US20180234158A1 - Method and system for a distributed configurable transceiver architecture and implementation - Google Patents
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- US20180234158A1 US20180234158A1 US15/893,626 US201815893626A US2018234158A1 US 20180234158 A1 US20180234158 A1 US 20180234158A1 US 201815893626 A US201815893626 A US 201815893626A US 2018234158 A1 US2018234158 A1 US 2018234158A1
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- H04B7/06—Diversity systems; Multi-antenna system, i.e. transmission or reception using multiple antennas using two or more spaced independent antennas at the transmitting station
- H04B7/0697—Diversity systems; Multi-antenna system, i.e. transmission or reception using multiple antennas using two or more spaced independent antennas at the transmitting station using spatial multiplexing
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Definitions
- Certain embodiments of the invention relate to wireless communication systems. More specifically, certain embodiments of the invention relate to a method and system for a distributed configurable transceiver architecture and implementation.
- Millimeter Wave (mmWave) devices are being utilized for high throughput wireless communications at very high carrier frequencies.
- standards bodies such as, for example, 60 GHz wireless standard, WirelessHD, WiGig, and WiFi IEEE 802.11ad that utilize high frequencies such as the 60 GHz frequency spectrum for high throughput wireless communications.
- the 60 GHz spectrum band may be used for unlicensed short range data links such as data links within a range of 1.7 km, with data throughputs up to 6 Gbits/s.
- These higher frequencies may provide smaller wavelengths and enable the use of small high gain antennas. However, these higher frequencies may experience high propagation loss.
- a system and/or method is provided for a distributed configurable transceiver architecture and implementation, substantially as shown in and/or described in connection with at least one of the figures, as set forth more completely in the claims.
- FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an exemplary system for providing connectivity to a plurality of distributed transceivers via a plurality of distributed access points, in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the invention.
- FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating distributed transceivers utilized for wireless communication in access points and a mobile communication device, in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the invention.
- FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating distributed transceivers utilized for wireless communication in access points in which the access points utilize different link protocols and/or operating modes, in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the invention.
- FIG. 4 is a block diagram of an exemplary beamforming implementation of a distributed transceiver device comprising corresponding receive portions of two transceivers, each of which receives the same data stream, in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the invention.
- FIG. 5A is a block diagram of an exemplary beamforming implementation of a distributed transceiver device comprising corresponding receive portions of two transceivers, which each receives two separate data streams, in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the invention.
- FIG. 5B is a block diagram of an exemplary beamforming implementation of a distributed transceiver module comprising corresponding receive portions of two transceivers, which each receives two separate data streams, in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the invention.
- FIG. 6 is a block diagram of an exemplary beamforming implementation of a distributed transceiver device comprising corresponding receive portions of two transceivers, which each receives two separate data streams, in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the invention.
- FIG. 7 is a block diagram of an exemplary transmitter path of a distributed transceiver device, which is operable to switch between a distributed multi-stream mode of operation and a non-distributed single beam or stream mode of operation, in accordance with an embodiment of the invention.
- FIG. 8 is a block diagram illustrating exemplary steps for processing received signals by a plurality of distributed transceivers, in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the invention.
- FIG. 9 is a block diagram illustrating exemplary steps for processing received signals by a plurality of distributed transceivers, in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the invention.
- a communication device comprising a plurality of distributed transceivers and one or more corresponding antenna arrays
- a first distributed transceiver is configured to receive signals comprising one or more first data streams
- a second distributed transceiver is configured to receive signals comprising one or more second data streams.
- One or more components within a receive processing chain of the first distributed transceiver and/or one or more components within a receive processing chain of the second distributed transceiver may be adjusted to maximize beamforming gain for the one or more first data streams and/or one or more of the second data streams.
- a phase of the one or more first data streams and/or the one or more second data streams may be adjusted by the one or more components within the receive processing chain of the first distributed transceiver and/or one or more components within a receive processing chain of the second distributed transceiver.
- the one or more first data streams and/or the one or more second data streams may be combined in the RF domain.
- the combined one or more first data streams and/or the one or more second data streams may be converted from the RF domain to the intermediate frequency (IF) domain.
- the one or more first data streams and/or the one or more second data streams may be coherently combined in the IF domain.
- a communication device comprising a plurality of distributed transceivers and one or more corresponding antenna arrays
- a first distributed transceiver of the plurality of distributed transceivers may be configured to transmit signals comprising one or more first data streams.
- a second distributed transceiver of the plurality of distributed transceivers may also be configured to transmit signals comprising one or more second data streams.
- One or more components within a transmit processing chain of the first distributed transceiver and/or one or more components within a transmit processing chain of the second distributed transceiver may be adjusted based on a determined mode of operation for the first distributed transceiver and/or the second distributed transceiver.
- the first distributed transceiver and/or the second distributed transceiver may be dynamically switched between a first mode of operation and a second mode of operation based on a signal to noise ratio (SNR) associated with the first distributed transceiver and/or the second distributed transceiver.
- SNR signal to noise ratio
- One or more selectors within the first distributed transceiver and/or the second distributed transceiver may be configured to transmit one or more first data streams and one or more second data streams from the first distributed transceiver and/or the second distributed transceiver in a spatial multiplexing mode based on the determined mode of operation.
- the one or more selectors within the first distributed transceiver and/or the second distributed transceiver may be configured to transmit the one or more first data streams or the one or more second data streams from the first distributed transceiver and/or the second distributed transceiver in a spatial multiplexing single beam single stream operating mode.
- One or more phase adjustment parameters for one or more components within the first distributed transceiver and/or the second distributed transceiver may be configured based on the determined mode of operation for the first distributed transceiver and/or the second distributed transceiver.
- FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an exemplary system for providing connectivity to a plurality of distributed transceivers via a plurality of distributed access points, in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the invention.
- the mmWave and wireless communication network 10 may comprise a gateway 20 and a plurality of access points 26 a , 26 b , . . . , 26 n .
- the mmWave and wireless communication network 12 may comprise a gateway 22 , a gateway 24 , a plurality of access points 36 a , 36 b , . . .
- FIG. 1 also shows a plurality of mobile communication devices 30 a , 30 b , 30 c , . . . , 30 n , a plurality of mobile communication devices 42 a , 42 b , 42 c , . . . , 42 , and a coordinating entity 38 .
- the Internet 18 may host a plurality of resources such as the server 18 a .
- FIG. 1 also shows a mobile entity 31 , curved reflective surfaces 29 a , 41 a , 41 b , refractive surfaces 29 b , 41 d and flat reflective surface 29 c , 41 c.
- the mmWave and wireless communication network 10 may comprise a plurality of mmWave and other wireless communication enabled network devices and/or interfaces that enable communication amongst a plurality of devices utilizing wireless communication.
- the mmWave and wireless communication network 10 may comprise one or more mmWave enabled network devices that enable the communication traffic and/or control data via a plurality of mobile communication devices.
- the mmWave and wireless communication network 10 may comprise the plurality of access points 26 a , 26 b , . . .
- the mmWave and wireless communication network 10 may also be operable to provide access to the Internet 18 via the service provider network 14 .
- the mmWave and wireless communication network 10 may also comprise devices that may be operable to communicate via wireless wide area network (WWAN), wireless medium area network (WMAN), wireless local area network (WLAN), wireless personal area network (WPAN) and/or other wireless technologies.
- WWAN wireless wide area network
- WMAN wireless medium area network
- WLAN wireless local area network
- WPAN wireless personal area network
- the mmWave and wireless communication network 12 may comprise a plurality of mmWave and other wireless communication enabled network devices and/or interfaces that enable communication amongst a plurality of devices utilizing wireless communication.
- the mmWave and wireless communication network 12 may comprise one or more mmWave enabled network devices that enable the communication traffic and/or control data via a plurality of mobile communication devices.
- the mmWave and wireless communication network 12 may comprise the plurality of access points 36 a , 36 b , . . .
- the mmWave and wireless communication network 12 may also be operable to provide access to the Internet 18 via the service provider network 16 .
- the mmWave and wireless communication network 12 may also comprise devices that may be operable to communicate via wireless wide area network (WWAN), wireless medium area network (WMAN), wireless local area network (WLAN), wireless personal area network (WPAN) and/or other wireless technologies.
- WWAN wireless wide area network
- WMAN wireless medium area network
- WLAN wireless local area network
- WPAN wireless personal area network
- the service provider network 14 may comprise suitable devices and/or interfaces that may enable communication devices, which are communicatively coupled to the mmWave and wireless communication network 10 , to access one or more other networks such as the Internet 18 and the mmWave and wireless communication network 12 .
- the service provider network 14 may enable the mobile communication devices 30 a , 30 b , 30 c , . . . , 30 n to access devices and/or services on the Internet 18 .
- the service provider network 14 may also enable the mobile communication devices 30 a , 30 b , 30 c , . . .
- the service provider network 16 may enable the mobile communication devices 42 a , 42 b , 42 c , . . . , 42 n to access the mmWave and wireless communication network 10 and communicate with one or more of the mobile communication devices 30 a , 30 b , 30 c , . . . , 30 n via the Internet 18 and the service provider network 14 and/or via the gateway 20 .
- the service provider network 14 may comprise, for example, a broadband connectivity to the mmWave and wireless communication network 10 .
- the service provider network 14 may comprise a cable service provider, an digital subscriber line (DSL) or variants thereof service provider, a fiber optic service provider, a hybrid fiber coaxial service provider, a WWAN service provider, a WMAN, and/or a satellite service provider
- the service provider network 16 may comprise suitable devices and/or interfaces that may enable communication devices, which are communicatively coupled to the mmWave and wireless communication network 12 , to access one or more other network such as the Internet 18 and the mmWave and wireless communication network 10 .
- the service provider network 16 may enable the mobile communication devices 42 a , 42 b , 42 c , . . . , 42 n to access devices and/or services on the Internet 18 .
- the service provider network 16 may enable the mobile communication devices 42 a , 42 b , 42 c , . . .
- the service provider network 16 may comprise, for example, a broadband or other high speed connectivity to the mmWave and wireless communication network 12 .
- the service provider network 16 may comprise a cable service provider, a digital subscriber line (DSL) or variants hereof service provider, a fiber optic service provider, a hybrid fiber coaxial service provider, a WWAN service provider, a WMAN, and/or a satellite service provider.
- DSL digital subscriber line
- the Internet 18 may comprise suitable devices and/or interfaces that enable the interconnection of a plurality of networks and/or devices.
- the Internet 18 may enable the interconnection of the service provider network 14 , the service provider network 16 , the mmWave and wireless communication network 10 , the mmWave and wireless communication network 12 .
- Each of the plurality of access points 26 a , 26 b , . . . , 26 n may comprise suitable logic, circuitry, interfaces and/or code that may be operable to provide access to the mmWave and wireless communication network 10 for one or more of the mobile communication devices 30 a , 30 b , 30 c , . . . , 30 n when they are within operating range of a corresponding one or more of the plurality of access points 26 a , 26 b , . . . , 26 n .
- each of the plurality of access points 26 a , 26 b , . . . , 26 n may also be operable to handle communication of traffic and/or control data among one or more other access points in the mmWave and wireless communication network 10 , the coordinating entity 28 and/or the gateway 20 .
- each of the plurality of access points 26 a , 26 b , . . . , 26 n may communicate with the coordinating entity 28 in order to handle the routing and/or processing of data for one or more of the mobile communication devices 30 a , 30 b , 30 c , . . . , 30 n.
- Each of the plurality of access points 36 a , 36 b , . . . , 36 n may comprise suitable logic, circuitry, interfaces and/or code that may be operable to provide access to the mmWave and wireless communication network 12 for one or more of the mobile communication devices 42 a , 42 b , 42 c , . . . , 42 n when they are within operating range of a corresponding one or more of the plurality of access points 36 a , 36 b , . . . , 36 n .
- each of the plurality of access points 36 a , 36 b , . . . , 36 n may also be operable to handle communication of traffic and/or control data among one or more other access points in the mmWave and wireless communication network 12 , the coordinating entity 38 and/or the gateways 22 , 24 .
- each of the plurality of access points 36 a , 36 b , . . . , 36 n may communicate with the coordinating entity 38 in order to handle the routing and/or processing of data for one or more of the mobile communication devices 42 a , 42 b , 42 c , . . . , 42 n.
- the coordinating entity 28 may comprise suitable logic, circuitry, interfaces and/or code that may be operable to control, coordinate and/or manage the handling and routing of traffic and/or control data within the mmWave and wireless communication network 10 .
- the coordinating entity 28 may be operable to control the type and/or amount of links, the number of distributed transceivers, configuration of the distributed transceivers' interfaces and/or components including RF front ends and/or antenna arrays, which may be utilized by one or more of the access points 26 a , 26 b , . . . , 26 n to handle traffic for one or more of the mobile communication devices 30 a , 30 b , 30 c , . . . , 30 n .
- the coordinating entity 28 may be operable to control the allocation and de-allocation of bandwidth to facilitate communication of traffic in order to provide and/or guarantee a particular class of service (CoS) and/or Quality of Service (QoS) for the mobile communication devices 30 a , 30 b , 30 c , . . . , 30 n .
- the coordinating entity 28 may be operable to coordinate amongst the gateway 20 and/or one or more of the access points 26 a , 26 b , . . . , 26 n in order to route traffic to and from the gateway 20 and the mobile communication devices 30 a , 30 b , 30 c , . . . , 30 n .
- the coordinating entity 28 is illustrated as a separate entity from the gateway 20 , and the access points 26 a , 26 b , . . . , 26 n , the invention is not limited in this regard. Accordingly, the coordinating entity 28 may be integrated in the gateway 20 or in one of the access points 26 a , 26 b , . . . , 26 n . In some embodiments of the invention, the functionality of the coordinating entity 28 may be split amongst a plurality of devices such as two or more of the gateway 20 , and/or the access points 26 a , 26 b , . . . , 26 n.
- the coordinating entity 38 may comprise suitable logic, circuitry, interfaces and/or code that may be operable to control, coordinate and/or manage the handling and routing of traffic and/or control data within the mmWave and wireless communication network 12 .
- the coordinating entity 38 may be operable to control the type and/or amount of links, communication protocols, the number of distributed transceivers, configuration of the distributed transceivers' interfaces and/or components including RF front ends and/or antenna arrays, which may be utilized by one or more of the access points 36 a , 36 b , . . . , 36 n to handle traffic for one or more of the mobile communication devices 42 a , 42 b , 42 c , . . . , 42 n .
- the coordinating entity 38 may be operable to control the allocation and de-allocation of bandwidth to facilitate communication of traffic in order to provide and/or guarantee a particular class of service (CoS) and/or Quality of Service (QoS) for the mobile communication devices 42 a , 42 b , 42 c , . . . , 42 n .
- the coordinating entity 38 may be operable to coordinate amongst the gateways 22 , 24 and/or one or more of the access points 36 a , 36 b , . . . , 36 n in order to route traffic to and from the gateways 22 , 24 and the mobile communication devices 42 a , 42 b , 42 c , . . . , 42 n .
- the coordinating entity 38 is illustrated as a separate entity from the gateways 22 , 24 , and the access points 36 a , 36 b , . . . , 36 n , the invention is not limited in this regard. Accordingly, the coordinating entity 38 may be integrated in one of the gateways 22 , 24 or in one of the access points 36 a , 36 b , . . . , 36 n . In some embodiments of the invention, the functionality of the coordinating entity 38 may be split amongst a plurality of devices such as two or more of the gateways 20 , 24 and/or the access points 36 a , 36 b , . . . , 36 n.
- Each of the plurality of mobile communication devices 30 a , 30 b , 30 c , . . . , 30 n may comprise suitable logic, circuitry, interfaces and/or code that may be operable to communicate with the service provider network 14 via the mmWave and wireless communication network 10 .
- each of the plurality of mobile communication devices 30 a , 30 b , 30 c , . . . , 30 n may comprise a plurality of distributed transceivers such as mmWave transceiver devices that may be operable to communicate with the access points 26 a , 26 b , . . . , 26 n in the mmWave and wireless communication network 10 .
- the plurality of mobile communication devices 30 a , 30 b , 30 c , . . . , 30 n may be collectively referenced as mobile communication devices 30 .
- Each of the plurality of mobile communication devices 30 a , 30 b , 30 c , . . . , 30 n may be operable to communicate utilizing, for example, 60 GHz wireless standard, WirelessHD, WiGig, WiFi IEEE 802.11ad, and/or other mmWave technology or standard.
- each of the plurality of mobile communication devices 30 a , 30 b , 30 c , . . . , 30 n may comprise one or more transmitter and/or receiver devices, which may be operable to communicate utilizing technologies such as, for example, wireless personal area network (WPAN), a wireless local area network (WLAN), wireless medium area network (WMAN) and/or wireless wide area network (WWAN) technologies.
- WPAN wireless personal area network
- WLAN wireless local area network
- WMAN wireless medium area network
- WWAN wireless wide area network
- one or more of the plurality of mobile communication devices 30 a , 30 b , 30 c , . . . , 30 n may comprise one or more transmitter and/or receiver devices, which may be operable to communicate utilizing WiFi, WiMax, Bluetooth, ZigBee, Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE), 3GPP, 4G LTE, WiMAX or other technologies.
- radios such as mmWave radios may be utilized at very high carrier frequencies for high throughput wireless communications.
- the plurality of mobile communication devices 42 a , 42 b , 42 c , . . . , 42 n may be communicatively coupled to the mmWave and wireless communication network 12 .
- the plurality of mobile communication devices 42 a , 42 b , 42 c , . . . , 42 n may be collectively referenced as mobile communication devices 42 .
- Each of the plurality of mobile communication devices 42 a , 42 b , 42 c , . . . , 42 n may be operable to communicate utilizing, for example, 60 GHz wireless standard, WirelessHD, WiGig, WiFi IEEE 802.11ad, and/or other mmWave technology or standard.
- the plurality of mobile communication devices 42 a , 42 b , 42 c , . . . , 42 n may be communicatively coupled to the mmWave and wireless communication network 12 .
- the mobile communication device 42 a may comprise a tablet
- the mobile communication device 42 b may comprise a Smartphone
- the mobile communication device 42 c may comprise a personal computer PC, laptop or ultrabook
- the mobile communication device 42 n may comprise a television.
- the gateway 20 may comprise suitable logic, circuitry, interfaces and/or code that are operable to process and/or route traffic and/or control data between the service provider network 14 and the mmWave and wireless communication network 10 .
- the gateway 20 may be operable to handle the processing and/or routing of traffic and/or control data between the service provider network 14 and one or more of the access points 26 a , 26 b , . . . , 26 n and/or the coordinating entity 28 for one or more of the plurality of mobile communication devices 30 a , 30 b , 30 c , . . . , 30 n .
- the gateway 20 may comprise, for example, a modulation and/or demodulation (modem) device that may be operable to provide modulation and/or demodulation of the information that is communicated between the service provider network 14 and the mmWave and wireless communication network 10 .
- the gateway 20 may comprise a cable modem, a DSL modem, a HFC modem, a cable set top box (STB), a satellite STB and/or other similar type of device.
- the gateway 20 may be operable to handle any technology that may be utilized by one or more of the cable service provider, the digital subscriber line (DSL) service provider, the fiber optic service provider, the hybrid fiber coaxial (HFC) service provider, the WWAN service provider, the WMAN, and/or the satellite service provider.
- the gateway 20 may comprise server functionality.
- the gateway 20 may also enable communication amongst one or more of the mobile communication devices 30 a , 30 b , 30 c , . . . , 30 n and one or more of the mobile communication devices 42 a , 42 b , 42 c , . . . , 42 n via the mmWave and wireless communication network 10 and the service provider network 14 and/or via the service providers 14 , 16 and the Internet 18 .
- the gateway 22 may comprise suitable logic, circuitry, interfaces and/or code that are operable to process and/or route traffic and/or control data between the service provider network 14 and the mmWave and wireless communication network 12 .
- the gateway 22 may be operable to handle the processing and/or routing of traffic and/or control data between the service provider network 14 and one or more of the access points 36 a , 36 b , . . . , 36 n and/or the coordinating entity 38 for one or more of the plurality of mobile communication devices 42 a , 42 b , 42 c , . . . , 42 n .
- the gateway 22 may comprise, for example, a modulation and/or demodulation (modem) device that may be operable to provide modulation and/or demodulation of the information that is communicated between the service provider network 14 and the mmWave and wireless communication network 12 .
- the gateway 22 may comprise a cable modem, a DSL modem, a HFC modem, a cable set top box (STB), a satellite STB and/or other similar type of device.
- the gateway 22 may be operable to handle any technology that may be utilized by one or more of the cable service provider, the digital subscriber line (DSL) service provider, the fiber optic service provider, the hybrid fiber coaxial (HFC) service provider, the WWAN service provider, the WMAN, and/or the satellite service provider.
- the gateway 22 may comprise a server functionality.
- the gateway 22 may also enable communication amongst one or more of the mobile communication devices 30 a , 30 b , 30 c , . . . , 30 n and one or more of the mobile communication devices 42 a , 42 b , 42 c , . . . , 42 n via the mmWave and wireless communication networks 10 , 12 and the service provider network 14 and/or via the service providers 14 , 16 and the Internet 18 .
- the gateway 24 may comprise suitable logic, circuitry, interfaces and/or code that are operable to process and/or route traffic and/or control data between the service provider network 16 and the mmWave and wireless communication network 12 .
- the gateway 24 may be operable to handle the processing and/or routing of traffic and/or control data between the service provider network 16 and one or more of the access points 36 a , 36 b , . . . , 36 n and/or the coordinating entity 38 for one or more of the plurality of mobile communication devices 42 a , 42 b , 42 c , . . . , 42 n .
- the gateway 24 may comprise, for example, a modulation and/or demodulation (modem) device that may be operable to provide modulation and/or demodulation of the information that is communicated between the service provider network 16 and the mmWave and wireless communication network 12 .
- the gateway 24 may comprise a cable modem, a DSL modem, a HFC modem, a cable set top box (STB), a satellite STB and/or other similar type of device.
- the gateway 24 may be operable to handle any technology that may be utilized by one or more of the cable service provider, the digital subscriber line (DSL) service provider, the fiber optic service provider, the hybrid fiber coaxial (HFC) service provider, the WWAN service provider, the WMAN, and/or the satellite service provider.
- the gateway 24 may comprise a server functionality.
- the gateway 24 may also enable communication amongst one or more of the mobile communication devices 30 a , 30 b , 30 c , . . . , 30 n and one or more of the mobile communication devices 42 a , 42 b , 42 c , . . . , 42 n via the mmWave and wireless communication networks 10 , 12 , the service provider networks 14 , 16 and the Internet 18 .
- the curved reflective surface 29 a , the refractive surface 29 b and the flat reflective surface 29 c may be located within the operating environment of the mmWave and wireless communication network 10 .
- One or more of the curved reflective surface 29 a , the refractive surface 29 b and/or the flat reflective surface 29 c may be objects and/or portions thereof, which may exist within the environment or may be intentionally placed within the environment to be utilized to optimize communication between devices in the mmWave and wireless communication network 10 and the mobile communication devices 30 a , 30 b , 30 c , . . . , 30 n.
- the curved reflective surfaces 41 a , 41 b , the refractive surface 41 d and the flat reflective surface 41 c may be located within the operating environment of the mmWave and wireless communication network 12 .
- One or more of the curved reflective surfaces 41 a , 41 b , the refractive surface 41 d and the flat reflective surface 41 c may be objects and/or portions thereof, which may exist within the environment or may be intentionally placed within the environment to be utilized to optimize communication between devices in the mmWave and wireless communication network 12 and the mobile communication devices 42 a , 42 b , 42 c , . . . , 42 n.
- the mobile entity 31 may comprise a plurality of distributed transceivers and/or one or more corresponding antenna arrays that are communicatively coupled to one or more of the plurality of distributed transceivers.
- the distributed transceivers may be configured to handle communication of one or more data streams among one or more of a plurality of wireless communication networks such as the mmWave and wireless communication networks 10 , 12 , one or more other mobile entities and/or one or more mobile communication devices 30 a , 30 b , 30 c , . . . , 30 n , 42 a , 42 b , 42 c , . . . , 42 n .
- the mobile entity may comprise a car, a truck, an omnibus (bus), a trailer, a mobile home, train, bus, a forklift, construction equipment, a boat, a ship, an aircraft or any other vehicle.
- One or more of the plurality of distributed transceivers in the mobile entity 31 may be configured to operate as a relay node and/or a repeater node.
- a location, speed and/or trajectory of the mobile entity 31 may be determined and one or more of the plurality of distributed transceivers and/or one or more corresponding antenna arrays may be configured based on the determined location, speed and/or trajectory.
- One or more of the plurality of distributed transceivers in the mobile entity 31 may be dynamically and/or adaptively controlled to utilize one or more modes of operation to communicate the one or more data streams and/or to split the communication of the one or more data streams amongst a portion of the plurality of distributed transceivers in the mobile entity 31 .
- Exemplary modes of operation may comprise a spatial diversity mode, a frequency diversity mode, a spatial multiplexing mode, a frequency multiplexing mode and/or a MIMO mode.
- Traffic may be backhauled from the mobile entity 31 via one or more wireless communication links to one or more of the plurality of mmWave and wireless communication networks 10 , 12 .
- One or more of the plurality of distributed transceivers in the mobile entity 31 may be configured to utilize different types of communication links, modulation schemes, constellations, protocols, frequencies, wireless standards and/or bandwidths to handle the communication of the one or more data streams and/or to handle different types of data traffic. Additional details on mobile entities such as the mobile entity 31 may be found in United States application Ser. No. ______ (Attorney Docket No. 26666U502), which was filed on ______, and is hereby incorporated herein in its entirety.
- each of the mobile communication devices 30 a , 30 b , 30 c , . . . , 30 n , the mobile communication devices 42 a , 42 b , 42 c , . . . , 42 n , the access points 26 a , 26 b , . . . , 26 n and/or the access points 36 a , 36 b , . . . , 36 n may be operable to dynamically configure its distributed transceivers and/or antenna arrays to operate based on various factors.
- Exemplary factors comprise link throughput/reliability requirements and/or budgets, spectrum availability, propagation conditions, location of reflectors or refractors in the environment, geometry of the environment, positions of the transmitter/receivers, link quality, device capabilities, device locations, usage of resources, resource availability, target throughput, application QoS requirements and/or traffic types.
- the characteristics and geometry of the environment may include the presence of naturally reflective and/or refractive surfaces and/or the presence of obstructive elements in the environment.
- the environment within the operating environment of the mmWave and wireless communication network 10 may comprise the curved reflective surface 29 a , the refractive surface 29 b and the flat reflective surface 29 c .
- the environment within the operating environment of the mmWave and wireless communication network 12 may comprise the curved reflective surfaces 41 a , 41 b , the refractive surface 41 d and the flat reflective surface 41 c .
- the access points 26 a , 26 b , . . . , 26 n may be operable to utilize one or more of the curved reflective surface 29 a , the refractive surface 29 b and/or the flat reflective surface 29 c in the operating environment of the mmWave and wireless communication network 10 to optimize communication of wireless signals.
- the mobile communication device 30 a may be operable to utilize the reflective properties of the curved reflective surface 29 a to communicate with the access point 26 n .
- the mobile communication device 30 c may utilize the flat reflective surface 29 c and the refractive surface 29 b to communicate with the access point 26 n .
- the mobile communication device 30 n may utilize the flat reflective surface 29 c to communicate with the access point 26 b.
- One or more of the distributed transceivers in one or more of the plurality of mobile communication devices 42 a , 42 b , 42 c , . . . , 42 n and/or the access points 36 a , 36 b , . . . , 36 n may be operable to utilize one or more of the curved reflective surfaces 41 a , 41 b , the refractive surface 41 d and/or the flat reflective surface 41 c in the operating environment of the mmWave and wireless communication network 12 to optimize communication of wireless signals.
- the mobile communication device 42 a may be operable to utilize the reflective properties of the curved reflective surface 41 a to communicate with the access point 36 n .
- the mobile communication device 42 b may be operable to utilize the reflective properties of the curved reflective surface 41 b to communicate with the access point 36 n .
- the mobile communication device 42 c may utilize the flat reflective surface 41 c to communicate with the access point 36 n .
- the mobile communication device 42 n may utilize multi-hop communication which utilizes the flat reflective surface 41 c and the refractive surface 41 d to communicate with the access point 36 b.
- One or more of the distributed transceivers in mobile entity 31 may be operable to utilize (1) the curved reflective surface 29 a , the refractive surface 29 b and the flat reflective surface 29 c within the operating environment of the mmWave and wireless communication network 10 and/or (2) the curved reflective surfaces 41 a , 41 b , the refractive surface 41 d and the flat reflective surface 41 c within the operating environment of the mmWave and wireless communication network 12 , to optimize communication of wireless signals.
- one or more of the distributed transceivers in the mobile entity 31 may be operable to utilize the flat reflective surface 29 c to communicate with the access point 26 b .
- one or more of the distributed transceivers in the mobile entity 31 may be operable to utilize the curved reflective surface 41 a to communicate with the access point 36 n .
- one or more of the distributed transceivers in the mobile entity 31 may be operable to utilize the flat reflective surface 29 c to communicate with the access point 26 b and also utilize the curved reflective surface 41 a to communicate with the access point 41 a.
- a processor in each of the mobile communication devices 30 a , 30 b , 30 c , . . . , 30 n , the mobile communication devices 42 a , 42 b , 42 c , . . . , 42 n , the access points 26 a , 26 b , . . . , 26 n and/or the access points 36 a , 36 b , . . . , 36 n may be operable to dynamically configure and coordinate operation of the distributed transceivers and/or antenna arrays to operate in different modes based on the different factors.
- Exemplary factors may comprise, for example, propagation environment conditions, link quality, device capabilities, device locations, usage of resources, resource availability, target throughput, and application QoS requirements.
- a mobile communication device that has data to be transmitted may dynamically sense the environment to determine the current characteristics of the environment, which may include the presence of blocking objects, reflectors, and/or refractors.
- the characteristics of corresponding transmitted and/or received signals communicated by one or more distributed transceivers may be analyzed by one or more distributed transceivers in order to sense the surrounding environment. For example, the analysis may determine transmitted and/or received signal strength, frequency changes, phase changes, angle of transmission, angle of arrival and/or other characteristics of the transmitted and/or received signals in order to sense the environment.
- the mobile communication device that has data to be transmitted may be operable to configure its transmitter and/or antenna arrays to spread and transmit a narrow beam in one or more directions, where reflectors, refractors, naturally reflecting elements and/or naturally refractive elements may create multiple paths to a receiving mobile communication device.
- Each communication path may comprise a different frequency, polarization, bandwidth, protocol, and/or coding thereby providing link robustness.
- the transmitter in a transmitting mobile communication device may be operable to use the same frequency channel or different frequency channels to transmit the same data stream or separate data streams.
- the coordinating entities 28 , 38 may be operable to coordinate the configuration of the distributed transceivers and/or antenna arrays in one or more of the mobile communication devices 30 a , 30 b , 30 c , . . . , 30 n , the mobile communication devices 42 a , 42 b , 42 c , . . . , 42 n , the access points 26 a , 26 b , . . . , 26 n and/or the access points 36 a , 36 b , . . . , 36 n .
- the coordinating entities 28 , 38 may be operable to dynamically collect information from one or more of the mobile communication devices 30 a , 30 b , 30 c , . . . , 30 n , the mobile communication devices 42 a , 42 b , 42 c , . . . , 42 n , the access points 26 a , 26 b , . . . , 26 n and/or the access points 36 a , 36 b , . . . , 36 n .
- the coordinating entities 28 , 38 may aggregate the collected information and determine an optimal configuration for transmitters, receivers and/or antenna array elements in one or more of the mobile communication devices 30 a , 30 b , 30 c , . . . , 30 n , the mobile communication devices 42 a , 42 b , 42 c , . . . , 42 n , the access points 26 a , 26 b , . . . , 26 n and/or the access points 36 a , 36 b , . . . , 36 n .
- the coordinating entities 28 , 38 may communicate the determined optimal configuration for the transmitters, receivers and/or antenna array elements in the corresponding mobile communication devices 30 a , 30 b , 30 c , . . . , 30 n , the mobile communication devices 42 a , 42 b , 42 c , . . . , 42 n , the access points 26 a , 26 b , . . . , 26 n and/or the access points 36 a , 36 b , . . . , 36 n .
- the mobile communication devices 42 a , 42 b , 42 c , . . . , 42 n , the access points 26 a , 26 b , . . . , 26 n and/or the access points 36 a , 36 b , . . . , 36 n may then configure their transmitters, receivers and/or antenna array elements accordingly.
- the coordinating entities 28 , 38 may be separate dedicated hardware/software units performing the coordinating functions. Coordinating entities 28 , 38 may be integrated into another entity in the network and reuse its hardware/software resources (e.g., embedded in access points 36 a , 36 b ). Furthermore, coordinating entities 28 , 38 may be implemented as all-software entities running on a generic processor or a remote processor. Furthermore, the functions of coordinating entities 28 , 38 may be distributed over several entities in the network.
- the reference to 60 GHz wireless connectivity is intended to include all mmWave frequency bands (any carrier frequency above 10 GHz, e.g., 38.6-40 GHz, 59-67 GHz, 71-76 GHz, 92-95 GHz bands). Furthermore, all or a subset of embodiments are applicable to sub-10 GHz carrier frequency operations as well (e.g., 5 GHz and 2.4 GHz ISM bands).
- FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating distributed transceivers utilized for wireless communication in access points and a mobile communication device in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the invention.
- access points 102 , 112 there are shown access points 102 , 112 , a mobile communication device 129 , a coordinating entity 108 and a gateway 110 .
- the access points 102 , 112 are also referenced as AP 1 and AP 2 , respectively.
- the mobile communication device 129 is also referenced as M1.
- a single mobile communication device 129 is shown, the invention is not limited in this regard. Accordingly, a plurality of mobile and/or non-mobile communication devices may also be present without departing from the spirit and/or scope of the invention.
- FIG. 1 a block diagram illustrating distributed transceivers utilized for wireless communication in access points and a mobile communication device in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the invention.
- FIG. 2 there are shown access points 102 , 112 , a mobile communication device 129 ,
- the blocking object 118 blocks line or sight communication between the distributed transceiver 133 n in the mobile communication device 129 and the distributed transceiver 114 n in the access point 112 .
- the refractive surface 119 a may be substantially similar to the refractive surfaces 29 b , 41 d , which are shown and described with respect to FIG. 1 , for example.
- the flat reflective surface 119 b may be substantially similar to the flat refractive surfaces 29 c , 41 c , which are shown and described with respect to FIG. 1 .
- the curved reflective surface 119 c may be substantially similar to the curved reflective surfaces 29 a , 41 a , 41 b , which are shown and described with respect to FIG. 1 , for example.
- the access point 102 may be substantially similar to any of the access points 26 a , 26 b , . . . , 26 n and/or the access points 36 a , 36 b , . . . , 36 n , which are shown and described with respect to FIG. 1 .
- the access point 102 (AP 1 ) may comprise a central processor 106 and a plurality of distributed transceiver devices 104 a , . . . , 104 n .
- the distributed transceiver devices 104 a , . . . , 104 n may comprise a corresponding plurality of antenna arrays 105 a , . .
- the access point 102 may be communicatively coupled to the coordinating entity 108 via a communication link 154 , which may comprise a wired, wireless, optical and/or other type of communication link.
- the access point 102 may also be communicatively coupled to the access point 112 via a communication link 158 , which may comprise a wired, wireless, optical and/or other type of communication link.
- the access point 102 may optionally be coupled to the gateway 110 via an optional direct communication link 157 , which may comprise a wired, wireless, optical, HFC, and/or other type of direct communication link.
- the plurality of distributed transceiver devices 104 a , . . . , 104 n in the access point 102 may comprise suitable logic, circuitry, interfaces and/or code that may be operable to handle communication utilizing WPAN, WLAN, WMAN, WWAN and/or mmWave technologies, standards and/or protocols.
- Each of the plurality of antenna arrays 105 a , . . . , 105 n in the plurality of distributed transceiver devices 104 a , . . . , 104 n may comprise suitable logic, circuitry, interfaces and/or code that may be operable to communicate wireless signals.
- each of the plurality of antenna arrays 105 a , . . . , 105 n in the plurality of distributed transceiver devices 104 a , . . . , 104 n may be operable to transmit and/or receive wireless signals corresponding to the WPAN, WLAN, WMAN, WWAN and/or mmWave technologies, standards and/or protocols.
- the central processor 106 in the access point 102 may comprise suitable logic, circuitry, interfaces and/or code that may be operable to control and/or manage operation of the access point 102 .
- the central processor 106 may be operable to configure and/or manage the communication links that are handled by the access point 102 .
- the central processor 106 may be operable to configure and/or manage the communication links 154 , 158 , and 151 a , . . . , 151 n .
- the central processor 106 may be operable to configure and/or manage the plurality of distributed transceivers 104 a , . . . , 104 n and the corresponding antenna arrays 105 a , . . .
- the central processor 106 may be operable to monitor and/or collect information from various devices within the access point 102 and communicate data associated with the monitoring and/or collecting to the coordinating entity 108 .
- the coordinating entity 108 may utilize the resulting communicated data to configure the operation of one or both of the access points 102 and 112 .
- the coordinating entity 108 may aggregate resulting data received from the access points 102 and 112 and utilize the corresponding aggregated data to configure the plurality of distributed transceivers 104 a , . . . , 104 n and/or 114 a , . . .
- the coordinating entity 108 may also utilized the corresponding aggregated data to inform the mobile communication device 129 how to configure, for example, its plurality of distributed transceivers 133 a , . . . , 133 n and/or antenna arrays 134 a , . . . , 134 n , respectively.
- the central processor 106 may operate and/or control the distributed transceivers 104 a , . . . , 104 n in any of the distributed modes of operation such as spatial multiplexing, spatial diversity, frequency multiplexing, frequency diversity, and MIMO processing, according to embodiments in U.S. application Ser. Nos. 13/473,096, 13/473,144, 13/473,105, 13/473,160, 13/473,180, 13/473,113, 13/473,083, each of which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.
- the central processor 106 in the access point 102 may also be operable to control one or more of the one or more of the distributed transceivers 104 a , . . . , 104 n to sense the surrounding environment and determine objects that may block transmission for one or more of the distributed transceivers 104 a , . . . , 104 n .
- the characteristics of corresponding transmitted and/or received signals may be analyzed by one or more of the distributed transceivers 104 a , . . . , 104 n in order to sense the surrounding environment.
- the analysis may determine transmitted and/or received signal strength, frequency changes, phase changes, angle of transmission, angle of arrival and/or other characteristics of the transmitted and/or received signals in order to sense the environment.
- the central processor 106 in the access point 102 may also be operable to control one or more of the one or more of the distributed transceivers 104 a , . . . , 104 n to sense the surrounding environment and determine objects that may possess reflective and/or refractive properties based on the characteristics of corresponding transmitted and/or received signals.
- the results of the sensing may be utilized to enhance and/or optimize communication by one or more of the distributed transceivers 104 a , . . . , 104 n .
- the central processor 106 in the access point 102 may be operable to receive the sensed information of the surrounding environment from one or more of the distributed transceivers 104 a , . . . , 104 n and communicate the corresponding sensed information of the surrounding environment to the coordinating entity 108 .
- the central processor 106 in the access point 102 may be operable to determine the presence of the refractive surface 119 a based on the analysis of corresponding transmitted and/or received signals and communicate the presence of the refractive surface 119 a to the coordinating entity 108 .
- the central processor 106 in the access point 102 may also be operable to provide spatial and/or temporal information regarding the refractive surface 119 a to the coordinating entity 108 .
- the access point 112 may be substantially similar to any of the access points 26 a , 26 b , . . . , 26 n and/or the access points 36 a , 36 b , . . . , 36 n , which are shown and described with respect to FIG. 1 .
- the access point 112 (AP 2 ) may comprise a central processor 116 and a plurality of distributed transceiver devices 114 a , . . . , 114 n .
- the plurality of distributed transceiver devices 114 a , . . . , 114 n may comprise a corresponding plurality of antenna arrays 115 a , .
- the access point 112 may be communicatively coupled to the coordinating entity 108 via a communication link 156 , which may comprise a wired, wireless, optical and/or other type of communication link.
- the access point 112 may also be communicatively coupled to the access point 102 via the communication link 158 , which may comprise a wired, wireless, optical and/or other type of communication link.
- the access point 112 may also be communicatively coupled to the gateway 110 via a wired, wireless, optical and/or other type of communication link.
- the plurality of distributed transceiver devices 114 a , . . . , 114 n in the access point 112 may comprise suitable logic, circuitry, interfaces and/or code that may be operable to handle communication utilizing WPAN, WLAN, WMAN, WWAN and/or mmWave technologies, standards and/or protocols.
- Each of the plurality of antenna arrays 115 a , . . . , 115 n in the plurality of distributed transceiver devices 114 a , . . . , 114 n may comprise suitable logic, circuitry, interfaces and/or code that may be operable to communicate wireless signals.
- the plurality of distributed transceiver devices 114 a , . . . , 114 n may be operable to transmit and/or receive wireless signals corresponding to the WPAN, WLAN, WMAN, WWAN and/or mmWave technologies, standards and/or protocols.
- the central processor 116 in the access point 112 may comprise suitable logic, circuitry, interfaces and/or code that may be operable to control and/or manage operation of the access point 112 .
- the central processor 116 may be operable to configure and/or manage the communication links that are handled by the access point 112 .
- the central processor 116 may be operable to configure and/or manage the communication links 156 , 158 , and 152 .
- the central processor 106 may be operable to configure and/or manage the plurality of distributed transceivers 114 a , . . . , 114 n and the corresponding antenna arrays 115 a , . . . , 115 n , which are in the access point 112 .
- the central processor 116 may be operable to monitor and/or collect information from various devices within the access point 112 and communicate data associated with the monitoring and/or collecting to the coordinating entity 108 .
- the coordinating entity 108 may utilize the resulting communicated data to configure the operation of one or both of the access points 102 and 112 .
- the coordinating entity 108 may aggregate resulting data received from the access points 102 , 112 and utilize the corresponding aggregated data to configure the plurality of distributed transceivers 114 a , . . . , 114 n and/or the plurality of distributed transceivers 104 a , . . . , 104 n , and/or the corresponding antenna arrays 115 a , . .
- the coordinating entity 108 may also utilize the corresponding aggregated data to inform the mobile communication device 129 how to configure, for example, its plurality of distributed transceivers 133 a , . . . , 133 n and/or antenna arrays 134 a , . . . , 134 n.
- the central processor 116 in the access point 112 may also be operable to control one or more of the distributed transceivers 114 a , . . . , 114 n to sense the surrounding environment and determine objects that may block transmission for one or more of the distributed transceivers 114 a , . . . , 114 n .
- the characteristics of corresponding transmitted and/or received signals may be analyzed by one or more of the distributed transceivers 114 a , . . . , 114 n in order to sense the surrounding environment.
- the analysis may determine transmitted and/or received signal strength, frequency changes, phase changes, angle of transmission, angle of arrival and/or other characteristics of the transmitted and/or received signals in order to sense the environment.
- the central processor 116 in the access point 112 may also be operable to control one or more of the distributed transceivers 114 a , . . . , 114 n to sense the surrounding environment and determine objects that may possess reflective and/or refractive properties based on analysis of the characteristics of the corresponding transmitted and/or received signals.
- the results of the sensing may be utilized to enhance and/or optimize communication by one or more of the distributed transceivers 114 a , . . . , 114 n .
- the central processor 116 in the access point 112 may be operable to communicate sensed information of the surrounding environment to the coordinating entity 108 .
- the central processor 116 in the access point 112 may be operable to determined the presence of the flat reflective surface 119 b and/or the curved reflective surface 119 c based on the analysis of corresponding transmitted and/or received signals and communicate the presence of the flat reflective surface 119 b and/or the curved reflective surface 119 c to the coordinating entity 108 .
- the central processor 116 in the access point 112 may also be operable to provide spatial and/or temporal information regarding the flat reflective surface 119 b and/or the curved reflective surface 119 c to the coordinating entity 108 .
- the mobile communication device 129 may be substantially similar to any of the mobile communication devices 30 a , 30 b , 30 c , . . . , 30 n , the mobile communication devices 42 a , 42 b , 42 c , . . . , 42 n , which are shown and described with respect to FIG. 1 .
- the mobile communication device 129 may comprise a central processor 131 and a plurality of distributed transceiver devices 133 a , . . . , 133 n .
- the mobile communication device 129 may comprise one or more transmitters, receivers and/or transceivers that may be operable to handle a plurality of wired and/or wireless communication technologies, standards and/or protocols.
- the one or more transmitters, receivers and/or transceivers may be operable to handle IEEE 802.3, WPAN, WLAN, WMAN, WWAN and/or mmWave technologies, standards and/or protocols.
- the mobile communication device 129 may comprise a mobile entity such as the mobile entity 31 of FIG. 1 .
- the central processor 131 in the mobile communication device 129 may comprise suitable logic, circuitry, interfaces and/or code that may be operable to control and/or manage operation of the mobile communication device 129 .
- the central processor 131 may be operable to configure and/or manage the communication links for the mobile communication device 129 .
- the central processor 131 may be operable to configure and/or manage the communication links 153 , 151 a , . . . , 151 n , and 152 .
- the central processor 131 may be operable to configure and/or manage the plurality of distributed transceivers 133 a , . . . , 133 n and the corresponding antenna arrays 134 a , . . .
- the central processor 131 may be operable to monitor and/or collect information from various devices, for example, other transmitters, receivers and/or transceivers, within the mobile communication device 129 and communicate data associated with the monitoring and/or collecting to the coordinating entity 108 .
- the coordinating entity 108 may utilize the resulting communicated data to configure the operation of one or both of the access points 102 and 112 .
- the coordinating entity 108 may aggregate resulting data received from the mobile communication device 129 and/or the access points 102 , 112 and utilize the corresponding aggregated data to configure the plurality of distributed transceivers 114 a , . . .
- the coordinating entity 108 may also utilize the corresponding aggregated data to inform the mobile communication device 129 how to configure, for example, its plurality of distributed transceivers 133 a , . . . , 133 n and/or antenna arrays 134 a , . . . , 134 n.
- Each of the plurality of distributed transceiver devices 133 a , . . . , 133 n may comprise in the mobile communication device 129 may suitable logic, circuitry, interfaces and/or code that may be operable to handle WPAN, WLAN, WMAN, WWAN and/or mmWave technologies, standards and/or protocols.
- the central processor 131 may operate the distributed transceivers 133 a , . . . , 133 n in any of the distributed modes of operation such as spatial multiplexing, spatial diversity, frequency multiplexing, frequency diversity, and MIMO processing according to embodiments in U.S. application Ser. Nos. 13/473,096, 13/473,144, 13/473,105, 13/473,160, 13/473,180, 13/473,113, 13/473,083, which are hereby incorporated herein my reference in its entirety.
- Each of the plurality of antenna arrays 134 a , . . . , 134 n in the plurality of distributed transceiver devices 133 a , . . . , 133 n may comprise suitable logic, circuitry, interfaces and/or code that may be operable to communicate wireless signals.
- each of the plurality of antenna arrays 134 a , . . . , 134 n in the plurality of distributed transceiver devices 133 a , . . . , 133 n may be operable to transmit and/or receive wireless signals corresponding to the WPAN, WLAN, WMAN, WWAN and/or mmWave technologies, standards and/or protocols.
- the central processor 131 in the mobile communication device 129 may also be operable to sense the surrounding environment and determine objects that may block transmission for one or more of the distributed transceivers 133 a , . . . , 133 n .
- the central processor 131 in the mobile communication device 129 may also be operable to control one or more of the distributed transceivers 133 a , . . . , 133 n to sense the surrounding environment in order determine objects that may possess reflective and/or refractive properties, which may be utilized to enhance and/or optimize communication by one or more of the distributed transceivers 133 a , . . . , 133 n .
- the characteristics of corresponding transmitted and/or received signals may be analyzed by one or more of the distributed transceivers 133 a , . . . , 133 n in order to sense the surrounding environment.
- the analysis may determine transmitted and/or received signal strength, frequency changes, phase changes, angle of transmission, angle of arrival and/or other characteristics of the transmitted and/or received signals in order to sense the environment.
- the central processor 131 in the mobile communication device 129 may be operable to receive sensed information of the surrounding environment from one or more of the distributed transceivers 133 a , . . . , 133 n and communicate the corresponding sensed information of the surrounding environment to the coordinating entity 108 .
- the central processor 131 in the mobile communication device 129 may be operable to control one or more of the distributed transceivers 133 a , . . . , 133 n to sense the presence of the refractive surface 119 a , the flat reflective surface 119 b and/or the curved reflective surface 119 c based on the analysis of the corresponding transmitted and/or received signals and communicate the presence of the refractive surface 119 a , the flat reflective surface 119 b and/or the curved reflective surface 119 c to the coordinating entity 108 .
- central processor 131 in the mobile communication device 129 may also be operable to provide spatial and/or temporal information regarding the refractive surface 119 a , the flat reflective surface 119 b and/or the curved reflective surface 119 c to the coordinating entity 108 .
- the coordinating entity 108 may be substantially similar to any of the coordinating entities 28 , 38 , which are shown and described with respect to FIG. 1 . Notwithstanding, as shown in FIG. 2 , the coordinating entity 108 may comprise a processor 108 a , memory 108 b , a wireless interface 108 c and a wired interface 108 d . Although not shown, the coordinating entity 108 may comprise other interfaces such as an optical interface, a HFC interface and/or other communication interfaces. The coordinating entity 108 may be communicatively coupled to the access points 102 (AP 1 ), 112 (AP 2 ) via the communication links 154 , 156 , respectively.
- AP 1 access points 102
- AP 2 112
- the communication links 154 , 156 may comprise wired, wireless (cellular, WLAN, WiMax, LTE), optical, HFC, point-to-point, and/or other types of communication links.
- the link between the coordinating entity 108 and access points 102 , 112 may be utilized to transport both control data (settings, reports, configurations) as well as traffic comprising data streams intended for the user of mobile communication device 129 .
- the coordinating entity 108 may utilize the communication links 154 , 156 to handle different data traffic categories.
- the communication links 154 and/or 156 may be utilized to transport control information and/or commands between the coordinating entity 108 and the access point 102 and/or access point 112 , respectively.
- the communication links 154 and/or 156 may be utilized to transport information bits intended for and/or generated by the mobile communication device 129 .
- the communication links 154 and/or 156 may be utilized to transport raw analog to digital conversion (ADC) and/or digital to analog conversion (DAC) data between the access points 102 , 112 and the central processors 106 , 116 in the access points 102 , 112 , respectively.
- ADC analog to digital conversion
- DAC digital to analog conversion
- communication and/or signal processing operations required to decode data may be performed jointly at coordinating entity 108 on the combination of ADC samples received from access points 102 and 112 .
- the coordinating entity 108 may comprise suitable logic, circuitry, interfaces and/or code that may be operable to coordinate and/or manage operation of the access points 102 , 112 , the gateway 110 and/or the mobile communication device 129 .
- the coordinating entity 108 may be operable to coordinate operation of the access points 102 , 112 in order to maximize and/or optimize the system performance within a mmWave and wireless communication network such as the mmWave and wireless communication networks 10 , 12 .
- the coordinating entity may be located in the access point 102 , the access point 112 , the gateway 110 , or in a separate device location. In some embodiments of the invention, the functions performed by the access point 112 may be split among a plurality of devices.
- the coordinating entity 108 may be operable to manage the combination of transceiver resources within the access points 102 , 112 and maximize or optimize the performance of the corresponding wireless links 151 a , . . . , 151 n and 152 from the combination of the plurality of distributed transceivers 104 a , . . . , 104 n and 114 a , . . . , 114 n in the access points 102 , 112 , respectively, to the mobile communication device 129 .
- the coordinating entity 108 may be operable to provide coordinate operation of the plurality of distributed transceivers 104 a , . . .
- the coordinating entity 108 may be operable to combine or aggregate transceiver resources in the access points 102 , 112 in order to program or configure the resulting pooled transceiver resources to provide better performance over the communication links 151 a , . . . , 151 n and 152 .
- the coordinating entity 108 may be operable to program or configure the resulting pooled transceiver resources to provide different levels of coordination based on system restrictions and/or capabilities and/or based on channel characteristics, QoS, CoS, traffic type and so on.
- the coordinating entity 108 may be operable to receive surrounding environment information from one or more of the access points 102 , 112 and/or the mobile communication device 129 .
- the coordinating entity 108 may be operable to utilize the process and/or aggregate the surrounding environment information from one or more of the access points 102 , 112 and/or the mobile communication device 129 and utilize the resulting information to configure one or more of the distributed transceivers in one or more of the access points 102 , 112 and/or the mobile communication device 129 .
- the coordinating entity 108 may be operable to receive sensed information of the surrounding environment of the access point 102 from the central processor 106 .
- the coordinating entity 108 may be operable to utilize the received sensed information of the surrounding environment of the access point 102 , as well as information associated with the surrounding environment of the access point 112 and/or the surrounding environment of the mobile communication device 129 to configure one or more of the distributed transceivers in one or more of the access points 102 , 112 and/or the mobile communication device 129 in order to optimize communication by one or more of the transceivers 104 a , . . . , 104 n and/or one or more of the antenna arrays 105 a , . . . , 105 n , which are in access point 102 .
- the coordinating entity 108 may be operable to receive sensed information of the surrounding environment of the access point 112 from the central processor 116 .
- the coordinating entity 108 may be operable to utilize the received sensed information of the surrounding environment of the access point 112 , as well as information associated with the surrounding environment of the access point 102 and/or the surrounding environment of the mobile communication device 129 to configure one or more of the distributed transceivers in one or more of the access points 102 , 112 and/or the mobile communication device 129 in order to optimize communication by one or more of the transceivers 114 a , . . . , 114 n and/or one or more of the antenna arrays 115 a , . . . , 115 n , which are in access point 112 .
- the coordinating entity 108 may be operable to receive sensed information of the surrounding environment of the mobile communication device 129 from the central processor 131 .
- the coordinating entity 108 may be operable to utilize the received sensed information of the surrounding environment of the mobile communication device 129 , as well as information associated with the surrounding environment of the access point 102 and/or the surrounding environment of the access point 112 to configure one or more of the distributed transceivers in one or more of the access points 102 , 112 and/or the mobile communication device 129 in order to optimize communication by one or more of the transceivers 133 a , . . . , 133 n and/or one or more of the antenna arrays 134 a , . . . , 134 n , which are in mobile communication device 129 .
- the coordinating entity 108 may be operable to configure the beam patterns for the access point 102 by taking into account the beam patterns that may be utilized by the access point 112 and/or the mobile communication device 129 in order to mitigate cross interference between the data streams for the access point 102 and the access point 112 .
- the processor 108 a in the coordinating entity 108 may comprise suitable logic, circuitry, interfaces and/or code that may be operable to execute the operations of the coordinating entity 108 .
- the memory 108 b in the coordinating entity 108 may comprise suitable logic, circuitry, interfaces and/or code that may be operable to store operating data, control information and/or data, which may be utilized by the coordinating entity 108 .
- the wireless interface 108 c in the coordinating entity 108 may comprise suitable logic, circuitry, interfaces and/or code that may be operable to handle communication between the coordinating entity 108 and the gateway 110 , the access point 102 and/or the access point 112 .
- the mobile communication device 129 in instances where the mobile communication device 129 may be within operating range of the coordinating entity 108 , the mobile communication device 129 may be operable to communicate with the coordinating entity 108 via, for example, the wireless interface 108 c.
- the wired interface 108 d in the coordinating entity 108 may comprise suitable logic, circuitry, interfaces and/or code that may be operable to handle communication between the coordinating entity 108 and the gateway 110 , the access point 102 and/or the access point 112 .
- the gateway 110 may be substantially similar to any of the gateways 20 , 22 , 24 , which are shown and described with respect to FIG. 1 . Notwithstanding, as shown in FIG. 2 , the gateway 110 may be communicatively coupled to the coordinating entity 108 via the link 155 .
- the link 155 may comprise a wired and/or wireless communication link.
- the wired interface 108 d and/or the wireless interface 108 c may be operable to handle communication via the communication link 155 .
- the gateway 110 may be coupled to one or more service provider networks, for example, the service provider networks 14 , 16 , which are illustrated in and described with respect to FIG. 1 .
- the gateway 110 may optionally be coupled to the access point 102 via an optional direct communication link 157 .
- the optional direct communication link 157 may comprise a wired, wireless, optical, HFC, and/or other type of direct communication link.
- the distributed transceiver devices 104 a , . . . , 104 n and 114 a , . . . , 114 n are integrated in separate physical devices such as the access points 102 , 112 , respectively.
- the access point 102 comprises a plurality of distributed transceivers 104 a , . . . , 104 n and the access point 112 comprises a plurality of access points 114 a , . . . , 114 n .
- the plurality of distributed transceiver devices 104 a , . . . , 104 n and 114 a , . . . , 114 n may be integrated in a single physical device such as the access point 102 or the access point 112 .
- the coordinating entity 108 may be operable to coordinate the operation of the access point 102 and the access point 112 as a single virtual access point entity.
- the coordinating entity 108 may combine the plurality of distributed transceiver devices 104 a , . . . , 104 n and 114 a , . . . , 114 n and treat the combined plurality of distributed transceiver devices 104 a , . . . , 104 n and 114 a , . . . , 114 n as the single virtual access point entity.
- the mobile communication device 129 may be operable to access one or more of the combined plurality of distributed transceiver devices 104 a , . . . , 104 n and 114 a , . . . , 114 n in the single virtual access point entity without knowledge that the combined plurality of distributed transceiver devices 104 a , . . . , 104 n and 114 a , . . . , 114 n are in separate physical access points, namely, access points 102 , 112 .
- the single virtual access point entity may provide, for example, more reliable service and higher throughput or bandwidth to the mobile communication device 129 than one or both of the access points 102 , 112 since the resulting communication resources are coordinated as one by the coordinating entity 108 .
- the coordinating entity 108 may be operable to dynamically monitor and/or analyze the link quality (e.g., SNR or capacity) between the different transceivers within the access points 102 , 112 and the mobile communication device 129 .
- the link quality may be determined based on the signal to noise ratio (SNR), signal to interference noise ratio (SINR), carrier to noise interference ratio (CINR), link capacity, throughput, bit error rate (BER), packet error rate (PER) and/or other parameters.
- the coordinating entity 108 may be operable to allocate, de-allocate, reallocate, distribute and/or redistribute the overall capacity and/or throughput target to optimize communication by the access points 102 , the access point 112 and/or the mobile communication device 129 .
- the coordinating entity 108 may be operable to communicate information to the central processors 106 , 116 and the central processors 106 , 116 may utilize this information to configure the corresponding plurality of distributed transceivers 104 a , . . . , 104 n and/or 114 a , . . . , 114 n and/or the antenna arrays 105 a , . . . , 105 n and/or 115 a , . . . , 115 n in the access point 102 and access point 112 , respectively.
- transceiver 104 a within the access point 102 may experience a good channel condition (high SNR)
- a higher throughput data stream may be passed through the transceiver 104 a for communication with the mobile mmWave enable communication device 129 .
- capacity distribution techniques such as water filling may also be utilized to optimize communication.
- overall throughput to mobile mmWave enable communication device 129 may be partitioned and/or distributed over a plurality of different communication paths or communication links via the access points 102 , 112 and/or one or more of the corresponding plurality of distributed transceivers 104 a , . . . , 104 n and/or 114 a , . . . , 114 n .
- the coordinating entity 108 and/or the central processors 106 , 116 in the access points 102 , 112 may be operable to determine the quality of each of the communication paths or communication links.
- the communication paths or communication links with higher SNR may be configured by the coordinating entity 108 and/or the central processors 106 , 116 to carry a higher portion of the overall throughput while the communication paths or communication links with poorer SNR may be configured to carry a smaller portion of the overall traffic.
- the coordinating entity 108 may be operable to determine that the one or more of the plurality of distributed transceivers 104 a , . . . , 104 n and/or 114 a , . . . , 114 n and/or the antenna arrays 105 a , . . . , 105 n and/or 115 a , . . .
- each of the plurality of distributed transceivers 104 a , . . . , 104 n and/or 114 a , . . . , 114 n in the access points 102 , 112 , respectively, may be configured to transmit the same data stream in order to achieve better reliability and/or quality of transmission.
- the coordinating entity realizes effective SNR values of a1 ⁇ P1, a2 ⁇ P2, a3 ⁇ P3 corresponding to links 151 n , 151 a , and 152 , respectively.
- P1, P2, and P3 represent the transmit power used for links 151 n , 151 a , and 152 , respectively.
- a1, a2, a3 are scaling factors that are functions of the propagation environment (path loss, antenna pattern gains, etc). A larger scaling factor represents a link with higher quality.
- different rate distribution policies may be used by the coordinating entity 108 to provide a total combined capacity or throughput C0 to mobile device 129 .
- C1, C2, C3 represent the partial throughput over links 151 n , 151 a , and 152 respectively
- the optimization problem is to find a combination of P1, P2, P3 that optimize a cost/merit function (e.g., minimize sum power P1+P2+P3) for a given total achieved capacity C0.
- a cost/merit function e.g., minimize sum power P1+P2+P3
- the coordinating entity 108 may be operable to determine whether different beamforming methodologies may be utilized for different ones of the plurality of distributed transceivers 104 a , . . . , 104 n and/or 114 a , . . . , 114 n in the access points 102 , 112 , respectively.
- the coordinating entity 108 may be operable to determine that a narrower or a sharper beam pattern may be utilized by distributed transceivers with higher throughput streams, and a wider beam pattern may be utilized by transceivers with lower throughput data streams and/or data streams that may require higher fidelity.
- the coordinating entity 108 may determine that the access point 102 should configure the distributed transceiver 104 a with a wide beam pattern to accommodate a low throughput stream (but with higher fidelity) and configure the distributed transceiver 104 n with a narrow sharp beam pattern to accommodate a high throughput stream.
- the backhaul connection from the access points 102 , 112 may comprise a wired, wireless, optical and/or other type of connection.
- the communication links 154 , 156 , 157 are backhaul communication links that provide access to resources and/or services on the Internet 18 ( FIG. 1 ) via the gateway 110 .
- the mobile communication device 129 may want to download data from an external resource such as a database in the server 18 a on the Internet 18 .
- the coordinating entity 108 may be operable to split the corresponding traffic from the server 18 a to the mobile communication device 129 into a plurality of data streams.
- the coordinating entity 108 may be operable to control various operations, functions and/or resources of the access points 102 , 112 .
- the coordinating entity 108 may be operable to control and/or manage the configuration and/or reconfiguration of the various operations, functions and/or resources of the access points 102 , 112 .
- the coordinating entity 108 may be operable to control and/or manage, for example, the various modes of operation, beam patterns, and/or the data splitting ratio between a plurality of access points such as the access points 102 , 112 .
- the coordinating entity 108 may be operable to control various operations, functions and/or resources of the access points 102 , 112 in a static manner and/or in a dynamic manner as, for example, the channel conditions and/or throughput demands change.
- the static and/or dynamic control of the various operations, functions and/or resources of the access points 102 , 112 may be applied on, for example, a packet-by-packet, frame-by-frame, and/or session-by-session basis.
- the coordinating entity 108 may configure the access point 102 to communicate data to the mobile communication device 129 utilizing a first carrier frequency and modulation scheme such as LTE over a 2 GHz carrier frequency.
- the coordinating entity 108 may reconfigure the access point 102 to communicate data to the mobile communication device 129 utilizing a second carrier frequency and modulation scheme such as, OFDM over a 60 GHz carrier frequency.
- the coordinating entity 108 may configure the access point 102 to communicate data to the mobile communication device 129 utilizing a first carrier frequency and modulation scheme such as LTE over a 2 GHz carrier frequency.
- the coordinating entity 108 may configure the access point 112 to communicate data to the mobile communication device 129 utilizing a second carrier frequency and modulation scheme such as, OFDM over a 60 GHz carrier frequency.
- the coordinating entity 108 may configure the access point 102 to communicate data to the mobile communication device 129 utilizing a first carrier frequency and modulation scheme such as LTE over a 2 GHz carrier frequency.
- the coordinating entity 108 may reconfigure the access point 102 to communicate data to the mobile communication device 129 utilizing a second carrier frequency and modulation scheme such as, OFDM over a 60 GHz carrier frequency.
- the coordinating entity 108 may configure the access point 102 to communicate data to the mobile communication device 129 utilizing a first carrier frequency and modulation scheme such as, LTE over a 2 GHz carrier frequency.
- the coordinating entity 108 may configure the access point 112 to communicate data to the mobile communication device 129 utilizing a second carrier frequency and modulation scheme such as, OFDM over a 60 GHz carrier frequency.
- the point at which the session may be transferred from one access point to another access point may be determined by the coordinating entity 108 based on, for example, location information of mobile communication device 129 and/or the access points 102 , 112 .
- the location of one or more reflecting and/or refracting objects and/or structures within the communication environment may be utilized by the coordinating entity 108 to determine the characteristics of the beams and/or the transceiver settings that should be utilized in order to optimize communication.
- the coordinating entity 108 may be operable to utilize the locations of the mobile communication device 129 , the access point 102 and/or the access point 112 in order to provide an initial configuration of network parameters and/or settings for the distributed transceivers beam patterns and directions, power levels, individual stream data rates, and so on.
- the coordinating entity 108 may also operate in an adaptive manner in which it may be trained over time as it builds up a history of good settings for different locations, different devices, different environment conditions and so on, as more users connect to the communication network.
- the mobile communication device 129 is located at a position specified by the coordinates (x1, y1, z1) and/or its spatial orientation.
- the coordinating entity 108 may be operable to utilize various positioning techniques such as triangulation in order to estimate the position and/or orientation of the mobile communication device 129 .
- the coordinating entity 108 may be operable to utilize various training and estimation/optimization methods to determine the optimal configuration and/or settings for the plurality of distributed transceivers 104 a , . . . , 104 n , 114 a , . . . , 114 n , and/or the antenna arrays 105 a , . . .
- the database which may be stored in the memory 108 b , may also be utilized by the system to improve the accuracy of location finding algorithms over time. In this case, the reverse of the above procedure may be utilized for positioning improvement.
- the coordinating entity 108 utilizes the close correlation between location and optimal settings to map optimal settings to a location value.
- the coordinating entity 108 may be operable to store, in the database in the memory 108 b , information, which indicates that for the mobile communication device 129 at location (x1, y1, z1), the optimal network settings (eg S1) leads to the best link performance.
- the coordinating entity 108 may be operable to conclude that the mobile communication device is within the vicinity of location (x1, y1, z1).
- the information stored in the database in the memory 108 b may be based on ongoing measurements and analysis of current and/or stored data.
- exemplary location techniques may comprise global navigation satellite system (GNSS) such as global positioning system (GPS), triangulation, and/or a known location of a neighboring device such as a WiFi access point.
- GNSS global navigation satellite system
- GPS global positioning system
- the location data may be utilized by the coordinating entity 108 to identify a possible set of distributed transceivers that may be better suited for multi-stream operations, such as multiplexing in the same frequency channel, by demonstrating good phase condition properties.
- the role of the coordinating entity 108 in configuring resources may be shared or combined with the role of a medium access controller (MAC).
- MAC medium access controller
- the information collected and/or utilized by the coordinating entity 108 may also be used by the MAC controller to improve other MAC functionalities.
- the data demodulation may be performed by each central baseband processors 106 , 116 , which may be located within the access points 102 , 112 , respectively.
- the final information data streams, after signal processing and decoding are done, may be communicated from the access points 102 , 112 . This may minimize the backhaul throughput out of the access points 102 , 112 .
- the raw data out of analog-digital converters corresponding to different distributed transceivers within the access points 102 , 112 or the data after some partial digital signal processing may be transported to the coordinating entity 108 for processing.
- the coordinating entity 108 may be operable to complete the remaining digital and/or baseband processing on the samples collected from one or more of the distributed transceivers 104 a , . . . , 104 n , 114 a , . . . , 114 n within access points 102 , 112 , respectively.
- This configuration may require a higher throughput for the backhaul communication links 154 , 156 from access points 102 , 112 to the coordinating entity 108 as raw data is being communication over the backhaul links 154 , 156 .
- This may be suitable in instances when the backhaul communication links 154 , 156 between the access points 102 , 112 and the coordinating entity 108 comprise a very high throughput such as optical links and/or high throughput Ethernet connections.
- the coordinating entity 108 may be operable to perform joint processing and/or decoding of the streams that are captured by the various spatially-separated plurality of distributed transceivers 104 a , . . . , 104 n , 114 a , . . .
- the coordinating entity 108 may process the captured samples from the plurality of distributed transceivers 104 a , 114 a jointly in an optimal fashion, for example, maximal ratio combining (MRC) after co-phasing the two corresponding sequence of samples.
- MRC maximal ratio combining
- the joint processing may be extended to other modes of operation such as spatial multiplexing, spatial diversity, frequency diversity, multiple input multiple output (MIMO) processing, and so on.
- This may be useful when attempts to achieve the phase condition between the distributed transceivers within a single access point becomes difficult due to the particular spatial separation of the distributed transceivers within the single access point.
- the coordinating entity 108 may be operable to identify distributed transceivers across a plurality of devices such as the access points 102 , 112 , which may be operable to better to meet the optimal phase condition requirements.
- the coordinating entity 108 is operable to collect the samples from the corresponding distributed transceivers, for example distributed transceivers 104 a , 114 a , in different access points 102 , 112 and performs the joint processing of the corresponding sequences in order to maximize the multiplexed capacity and/or throughput.
- the mobile communication device 129 may be operable to receive its overall target data stream through aggregation of partial streams, which may be transmitted concurrently over a plurality of different access-points.
- the mobile communication device 129 may be operable to receive the overall target data stream through aggregation of partial streams, which may be transmitted concurrently from the access point 102 and the access point 112 .
- the mobile communication device 129 may be operable to receive its overall target data stream from the same distributed transceivers within the access point 102 and the access point 112 and/or from different distributed transceivers within the access point 102 and the access point 112 .
- the corresponding partial data streams may be communicated over the same frequency by relying on the spatial separation of the access points 102 , 112 and/or the beam pattern separations associated with antenna arrays for the corresponding distributed transceivers.
- the coordinating entity may monitor the cross-interference between all these concurrent co-channel links 151 n , 151 a , 152 , 153 (due to cross-leakage between the antenna patterns). As long as antenna patterns can be adjusted to keep the cross-interference below a threshold, the coordinating entity 108 continues operating the network in spatial multiplexing mode (for maximal frequency reuse).
- the coordinating entity 108 may decide to switch to frequency multiplexing to prevent a drop in throughput. If the frequency multiplexing mode is used, those partial data streams are sent over different carrier frequencies (at the same time).
- a hybrid combination may be configured by the coordinating entity 108 where links 151 a and 152 are operated in the same frequency (since spatial separation is sufficiently large due to angles of arrival difference), but link 151 n is operated at a different frequency than link 151 a (since the cross-interference is expected to be large given the positions of the devices).
- methods and policies may be adopted to operate the distributed transceivers in the modes of spatial multiplexing, spatial diversity, frequency multiplexing, frequency diversity, and MIMO processing, according to embodiments in U.S. application Ser. Nos. 13/473,096, 13/473,144, 13/473,105, 13/473,160, 13/473,180, 13/473,113, 13/473,083, which are hereby incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
- Various aspects of the invention may comprise a coordinating entity 108 , which is operable to communicate with a plurality of network devices such as the access points 102 , 112 .
- Each of the plurality of network devices such as the access points 102 , 112 may comprise a plurality of distributed transceivers 104 a , . . . , 104 n , 114 a , . . . , 114 n and one or more corresponding antenna arrays 105 a , . . . , 105 n , 115 a , . . . , 115 n , respectively.
- the coordinating entity 108 may be operable to receive information from one or more of the plurality of network devices such as the access points 102 , 112 and/or from one or more communication devices such as the mobile communication device 129 , which are communicatively coupled to the one or more of the plurality of network devices such as the access points 102 , 112 .
- Exemplary received information comprises location information, propagation environment characteristics, physical environment characteristics and/or link quality.
- the coordinating entity 108 may be operable to coordinate communication of data streams for one or more of the plurality of distributed transceivers 104 a , . . . , 104 n , 114 a , . . . , 114 n and one or more corresponding antenna arrays 105 a , . . . , 105 n , 115 a , . . . , 115 n , respectively, for the plurality of network devices such as the access points 102 , 112 based on the received information.
- Exemplary network devices may comprise access points, routers, switching devices, gateways, and/or set top boxes.
- the coordinating entity 108 may be integrated within one of the plurality of network devices such as the access points 102 , 112 or may be located external to the plurality of network devices. In some embodiments of the invention, one or more functions performed by the coordinating entity 108 are split between the coordinating entity and one or more of the plurality of network devices such as the access points 102 , 112 .
- the coordinating entity 108 may be operable to dynamically and/or adaptively control adjustment of one or more configuration settings for the one or more of the plurality of distributed transceivers 104 a , . . . , 104 n , 114 a , . . . , 114 n and one or more corresponding antenna arrays 105 a , . . . , 105 n , 115 a , . . . , 115 n , respectively, for one or more of the plurality of network devices such as the access points 102 , 112 , based on the received information.
- the coordinating entity 108 may also be operable to store the received information to generate a history of received information.
- the coordinating entity 108 may aggregate the history of the received information with current information that may be received from one or more of the plurality of network devices such as the access points 102 , 112 , and/or from the one or more communication devices such as the mobile communication device 129 .
- the coordinating entity 108 may also be operable to dynamically and/or adaptively control adjustment of one or more configuration settings for the one or more of the plurality of distributed transceivers 104 a , . . . , 104 n , 114 a , . . . , 114 n and one or more corresponding antenna arrays 105 a , . . . , 105 n , 115 a , . . . , 115 n , respectively, for one or more of the plurality of network devices such as the access points 102 , 112 based on the aggregated history of received information and current received information.
- the coordinating entity 108 may also be operable to dynamically and/or adaptively control two or more of the plurality of distributed transceivers in a network device such as the access point 102 to utilize different modes of operation and/or to split the communication of the data streams amongst one or more of the plurality of distributed transceivers 104 a , . . . , 104 n in a corresponding plurality of network devices.
- Exemplary modes of operation may comprise a spatial diversity mode, a frequency diversity mode, a spatial multiplexing mode, a frequency multiplexing mode and a multiple-input-multiple-output (MIMO) mode of operation.
- the coordinating entity 108 may be operable to backhauling traffic from one or more of the network devices via one or more wired and/or wireless communication links.
- the distributed transceivers for example, the distributed transceivers 104 a , . . . , 104 n , 114 a , . . . , 114 n may be configured to switch between spatial diversity mode, frequency diversity mode, multiplexing mode and MIMO mode based on, for example corresponding propagation environment conditions, link quality, device capabilities, device locations, resource availability and/or usage, latency requirements, target throughput and/or link budgets, application QoS requirements, class of service, and/or traffic type.
- the coordinating entity may also be operable to control two or more of the plurality of distributed transceivers 104 a , . . . , 104 n , 114 a , . . . , 114 n in a network device such as the access points 102 , 112 to utilize different modulation schemes, constellations, protocols, frequencies, wireless standards and/or bandwidths to handle different types of data traffic and/or control traffic based on the received information.
- a communication device such as the mobile communication device 129 , which comprises a plurality of distributed transceivers 133 a , . . . , 133 n and one or more corresponding antenna arrays 134 a , . . . , 134 n may be operable to determine characteristics of one or more objects such as the object 118 , 119 a , 119 b , 119 c that are sensed within surrounding communication environment of the communication device 129 .
- the communication device 129 may configure one or more of the plurality of distributed transceivers distributed transceivers 133 a , . . . , 133 n and/or one or more corresponding antenna arrays 134 a , .
- exemplary characteristics may comprise reflective property and/or refractive property of the sensed one or more objects within the surrounding communication environment of the communication device.
- the communication device 129 may be operable to store the determined characteristics, corresponding temporal information and/or spatial information for the sensed one or more objects, and/or signal propagation characteristics within the surrounding communication environment of the communication device.
- a map of the surrounding communication environment of the communication device 129 may also be generated based on the stored determined characteristics, corresponding temporal information and/or spatial information, and/or signal propagation characteristics.
- the communication device 129 may be operable to dynamically update the stored determined characteristics, corresponding temporal information and/or spatial information, and/or signal propagation characteristics, and/or the map based on additional information acquired by the communication device 129 , information received from one or more other communication devices such as the access points 102 , 112 , and/or information received from one or more network devices such as the coordinating entity 108 .
- the communication device 129 may be operable to communicate surrounding communication environment data comprising the determined characteristics, the corresponding temporal information and/or spatial information for the sensed one or more objects, and/or the signal propagation characteristics, from the communication device 129 to a coordinating device such as the coordinating entity 108 .
- the coordinating device such as the coordinating entity 108 may be operable to process and/or aggregate the communicated surrounding communication environment data with other corresponding data for the communication environment, which is received from one or more other communication devices and/or one or more network devices to generate resulting data for the surrounding communication environment.
- the coordinating device such as the coordinating entity 108 may also communicate the resulting data for the surrounding communication environment from the coordinating device such as the coordinating entity 108 to the communication device 129 , the one or more other communication devices such as the access points 102 , 112 , and/or the one or more network devices.
- the communication device 129 may be operable to receive the communicated resulting data for the surrounding communication environment from the coordinating device such as the coordinating entity 108 .
- the communication device 129 may be operable to adjust configuration of one or more of the plurality of distributed transceivers 133 a , . . . , 133 n and/or one or more corresponding antenna arrays 134 a , . . . , 134 n based on the received resulting data for the surrounding communication environment.
- the communication device 129 may be operable to determine one or more communication paths for communicating one or more of the data streams within the surrounding communication environment.
- the communication device 129 may be operable to configure one or more of the plurality of distributed transceivers 133 a , . . .
- One or more of the determined communication paths which may be utilized for communicating the one or more data streams within the surrounding communication environment, may utilize a reflective surface and/or a refractive surface of the sensed one or more objects within the surrounding communication environment.
- FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating distributed transceivers utilized for wireless communication in access points in which the access points utilize different link protocols and/or operating modes, in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the invention.
- FIG. 3 there are shown access points 102 , 112 , a mobile communication device 129 , a coordinating entity 108 and a gateway 110 .
- the access points 102 , 112 , the mobile communication device 129 , the coordinating entity 108 and the gateway 110 may be substantially similar to the corresponding components, which are shown in and described with respect to FIG. 2 .
- the components within each of the access points 102 , 112 , the mobile communication device 129 and the coordinating entity 108 may be substantially similar to the corresponding components, which are shown in and described with respect to FIG. 2 .
- the communication links 151 a , . . . , 151 n , 152 , 153 , 154 , 155 , 156 , 157 and 158 may be substantially similar to the corresponding components, which are shown in and described with respect to FIG. 2 .
- FIG. 3 also shows a refractive surface 119 a , a flat reflective surface 119 b and a curved reflective surface 119 c.
- the refractive surface 119 a may be substantially similar to the refractive surfaces 29 b , 41 d , which are shown and described with respect to FIG. 1 .
- the flat reflective surface 119 b may be substantially similar to the flat refractive surfaces 29 c , 41 c , which are shown and described with respect to FIG. 1 .
- the curved reflective surface 119 c may be substantially similar to the curved reflective surfaces 29 a , 41 a , 41 b , which are shown and described with respect to FIG. 1 .
- the access point 102 may also comprise a network management engine (NME) 107 .
- the network management engine 107 may be operable to manage communication resources within the access point 102 .
- the network management engine 107 may be operable to coordinate managing of the communication resources for the access point 102 with the coordinating entity 108 and/or the network management engine 117 in the access point 112 .
- the network management engine 107 may be operable to communicate surrounding environment information for the access point 102 to the network management engine 108 e in the coordinating entity 108 .
- the network management engine 108 e in the coordinating entity 108 may be operable to process and analyze the surrounding environment information and utilize the resulting information to coordinate, oversee and/or manage the operation of one or more of the network management engines 107 , 117 in order to configure one or more of the distributed transceivers in one or more of the access points 102 , 112 and/or the mobile communication device 129 .
- the access point 112 may also comprise a network management engine 117 .
- the network management engine 117 may be operable to manage communication resources within the access point 112 .
- the network management engine 117 may be operable to coordinate managing of the communication resources for the access point 112 with the coordinating entity 108 and/or the network management engine 107 in the access point 102 .
- the network management engine 117 may be operable to communicate surrounding environment information for the access point 112 to the network management engine 108 e in the coordinating entity 108 .
- the network management engine 108 e in the coordinating entity 108 may be operable to process and analyze the surrounding environment information and utilize the resulting information to coordinate, oversee and/or manage the operation of one or more of the network management engines 107 , 117 in order to configure one or more of the distributed transceivers in one or more of the access points 102 , 112 and/or the mobile communication device 129 .
- the coordinating entity 108 may also comprise an optional network management engine 108 e .
- the network management engine 108 e which may be optional, may be operable to coordinate, oversee and/or manage the operation of one or more of the network management engines in the network.
- the optional network management engine 108 e may be operable to coordinate, oversee and/or manage operation of the network management engine 107 in the access point 102 and/or the network management engine 117 in the access point 112 .
- the optional network management engine 108 e may be operable to coordinate operation of the communication resources within the access points 102 , 112 .
- some or all of the functions that are handled by the network management engines 107 , 117 may be coordinated by the network management engine 108 e .
- the optional network management engine 108 e may be operable to utilize information from the gateway 110 , the access point 102 , the access point 112 , the mobile communication device 129 , and/or from within the coordinating entity 108 to coordinate, oversee and/or manage the operation of one or more of the network management engines in network.
- the network management engine 108 e in the coordinating entity 108 may be operable to utilize process and/or aggregate the surrounding environment information from one or more of the network management engines 107 , 117 in the access points 102 , 112 , respectively, and/or from the mobile communication device 129 .
- the network management engine 108 e in the coordinating entity 108 may be operable to utilize the resulting information to coordinate, oversee and/or manage the operation of one or more of the network management engines in network in order to configure one or more of the distributed transceivers in one or more of the access points 102 , 112 and/or the mobile communication device 129 .
- the network management engine 108 e in the coordinating entity 108 may be operable to receive sensed information for the surrounding environments of the access points 102 , 112 from the central processors 106 , 116 , respectively.
- the network management engine 108 e in the coordinating entity 108 may be operable to utilize the received sensed information of the surrounding environment of the access points 102 , 112 , as well as information associated with the surrounding environment of the mobile communication device 129 to determine configuration information for one or more of the distributed transceivers in one or more of the access points 102 , 112 and/or the mobile communication device 129 .
- the network management engine 108 e in the coordinating entity 108 may be operable to communicate the determined configuration information to the access points 102 , 112 and/or the mobile communication device 129 .
- the central processors 106 , 116 and/or the 131 in the access points 102 , 112 and/or the mobile communication device 129 may utilize the determined information to configure one or more of the transceivers 104 a , . . . , 104 n and/or one or more of the antenna arrays 105 a , . . . , 105 n , which are in access point 102 , one or more of the transceivers 114 a , . . .
- the determined information may be utilized to configure the corresponding transceivers and/or antenna arrays to utilize one or more of the refractive surface 119 a , the flat reflective surface 119 b and/or the curved reflective surface 119 c in order to optimize communication.
- the determined information may also be utilized to configure the corresponding transceivers and/or antenna arrays to avoid any objects that may block the communication of signals from one or more of the corresponding transceivers and/or antenna arrays.
- the distributed transceivers within a unit or device such as the access points 102 , 112 and/or the mobile communication device 129 may be operable to support different carrier frequencies and/or modulation schemes through the same distributed transceiver implementation.
- some of the distributed transceivers within a unit or device such as the access points 102 , 112 and/or the mobile communication device 129 may be enabled to operate at certain carrier frequency ranges and/or utilize certain modulation schemes, while other distributed transceivers within the unit or device may be enabled to operate at other carrier frequency ranges and/or utilize different modulation schemes.
- information associated with the environment surrounding the access points 102 , 112 and/or the mobile communication device 129 may be utilized to determine the carrier frequency ranges and/or the modulation schemes, which are employed.
- the distributed transceiver 104 a and the distributed transceiver 104 n which are both within the access point 102 may be operable to utilize different carrier frequencies and/or modulation schemes.
- the distributed transceiver 104 a may be operable to utilize a lower carrier frequency such as 2 GHz based on cellular, such as LTE, or WLAN modulation and/or constellations and protocols such as code division multiple access (CDMA) and variants thereof, orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) in 2 GHz carrier frequency with different channel bandwidths, for example, 5 MHz, 10 MHz and/or 20 MHz.
- CDMA code division multiple access
- OFDM orthogonal frequency division multiplexing
- Other distributed transceivers in the access point 102 or the access point 112 may be operable to utilize higher carrier frequencies such as 60 GHz based on WiGig, 802.11ad modulations, constellations, and/or protocols, for example, single-carrier modulation or OFDM.
- the distributed transceiver 114 a in the access point 112 may be operable to utilize a 60 GHz WiGig modulation, constellations, and/or protocols.
- the access points 102 , 112 may comprise reconfigurable and/or programmable components, which may be reconfigured and/or programmed to support higher and/or lower carrier frequencies and/or different modulation, constellations and/or protocols over the same distributed transceivers.
- information received from the access points 102 , 112 and/or the mobile communication device 129 associated with their corresponding surrounding environment may be utilized to determine the frequencies, modulation, constellations, and/or protocols, which are utilized by the distributed transceivers.
- Each of the network management engines 107 , 117 in the access points 102 , 112 may be operable to manage the resources within each of the corresponding access points 102 , 112 .
- the network management engine 107 in the access point 102 may be operable to manage, for example, the carrier frequencies, beam patterns, protocols and/or modulation schemes that are utilized by the plurality of distributed transceivers 104 a , . . . , 104 n , which are located in the access point 102 .
- the network management engine 117 in the access point 112 may be operable to manage, for example, the carrier frequencies, beam patterns, protocols and/or modulation schemes that are utilized by the plurality of distributed transceivers 114 a , . . . , 114 n , which are located in the access point 112 .
- network management engines are shown only in the access points 102 , 112 , and the coordinating entity 108 , the invention is not limited in this regard. Accordingly, a network management engine may reside in other components within the network. For example, a network management engine may be located in the gateway 110 .
- the optional network management engine 108 e may be operable to coordinate operation of the distributed network management engines 107 , 117 , which may be located in the access points 102 , 112 , respectively.
- the network management engines 107 , 117 and/or the optional network management engine 108 e may be operable to dynamically and/or adaptively reassign and/or reactivate transceiver resources in the access points 102 , 112 to different carrier frequencies, modulation schemes and/or protocol schemes.
- the network management engines 107 , 117 and/or the optional network management engine 108 e may be operable to reconfigure the plurality of distributed transceivers 104 a , . . . , 104 n and/or 114 a , . . . , 114 n , which are located in the access points 102 , 112 , respectively.
- one or more of the network management engines 107 , 117 and/or the optional network management engine 108 e may be operable to configure and/or activate some of the plurality of distributed transceivers of the transceivers 104 a , . . . , 104 n and 114 a , . . . , 114 n , which are located in the access points 102 , 112 , respectively, to operate at lower carrier frequencies while others of the plurality of distributed transceivers 104 a , . . . , 104 n and 114 a , . . . , 114 n may be configured and/or activated to operate at higher carrier frequencies. Accordingly, one or more of the network management engines 107 , 117 and/or the optional network management engine 108 e may be operable to optimize the overall link throughput and/or performance for the data being transported and/or aggregated over the plurality of carrier frequencies.
- one or more of the network management engines 107 , 117 and/or the optional network management engine 108 e may configure one or more the plurality of distributed transceivers 104 a , . . . , 104 n and 114 a , . . . , 114 n to operate at, for example, a 2 GHz carrier frequency and there may be a request for higher capacity and/or throughput
- one or more of the network management engines, 107 , 117 and/or the optional network management engine 108 e may be operable to establish additional streams over, for example, a 60 GHz carrier frequency, in parallel, utilizing additional available transceiver resources.
- one or more of the network management engines may be operable to reassign at least a portion of the resources used for 2 GHz carrier frequency to the 60 GHz carrier frequency and provide the requested capacity over at least a portion of the 60 GHz carrier frequencies.
- one or more of the network management engines for example, the network management engines 107 , 117 and/or the optional network management engine 108 e may be operable to reassign all of the resources used for 2 GHz carrier frequency to the 60 GHz carrier frequency and provide the requested capacity over only the 60 GHz carrier frequencies.
- the network management engine 107 , the network management engine 117 and/or the optional network management engine 108 e may be operable to assign different traffic types and/or class of traffic for transporting over different carrier frequencies depending on the requirements of each traffic type and/or class. For example, critical but low throughput control traffic may be assigned to be transported over lower carrier frequencies, for example, LTE in the 2 GHz carrier frequency range, while high throughput video streaming traffic may be assigned to be transported concurrently over higher carrier frequencies such as one or more mmWave links in the 60 GHz carrier frequency range.
- critical but low throughput control traffic may be assigned to be transported over lower carrier frequencies, for example, LTE in the 2 GHz carrier frequency range
- high throughput video streaming traffic may be assigned to be transported concurrently over higher carrier frequencies such as one or more mmWave links in the 60 GHz carrier frequency range.
- the network management engine 107 , the network management engine 117 and/or the optional network management engine 108 e may be operable to assign corresponding traffic for transporting over different carrier frequencies.
- the network management engine 107 , the network management engine 117 and/or the optional network management engine 108 e may be operable to utilize the location and/or orientation of the mobile communication device 129 and/or the locations of one or more of the access points 102 , 112 to determine the carrier frequencies to activate and/or utilize to provide the requested link throughput.
- the network management engine 107 , the network management engine 117 and/or the optional network management engine 108 e may be operable to utilize past history of link quality per carrier frequency versus the corresponding location of a mobile communication device such as the mobile communication device 129 to determine the carrier frequencies to activate and/or utilize the requested link throughput.
- Locations with history of good 60 GHz propagation conditions may utilize one or more of 60 GHz carrier frequencies. Locations with poorer 60 GHz propagation properties may rely more on lower carrier frequencies such as LTE at 2 GHz carrier frequency.
- additional sensors may be used to sense and/or acquire other data from the environment and that other data may be utilized to establish the link from better initial settings for the plurality of distributed transceivers 104 a , . . . , 104 n , and 114 a , . . . , 114 n .
- the sensed and/or acquired data may comprise, for example, time, date, temperature, atmospheric conditions, and so on.
- the history and location information may be stored in the memory 108 b of the coordinating entity 108 .
- combination of coarse and fine positioning methods may be utilized.
- a coarse method e.g., based on WiFi signal
- a finer method e.g., based on mmWave signal
- the network management engine 107 may utilize a pricing scheme for allocation of carrier frequencies. While certain carrier frequencies can be allocated and/or utilized for users requesting free service, other carrier frequencies, for example, carrier frequencies with better quality, throughput, latency and/or capacity characteristics, may be allocated for premium users or users that are paying a fee.
- the activation of higher quality services for example, through certain carrier frequencies may be done by users on a per-demand basis. In such cases, the user may activate an application running on a communication device such as one of the communication devices 30 a , 30 b , 30 c , . . . , 30 n , 42 a , 42 b , 42 c , . . . , 42 n to enable a higher quality service.
- the higher quality service may require a higher payment by the user.
- FIG. 4 is a block diagram of an exemplary beamforming implementation of a distributed transceiver device comprising corresponding receive portions of two transceivers, each of which receives the same data stream, in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the invention.
- a distributed transceiver device 400 comprising receiver portions 402 , 422 of distributed transceivers Tx/Rx 1, TX/Rx 2.
- the receive paths 404 a -to- 412 and 404 b -to- 412 transport the same data stream, while multi-antenna transceivers 402 and 422 transport different data streams.
- the receiver portion 402 of the transceiver Tx/Rx 1 may comprise antennas 404 a , 404 b , low noise amplifiers (LNAs) 406 a , 406 b , phase shifters 408 a , 408 b , a radio frequency (RF) combiner 410 and a RF to intermediate frequency (IF) conversion module 412 .
- the path comprising the antenna 404 a , the low noise amplifier 406 a , the phase shifter 408 a , the radio frequency (RF) combiner 410 and the RF to intermediate frequency (IF) conversion module 412 may comprise a first receive processing path or chain within the receiver portion 402 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 1.
- the path comprising the antenna 404 b , the low noise amplifier 406 b , the phase shifter 408 b , the radio frequency (RF) combiner 410 and the RF to intermediate frequency (IF) conversion module 412 may comprise a second receive processing path or chain within the receiver portion 402 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 1.
- RF radio frequency
- IF intermediate frequency
- FIG. 4 Although two antennas 404 a , 404 b , two low noise amplifiers (LNAs) 406 a , 406 b , and two phase shifters 408 a , 408 b are illustrated in FIG. 4 , the invention is not necessarily limited in this regard. Accordingly, the number of antennas, low noise amplifiers, phase shifters, RF combiners and/or RF-to-IF conversion modules may vary depending on, for example, implementation and/or other factors, without departing from the spirit and/or scope of the invention.
- LNAs low noise amplifiers
- the receiver portion 422 of the transceiver Tx/Rx 2 may comprise antennas 424 a , 424 b , low noise amplifiers (LNAs) 426 a , 426 b , phase shifters 428 a , 428 b , a radio frequency (RF) combiner 430 and a RF to intermediate frequency (IF) conversion module 432 .
- the path comprising the antenna 424 a , the low noise amplifier 426 a , the phase shifter 428 a , the radio frequency (RF) combiner 430 and the RF to intermediate frequency (IF) conversion module 432 may comprise a first receive processing path or chain within the receiver portion 422 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 2.
- the path comprising the antenna 424 b , the low noise amplifier 426 b , the phase shifter 428 b , the radio frequency (RF) combiner 430 and the RF to intermediate frequency (IF) conversion module 432 may comprise a second receive processing path or chain within the receiver portion 422 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 2.
- RF radio frequency
- IF intermediate frequency
- FIG. 4 Although two antennas 424 a , 424 b , two low noise amplifiers (LNAs) 426 a , 426 b , and two phase shifters 428 a , 428 b are illustrated in FIG. 4 , the invention is not necessarily limited in this regard. Accordingly, the number of antennas, low noise amplifiers, phase shifters, RF combiners and/or RF-to-IF conversion modules may vary depending on, for example, implementation and/or other factors, without departing from the spirit and/or scope of the invention.
- LNAs low noise amplifiers
- Each of the antennas 404 a , 404 b within the receiver portion 402 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 1 may comprise suitable logic, circuitry, interfaces and/or code that may be operable to receive and/or transmit wireless signals.
- each of the antennas 404 a , 404 b may comprise, for example, one or more antenna arrays or directional antennas (e.g., horn-shape antennas) that may be operable to receive and/or transmit the wireless signals.
- the one or more antenna arrays may comprise one or more antenna array elements that may be configured and/or adjusted to transmit and/or receive the wireless signals.
- one or more of the antenna arrays and/or antenna array elements may be dynamically and/or adaptively adjusted to provide beamforming of the signals, to adjust directionality and/or various characteristics of the signals.
- each of the antennas 404 a , 404 b may be operable to receive a data stream, namely, data 1 from a first direction.
- Each of the low noise amplifiers (LNAs) 406 a , 406 b within the receiver portion 402 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 1 may comprise suitable logic, circuitry, interfaces and/or code that may be operable to provide low noise amplification of the signals that are received by the antennas 404 a , 404 b , respectively.
- Each of the phase shifters 408 a , 408 b within the receiver portion 402 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 1 may comprise suitable logic, circuitry, interfaces and/or code that may be operable to adjust the phase of the signals that are output by the low noise amplifiers (LNAs) 406 a , 406 b , respectively.
- LNAs low noise amplifiers
- the radio frequency (RF) combiner 410 within the receiver portion 402 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 1 may comprise suitable logic, circuitry, interfaces and/or code that may be operable to combine the resulting phase shifted signals that may be received from the phase shifters 408 a , 408 b , respectively.
- the RF to intermediate frequency (IF) conversion module 412 within the receiver portion 402 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 1 may comprise suitable logic, circuitry, interfaces and/or code that may be operable to convert the output combined RF signals, which are generated by the RF combiner 410 .
- the RF-to-IF conversion module 412 may comprise, for example, one or more mixers, synthesizers and/or local oscillator generators, which may be operable to mix and/or otherwise convert the combined RF signals, which are generated by the RF combiner 410 , to corresponding IF signals.
- the corresponding IF signals may comprise an intermediate frequency representation of the data stream, namely, data 2.
- Each of the antennas 424 a , 424 b within the receiver portion 422 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 2 may comprise suitable logic, circuitry, interfaces and/or code that may be operable to receive and/or transmit wireless signals.
- each of the antennas 424 a , 424 b may comprise, for example, one or more antenna arrays that may be operable to receive and/or transmit the wireless signals.
- the one or more antenna arrays may comprise one or more antenna array elements that may be configured and/or adjusted to transmit and/or receive the wireless signals.
- one or more of the antenna arrays and/or antenna array elements may be dynamically and/or adaptively adjusted to provide beamforming of the signals, to adjust directionality and/or various characteristics of the signals.
- each of the antennas 424 a , 424 b may be operable to receive a data stream, namely, data 2 from a second direction, which may be different from the first direction.
- Each of the low noise amplifiers (LNAs) 426 a , 426 b within the receiver portion 422 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 2 may comprise suitable logic, circuitry, interfaces and/or code that may be operable to provide low noise amplification of the signals that are received by the antennas 424 a , 424 b , respectively.
- Each of the phase shifters 428 a , 428 b within the receiver portion 422 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 2 may comprise suitable logic, circuitry, interfaces and/or code that may be operable to adjust the phase of the signals that are output by the low noise amplifiers (LNAs) 426 a , 426 b , respectively.
- LNAs low noise amplifiers
- the radio frequency (RF) combiner 430 within the receiver portion 422 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 2 may comprise suitable logic, circuitry, interfaces and/or code that may be operable to combine the resulting phase shifted signals that may be received from the phase shifters 428 a , 428 b , respectively.
- the RF to intermediate frequency (IF) conversion module 432 within the receiver portion 422 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 2 may comprise suitable logic, circuitry, interfaces and/or code that may be operable to convert the output combined RF signals, which are generated by the RF combiner 430 .
- the RF-to-IF conversion module 432 may comprise, for example, one or more mixers, synthesizers and/or local oscillator generators, which may be operable to mix and/or otherwise convert the combined RF signals, which are generated by the RF combiner 430 , to corresponding IF signals.
- the corresponding IF signals may comprise an intermediate frequency representation of the data stream, namely, data 2.
- a plurality of phase shifters may be utilized by each of the receiver portion 402 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 1 and the receiver portion 422 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 2.
- the plurality of phase shifters may be operable to improve receiver beamforming gain for the plurality of antennas in the distributed transceivers.
- phase shifters 408 a , 408 b in the receiver portion 402 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 1 and the phase shifters 428 a , 428 b in the receiver portion 422 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 2 are operable to improve the beamforming gain for the plurality of antennas 404 a , 404 b and the plurality of antennas 424 a , 424 b in the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 1 and the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 2, respectively.
- the phase shifters 408 a , 408 b , in the receiver portion 402 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 1 may be dynamically and/or adaptively configured or adjusted to maximize beamforming gain on the data stream, namely, data 1 (arriving from direction 1 ).
- the phase shifters 428 a , 428 b , in the receiver portion 422 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 2 may be dynamically and/or adaptively configured or adjusted to maximize beamforming gain on the data stream, namely, data 2 (arriving from direction 2 ).
- directions 1 and 2 may be different.
- the receive beamforming gain for each of the receiver portion 402 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 1 and the receiver portion 422 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 2 may be equivalent to the beamforming gain for the combined antennas.
- FIG. 5A is a block diagram of an exemplary beamforming implementation of a distributed transceiver device comprising corresponding receive portions of two transceivers, which each receives two separate data streams, in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the invention.
- a distributed transceiver device 500 A comprising receiver portions 502 , 522 of distributed transceivers Tx/Rx 1, Tx/Rx 2.
- the receiver portion 502 of the transceiver Tx/Rx 1 may comprise antennas 504 a , 504 b , low noise amplifiers (LNAs) 506 a , 506 b , phase shifters 508 a , 508 b , 508 c , 508 d , a radio frequency (RF) combiner 510 and a RF to intermediate frequency (IF) conversion module 512 .
- LNAs low noise amplifiers
- RF radio frequency
- IF intermediate frequency
- the path comprising the antenna 504 a , the low noise amplifier 506 a , the phase shifter 508 a , the radio frequency (RF) combiner 510 and the RF to intermediate frequency (IF) conversion module 512 may comprise a first receive processing path or chain that is solely within the receiver portion 502 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 1.
- the path comprising the antenna 504 b , the low noise amplifier 506 b , the phase shifter 508 d , the radio frequency (RF) combiner 510 and the RF to intermediate frequency (IF) conversion module 512 may comprise a second receive processing path or chain that is solely within the receiver portion 502 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 1.
- the invention is not limited in this regard. Accordingly, the number of antennas, low noise amplifiers, phase shifters, RF combiners and/or RF-to-IF conversion modules may vary depending on, for example, implementation and/or other factors, without departing from the spirit and/or scope of the invention.
- the receiver portion 522 of the transceiver Tx/Rx 2 may comprise antennas 524 a , 524 b , low noise amplifiers (LNAs) 526 a , 526 b , phase shifters 528 a , 528 b , 528 c , 528 d , a radio frequency (RF) combiner 530 and a RF to intermediate frequency (IF) conversion module 532 .
- LNAs low noise amplifiers
- RF radio frequency
- IF intermediate frequency
- the path comprising the antenna 524 a , the low noise amplifier 526 a , the phase shifter 428 c , the radio frequency (RF) combiner 530 and the RF to intermediate frequency (IF) conversion module 532 may comprise a first receive processing path or chain that is solely within the receiver portion 522 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 2.
- the path comprising the antenna 524 b , the low noise amplifier 526 b , the phase shifter 528 b , the radio frequency (RF) combiner 530 and the RF to intermediate frequency (IF) conversion module 532 may comprise a second receive processing path or chain that is solely within the receiver portion 522 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 2.
- the invention is not necessarily limited in this regard. Accordingly, the number of antennas, low noise amplifiers, phase shifters, RF combiners and/or RF-to-IF conversion modules may vary depending on, for example, implementation and/or other factors, without departing from the spirit and/or scope of the invention.
- Each of the antennas 504 a , 504 b within the receiver portion 502 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 1 may comprise suitable logic, circuitry, interfaces and/or code that may be operable to receive and/or transmit wireless signals.
- each of the antennas 504 a , 504 b may comprise, for example, one or more antenna arrays that may be operable to receive and/or transmit the wireless signals.
- the one or more antenna arrays may comprise one or more antenna array elements or directional antennas (horn-shaped antennas or a dish) that may be configured and/or adjusted to transmit and/or receive the wireless signals.
- one or more of the antenna arrays and/or antenna array elements may be dynamically and/or adaptively adjusted to provide beamforming of the signals, to adjust directionality and/or various characteristics of the signals.
- the antenna 504 a may be operable to receive a data stream, namely, data 1 from a first direction and the antennas 504 b may be operable to receive a data stream, namely, data 2 from a second direction.
- the first direction and the second direction may be different.
- Each of the low noise amplifiers (LNAs) 506 a , 506 b within the receiver portion 502 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 1 may comprise suitable logic, circuitry, interfaces and/or code that may be operable to provide low noise amplification of the signals that are received by the antennas 504 a , 504 b , respectively.
- the phase shifters 508 a , 508 b , 508 c , 508 d within the receiver portion 502 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 1 may comprise suitable logic, circuitry, interfaces and/or code that may be operable to adjust the phase of the signals that are output by the low noise amplifiers 506 a , 506 b , respectively.
- the phase shifters 508 a , 508 c may be operable to adjust the phase of the signals that are output by the low noise amplifiers 506 a
- the phase shifters 508 b , 508 d may be operable to adjust the phase of the signals that are output by the low noise amplifier 506 b , respectively.
- the radio frequency (RF) combiner 510 within the receiver portion 502 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 1 may comprise suitable logic, circuitry, interfaces and/or code that may be operable to combine the resulting phase shifted signals that may be received from the phase shifters 508 a , 508 d in the receiver portion 502 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 1 and the resulting phase shifted signals that may be received from the phase shifters 528 a , 528 d in the receiver portion 522 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 2.
- the RF to intermediate frequency (IF) conversion module 512 within the receiver portion 502 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 1 may comprise suitable logic, circuitry, interfaces and/or code that may be operable to convert the output combined RF signals, which are generated by the RF combiner 510 .
- the RF-to-IF conversion module 512 may comprise, for example, one or more mixers, synthesizers and/or local oscillator generators, which may be operable to mix and/or otherwise convert the combined RF signals, which are generated by the RF combiner 510 , to corresponding IF signals.
- the corresponding IF signals may comprise an intermediate frequency representation of the data streams, namely, data 1 and data 2.
- Each of the antennas 524 a , 524 b within the receiver portion 522 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 2 may comprise suitable logic, circuitry, interfaces and/or code that may be operable to receive and/or transmit wireless signals.
- each of the antennas 524 a , 524 b may comprise, for example, one or more antenna arrays that may be operable to receive and/or transmit the wireless signals.
- the one or more antenna arrays may comprise one or more antenna array elements that may be configured and/or adjusted to transmit and/or receive the wireless signals.
- one or more of the antenna arrays and/or antenna array elements may be dynamically and/or adaptively adjusted to provide beamforming of the signals, to adjust directionality and/or various characteristics of the signals.
- the antenna 524 a may be operable to receive data stream, namely, data 1 from a third direction and the antennas 524 b may be operable to receive a data stream, namely, data 2 from a fourth direction.
- the third direction and the fourth direction may be different.
- Each of the low noise amplifiers (LNAs) 526 a , 526 b within the receiver portion 522 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 2 may comprise suitable logic, circuitry, interfaces and/or code that may be operable to provide low noise amplification of the signals that are received by the antennas 524 a , 524 b , respectively.
- the phase shifters 528 a , 528 b , 528 c , 528 d within the receiver portion 522 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 2 may comprise suitable logic, circuitry, interfaces and/or code that may be operable to adjust the phase of the signals that are output by the low noise amplifiers 526 a , 526 b , respectively.
- the phase shifters 528 a , 528 c may be operable to adjust the phase of the signals that are output by the low noise amplifiers 526 a
- the phase shifters 528 b , 528 d may be operable to adjust the phase of the signals that are output by the low noise amplifier 526 b , respectively.
- the radio frequency (RF) combiner 530 within the receiver portion 522 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 2 may comprise suitable logic, circuitry, interfaces and/or code that may be operable to combine the resulting phase shifted signals that may be received from the phase shifters 528 c , 528 b in the receiver portion 522 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 2 and the resulting phase shifted signals that may be received from the phase shifters 508 c , 508 b in the receiver portion 502 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 1.
- the RF to intermediate frequency (IF) conversion module 532 within the receiver portion 522 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 2 may comprise suitable logic, circuitry, interfaces and/or code that may be operable to convert the output combined RF signals, which are generated by the RF combiner 530 .
- the RF-to-IF conversion module 532 may comprise, for example, one or more mixers, synthesizers and/or local oscillator generators, which may be operable to mix and/or otherwise convert the combined RF signals, which are generated by the RF combiner 530 , to corresponding IF signals.
- the corresponding IF signals may comprise an intermediate frequency representation of the data streams, namely, data 1 and data 2.
- a plurality of phase shifters may be utilized by each of the receiver portion 502 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 1 and the receiver portion 522 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 2.
- the plurality of phase shifters may be operable to improve receiver beamforming gain for the plurality of antennas in the distributed transceivers.
- phase shifters 508 a , 508 d in the receiver portion 502 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 1 and the phase shifters 528 a , 528 d in the receiver portion 522 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 2 are operable to improve the beamforming gain for the plurality of antennas 504 a , 504 b in the receiver portion 502 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 1.
- phase shifters 528 c , 528 b in the receiver portion 522 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 2 and the phase shifters 508 b , 508 c in the receiver portion 502 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 1 are operable to improve the beamforming gain for the plurality of antennas 524 a , 524 b in the receiver portion 522 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 2.
- This architecture enables the receiver portion 502 to effectively and coherently capture signals from 4 antennas 504 a , 504 b , 524 a , 524 b (equivalent to a 4-element array), even though entity 502 only possesses 2 antenna elements of its own.
- phase shifters 508 a , 508 d in the receiver portion 502 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 1 and the phase shifters 528 a , 528 d in the receiver portion 522 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 2 may be dynamically and/or adaptively configured or adjusted to maximize beamforming gain on the data streams, namely data 1, data 2.
- phase shifters 528 b , 528 c in the receiver portion 522 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 2 and the phase shifters 508 b , 508 c in the receiver portion 502 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 1 may be dynamically and/or adaptively configured or adjusted to maximize beamforming gain on the data streams, namely data 1, data 2.
- FIG. 5B is a block diagram of an exemplary beamforming implementation of a distributed transceiver module comprising corresponding receive portions of two transceivers, which each receives two separate data streams, in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the invention.
- a distributed transceiver device 500 B comprising an integrated distributed transceiver module 542 .
- the integrated distributed transceiver module 542 comprises receiver portions 502 , 522 of distributed transceivers Tx/Rx 1, Tx/Rx 2.
- the receiver portion 502 of the transceiver Tx/Rx 1 may comprise antennas 504 a , 504 b , low noise amplifiers (LNAs) 506 a , 506 b , phase shifters 508 a , 508 b , 508 c , 508 d , a radio frequency (RF) combiner 510 and a RF to intermediate frequency (IF) conversion module 512 .
- LNAs low noise amplifiers
- RF radio frequency
- IF intermediate frequency
- the receiver portion 522 of the transceiver Tx/Rx 2 may comprise antennas 524 a , 524 b , low noise amplifiers (LNAs) 526 a , 526 b , phase shifters 528 a , 528 b , 528 c , 528 d , a radio frequency (RF) combiner 530 and a RF to intermediate frequency (IF) conversion module 532 .
- LNAs low noise amplifiers
- RF radio frequency
- IF intermediate frequency
- the operation of the distributed transceiver device 500 B is substantially similar to the operation of the distributed transceiver device 500 A, which is shown and described with respect to FIG. 5A , for example.
- the receiver portion 502 of the transceiver Tx/Rx 1 and the receiver portion 522 of the transceiver Tx/Rx 2 may be integrated on the same integrated circuit, die, printed circuit board (PCB), substrate and/or package.
- the architecture for the integrated distributed transceiver module 542 may eliminate the need for RF routing between the modules and/or components within the integrated distributed transceiver module 542 . Additionally, the integrated distributed transceiver module 542 may also eliminate a need to combine signals in the IF domain. The architecture for the integrated distributed transceiver module 542 may also eliminate a need for multistage signal combining since the signals are combined once in the RF domain.
- FIG. 6 is a block diagram of an exemplary beamforming implementation of a distributed transceiver device comprising corresponding receive portions of two transceivers, which each receives two separate data streams, in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the invention.
- a distributed transceiver device 600 comprising receiver portions 602 , 622 of distributed transceivers Tx/Rx 1, TX/Rx 2.
- the receiver portion 602 of the transceiver Tx/Rx 1 may comprise antennas 604 a , 604 b , low noise amplifiers (LNAs) 606 a , 606 b , phase shifters 608 a , 608 b , 608 c , 608 d , radio frequency (RF) combiners 610 a , 610 b , RF to intermediate frequency (IF) conversion modules 612 a , 612 b and an IF combiner 614 .
- LNAs low noise amplifiers
- RF radio frequency
- the path comprising the antenna 604 a , the low noise amplifier 606 a , the phase shifter 608 a , the radio frequency (RF) combiner 610 a and the RF to intermediate frequency (IF) conversion module 612 a may comprise a first receive processing path or chain that is within the receiver portion 602 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 1.
- the path comprising the antenna 604 a , the low noise amplifier 606 a , the phase shifter 608 c , the radio frequency (RF) combiner 610 b and the RF to intermediate frequency (IF) conversion module 612 b may comprise a second receive processing path or chain that is within the receiver portion 602 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 1.
- the path comprising the antenna 604 b , the low noise amplifier 606 b , the phase shifter 608 d , the radio frequency (RF) combiner 610 a and the RF to intermediate frequency (IF) conversion module 612 a may comprise a third receive processing path or chain that is within the receiver portion 602 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 1.
- the path comprising the antenna 604 b , the low noise amplifier 606 b , the phase shifter 608 b , the radio frequency (RF) combiner 610 b and the RF to intermediate frequency (IF) conversion module 612 b may comprise a second receive processing path or chain that is within the receiver portion 602 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 1.
- the number of antennas, low noise amplifiers, phase shifters, RF combiners, RF-to-IF conversion modules and/or IF combiners may vary depending on, for example, implementation and/or other factors, without departing from the spirit and/or scope of the invention.
- the receiver portion 622 of the transceiver Tx/Rx 2 may comprise antennas 624 a , 624 b , low noise amplifiers (LNAs) 626 a , 626 b , phase shifters 628 a , 628 b , 628 c , 628 d , radio frequency (RF) combiners 630 a , 630 b , RF to intermediate frequency (IF) conversion modules 632 a , 632 b and an IF combiner 634 .
- LNAs low noise amplifiers
- RF radio frequency
- the path comprising the antenna 624 a , the low noise amplifier 626 a , the phase shifter 628 a , the radio frequency (RF) combiner 630 a and the RF to intermediate frequency (IF) conversion module 632 a may comprise a first receive processing path or chain that is within the receiver portion 622 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 2.
- the path comprising the antenna 624 a , the low noise amplifier 626 a , the phase shifter 628 c , the radio frequency (RF) combiner 630 b and the RF to intermediate frequency (IF) conversion module 632 b may comprise a second receive processing path or chain that is within the receiver portion 622 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 2.
- the path comprising the antenna 624 b , the low noise amplifier 626 b , the phase shifter 628 d , the radio frequency (RF) combiner 630 a and the RF to intermediate frequency (IF) conversion module 632 a may comprise a third receive processing path or chain that is within the receiver portion 622 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 2.
- the path comprising the antenna 624 b , the low noise amplifier 626 b , the phase shifter 628 b , the radio frequency (RF) combiner 630 b and the RF to intermediate frequency (IF) conversion module 632 b may comprise a fourth receive processing path or chain that is within the receiver portion 622 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 1.
- the number of antennas, low noise amplifiers, phase shifters, RF combiners, RF-to-IF conversion modules and/or IF combiners may vary depending on, for example, implementation and/or other factors, without departing from the spirit and/or scope of the invention.
- the output from the RF-to-IF conversion module 612 a in the receiver portion 602 of the transceiver Tx/Rx 1 and the IF combiner 614 to the central processor 620 may comprise a first IF processing path or chain.
- the output from the RF-to-IF conversion module 632 a in the receiver portion 622 of the transceiver Tx/Rx 2 and the IF combiner 614 to the central processor 620 may comprise a second IF processing path or chain.
- the output from the RF-to-IF conversion module 612 b in the receiver portion 602 of the transceiver Tx/Rx 1 and the IF combiner 634 to the central processor 620 may comprise a third IF processing path or chain.
- the output from the RF-to-IF conversion module 632 b in the receiver portion 622 of the transceiver Tx/Rx 2 and the IF combiner 634 to the central processor 620 may comprise a fourth IF processing path or chain.
- Each of the antennas 604 a , 604 b within the receiver portion 602 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 1 may comprise suitable logic, circuitry, interfaces and/or code that may be operable to receive and/or transmit wireless signals.
- each of the antennas 604 a , 604 b may comprise, for example, one or more antenna arrays that may be operable to receive and/or transmit the wireless signals.
- the one or more antenna arrays may comprise one or more antenna array elements that may be configured and/or adjusted to transmit and/or receive the wireless signals.
- one or more of the antenna arrays and/or antenna array elements may be dynamically and/or adaptively adjusted to provide beamforming of the signals, to adjust directionality and/or various characteristics of the signals.
- the antenna 604 a may be operable to receive data stream, namely, data 1 from a first direction
- the antenna 604 b may be operable to receive a data stream, namely, data 2 from a second direction.
- the first direction and the second direction may be different.
- Each of the low noise amplifiers (LNAs) 606 a , 606 b within the receiver portion 602 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 1 may comprise suitable logic, circuitry, interfaces and/or code that may be operable to provide low noise amplification of the signals that are received by the antennas 604 a , 604 b , respectively.
- the phase shifters 608 a , 608 b , 608 c , 608 d within the receiver portion 602 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 1 may comprise suitable logic, circuitry, interfaces and/or code that may be operable to adjust the phase of the signals that are output by the low noise amplifiers 606 a , 606 b , respectively.
- the phase shifters 608 a , 608 c may be operable to adjust the phase of the signals that are output by the low noise amplifiers 606 a
- the phase shifters 608 b , 608 d may be operable to adjust the phase of the signals that are output by the low noise amplifier 606 b , respectively.
- the radio frequency (RF) combiners 610 a , 610 b within the receiver portion 602 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 1 may comprise suitable logic, circuitry, interfaces and/or code that may be operable to combine the resulting phase shifted signals that may be received from the phase shifters 608 a , 608 b , 608 c , 608 d in the receiver portion 602 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 1.
- the radio frequency (RF) combiner 610 a within the receiver portion 602 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 1 may be operable to combine the resulting phase shifted signals that may be received from the phase shifters 608 a , 608 c in the receiver portion 602 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 1.
- the radio frequency (RF) combiner 610 b within the receiver portion 602 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 1 may be operable to combine the resulting phase shifted signals that may be received from the phase shifters 608 b , 608 d in the receiver portion 602 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 1.
- the RF to intermediate frequency (IF) conversion modules 612 a , 612 b within the receiver portion 602 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 1 may comprise suitable logic, circuitry, interfaces and/or code that may be operable to convert the output combined RF signals, which are generated by the RF combiners 610 a , 610 b .
- the RF to intermediate frequency conversion module 612 a within the receiver portion 602 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 1 may be operable to convert the output combined RF signals, which are generated by the RF combiner 610 a .
- the RF to intermediate frequency conversion module 612 b within the receiver portion 602 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 1 may be operable to convert the output combined RF signals, which are generated by the RF combiner 610 b .
- the output from the RF to intermediate frequency conversion module 612 a within the receiver portion 602 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 1 may be communicated to the IF combiner 614 .
- the output from the RF to intermediate frequency conversion module 612 b within the receiver portion 602 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 1 may be communicated to the IF combiner 634 .
- Each of the RF-to-IF conversion modules 612 a , 612 b may comprise, for example, one or more mixers, synthesizers and/or local oscillator generators, which may be operable to mix and/or otherwise convert the combined RF signals, which are generated by the RF combiners 610 a , 610 b to corresponding IF signals.
- the corresponding IF signals may comprise an intermediate frequency representation of the data streams, namely, data 1 and data 2.
- the IF combiner 614 may comprise suitable logic, circuitry, interfaces and/or code that may be operable to combine the output IF signals from one or more of the RF-to-IF conversion modules 612 a , 612 b in the receiver portion 602 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 1 and the output IF signals from one or more of the RF-to-IF conversion modules 632 a , 632 b in receiver portion 622 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 2.
- the IF combiner 614 may be operable to combine the output IF signals from the RF-to-IF conversion module 612 a in the receiver portion 602 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 1 and the output IF signals from the RF-to-IF conversion modules 632 a in receiver portion 622 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 2.
- Each of the antennas 624 a , 624 b within the receiver portion 622 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 2 may comprise suitable logic, circuitry, interfaces and/or code that may be operable to receive and/or transmit wireless signals.
- each of the antennas 624 a , 624 b may comprise, for example, one or more antenna arrays that may be operable to receive and/or transmit the wireless signals.
- the one or more antenna arrays may comprise one or more antenna array elements that may be configured and/or adjusted to transmit and/or receive the wireless signals.
- one or more of the antenna arrays and/or antenna array elements may be dynamically and/or adaptively adjusted to provide beamforming of the signals, to adjust directionality and/or various characteristics of the signals.
- the antenna 624 a may be operable to receive data stream, namely, data 1 from a first direction
- the antenna 624 b may be operable to receive a data stream, namely, data 2 from a second direction.
- the first direction and the second direction may be different.
- Each of the low noise amplifiers (LNAs) 626 a , 626 b within the receiver portion 622 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 2 may comprise suitable logic, circuitry, interfaces and/or code that may be operable to provide low noise amplification of the signals that are received by the antennas 624 a , 624 b , respectively.
- the phase shifters 628 a , 628 b , 628 c , 628 d within the receiver portion 622 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 2 may comprise suitable logic, circuitry, interfaces and/or code that may be operable to adjust the phase of the signals that are output by the low noise amplifiers 626 a , 626 b , respectively.
- the phase shifters 628 a , 628 c may be operable to adjust the phase of the signals that are output by the low noise amplifiers 626 a
- the phase shifters 628 b , 628 d may be operable to adjust the phase of the signals that are output by the low noise amplifier 626 b , respectively.
- the radio frequency (RF) combiners 630 a , 630 b within the receiver portion 622 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 2 may comprise suitable logic, circuitry, interfaces and/or code that may be operable to combine the resulting phase shifted signals that may be received from the phase shifters 628 a , 628 b , 628 c , 628 d in the receiver portion 622 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 2.
- the radio frequency (RF) combiner 630 a within the receiver portion 622 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 2 may be operable to combine the resulting phase shifted signals that may be received from the phase shifters 628 a , 628 c in the receiver portion 622 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 2.
- the radio frequency (RF) combiner 630 b within the receiver portion 622 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 2 may be operable to combine the resulting phase shifted signals that may be received from the phase shifters 628 b , 628 d in the receiver portion 622 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 2.
- the RF to intermediate frequency (IF) conversion modules 632 a , 632 b within the receiver portion 622 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 2 may comprise suitable logic, circuitry, interfaces and/or code that may be operable to convert the output combined RF signals, which are generated by the RF combiners 630 a , 630 b .
- the RF to intermediate frequency conversion module 632 a within the receiver portion 622 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 2 may be operable to convert the output combined RF signals, which are generated by the RF combiner 610 a .
- the RF to intermediate frequency conversion module 632 b within the receiver portion 622 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 2 may be operable to convert the output combined RF signals, which are generated by the RF combiner 610 b .
- the output from the RF to intermediate frequency conversion module 632 a within the receiver portion 622 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 2 may be communicated to the IF combiner 614 .
- the output from the RF to intermediate frequency conversion module 632 b within the receiver portion 622 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 2 may be communicated to the IF combiner 634 .
- Each of the RF-to-IF conversion modules 632 a , 632 b may comprise, for example, one or more mixers, synthesizers and/or local oscillator generators, which may be operable to mix and/or otherwise convert the combined RF signals, which are generated by the RF combiner 610 , to corresponding IF signals.
- the corresponding IF signals may comprise an intermediate frequency representation of the data streams, namely, data 1 and data 2.
- the IF combiner 634 may comprise suitable logic, circuitry, interfaces and/or code that may be operable to combine the output IF signals from one or more of the RF-to-IF conversion modules 612 a , 612 b in the receiver portion 602 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 1 and the output IF signals from one or more of the RF-to-IF conversion modules 632 a , 632 b in receiver portion 622 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 2.
- the IF combiner 634 may be operable to combine the output IF signals from the RF-to-IF conversion module 612 b in the receiver portion 602 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 1 and the output IF signals from the RF-to-IF conversion modules 632 b in receiver portion 622 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 2.
- a plurality of phase shifters may be utilized by each of the receiver portion 602 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 1 and the receiver portion 622 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 2.
- the plurality of phase shifters may be operable to improve receiver beamforming gain for the plurality of antennas in the distributed transceivers.
- the phase shifters 608 a , 608 b , 608 c , 608 d in the receiver portion 602 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 1 are operable to improve the beamforming gain for the plurality of antennas 604 a , 604 b in the receiver portion 602 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 1.
- the phase shifters 628 a , 628 b , 628 c , 628 b in the receiver portion 622 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 2 are operable to improve the beamforming gain for the plurality of antennas 624 a , 624 b in the receiver portion 622 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 2.
- phase shifters 608 a , 608 b , 608 c , 608 d in the receiver portion 602 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 1 may be dynamically and/or adaptively configured or adjusted to maximize beamforming gain on the data streams, namely data 1, data 2.
- the phase shifters 628 a , 628 b , 628 c , 628 d in the receiver portion 622 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 2 may be dynamically and/or adaptively configured or adjusted to maximize beamforming gain on the data streams, namely data 1, data 2.
- phase shifters 608 a , 608 d in the receiver portion 602 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 1 may be dynamically and/or adaptively configured or adjusted to maximize beamforming gain at the direction of data 1
- the phase shifters 608 b , 608 c in the receiver portion 602 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 1 may be dynamically and/or adaptively configured or adjusted to maximize beamforming gain at the direction of data 2.
- phase shifters 628 a , 628 d in the receiver portion 622 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 2 may be dynamically and/or adaptively configured or adjusted to maximize beamforming gain at the direction of data 2
- the phase shifters 628 b , 628 c in the receiver portion 622 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 2 may be dynamically and/or adaptively configured or adjusted to maximize beamforming gain at the direction of data 2.
- the phase shifters 608 a , 608 d in the receiver portion 602 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 1 and the phase shifters 628 a , 628 d in the receiver portion 622 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 2 may be dynamically and/or adaptively configured or adjusted so that the corresponding output IF signals at the input of the IF combiner 614 are co-phased and with maximum combined array gain in the direction of stream Data 1.
- the IF combiner 614 is operable to coherently combine the co-phased signals.
- the resulting IF signal which may be output from the IF combiner 614 may be communicated to the central processor 620 for processing.
- the phase shifters 608 b , 608 c in the receiver portion 602 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 1 and the phase shifters 628 b , 628 c in the receiver portion 622 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 2 may be dynamically and/or adaptively configured or adjusted so that the corresponding output IF signals at the input of the IF combiner 634 are co-phased with maximum combined array gain in the direction of stream Data 2.
- the IF combiner 634 is operable to coherently combine the co-phased signals.
- the resulting IF signal which may be output from the IF combiner 634 may be communicated to the central processor 620 for processing.
- the IF combiner 614 may be integrated within the receiver portion 602 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 1 or external to the receiver portion 602 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 1.
- the IF combiner 634 may be integrated within the receiver portion 622 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 1 or external to the receiver portion 622 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 1.
- the IF combiner 614 may be integrated within the central processor 620 or external to the central processor 620 .
- the IF combiner 634 may be integrated within the central processor 620 or external to the central processor 620 .
- the IF combiner 614 and the IF combiner 634 may be integrated in a single IF combiner module. All embodiments and configurations described for FIG. 6 are applicable for the special case where the data streams Data 1 and Data 2 are identical and represent the same stream but are arriving from different directions (e.g., spatial diversity mode of operation). Furthermore, these embodiments and configurations are applicable where a single stream is received from a single direction only. In such case, the circuitry operating on data stream Data 2 may be switched off for power saving.
- FIG. 7 is a block diagram of an exemplary transmitter path of a distributed transceiver device, which is operable to switch between a distributed multi-stream mode of operation and a non-distributed single beam or stream mode of operation, in accordance with an embodiment of the invention.
- a distributed transceiver device 700 comprising transmitter portions 702 , 722 of distributed transceivers Tx/Rx 1, Tx/Rx 2.
- the transmitter portion 702 of the transceiver Tx/Rx 1 may comprise antennas 704 a , 704 b , power amplifiers 706 a , 706 b , phase shifters 708 a , 708 b , multiplexer 710 and an IF-to-RF conversion module 712 .
- the path comprising the antenna 704 a , the power amplifier 706 a , the phase shifter 708 a , the MUX 710 and the IF-to-RF conversion module 712 may comprise a first receive processing path or chain within the transmitter portion 702 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 1.
- the path comprising the antenna 704 b , the power amplifier 706 b , the phase shifter 708 b , the multiplexer 710 and the IF-to-RF conversion module 712 may comprise a second receive processing path or chain within the transmitter portion 702 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 1.
- two antennas 704 a , 704 b , two power amplifiers 706 a , 706 b , and the phase shifters 708 a , 708 b are illustrated in FIG. 7 , the invention is not necessarily limited in this regard.
- the number of antennas, power amplifiers, phase shifters, IF-to-RF conversion modules in the transmitter portion 702 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx1 may vary depending on, for example, implementation and/or other factors, without departing from the spirit and/or scope of the invention.
- the transmitter portion 722 of the transceiver Tx/Rx 2 may comprise antennas 724 a , 724 b , power amplifiers 726 a , 726 b , phase shifters 728 a , 728 b , multiplexer 730 and an IF-to-RF conversion module 732 .
- the path comprising the antenna 724 a , the power amplifier 726 a , the phase shifter 728 a , the MUX 730 and the IF-to-RF conversion module 732 may comprise a first receive processing path or chain within the transmitter portion 722 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 2.
- the path comprising the antenna 724 b , the power amplifier 726 b , the phase shifter 728 b , the multiplexer 730 and the IF-to-RF conversion module 732 may comprise a second receive processing path or chain within the transmitter portion 732 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 2.
- two antennas 724 a , 724 b , two power amplifiers 726 a , 726 b , and the phase shifters 728 a , 728 b are illustrated in FIG. 7 , the invention is not necessarily limited in this regard.
- the number of antennas, power amplifiers, phase shifters, IF-to-RF conversion modules in the transmitter portion 722 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 2 may vary depending on, for example, implementation and/or other factors, without departing from the spirit and/or scope of the invention.
- the IF-to-RF conversion module 712 within the transmitter portion 702 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 1 may comprise suitable logic, circuitry, interfaces and/or code that may be operable to convert the IF signals for the data stream, namely, data 1, to corresponding RF signals.
- the IF-to-RF conversion module 712 may comprise, for example, one or more mixers, synthesizers and/or local oscillator generators, which may be operable to mix and/or otherwise convert the combined IF signals, which are received from the central processor 740 , to corresponding RF signals.
- the corresponding RF signals may comprise a radio frequency representation of the data stream, namely, data 1.
- the RF representation of the data stream, namely, data 1 may be communicated to one of the input ports of the multiplexer 710 and one of the input ports of the multiplexer 730 .
- the multiplexer 710 within the transmitter portion 702 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 1 may comprise suitable logic, circuitry, interfaces and/or code that may be operable to select the resulting RF signals that may be received from the IF-to-RF conversion modules 712 , 732 .
- the multiplexer 710 within the transmitter portion 702 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 1 may be operable to select the resulting RF signals corresponding to data 1, which may be received from the IF-to-RF conversion modules 712 or the resulting RF signals corresponding to data 2, which may be received from the IF-to-RF conversion modules 732 depending on the mode of operation of the one or both of the transmitter portion 702 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 1 and/or the transmitter portion 722 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 2 in the distributed transceiver device 700 .
- the corresponding output multiplexed RF signals comprising data 1 or data 2 may be communicated to the phase shifters 708 a , 708 b .
- the multiplexer 710 within the transmitter portion 702 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 1 may be operable to support a spatial multiplexing mode of operation and a single beam single stream mode of operation.
- the multiplexer 710 may be configured to select between input A and input B based on a select signal, namely SEL 1.
- Each of the phase shifters 708 a , 708 b within the transmitter portion 702 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 1 may comprise suitable logic, circuitry, interfaces and/or code that may be operable to adjust the phase of the signals that are output by from the multiplexer 710 .
- Each of the phase shifters 708 a , 708 b may be operable to generate a corresponding phase adjusted signal, which may be communicated to the power amplifiers 706 a , 706 b , respectively.
- Each of the power amplifiers 706 a , 706 b within the transmitter portion 702 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 1 may comprise suitable logic, circuitry, interfaces and/or code that may be operable to provide power amplification of the signals that are received from the phase shifters 708 a , 708 b , respectively.
- Each of the antennas 704 a , 704 b within the transmitter portion 702 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 1 may comprise suitable logic, circuitry, interfaces and/or code that may be operable to receive and/or transmit wireless signals.
- each of the antennas 704 a , 704 b may comprise, for example, one or more antenna arrays that may be operable to receive and/or transmit the wireless signals.
- the one or more antenna arrays may comprise one or more antenna array elements that may be configured and/or adjusted to transmit and/or receive the wireless signals.
- one or more of the antenna arrays and/or antenna array elements may be dynamically and/or adaptively adjusted to provide beamforming of the transmit signals, to adjust directionality and/or various characteristics of the transmitted signals.
- each of the antennas 704 a , 704 b may be operable to transmit an amplified version of the RF signals comprising data 1 and data 2 in the direction D1.
- the IF-to-RF conversion module 732 within the transmitter portion 722 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 2 may comprise suitable logic, circuitry, interfaces and/or code that may be operable to convert the IF signals for the data stream, namely, data 2, to corresponding RF signals.
- the IF-to-RF conversion module 732 may comprise, for example, one or more mixers, synthesizers and/or local oscillator generators, which may be operable to mix and/or otherwise convert the combined IF signals, which are received from the central processor 740 , to corresponding RF signals.
- the corresponding RF signals may comprise a radio frequency representation of the data stream, namely, Data 2.
- the RF representation of the data stream, namely, Data 2 may be communicated to one of the input ports of the multiplexer 710 and one of the input ports of the multiplexer 730 .
- the multiplexer 730 within the transmitter portion 722 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 2 may comprise suitable logic, circuitry, interfaces and/or code that may be operable to multiplex the resulting RF signals that may be received from the IF-to-RF conversion modules 712 , 732 .
- the multiplexer 730 within the transmitter portion 722 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 2 may be operable to multiplex the resulting RF signals corresponding to data 1, which may be received from the IF-to-RF conversion modules 712 , or the resulting RF signals corresponding to data 2, which may be received from the IF-to-RF conversion modules 732 depending on the mode of operation of the one or both of the transmitter portion 702 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 1 and/or the transmitter portion 722 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 2 in the distributed transceiver device 700 .
- the corresponding output multiplexed RF signals comprising data 1 and data 2 may be communicated to the phase shifters 728 a , 728 b .
- the multiplexer 730 within the transmitter portion 722 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 2 may be operable to support a spatial multiplexing mode of operation and a single beam single stream mode of operation.
- the multiplexer 730 may be configured to select between input A and input B based on a select signal, namely SEL 2.
- Each of the phase shifters 728 a , 728 b within the transmitter portion 722 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 2 may comprise suitable logic, circuitry, interfaces and/or code that may be operable to adjust the phase of the signals that are output by from the multiplexer 730 .
- Each of the phase shifters 728 a , 728 b may be operable to generate a corresponding phase adjusted signal, which may be communicated to the power amplifiers 726 a , 726 b , respectively.
- Each of the power amplifiers 726 a , 726 b within the transmitter portion 702 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 2 may comprise suitable logic, circuitry, interfaces and/or code that may be operable to provide power amplification of the signals that are received from the phase shifters 728 a , 728 b , respectively.
- Each of the antennas 724 a , 724 b within the transmitter portion 722 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 2 may comprise suitable logic, circuitry, interfaces and/or code that may be operable to receive and/or transmit wireless signals.
- each of the antennas 724 a , 724 b may comprise, for example, one or more antenna arrays that may be operable to receive and/or transmit the wireless signals.
- the one or more antenna arrays may comprise one or more antenna array elements that may be configured and/or adjusted to transmit and/or receive the wireless signals.
- one or more of the antenna arrays and/or antenna array elements may be dynamically and/or adaptively adjusted to provide beamforming of the transmit signals, to adjust directionality and/or various characteristics of the transmitted signals.
- each of the antennas 724 a , 724 b may be operable to transmit an amplified version of the RF signals comprising data 1 and data 2 in the direction D2.
- the central processor 740 , a coordinating entity and/or a network management engine may be operable to determine an operating mode of one or both of the transmitter portion 702 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 1 and/or the transmitter portion 722 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 2.
- the central processor 740 , the coordinating entity and/or the network management engine in the distributed transceiver device 700 may also be operable to determine whether an operating mode of one or both of the transmitter portion 702 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 1 and/or the transmitter portion 722 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 2 should be switched to a distributed mode of operation, for example, spatial multiplexing with multiple data streams, and a non-distributed single-stream mode of operation.
- the network management engine may be located within the distributed transceiver device 700 and/or may be located external to the distributed transceiver device 700 . In some embodiments of the invention, the network management engine may be located within a coordinating entity. The switching may occur dynamically based on environmental and/or system conditions.
- the network management engine and/or the coordinating entity may determine whether to switch the operating mode based on, for example, SNR of the communication link, QoS, CoS, availability of processing resources and/or other resources such as bandwidth.
- SNR the Shannon channel capacity of the distributed multi-stream mode may be optimal at SNR values above a particular threshold while for the single-stream operating mode, the Shannon channel capacity becomes optimal at lower SNR values.
- an SNR threshold which may be based on a capacity and/or throughput analysis, may be defined for the switching.
- the central processor 740 , the coordinating entity and/or the network management engine may be operable to configure one or both of the transmitter portion 702 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 1 and/or the transmitter portion 722 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 2 to operate in a spatial data multiplexing mode, which utilizes multiple data streams (i.e., SEL1 selecting input A, SEL2 selecting input B, and two data streams Data 1 and Data 2 are supplied by the central processor 740 ).
- multiple data streams i.e., SEL1 selecting input A, SEL2 selecting input B, and two data streams Data 1 and Data 2 are supplied by the central processor 740 ).
- the central processor 740 , the coordinating entity and/or the network management engine may be operable to configure one or both of the transmitter portion 702 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 1 and/or the transmitter portion 722 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 2 to operate as a single large transceiver with a larger effective number of antennas (i.e., SEL1 selecting input A, SEL2 selecting input A, and a single data stream through Data 1 is supplied by the central processor 740 ).
- the transmitter portion 702 of the transceiver Tx/Rx 1 and the transmitter portion 722 of the transceiver Tx/Rx 2 may be integrated on the same integrated circuit, die, substrate and/or package. In some embodiments of the invention, the transmitter portion 702 of the transceiver Tx/Rx 1 and the transmitter portion 722 of the transceiver Tx/Rx 2 may be integrated on separate integrated circuits, dies, substrates and/or packages.
- the multiplexers 710 , 730 may be operable to select one of its inputs A, B to connect to an output of the corresponding multiplexers 710 , 730 .
- the RF representation of data 1 may be communicated from the IF-to-RF conversion module 712 to the phase shifters 708 a , 708 b .
- the RF representation of data 2 may be communicated from the IF-to-RF conversion module 712 to the phase shifters 708 a , 708 b .
- the RF representation of data 1 may be communicated from the IF-to-RF conversion module 732 to the phase shifters 728 a , 728 b . If the B input of the multiplexer 730 is selected, then the RF representation of data 2 may be communicated from the IF-to-RF conversion module 712 to the phase shifters 728 a , 728 b.
- the two data streams are supplied by the central processor 740 to an input of the multiplexers 710 , 730 via the IF to RF conversion modules 712 , 732 , respectively.
- the A input of the multiplexer 710 is selected and the RF representation of data 1 may be communicated from the IF-to-RF conversion module 712 to the phase shifters 708 a , 708 b , which are configured for direction D1.
- the B input of the multiplexer 730 is selected and the RF representation of data 3 may be communicated from the IF-to-RF conversion module 732 to the phase shifters 728 a , 728 b , which are configured for direction D2.
- one data stream for example, only d 1 or data, 2 may be supplied by the central processor 740 to the processing path.
- the IF-to-RF converter module on the other path may be disabled.
- the A input of the multiplexer 710 is selected and the RF representation of data 1 may be communicated from the IF-to-RF conversion module 712 to the phase shifters 708 a , 708 b and the A input of the multiplexer 730 is selected and the RF representation of data 1 may be communicated from the IF-to-RF conversion module 712 to the phase shifters 728 a , 728 b .
- the path for data 2, which comprises the IF-to-RF conversion module 732 may be disabled to save power.
- the B input of the multiplexer 710 is selected and the RF representation of data 2 may be communicated from the IF-to-RF conversion module 732 to the phase shifters 708 a , 708 b and the B input of the multiplexer 730 is selected and the RF representation of data 2 may be communicated from the IF-to-RF conversion module 732 to the phase shifters 728 a , 728 b .
- the path for data 1, which comprises the IF-to-RF conversion module 712 may be disabled to save power.
- the central processor 740 may be operable to load higher rate modulation into streams data 1 such as a higher QAM constellation.
- the multiplexer 710 may be programmed to select input A and the multiplexer 730 may be programmed to select input A. This may result in sending the same data streams for Data 1 over all antennas 704 a , 704 b , 724 a , 724 b .
- the phase shifters 708 a , 708 b , 728 a , 728 b may be configured for the same direction, namely, D1. This may result in maximal antenna pattern gain in one direction by co-phasing the antennas 704 a , 704 b , 724 a , 724 b.
- a calibration process may be employed in order to utilize the antennas 704 a , 704 b , 724 a , 724 b to form a single beam for the single-beam single-stream mode of operation.
- the antennas 704 a , 704 b may be placed near to each other, for example, of the order of mmWave wavelength, and the antennas 724 a , 724 b may be placed near to each other. If the spacing between the antennas 704 a , 704 b and the antennas 724 a , 724 b is large compared to wavelength, a calibration method may be utilized to train the network management engine and/or coordinating entity to derive the proper configurations (e.g. phase rotation coefficients) for phase shifters 708 a , 708 b , 728 a , 728 b to form a single beam and/or maximize effective gain at a single direction.
- proper configurations e.g. phase rotation coefficients
- FIG. 8 is a block diagram illustrating exemplary steps for processing received signals by a plurality of distributed transceivers, in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the invention.
- a flowchart 800 comprising exemplary steps 802 through 812 .
- a first distributed transceiver may be configured to receive signals comprising a first data stream.
- a second distributed transceiver may be configured to receive signals comprising a second data stream.
- a phase of the first data stream and/or the second data stream may be adjusted by one or more phase shifters within a receive processing chain of the first distributed transceiver and/or one or more phase shifters within a receive processing chain of the second distributed transceiver.
- the phase adjusted signals in RF and/or in IF within a receive processing chain of the first distributed transceiver and/or a receive processing chain of the second distributed transceiver may be combined.
- the combined first data stream and/or the second data stream may be converted from radio frequency domain to intermediate frequency domain.
- the IF domain representation of the first data stream and/or the IF domain representation of the second data stream may be communicated to a central processor for processing.
- FIG. 9 is a block diagram illustrating exemplary steps for processing received signals by a plurality of distributed transceivers, in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the invention.
- a flowchart 900 comprising exemplary steps 902 through 912 .
- an operating mode for a first distributed transceiver and/or a second distributed transceiver for transmitting a first data stream and/or a second data stream may be determined.
- one or more selectors in the first distributed transceiver and/or a second distributed transceiver may be configured based on the determined mode of operation.
- one or more phase shifters and/or one or more power amplifiers in the first distributed transceiver and/or a second distributed transceiver may be configured based on the determined mode of operation.
- the first data stream and/or the second data stream may be converted from IF domain to RF domain.
- the converted RF domain representation of the first data stream or the RF domain representation of the second data stream for the first distributed transceiver and/or a second distributed transceiver may be coherently combined.
- the RF signals comprising the combined first data stream and/or the second data stream may be transmitted via one or more antennas coupled to the first distributed transceiver and/or the second distributed transceiver may be transmitted.
- a communication device 600 may comprise a plurality of distributed transceivers 602 , 622 and one or more corresponding antenna arrays 604 a , 604 b , 624 a , 624 b .
- a first distributed transceiver 602 of the plurality of distributed transceivers may be configured to receive signals comprising one or more first data streams such as data 1.
- a second distributed transceiver 622 plurality of distributed transceivers may be configured to receive signals comprising one or more second data streams such as data 2.
- One or more components within a receive processing chain of the first distributed transceiver 602 and/or one or more components within a receive processing chain of the second distributed transceiver 622 may be adjusted to maximize beamforming gain for the one or more first data streams such as data 1 and/or second data streams such as data 2.
- a phase of the one or more first data streams such as data 1 and/or the one or more second data streams such as data 2 may be adjusted by the one or more components within a receive processing chain of the first distributed transceiver 602 and/or the one or more components within a receive processing chain of the second distributed transceiver 622 .
- the one or more first data streams such as data 1 and/or the one or more second data streams such as data 2 may be combined in the RF domain.
- the combined one or more first data streams such as data 1 and/or the one or more second data streams such as data 2 may be converted from the RF domain to the intermediate frequency (IF) domain.
- the one or more first data streams such as data 1 and/or the one or more second data streams such as data 1 may be coherently combined in the IF domain.
- a second distributed transceiver 722 of plurality of distributed transceivers 702 , 722 may be configured to transmit signals comprising one or more second data streams such as data 2.
- One or more components within a transmit processing chain of the first distributed transceiver 702 and/or one or more components within a transmit processing chain of the second distributed transceiver 722 may be adjusted based on a determined mode of operation for the first distributed transceiver 702 and/or the second distributed transceiver 722 .
- the first distributed transceiver 702 and/or the second distributed transceiver 722 may be dynamically switched between a first of the mode of operation and a second of the mode of operation based on a signal to noise ratio (SNR) associated with the first distributed transceiver 702 and/or the second distributed transceiver 722 .
- One or more selectors such as the multiplexers 710 , 730 within the first distributed transceiver 702 and/or the second distributed transceiver 722 may be configured to transmit one or more first data streams such as data 1 and one or more second data streams such as data 2 from the first distributed transceiver 702 and/or the second distributed transceiver 722 in a spatial multiplexing mode based on the determined mode of operation.
- the one or more selectors such as the multiplexers 710 , 730 within the first distributed transceiver 702 and/or the second distributed transceiver 722 may be configured to transmit the one or more first data streams such as data 1 or the one or more second data streams such as data 2 from the first distributed transceiver 702 and/or the second distributed transceiver 722 in a spatial multiplexing single beam single stream operating mode.
- One or more phase adjustment parameters for one or more components within the first distributed transceiver 702 and/or the second distributed transceiver 722 may be configured based on the determined mode of operation for the first distributed transceiver 702 and/or the second distributed transceiver 722 .
- circuits and circuitry refer to physical electronic components (i.e. hardware) and any software and/or firmware (“code”) which may configure the hardware, be executed by the hardware, and or otherwise be associated with the hardware.
- code software and/or firmware
- a particular processor and memory may comprise a first “circuit” when executing a first one or more lines of code and may comprise a second “circuit” when executing a second one or more lines of code.
- and/or means any one or more of the items in the list joined by “and/or”.
- x and/or y means any element of the three-element set ⁇ (x), (y), (x, y) ⁇ .
- x, y, and/or z means any element of the seven-element set ⁇ (x), (y), (z), (x, y), (x, z), (y, z), (x, y, z) ⁇ .
- exemplary means serving as a non-limiting example, instance, or illustration.
- e.g. and “for example” set off lists of one or more non-limiting examples, instances, or illustrations.
- circuitry is “operable” to perform a function whenever the circuitry comprises the necessary hardware and code (if any is necessary) to perform the function, regardless of whether performance of the function is disabled, or not enabled, by some user-configurable setting.
- inventions may provide a computer readable device and/or a non-transitory computer readable medium, and/or a machine readable device and/or a non-transitory machine readable medium, having stored thereon, a machine code and/or a computer program having at least one code section executable by a machine and/or a computer, thereby causing the machine and/or computer to perform the steps as described herein for a distributed configurable transceiver architecture and implementation.
- the present invention may be realized in hardware, software, or a combination of hardware and software.
- the present invention may be realized in a centralized fashion in at least one computer system, or in a distributed fashion where different elements are spread across several interconnected computer systems. Any kind of computer system or other apparatus adapted for carrying out the methods described herein is suited.
- a typical combination of hardware and software may be a general-purpose computer system with a computer program that, when being loaded and executed, controls the computer system such that it carries out the methods described herein.
- the present invention may also be embedded in a computer program product, which comprises all the features enabling the implementation of the methods described herein, and which when loaded in a computer system is able to carry out these methods.
- Computer program in the present context means any expression, in any language, code or notation, of a set of instructions intended to cause a system having an information processing capability to perform a particular function either directly or after either or both of the following: a) conversion to another language, code or notation; b) reproduction in a different material form.
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Abstract
In communication device comprising a plurality of distributed transceivers and one or more corresponding antenna arrays, a first distributed transceiver is configured to receive signals comprising one or more first data streams and a second distributed transceiver is configured to receive signals comprising one or more second data streams. One or more components within a transmit processing chain of the first distributed transceiver and/or one or more components within a transmit processing chain of the second distributed transceiver are adjusted to maximize beamforming gain for the one or more first data streams and/or second data streams. A phase of the one or more first data streams and/or the one or more second data streams may be adjusted by the one or more components within a transmit processing chain of the first distributed transceiver and/or the one or more components within a transmit processing chain of the second distributed transceiver.
Description
- This application makes reference to, claims priority to and claims the benefit of:
- U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 61/725,005, which was filed on Nov. 11, 2012; and
U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 61/680,872, which was filed on Aug. 8, 2012. - This application also makes reference to:
- U.S. application Ser. No. 13/473,096, which was filed on May 16, 2012;
U.S. application Ser. No. 13/473,144, which was filed on May 16, 2012;
U.S. application Ser. No. 13/473,105, which was filed on May 16, 2012;
U.S. application Ser. No. 13/473,160, which was filed on May 16, 2012;
U.S. application Ser. No. 13/473,180, which was filed on May 16, 2012;
U.S. application Ser. No. 13/473,113, which was filed on May 16, 2012;
U.S. application Ser. No. 13/473,083, which was filed on May 16, 2012;
U.S. application Ser. No. ______ (Attorney Docket No. 26536U502), which was filed on ______;
U.S. application Ser. No. ______ (Attorney Docket No. 26666U502), which was filed on ______;
U.S. application Ser. No. ______ (Attorney Docket No. 26392U502), which was filed on ______; and
U.S. application Ser. No. ______ (Attorney Docket No. 26668U502), which was filed on ______. - Each of the above referenced application is hereby incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
- Certain embodiments of the invention relate to wireless communication systems. More specifically, certain embodiments of the invention relate to a method and system for a distributed configurable transceiver architecture and implementation.
- Millimeter Wave (mmWave) devices are being utilized for high throughput wireless communications at very high carrier frequencies. There are several standards bodies such as, for example, 60 GHz wireless standard, WirelessHD, WiGig, and WiFi IEEE 802.11ad that utilize high frequencies such as the 60 GHz frequency spectrum for high throughput wireless communications. In the US, the 60 GHz spectrum band may be used for unlicensed short range data links such as data links within a range of 1.7 km, with data throughputs up to 6 Gbits/s. These higher frequencies may provide smaller wavelengths and enable the use of small high gain antennas. However, these higher frequencies may experience high propagation loss.
- Further limitations and disadvantages of conventional and traditional approaches will become apparent to one of skill in the art, through comparison of such systems with some aspects of the present invention as set forth in the remainder of the present application with reference to the drawing
- A system and/or method is provided for a distributed configurable transceiver architecture and implementation, substantially as shown in and/or described in connection with at least one of the figures, as set forth more completely in the claims.
- These and other advantages, aspects and novel features of the present invention, as well as details of an illustrated embodiment thereof, will be more fully understood from the following description and drawings.
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FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an exemplary system for providing connectivity to a plurality of distributed transceivers via a plurality of distributed access points, in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the invention. -
FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating distributed transceivers utilized for wireless communication in access points and a mobile communication device, in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the invention. -
FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating distributed transceivers utilized for wireless communication in access points in which the access points utilize different link protocols and/or operating modes, in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the invention. -
FIG. 4 is a block diagram of an exemplary beamforming implementation of a distributed transceiver device comprising corresponding receive portions of two transceivers, each of which receives the same data stream, in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the invention. -
FIG. 5A is a block diagram of an exemplary beamforming implementation of a distributed transceiver device comprising corresponding receive portions of two transceivers, which each receives two separate data streams, in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the invention. -
FIG. 5B is a block diagram of an exemplary beamforming implementation of a distributed transceiver module comprising corresponding receive portions of two transceivers, which each receives two separate data streams, in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the invention. -
FIG. 6 is a block diagram of an exemplary beamforming implementation of a distributed transceiver device comprising corresponding receive portions of two transceivers, which each receives two separate data streams, in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the invention. -
FIG. 7 is a block diagram of an exemplary transmitter path of a distributed transceiver device, which is operable to switch between a distributed multi-stream mode of operation and a non-distributed single beam or stream mode of operation, in accordance with an embodiment of the invention. -
FIG. 8 is a block diagram illustrating exemplary steps for processing received signals by a plurality of distributed transceivers, in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the invention. -
FIG. 9 is a block diagram illustrating exemplary steps for processing received signals by a plurality of distributed transceivers, in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the invention. - Certain embodiments of the invention may be found in a method and system for a distributed configurable transceiver architecture and implementation. In various exemplary aspects of the invention, a communication device comprising a plurality of distributed transceivers and one or more corresponding antenna arrays, a first distributed transceiver is configured to receive signals comprising one or more first data streams and a second distributed transceiver is configured to receive signals comprising one or more second data streams. One or more components within a receive processing chain of the first distributed transceiver and/or one or more components within a receive processing chain of the second distributed transceiver may be adjusted to maximize beamforming gain for the one or more first data streams and/or one or more of the second data streams. A phase of the one or more first data streams and/or the one or more second data streams may be adjusted by the one or more components within the receive processing chain of the first distributed transceiver and/or one or more components within a receive processing chain of the second distributed transceiver. The one or more first data streams and/or the one or more second data streams may be combined in the RF domain. The combined one or more first data streams and/or the one or more second data streams may be converted from the RF domain to the intermediate frequency (IF) domain. The one or more first data streams and/or the one or more second data streams may be coherently combined in the IF domain.
- In another exemplary embodiment of the invention, a communication device comprising a plurality of distributed transceivers and one or more corresponding antenna arrays, a first distributed transceiver of the plurality of distributed transceivers may be configured to transmit signals comprising one or more first data streams. A second distributed transceiver of the plurality of distributed transceivers may also be configured to transmit signals comprising one or more second data streams. One or more components within a transmit processing chain of the first distributed transceiver and/or one or more components within a transmit processing chain of the second distributed transceiver may be adjusted based on a determined mode of operation for the first distributed transceiver and/or the second distributed transceiver. The first distributed transceiver and/or the second distributed transceiver may be dynamically switched between a first mode of operation and a second mode of operation based on a signal to noise ratio (SNR) associated with the first distributed transceiver and/or the second distributed transceiver. One or more selectors within the first distributed transceiver and/or the second distributed transceiver may be configured to transmit one or more first data streams and one or more second data streams from the first distributed transceiver and/or the second distributed transceiver in a spatial multiplexing mode based on the determined mode of operation. The one or more selectors within the first distributed transceiver and/or the second distributed transceiver may be configured to transmit the one or more first data streams or the one or more second data streams from the first distributed transceiver and/or the second distributed transceiver in a spatial multiplexing single beam single stream operating mode. One or more phase adjustment parameters for one or more components within the first distributed transceiver and/or the second distributed transceiver may be configured based on the determined mode of operation for the first distributed transceiver and/or the second distributed transceiver.
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FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an exemplary system for providing connectivity to a plurality of distributed transceivers via a plurality of distributed access points, in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the invention. Referring toFIG. 1 , there are shown mmWave andwireless communication networks service providers Internet 18. The mmWave andwireless communication network 10 may comprise agateway 20 and a plurality ofaccess points wireless communication network 12 may comprise agateway 22, agateway 24, a plurality ofaccess points entity 28.FIG. 1 also shows a plurality ofmobile communication devices mobile communication devices entity 38. TheInternet 18 may host a plurality of resources such as theserver 18 a.FIG. 1 also shows amobile entity 31, curvedreflective surfaces refractive surfaces reflective surface - The mmWave and
wireless communication network 10 may comprise a plurality of mmWave and other wireless communication enabled network devices and/or interfaces that enable communication amongst a plurality of devices utilizing wireless communication. In this regard, the mmWave andwireless communication network 10 may comprise one or more mmWave enabled network devices that enable the communication traffic and/or control data via a plurality of mobile communication devices. For example, the mmWave andwireless communication network 10 may comprise the plurality ofaccess points wireless communication network 10 and/or route communication traffic and/or control data within the mmWave andwireless communication network 10 for one or more of the plurality ofmobile communication devices wireless communication network 10 may also be operable to provide access to theInternet 18 via theservice provider network 14. The mmWave andwireless communication network 10 may also comprise devices that may be operable to communicate via wireless wide area network (WWAN), wireless medium area network (WMAN), wireless local area network (WLAN), wireless personal area network (WPAN) and/or other wireless technologies. - The mmWave and
wireless communication network 12 may comprise a plurality of mmWave and other wireless communication enabled network devices and/or interfaces that enable communication amongst a plurality of devices utilizing wireless communication. In this regard, the mmWave andwireless communication network 12 may comprise one or more mmWave enabled network devices that enable the communication traffic and/or control data via a plurality of mobile communication devices. For example, the mmWave andwireless communication network 12 may comprise the plurality ofaccess points wireless communication network 12 and/or route communication traffic and/or control data within the mmWave andwireless communication network 12 for one or more of the plurality ofmobile communication devices wireless communication network 12 may also be operable to provide access to theInternet 18 via theservice provider network 16. The mmWave andwireless communication network 12 may also comprise devices that may be operable to communicate via wireless wide area network (WWAN), wireless medium area network (WMAN), wireless local area network (WLAN), wireless personal area network (WPAN) and/or other wireless technologies. - The
service provider network 14 may comprise suitable devices and/or interfaces that may enable communication devices, which are communicatively coupled to the mmWave andwireless communication network 10, to access one or more other networks such as theInternet 18 and the mmWave andwireless communication network 12. In this regard, theservice provider network 14 may enable themobile communication devices Internet 18. Theservice provider network 14 may also enable themobile communication devices wireless communication network 12 and communicate with one or more of themobile communication devices service provider network 16 may enable themobile communication devices wireless communication network 10 and communicate with one or more of themobile communication devices Internet 18 and theservice provider network 14 and/or via thegateway 20. Theservice provider network 14 may comprise, for example, a broadband connectivity to the mmWave andwireless communication network 10. In this regard, for example, theservice provider network 14 may comprise a cable service provider, an digital subscriber line (DSL) or variants thereof service provider, a fiber optic service provider, a hybrid fiber coaxial service provider, a WWAN service provider, a WMAN, and/or a satellite service provider - The
service provider network 16 may comprise suitable devices and/or interfaces that may enable communication devices, which are communicatively coupled to the mmWave andwireless communication network 12, to access one or more other network such as theInternet 18 and the mmWave andwireless communication network 10. In this regard, theservice provider network 16 may enable themobile communication devices Internet 18. Theservice provider network 16 may enable themobile communication devices wireless communication network 10 and communicate with one or more of themobile communication devices Internet 18 and theservice provider network 14. Theservice provider network 16 may comprise, for example, a broadband or other high speed connectivity to the mmWave andwireless communication network 12. In this regard, for example, theservice provider network 16 may comprise a cable service provider, a digital subscriber line (DSL) or variants hereof service provider, a fiber optic service provider, a hybrid fiber coaxial service provider, a WWAN service provider, a WMAN, and/or a satellite service provider. - The
Internet 18 may comprise suitable devices and/or interfaces that enable the interconnection of a plurality of networks and/or devices. In this regard, theInternet 18 may enable the interconnection of theservice provider network 14, theservice provider network 16, the mmWave andwireless communication network 10, the mmWave andwireless communication network 12. - Each of the plurality of
access points wireless communication network 10 for one or more of themobile communication devices access points access points access points wireless communication network 10, the coordinatingentity 28 and/or thegateway 20. In some embodiments of the invention, each of the plurality ofaccess points entity 28 in order to handle the routing and/or processing of data for one or more of themobile communication devices - Each of the plurality of
access points wireless communication network 12 for one or more of themobile communication devices access points access points access points wireless communication network 12, the coordinatingentity 38 and/or thegateways access points entity 38 in order to handle the routing and/or processing of data for one or more of themobile communication devices - The coordinating
entity 28 may comprise suitable logic, circuitry, interfaces and/or code that may be operable to control, coordinate and/or manage the handling and routing of traffic and/or control data within the mmWave andwireless communication network 10. The coordinatingentity 28 may be operable to control the type and/or amount of links, the number of distributed transceivers, configuration of the distributed transceivers' interfaces and/or components including RF front ends and/or antenna arrays, which may be utilized by one or more of the access points 26 a, 26 b, . . . , 26 n to handle traffic for one or more of themobile communication devices entity 28 may be operable to control the allocation and de-allocation of bandwidth to facilitate communication of traffic in order to provide and/or guarantee a particular class of service (CoS) and/or Quality of Service (QoS) for themobile communication devices entity 28 may be operable to coordinate amongst thegateway 20 and/or one or more of the access points 26 a, 26 b, . . . , 26 n in order to route traffic to and from thegateway 20 and themobile communication devices entity 28 is illustrated as a separate entity from thegateway 20, and the access points 26 a, 26 b, . . . , 26 n, the invention is not limited in this regard. Accordingly, the coordinatingentity 28 may be integrated in thegateway 20 or in one of the access points 26 a, 26 b, . . . , 26 n. In some embodiments of the invention, the functionality of the coordinatingentity 28 may be split amongst a plurality of devices such as two or more of thegateway 20, and/or the access points 26 a, 26 b, . . . , 26 n. - The coordinating
entity 38 may comprise suitable logic, circuitry, interfaces and/or code that may be operable to control, coordinate and/or manage the handling and routing of traffic and/or control data within the mmWave andwireless communication network 12. The coordinatingentity 38 may be operable to control the type and/or amount of links, communication protocols, the number of distributed transceivers, configuration of the distributed transceivers' interfaces and/or components including RF front ends and/or antenna arrays, which may be utilized by one or more of the access points 36 a, 36 b, . . . , 36 n to handle traffic for one or more of themobile communication devices entity 38 may be operable to control the allocation and de-allocation of bandwidth to facilitate communication of traffic in order to provide and/or guarantee a particular class of service (CoS) and/or Quality of Service (QoS) for themobile communication devices entity 38 may be operable to coordinate amongst thegateways gateways mobile communication devices entity 38 is illustrated as a separate entity from thegateways entity 38 may be integrated in one of thegateways entity 38 may be split amongst a plurality of devices such as two or more of thegateways - Each of the plurality of
mobile communication devices service provider network 14 via the mmWave andwireless communication network 10. In this regard, each of the plurality ofmobile communication devices wireless communication network 10. The plurality ofmobile communication devices mobile communication devices entity 28, and/or thegateway 20 may be operable to control and/or route traffic to and/or from the one or more of themobile communication devices mobile communication devices mobile communication devices - The plurality of
mobile communication devices wireless communication network 12. The plurality ofmobile communication devices mobile communication devices mobile communication devices wireless communication network 12. In some exemplary embodiments of the invention, themobile communication device 42 a may comprise a tablet, themobile communication device 42 b may comprise a Smartphone, themobile communication device 42 c may comprise a personal computer PC, laptop or ultrabook, and themobile communication device 42 n may comprise a television. - The
gateway 20 may comprise suitable logic, circuitry, interfaces and/or code that are operable to process and/or route traffic and/or control data between theservice provider network 14 and the mmWave andwireless communication network 10. In this regard, thegateway 20 may be operable to handle the processing and/or routing of traffic and/or control data between theservice provider network 14 and one or more of the access points 26 a, 26 b, . . . , 26 n and/or the coordinatingentity 28 for one or more of the plurality ofmobile communication devices gateway 20 may comprise, for example, a modulation and/or demodulation (modem) device that may be operable to provide modulation and/or demodulation of the information that is communicated between theservice provider network 14 and the mmWave andwireless communication network 10. For example, thegateway 20 may comprise a cable modem, a DSL modem, a HFC modem, a cable set top box (STB), a satellite STB and/or other similar type of device. In general, thegateway 20 may be operable to handle any technology that may be utilized by one or more of the cable service provider, the digital subscriber line (DSL) service provider, the fiber optic service provider, the hybrid fiber coaxial (HFC) service provider, the WWAN service provider, the WMAN, and/or the satellite service provider. In some embodiments of the invention, thegateway 20 may comprise server functionality. Thegateway 20 may also enable communication amongst one or more of themobile communication devices mobile communication devices wireless communication network 10 and theservice provider network 14 and/or via theservice providers Internet 18. - The
gateway 22 may comprise suitable logic, circuitry, interfaces and/or code that are operable to process and/or route traffic and/or control data between theservice provider network 14 and the mmWave andwireless communication network 12. In this regard, thegateway 22 may be operable to handle the processing and/or routing of traffic and/or control data between theservice provider network 14 and one or more of the access points 36 a, 36 b, . . . , 36 n and/or the coordinatingentity 38 for one or more of the plurality ofmobile communication devices gateway 22 may comprise, for example, a modulation and/or demodulation (modem) device that may be operable to provide modulation and/or demodulation of the information that is communicated between theservice provider network 14 and the mmWave andwireless communication network 12. For example, thegateway 22 may comprise a cable modem, a DSL modem, a HFC modem, a cable set top box (STB), a satellite STB and/or other similar type of device. In general, thegateway 22 may be operable to handle any technology that may be utilized by one or more of the cable service provider, the digital subscriber line (DSL) service provider, the fiber optic service provider, the hybrid fiber coaxial (HFC) service provider, the WWAN service provider, the WMAN, and/or the satellite service provider. In some embodiments of the invention, thegateway 22 may comprise a server functionality. Thegateway 22 may also enable communication amongst one or more of themobile communication devices mobile communication devices wireless communication networks service provider network 14 and/or via theservice providers Internet 18. - The
gateway 24 may comprise suitable logic, circuitry, interfaces and/or code that are operable to process and/or route traffic and/or control data between theservice provider network 16 and the mmWave andwireless communication network 12. In this regard, thegateway 24 may be operable to handle the processing and/or routing of traffic and/or control data between theservice provider network 16 and one or more of the access points 36 a, 36 b, . . . , 36 n and/or the coordinatingentity 38 for one or more of the plurality ofmobile communication devices gateway 24 may comprise, for example, a modulation and/or demodulation (modem) device that may be operable to provide modulation and/or demodulation of the information that is communicated between theservice provider network 16 and the mmWave andwireless communication network 12. For example, thegateway 24 may comprise a cable modem, a DSL modem, a HFC modem, a cable set top box (STB), a satellite STB and/or other similar type of device. In general, thegateway 24 may be operable to handle any technology that may be utilized by one or more of the cable service provider, the digital subscriber line (DSL) service provider, the fiber optic service provider, the hybrid fiber coaxial (HFC) service provider, the WWAN service provider, the WMAN, and/or the satellite service provider. In some embodiments of the invention, thegateway 24 may comprise a server functionality. Thegateway 24 may also enable communication amongst one or more of themobile communication devices mobile communication devices wireless communication networks service provider networks Internet 18. - The curved
reflective surface 29 a, therefractive surface 29 b and the flatreflective surface 29 c may be located within the operating environment of the mmWave andwireless communication network 10. One or more of the curvedreflective surface 29 a, therefractive surface 29 b and/or the flatreflective surface 29 c may be objects and/or portions thereof, which may exist within the environment or may be intentionally placed within the environment to be utilized to optimize communication between devices in the mmWave andwireless communication network 10 and themobile communication devices - The curved
reflective surfaces refractive surface 41 d and the flatreflective surface 41 c may be located within the operating environment of the mmWave andwireless communication network 12. One or more of the curvedreflective surfaces refractive surface 41 d and the flatreflective surface 41 c may be objects and/or portions thereof, which may exist within the environment or may be intentionally placed within the environment to be utilized to optimize communication between devices in the mmWave andwireless communication network 12 and themobile communication devices - The
mobile entity 31 may comprise a plurality of distributed transceivers and/or one or more corresponding antenna arrays that are communicatively coupled to one or more of the plurality of distributed transceivers. The distributed transceivers may be configured to handle communication of one or more data streams among one or more of a plurality of wireless communication networks such as the mmWave andwireless communication networks mobile communication devices mobile entity 31 may be configured to operate as a relay node and/or a repeater node. A location, speed and/or trajectory of themobile entity 31 may be determined and one or more of the plurality of distributed transceivers and/or one or more corresponding antenna arrays may be configured based on the determined location, speed and/or trajectory. One or more of the plurality of distributed transceivers in themobile entity 31 may be dynamically and/or adaptively controlled to utilize one or more modes of operation to communicate the one or more data streams and/or to split the communication of the one or more data streams amongst a portion of the plurality of distributed transceivers in themobile entity 31. Exemplary modes of operation may comprise a spatial diversity mode, a frequency diversity mode, a spatial multiplexing mode, a frequency multiplexing mode and/or a MIMO mode. Traffic may be backhauled from themobile entity 31 via one or more wireless communication links to one or more of the plurality of mmWave andwireless communication networks mobile entity 31 may be configured to utilize different types of communication links, modulation schemes, constellations, protocols, frequencies, wireless standards and/or bandwidths to handle the communication of the one or more data streams and/or to handle different types of data traffic. Additional details on mobile entities such as themobile entity 31 may be found in United States application Ser. No. ______ (Attorney Docket No. 26666U502), which was filed on ______, and is hereby incorporated herein in its entirety. - In operation, each of the
mobile communication devices mobile communication devices - The characteristics and geometry of the environment may include the presence of naturally reflective and/or refractive surfaces and/or the presence of obstructive elements in the environment. For example, the environment within the operating environment of the mmWave and
wireless communication network 10 may comprise the curvedreflective surface 29 a, therefractive surface 29 b and the flatreflective surface 29 c. Similarly, the environment within the operating environment of the mmWave andwireless communication network 12 may comprise the curvedreflective surfaces refractive surface 41 d and the flatreflective surface 41 c. One or more of the distributed transceivers in one or more of the plurality ofmobile communication devices reflective surface 29 a, therefractive surface 29 b and/or the flatreflective surface 29 c in the operating environment of the mmWave andwireless communication network 10 to optimize communication of wireless signals. - In an exemplary embodiment of the invention, the
mobile communication device 30 a may be operable to utilize the reflective properties of the curvedreflective surface 29 a to communicate with theaccess point 26 n. Themobile communication device 30 c may utilize the flatreflective surface 29 c and therefractive surface 29 b to communicate with theaccess point 26 n. Themobile communication device 30 n may utilize the flatreflective surface 29 c to communicate with theaccess point 26 b. - One or more of the distributed transceivers in one or more of the plurality of
mobile communication devices reflective surfaces refractive surface 41 d and/or the flatreflective surface 41 c in the operating environment of the mmWave andwireless communication network 12 to optimize communication of wireless signals. - In an exemplary embodiment of the invention, the
mobile communication device 42 a may be operable to utilize the reflective properties of the curvedreflective surface 41 a to communicate with theaccess point 36 n. Themobile communication device 42 b may be operable to utilize the reflective properties of the curvedreflective surface 41 b to communicate with theaccess point 36 n. Themobile communication device 42 c may utilize the flatreflective surface 41 c to communicate with theaccess point 36 n. Themobile communication device 42 n may utilize multi-hop communication which utilizes the flatreflective surface 41 c and therefractive surface 41 d to communicate with theaccess point 36 b. - One or more of the distributed transceivers in
mobile entity 31 may be operable to utilize (1) the curvedreflective surface 29 a, therefractive surface 29 b and the flatreflective surface 29 c within the operating environment of the mmWave andwireless communication network 10 and/or (2) the curvedreflective surfaces refractive surface 41 d and the flatreflective surface 41 c within the operating environment of the mmWave andwireless communication network 12, to optimize communication of wireless signals. In an exemplary embodiment of the invention, when themobile entity 31 is within the operating environment of the mmWave andwireless communication network 10, one or more of the distributed transceivers in themobile entity 31 may be operable to utilize the flatreflective surface 29 c to communicate with theaccess point 26 b. In another exemplary embodiment of the invention, when themobile entity 31 is within the operating environment of the mmWave andwireless communication network 12, one or more of the distributed transceivers in themobile entity 31 may be operable to utilize the curvedreflective surface 41 a to communicate with theaccess point 36 n. In another embodiment of the invention, when themobile entity 31 is within the operating environments of both of the mmWave andwireless communication networks mobile entity 31 may be operable to utilize the flatreflective surface 29 c to communicate with theaccess point 26 b and also utilize the curvedreflective surface 41 a to communicate with theaccess point 41 a. - A processor in each of the
mobile communication devices mobile communication devices - In various embodiments of the invention, a mobile communication device that has data to be transmitted may dynamically sense the environment to determine the current characteristics of the environment, which may include the presence of blocking objects, reflectors, and/or refractors. The characteristics of corresponding transmitted and/or received signals communicated by one or more distributed transceivers may be analyzed by one or more distributed transceivers in order to sense the surrounding environment. For example, the analysis may determine transmitted and/or received signal strength, frequency changes, phase changes, angle of transmission, angle of arrival and/or other characteristics of the transmitted and/or received signals in order to sense the environment. Based on the sensing and/or on one or more of the factors above, the mobile communication device that has data to be transmitted may be operable to configure its transmitter and/or antenna arrays to spread and transmit a narrow beam in one or more directions, where reflectors, refractors, naturally reflecting elements and/or naturally refractive elements may create multiple paths to a receiving mobile communication device. Each communication path may comprise a different frequency, polarization, bandwidth, protocol, and/or coding thereby providing link robustness. The transmitter in a transmitting mobile communication device may be operable to use the same frequency channel or different frequency channels to transmit the same data stream or separate data streams.
- In some embodiments of the invention, the coordinating
entities mobile communication devices mobile communication devices entities mobile communication devices mobile communication devices entities mobile communication devices mobile communication devices entities mobile communication devices mobile communication devices mobile communication devices mobile communication devices entities entities access points entities entities - The reference to 60 GHz wireless connectivity is intended to include all mmWave frequency bands (any carrier frequency above 10 GHz, e.g., 38.6-40 GHz, 59-67 GHz, 71-76 GHz, 92-95 GHz bands). Furthermore, all or a subset of embodiments are applicable to sub-10 GHz carrier frequency operations as well (e.g., 5 GHz and 2.4 GHz ISM bands).
-
FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating distributed transceivers utilized for wireless communication in access points and a mobile communication device in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the invention. Referring toFIG. 2 , there are shownaccess points mobile communication device 129, a coordinatingentity 108 and agateway 110. The access points 102, 112 are also referenced as AP1 and AP2, respectively. Themobile communication device 129 is also referenced as M1. Although a singlemobile communication device 129 is shown, the invention is not limited in this regard. Accordingly, a plurality of mobile and/or non-mobile communication devices may also be present without departing from the spirit and/or scope of the invention.FIG. 2 also shows a blockingobject 118,refractive surface 119 a, a flatreflective surface 119 b and a curvedreflective surface 119 c. The blockingobject 118 blocks line or sight communication between the distributedtransceiver 133 n in themobile communication device 129 and the distributedtransceiver 114 n in theaccess point 112. - The
refractive surface 119 a may be substantially similar to therefractive surfaces FIG. 1 , for example. The flatreflective surface 119 b may be substantially similar to the flatrefractive surfaces FIG. 1 . The curvedreflective surface 119 c may be substantially similar to the curvedreflective surfaces FIG. 1 , for example. - The access point 102 (AP1) may be substantially similar to any of the access points 26 a, 26 b, . . . , 26 n and/or the access points 36 a, 36 b, . . . , 36 n, which are shown and described with respect to
FIG. 1 . Notwithstanding, as shown inFIG. 2 , the access point 102 (AP1) may comprise acentral processor 106 and a plurality of distributedtransceiver devices 104 a, . . . , 104 n. The distributedtransceiver devices 104 a, . . . , 104 n may comprise a corresponding plurality ofantenna arrays 105 a, . . . , 105 n. Theaccess point 102 may be communicatively coupled to the coordinatingentity 108 via acommunication link 154, which may comprise a wired, wireless, optical and/or other type of communication link. Theaccess point 102 may also be communicatively coupled to theaccess point 112 via acommunication link 158, which may comprise a wired, wireless, optical and/or other type of communication link. In accordance with some embodiments of the invention, theaccess point 102 may optionally be coupled to thegateway 110 via an optionaldirect communication link 157, which may comprise a wired, wireless, optical, HFC, and/or other type of direct communication link. - The plurality of distributed
transceiver devices 104 a, . . . , 104 n in theaccess point 102 may comprise suitable logic, circuitry, interfaces and/or code that may be operable to handle communication utilizing WPAN, WLAN, WMAN, WWAN and/or mmWave technologies, standards and/or protocols. - Each of the plurality of
antenna arrays 105 a, . . . , 105 n in the plurality of distributedtransceiver devices 104 a, . . . , 104 n may comprise suitable logic, circuitry, interfaces and/or code that may be operable to communicate wireless signals. For example, each of the plurality ofantenna arrays 105 a, . . . , 105 n in the plurality of distributedtransceiver devices 104 a, . . . , 104 n may be operable to transmit and/or receive wireless signals corresponding to the WPAN, WLAN, WMAN, WWAN and/or mmWave technologies, standards and/or protocols. - The
central processor 106 in theaccess point 102 may comprise suitable logic, circuitry, interfaces and/or code that may be operable to control and/or manage operation of theaccess point 102. In this regard, thecentral processor 106 may be operable to configure and/or manage the communication links that are handled by theaccess point 102. For example, thecentral processor 106 may be operable to configure and/or manage the communication links 154, 158, and 151 a, . . . , 151 n. Thecentral processor 106 may be operable to configure and/or manage the plurality of distributedtransceivers 104 a, . . . , 104 n and the correspondingantenna arrays 105 a, . . . , 105 n, which are in theaccess point 102. Thecentral processor 106 may be operable to monitor and/or collect information from various devices within theaccess point 102 and communicate data associated with the monitoring and/or collecting to the coordinatingentity 108. The coordinatingentity 108 may utilize the resulting communicated data to configure the operation of one or both of theaccess points entity 108 may aggregate resulting data received from theaccess points transceivers 104 a, . . . , 104 n and/or 114 a, . . . , 114 n, respectively, and/or the correspondingantenna arrays 105 a, . . . , 105 n and/or 115 a, . . . , 115 n to improve the communication links 151 a, . . . , 151 n and/or 152. The coordinatingentity 108 may also utilized the corresponding aggregated data to inform themobile communication device 129 how to configure, for example, its plurality of distributedtransceivers 133 a, . . . , 133 n and/orantenna arrays 134 a, . . . , 134 n, respectively. Thecentral processor 106 may operate and/or control the distributedtransceivers 104 a, . . . , 104 n in any of the distributed modes of operation such as spatial multiplexing, spatial diversity, frequency multiplexing, frequency diversity, and MIMO processing, according to embodiments in U.S. application Ser. Nos. 13/473,096, 13/473,144, 13/473,105, 13/473,160, 13/473,180, 13/473,113, 13/473,083, each of which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety. - In accordance with various embodiments of the invention, the
central processor 106 in theaccess point 102 may also be operable to control one or more of the one or more of the distributedtransceivers 104 a, . . . , 104 n to sense the surrounding environment and determine objects that may block transmission for one or more of the distributedtransceivers 104 a, . . . , 104 n. The characteristics of corresponding transmitted and/or received signals may be analyzed by one or more of the distributedtransceivers 104 a, . . . , 104 n in order to sense the surrounding environment. For example, the analysis may determine transmitted and/or received signal strength, frequency changes, phase changes, angle of transmission, angle of arrival and/or other characteristics of the transmitted and/or received signals in order to sense the environment. Thecentral processor 106 in theaccess point 102 may also be operable to control one or more of the one or more of the distributedtransceivers 104 a, . . . , 104 n to sense the surrounding environment and determine objects that may possess reflective and/or refractive properties based on the characteristics of corresponding transmitted and/or received signals. The results of the sensing may be utilized to enhance and/or optimize communication by one or more of the distributedtransceivers 104 a, . . . , 104 n. Thecentral processor 106 in theaccess point 102 may be operable to receive the sensed information of the surrounding environment from one or more of the distributedtransceivers 104 a, . . . , 104 n and communicate the corresponding sensed information of the surrounding environment to the coordinatingentity 108. For example, thecentral processor 106 in theaccess point 102 may be operable to determine the presence of therefractive surface 119 a based on the analysis of corresponding transmitted and/or received signals and communicate the presence of therefractive surface 119 a to the coordinatingentity 108. In this regard, thecentral processor 106 in theaccess point 102 may also be operable to provide spatial and/or temporal information regarding therefractive surface 119 a to the coordinatingentity 108. - The access point 112 (AP2) may be substantially similar to any of the access points 26 a, 26 b, . . . , 26 n and/or the access points 36 a, 36 b, . . . , 36 n, which are shown and described with respect to
FIG. 1 . Notwithstanding, as shown inFIG. 2 , the access point 112 (AP2) may comprise acentral processor 116 and a plurality of distributedtransceiver devices 114 a, . . . , 114 n. The plurality of distributedtransceiver devices 114 a, . . . , 114 n may comprise a corresponding plurality ofantenna arrays 115 a, . . . , 115 n. Theaccess point 112 may be communicatively coupled to the coordinatingentity 108 via acommunication link 156, which may comprise a wired, wireless, optical and/or other type of communication link. Theaccess point 112 may also be communicatively coupled to theaccess point 102 via thecommunication link 158, which may comprise a wired, wireless, optical and/or other type of communication link. Although not shown, theaccess point 112 may also be communicatively coupled to thegateway 110 via a wired, wireless, optical and/or other type of communication link. - The plurality of distributed
transceiver devices 114 a, . . . , 114 n in theaccess point 112 may comprise suitable logic, circuitry, interfaces and/or code that may be operable to handle communication utilizing WPAN, WLAN, WMAN, WWAN and/or mmWave technologies, standards and/or protocols. Each of the plurality ofantenna arrays 115 a, . . . , 115 n in the plurality of distributedtransceiver devices 114 a, . . . , 114 n may comprise suitable logic, circuitry, interfaces and/or code that may be operable to communicate wireless signals. For example, each of the plurality ofantenna arrays 115 a, . . . , 115 n in the plurality of distributedtransceiver devices 114 a, . . . , 114 n may be operable to transmit and/or receive wireless signals corresponding to the WPAN, WLAN, WMAN, WWAN and/or mmWave technologies, standards and/or protocols. - The
central processor 116 in theaccess point 112 may comprise suitable logic, circuitry, interfaces and/or code that may be operable to control and/or manage operation of theaccess point 112. In this regard, thecentral processor 116 may be operable to configure and/or manage the communication links that are handled by theaccess point 112. For example, thecentral processor 116 may be operable to configure and/or manage the communication links 156, 158, and 152. Thecentral processor 106 may be operable to configure and/or manage the plurality of distributedtransceivers 114 a, . . . , 114 n and the correspondingantenna arrays 115 a, . . . , 115 n, which are in theaccess point 112. Thecentral processor 116 may be operable to monitor and/or collect information from various devices within theaccess point 112 and communicate data associated with the monitoring and/or collecting to the coordinatingentity 108. The coordinatingentity 108 may utilize the resulting communicated data to configure the operation of one or both of theaccess points entity 108 may aggregate resulting data received from theaccess points transceivers 114 a, . . . , 114 n and/or the plurality of distributedtransceivers 104 a, . . . , 104 n, and/or the correspondingantenna arrays 115 a, . . . , 115 n and/or 105 a, . . . , 105 n, respectively, to improve thecommunication links 152 and/or 151 a, . . . , 151 n. The coordinatingentity 108 may also utilize the corresponding aggregated data to inform themobile communication device 129 how to configure, for example, its plurality of distributedtransceivers 133 a, . . . , 133 n and/orantenna arrays 134 a, . . . , 134 n. - In accordance with various embodiments of the invention, the
central processor 116 in theaccess point 112 may also be operable to control one or more of the distributedtransceivers 114 a, . . . , 114 n to sense the surrounding environment and determine objects that may block transmission for one or more of the distributedtransceivers 114 a, . . . , 114 n. The characteristics of corresponding transmitted and/or received signals may be analyzed by one or more of the distributedtransceivers 114 a, . . . , 114 n in order to sense the surrounding environment. For example, the analysis may determine transmitted and/or received signal strength, frequency changes, phase changes, angle of transmission, angle of arrival and/or other characteristics of the transmitted and/or received signals in order to sense the environment. Thecentral processor 116 in theaccess point 112 may also be operable to control one or more of the distributedtransceivers 114 a, . . . , 114 n to sense the surrounding environment and determine objects that may possess reflective and/or refractive properties based on analysis of the characteristics of the corresponding transmitted and/or received signals. The results of the sensing may be utilized to enhance and/or optimize communication by one or more of the distributedtransceivers 114 a, . . . , 114 n. Thecentral processor 116 in theaccess point 112 may be operable to communicate sensed information of the surrounding environment to the coordinatingentity 108. For example, thecentral processor 116 in theaccess point 112 may be operable to determined the presence of the flatreflective surface 119 b and/or the curvedreflective surface 119 c based on the analysis of corresponding transmitted and/or received signals and communicate the presence of the flatreflective surface 119 b and/or the curvedreflective surface 119 c to the coordinatingentity 108. In this regard, thecentral processor 116 in theaccess point 112 may also be operable to provide spatial and/or temporal information regarding the flatreflective surface 119 b and/or the curvedreflective surface 119 c to the coordinatingentity 108. - The mobile communication device 129 (M1) may be substantially similar to any of the
mobile communication devices mobile communication devices FIG. 1 . Notwithstanding, as shown inFIG. 2 , themobile communication device 129 may comprise acentral processor 131 and a plurality of distributedtransceiver devices 133 a, . . . , 133 n. The plurality of distributedtransceiver devices 133 a, . . . , 133 n may comprise a corresponding plurality ofantenna arrays 134 a, . . . , 134 n. Although not shown, themobile communication device 129 may comprise one or more transmitters, receivers and/or transceivers that may be operable to handle a plurality of wired and/or wireless communication technologies, standards and/or protocols. For example, the one or more transmitters, receivers and/or transceivers may be operable to handle IEEE 802.3, WPAN, WLAN, WMAN, WWAN and/or mmWave technologies, standards and/or protocols. Themobile communication device 129 may comprise a mobile entity such as themobile entity 31 ofFIG. 1 . - The
central processor 131 in themobile communication device 129 may comprise suitable logic, circuitry, interfaces and/or code that may be operable to control and/or manage operation of themobile communication device 129. In this regard, thecentral processor 131 may be operable to configure and/or manage the communication links for themobile communication device 129. For example, thecentral processor 131 may be operable to configure and/or manage the communication links 153, 151 a, . . . , 151 n, and 152. Thecentral processor 131 may be operable to configure and/or manage the plurality of distributedtransceivers 133 a, . . . , 133 n and the correspondingantenna arrays 134 a, . . . , 134 n, which are in themobile communication device 129. Thecentral processor 131 may be operable to monitor and/or collect information from various devices, for example, other transmitters, receivers and/or transceivers, within themobile communication device 129 and communicate data associated with the monitoring and/or collecting to the coordinatingentity 108. The coordinatingentity 108 may utilize the resulting communicated data to configure the operation of one or both of theaccess points entity 108 may aggregate resulting data received from themobile communication device 129 and/or theaccess points transceivers 114 a, . . . , 114 n and/or the plurality of distributedtransceivers 104 a, . . . , 104 n, and/or the correspondingantenna arrays 115 a, . . . , 115 n and/or 105 a, . . . , 105 n, respectively, to improve the communication links 152, 153, and/or 151 a, . . . , 151 n. The coordinatingentity 108 may also utilize the corresponding aggregated data to inform themobile communication device 129 how to configure, for example, its plurality of distributedtransceivers 133 a, . . . , 133 n and/orantenna arrays 134 a, . . . , 134 n. - Each of the plurality of distributed
transceiver devices 133 a, . . . , 133 n may comprise in themobile communication device 129 may suitable logic, circuitry, interfaces and/or code that may be operable to handle WPAN, WLAN, WMAN, WWAN and/or mmWave technologies, standards and/or protocols. Thecentral processor 131 may operate the distributedtransceivers 133 a, . . . , 133 n in any of the distributed modes of operation such as spatial multiplexing, spatial diversity, frequency multiplexing, frequency diversity, and MIMO processing according to embodiments in U.S. application Ser. Nos. 13/473,096, 13/473,144, 13/473,105, 13/473,160, 13/473,180, 13/473,113, 13/473,083, which are hereby incorporated herein my reference in its entirety. - Each of the plurality of
antenna arrays 134 a, . . . , 134 n in the plurality of distributedtransceiver devices 133 a, . . . , 133 n may comprise suitable logic, circuitry, interfaces and/or code that may be operable to communicate wireless signals. For example, each of the plurality ofantenna arrays 134 a, . . . , 134 n in the plurality of distributedtransceiver devices 133 a, . . . , 133 n may be operable to transmit and/or receive wireless signals corresponding to the WPAN, WLAN, WMAN, WWAN and/or mmWave technologies, standards and/or protocols. - In accordance with various embodiments of the invention, the
central processor 131 in themobile communication device 129 may also be operable to sense the surrounding environment and determine objects that may block transmission for one or more of the distributedtransceivers 133 a, . . . , 133 n. Thecentral processor 131 in themobile communication device 129 may also be operable to control one or more of the distributedtransceivers 133 a, . . . , 133 n to sense the surrounding environment in order determine objects that may possess reflective and/or refractive properties, which may be utilized to enhance and/or optimize communication by one or more of the distributedtransceivers 133 a, . . . , 133 n. In this regard, the characteristics of corresponding transmitted and/or received signals may be analyzed by one or more of the distributedtransceivers 133 a, . . . , 133 n in order to sense the surrounding environment. For example, the analysis may determine transmitted and/or received signal strength, frequency changes, phase changes, angle of transmission, angle of arrival and/or other characteristics of the transmitted and/or received signals in order to sense the environment. Thecentral processor 131 in themobile communication device 129 may be operable to receive sensed information of the surrounding environment from one or more of the distributedtransceivers 133 a, . . . , 133 n and communicate the corresponding sensed information of the surrounding environment to the coordinatingentity 108. For example, thecentral processor 131 in themobile communication device 129 may be operable to control one or more of the distributedtransceivers 133 a, . . . , 133 n to sense the presence of therefractive surface 119 a, the flatreflective surface 119 b and/or the curvedreflective surface 119 c based on the analysis of the corresponding transmitted and/or received signals and communicate the presence of therefractive surface 119 a, the flatreflective surface 119 b and/or the curvedreflective surface 119 c to the coordinatingentity 108. In this regard,central processor 131 in themobile communication device 129 may also be operable to provide spatial and/or temporal information regarding therefractive surface 119 a, the flatreflective surface 119 b and/or the curvedreflective surface 119 c to the coordinatingentity 108. - The coordinating
entity 108 may be substantially similar to any of the coordinatingentities FIG. 1 . Notwithstanding, as shown inFIG. 2 , the coordinatingentity 108 may comprise aprocessor 108 a,memory 108 b, awireless interface 108 c and awired interface 108 d. Although not shown, the coordinatingentity 108 may comprise other interfaces such as an optical interface, a HFC interface and/or other communication interfaces. The coordinatingentity 108 may be communicatively coupled to the access points 102 (AP1), 112 (AP2) via the communication links 154, 156, respectively. The communication links 154, 156 may comprise wired, wireless (cellular, WLAN, WiMax, LTE), optical, HFC, point-to-point, and/or other types of communication links. The link between the coordinatingentity 108 andaccess points mobile communication device 129. - The coordinating
entity 108 may utilize the communication links 154, 156 to handle different data traffic categories. For example, thecommunication links 154 and/or 156 may be utilized to transport control information and/or commands between the coordinatingentity 108 and theaccess point 102 and/oraccess point 112, respectively. The communication links 154 and/or 156 may be utilized to transport information bits intended for and/or generated by themobile communication device 129. The communication links 154 and/or 156 may be utilized to transport raw analog to digital conversion (ADC) and/or digital to analog conversion (DAC) data between theaccess points central processors access points entity 108 on the combination of ADC samples received fromaccess points - The coordinating
entity 108 may comprise suitable logic, circuitry, interfaces and/or code that may be operable to coordinate and/or manage operation of theaccess points gateway 110 and/or themobile communication device 129. For example, the coordinatingentity 108 may be operable to coordinate operation of theaccess points wireless communication networks access point 102, theaccess point 112, thegateway 110, or in a separate device location. In some embodiments of the invention, the functions performed by theaccess point 112 may be split among a plurality of devices. For example, one or more of the functions performed by the coordinatingentity 108 may be split amongst two or more of theaccess point 102, theaccess point 112 and/or thegateway 110. In some embodiments of the invention, the coordinatingentity 108 may reside in a remote location and/or may be hosted remotely. - The coordinating
entity 108 may be operable to manage the combination of transceiver resources within theaccess points corresponding wireless links 151 a, . . . , 151 n and 152 from the combination of the plurality of distributedtransceivers 104 a, . . . , 104 n and 114 a, . . . , 114 n in theaccess points mobile communication device 129. In accordance with various embodiments of the invention, the coordinatingentity 108 may be operable to provide coordinate operation of the plurality of distributedtransceivers 104 a, . . . , 104 n and 114 a, . . . , 114 n in theaccess points entity 108 may be operable to combine or aggregate transceiver resources in theaccess points entity 108 may be operable to program or configure the resulting pooled transceiver resources to provide different levels of coordination based on system restrictions and/or capabilities and/or based on channel characteristics, QoS, CoS, traffic type and so on. - U.S. application Ser. No. 13/473,160, which was filed May 16, 2012 discloses details of a method and system for providing diversity in a network of distributed transceivers with array processing and is hereby incorporated herein by reference in its entirely.
- U.S. application Ser. No. 13/473,180, which was filed May 16, 2012 discloses details of a method and system that utilizes multiplexing in a network of distributed transceivers with array processing and is hereby incorporated herein by reference in its entirely.
- U.S. application Ser. No. 13/473,113, which was filed May 16, 2012 discloses details of a method and system that utilizes MIMO communication in a network of distributed transceivers with array processing and is hereby incorporated herein by reference in its entirely.
- The coordinating
entity 108 may be operable to receive surrounding environment information from one or more of theaccess points mobile communication device 129. The coordinatingentity 108 may be operable to utilize the process and/or aggregate the surrounding environment information from one or more of theaccess points mobile communication device 129 and utilize the resulting information to configure one or more of the distributed transceivers in one or more of theaccess points mobile communication device 129. - In an exemplary embodiment of the invention, the coordinating
entity 108 may be operable to receive sensed information of the surrounding environment of theaccess point 102 from thecentral processor 106. The coordinatingentity 108 may be operable to utilize the received sensed information of the surrounding environment of theaccess point 102, as well as information associated with the surrounding environment of theaccess point 112 and/or the surrounding environment of themobile communication device 129 to configure one or more of the distributed transceivers in one or more of theaccess points mobile communication device 129 in order to optimize communication by one or more of thetransceivers 104 a, . . . , 104 n and/or one or more of theantenna arrays 105 a, . . . , 105 n, which are inaccess point 102. - In another exemplary embodiment of the invention, the coordinating
entity 108 may be operable to receive sensed information of the surrounding environment of theaccess point 112 from thecentral processor 116. The coordinatingentity 108 may be operable to utilize the received sensed information of the surrounding environment of theaccess point 112, as well as information associated with the surrounding environment of theaccess point 102 and/or the surrounding environment of themobile communication device 129 to configure one or more of the distributed transceivers in one or more of theaccess points mobile communication device 129 in order to optimize communication by one or more of thetransceivers 114 a, . . . , 114 n and/or one or more of theantenna arrays 115 a, . . . , 115 n, which are inaccess point 112. - In another exemplary embodiment of the invention, the coordinating
entity 108 may be operable to receive sensed information of the surrounding environment of themobile communication device 129 from thecentral processor 131. The coordinatingentity 108 may be operable to utilize the received sensed information of the surrounding environment of themobile communication device 129, as well as information associated with the surrounding environment of theaccess point 102 and/or the surrounding environment of theaccess point 112 to configure one or more of the distributed transceivers in one or more of theaccess points mobile communication device 129 in order to optimize communication by one or more of thetransceivers 133 a, . . . , 133 n and/or one or more of theantenna arrays 134 a, . . . , 134 n, which are inmobile communication device 129. - The coordinating
entity 108 may be operable to determine the optimal beamforming patterns and modes of operation, which may be best for theaccess point 102, theaccess point 112 and/or themobile communication device 129. Exemplary modes of operation may comprise spatial multiplexing, spatial diversity and frequency diversity. Once the coordinatingentity 108 determines the beamforming patterns and/or modes of operation, the coordinatingentity 108 may be operable to communicate corresponding information to theaccess point 102, theaccess point 112 and/or themobile communication device 129. Theaccess point 102, theaccess point 112 and/or themobile communication device 129 may utilize the corresponding information to configure its plurality of distributed transceivers and/or antenna arrays accordingly. The coordinatingentity 108 may be operable to configure the beam patterns for theaccess point 102 by taking into account the beam patterns that may be utilized by theaccess point 112 and/or themobile communication device 129 in order to mitigate cross interference between the data streams for theaccess point 102 and theaccess point 112. - The
processor 108 a in the coordinatingentity 108 may comprise suitable logic, circuitry, interfaces and/or code that may be operable to execute the operations of the coordinatingentity 108. - The
memory 108 b in the coordinatingentity 108 may comprise suitable logic, circuitry, interfaces and/or code that may be operable to store operating data, control information and/or data, which may be utilized by the coordinatingentity 108. - The
wireless interface 108 c in the coordinatingentity 108 may comprise suitable logic, circuitry, interfaces and/or code that may be operable to handle communication between the coordinatingentity 108 and thegateway 110, theaccess point 102 and/or theaccess point 112. In some embodiments of the invention, in instances where themobile communication device 129 may be within operating range of the coordinatingentity 108, themobile communication device 129 may be operable to communicate with the coordinatingentity 108 via, for example, thewireless interface 108 c. - The
wired interface 108 d in the coordinatingentity 108 may comprise suitable logic, circuitry, interfaces and/or code that may be operable to handle communication between the coordinatingentity 108 and thegateway 110, theaccess point 102 and/or theaccess point 112. - The
gateway 110 may be substantially similar to any of thegateways FIG. 1 . Notwithstanding, as shown inFIG. 2 , thegateway 110 may be communicatively coupled to the coordinatingentity 108 via thelink 155. Thelink 155 may comprise a wired and/or wireless communication link. In this regard, thewired interface 108 d and/or thewireless interface 108 c may be operable to handle communication via thecommunication link 155. Thegateway 110 may be coupled to one or more service provider networks, for example, theservice provider networks FIG. 1 . In accordance with some embodiments of the invention, thegateway 110 may optionally be coupled to theaccess point 102 via an optionaldirect communication link 157. The optionaldirect communication link 157 may comprise a wired, wireless, optical, HFC, and/or other type of direct communication link. - As illustrated in
FIG. 2 , the distributedtransceiver devices 104 a, . . . , 104 n and 114 a, . . . , 114 n are integrated in separate physical devices such as theaccess points access point 102 comprises a plurality of distributedtransceivers 104 a, . . . , 104 n and theaccess point 112 comprises a plurality ofaccess points 114 a, . . . , 114 n. Although the plurality of distributedtransceiver devices 104 a, . . . , 104 n and 114 a, . . . , 114 n are shown integrated in separate physical devices such as theaccess points transceiver devices 104 a, . . . , 104 n and 114 a, . . . , 114 n may be integrated in a single physical device such as theaccess point 102 or theaccess point 112. - In some embodiments of the invention, the coordinating
entity 108 may be operable to coordinate the operation of theaccess point 102 and theaccess point 112 as a single virtual access point entity. In other words, the coordinatingentity 108 may combine the plurality of distributedtransceiver devices 104 a, . . . , 104 n and 114 a, . . . , 114 n and treat the combined plurality of distributedtransceiver devices 104 a, . . . , 104 n and 114 a, . . . , 114 n as the single virtual access point entity. In this regard, themobile communication device 129 may be operable to access one or more of the combined plurality of distributedtransceiver devices 104 a, . . . , 104 n and 114 a, . . . , 114 n in the single virtual access point entity without knowledge that the combined plurality of distributedtransceiver devices 104 a, . . . , 104 n and 114 a, . . . , 114 n are in separate physical access points, namely,access points transceiver devices 104 a, . . . , 104 n and 114 a, . . . , 114 n in the single virtual access point entity may provide, for example, more reliable service and higher throughput or bandwidth to themobile communication device 129 than one or both of theaccess points entity 108. - The coordinating
entity 108 may be operable to dynamically monitor and/or analyze the link quality (e.g., SNR or capacity) between the different transceivers within theaccess points mobile communication device 129. The link quality may be determined based on the signal to noise ratio (SNR), signal to interference noise ratio (SINR), carrier to noise interference ratio (CINR), link capacity, throughput, bit error rate (BER), packet error rate (PER) and/or other parameters. The coordinatingentity 108 may be operable to allocate, de-allocate, reallocate, distribute and/or redistribute the overall capacity and/or throughput target to optimize communication by theaccess points 102, theaccess point 112 and/or themobile communication device 129. In this regard, the coordinatingentity 108 may be operable to communicate information to thecentral processors central processors transceivers 104 a, . . . , 104 n and/or 114 a, . . . , 114 n and/or theantenna arrays 105 a, . . . , 105 n and/or 115 a, . . . , 115 n in theaccess point 102 andaccess point 112, respectively. - In an exemplary embodiment of the invention, in instances where a transceiver, for example,
transceiver 104 a, within theaccess point 102 may experience a good channel condition (high SNR), a higher throughput data stream may be passed through thetransceiver 104 a for communication with the mobile mmWave enablecommunication device 129. - In various embodiments of the invention, capacity distribution techniques such as water filling may also be utilized to optimize communication. In the water filling method, overall throughput to mobile mmWave enable
communication device 129 may be partitioned and/or distributed over a plurality of different communication paths or communication links via theaccess points transceivers 104 a, . . . , 104 n and/or 114 a, . . . , 114 n. The coordinatingentity 108 and/or thecentral processors access points entity 108 and/or thecentral processors entity 108 may be operable to determine that the one or more of the plurality of distributedtransceivers 104 a, . . . , 104 n and/or 114 a, . . . , 114 n and/or theantenna arrays 105 a, . . . , 105 n and/or 115 a, . . . , 115 n should be configured to operate in a multiplexing mode and that one or more remaining ones of the plurality of distributedtransceivers 104 a, . . . , 104 n and/or 114 a, . . . , 114 n and/or theantenna arrays 105 a, . . . , 105 n and/or 115 a, . . . , 115 n should be configured to operate in a spatial and/or frequency diversity mode. In the multiplexing mode of operation, each of the plurality of distributedtransceivers 104 a, . . . , 104 n and/or 114 a, . . . , 114 n in theaccess points mobile communication device 129. In the spatial diversity mode and/or the frequency diversity mode of operation, each of the plurality of distributedtransceivers 104 a, . . . , 104 n and/or 114 a, . . . , 114 n in theaccess points - With no loss of generality, the following depicts an example for rate distribution over multiple access points. The coordinating entity realizes effective SNR values of a1×P1, a2×P2, a3×P3 corresponding to
links links entity 108 to provide a total combined capacity or throughput C0 tomobile device 129. If C1, C2, C3 represent the partial throughput overlinks - The coordinating
entity 108 may be operable to determine whether different beamforming methodologies may be utilized for different ones of the plurality of distributedtransceivers 104 a, . . . , 104 n and/or 114 a, . . . , 114 n in theaccess points entity 108 may be operable to determine that a narrower or a sharper beam pattern may be utilized by distributed transceivers with higher throughput streams, and a wider beam pattern may be utilized by transceivers with lower throughput data streams and/or data streams that may require higher fidelity. For example, the coordinatingentity 108 may determine that theaccess point 102 should configure the distributedtransceiver 104 a with a wide beam pattern to accommodate a low throughput stream (but with higher fidelity) and configure the distributedtransceiver 104 n with a narrow sharp beam pattern to accommodate a high throughput stream. - The backhaul connection from the
access points FIG. 1 ) via thegateway 110. In an exemplary embodiment of the invention, themobile communication device 129 may want to download data from an external resource such as a database in theserver 18 a on theInternet 18. The coordinatingentity 108 may be operable to split the corresponding traffic from theserver 18 a to themobile communication device 129 into a plurality of data streams. The coordinatingentity 108 may be operable to route a portion of the corresponding data stream from theserver 18 a to theaccess point 102 while a remaining portion of the corresponding data stream may be routed from theserver 18 a to theaccess point 112 via thegateway 110 and one or more of thebackhaul communication links mobile communication device 129 may be operable to reconstruct the original downloaded data stream by aggregating the different portions of the corresponding data streams that are received via theaccess points - The coordinating
entity 108 may be operable to control various operations, functions and/or resources of theaccess points entity 108 may be operable to control and/or manage the configuration and/or reconfiguration of the various operations, functions and/or resources of theaccess points entity 108 may be operable to control and/or manage, for example, the various modes of operation, beam patterns, and/or the data splitting ratio between a plurality of access points such as theaccess points entity 108 may be operable to control various operations, functions and/or resources of theaccess points access points - In an exemplary embodiment of the invention, for a frame-by-frame operation, for a current frame, the coordinating
entity 108 may configure theaccess point 102 to communicate data to themobile communication device 129 utilizing a first carrier frequency and modulation scheme such as LTE over a 2 GHz carrier frequency. For the subsequent frame, the coordinatingentity 108 may reconfigure theaccess point 102 to communicate data to themobile communication device 129 utilizing a second carrier frequency and modulation scheme such as, OFDM over a 60 GHz carrier frequency. - In an exemplary embodiment of the invention, for a frame-by-frame operation, for a current frame, the coordinating
entity 108 may configure theaccess point 102 to communicate data to themobile communication device 129 utilizing a first carrier frequency and modulation scheme such as LTE over a 2 GHz carrier frequency. For the subsequent frame, the coordinatingentity 108 may configure theaccess point 112 to communicate data to themobile communication device 129 utilizing a second carrier frequency and modulation scheme such as, OFDM over a 60 GHz carrier frequency. - In another exemplary embodiment of the invention, for a session-by-session operation, for a current communication session, the coordinating
entity 108 may configure theaccess point 102 to communicate data to themobile communication device 129 utilizing a first carrier frequency and modulation scheme such as LTE over a 2 GHz carrier frequency. For the subsequent communication session, the coordinatingentity 108 may reconfigure theaccess point 102 to communicate data to themobile communication device 129 utilizing a second carrier frequency and modulation scheme such as, OFDM over a 60 GHz carrier frequency. - In another exemplary another embodiment of the invention, for a session-by-session operation, for a current communication session, the coordinating
entity 108 may configure theaccess point 102 to communicate data to themobile communication device 129 utilizing a first carrier frequency and modulation scheme such as, LTE over a 2 GHz carrier frequency. For the subsequent communication session, the coordinatingentity 108 may configure theaccess point 112 to communicate data to themobile communication device 129 utilizing a second carrier frequency and modulation scheme such as, OFDM over a 60 GHz carrier frequency. - The point at which the session may be transferred from one access point to another access point may be determined by the coordinating
entity 108 based on, for example, location information ofmobile communication device 129 and/or theaccess points entity 108 to determine the characteristics of the beams and/or the transceiver settings that should be utilized in order to optimize communication. - The coordinating
entity 108 may be operable to utilize the locations of themobile communication device 129, theaccess point 102 and/or theaccess point 112 in order to provide an initial configuration of network parameters and/or settings for the distributed transceivers beam patterns and directions, power levels, individual stream data rates, and so on. The coordinatingentity 108 may also operate in an adaptive manner in which it may be trained over time as it builds up a history of good settings for different locations, different devices, different environment conditions and so on, as more users connect to the communication network. - In an exemplary embodiment of the invention, it may be assumed that the
mobile communication device 129 is located at a position specified by the coordinates (x1, y1, z1) and/or its spatial orientation. The coordinatingentity 108 may be operable to utilize various positioning techniques such as triangulation in order to estimate the position and/or orientation of themobile communication device 129. The coordinatingentity 108 may be operable to utilize various training and estimation/optimization methods to determine the optimal configuration and/or settings for the plurality of distributedtransceivers 104 a, . . . , 104 n, 114 a, . . . , 114 n, and/or theantenna arrays 105 a, . . . , 105 n, 115 a, . . . , 115 n in the network that may deliver the best capacity and/or performance to themobile communication device 129. These settings may comprise, for example, activate access points, activate transceivers, beam-forming settings, transmit power levels for each of the plurality of distributed transceivers, orientation of the antenna arrays and/or corresponding antenna array elements, and so on. The coordinatingentity 108 may be operable to store these optimal settings along with the location data (eg x1, y1, z1) in a database within thememory 108 b. The next time that the coordinatingentity 108 is establishing a connection with another mobile communication device, which may be located at or near (x1, y1, z1), it uses the optimal settings stored from previous connections as a good starting point to greatly speed up the connection setup and its optimization. The database, which may be stored in thememory 108 b, may also be utilized by the system to improve the accuracy of location finding algorithms over time. In this case, the reverse of the above procedure may be utilized for positioning improvement. The coordinatingentity 108 utilizes the close correlation between location and optimal settings to map optimal settings to a location value. For example, the coordinatingentity 108 may be operable to store, in the database in thememory 108 b, information, which indicates that for themobile communication device 129 at location (x1, y1, z1), the optimal network settings (eg S1) leads to the best link performance. In instances where the coordinatingentity 108 establishes a link with another mobile communication device, and after iterations of settings, for example, optimizing beam patterns, power levels, antenna array orientation, and so on, the optimal settings converge to the value S1 in the database, the coordinatingentity 108 may be operable to conclude that the mobile communication device is within the vicinity of location (x1, y1, z1). The information stored in the database in thememory 108 b may be based on ongoing measurements and analysis of current and/or stored data. - Different location techniques may be utilized by the system for the above purpose. Exemplary location techniques may comprise global navigation satellite system (GNSS) such as global positioning system (GPS), triangulation, and/or a known location of a neighboring device such as a WiFi access point. Additionally, the location data may be utilized by the coordinating
entity 108 to identify a possible set of distributed transceivers that may be better suited for multi-stream operations, such as multiplexing in the same frequency channel, by demonstrating good phase condition properties. - The role of the coordinating
entity 108 in configuring resources, for example the initial settings and/or carrier frequencies, may be shared or combined with the role of a medium access controller (MAC). In other words, the information collected and/or utilized by the coordinatingentity 108 may also be used by the MAC controller to improve other MAC functionalities. - In one embodiment of the invention, the data demodulation (digital processing of sampled data by analog-to-digital converters) may be performed by each
central baseband processors access points access points access points - In another embodiment of the invention, the raw data out of analog-digital converters corresponding to different distributed transceivers within the
access points entity 108 for processing. The coordinatingentity 108 may be operable to complete the remaining digital and/or baseband processing on the samples collected from one or more of the distributedtransceivers 104 a, . . . , 104 n, 114 a, . . . , 114 n withinaccess points backhaul communication links access points entity 108 as raw data is being communication over the backhaul links 154, 156. This may be suitable in instances when thebackhaul communication links access points entity 108 comprise a very high throughput such as optical links and/or high throughput Ethernet connections. In return, the coordinatingentity 108 may be operable to perform joint processing and/or decoding of the streams that are captured by the various spatially-separated plurality of distributedtransceivers 104 a, . . . , 104 n, 114 a, . . . , 114 n withinaccess points transceiver 104 a in theaccess point 102 and the distributedtransceiver 114 a in theaccess point 112 are configured to receive the same data stream frommobile communication device 129, the coordinatingentity 108 may process the captured samples from the plurality of distributedtransceivers - In accordance with various embodiments of the invention, phase condition optimization (e.g., θ12−θ11+θ21−θ22=(2n+1)×180°) may be performed over a plurality of distributed transceivers such as the distributed
transceivers access points entity 108 may be operable to identify distributed transceivers across a plurality of devices such as theaccess points entity 108 is operable to collect the samples from the corresponding distributed transceivers, for example distributedtransceivers different access points - In some embodiments of the invention, the
mobile communication device 129 may be operable to receive its overall target data stream through aggregation of partial streams, which may be transmitted concurrently over a plurality of different access-points. For example, themobile communication device 129 may be operable to receive the overall target data stream through aggregation of partial streams, which may be transmitted concurrently from theaccess point 102 and theaccess point 112. Themobile communication device 129 may be operable to receive its overall target data stream from the same distributed transceivers within theaccess point 102 and theaccess point 112 and/or from different distributed transceivers within theaccess point 102 and theaccess point 112. In instances where the spatial multiplexing mode is utilized, the corresponding partial data streams may be communicated over the same frequency by relying on the spatial separation of theaccess points co-channel links entity 108 continues operating the network in spatial multiplexing mode (for maximal frequency reuse). If cross-interference is no longer avoidable (due to position of devices and directions of arrival), the coordinatingentity 108 may decide to switch to frequency multiplexing to prevent a drop in throughput. If the frequency multiplexing mode is used, those partial data streams are sent over different carrier frequencies (at the same time). As another example, a hybrid combination may be configured by the coordinatingentity 108 wherelinks - Various aspects of the invention may comprise a coordinating
entity 108, which is operable to communicate with a plurality of network devices such as theaccess points access points transceivers 104 a, . . . , 104 n, 114 a, . . . , 114 n and one or morecorresponding antenna arrays 105 a, . . . , 105 n, 115 a, . . . , 115 n, respectively. The coordinatingentity 108 may be operable to receive information from one or more of the plurality of network devices such as theaccess points mobile communication device 129, which are communicatively coupled to the one or more of the plurality of network devices such as theaccess points - The coordinating
entity 108 may be operable to coordinate communication of data streams for one or more of the plurality of distributedtransceivers 104 a, . . . , 104 n, 114 a, . . . , 114 n and one or morecorresponding antenna arrays 105 a, . . . , 105 n, 115 a, . . . , 115 n, respectively, for the plurality of network devices such as theaccess points entity 108 may be integrated within one of the plurality of network devices such as theaccess points entity 108 are split between the coordinating entity and one or more of the plurality of network devices such as theaccess points - The coordinating
entity 108 may be operable to dynamically and/or adaptively control adjustment of one or more configuration settings for the one or more of the plurality of distributedtransceivers 104 a, . . . , 104 n, 114 a, . . . , 114 n and one or morecorresponding antenna arrays 105 a, . . . , 105 n, 115 a, . . . , 115 n, respectively, for one or more of the plurality of network devices such as theaccess points entity 108 may also be operable to store the received information to generate a history of received information. The coordinatingentity 108 may aggregate the history of the received information with current information that may be received from one or more of the plurality of network devices such as theaccess points mobile communication device 129. The coordinatingentity 108 may also be operable to dynamically and/or adaptively control adjustment of one or more configuration settings for the one or more of the plurality of distributedtransceivers 104 a, . . . , 104 n, 114 a, . . . , 114 n and one or morecorresponding antenna arrays 105 a, . . . , 105 n, 115 a, . . . , 115 n, respectively, for one or more of the plurality of network devices such as theaccess points - The coordinating
entity 108 may also be operable to dynamically and/or adaptively control two or more of the plurality of distributed transceivers in a network device such as theaccess point 102 to utilize different modes of operation and/or to split the communication of the data streams amongst one or more of the plurality of distributedtransceivers 104 a, . . . , 104 n in a corresponding plurality of network devices. Exemplary modes of operation may comprise a spatial diversity mode, a frequency diversity mode, a spatial multiplexing mode, a frequency multiplexing mode and a multiple-input-multiple-output (MIMO) mode of operation. The coordinatingentity 108 may be operable to backhauling traffic from one or more of the network devices via one or more wired and/or wireless communication links. In an exemplary embodiment of the invention, the distributed transceivers, for example, the distributedtransceivers 104 a, . . . , 104 n, 114 a, . . . , 114 n may be configured to switch between spatial diversity mode, frequency diversity mode, multiplexing mode and MIMO mode based on, for example corresponding propagation environment conditions, link quality, device capabilities, device locations, resource availability and/or usage, latency requirements, target throughput and/or link budgets, application QoS requirements, class of service, and/or traffic type. The coordinating entity may also be operable to control two or more of the plurality of distributedtransceivers 104 a, . . . , 104 n, 114 a, . . . , 114 n in a network device such as theaccess points - In various aspects of the invention, a communication device such as the
mobile communication device 129, which comprises a plurality of distributedtransceivers 133 a, . . . , 133 n and one or morecorresponding antenna arrays 134 a, . . . , 134 n may be operable to determine characteristics of one or more objects such as theobject communication device 129. Thecommunication device 129 may configure one or more of the plurality of distributed transceivers distributedtransceivers 133 a, . . . , 133 n and/or one or morecorresponding antenna arrays 134 a, . . . , 134 n to handle communication of one or more data streams based on the determined characteristics. Exemplary characteristics may comprise reflective property and/or refractive property of the sensed one or more objects within the surrounding communication environment of the communication device. Thecommunication device 129 may be operable to store the determined characteristics, corresponding temporal information and/or spatial information for the sensed one or more objects, and/or signal propagation characteristics within the surrounding communication environment of the communication device. A map of the surrounding communication environment of thecommunication device 129 may also be generated based on the stored determined characteristics, corresponding temporal information and/or spatial information, and/or signal propagation characteristics. Thecommunication device 129 may be operable to dynamically update the stored determined characteristics, corresponding temporal information and/or spatial information, and/or signal propagation characteristics, and/or the map based on additional information acquired by thecommunication device 129, information received from one or more other communication devices such as theaccess points entity 108. Thecommunication device 129 may be operable to communicate surrounding communication environment data comprising the determined characteristics, the corresponding temporal information and/or spatial information for the sensed one or more objects, and/or the signal propagation characteristics, from thecommunication device 129 to a coordinating device such as the coordinatingentity 108. The coordinating device such as the coordinatingentity 108 may be operable to process and/or aggregate the communicated surrounding communication environment data with other corresponding data for the communication environment, which is received from one or more other communication devices and/or one or more network devices to generate resulting data for the surrounding communication environment. The coordinating device such as the coordinatingentity 108 may also communicate the resulting data for the surrounding communication environment from the coordinating device such as the coordinatingentity 108 to thecommunication device 129, the one or more other communication devices such as theaccess points - The
communication device 129 may be operable to receive the communicated resulting data for the surrounding communication environment from the coordinating device such as the coordinatingentity 108. Thecommunication device 129 may be operable to adjust configuration of one or more of the plurality of distributedtransceivers 133 a, . . . , 133 n and/or one or morecorresponding antenna arrays 134 a, . . . , 134 n based on the received resulting data for the surrounding communication environment. Thecommunication device 129 may be operable to determine one or more communication paths for communicating one or more of the data streams within the surrounding communication environment. Thecommunication device 129 may be operable to configure one or more of the plurality of distributedtransceivers 133 a, . . . , 133 n and/or one or morecorresponding antenna arrays 134 a, . . . , 134 n to communicate one or more of the data streams via the determined one or more communication paths. One or more of the determined communication paths, which may be utilized for communicating the one or more data streams within the surrounding communication environment, may utilize a reflective surface and/or a refractive surface of the sensed one or more objects within the surrounding communication environment. -
FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating distributed transceivers utilized for wireless communication in access points in which the access points utilize different link protocols and/or operating modes, in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the invention.FIG. 3 , there are shownaccess points mobile communication device 129, a coordinatingentity 108 and agateway 110. The access points 102, 112, themobile communication device 129, the coordinatingentity 108 and thegateway 110 may be substantially similar to the corresponding components, which are shown in and described with respect toFIG. 2 . The components within each of theaccess points mobile communication device 129 and the coordinatingentity 108 may be substantially similar to the corresponding components, which are shown in and described with respect toFIG. 2 . The communication links 151 a, . . . , 151 n, 152, 153, 154, 155, 156, 157 and 158 may be substantially similar to the corresponding components, which are shown in and described with respect toFIG. 2 .FIG. 3 also shows arefractive surface 119 a, a flatreflective surface 119 b and a curvedreflective surface 119 c. - The
refractive surface 119 a may be substantially similar to therefractive surfaces FIG. 1 . The flatreflective surface 119 b may be substantially similar to the flatrefractive surfaces FIG. 1 . The curvedreflective surface 119 c may be substantially similar to the curvedreflective surfaces FIG. 1 . - The
access point 102 may also comprise a network management engine (NME) 107. Thenetwork management engine 107 may be operable to manage communication resources within theaccess point 102. Thenetwork management engine 107 may be operable to coordinate managing of the communication resources for theaccess point 102 with the coordinatingentity 108 and/or thenetwork management engine 117 in theaccess point 112. Thenetwork management engine 107 may be operable to communicate surrounding environment information for theaccess point 102 to thenetwork management engine 108 e in the coordinatingentity 108. Thenetwork management engine 108 e in the coordinatingentity 108 may be operable to process and analyze the surrounding environment information and utilize the resulting information to coordinate, oversee and/or manage the operation of one or more of thenetwork management engines access points mobile communication device 129. - The
access point 112 may also comprise anetwork management engine 117. Thenetwork management engine 117 may be operable to manage communication resources within theaccess point 112. Thenetwork management engine 117 may be operable to coordinate managing of the communication resources for theaccess point 112 with the coordinatingentity 108 and/or thenetwork management engine 107 in theaccess point 102. Thenetwork management engine 117 may be operable to communicate surrounding environment information for theaccess point 112 to thenetwork management engine 108 e in the coordinatingentity 108. Thenetwork management engine 108 e in the coordinatingentity 108 may be operable to process and analyze the surrounding environment information and utilize the resulting information to coordinate, oversee and/or manage the operation of one or more of thenetwork management engines access points mobile communication device 129. - The coordinating
entity 108 may also comprise an optionalnetwork management engine 108 e. Thenetwork management engine 108 e, which may be optional, may be operable to coordinate, oversee and/or manage the operation of one or more of the network management engines in the network. For example, the optionalnetwork management engine 108 e may be operable to coordinate, oversee and/or manage operation of thenetwork management engine 107 in theaccess point 102 and/or thenetwork management engine 117 in theaccess point 112. In this regard, the optionalnetwork management engine 108 e may be operable to coordinate operation of the communication resources within theaccess points network management engines network management engine 108 e. The optionalnetwork management engine 108 e may be operable to utilize information from thegateway 110, theaccess point 102, theaccess point 112, themobile communication device 129, and/or from within the coordinatingentity 108 to coordinate, oversee and/or manage the operation of one or more of the network management engines in network. Thenetwork management engine 108 e in the coordinatingentity 108 may be operable to utilize process and/or aggregate the surrounding environment information from one or more of thenetwork management engines access points mobile communication device 129. Thenetwork management engine 108 e in the coordinatingentity 108 may be operable to utilize the resulting information to coordinate, oversee and/or manage the operation of one or more of the network management engines in network in order to configure one or more of the distributed transceivers in one or more of theaccess points mobile communication device 129. - In an exemplary embodiment of the invention, the
network management engine 108 e in the coordinatingentity 108 may be operable to receive sensed information for the surrounding environments of theaccess points central processors network management engine 108 e in the coordinatingentity 108 may be operable to utilize the received sensed information of the surrounding environment of theaccess points mobile communication device 129 to determine configuration information for one or more of the distributed transceivers in one or more of theaccess points mobile communication device 129. Thenetwork management engine 108 e in the coordinatingentity 108 may be operable to communicate the determined configuration information to theaccess points mobile communication device 129. Thecentral processors access points mobile communication device 129 may utilize the determined information to configure one or more of thetransceivers 104 a, . . . , 104 n and/or one or more of theantenna arrays 105 a, . . . , 105 n, which are inaccess point 102, one or more of thetransceivers 114 a, . . . , 114 n and/or one or more of theantenna arrays 115 a, . . . , 115 n, which are inaccess point 112 and/or one or more of thetransceivers 133 a, . . . , 133 n and/or one or more of theantenna arrays 134 a, . . . , 134 n, which are in themobile communication device 129, respectively. In this regard, the determined information may be utilized to configure the corresponding transceivers and/or antenna arrays to utilize one or more of therefractive surface 119 a, the flatreflective surface 119 b and/or the curvedreflective surface 119 c in order to optimize communication. The determined information may also be utilized to configure the corresponding transceivers and/or antenna arrays to avoid any objects that may block the communication of signals from one or more of the corresponding transceivers and/or antenna arrays. - In accordance with various embodiments of the invention, the distributed transceivers within a unit or device such as the
access points mobile communication device 129 may be operable to support different carrier frequencies and/or modulation schemes through the same distributed transceiver implementation. In some embodiments of the invention, some of the distributed transceivers within a unit or device such as theaccess points mobile communication device 129 may be enabled to operate at certain carrier frequency ranges and/or utilize certain modulation schemes, while other distributed transceivers within the unit or device may be enabled to operate at other carrier frequency ranges and/or utilize different modulation schemes. In various embodiments of the invention, information associated with the environment surrounding theaccess points mobile communication device 129 may be utilized to determine the carrier frequency ranges and/or the modulation schemes, which are employed. - In various exemplary embodiment of the invention, the distributed
transceiver 104 a and the distributedtransceiver 104 n, which are both within theaccess point 102 may be operable to utilize different carrier frequencies and/or modulation schemes. As illustrated inFIG. 2 , the distributedtransceiver 104 a may be operable to utilize a lower carrier frequency such as 2 GHz based on cellular, such as LTE, or WLAN modulation and/or constellations and protocols such as code division multiple access (CDMA) and variants thereof, orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) in 2 GHz carrier frequency with different channel bandwidths, for example, 5 MHz, 10 MHz and/or 20 MHz. Other distributed transceivers in theaccess point 102 or theaccess point 112 may be operable to utilize higher carrier frequencies such as 60 GHz based on WiGig, 802.11ad modulations, constellations, and/or protocols, for example, single-carrier modulation or OFDM. In an exemplary embodiment of the invention, the distributedtransceiver 114 a in theaccess point 112 may be operable to utilize a 60 GHz WiGig modulation, constellations, and/or protocols. In some embodiments of the invention, theaccess points access points mobile communication device 129 associated with their corresponding surrounding environment may be utilized to determine the frequencies, modulation, constellations, and/or protocols, which are utilized by the distributed transceivers. - Each of the
network management engines access points corresponding access points network management engine 107 in theaccess point 102 may be operable to manage, for example, the carrier frequencies, beam patterns, protocols and/or modulation schemes that are utilized by the plurality of distributedtransceivers 104 a, . . . , 104 n, which are located in theaccess point 102. Similarly, thenetwork management engine 117 in theaccess point 112 may be operable to manage, for example, the carrier frequencies, beam patterns, protocols and/or modulation schemes that are utilized by the plurality of distributedtransceivers 114 a, . . . , 114 n, which are located in theaccess point 112. Although network management engines are shown only in theaccess points entity 108, the invention is not limited in this regard. Accordingly, a network management engine may reside in other components within the network. For example, a network management engine may be located in thegateway 110. In cases where a close coordination is desired or required between thenetwork management engines network management engine 108 e may be operable to coordinate operation of the distributednetwork management engines access points network management engines network management engine 108 e may be operable to dynamically and/or adaptively reassign and/or reactivate transceiver resources in theaccess points network management engines network management engine 108 e may be operable to reconfigure the plurality of distributedtransceivers 104 a, . . . , 104 n and/or 114 a, . . . , 114 n, which are located in theaccess points - In some cases, one or more of the
network management engines network management engine 108 e may be operable to configure and/or activate some of the plurality of distributed transceivers of thetransceivers 104 a, . . . , 104 n and 114 a, . . . , 114 n, which are located in theaccess points transceivers 104 a, . . . , 104 n and 114 a, . . . , 114 n may be configured and/or activated to operate at higher carrier frequencies. Accordingly, one or more of thenetwork management engines network management engine 108 e may be operable to optimize the overall link throughput and/or performance for the data being transported and/or aggregated over the plurality of carrier frequencies. - In instances when one or more of the
network management engines network management engine 108 e may configure one or more the plurality of distributedtransceivers 104 a, . . . , 104 n and 114 a, . . . , 114 n to operate at, for example, a 2 GHz carrier frequency and there may be a request for higher capacity and/or throughput, one or more of the network management engines, 107, 117 and/or the optionalnetwork management engine 108 e may be operable to establish additional streams over, for example, a 60 GHz carrier frequency, in parallel, utilizing additional available transceiver resources. In some instances, one or more of the network management engines, for example, thenetwork management engines network management engine 108 e may be operable to reassign at least a portion of the resources used for 2 GHz carrier frequency to the 60 GHz carrier frequency and provide the requested capacity over at least a portion of the 60 GHz carrier frequencies. In this regard, there may be instances when one or more of the network management engines, for example, thenetwork management engines network management engine 108 e may be operable to reassign all of the resources used for 2 GHz carrier frequency to the 60 GHz carrier frequency and provide the requested capacity over only the 60 GHz carrier frequencies. - In some embodiments of the invention, the
network management engine 107, thenetwork management engine 117 and/or the optionalnetwork management engine 108 e may be operable to assign different traffic types and/or class of traffic for transporting over different carrier frequencies depending on the requirements of each traffic type and/or class. For example, critical but low throughput control traffic may be assigned to be transported over lower carrier frequencies, for example, LTE in the 2 GHz carrier frequency range, while high throughput video streaming traffic may be assigned to be transported concurrently over higher carrier frequencies such as one or more mmWave links in the 60 GHz carrier frequency range. Similarly, in order to provide a particular QoS to themobile communication device 129 and/or to handle specific CoS traffic, thenetwork management engine 107, thenetwork management engine 117 and/or the optionalnetwork management engine 108 e may be operable to assign corresponding traffic for transporting over different carrier frequencies. - In a location-based allocation of resources mode of operation, the
network management engine 107, thenetwork management engine 117 and/or the optionalnetwork management engine 108 e may be operable to utilize the location and/or orientation of themobile communication device 129 and/or the locations of one or more of theaccess points network management engine 107, thenetwork management engine 117 and/or the optionalnetwork management engine 108 e may be operable to utilize past history of link quality per carrier frequency versus the corresponding location of a mobile communication device such as themobile communication device 129 to determine the carrier frequencies to activate and/or utilize the requested link throughput. Locations with history of good 60 GHz propagation conditions may utilize one or more of 60 GHz carrier frequencies. Locations with poorer 60 GHz propagation properties may rely more on lower carrier frequencies such as LTE at 2 GHz carrier frequency. In some embodiments of the invention, additional sensors may be used to sense and/or acquire other data from the environment and that other data may be utilized to establish the link from better initial settings for the plurality of distributedtransceivers 104 a, . . . , 104 n, and 114 a, . . . , 114 n. The sensed and/or acquired data may comprise, for example, time, date, temperature, atmospheric conditions, and so on. The history and location information may be stored in thememory 108 b of the coordinatingentity 108. combination of coarse and fine positioning methods may be utilized. A coarse method (e.g., based on WiFi signal) may be used for quick initialization of settings, followed by a finer method (e.g., based on mmWave signal) for tuning the settings. - In a price-based allocation of resources mode of operation, the
network management engine 107, thenetwork management engine 117, the optionalnetwork management engine 108 e and/or network operator may utilize a pricing scheme for allocation of carrier frequencies. While certain carrier frequencies can be allocated and/or utilized for users requesting free service, other carrier frequencies, for example, carrier frequencies with better quality, throughput, latency and/or capacity characteristics, may be allocated for premium users or users that are paying a fee. In some embodiments of the invention, the activation of higher quality services, for example, through certain carrier frequencies may be done by users on a per-demand basis. In such cases, the user may activate an application running on a communication device such as one of thecommunication devices -
FIG. 4 is a block diagram of an exemplary beamforming implementation of a distributed transceiver device comprising corresponding receive portions of two transceivers, each of which receives the same data stream, in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the invention. Referring toFIG. 4 , there are shown a distributedtransceiver device 400 comprisingreceiver portions Rx 1, TX/Rx 2. The receive paths 404 a-to-412 and 404 b-to-412 transport the same data stream, whilemulti-antenna transceivers - The
receiver portion 402 of the transceiver Tx/Rx 1 may compriseantennas phase shifters combiner 410 and a RF to intermediate frequency (IF)conversion module 412. The path comprising theantenna 404 a, thelow noise amplifier 406 a, thephase shifter 408 a, the radio frequency (RF)combiner 410 and the RF to intermediate frequency (IF)conversion module 412 may comprise a first receive processing path or chain within thereceiver portion 402 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 1. The path comprising theantenna 404 b, thelow noise amplifier 406 b, thephase shifter 408 b, the radio frequency (RF)combiner 410 and the RF to intermediate frequency (IF)conversion module 412 may comprise a second receive processing path or chain within thereceiver portion 402 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 1. Although twoantennas phase shifters FIG. 4 , the invention is not necessarily limited in this regard. Accordingly, the number of antennas, low noise amplifiers, phase shifters, RF combiners and/or RF-to-IF conversion modules may vary depending on, for example, implementation and/or other factors, without departing from the spirit and/or scope of the invention. - The
receiver portion 422 of the transceiver Tx/Rx 2 may compriseantennas phase shifters combiner 430 and a RF to intermediate frequency (IF)conversion module 432. The path comprising theantenna 424 a, thelow noise amplifier 426 a, thephase shifter 428 a, the radio frequency (RF)combiner 430 and the RF to intermediate frequency (IF)conversion module 432 may comprise a first receive processing path or chain within thereceiver portion 422 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 2. The path comprising theantenna 424 b, thelow noise amplifier 426 b, thephase shifter 428 b, the radio frequency (RF)combiner 430 and the RF to intermediate frequency (IF)conversion module 432 may comprise a second receive processing path or chain within thereceiver portion 422 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 2. Although twoantennas phase shifters FIG. 4 , the invention is not necessarily limited in this regard. Accordingly, the number of antennas, low noise amplifiers, phase shifters, RF combiners and/or RF-to-IF conversion modules may vary depending on, for example, implementation and/or other factors, without departing from the spirit and/or scope of the invention. - Each of the
antennas receiver portion 402 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 1 may comprise suitable logic, circuitry, interfaces and/or code that may be operable to receive and/or transmit wireless signals. In this regard, each of theantennas FIG. 4 , each of theantennas data 1 from a first direction. - Each of the low noise amplifiers (LNAs) 406 a, 406 b within the
receiver portion 402 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 1 may comprise suitable logic, circuitry, interfaces and/or code that may be operable to provide low noise amplification of the signals that are received by theantennas - Each of the
phase shifters receiver portion 402 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 1 may comprise suitable logic, circuitry, interfaces and/or code that may be operable to adjust the phase of the signals that are output by the low noise amplifiers (LNAs) 406 a, 406 b, respectively. - The radio frequency (RF)
combiner 410 within thereceiver portion 402 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 1 may comprise suitable logic, circuitry, interfaces and/or code that may be operable to combine the resulting phase shifted signals that may be received from thephase shifters - The RF to intermediate frequency (IF)
conversion module 412 within thereceiver portion 402 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 1 may comprise suitable logic, circuitry, interfaces and/or code that may be operable to convert the output combined RF signals, which are generated by theRF combiner 410. In this regard, the RF-to-IF conversion module 412 may comprise, for example, one or more mixers, synthesizers and/or local oscillator generators, which may be operable to mix and/or otherwise convert the combined RF signals, which are generated by theRF combiner 410, to corresponding IF signals. The corresponding IF signals may comprise an intermediate frequency representation of the data stream, namely,data 2. - Each of the
antennas receiver portion 422 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 2 may comprise suitable logic, circuitry, interfaces and/or code that may be operable to receive and/or transmit wireless signals. In this regard, each of theantennas FIG. 4 , each of theantennas data 2 from a second direction, which may be different from the first direction. - Each of the low noise amplifiers (LNAs) 426 a, 426 b within the
receiver portion 422 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 2 may comprise suitable logic, circuitry, interfaces and/or code that may be operable to provide low noise amplification of the signals that are received by theantennas - Each of the
phase shifters receiver portion 422 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 2 may comprise suitable logic, circuitry, interfaces and/or code that may be operable to adjust the phase of the signals that are output by the low noise amplifiers (LNAs) 426 a, 426 b, respectively. - The radio frequency (RF)
combiner 430 within thereceiver portion 422 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 2 may comprise suitable logic, circuitry, interfaces and/or code that may be operable to combine the resulting phase shifted signals that may be received from thephase shifters - The RF to intermediate frequency (IF)
conversion module 432 within thereceiver portion 422 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 2 may comprise suitable logic, circuitry, interfaces and/or code that may be operable to convert the output combined RF signals, which are generated by theRF combiner 430. In this regard, the RF-to-IF conversion module 432 may comprise, for example, one or more mixers, synthesizers and/or local oscillator generators, which may be operable to mix and/or otherwise convert the combined RF signals, which are generated by theRF combiner 430, to corresponding IF signals. The corresponding IF signals may comprise an intermediate frequency representation of the data stream, namely,data 2. - In accordance with various embodiments of the invention, for the beamforming implementation shown in
FIG. 4 , a plurality of phase shifters may be utilized by each of thereceiver portion 402 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 1 and thereceiver portion 422 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 2. The plurality of phase shifters may be operable to improve receiver beamforming gain for the plurality of antennas in the distributed transceivers. For example, thephase shifters receiver portion 402 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 1 and thephase shifters receiver portion 422 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 2 are operable to improve the beamforming gain for the plurality ofantennas antennas Rx 1 and the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 2, respectively. Thephase shifters receiver portion 402 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 1 may be dynamically and/or adaptively configured or adjusted to maximize beamforming gain on the data stream, namely, data 1 (arriving from direction 1). Similarly, thephase shifters receiver portion 422 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 2 may be dynamically and/or adaptively configured or adjusted to maximize beamforming gain on the data stream, namely, data 2 (arriving from direction 2). In general,directions receiver portion 402 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 1 and thereceiver portion 422 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 2 may be equivalent to the beamforming gain for the combined antennas. -
FIG. 5A is a block diagram of an exemplary beamforming implementation of a distributed transceiver device comprising corresponding receive portions of two transceivers, which each receives two separate data streams, in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the invention. Referring toFIG. 5A , there are shown a distributedtransceiver device 500A comprisingreceiver portions Rx 1, Tx/Rx 2. - The
receiver portion 502 of the transceiver Tx/Rx 1 may compriseantennas phase shifters combiner 510 and a RF to intermediate frequency (IF)conversion module 512. The path comprising theantenna 504 a, thelow noise amplifier 506 a, thephase shifter 508 a, the radio frequency (RF)combiner 510 and the RF to intermediate frequency (IF)conversion module 512 may comprise a first receive processing path or chain that is solely within thereceiver portion 502 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 1. The path comprising theantenna 504 b, thelow noise amplifier 506 b, thephase shifter 508 d, the radio frequency (RF)combiner 510 and the RF to intermediate frequency (IF)conversion module 512 may comprise a second receive processing path or chain that is solely within thereceiver portion 502 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 1. Although twoantennas phase shifters FIG. 5A , the invention is not limited in this regard. Accordingly, the number of antennas, low noise amplifiers, phase shifters, RF combiners and/or RF-to-IF conversion modules may vary depending on, for example, implementation and/or other factors, without departing from the spirit and/or scope of the invention. - The
receiver portion 522 of the transceiver Tx/Rx 2 may compriseantennas phase shifters combiner 530 and a RF to intermediate frequency (IF)conversion module 532. The path comprising theantenna 524 a, thelow noise amplifier 526 a, the phase shifter 428 c, the radio frequency (RF)combiner 530 and the RF to intermediate frequency (IF)conversion module 532 may comprise a first receive processing path or chain that is solely within thereceiver portion 522 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 2. The path comprising theantenna 524 b, thelow noise amplifier 526 b, thephase shifter 528 b, the radio frequency (RF)combiner 530 and the RF to intermediate frequency (IF)conversion module 532 may comprise a second receive processing path or chain that is solely within thereceiver portion 522 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 2. Although twoantennas phase shifters FIG. 5A , the invention is not necessarily limited in this regard. Accordingly, the number of antennas, low noise amplifiers, phase shifters, RF combiners and/or RF-to-IF conversion modules may vary depending on, for example, implementation and/or other factors, without departing from the spirit and/or scope of the invention. - Each of the
antennas receiver portion 502 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 1 may comprise suitable logic, circuitry, interfaces and/or code that may be operable to receive and/or transmit wireless signals. In this regard, each of theantennas antenna 504 a may be operable to receive a data stream, namely,data 1 from a first direction and theantennas 504 b may be operable to receive a data stream, namely,data 2 from a second direction. The first direction and the second direction may be different. - Each of the low noise amplifiers (LNAs) 506 a, 506 b within the
receiver portion 502 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 1 may comprise suitable logic, circuitry, interfaces and/or code that may be operable to provide low noise amplification of the signals that are received by theantennas - The
phase shifters receiver portion 502 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 1 may comprise suitable logic, circuitry, interfaces and/or code that may be operable to adjust the phase of the signals that are output by thelow noise amplifiers phase shifters low noise amplifiers 506 a, and thephase shifters low noise amplifier 506 b, respectively. - The radio frequency (RF)
combiner 510 within thereceiver portion 502 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 1 may comprise suitable logic, circuitry, interfaces and/or code that may be operable to combine the resulting phase shifted signals that may be received from thephase shifters receiver portion 502 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 1 and the resulting phase shifted signals that may be received from thephase shifters receiver portion 522 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 2. - The RF to intermediate frequency (IF)
conversion module 512 within thereceiver portion 502 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 1 may comprise suitable logic, circuitry, interfaces and/or code that may be operable to convert the output combined RF signals, which are generated by theRF combiner 510. In this regard, the RF-to-IF conversion module 512 may comprise, for example, one or more mixers, synthesizers and/or local oscillator generators, which may be operable to mix and/or otherwise convert the combined RF signals, which are generated by theRF combiner 510, to corresponding IF signals. The corresponding IF signals may comprise an intermediate frequency representation of the data streams, namely,data 1 anddata 2. - Each of the
antennas receiver portion 522 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 2 may comprise suitable logic, circuitry, interfaces and/or code that may be operable to receive and/or transmit wireless signals. In this regard, each of theantennas FIG. 5A , theantenna 524 a may be operable to receive data stream, namely,data 1 from a third direction and theantennas 524 b may be operable to receive a data stream, namely,data 2 from a fourth direction. The third direction and the fourth direction may be different. - Each of the low noise amplifiers (LNAs) 526 a, 526 b within the
receiver portion 522 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 2 may comprise suitable logic, circuitry, interfaces and/or code that may be operable to provide low noise amplification of the signals that are received by theantennas - The
phase shifters receiver portion 522 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 2 may comprise suitable logic, circuitry, interfaces and/or code that may be operable to adjust the phase of the signals that are output by thelow noise amplifiers phase shifters low noise amplifiers 526 a, and thephase shifters low noise amplifier 526 b, respectively. - The radio frequency (RF)
combiner 530 within thereceiver portion 522 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 2 may comprise suitable logic, circuitry, interfaces and/or code that may be operable to combine the resulting phase shifted signals that may be received from thephase shifters receiver portion 522 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 2 and the resulting phase shifted signals that may be received from thephase shifters receiver portion 502 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 1. - The RF to intermediate frequency (IF)
conversion module 532 within thereceiver portion 522 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 2 may comprise suitable logic, circuitry, interfaces and/or code that may be operable to convert the output combined RF signals, which are generated by theRF combiner 530. In this regard, the RF-to-IF conversion module 532 may comprise, for example, one or more mixers, synthesizers and/or local oscillator generators, which may be operable to mix and/or otherwise convert the combined RF signals, which are generated by theRF combiner 530, to corresponding IF signals. The corresponding IF signals may comprise an intermediate frequency representation of the data streams, namely,data 1 anddata 2. - In accordance with various embodiments of the invention, for the beamforming implementation shown in
FIG. 5A , a plurality of phase shifters may be utilized by each of thereceiver portion 502 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 1 and thereceiver portion 522 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 2. The plurality of phase shifters may be operable to improve receiver beamforming gain for the plurality of antennas in the distributed transceivers. For example, thephase shifters receiver portion 502 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 1 and thephase shifters receiver portion 522 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 2 are operable to improve the beamforming gain for the plurality ofantennas receiver portion 502 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 1. Thephase shifters receiver portion 522 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 2 and thephase shifters receiver portion 502 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 1 are operable to improve the beamforming gain for the plurality ofantennas receiver portion 522 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 2. This architecture enables thereceiver portion 502 to effectively and coherently capture signals from 4antennas entity 502 only possesses 2 antenna elements of its own. - The
phase shifters receiver portion 502 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 1 and thephase shifters receiver portion 522 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 2 may be dynamically and/or adaptively configured or adjusted to maximize beamforming gain on the data streams, namelydata 1,data 2. Similarly, thephase shifters receiver portion 522 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 2 and thephase shifters receiver portion 502 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 1 may be dynamically and/or adaptively configured or adjusted to maximize beamforming gain on the data streams, namelydata 1,data 2. -
FIG. 5B is a block diagram of an exemplary beamforming implementation of a distributed transceiver module comprising corresponding receive portions of two transceivers, which each receives two separate data streams, in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the invention. Referring toFIG. 5B , there is shown a distributedtransceiver device 500B comprising an integrated distributedtransceiver module 542. The integrated distributedtransceiver module 542 comprisesreceiver portions Rx 1, Tx/Rx 2. - The
receiver portion 502 of the transceiver Tx/Rx 1 may compriseantennas phase shifters combiner 510 and a RF to intermediate frequency (IF)conversion module 512. Thereceiver portion 502 of the transceiver Tx/Rx 1 is described with respect toFIG. 5A , for example. - The
receiver portion 522 of the transceiver Tx/Rx 2 may compriseantennas phase shifters combiner 530 and a RF to intermediate frequency (IF)conversion module 532. Thereceiver portion 522 of the transceiver Tx/Rx 2 is described with respect toFIG. 5A , for example. - The operation of the distributed
transceiver device 500B is substantially similar to the operation of the distributedtransceiver device 500A, which is shown and described with respect toFIG. 5A , for example. - In accordance with various embodiments of the invention, the
receiver portion 502 of the transceiver Tx/Rx 1 and thereceiver portion 522 of the transceiver Tx/Rx 2 may be integrated on the same integrated circuit, die, printed circuit board (PCB), substrate and/or package. The architecture for the integrated distributedtransceiver module 542 may eliminate the need for RF routing between the modules and/or components within the integrated distributedtransceiver module 542. Additionally, the integrated distributedtransceiver module 542 may also eliminate a need to combine signals in the IF domain. The architecture for the integrated distributedtransceiver module 542 may also eliminate a need for multistage signal combining since the signals are combined once in the RF domain. -
FIG. 6 is a block diagram of an exemplary beamforming implementation of a distributed transceiver device comprising corresponding receive portions of two transceivers, which each receives two separate data streams, in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the invention. Referring toFIG. 6 , there is shown a distributedtransceiver device 600 comprisingreceiver portions Rx 1, TX/Rx 2. - The
receiver portion 602 of the transceiver Tx/Rx 1 may compriseantennas phase shifters combiners conversion modules combiner 614. The path comprising theantenna 604 a, thelow noise amplifier 606 a, thephase shifter 608 a, the radio frequency (RF)combiner 610 a and the RF to intermediate frequency (IF)conversion module 612 a may comprise a first receive processing path or chain that is within thereceiver portion 602 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 1. The path comprising theantenna 604 a, thelow noise amplifier 606 a, thephase shifter 608 c, the radio frequency (RF)combiner 610 b and the RF to intermediate frequency (IF)conversion module 612 b may comprise a second receive processing path or chain that is within thereceiver portion 602 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 1. The path comprising theantenna 604 b, thelow noise amplifier 606 b, thephase shifter 608 d, the radio frequency (RF)combiner 610 a and the RF to intermediate frequency (IF)conversion module 612 a may comprise a third receive processing path or chain that is within thereceiver portion 602 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 1. The path comprising theantenna 604 b, thelow noise amplifier 606 b, thephase shifter 608 b, the radio frequency (RF)combiner 610 b and the RF to intermediate frequency (IF)conversion module 612 b may comprise a second receive processing path or chain that is within thereceiver portion 602 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 1. Although twoantennas phase shifters RF combiners IF conversion modules combiner 614 are illustrated inFIG. 6 , the invention is not necessarily limited in this regard. Accordingly, the number of antennas, low noise amplifiers, phase shifters, RF combiners, RF-to-IF conversion modules and/or IF combiners may vary depending on, for example, implementation and/or other factors, without departing from the spirit and/or scope of the invention. - The
receiver portion 622 of the transceiver Tx/Rx 2 may compriseantennas phase shifters combiners conversion modules combiner 634. The path comprising theantenna 624 a, thelow noise amplifier 626 a, thephase shifter 628 a, the radio frequency (RF)combiner 630 a and the RF to intermediate frequency (IF)conversion module 632 a may comprise a first receive processing path or chain that is within thereceiver portion 622 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 2. The path comprising theantenna 624 a, thelow noise amplifier 626 a, thephase shifter 628 c, the radio frequency (RF)combiner 630 b and the RF to intermediate frequency (IF)conversion module 632 b may comprise a second receive processing path or chain that is within thereceiver portion 622 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 2. The path comprising theantenna 624 b, thelow noise amplifier 626 b, thephase shifter 628 d, the radio frequency (RF)combiner 630 a and the RF to intermediate frequency (IF)conversion module 632 a may comprise a third receive processing path or chain that is within thereceiver portion 622 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 2. The path comprising theantenna 624 b, thelow noise amplifier 626 b, thephase shifter 628 b, the radio frequency (RF)combiner 630 b and the RF to intermediate frequency (IF)conversion module 632 b may comprise a fourth receive processing path or chain that is within thereceiver portion 622 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 1. Although twoantennas phase shifters RF combiners IF conversion modules combiner 634 are illustrated inFIG. 6 , the invention is not necessarily limited in this regard. Accordingly, the number of antennas, low noise amplifiers, phase shifters, RF combiners, RF-to-IF conversion modules and/or IF combiners may vary depending on, for example, implementation and/or other factors, without departing from the spirit and/or scope of the invention. - The output from the RF-to-
IF conversion module 612 a in thereceiver portion 602 of the transceiver Tx/Rx 1 and theIF combiner 614 to thecentral processor 620 may comprise a first IF processing path or chain. The output from the RF-to-IF conversion module 632 a in thereceiver portion 622 of the transceiver Tx/Rx 2 and theIF combiner 614 to thecentral processor 620 may comprise a second IF processing path or chain. The output from the RF-to-IF conversion module 612 b in thereceiver portion 602 of the transceiver Tx/Rx 1 and theIF combiner 634 to thecentral processor 620 may comprise a third IF processing path or chain. The output from the RF-to-IF conversion module 632 b in thereceiver portion 622 of the transceiver Tx/Rx 2 and theIF combiner 634 to thecentral processor 620 may comprise a fourth IF processing path or chain. - Each of the
antennas receiver portion 602 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 1 may comprise suitable logic, circuitry, interfaces and/or code that may be operable to receive and/or transmit wireless signals. In this regard, each of theantennas FIG. 6 , theantenna 604 a may be operable to receive data stream, namely,data 1 from a first direction and theantenna 604 b may be operable to receive a data stream, namely,data 2 from a second direction. The first direction and the second direction may be different. - Each of the low noise amplifiers (LNAs) 606 a, 606 b within the
receiver portion 602 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 1 may comprise suitable logic, circuitry, interfaces and/or code that may be operable to provide low noise amplification of the signals that are received by theantennas - The
phase shifters receiver portion 602 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 1 may comprise suitable logic, circuitry, interfaces and/or code that may be operable to adjust the phase of the signals that are output by thelow noise amplifiers phase shifters low noise amplifiers 606 a, and thephase shifters low noise amplifier 606 b, respectively. - The radio frequency (RF)
combiners receiver portion 602 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 1 may comprise suitable logic, circuitry, interfaces and/or code that may be operable to combine the resulting phase shifted signals that may be received from thephase shifters receiver portion 602 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 1. In this regard, the radio frequency (RF)combiner 610 a within thereceiver portion 602 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 1 may be operable to combine the resulting phase shifted signals that may be received from thephase shifters receiver portion 602 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 1. The radio frequency (RF)combiner 610 b within thereceiver portion 602 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 1 may be operable to combine the resulting phase shifted signals that may be received from thephase shifters receiver portion 602 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 1. - The RF to intermediate frequency (IF)
conversion modules receiver portion 602 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 1 may comprise suitable logic, circuitry, interfaces and/or code that may be operable to convert the output combined RF signals, which are generated by theRF combiners frequency conversion module 612 a within thereceiver portion 602 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 1 may be operable to convert the output combined RF signals, which are generated by theRF combiner 610 a. The RF to intermediatefrequency conversion module 612 b within thereceiver portion 602 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 1 may be operable to convert the output combined RF signals, which are generated by theRF combiner 610 b. The output from the RF to intermediatefrequency conversion module 612 a within thereceiver portion 602 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 1 may be communicated to theIF combiner 614. The output from the RF to intermediatefrequency conversion module 612 b within thereceiver portion 602 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 1 may be communicated to theIF combiner 634. Each of the RF-to-IF conversion modules RF combiners data 1 anddata 2. - The
IF combiner 614 may comprise suitable logic, circuitry, interfaces and/or code that may be operable to combine the output IF signals from one or more of the RF-to-IF conversion modules receiver portion 602 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 1 and the output IF signals from one or more of the RF-to-IF conversion modules receiver portion 622 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 2. In this regard, theIF combiner 614 may be operable to combine the output IF signals from the RF-to-IF conversion module 612 a in thereceiver portion 602 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 1 and the output IF signals from the RF-to-IF conversion modules 632 a inreceiver portion 622 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 2. - Each of the
antennas receiver portion 622 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 2 may comprise suitable logic, circuitry, interfaces and/or code that may be operable to receive and/or transmit wireless signals. In this regard, each of theantennas FIG. 6 , theantenna 624 a may be operable to receive data stream, namely,data 1 from a first direction and theantenna 624 b may be operable to receive a data stream, namely,data 2 from a second direction. The first direction and the second direction may be different. - Each of the low noise amplifiers (LNAs) 626 a, 626 b within the
receiver portion 622 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 2 may comprise suitable logic, circuitry, interfaces and/or code that may be operable to provide low noise amplification of the signals that are received by theantennas - The
phase shifters receiver portion 622 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 2 may comprise suitable logic, circuitry, interfaces and/or code that may be operable to adjust the phase of the signals that are output by thelow noise amplifiers phase shifters low noise amplifiers 626 a, and thephase shifters low noise amplifier 626 b, respectively. - The radio frequency (RF)
combiners receiver portion 622 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 2 may comprise suitable logic, circuitry, interfaces and/or code that may be operable to combine the resulting phase shifted signals that may be received from thephase shifters receiver portion 622 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 2. In this regard, the radio frequency (RF)combiner 630 a within thereceiver portion 622 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 2 may be operable to combine the resulting phase shifted signals that may be received from thephase shifters receiver portion 622 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 2. The radio frequency (RF)combiner 630 b within thereceiver portion 622 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 2 may be operable to combine the resulting phase shifted signals that may be received from thephase shifters receiver portion 622 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 2. - The RF to intermediate frequency (IF)
conversion modules receiver portion 622 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 2 may comprise suitable logic, circuitry, interfaces and/or code that may be operable to convert the output combined RF signals, which are generated by theRF combiners frequency conversion module 632 a within thereceiver portion 622 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 2 may be operable to convert the output combined RF signals, which are generated by theRF combiner 610 a. The RF to intermediatefrequency conversion module 632 b within thereceiver portion 622 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 2 may be operable to convert the output combined RF signals, which are generated by theRF combiner 610 b. The output from the RF to intermediatefrequency conversion module 632 a within thereceiver portion 622 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 2 may be communicated to theIF combiner 614. The output from the RF to intermediatefrequency conversion module 632 b within thereceiver portion 622 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 2 may be communicated to theIF combiner 634. Each of the RF-to-IF conversion modules data 1 anddata 2. - The
IF combiner 634 may comprise suitable logic, circuitry, interfaces and/or code that may be operable to combine the output IF signals from one or more of the RF-to-IF conversion modules receiver portion 602 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 1 and the output IF signals from one or more of the RF-to-IF conversion modules receiver portion 622 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 2. In this regard, theIF combiner 634 may be operable to combine the output IF signals from the RF-to-IF conversion module 612 b in thereceiver portion 602 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 1 and the output IF signals from the RF-to-IF conversion modules 632 b inreceiver portion 622 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 2. - In accordance with various embodiments of the invention, for the beamforming implementation shown in
FIG. 6 , a plurality of phase shifters may be utilized by each of thereceiver portion 602 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 1 and thereceiver portion 622 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 2. The plurality of phase shifters may be operable to improve receiver beamforming gain for the plurality of antennas in the distributed transceivers. For example, thephase shifters receiver portion 602 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 1 are operable to improve the beamforming gain for the plurality ofantennas receiver portion 602 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 1. Thephase shifters receiver portion 622 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 2 are operable to improve the beamforming gain for the plurality ofantennas receiver portion 622 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 2. - The
phase shifters receiver portion 602 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 1 may be dynamically and/or adaptively configured or adjusted to maximize beamforming gain on the data streams, namelydata 1,data 2. Similarly, thephase shifters receiver portion 622 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 2 may be dynamically and/or adaptively configured or adjusted to maximize beamforming gain on the data streams, namelydata 1,data 2. More specifically, thephase shifters receiver portion 602 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 1 may be dynamically and/or adaptively configured or adjusted to maximize beamforming gain at the direction ofdata 1, and thephase shifters receiver portion 602 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 1 may be dynamically and/or adaptively configured or adjusted to maximize beamforming gain at the direction ofdata 2. Thephase shifters receiver portion 622 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 2 may be dynamically and/or adaptively configured or adjusted to maximize beamforming gain at the direction ofdata 2, and thephase shifters receiver portion 622 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 2 may be dynamically and/or adaptively configured or adjusted to maximize beamforming gain at the direction ofdata 2. - In various other embodiments of the invention, the
phase shifters receiver portion 602 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 1 and thephase shifters receiver portion 622 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 2 may be dynamically and/or adaptively configured or adjusted so that the corresponding output IF signals at the input of theIF combiner 614 are co-phased and with maximum combined array gain in the direction ofstream Data 1. In this regard, theIF combiner 614 is operable to coherently combine the co-phased signals. The resulting IF signal, which may be output from theIF combiner 614 may be communicated to thecentral processor 620 for processing. - The
phase shifters receiver portion 602 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 1 and thephase shifters receiver portion 622 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 2 may be dynamically and/or adaptively configured or adjusted so that the corresponding output IF signals at the input of theIF combiner 634 are co-phased with maximum combined array gain in the direction ofstream Data 2. In this regard, theIF combiner 634 is operable to coherently combine the co-phased signals. The resulting IF signal, which may be output from theIF combiner 634 may be communicated to thecentral processor 620 for processing. - In the architecture, which is illustrated in
FIG. 6 , there is no RF signal passing between the two transceivers Tx/Rx 1, Tx/Rx 2 and this may eliminate any issues that may arise from RF routings. TheIF combiner 614 may be integrated within thereceiver portion 602 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 1 or external to thereceiver portion 602 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 1. TheIF combiner 634 may be integrated within thereceiver portion 622 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 1 or external to thereceiver portion 622 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 1. TheIF combiner 614 may be integrated within thecentral processor 620 or external to thecentral processor 620. TheIF combiner 634 may be integrated within thecentral processor 620 or external to thecentral processor 620. TheIF combiner 614 and theIF combiner 634 may be integrated in a single IF combiner module. All embodiments and configurations described forFIG. 6 are applicable for the special case where the data streamsData 1 andData 2 are identical and represent the same stream but are arriving from different directions (e.g., spatial diversity mode of operation). Furthermore, these embodiments and configurations are applicable where a single stream is received from a single direction only. In such case, the circuitry operating ondata stream Data 2 may be switched off for power saving. -
FIG. 7 is a block diagram of an exemplary transmitter path of a distributed transceiver device, which is operable to switch between a distributed multi-stream mode of operation and a non-distributed single beam or stream mode of operation, in accordance with an embodiment of the invention. Referring toFIG. 7 , there are shown a distributedtransceiver device 700 comprisingtransmitter portions Rx 1, Tx/Rx 2. - The
transmitter portion 702 of the transceiver Tx/Rx 1 may compriseantennas power amplifiers phase shifters RF conversion module 712. The path comprising theantenna 704 a, thepower amplifier 706 a, thephase shifter 708 a, the MUX 710 and the IF-to-RF conversion module 712 may comprise a first receive processing path or chain within thetransmitter portion 702 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 1. The path comprising theantenna 704 b, thepower amplifier 706 b, thephase shifter 708 b, the multiplexer 710 and the IF-to-RF conversion module 712 may comprise a second receive processing path or chain within thetransmitter portion 702 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 1. Although twoantennas power amplifiers phase shifters FIG. 7 , the invention is not necessarily limited in this regard. Accordingly, the number of antennas, power amplifiers, phase shifters, IF-to-RF conversion modules in thetransmitter portion 702 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx1 may vary depending on, for example, implementation and/or other factors, without departing from the spirit and/or scope of the invention. - The
transmitter portion 722 of the transceiver Tx/Rx 2 may compriseantennas power amplifiers phase shifters multiplexer 730 and an IF-to-RF conversion module 732. The path comprising theantenna 724 a, thepower amplifier 726 a, thephase shifter 728 a, theMUX 730 and the IF-to-RF conversion module 732 may comprise a first receive processing path or chain within thetransmitter portion 722 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 2. The path comprising theantenna 724 b, thepower amplifier 726 b, thephase shifter 728 b, themultiplexer 730 and the IF-to-RF conversion module 732 may comprise a second receive processing path or chain within thetransmitter portion 732 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 2. Although twoantennas power amplifiers phase shifters FIG. 7 , the invention is not necessarily limited in this regard. Accordingly, the number of antennas, power amplifiers, phase shifters, IF-to-RF conversion modules in thetransmitter portion 722 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 2 may vary depending on, for example, implementation and/or other factors, without departing from the spirit and/or scope of the invention. - The IF-to-
RF conversion module 712 within thetransmitter portion 702 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 1 may comprise suitable logic, circuitry, interfaces and/or code that may be operable to convert the IF signals for the data stream, namely,data 1, to corresponding RF signals. In this regard, the IF-to-RF conversion module 712 may comprise, for example, one or more mixers, synthesizers and/or local oscillator generators, which may be operable to mix and/or otherwise convert the combined IF signals, which are received from thecentral processor 740, to corresponding RF signals. The corresponding RF signals may comprise a radio frequency representation of the data stream, namely,data 1. The RF representation of the data stream, namely,data 1, may be communicated to one of the input ports of the multiplexer 710 and one of the input ports of themultiplexer 730. - The multiplexer 710 within the
transmitter portion 702 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 1 may comprise suitable logic, circuitry, interfaces and/or code that may be operable to select the resulting RF signals that may be received from the IF-to-RF conversion modules transmitter portion 702 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 1 may be operable to select the resulting RF signals corresponding todata 1, which may be received from the IF-to-RF conversion modules 712 or the resulting RF signals corresponding todata 2, which may be received from the IF-to-RF conversion modules 732 depending on the mode of operation of the one or both of thetransmitter portion 702 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 1 and/or thetransmitter portion 722 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 2 in the distributedtransceiver device 700. The corresponding output multiplexed RFsignals comprising data 1 ordata 2 may be communicated to thephase shifters transmitter portion 702 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 1 may be operable to support a spatial multiplexing mode of operation and a single beam single stream mode of operation. The multiplexer 710 may be configured to select between input A and input B based on a select signal, namelySEL 1. - Each of the
phase shifters transmitter portion 702 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 1 may comprise suitable logic, circuitry, interfaces and/or code that may be operable to adjust the phase of the signals that are output by from the multiplexer 710. Each of thephase shifters power amplifiers - Each of the
power amplifiers transmitter portion 702 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 1 may comprise suitable logic, circuitry, interfaces and/or code that may be operable to provide power amplification of the signals that are received from thephase shifters - Each of the
antennas transmitter portion 702 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 1 may comprise suitable logic, circuitry, interfaces and/or code that may be operable to receive and/or transmit wireless signals. In this regard, each of theantennas FIG. 7 , each of theantennas signals comprising data 1 anddata 2 in the direction D1. - The IF-to-
RF conversion module 732 within thetransmitter portion 722 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 2 may comprise suitable logic, circuitry, interfaces and/or code that may be operable to convert the IF signals for the data stream, namely,data 2, to corresponding RF signals. In this regard, the IF-to-RF conversion module 732 may comprise, for example, one or more mixers, synthesizers and/or local oscillator generators, which may be operable to mix and/or otherwise convert the combined IF signals, which are received from thecentral processor 740, to corresponding RF signals. The corresponding RF signals may comprise a radio frequency representation of the data stream, namely,Data 2. The RF representation of the data stream, namely,Data 2, may be communicated to one of the input ports of the multiplexer 710 and one of the input ports of themultiplexer 730. - The
multiplexer 730 within thetransmitter portion 722 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 2 may comprise suitable logic, circuitry, interfaces and/or code that may be operable to multiplex the resulting RF signals that may be received from the IF-to-RF conversion modules multiplexer 730 within thetransmitter portion 722 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 2 may be operable to multiplex the resulting RF signals corresponding todata 1, which may be received from the IF-to-RF conversion modules 712, or the resulting RF signals corresponding todata 2, which may be received from the IF-to-RF conversion modules 732 depending on the mode of operation of the one or both of thetransmitter portion 702 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 1 and/or thetransmitter portion 722 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 2 in the distributedtransceiver device 700. The corresponding output multiplexed RFsignals comprising data 1 anddata 2 may be communicated to thephase shifters multiplexer 730 within thetransmitter portion 722 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 2 may be operable to support a spatial multiplexing mode of operation and a single beam single stream mode of operation. Themultiplexer 730 may be configured to select between input A and input B based on a select signal, namelySEL 2. - Each of the
phase shifters transmitter portion 722 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 2 may comprise suitable logic, circuitry, interfaces and/or code that may be operable to adjust the phase of the signals that are output by from themultiplexer 730. Each of thephase shifters power amplifiers - Each of the
power amplifiers transmitter portion 702 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 2 may comprise suitable logic, circuitry, interfaces and/or code that may be operable to provide power amplification of the signals that are received from thephase shifters - Each of the
antennas transmitter portion 722 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 2 may comprise suitable logic, circuitry, interfaces and/or code that may be operable to receive and/or transmit wireless signals. In this regard, each of theantennas FIG. 7 , each of theantennas signals comprising data 1 anddata 2 in the direction D2. - In accordance with various embodiments of the invention, the
central processor 740, a coordinating entity and/or a network management engine may be operable to determine an operating mode of one or both of thetransmitter portion 702 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 1 and/or thetransmitter portion 722 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 2. Thecentral processor 740, the coordinating entity and/or the network management engine in the distributedtransceiver device 700 may also be operable to determine whether an operating mode of one or both of thetransmitter portion 702 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 1 and/or thetransmitter portion 722 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 2 should be switched to a distributed mode of operation, for example, spatial multiplexing with multiple data streams, and a non-distributed single-stream mode of operation. The network management engine may be located within the distributedtransceiver device 700 and/or may be located external to the distributedtransceiver device 700. In some embodiments of the invention, the network management engine may be located within a coordinating entity. The switching may occur dynamically based on environmental and/or system conditions. - The network management engine and/or the coordinating entity may determine whether to switch the operating mode based on, for example, SNR of the communication link, QoS, CoS, availability of processing resources and/or other resources such as bandwidth. With respect to the SNR, the Shannon channel capacity of the distributed multi-stream mode may be optimal at SNR values above a particular threshold while for the single-stream operating mode, the Shannon channel capacity becomes optimal at lower SNR values. In order to take advantage of this trend, in some embodiments of the invention, an SNR threshold, which may be based on a capacity and/or throughput analysis, may be defined for the switching. For operating SNR conditions above the SNR threshold, the
central processor 740, the coordinating entity and/or the network management engine may be operable to configure one or both of thetransmitter portion 702 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 1 and/or thetransmitter portion 722 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 2 to operate in a spatial data multiplexing mode, which utilizes multiple data streams (i.e., SEL1 selecting input A, SEL2 selecting input B, and twodata streams Data 1 andData 2 are supplied by the central processor 740). For operating SNR conditions below the SNR threshold, thecentral processor 740, the coordinating entity and/or the network management engine may be operable to configure one or both of thetransmitter portion 702 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 1 and/or thetransmitter portion 722 of the distributed transceiver Tx/Rx 2 to operate as a single large transceiver with a larger effective number of antennas (i.e., SEL1 selecting input A, SEL2 selecting input A, and a single data stream throughData 1 is supplied by the central processor 740). In this mode of operation, if the total combined number of antennas is believed to be more than sufficient by the network management engine to meet link quality requirements, some of the PAs, LNAs (e.g., 726 b, 728 b) may be switched off selectively for power consumption saving. While Shannon capacity optimization per SNR presents an applicable method and/or policy to switch between different modes of operation, other policies or cost functions are equally applicable. - In accordance with various embodiments of the invention, the
transmitter portion 702 of the transceiver Tx/Rx 1 and thetransmitter portion 722 of the transceiver Tx/Rx 2 may be integrated on the same integrated circuit, die, substrate and/or package. In some embodiments of the invention, thetransmitter portion 702 of the transceiver Tx/Rx 1 and thetransmitter portion 722 of the transceiver Tx/Rx 2 may be integrated on separate integrated circuits, dies, substrates and/or packages. - In operation, the
multiplexers 710, 730 may be operable to select one of its inputs A, B to connect to an output of thecorresponding multiplexers 710, 730. For example, if the A input of the multiplexer 710 is selected, then the RF representation ofdata 1 may be communicated from the IF-to-RF conversion module 712 to thephase shifters data 2 may be communicated from the IF-to-RF conversion module 712 to thephase shifters multiplexer 730 is selected, then the RF representation ofdata 1 may be communicated from the IF-to-RF conversion module 732 to thephase shifters multiplexer 730 is selected, then the RF representation ofdata 2 may be communicated from the IF-to-RF conversion module 712 to thephase shifters - In the spatial multiplexing mode of operation, the two data streams, namely
data 1 anddata 2, are supplied by thecentral processor 740 to an input of themultiplexers 710, 730 via the IF toRF conversion modules data 1 may be communicated from the IF-to-RF conversion module 712 to thephase shifters multiplexer 730 is selected and the RF representation of data 3 may be communicated from the IF-to-RF conversion module 732 to thephase shifters - In the single-beam single-stream mode of operation, one data stream, for example, only
d 1 or data, 2 may be supplied by thecentral processor 740 to the processing path. The IF-to-RF converter module on the other path may be disabled. For example, for communication of data stream, namelydata 1, the A input of the multiplexer 710 is selected and the RF representation ofdata 1 may be communicated from the IF-to-RF conversion module 712 to thephase shifters multiplexer 730 is selected and the RF representation ofdata 1 may be communicated from the IF-to-RF conversion module 712 to thephase shifters data 2, which comprises the IF-to-RF conversion module 732 may be disabled to save power. For communication of data stream, namelydata 2, the B input of the multiplexer 710 is selected and the RF representation ofdata 2 may be communicated from the IF-to-RF conversion module 732 to thephase shifters multiplexer 730 is selected and the RF representation ofdata 2 may be communicated from the IF-to-RF conversion module 732 to thephase shifters data 1, which comprises the IF-to-RF conversion module 712 may be disabled to save power. In general, in the single-beam single-stream mode of operation, thecentral processor 740 may be operable to load higher rate modulation intostreams data 1 such as a higher QAM constellation. In this regard, the multiplexer 710 may be programmed to select input A and themultiplexer 730 may be programmed to select input A. This may result in sending the same data streams forData 1 over allantennas phase shifters antennas - In some embodiments of the invention, a calibration process may be employed in order to utilize the
antennas antennas antennas antennas antennas phase shifters -
FIG. 8 is a block diagram illustrating exemplary steps for processing received signals by a plurality of distributed transceivers, in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the invention. Referring toFIG. 8 , is shown aflowchart 800 comprisingexemplary steps 802 through 812. Instep 802, a first distributed transceiver may be configured to receive signals comprising a first data stream. Instep 804, a second distributed transceiver may be configured to receive signals comprising a second data stream. Instep 806, a phase of the first data stream and/or the second data stream may be adjusted by one or more phase shifters within a receive processing chain of the first distributed transceiver and/or one or more phase shifters within a receive processing chain of the second distributed transceiver. Instep 808, the phase adjusted signals in RF and/or in IF within a receive processing chain of the first distributed transceiver and/or a receive processing chain of the second distributed transceiver may be combined. Instep 810, the combined first data stream and/or the second data stream may be converted from radio frequency domain to intermediate frequency domain. Instep 812, the IF domain representation of the first data stream and/or the IF domain representation of the second data stream may be communicated to a central processor for processing. -
FIG. 9 is a block diagram illustrating exemplary steps for processing received signals by a plurality of distributed transceivers, in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the invention. Referring toFIG. 9 , is shown aflowchart 900 comprisingexemplary steps 902 through 912. Instep 902, an operating mode for a first distributed transceiver and/or a second distributed transceiver for transmitting a first data stream and/or a second data stream may be determined. Instep 904, one or more selectors in the first distributed transceiver and/or a second distributed transceiver may be configured based on the determined mode of operation. Instep 906, one or more phase shifters and/or one or more power amplifiers in the first distributed transceiver and/or a second distributed transceiver may be configured based on the determined mode of operation. Instep 908, the first data stream and/or the second data stream may be converted from IF domain to RF domain. Instep 910, the converted RF domain representation of the first data stream or the RF domain representation of the second data stream for the first distributed transceiver and/or a second distributed transceiver may be coherently combined. Instep 912, the RF signals comprising the combined first data stream and/or the second data stream may be transmitted via one or more antennas coupled to the first distributed transceiver and/or the second distributed transceiver may be transmitted. - In accordance with various exemplary embodiments of the invention, with reference to, for example,
FIG. 6 , acommunication device 600 may comprise a plurality of distributedtransceivers corresponding antenna arrays transceiver 602 of the plurality of distributed transceivers may be configured to receive signals comprising one or more first data streams such asdata 1. A second distributedtransceiver 622 plurality of distributed transceivers may be configured to receive signals comprising one or more second data streams such asdata 2. One or more components within a receive processing chain of the first distributedtransceiver 602 and/or one or more components within a receive processing chain of the second distributedtransceiver 622 may be adjusted to maximize beamforming gain for the one or more first data streams such asdata 1 and/or second data streams such asdata 2. - A phase of the one or more first data streams such as
data 1 and/or the one or more second data streams such asdata 2 may be adjusted by the one or more components within a receive processing chain of the first distributedtransceiver 602 and/or the one or more components within a receive processing chain of the second distributedtransceiver 622. The one or more first data streams such asdata 1 and/or the one or more second data streams such asdata 2 may be combined in the RF domain. The combined one or more first data streams such asdata 1 and/or the one or more second data streams such asdata 2 may be converted from the RF domain to the intermediate frequency (IF) domain. The one or more first data streams such asdata 1 and/or the one or more second data streams such asdata 1 may be coherently combined in the IF domain. - In various other exemplary embodiments of the invention, a communication device such as the
communication device 700, may comprise a plurality of distributedtransceivers corresponding antenna arrays transceiver 702 of the plurality of distributedtransceivers data 1. A second distributedtransceiver 722 of plurality of distributedtransceivers data 2. One or more components within a transmit processing chain of the first distributedtransceiver 702 and/or one or more components within a transmit processing chain of the second distributedtransceiver 722 may be adjusted based on a determined mode of operation for the first distributedtransceiver 702 and/or the second distributedtransceiver 722. - The first distributed
transceiver 702 and/or the second distributedtransceiver 722 may be dynamically switched between a first of the mode of operation and a second of the mode of operation based on a signal to noise ratio (SNR) associated with the first distributedtransceiver 702 and/or the second distributedtransceiver 722. One or more selectors such as themultiplexers 710, 730 within the first distributedtransceiver 702 and/or the second distributedtransceiver 722 may be configured to transmit one or more first data streams such asdata 1 and one or more second data streams such asdata 2 from the first distributedtransceiver 702 and/or the second distributedtransceiver 722 in a spatial multiplexing mode based on the determined mode of operation. The one or more selectors such as themultiplexers 710, 730 within the first distributedtransceiver 702 and/or the second distributedtransceiver 722 may be configured to transmit the one or more first data streams such asdata 1 or the one or more second data streams such asdata 2 from the first distributedtransceiver 702 and/or the second distributedtransceiver 722 in a spatial multiplexing single beam single stream operating mode. One or more phase adjustment parameters for one or more components within the first distributedtransceiver 702 and/or the second distributedtransceiver 722 may be configured based on the determined mode of operation for the first distributedtransceiver 702 and/or the second distributedtransceiver 722. - As utilized herein the terms “circuits” and “circuitry” refer to physical electronic components (i.e. hardware) and any software and/or firmware (“code”) which may configure the hardware, be executed by the hardware, and or otherwise be associated with the hardware. As used herein, for example, a particular processor and memory may comprise a first “circuit” when executing a first one or more lines of code and may comprise a second “circuit” when executing a second one or more lines of code. As utilized herein, “and/or” means any one or more of the items in the list joined by “and/or”. As an example, “x and/or y” means any element of the three-element set {(x), (y), (x, y)}. As another example, “x, y, and/or z” means any element of the seven-element set {(x), (y), (z), (x, y), (x, z), (y, z), (x, y, z)}. As utilized herein, the term “exemplary” means serving as a non-limiting example, instance, or illustration. As utilized herein, the terms “e.g.,” and “for example” set off lists of one or more non-limiting examples, instances, or illustrations. As utilized herein, circuitry is “operable” to perform a function whenever the circuitry comprises the necessary hardware and code (if any is necessary) to perform the function, regardless of whether performance of the function is disabled, or not enabled, by some user-configurable setting.
- Other embodiments of the invention may provide a computer readable device and/or a non-transitory computer readable medium, and/or a machine readable device and/or a non-transitory machine readable medium, having stored thereon, a machine code and/or a computer program having at least one code section executable by a machine and/or a computer, thereby causing the machine and/or computer to perform the steps as described herein for a distributed configurable transceiver architecture and implementation.
- Accordingly, the present invention may be realized in hardware, software, or a combination of hardware and software. The present invention may be realized in a centralized fashion in at least one computer system, or in a distributed fashion where different elements are spread across several interconnected computer systems. Any kind of computer system or other apparatus adapted for carrying out the methods described herein is suited. A typical combination of hardware and software may be a general-purpose computer system with a computer program that, when being loaded and executed, controls the computer system such that it carries out the methods described herein.
- The present invention may also be embedded in a computer program product, which comprises all the features enabling the implementation of the methods described herein, and which when loaded in a computer system is able to carry out these methods. Computer program in the present context means any expression, in any language, code or notation, of a set of instructions intended to cause a system having an information processing capability to perform a particular function either directly or after either or both of the following: a) conversion to another language, code or notation; b) reproduction in a different material form.
- While the present invention has been described with reference to certain embodiments, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes may be made and equivalents may be substituted without departing from the scope of the present invention. In addition, many modifications may be made to adapt a particular situation or material to the teachings of the present invention without departing from its scope. Therefore, it is intended that the present invention not be limited to the particular embodiment disclosed, but that the present invention will include all embodiments falling within the scope of the appended claims.
Claims (16)
1. A method, comprising:
in a communication device comprising a plurality of distributed transceivers and one or more corresponding antenna arrays:
configuring a first distributed transceiver of said plurality of distributed transceivers to receive signals comprising one or more first data streams;
configuring a second distributed transceiver of said plurality of distributed transceivers to receive signals comprising one or more second data streams; and
adjusting one or more components within a receive processing chain of said first distributed transceiver and/or one or more components within a receive processing chain of said second distributed transceiver to maximize beamforming gain for said one or more first data streams and/or said one or more second data streams.
2. The method according to claim 1 , comprising adjusting a phase of said one or more first data streams and/or said one or more second data streams via said one or more components within a receive processing chain of said first distributed transceiver and/or one or more components within a receive processing chain of said second distributed transceiver.
3. The method according to claim 1 , comprising combining in radio frequency (RF) domain, said one or more first data streams and/or said one or more second data streams.
4. The method according to claim 3 , comprising converting said combined one or more first data streams and/or said one or more second data streams from said RF domain to intermediate frequency (IF) domain.
5. The method according to claim 4 , comprising coherently combining in said IF domain, said converted one or more first data streams and/or said one or more second data streams.
6. A method, comprising:
in a communication device comprising a plurality of distributed transceivers and one or more corresponding antenna arrays:
configuring a first distributed transceiver of said plurality of distributed transceivers to transmit signals comprising one or more first data streams;
configuring a second distributed transceiver of said plurality of distributed transceivers to transmit signals comprising one or more second data streams; and
adjusting one or more components within a transmit processing chain of said first distributed transceiver and/or one or more components within a transmit processing chain of said second distributed transceiver based on a determined mode of operation for said first distributed transceiver and/or said second distributed transceiver.
7. The method according to claim 6 , comprising dynamically switching between a first of said mode of operation and a second of said mode of operation based on a signal to noise ratio (SNR) associated with said first distributed transceiver and/or said second distributed transceiver.
8. The method according to claim 6 , comprising configuring one or more selectors within said first distributed transceiver and/or said second distributed transceiver to transmit one or more first data streams and one or more second data streams from said first distributed transceiver and/or said second distributed transceiver in a spatial multiplexing mode based on said determined mode of operation.
9. The method according to claim 6 , comprising configuring one or more selectors within said first distributed transceiver and/or said second distributed transceiver to transmit said one or more first data streams or said one or more second data streams from said first distributed transceiver and/or said second distributed transceiver in a spatial multiplexing single beam single stream operating mode.
10. The method according to claim 6 , comprising determining one or more phase adjustment parameters for configuring one or more components within said first distributed transceiver and/or said second distributed transceiver based on said determined mode of operation for said first distributed transceiver and/or said second distributed transceiver.
11. A system, comprising:
a communication device comprising a plurality of distributed transceivers and one or more corresponding antenna arrays, wherein:
a first distributed transceiver of said plurality of distributed transceivers is configured to receive signals comprising one or more first data streams;
a second distributed transceiver of said plurality of distributed transceivers is configured to receive signals comprising one or more second data streams; and
one or more components within a receive processing chain of said first distributed transceiver and/or one or more components within a receive processing chain of said second distributed transceiver is adjusted to maximize beamforming gain for said one or more first data streams and/or said one or more second data streams.
12. The system according to claim 11 , comprising adjusting a phase of said one or more first data streams and/or said one or more second data streams via said one or more components within a receive processing chain of said first distributed transceiver and/or one or more components within a receive processing chain of said second distributed transceiver
13. The system according to claim 11 , comprising combining in radio frequency (RF) domain, said one or more first data streams and/or said one or more second data streams.
14. The system according to claim 13 , comprising converting said combined one or more first data streams and/or said one or more second data streams from said RF domain to intermediate frequency (IF) domain.
15. The system according to claim 14 , comprising coherently combining in said IF domain, said converted one or more first data streams and/or said one or more second data streams.
16-20. (canceled)
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US20140045478A1 (en) | 2014-02-13 |
US20140045541A1 (en) | 2014-02-13 |
US20140044041A1 (en) | 2014-02-13 |
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US9197982B2 (en) | 2015-11-24 |
US20160211905A1 (en) | 2016-07-21 |
US9923620B2 (en) | 2018-03-20 |
US20190222292A1 (en) | 2019-07-18 |
US9548805B2 (en) | 2017-01-17 |
US9680554B2 (en) | 2017-06-13 |
US10277299B2 (en) | 2019-04-30 |
US10020861B2 (en) | 2018-07-10 |
US9253587B2 (en) | 2016-02-02 |
US20190296820A1 (en) | 2019-09-26 |
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