT 2 silence interval 2920. It should be observed that the wireless terminal 2 has adjusted its timing such that when it transmits a beacon signal burst during the WT 2 beacon transmission interval 2914, the WT 1 will receive a beacon signal burst during its beacon reception interval 2908. It should also be observed that there is an overlap 2922 of the user data TX/RX area available for user data transmission. This method maintains the same basic timing structure for different wireless terminals and synchronizes using the timing shift of the decision of one of the timings of the wireless terminal.

Diagram 3000 of Figure 30 illustrates an exemplary synchronization sequence between two wireless terminals based on beacon signals in accordance with another illustrative embodiment. The diagram 3002 includes information on the timing structure of the wireless terminal unit 1, and the diagram 3004 includes information on the timing structure of the wireless terminal unit 2. After the wireless terminal has synchronized the timing (eg, based on detecting the wireless terminal 2 from the beacon signal of the wireless terminal 1), the schema 3000 may correspond to FIG. The diagram 3002 includes a wireless terminal set 1 beacon reception interval 3006, a wireless terminal set 1 beacon transmission interval 3008, a wireless terminal set 1 beacon reception time interval 3010, a wireless terminal set 1 user profile TX/RX interval 3012, and WT 1 The silence interval is 3014. The diagram 3004 includes a wireless terminal set 2 beacon reception interval 3016, a wireless terminal set 2 beacon transmission interval 3018, a wireless terminal set 2 beacon reception time interval 3020, a wireless terminal set 2 user profile TX/RX interval 3022, and WT 2 Quiet interval 3024. It should be observed that the wireless terminal 2 has adjusted its timing such that when it transmits a beacon signal burst during the WT 2 beacon transmission interval 3018, the WT 1 will receive a beacon signal burst during its beacon reception interval 3010. It can also be observed that in this embodiment, after the timing adjustment of the wireless terminal 2, the wireless terminal 2 receives during the beacon reception interval 3016 it is transmitted by the wireless terminal 1 during the wireless terminal 1 beacon transmission interval 3008. The beacons are distributed. It should also be observed that there is an overlap 3026 of the user data TX/RX area available for user data transmission. The method maintains the same basic timing structure for different wireless terminals, and synchronizes using the timing shift of one of the timings of the wireless terminal, and both wireless terminals can advance on the basis of synchronization. The beacon signals are received on each other.

Figure 3100 of Figure 31 illustrates an exemplary synchronization sequence between two wireless terminals based on beacon signals, in accordance with another illustrative embodiment. The schema 3102 includes timing structure information about the wireless terminal device 1, and the schema 3104 includes timing structure information about the wireless terminal device 2. After the wireless terminal has synchronized (eg, based on the wireless terminal 2 detected from the beacon signal of the wireless terminal 1), the schema 3100 may correspond to FIG. The diagram 3102 includes a wireless terminal set 1 beacon transmission interval 3106, a wireless terminal set 1 beacon reception time interval 3108, a wireless terminal set 1 user profile TX/RX time interval 3110, and a WT 1 silence interval 3112. The diagram 3104 includes a wireless terminal 2 beacon transmission interval 3114, a wireless terminal 2 beacon reception time interval 3116, a wireless terminal 2 user profile TX/RX interval 3118, and a WT 2 silence interval 3120. It should be observed that the wireless terminal 2 has adjusted its timing such that when it transmits a beacon signal burst during the WT 2 beacon transmission time interval 3116, the WT 1 will receive a beacon signal burst during its beacon reception interval 3108. . It can also be observed that in this embodiment, after the timing adjustment of the wireless terminal 2, the wireless terminal 2 receives during the beacon reception interval 3114 it is transmitted by the wireless terminal 1 during the wireless terminal 1 beacon transmission interval 3106. The beacons are distributed. It should also be observed that the user data TX/RX time intervals 3110, 3118 overlap. This method uses different timing structures for two wireless terminals (e.g., wireless terminals that perform the first detection of another beacon and adjust its internal timing), for example, WT 2 uses the interval ordering of Figure 3104. In some such cases, after the wireless terminal 2 ends the communication session and enters an inactive state including beacon signal transmission, the wireless terminal 2 proceeds to the ordered timing sequence represented by Equation 3102.

Figure 32 illustrates an exemplary special network formed in communication area 3200 between first, second, and third wireless terminals (3201, 3202, and 3203, respectively). Each of the wireless terminals 3201, 3202, 3203 supports a first communication protocol, for example, a low bit rate protocol that the device can use to broadcast device capability information. In some embodiments, the first communication protocol is a beacon signal protocol. In one such embodiment, wireless terminals 3201, 3202, 3203 transmit signals 3220, shown in various forms of dashed lines, to convey device capability information. In some implementations, the first protocol does not use signal phase to convey information. This allows for the implementation of the first protocol to be relatively simple to implement, and therefore low cost, as it can be implemented using energy detection techniques in conjunction with frequency and/or time detection that can be used to recover the communicated information. Therefore, the hardware and/or software support for the first communication agreement may have little or no additional cost (and not including the first communication agreement) due to the simple nature of the modules required to revert to the information communicated using the first agreement. The supported devices are incorporated into many types of communication devices. In addition, the means including the transmitter can be implemented in a manner that supports the first communication protocol with little or no additional cost. Therefore, the inclusion of support for a first communication protocol (e.g., a beacon-based protocol) in a multitude of devices having different capabilities (e.g., CDMA, OFDM, GSM, and other types of devices) is relatively inexpensive.

While all of the devices in the region 3200 are shown, the signals may not be able to reach all of the devices in the region, but it is useful for neighboring devices to determine which protocol, which protocols, and/or device configuration to use for communication purposes.

In the exemplary system of Figure 32, the devices each support a first communication protocol but also support at least one additional agreement. Assuming the low bit rate nature of the first protocol, it is contemplated that in various embodiments, it will not be used to exchange user data (eg, text, video material, and/or audio material). Thus, in the system shown in Figure 32, in addition to the first agreement, each wireless terminal supports at least one additional agreement, e.g., a higher bit rate agreement suitable for exchanging user data. In some embodiments, in addition to the first agreement, the first wireless terminal 3201 supports a CDMA protocol. In one such embodiment, the second wireless terminal supports the first protocol and the second (eg, GSM or OFDM) protocol. In the same embodiment, in addition to the first communication protocol, the third wireless terminal supports multiple physical layer protocols, such as CDMA and OFDM. As discussed below, in some embodiments, a wireless terminal that supports multiple communication protocols can establish a communication link with the first and second devices and operate as a communication intermediate. Although the third communication node acts as a communication intermediate, the first and second communication nodes may communicate via a higher level communication protocol (eg, such as a network layer protocol supported by each of the first, second, and third devices) The fourth agreement) to exchange user data. Thus, for example, the first wireless terminal can communicate with a third wireless terminal 3203 using a CDMA signal 3210 for communicating IP packets, wherein the IP packets are via the third wireless terminal via the OFDM signal 3212. The machine 3203 is relayed. In this way, devices that do not support the same physical layer or other lower layer protocols required to exchange user profiles can interact via the help of appropriate intermediates with multi-protocol support, which involves the need for an infrastructure base station.

Although the special network shown in FIG. 32 can be implemented using a plurality of mobile wireless terminals (for example, portable handheld communication devices), the base station can be used instead of the mobile wireless communication terminals 3201, 3203, and 3202. One of them to implement the system.

As discussed below, in addition to using device capability information obtained from, for example, beacon signals to determine an appropriate agreement, protocol stack, or device configuration, in some embodiments, one or more wireless terminals 3201, 3203, The 3202 is capable of selecting between a cooperative mode of operation and a non-cooperative mode of operation. In some embodiments, the selection between the cooperative mode of operation and the non-cooperative mode of operation is based on signals received from another device (e.g., the device with which the determined wireless terminal is not communicating). Various features relating to the switching between the cooperative mode of operation and the non-cooperative mode of operation will be discussed with reference to the figures below.

Figure 33 illustrates the steps of an exemplary method 5000 of operating a first communication device in accordance with the present invention. The first communication device can be one of the wireless terminals of the special network shown in FIG.

The method 5000 begins at step 5002 and proceeds to step 5004, in which the first communication device monitors broadcast signals (e.g., beacon signals) from other devices that are transmitted in accordance with the first communication protocol. Operation proceeds from step 5004 to step 5006. In step 5006, the first communication device receives at least some device capability information from the second communication device over the air. The device capability information can be received in the form of a beacon signal. Operation proceeds from step 5006 to step 5008, which is the step of establishing a communication session with the second device, receiving device information from the second device. The device capability information may include a plurality of communication protocols supported by the second communication device. In some cases, the device capability information indicates a plurality of different versions of at least one communication protocol supported by the second communication device.

In step 5008, various other steps are performed as part of the communication setup procedure. In step 5010, the first communication device selects a second communication protocol to be used, for example, for communicating with the second communication device. Alternatively, as will be discussed below with respect to other figures, it may be considered that the second device may select for the communication of the first device, in which case it is not for the purpose of communicating with the second device but for the presence of The signal of the two devices facilitates the purpose of communication to perform the selection step, which may interfere with the first device. In some but not necessarily all embodiments, the second communication protocol uses signal phase to convey data (eg, user data), while the first protocol does not use signal phase to convey information.

In some embodiments, the second communication protocol is one of a GSM, CDMA, and OFDM protocol. In various embodiments, the first agreement is an agreement based on a beacon signal. In some but not necessarily all implementations, the first agreement is a low bit rate agreement, for example, a protocol that supports a maximum bit rate less than 1/100 of the maximum bit rate supported by the second communication protocol. In some embodiments, the first agreement is a beacon-based signaling protocol that supports a maximum bit rate of less than 300 bits per second and in some implementations supports a maximum bit rate of less than 100 bits per second. In some of these implementations, the second communication protocol supports a transmission bit rate greater than 1000 bits per second.

The method can involve receiving a user profile symbol transmitted by the second communication device in accordance with the second communication protocol. In some such embodiments, receiving at least some of the device capability information communicated according to the first communication protocol includes receiving a beacon symbol transmitted by the second communication device at an average per-beacon symbol transmission power level, the average per-letter The symbol transmission power level is, for example, at least 100 times the average per-symbol power level used by the second device to transmit user data symbols during the communication session between the first and second devices. Therefore, in some embodiments, the user beacon symbol can be received from the second communication device at an average per-signet symbol power level, the average per-beacon symbol power level average being the number of self-delivering user data. The communication device receives at least 100 times the average power level of the symbols.

In some embodiments, the first communication protocol permits transmission of beacon symbols over a given symbol transmission time period on a carrier tone that is less than 1/100 of the carrier tone available for beacon symbol transmission. In the same or other embodiments, the first communication protocol permits transmission of beacon symbols during a time period that is less than 1/100 of the transmission time period during which the user data can be transmitted.

In an embodiment of step 5010, as shown in step 5012, the first communication device selects the highest bit rate agreement supported by the first communication device, and the received device capability information indicates that the highest bit rate agreement is also determined by the second device. support.

In addition to selecting the second communication protocol or as an alternative to the protocol selection of step 5010, the first communication device selects a device configuration that supports the second communication protocol. This may involve selecting, in step 5016, a stack of agreements to be used that supports at least one lower level communication protocol used in combination with the second communication protocol.

After making the selection in steps 5010 and/or 5014, the device is configured to operate with the selected configuration. This may involve operating the software and/or hardware using the selected protocol stack.

While the first device may only use the selected protocol stack and continue to establish a higher layer (eg, IP) communication session with the second communication device, in some embodiments, the agreement for use may occur using the first communication protocol and/or Or negotiation of device configuration. However, this negative is optional. Thus, steps 5020, 5022, and 5024 are shown in dashed lines because these steps are not performed in many embodiments.

In step 5020, when in use, the first communication device responds to the received device capability information by transmitting a signal (eg, including a beacon signal burst beacon signal) to communicate the suggested device configuration to A second communication device. The configuration of this recommendation may convey the selected second communication protocol, the selected first device configuration, and/or the device configuration that may correspond to the recommendations of the particular protocol stack used by the first device to suggest the second device.

Operation proceeds to step 5022, which is used in some embodiments. In step 5022, the first wireless communication device monitors the response to the suggested device configuration information. In some but not necessarily all embodiments, this involves monitoring beacon symbols transmitted by the second communication device. The first device changes its configuration from the selected configuration to another in response to the proposed device configuration information transmitted and receives a response that is different from the first device configuration of the selected configuration. configuration. For example, in response to an unacceptable indication of additional information or advice from the second communication device, the configuration may be a configuration suggested by the second communication device or another configuration selected by the first wireless communication device .

Operation proceeds from step 5024 to step 5026 (when the step is performed). In other embodiments, operation may proceed directly from step 5018 to step 5026. In step 5026, the first communication device receives the user profile from the second communication device and/or transfers the user profile to the second communication device, for example, as part of the established communication session. In parallel with receiving and/or transmitting user data performed in step 5026, the first communication device transmits a signal in accordance with the first communication protocol to communicate at least some of the first communication device capability information. The transmitted signal may include a beacon signal burst to communicate device capability information. In this way, the first device continues to broadcast its device capability information even when participating in the established communication session.

Operation ultimately stops at step 5030, for example, when the first wireless terminal is powered down. It will be appreciated that transmission of device capability information in accordance with the first communication protocol may continue to occur, for example, according to a predetermined transmission schedule, regardless of whether the communication session is ongoing or terminated.

Figure 34 illustrates a wireless terminal that can be used in the special network shown in Figure 32 and that implements the method shown in Figure 33.

FIG. 34 is a diagram of an exemplary wireless terminal set 3400 (eg, a mobile node) in accordance with various embodiments. The exemplary wireless terminal 3400 includes a receiver module 3402, a transmitter module 3404, a processor 3406, a user I/O device 3408, and a memory 3410 coupled together via a bus bar 3412. The bus 3412 is interchangeable with information and information. Memory 3410 includes routine 3414 and data/information 3416. The processor 3406 (e.g., CPU) executes routine 3414 and uses the data/information 3416 in the memory 3410 to control the operation of the wireless terminal 3400 and implement the method.

A receiver module 3402 (eg, a receiver) is coupled to the receive antenna 3403 via which the wireless terminal receives signals from other wireless communication devices. The receiver module 3402 receives at least some device capability information from the second communication device over the air using the first communication protocol, the first communication protocol transmitting information using at least one of the signal frequency and time, but not using the signal phase. In some embodiments, the first agreement is a communication protocol based on a beacon signal.

A transmitter module 3404 (eg, a transmitter) is coupled to the transmit antenna 3405 via which the wireless terminal transmits signals to other communication devices. The transmitted signal includes a beacon signal (e.g., generated beacon signal 3454) for communicating device capability information (e.g., device capability information 3452 to be transmitted).

User I/O device 3408 includes, for example, a microphone, a keyboard, a keypad, a switch, a camera, a display, a speaker, and the like. User I/O device 3408 allows a user of wireless terminal device 3400 to enter data/information, access output data information, and control at least some functions of wireless terminal device 3400.

The routine 3414 includes a second communication protocol selection module 3418, a device configuration module 3420, a user data recovery module 3422, a beacon symbol detection module 3424, and a beacon signal information recovery module 3426. And a beacon signal generating module 3428. The data/information 3416 includes received device capability information 3430, first protocol information (eg, protocol information based on beacon signals) 3432, information 3434 identifying the selected second communication protocol, information indicating the configuration of the selected device 3436, Information 3438 indicating the communication protocol supported by the second device, GSM protocol information 3440, CDMA protocol information 3442, and OFDM protocol information 3444. The data/information 3416 also includes the detected beacon symbol 3448, the beacon symbol level detection standard 3450, the recovered user data 3446, the device capability information to be transmitted, the generated beacon signal 3454, and the beacon signal information coding. / Decode information 3456.

The second communication protocol selection module 3418 selects a second communication protocol 3434 to be used during communication based on the received device capability information 3430, the second communication protocol being different from the first communication protocol by at least one of: a modulation mechanism, Transmit timing, encoding, and supported bit rate. In some embodiments, the second communication protocol uses the signal phase to convey user data. In some embodiments, the second communication protocol is one of a GSM, CDMA, and OFDM protocol. In various embodiments, the first communication protocol (eg, a beacon-based agreement) is a communication protocol that supports a maximum bit rate that is less than 1/100 of the maximum bit rate supported by the second communication protocol. In some embodiments, the received device capability information 3430 includes a plurality of communication protocols supported by the second device. In some embodiments, the received device capability information indicates a plurality of different versions of at least one communication protocol supported by the second communication device.

The device configuration module 3420 selects a device configuration that supports a second communication protocol, the device configuration selection including a selection of protocol stack elements including at least one of the communication devices used in conjunction with the second communication protocol Low-level communication protocol. The selected device configuration 3436 is the output of the module 3420.

The user data recovery module 3422 recovers the user profile from the communication signal transmitted using the second communication protocol. The restored user profile 3446 is the output of the module 3422.

The beacon symbol detection module 3424 detects the beacon symbol in the received signal, and the beacon symbol detection module 3424 uses the received signal energy to distinguish the beacon symbol from the user data symbol, and the beacon symbol system is The user data symbols received by the device with the same average and confidence symbol are received at a power difference of at least 10 dB. The beacon symbol detection module 3424 uses the beacon symbol level to detect the standard information 3450 and outputs the detected beacon symbol information 3448.

The beacon signal information recovery module 3426 uses the information 3448 including the detected beacon symbol and the information/information 3416 of the beacon signal information encoding/decoding information 3456 to recover the time and frequency of the identified beacon symbol. Information passed by at least one.

The beacon signal generation module 3428 generates a beacon signal 3454 that conveys information (eg, device capability information 3452) that includes at least one high power beacon symbol and a plurality of intentional null values. In some embodiments, at least one of the beacon signals is an OFDM beacon signal comprising at least one beacon signal burst, the beacon signal burst comprising at least one beacon symbol.

Figure 39 illustrates a wireless terminal that can be used in the special network shown in Figure 32 and that implements the method shown in Figure 33.

FIG. 39 is a diagram of an illustrative wireless terminal set 4100 (eg, a mobile node) in accordance with various embodiments. The exemplary wireless terminal device 4100 includes a receiver module 4102, a transmitter module 4104, a processor 4106, a user I/O device 4108, and a memory 4110 coupled together via a bus bar 4112. The bus 4112 is interchangeable with information and information. Memory 4110 includes routine 4114 and data/information 4116. The processor 4106 (e.g., CPU) executes routine 4114 and uses the data/information 4116 in the memory 4110 to control the operation of the wireless terminal 4100 and implement the method.

Receiver module 4102 (eg, a receiver) is coupled to receive antenna 4103 via which the wireless terminal receives signals from other wireless communication devices. The receiver module 4102 receives signals including at least some device capability information from the second mobile communication device using the first communication protocol, the first communication protocol transmitting the device capability information using the beacon signal bursts. The received second device beacon signal information 4118 includes information corresponding to the received signal.

A transmitter module 4104 (eg, a transmitter) is coupled to the transmit antenna 4105 via which the wireless terminal transmits signals to other communication devices. The transmitted signal includes a beacon signal (e.g., generated beacon signal 3454) for communicating device capability information (e.g., device capability information 3452 to be transmitted). The transmitter module 4104 transmits a signal to the second mobile communication device in accordance with the selected second protocol.

User I/O device 4108 includes, for example, a microphone, a keyboard, a keypad, a switch, a camera, a display, a speaker, and the like. User I/O device 4108 allows a user of wireless terminal device 4100 to enter data/information, access output data information, and control at least some functions of wireless terminal device 4100.

The routine 4114 includes a device configuration selection module 4118, a configuration control module 4120, a second communication protocol processing module 4122, and a device capability information recovery module 4124. The data/information 4116 includes the received second device beacon signal information 4118, the selected device configuration information 4124, the selected communication protocol identification information 4126, the to-be-processed received signal 4128, the processed signal 4130, and the beacon signal transmission protocol information. 4132. A plurality of value sets and corresponding device capability information sets (value 1 4134 and corresponding device capability information set 4136, . . . , value N 4138 and corresponding device capability information set 4140). The data/information 4116 also includes second device capability information 4120, such as the value passed and the recovered second device capability information 4122. The data/information 4116 also includes protocol information 4142 corresponding to the alternate second communication protocol (type 1 OFDM protocol information 4144, type n OFDM protocol information 4146, type 1 CDMA information 4148, type N CDMA protocol information 4150, type 1 GSM protocol) Information 4152, Type N GSM Agreement Information 4154).

The device configuration selection module 4118 selects between the plurality of possible device configurations based on the received device capability information to configure the first mobile communication device to be used by the wireless terminal device 4100 when communicating with the second communication device, second The communication protocol is selected by the first mobile communication device configuration, the second communication protocol being different from the first communication protocol. The selected device configuration information 4124 and the selected second communication protocol identification information 4126 are selected as outputs of the selection module 4118.

The configuration control module 4120 configures the wireless terminal to operate in accordance with the selected device configuration identified by the selected device configuration information 4124. The second communication protocol processing module 4122 processes the received signals transmitted from the second communication device to the wireless terminal in accordance with the second communication protocol. The second communication protocol processing module 4122 processes the received signal 4128 according to the protocol identified by the information 4126 to obtain the processed signal 4130. The agreement identified by the selected second communication agreement identification information 4126 is one of a plurality of agreements included in the agreement information 4142 corresponding to the alternate second agreement.

The device capability information recovery module 4124 recovers the transmitted device capability information by determining a set of device capability information corresponding to the value obtained from the received beacon signal. The beacon signal transmits a value corresponding to a set of device capability information. From the received second device beacon signal information 4118, a value 4120 indicating the transfer of the second device capability is obtained. The device information recovery module 4124 uses the value for the device capability mapping information ((4134, 4136), ..., (4138, 4140)) to restore the second device capability information 4122. For example, if the value transmitted by the beacon signal is the value N 4138, the restored second device capability information 4122 is the information 4140.

In this exemplary embodiment, the first communication protocol is a beacon-based agreement, and the stored beacon transmission agreement information 4132 is used to communicate in accordance with the agreement, for example, including the generation and recovery of the use of the agreement. In some embodiments, the first communication protocol does not use signal phase to convey information. For example, the value transmitted by the beacon signal is transmitted by the carrier frequency of the beacon symbol and the time at which the beacon carrier tone is transmitted. In various embodiments, the first communication protocol supports a lower maximum data transfer rate than the second communication protocol.

FIG. 35, which includes the combination of FIGS. 35A-35B, illustrates an exemplary method 6000 of operating a first communication device supporting a cooperative mode of operation and a non-cooperative mode of operation and switching between modes. The method 6000 begins at step 6002 and proceeds to steps 6005 and 6003 that can occur in parallel. In step 6005, the first communication device receives a signal from another communication device (eg, the second communication device). Operation proceeds from step 6005 to step 6006, where the received signal is detected. In step 6006, the first communication device determines whether the received signal is from a communication device that is not in communication with the first communication device, for example, from interference with or interference with the first communication device. A device that does not necessarily participate in the communication session with the first device. If the device from which the signal is received does not communicate with the first communication device, the operation proceeds to step 6008, in which the first device determines, from the received signal, the device from which the signal was received relative to the first communication device. Operate in a cooperative or non-cooperative mode.

Step 6008 can be implemented in a plurality of ways, depending on what information is obtained from the received signal. Sub-steps 6010, 6012, and 6014 represent the use of an alternative method of determining whether the device is functioning in a cooperative mode of operation and visually receiving the information. In some embodiments, only one or some of sub-steps 6010, 6012, 6014 are supported.

When sub-step 6008 is used, decision 6010, the first device determines whether the device transmitting the signal is in a cellular mode of operation or a special mode from the device information in the received signal. The cellular mode of operation may be interpreted as indicating a cooperative mode, while the special mode may and in some cases be interpreted as indicating a non-cooperative mode of operation. However, in other embodiments, special operations do not necessarily imply a non-cooperative mode of operation. In sub-step 6012, the communication network corresponding to the transmission device is used to determine whether it operates in a cooperative or non-cooperative manner with respect to the first communication device. If the device transmitting the received signal corresponds to the same communication network as the first device, it is determined that it operates in a cooperative manner. When sub-step 6012 is used, it is determined that the device corresponding to the other network from which the signal was received is determined to operate in a non-cooperative manner. Sub-step 6014 is used when the service provider and/or user group information is used to determine whether the device is operating in a cooperative or non-cooperative mode. In step 6014, the first communication device determines whether the device transmitting the received signal corresponds to a service provider or group of users that is the same as or different from the first communication device. This can be done by comparing the service provider and/or user group information indicating the storage of the service provider and/or user group of the first device with the service provider corresponding to the determination of the device transmitting the received signal or User group to complete. If the device transmitting the received signal corresponds to the same service provider or group of users, it is determined to operate in the cooperative mode. Otherwise, it is determined that it operates in a non-cooperative mode. Other ways of determining the means for transmitting a signal include comparing a transport service provider or group of users with a service provider and/or group of users known to operate in a non-cooperative manner. Yet another way of determining the means for transmitting the received signal in some embodiments is determining the type of signal and/or the protocol used to communicate the signal, and then determining from this information whether the device uses a signal indicating a non-cooperative mode of operation or agreement. For example, detecting a signal corresponding to a technology or communication protocol that does not support power control and/or interference control signaling can be considered to detect a non-cooperative mode of operation.

Operation proceeds from step 6008 to step 6016, wherein the mode of operation of the first communication device is selected, for example, based on a determination made in step 6008 regarding an operational mode of another device. Other factors may also be considered in step 6016, such as the strength of the received signal, the duration of the received signal, and/or other factors such as the communication protocol used by the device from which the signal was received, etc., such other factors may be used to determine Or an estimate of the amount of interference that the first communication device can experience due to the presence of another communication device. In at least some and in many embodiments, in most cases, it is assumed that other devices not in communication with the first communication device are not in the communication region of the first device, and the device from which the signal was received is determined to be in the non- In the cooperative mode, the first communication device will select the non-cooperative mode, and when the device from which the signal is received is in the cooperative mode of operation, the first communication device will select the cooperative mode.

In the case where the selection between the cooperative operation mode and the non-cooperative operation mode has been performed in step 6016, the operation proceeds to the step 6040 via the connection node 6018. In step 6040, the first communication device selects a device configuration to be used for communication with one or more other devices (eg, a third device) while operating in the selected mode of operation. In some embodiments, in sub-step 6042, if the non-cooperative mode of operation has been selected and the first communication device is in a communication session with the third communication device supporting the first and second communication protocols (the second communication device does not support Second protocol), the first communication device will select to use a configuration of a communication protocol that is not supported by the second communication device but is supported by the third communication device (the first device is in communication with the third communication device). In some embodiments, the first and second protocols for switching between devices are WiFi and Bluetooth. Due to the fact that the second device does not support the selected protocol, the second device will not be able to control or influence the communication between the first and third devices using the interference control signaling corresponding to the selected protocol.

Operation proceeds from step 6040 to step 6044, where a determination is made to check if the first communication device is operating in the selected mode of operation and whether the selected device configuration and/or protocol is used. If the current mode of operation, configuration, and agreement in use match the selection made, no change in device operation is required and operation proceeds to step 6046, in which the first device continues to operate in the current mode of operation. However, if the selection does not match the current operational state of the first communication device, then operation proceeds from step 6044 to step 6048, in which the operational mode and/or device configuration is changed to be performed in steps 6016 and 6040. Choose a match.

Operation proceeds from steps 6046 and 6048 to step 6050. In step 6050, the first communication device operates in a selected mode of operation (eg, a non-cooperative mode of operation or a cooperative mode). If the mode is a non-cooperative mode, in some embodiments, in sub-step 6052, the first device operates to maximize its performance regardless of the impact on communication of another device (e.g., the device from which the signal was received). This may involve operations to maximize data throughput, for example, by using high transmission power levels and/or minimizing transmission delays (eg, by transmitting signals quickly, regardless of the current transmission and the previous transmission to another The impact of the communication of the device). In a cooperative mode of operation, in some embodiments, the first communication device implements sub-step 6054, in which the first communication device responds to the interference control signal and/or otherwise considers that its transmission is not communicating with it. The impact of the device as part of the communication session.

In step 6006, if it is determined that the detected signal is received from the communication device that is in communication with the first communication device, the operation proceeds to step 6021. Depending on the mode of operation, the first device may operate in a cooperative mode or a non-cooperative mode while in the communication session. In step 6021, a determination is made as to whether the received signal is an interference control signal. If the signal is not an interference control signal, then operation proceeds to step 6020, where the received signal is processed (eg, user data is restored) and a response is sent as appropriate (eg, in response to the received signal, may be sent Confirm the signal and / or provide user data).

If it is determined in step 6021 that the received signal is an interference control signal, the operation proceeds to step 6022, where a check is made to determine that the first device is operating in a cooperative operation mode or a non-cooperative operation mode. If the first device is operating in a non-cooperative mode of operation, then operation proceeds to step 6024 where the interference control signal, which may be a power transfer control signal, is ignored.

However, if it is determined in step 6020 that the first communication device is operating in the cooperative mode of operation, then operation proceeds from step 6022 to step 6026, in which the first communication device performs an interference control operation in response to the received signal. The interference control operation can be, for example, a transmission power level control operation, such as reducing the transmission power level of the device used to transmit user data. In the case where the beacon signal is transmitted by the first device in addition to the user data, the average transmission power level of the beacon symbol may not be changed when the transmission power level for transmitting the user symbol is lowered.

Referring again to step 6003 of Figure 35A, this step can occur in parallel with the process just described. In step 6003, the first communications device monitors the detachment of the communications area from the first communications device by the detecting device. The detachment can be detected by determining that the signal is no longer received from a device that previously transmitted the signal (e.g., a communication signal and/or a beacon signal that informs other devices of the presence and/or capabilities of a device). When the disengagement of the device is detected, operation proceeds from step 6003 via connection node 6004 to step 6060 shown in Figure 35C.

In step 6060, the first communication device determines whether it is operating in a mode or using a configuration selected due to the presence or reception of a communication signal from the communication device, the communication device being detected as having detached corresponding to the first The communication area of the communication device. If the mode is not due to the disengaged device, then operation proceeds to step 6070 and the first communication device continues to operate with the mode of operation in which it was initiated at step 6060. However, if the mode of operation is due to the presence of the second device or a signal from the second device, then operation proceeds to step 6062.

In step 6062, the first communication device cooperates with the non-cooperative mode in a cooperative mode based on its current conditions (eg, the presence or absence of other communication devices operating in a cooperative or non-cooperative manner in the region of the first communication device) Choose between operating modes. Once the selection between the cooperative mode of operation and the non-cooperative mode of operation has been performed, in step 6064, when operating in the selected mode of operation, the device selects one for use with one or more other devices (eg, the third device) ) Configuration of the communication.

In step 6062, in sub-step 6066, implemented in some embodiments, the device can switch to the first communication protocol used prior to entering the region in the second communication device. Therefore, if the first communication device switches from the first protocol to the second communication protocol that is not supported by the second communication device, for example, in response to the signal received from the second communication device, when the second device leaves the area, A communication device can switch back to the first communication protocol. The first communication protocol may provide a higher data transmission rate without interference from the second device, but provides a higher level than when the first device has interference from the second device The data transmission rate of the data transfer rate reached by the two agreements is low. The first and second protocols may be OFDM protocols such as WiFi and Bluetooth. Alternatively, it may be a very different agreement such as the CSMA protocol and the OFDM protocol.

In the event that device configuration selection has been made in step 6064, operation proceeds to step 6008, where a determination is made as to whether the first communication device has operated in the selected mode and has the selected device configuration. If the first communication device has operated in accordance with the selected mode and configuration, then operation proceeds to step 6070 where the operational mode remains unchanged. However, if the first communication device is not already in the selected mode and configuration, then operation proceeds to step 6072. In step 6072, the first communication device switches to the selected mode and/or device configuration.

Operation proceeds from steps 6070 and 6072 to step 6000, in which the device operates in a selected mode of operation (e.g., cooperative operating mode 6076 or non-cooperative mode 6078 as previously described with respect to step 6050).

FIG. 36 is a diagram of an exemplary wireless terminal set 3600 (eg, a mobile node) in accordance with various embodiments. The exemplary wireless terminal device 3600 includes a receiver module 3602, a transmitter module 3604, a processor 3606, a user I/O device 3608, and a memory 3610 coupled together via a bus bar 3612. The bus 3612 is interchangeable with information and information. Memory 3610 includes routine 3614 and data/information 3616. The processor 3606 (e.g., CPU) executes routine 3614 and uses the data/information 3616 in the memory 3610 to control the operation of the wireless terminal 3600 and implement the method.

Receiver module 3602 (eg, a receiver) is coupled to receive antenna 3603 via which the wireless terminal receives signals from other wireless communication devices. Receiver module 3602 receives signals from the second communication device over the airlink.

A transmitter module 3604 (eg, a transmitter) is coupled to the transmit antenna 3605 via which the wireless terminal transmits signals to other communication devices. For example, the wireless terminal can transmit a signal to the third communication device as part of the communication session.

User I/O device 3608 includes, for example, a microphone, a keyboard, a keypad, a switch, a camera, a display, a speaker, and the like. User I/O device 3608 allows a user of wireless terminal device 3600 to enter data/information, access output data information, and control at least some functions of wireless terminal device 3600.

The routine 3614 includes a mode determination module 3618, a mode selection module 3620, a communication module 3622, a data throughput maximization module 3624, and an interference control module 3626. The data/information 3616 includes received second device signal information 3634, decision relationship information 3636 (eg, cooperative or non-cooperative relationship) relative to the second device, and determined second device operational mode 3638 (eg, cellular or special) The second device service provider information 3640 and the determined second device user group information 3642.

The data/information 3616 also includes information indicating the selected mode of operation (eg, cooperative communication mode or non-cooperative communication mode), received interference control signal 3644, and third device identification information 3648. Information/information 3616 also includes WT 3600 Service Provider Information 3652, WT 3600 User Group Information 3654, WT 3600 Non-Cooperative Service Provider Information 3656 and WT 3600 Non-Cooperative User Group Information 3658. Service Provider Information 3652 includes information identifying the service providers of WT 3600 and information identifying other partner service providers (which may be considered cooperative). User group information 3654 identifies the user group that the WT 3600 considers to be a collaboration. The non-cooperative service provider information 3652 includes information identifying the service providers of the WT 3600 that are considered to be non-cooperative with the WT 3600. User group information 3654 identifies the WT 3600 as a group of users with non-cooperative relationships. In some embodiments, information 3656 and/or 3658 are not included and the inclusion of service provider information 3652 is absent, and/or user group information 3654 is sufficient to be classified as having a non-cooperative relationship.

The mode decision module 3618 determines whether the second communication device is in a cooperative communication relationship or a non-cooperative communication relationship with the wireless terminal device from the received signal (eg, from the received second device signal information 3634). The decision relationship information 3636 relative to the second device identifying one of the cooperative relationship and the non-cooperative relationship is the output of the mode decision module 3618. In some embodiments, when the second communication device is operative to maximize its own data throughput regardless of the impact of the second communication device's signaling on the wireless terminal 3600, the second communication device is considered to Non-cooperative mode operation. In some embodiments, the second communication device is considered to operate in a cooperative relationship when the transmission output power of the second communication device is responsive to control signaling from another device.

In some embodiments, determining, by the received signal, whether the second communication device is in a cooperative or non-cooperative relationship comprises determining from the received second device information whether the second communication device is in a cellular mode of operation (where the communication device is responsive to the slave base The station's resource configuration signal) operation is also operated in a special operation mode. The determined second device mode of operation (e.g., a special honeycomb type) 3638 is the output determined by module 3618.

The mode decision module 3618 includes a service provider sub-module 3630 and a user group sub-module 3632 that uses the received signals from the second communication device for decision. The service provider sub-module 3630 determines the service provider associated with the second communication device and uses the stored service provider information 3652 and/or 3656 to determine whether the second communication device uses the same service provider or is considered to be with the WT The service provider of the 3600's own service provider becomes a cooperative service provider. Information 3640 is the output of sub-module 3630. The user group sub-module 3632 uses the information 3654 to determine whether the second communication device is included in the user group to which the WT 3600 belongs. The user group sub-module 3632 uses the information 3658 to determine whether the second communication device is included in the user group that the WT 3600 considers to be non-cooperative. The determined second user group information 3642 is the output of the user group sub-module 3632.

Mode selection module 3620 selects between one of a cooperative communication mode of operation and a non-cooperative communication mode of operation based on the determination of module 3618. Information 3644 indicating the selected mode of operation is the output of mode selection module 3620.

The communication module 3622 is configured to communicate with the third communication device when operating in the selected mode of communication. The selected mode of communication is indicated by information 3644. The third device identification information 3648 is stored in the data/information 3616. For example, the wireless terminal 3600 has a communication period with the third communication device, and the second communication device is in a localized area where interference occurs.

When the selected mode is the cooperative mode of operation, the data throughput maximization module 3624 maximizes the amount of data transfer between the wireless terminal and the third communication device regardless of the impact on the communication of the second device. When the selected mode of operation is the non-cooperative mode of operation, the interference control module 3626 responds to the selected mode of operation, and the interference control module 3626 ignores the interference control signal (eg, the received interference control signal 3644). In some embodiments, the interference control signal is a transmission power control signal. In various embodiments, the interference control module 3626 is responsive to the interference control signal when the selected mode is the cooperative mode of operation.

A method of operating a communication device (e.g., a third communication device) to operate as a communication intermediate for a first and second device will be described with reference to FIG. 37, the first and second devices being attributed to The difference between the agreement supported by the first and second devices does not have the ability to directly exchange user data with each other. The method of Figure 37 is well suited for use in a system such as the special network of Figure 32, in which a plurality of devices having different capabilities establish a special network. To explain the method of FIG. 37, it is assumed that each of the first, second, and third devices supports a first agreement that can be used to communicate device capability information. The first agreement may be, for example, a low bit rate agreement that is inappropriate due to low bit rate or other reasons for communicating user data (eg, text, video material, or audio material). In some but not necessarily all embodiments, the first agreement is an agreement based on beacon signals. In addition to supporting the first protocol, the first device supports a second communication protocol that can be used to exchange user profiles, such as a second physical layer protocol, such as a GSM, CDMA, or OFDM protocol. In addition to supporting the first agreement, the second device supports a third communication protocol that can be used to exchange user data but differs from the second communication protocol, such as a third physical layer agreement, such as a GSM, CDMA, or OFDM protocol. The fact that at least one of the first and second devices does support the second and third agreements makes it difficult or impossible to directly communicate user data between the two devices.

In the example of FIG. 37, in addition to the first communication protocol, the third device supports second and third communication protocols that are available to exchange user profiles. Thus, the third communication device is a multi-protocol device capable of supporting a communication protocol that does not support direct interoperability (eg, due to entity differences in the signals used and/or manner in which information is encoded according to the protocol used). In some embodiments, the third communication device and/or other communication device is a palm-type portable communication device. In addition to the first, second, and third protocols, one or more of the first, second, and third devices may support one or more higher level agreements, for example, may be, for example, a network layer protocol The fourth agreement. In some embodiments, the first, second, and third devices support the same network layer protocol, however, in the absence of assistance from the third communication device, due to lower level protocol incompatibility, The first and second devices are not interactive.

Referring now to Figure 37, it can be seen that the method 7000 of operating the third communication device begins in step 7002 and proceeds to step 7004. In step 7004, the third communication device transmits a signal (eg, a portion of the beacon signal) for transmitting device capability information including the indication of the third device supporting the second and third communication protocols in accordance with the first communication protocol. . Next, in step 7006, the third communication device receives device capability information transmitted using the first communication protocol from at least one of the first wireless communication device and the second wireless communication device. Note that the order of steps 7006 and 7004 is not important, and in fact, since it is not necessary for both devices to receive capability information to establish communication, it is generally not necessary to perform both steps 7004, 7006.

In step 7006, the third communication device can receive, in step 7008, at least a portion of the beacon signal indicating that the first communication device is capable of supporting the second communication protocol. Likewise, as part of step 7006, the third communication device can receive, in step 7010, at least a portion of the beacon signal indicating that the second communication device is capable of supporting the third communication protocol.

After the device capability information has been received in step 7006, the third communication device proceeds to step 7015 to establish a communication link with the first device using the second communication protocol. For example, this can be, for example, a CDMA link. The third communication device also proceeds to establish a communication link with the second communication device using the third communication protocol. This can be, for example, an OFDM or GSM protocol link. In the case where a communication link is established with the first and second devices using the second and third protocols, respectively, the third communication device is operable to operate as a communication intermediate between the first and second devices.

In some embodiments, upon establishing a link with the first and second devices, the third device transmits a path selection update signal (eg, as shown in optional step 7018) to one or more devices, eg, Using the routers in the network and/or the first and second devices providing at least some connectivity information, the connectivity information indicates to the other devices in the system that the third communication device is now available as the first and second communication devices Intercommunication intermediates, for example, for packet forwarding and/or other purposes. The path selection update message sent in step 7018 may be, and in some embodiments, a network layer path selection update message to communicate updated network layer path selection information.

Operation proceeds from step 7018 to step 7020, in which the third communication device operates as a communication intermediate between the first and second communication devices. Step 7020 can include one or more of the following steps: relaying signal 7022 from the first communication device to the second communication device and/or from the second communication device to the first communication device; providing network connectivity (eg, IP) Connectivity), thereby allowing the first and second devices to exchange network layer signals 7024 via the third communication device; by switching between different protocols (eg, second and third protocols) while at the first and second The device transmits a signal between the devices to operate as a communication gateway 7026; and bridges a communication link established with the first communication device and a communication link 7028 established with the second communication device.

After the third communication device operates as a period of communication intermediate between the first and second devices and/or during the period, the device capability information may also be transmitted according to the first agreement as shown in step 7030.

At some point, operation ceases in step 7032, for example, due to a power outage of the third communication device or other device leaving the communication zone operated by the third communication device.

Network layer connectivity can be achieved by using the method illustrated in Figure 37 to use the 埠-connected communication device as a communication intermediate between devices that do not support physical layer connectivity sufficient to exchange user data. Thus, while a small portion of a device in a particular network can support multiple protocols (e.g., at a physical layer capable of supporting the exchange of user data), in accordance with the present invention, such multi-protocol devices can be used to establish relatively inexpensive A special network in which devices can communicate with each other.

In some embodiments, a wireless terminal that acts as a communication intermediary keeps track of the devices to which it provides services. For example, depending on the reduced service charge for the service provided to the intermediary device or the compensation received by the owner of the first and second devices for the benefit of obtaining the service, the information may then be reported to a central accounting device or may be Compensation services and intermediates for the services provided. This tracking and crediting method is well suited for the use of special networks in licensed spectrum where individual users may be licensed to the spectrum even if the base station and/or other infrastructure components may not be directly involved in the communication. The person pays to get the right to operate in the spectrum.

FIG. 38 is a diagram of an exemplary wireless terminal set 4000 (eg, a mobile node) in accordance with various embodiments. In some embodiments, the wireless terminal 4000 is a mobile handset. The exemplary wireless terminal 4000 supports at least a first communication protocol, a second communication protocol, and a third communication protocol, the first, second, and third communication protocols being different. The exemplary wireless terminal device 4000 includes a receiver module 4002 coupled via a bus bar 4012, a transmission module 4004, a processor 4006, a user I/O device 4008, and a memory 4010. Exchangeable information and information on the bus 4012. The memory 4010 includes a routine 4014 and a profile/information 4016. The processor 4006 (eg, a CPU) executes the routine 4014 and uses the data/information 4016 in the memory 4010 to control the operation of the wireless terminal 4000 and implement the method.

Receiver module 4002 (eg, a receiver) is coupled to receive antenna 4003 via which the wireless terminal receives signals from other wireless communication devices. The receiver module 4002 receives device capability information from at least one of the first communication device and the second communication device, the device capability information being communicated using the first communication protocol. The information 4038 corresponds to the first communication protocol and the device capability information corresponding to the reception of the first and second devices is information (4034, 4036).

A transmission module 4004 (eg, a transmitter) is coupled to the transmission antenna 4005 via which the wireless terminal transmits signals to other communication devices. The transmission module 4004 is configured to transmit a beacon signal for transmitting device capability information to other communication devices, the device capability information indicating that the wireless terminal device 4000 can support the second and third communication protocols. The generated beacon signal 4072 of the transmission information 4070 is transmitted by the transmission module 4004. The transmission module 4004 also transmits the processed signal 4068 (eg, a protocol conversion signal) to the first communication device and transmits the processed signal 4068 (eg, a protocol conversion signal) to the second communication device.

User I/O device 4008 includes, for example, a microphone, a keyboard, a keypad, a switch, a camera, a display, a speaker, and the like. User I/O device 4008 allows a user of wireless terminal 4000 to enter data/information, access output data information, and control at least some of the functions of wireless terminal 4000.

The routine 4014 includes a communication transfer module 4018, a network layer connectivity module 4020, a second communication protocol module 4022, a third communication protocol module 4024, and a first physical layer communication protocol module 4026. A second physical layer communication protocol module 4028, a third physical layer communication protocol module 4030, and a relay tracking module 4032.

The data/information 4016 includes device capability information 4034 corresponding to the device 1 received, device capability information 4036 corresponding to the device 2 received, and device capability information 4070 corresponding to the storage of the WT 4000 device capabilities. The data/information 4016 also includes first communication agreement information 4038, second communication agreement information, and third communication agreement information 4041. In various embodiments, the first communication protocol is a beacon-based agreement. The second communication protocol information 4039 includes an information identification protocol used between the WT 4000 and the first communication device. The third communication protocol information 4041 includes an information identification protocol used between the WT 4000 and the second communication device. The data/information 4016 also includes a plurality of information sets (MAC layer protocol 1 information 4044, ..., MAC layer protocol n information) for supporting different MAC layer protocols, and multiple pieces of information supporting different network layer protocols. Set (network layer protocol 1 information 4048, ..., network layer protocol M information 4050), support multiple layers of different physical layer agreements (physical layer agreement 1 information 4040, ..., The entity layer agreement m information 4042) and a plurality of information sets (higher level agreement 1 information 4052, ..., higher level agreement N information 4054) for supporting higher level agreements.

The data/information 4016 also includes means for identifying the device 1 agreement usage information 4056 used by the communication device 1 (when communicating with the wireless terminal device 4000) and identifying the protocol used by the communication device 2 (when communicating with the wireless terminal device 4000). Device 2 agrees to use information 4058. The data/information 4016 includes device 1 / device 2 protocol conversion information 4060, device 1 intended for device 2 receives signal information 4062, device 1 intended for processing of device 2 receives information 4064, device 2 intended for device 1 Received signal information 4066, device 2 intended for processing of device 1 receives information 4068. The data/information 4016 also includes a beacon signal 4072 that transmits the generated WT 400 device capability information 4070. The information provided by the cumulative amount of relay services 4074 is also included in the information/information 4016.

The communication transfer module 4018 relays communication between the first and second communication devices, the first communication device supports the first and second communication protocols, and the second communication device supports the first and third communication protocols. In some embodiments, the first communication protocol is a low bit rate agreement that supports a maximum bit rate that is less than 1/1000 of the bit rate supported by either of the first and second communication protocols. In various embodiments, the first communication protocol is a beacon based communication protocol.

In some embodiments, for some of the first and second communication devices, the wireless terminal 4000, the first communication device, and the second communication device support a fourth agreement, the fourth agreement corresponding to the second and the third agreement A higher level communication layer with a higher communication layer. In some embodiments, at some time, the second and third protocols correspond to the same communication layer.

The network layer connectivity module 4020 provides network layer connectivity between the first and second communication devices to communicate network layer signals using the first and second communication links.

The second communication protocol module 4022 supports a first MAC layer protocol for communicating with the first communication device. The third communication protocol module 4024 supports a second MAC layer protocol for communicating with the second communication device, the first and the second MAC layer protocol being different.

The first physical layer communication protocol module 4026 performs operations that support a first communication protocol (e.g., a beacon-based protocol). The second physical layer communication protocol module 4028 is for supporting a second physical layer protocol for communicating with the first communication device. The third physical layer communication protocol module 4030 is for supporting a third physical layer protocol for communicating with the second communication device.

The relay tracking module 4032 tracks communication relay services provided to other wireless communication devices. The relay tracking module 4032 maintains a cumulative amount of relay service provision information 4074. In some embodiments, the service provider provides an incentive to the wireless terminal to act as a relay. For example, in some embodiments, the service provider provides an incentive to act as a relay and/or protocol conversion device during the time that is turned on and when the other wireless terminal is not properly powered on. Incentives include, for example, extra minutes of radio time, reduced operating rates, reduced billing charges, freely enhanced features, and/or downloads, and the like.

Although described in the context of an OFDM TDD system, the methods and apparatus of various embodiments are applicable to a wide range of communication systems including many non-OFDM, many non-TDD systems, and/or many non-cellular systems.

In various embodiments, one or more modules are used to implement the nodes described herein to perform steps corresponding to one or more methods, such as generating a beacon signal, transmitting a beacon signal, receiving a beacon signal, monitoring a signal. Standard signal, self-receiving beacon signal recovery information, decision timing adjustment, implementation timing adjustment, change of operation mode, initial communication session, etc. In some embodiments, modules are used to implement various features. These modules can be implemented using software, hardware or a combination of software and hardware. Many of the methods or method steps described above can be implemented using machine-executable instructions (such as software) included in a machine-readable medium such as a memory device (eg, RAM, floppy disk, etc.) to control the machine ( For example, a general purpose computer with or without additional hardware) implements all or part of the methods described above, for example, in one or more nodes. Accordingly, various embodiments are directed to a machine-readable medium comprising machine-executable instructions for causing a machine (eg, a processor and associated hardware) to perform one or more of the steps of the methods described above. .

In view of the above description, many additional variations to the methods and apparatus described above will be apparent to those skilled in the art. These changes are considered to be within the scope. The methods and apparatus of various embodiments may, and in various embodiments, be compatible with CDMA, orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM), and/or various other types that may be used to provide a wireless communication link between an access node and a mobile node. Communication technology is used together. In some embodiments, the access node is implemented as a base station that establishes a communication link with the mobile node using OFDM and/or CDMA. In various embodiments, the mobile node is implemented as a notebook computer, personal data assistant (PDA), or other portable device including receiver/transmitter circuitry and logic and/or routines for implementing the methods of various embodiments. .

100. . . Special communication network

102. . . First wireless terminal

104. . . Second wireless terminal

106. . . Geographical area

200. . . figure

202. . . time interval

204. . . time interval

206. . . time interval

208. . . time interval

300. . . figure

301. . . horizontal axis

302. . . Vertical axis

304. . . Small box

306. . . Small black box

308. . . Beacon signal burst/beacon symbol

310. . . Beacon signal burst/beacon symbol

312. . . Beacon signal burst/beacon symbol

400. . . figure

401. . . horizontal axis

404. . . Vertical rectangle

406. . . Black rectangle

408. . . Average transmission power

500. . . figure

502. . . Beacon signal burst A

504. . . Beacon signal bursting B

505. . . Symbol period

506. . . Beacon signal burst C

600. . . figure

602. . . On time

604. . . On time

606. . . Closing time

700. . . figure

701. . . horizontal axis

702. . . On time interval

710. . . Beacon signal

712. . . Beacon signal

714. . . Beacon signal

720. . . First wireless terminal

722. . . launcher

724. . . Second wireless terminal

726. . . receiver

800. . . State diagram

802. . . status

804. . . status

806. . . status

808. . . status

900. . . Wireless terminal

902. . . shell

904. . . processor

906. . . Busbar

910. . . Memory

911. . . Beacon signal

912. . . Messaging/control module

913. . . Beacon signal

914. . . Message/control information

915. . . Synchronization module

916. . . Beacon signal configuration information

918. . . Close time configuration information

930. . . Wireless communication interface module

932. . . Receiver module

934. . . Transmitter module

936. . . antenna

938. . . Diplexer

940. . . User input/output interface

942. . . User input device

944. . . User output device

1000. . . flow chart

1100. . . flow chart

1200. . . flow chart

1300. . . flow chart

1310. . . Connection node A

1312. . . Connect Node B

1314. . . Current time information

1316. . . Mode and/or status information

1318. . . Priority information

1324. . . Beacon role flag

1326. . . Mode and/or status information

1328. . . Priority information

1330. . . Peer node information

1336. . . Data transmission flag

1340. . . Time structure information

1344. . . Beacon signal definition information

1348. . . Beacon symbol power level information

1352. . . User reserve information

1356. . . User profile

1360. . . User data symbol power level information

1400. . . figure

1402. . . Vertical axis

1404. . . horizontal axis

1406. . . Beacon burst 1 signal

1408. . . Non-cluster time interval

1410. . . Beacon burst 1 signal

1412. . . Non-cluster time interval

1414. . . Beacon burst 1 signal

1416. . . Non-cluster time interval

1418. . . Beacon burst 1 signal

1420. . . Non-cluster time interval

1422. . . Beacon burst signal/beacon signal

1424. . . Beacon burst signal/beacon signal

1426. . . Beacon burst signal/beacon signal

1428. . . Beacon burst signal/beacon signal

1450. . . figure

1452. . . Vertical axis

1454. . . horizontal axis

1456. . . Beacon burst 1 signal

1458. . . Non-cluster time interval

1460. . . Beacon burst 2 signal

1462. . . Non-cluster time interval

1464. . . Beacon burst 3 signal

1466. . . Non-cluster time interval

1468. . . Beacon burst 1 signal

1470. . . Non-cluster time interval

1472. . . Composite beacon signal

1500. . . figure

1502. . . legend

1504. . . Vertical axis

1506. . . horizontal axis

1508. . . Beacon signal

1510. . . Grid box/beacon symbol transmission unit

1512. . . Capital letter B/beacon symbol B

1550. . . figure

1552. . . legend

1556. . . horizontal axis

1558. . . Beacon signal

1600. . . figure

1602. . . legend

1604. . . Vertical axis

1606. . . horizontal axis

1608. . . horizontal axis

1610. . . Beacon signal

1612. . . OFDM symbol transmission unit/square box

1614. . . Beacon symbol transmission unit / rectangular frame

1616. . . Beacon symbol BS/uppercase letter BS

1700. . . figure

1702. . . Vertical axis

1704. . . horizontal axis

1706. . . Beacon burst 1 signal

1707. . . Beacon symbol

1708. . . Beacon burst 2 signal

1709. . . Beacon symbol

1710. . . Beacon burst 3 signal

1711. . . Beacon symbol

1712. . . Beacon burst 1 signal time interval T _B1

1714. . . Beacon burst 2 signal time interval T _B2

1716. . . Beacon burst 3 signal time interval T _B3

1718. . . Time interval between bursts T _BB1/2

1720. . . Time interval between bursts T _BB2/3

1800. . . figure

1802. . . Vertical axis

1804. . . horizontal axis

1806. . . Beacon burst 1 signal

1807. . . Beacon symbol

1808. . . Beacon burst 2 signal

1809. . . Beacon symbol

1810. . . Beacon burst 3 signal

1811. . . Beacon symbol

1812. . . Beacon burst 1 signal time interval T _B1

1814. . . Beacon burst 2 signal time interval T _B2

1816. . . Beacon burst 3 signal time interval T _B3

1818. . . Time interval between bursts T _BB1/2

1820. . . Time interval between bursts T _BB2/3

1900. . . figure

1902. . . Vertical axis

1904. . . horizontal axis

1906. . . Beacon transmission resource

1906'. . . Beacon transmission resource

1906"...beacon transmission resource

1906'''. . . Beacon transmission resource

1908. . . Other use resources

1908'. . . Other use resources

1908"...other resources

1908'''. . . Other use resources

2000. . . Other use resources

2002. . . Non-cluster time interval

2004. . . Beacon monitoring resource

2006. . . User data transmission/reception resources

2008. . . Quiet resources / unused resources

2100. . . figure

2102. . . Beacon transmission

2104. . . Monitor and receive beacon information resources

2106. . . Quiet resource

2108. . . Carrier frequency modulation

2110. . . Duration T _1inactive

2112. . . Duration T _2inactive

2114. . . Duration T _3inactive

2150. . . figure

2152. . . Beacon transmission

2154. . . Monitor and receive beacon information resources

2156. . . User data transmission/reception resources

2158. . . Quiet resource

2162. . . Duration T _1active

2164. . . Duration T _2active

2166. . . Duration T _3active

2168. . . Duration T _4active

2200. . . figure

2202. . . legend

2204. . . square

2206. . . Shaded square/beacon symbol

2208. . . Letter D

2209. . . First time interval

2210. . . Beacon transmission resource

2212. . . Beacon monitoring resource

2214. . . User data transmission/reception resources

2216. . . Beacon transmission resource

2300. . . figure

2302. . . legend

2304. . . square

2306. . . Large vertical arrow / beacon symbol

2308. . . Small arrow

2310. . . Small arrow

2312. . . Small arrow

2314. . . Small arrow

2315. . . First time interval

2316. . . Beacon transmission resource

2318. . . Beacon monitoring resource

2320. . . User data transmission/reception resources

2322. . . Beacon transmission resource

2400. . . figure

2402. . . legend

2404. . . Thick line rectangle/beacon burst signal

2406. . . Square box/beacon symbol transmission unit

2410. . . Beacon signal resource

2412. . . Vertical axis

2414. . . horizontal axis

2416. . . Bold letter B/beacon signal

2500. . . Portable wireless terminal

2501. . . link

2502. . . Receiver module

2503. . . Duplex module

2504. . . Transmission module

2505. . . antenna

2506. . . processor

2507. . . link

2508. . . User I/O device

2509. . . Power bus

2510. . . Power module

2511. . . battery

2512. . . Memory

2514. . . Busbar

2516. . . Normal

2518. . . Information / information

2520. . . Beacon signal generation module

2522. . . User data signal generation module

2524. . . Transmission power control module

2526. . . Beacon signal transmission control module

2528. . . Mode control module

2530. . . Duplex control module

2532. . . Stored beacon signal feature information

2534. . . User profile information

2536. . . Timing structure information

2538. . . Air link resource information

2540. . . Mode information

2542. . . Generated beacon signal information

2544. . . Generated information signal information

2546. . . Duplex control signal information

2547. . . User profile

2548. . . Beacon Congfa 1 Information

2550. . . Beacons send N information

2556. . . Identify the information of the beacon transmission unit carrying the beacon symbol

2558. . . Beacon burst duration information

2560. . . Beacon symbol information

2562. . . Power information

2564. . . Cluster information

2566. . . User data power information

2568. . . Beacon transmission resource information

2570. . . Other resource information

2572. . . Transmission timing structure information

2574. . . Beacon burst duration information

2576. . . Beacon interval information

2578. . . Style information

2580. . . Data transmission information

2582. . . signal

2584. . . signal

2586. . . signal

2588. . . signal

2600. . . flow chart

2605. . . Time information

2613. . . Connection node A

2615. . . Adjustment information

2700. . . Portable wireless terminal

2701. . . link

2702. . . Receiver module

2703. . . Duplex module

2704. . . Transmission module

2705. . . antenna

2706. . . processor

2707. . . link

2708. . . User I/O device

2709. . . Power bus

2710. . . Power module

2711. . . battery

2712. . . Memory

2714. . . Busbar

2716. . . Normal

2718. . . Information / information

2720. . . Beacon signal detection module

2722. . . Quiet state control module

2724. . . Transmission time adjustment module

2726. . . Transmission control module

2728. . . Communication session start module

2730. . . Beacon detection control module

2732. . . Timing adjustment module

2734. . . Mode control module

2736. . . Beacon signal generation module

2738. . . User data signal generation module

2740. . . User data recovery module

2742. . . Duplex control module

2744. . . Current mode information

2746. . . Current time information

2748. . . Part of the generated beacon signal

2750. . . Detected beacon flag

2752. . . Pseudo-random based timing offset

2754. . . Detection of the beacon signal part

2756. . . Timing offset based on the determination of the detected beacon signal portion

2758. . . Communication session status information

2760. . . Session flag

2762. . . Peer node identification information

2764. . . Timing structure information

2766. . . Timing relationship information

2768. . . Mode information

2769. . . Initial search mode information

2770. . . Inactive mode information

2772. . . Active mode information

2774. . . Generated user profile signal

2776. . . Received user profile signal

2778. . . signal

2780. . . signal

2782. . . signal

2784. . . signal

2800. . . figure

2801. . . horizontal axis

2802. . . time

2804. . . Block

2806. . . time

2808. . . Block

2810. . . time

2812. . . Block

2814. . . time

2815. . . Block

2816. . . time

2818. . . Block

2820. . . Block

2822. . . Block

2824. . . time

2826. . . Block

2828. . . time

2830. . . Block

2832. . . Arrow sequence

2834. . . Arrow sequence

2900. . . figure

2902. . . figure

2904. . . figure

2906. . . Wireless terminal 1 beacon transmission interval

2908. . . Wireless terminal 1 beacon reception time interval

2910. . . Wireless terminal 1 user data TX/RX interval

2912. . . WT 1 silence interval

2914. . . Wireless terminal 2 beacon transmission interval

2916. . . Wireless terminal 2 beacon reception time interval

2918. . . Wireless terminal 2 user data TX/RX interval

2920. . . WT 2 silence interval

2922. . . User data TX/RX area overlap

3000. . . figure

3002. . . figure

3004. . . figure

3006. . . Wireless terminal 1 beacon reception interval

3008. . . Wireless terminal 1 beacon transmission interval

3010. . . Wireless terminal 1 beacon reception time interval

3012. . . Wireless terminal 1 user data TX/RX interval

3014. . . WT 1 silence interval

3016. . . Wireless terminal 2 beacon reception interval

3018. . . Wireless terminal 2 beacon transmission interval

3020. . . Wireless terminal 2 beacon reception time interval

3022. . . Wireless terminal 2 user data TX/RX interval

3024. . . WT 2 silence interval

3026. . . User data TX/RX area overlap

3100. . . figure

3102. . . figure

3104. . . figure

3106. . . Wireless terminal 1 beacon transmission interval

3108. . . Wireless terminal 1 beacon reception time interval

3110. . . Wireless terminal 1 user data TX/RX interval

3112. . . WT 1 silence interval

3114. . . Wireless terminal 2 beacon transmission interval

3116. . . Wireless terminal 2 beacon reception time interval

3118. . . Wireless terminal 2 user data TX/RX interval

3120. . . WT 2 silence interval

3200. . . Communication area

3201. . . First wireless terminal

3202. . . Second wireless terminal

3203. . . Third wireless terminal

3210. . . CDMA signal

3212. . . OFDM signal

3220. . . signal

3400. . . Wireless terminal

3402. . . Receiver module

3403. . . Receive antenna

3404. . . Transmitter module

3405. . . Transmission antenna

3406. . . processor

3408. . . User I/O device

3410. . . Memory

3412. . . Busbar

3414. . . Normal

3416. . . Information / information

3418. . . Second communication protocol selection module

3420. . . Device configuration module

3422. . . User data recovery module

3424. . . Beacon symbol detection module

3426. . . Beacon signal information recovery module

3428. . . Beacon signal generation module

3430. . . Received device capability information

3432. . . First agreement information

3434. . . Identify information about the selected second communication agreement

3436. . . Information indicating the configuration of the selected device

3438. . . Information indicating the communication agreement supported by the second device

3440. . . GSM Agreement Information

3442. . . CDMA Agreement Information

3444. . . OFDM protocol information

3446. . . Restored user profile

3448. . . Information on the detected beacon symbol

3450. . . Beacon symbol level detection standard information

3452. . . Device capability information to be transmitted

3454. . . Generated beacon signal

3456. . . Beacon signal information encoding/decoding information

3600. . . Wireless terminal

3602. . . Receiver module

3603. . . Receive antenna

3604. . . Transmitter module

3605. . . Transmission antenna

3606. . . processor

3608. . . User I/O device

3610. . . Memory

3612. . . Busbar

3614. . . Normal

3616. . . Information / information

3618. . . Mode decision module

3620. . . Mode selection module

3622. . . Communication module

3624. . . Data throughput maximization module

3626. . . Interference control module

3630. . . Service provider submodule

3632. . . User group submodule

3634. . . Received second device signal information

3636. . . Relative relationship information with respect to the second device

3638. . . Determined second device operating mode

3640. . . Determined second device service provider information

3642. . . Judging the second device user group information

3644. . . Information indicating the selected operating mode/interference interference control signal

3648. . . Third device identification information

3652. . . Service provider information

3654. . . User group information

3656. . . Non-cooperative service provider information

3658. . . Non-cooperative user group information

4000. . . Wireless terminal

4002. . . Receiver module

4003. . . Receive antenna

4004. . . Transmission module

4005. . . Transmission antenna

4006. . . processor

4008. . . User I/O device

4010. . . Memory

4012. . . Busbar

4014. . . Normal

4016. . . Information / information

4018. . . Communication transfer module

4020. . . Network layer connectivity module

4022. . . Second communication protocol module

4024. . . Third communication protocol module

4026. . . First physical layer communication protocol module

4028. . . Second physical layer communication protocol module

4030. . . Third physical layer communication protocol module

4032. . . Relay tracking module

4034. . . Device capability information corresponding to the reception of the device 1

4036. . . Device capability information corresponding to the reception of device 2

4038. . . First communication agreement information

4039. . . Second communication agreement information

4040. . . Physical layer agreement 1 information

4041. . . Third Communication Agreement Information

4042. . . Physical layer agreement m information

4044. . . MAC layer agreement 1 information

4048. . . Network layer protocol 1 information

4050. . . Network layer protocol M information

4052. . . Higher level agreement 1 information

4054. . . Higher level agreement N information

4056. . . Device 1 agreement usage information

4058. . . Device 2 agreement usage information

4060. . . Device 1 / Device 2 agreement conversion information

4062. . . Device 1 intended for device 2 receives signal information

4064. . . Device 1 intended for processing of device 2 receives information

4066. . . Device 2 intended for device 1 receives signal information

4068. . . Device 2 intended for processing of device 1 receives information

4070. . . Device capability information

4072. . . Generated beacon signal

4074. . . Cumulative amount of relay service information

4100. . . Wireless terminal

4102. . . Receiver module

4103. . . Receive antenna

4104. . . Transmitter module

4105. . . Transmission antenna

4106. . . processor

4108. . . User I/O device

4110. . . Memory

4112. . . Busbar

4114. . . Normal

4116. . . Information / information

4118. . . Device configuration selection module/receiving second device beacon signal information

4120. . . Configuration Control Module / Second Device Capability Information

4122. . . Second communication protocol processing module / recovery second device capability information

4124. . . Device Capability Information Recovery Module / Selected Device Configuration Information

4126. . . Selected second communication agreement identification information

4128. . . Received signal to be processed

4130. . . Processing signal

4132. . . Beacon transmission agreement information

4134. . . Value 1

4136. . . Device capability information set

4138. . . Value N

4140. . . Device capability information set

4142. . . Alternative agreement information for the second communication agreement

4144. . . Type 1 OFDM Protocol Information

4146. . . Type n OFDM protocol information

4148. . . Type 1 CDMA Information

4150. . . Type N CDMA Protocol Information

4152. . . Type 1 GSM Agreement Information

4154. . . Type N GSM Agreement Information

6004. . . Connection node

6018. . . Connection node

FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary utility communication network implemented in accordance with various embodiments.

Figure 2 illustrates an exemplary user false detection problem in a particular network when there is no general timing reference.

3 illustrates an exemplary air link resource for transmitting a beacon signal including three exemplary beacon signal bursts, each beacon signal burst including a beacon symbol.

4 illustrates an exemplary relative transmission power level between a beacon symbol and a data/control signal in accordance with various embodiments.

Figure 5 illustrates an exemplary embodiment of transmitting a beacon signal burst.

6 illustrates an exemplary embodiment in which received beacon signal bursts may occur during some specified time interval and at other times the receiver is turned off to save power.

FIG. 7 is a diagram for describing how to solve a user's false detection problem when two terminals transmit and receive beacon signals in accordance with various embodiments.

Figure 8 illustrates an exemplary embodiment of a state diagram implemented in a terminal.

9 illustrates a detailed illustration of an exemplary wireless terminal machine implemented in accordance with various embodiments.

10 is a diagram of a flowchart of an illustrative method of operating a portable wireless terminal in accordance with various embodiments.

11 is a diagram of a flowchart of an illustrative method of operating a portable wireless terminal in accordance with various embodiments.

12 is a diagram of a flowchart of an illustrative method of operating a portable wireless terminal (eg, a battery powered mobile node) in accordance with various embodiments.

13 is a diagram of a flowchart of an illustrative method of operating a portable wireless terminal (eg, a battery powered mobile node) in accordance with various embodiments.

14 includes a diagram illustrating an exemplary beacon transmission from a portable wireless terminal in accordance with various embodiments.

Figure 15 illustrates that different wireless terminals transmit different beacon signals including different beacon burst signals in some embodiments.

16 is a diagram and corresponding legend illustrating features of some embodiments, wherein the beacon symbol transmission unit includes a plurality of OFDM symbol transmission units.

17 is a diagram for illustrating an exemplary beacon signal including a sequence of beacon burst signals and illustrating timing relationships for some embodiments.

18 is a diagram for illustrating an exemplary beacon signal including a sequence of beacon burst signals and illustrating timing relationships for some embodiments.

19 is a diagram illustrating exemplary air link resources segmented by a wireless terminal in an operational mode in which a wireless terminal transmits a beacon signal.

20 depicts an exemplary air link resource portion associated with use in addition to beacon signal transmission for an exemplary mode of operation of a wireless terminal (eg, an active mode of operation) in which the wireless terminal transmits A beacon signal and can receive and/or transmit user data.

Figure 21 illustrates two exemplary modes of operation of a wireless terminal that transmits a beacon signal by a wireless terminal, such as a non-active mode and an active mode.

Figure 22 includes a diagram and corresponding legend illustrating exemplary wireless terminal air link resource utilization during an exemplary first time interval including two beacon bursts.

23 includes a diagram and corresponding legend illustrating exemplary wireless terminal air link resource utilization during an exemplary first time interval including two beacon bursts.

24 illustrates a descriptive illustration of an alternative to a beacon signal, in accordance with various embodiments.

25 is a diagram of an illustrative portable wireless terminal (eg, a mobile node) in accordance with various embodiments.

26 is a diagram of a flowchart of an illustrative method of operating a communication device (eg, a battery powered wireless terminal) in accordance with various embodiments.

27 is a diagram of an illustrative portable wireless terminal (eg, a mobile node) in accordance with various embodiments.

28 is a diagram illustrating an exemplary timeline, event sequence, and operation for two wireless terminals in a particular network, the terminals knowing each other and achieving timing by using a wireless terminal beacon signal Synchronize.

29 illustrates an exemplary synchronization sequence between two wireless terminals based on beacon signals, in accordance with an illustrative embodiment.

FIG. 30 illustrates an exemplary synchronization timing between two wireless terminals based on beacon signals, in accordance with another exemplary embodiment.

31 illustrates an exemplary synchronization timing between two wireless terminals based on beacon signals, in accordance with another exemplary embodiment.

Figure 32 illustrates an exemplary communication system including a plurality of wireless communication devices having different capabilities for forming a special network.

Figure 33 illustrates a method of operating a communication device to establish and participate in a communication session with another device.

Figure 34 illustrates an exemplary communication device that can be used as one of the communication devices of the system shown in Figure 32.

Figure 35, which includes a combination of Figures 35A, 35B, and 35C, illustrates a method of operating a communication device that can operate in a cooperative mode of operation and a non-cooperative mode of operation.

FIG. 36 illustrates another exemplary communication device that can be used as one of the communication devices of the exemplary system shown in FIG.

Figure 37 illustrates a method of operating a communication device that can act as a communication intermediate for other devices (e.g., the first and second communication devices of the special network shown in Figure 32).

FIG. 38 illustrates an exemplary communication device that can be used to implement the method illustrated in FIG.

FIG. 39 illustrates an exemplary communication device that can be used as one of the communication devices of the system shown in FIG.

6004. . . Connection node

6018. . . Connection node

Claims (9)

A method of operating a first wireless communication device, the method comprising: determining whether the first wireless communication device is in a state due to the presence of a second wireless communication device transmitting a signal within the range of the first wireless communication device Selecting an operation mode selected by the first wireless communication device; selecting a cooperative communication operation mode and a non-cooperative communication operation in response to detecting that the second wireless communication device no longer transmits signals within the range of the first wireless communication device One of the modes; receiving a signal from a third wireless communication device to determine that the third wireless communication device is in a cooperative communication relationship or a non-cooperative communication relationship with the first wireless communication device; based on the received signal And determining, in the determining, one of the cooperative communication mode of operation and the non-cooperative communication mode of operation, wherein the selecting further comprises: selecting a one to be used in conjunction with the selected mode of operation based on a selected mode of operation The device configuration of the third wireless communication device communication, wherein selecting the device configuration comprises: if the first wireless communication Switching to the second wireless communication device switching from a device configuration using a first communication protocol to a second communication protocol, switching to a device configuration supporting the first communication protocol; and when interacting with the third The wireless communication device operates in the selected mode of operation when communicating. The method of claim 1, wherein the selected mode of operation comprises a non- In cooperative operation mode, the step of operating in a non-cooperative mode of operation includes operating to maximize the amount of data transfer between the first and third wireless communication devices, regardless of one of any other communication devices. The method of claim 1, wherein operating in a non-cooperative mode of operation comprises ignoring an interference control signal received from the third wireless communication device. The method of claim 1, wherein the selected mode of operation comprises a cooperative mode of operation, the step of operating in a cooperative mode of operation comprising responding to an interference control signal received from the third wireless communication device. An apparatus for operating a first wireless communication device, the apparatus comprising: determining whether the first wireless communication device is based on the presence of a second wireless communication device transmitting a signal within the range of the first wireless communication device a means for operating in an operation mode selected by the first wireless communication device; responsive to detecting that the second wireless communication device is no longer transmitting signals within the range of the first wireless communication device, selecting a cooperative communication mode of operation And a component of a non-cooperative communication operation mode; configured to receive a signal from a third wireless communication device to determine that the third wireless communication device is in a cooperative communication relationship with the first wireless communication device or a non- a component of the cooperative communication relationship; for selecting, based on the determination of the received signal, a component of the cooperative communication mode of operation and the non-cooperative communication mode of operation, wherein the means for selecting further comprises: a selected mode of operation, when operating in the selected mode of operation, selecting one to be used for communication with the third wireless communication device It Means for configuring a device, wherein the means for selecting the configuration of the device comprises: for switching, if the first wireless communication device is from the device configuration using a first communication protocol to the second wireless communication device a second communication protocol, switching to a component of the device configuration supporting the first communication protocol; and means for operating in the selected mode of operation when communicating with the third wireless communication device. The device of claim 5, wherein the selected mode of operation comprises a non-cooperative mode of operation, the step of operating in a non-cooperative mode of operation comprising operating to maximize data transfer between the first and third wireless communication devices Quantity, regardless of one of the effects of any other communication device. The device of claim 5, wherein the means for operating in a non-cooperative mode of operation comprises means for ignoring an interference control signal received from the third wireless communication device. The device of claim 5, wherein the selected mode of operation comprises a cooperative mode of operation, the step of operating in a cooperative mode of operation comprising responding to an interference control signal received from the third wireless communication device. A computer readable medium, comprising a plurality of instructions stored thereon, wherein when the instructions are read from the computer readable medium and executed by a processor, causing the processor to implement the methods of claims 1-4.