WO2019032135A1

WO2019032135A1 - Methods and apparatus to facilitate wireless connectivity for incumbent devices and non-incumbent devices in a target frequency band

Info

Publication number: WO2019032135A1
Application number: PCT/US2017/067704
Authority: WO
Inventors: Shahrnaz Azizi; Robert Stacey; Thomas Kenney; Cariou LAURENT
Original assignee: Intel IP Corporation
Priority date: 2017-08-08
Filing date: 2017-12-20
Publication date: 2019-02-14

Abstract

Methods and apparatus to facilitate wireless connectivity for incumbent devices and non-incumbent devices in a target frequency band are disclosed. An example apparatus includes an interface determiner to determine a link budget between a non-incumbent device and an incumbent device in a target band; and calculate an interference based on the link budget and a number of non-incumbent devices within a threshold distance to the non-incumbent device; and a permission determiner to, when the interference is below a threshold, allow the non-incumbent device to operate in the target band.

Description

METHODS AKD APPARATUS TO FACILITATE WIRELESS CONNECTIVITY FOR INCUMBENT DEVICES AND NON-INCUMBENT DEVICES IN A TARGET FREQUENCY

BAND

RELATED APPLICATION

This patent claims priority to U.S. Provisional Patent Application Serial No. 62/542,586, filed on August 8, 2017, and U.S. Provisional Patent Application Serial No. 62/542,630, filed on August 8, 2017. The entirety of U.S. Provisional Patent Application Serial No. 62/542,586 and U.S. Provisional Patent Application Serial No. 62/542,630 are incorporated herein by reference.

FIELD OF THE DISCLOSURE

This disclosure relates generally to wireless fidelity connectivity (Wi-Fi) and, more particularly, to methods and apparatus to facilitate wireless connectivity for incumbent devices and non-incumbent devices in a target frequency band.

BACKGROUND

Many locations provide Wi-Fi to connect Wi-Fi enabled devices to networks such as the Internet. Wi-Fi enabled devices include personal computers, video-game consoles, mobile phones and devices, digital cameras, tablets, smart televisions, digital audio players, etc. Wi-Fi allows the Wi-Fi enabled devices to wirelessly access the Internet via a wireless local area network (WLAN). To provide Wi-Fi connectivity to a device, a Wi-Fi access point transmits a radio frequency Wi-Fi signal to the Wi-Fi enabled device within the access point (e.g., a hotspot) signal range. Wi-Fi is implemented using a set of media access control (MAC) and physical layer (PHY) specifications (e.g., such as the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 protocol).

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is an illustration of communications using wireless local area network (WLAN) Wi-Fi protocols to facilitate wireless connectivity for incumbent devices and non-incumbent devices in a target frequency band.

FIGS. 2A-2C illustrate example estimations of an example AP range of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of the example co-existence determiner of FIG. 1. FIG. 4 is a flowchart representative of example machine readable instructions that may be executed to implement the example co-existence determiner of FIG. 1.

FIGS. 5A-5B are flowcharts representative of example machine readable instructions that may be executed to implement the example co-existence determiner of FIG. 1.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram of a radio architecture in accordance with some examples.

FIG. 7 illustrates an example front-end module circuitry for use in the radio architecture of FIG. 6 in accordance with some examples.

FIG. 8 illustrates an example radio IC circuitry for use in the radio architecture of FIG. 6 in accordance with some examples.

FIG. 9 illustrates an example baseband processing circuitry for use in the radio architecture of FIG. 6 in accordance with some examples.

FIG. 10 is a block diagram of a processor platform structured to execute the example machine readable instructions of FIGS. 4-5B to implement the example co-existence determiner of FIG. 3.

The figures are not to scale. Wherever possible, the same reference numbers will be used throughout the drawing(s) and accompanying written description to refer to the same or like parts.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Various locations (e.g., homes, offices, coffee shops, restaurants, parks, airports, etc.) may provide Wi-Fi to Wi-Fi enabled devices (e.g., stations (STA)) to connect the Wi-Fi enabled devices to the Internet, or any other network, with minimal hassle. The locations may provide one or more Wi-Fi access points (APs) to output Wi-Fi signals to the Wi-Fi enabled device within a range of the Wi-Fi signals (e.g., a hotspot). A Wi-Fi AP is structured to wirelessly connect a Wi-Fi enabled device to the Internet through a wireless local area network (WLAN) using Wi-Fi protocols (e.g., such as IEEE 802.11). The Wi-Fi protocol is the protocol by which the AP communicates with the STAs to provide access to the Internet by transmitting uplink (UL) transmissions and receiving downlink (DL) transmissions to/from the Internet.

In some examples, Wi-Fi APs and STAs communicate using preset frequency ranges or bands (e.g., divided into channels). For example, 802.11 protocols generally use one or more of 2.4 Gigahertz (GHz), 3.6 GHz, 4.9 GHz, 5 GHz, and 5.9 GHz frequency bands. However, as Wi-Fi protocols are updated, additional frequency bands may be utilized (e.g., new bands may be opened for unlicensed operation between 6 GHz and 7 GHz).

New frequency bands may include certain restrictions based on incumbent devices that already utilizes the newly opened frequency bands (e.g., target bands) for unlicensed use. For example, the 6 GHz frequency band includes satellite incumbents and fixed service terrestrial point-to-point (P2P) incumbents that currently operate in the 6 GHz band. Satellite incumbents are affected by background radiation (e.g., noise) caused by Wi-Fi systems on the satellite incumbents' receivers. Although some interference may be tolerated by the satellite incumbents, traditional Wi-Fi deployments may cause sufficient interference to degrade the performance and potentially render the satellite operation as useless. Fixed services incumbents include P2P links that are (A) bi-directional and that (B) allocated two-channels with specific bandwidth (e.g., one for DL and one for UL).

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) may regulate unlicensed operation in a target frequency band (e.g., the 6 GHz band) to ensure that non-incumbent devices that attempt to utilize the newly available 6 GHz band will not interfere with the incumbent devices. The FCC regulates band usage by monitoring incumbent devices' use of the 6 GHz frequency band. The FCC stores details related to the licensed use of the 6 GHz frequency band by incumbent devices in a database. Examples disclosed herein include facilitating co-existence for wireless connectivity for incumbent devices and non-incumbent devices in the target frequency band (e.g., 6 GHz band).

Examples disclosed herein include ensuring that a non-incumbent device (e.g., an AP and/or a STA) will not interfere with incumbent device communications. In some examples, the estimation, calculation and/or measurement procedures ensure that a Wi-Fi device will not interfere with an incumbent is based on the Wi-Fi device's geolocation information. While some example APs have global positioning system (GPS) location information, some example APs do not have any geolocation information, or low quality geolocation information. When

geolocation information is imprecise, the AP device needs to use the worst-case scenario and consider the minimum distance between the Wi-Fi device and the incumbent, among all possible positions of the device in an area. On the other hand, most non-AP STAs, especially smartphones, include accurate geolocation information, as they include GPS technologies. In examples disclosed herein, APs use more precise geolocation information from associated STAs, unassociated STAs, or even neighbor APs to improve the accuracy of the estimate of the location of the AP. By improving the estimate of the location of the AP, the accuracy of the estimate of interference is improved, and the co-existence of incumbent wireless devices and non-incumbent wireless devices can be increased.

In some examples, a registry system (e.g., a database) keeps a record of existing incumbents and their locations, occupied bandwidths and the conditions that need to be met to use the channels occupied by these incumbents. Examples disclosed herein include accessing the database to obtain information on the incumbents, and follow calculations or measurement procedures to ensure that the APs will not interfere with the incumbents in the channel(s) that the AP wants to use.

Examples disclosed herein further include a two-step process for determining if interference caused by a non-incumbent device is enough to interrupt incumbent device communications (e.g., the interference is above a threshold amount of interference). The first step is a more conservative and simple protocol to determine if the interference is above a threshold amount of interference. The first step is based on the non-incumbent device's geolocation and information from the FCC database. If the interference caused by the non- incumbent station is below the threshold amount of interference, the non-incumbent station is allowed to perform unlicensed operation in the target band (e.g., the 6 GHz band). If the interference caused by the non-incumbent station is above the threshold amount of interference, examples disclosed herein perform the second step of the two-step process.

The second step is a more precise and more complex calculation of the interference that includes bandwidth information, antenna characteristics, time period observations, preforming energy detections, etc. Additionally, the second step may include ensuring that the incumbent energy precision satisfies a threshold energy detection to prevent a signal from being received but not detected by the non-incumbent device.

FIG. 1 illustrates communications using wireless local area network Wi-Fi protocols to facilitate wireless connectivity for an example incumbent ST A 100 and an example non- incumbent ST A 102 in a target frequency band. FIG. 1 includes the example incumbent ST A 100, the example non-incumbent STA 102, an example non-incumbent station location range 103, an example AP 104, an incumbent database 106, and an example co-existence determiner 108.

The example incumbent STA 100 of FIG. 1 is a device that communicates using a target frequency band. For example, if the target band is the 6 GHz band, the example incumbent STA 100 may be fixed service P2P devices and/or satellite devices. However, the incumbent STA 100 may be any type of device capable of communicating in in a target frequency band that is monitored by the example incumbent STA 100. When an incumbent STA 100 is enabled, the incumbent device is registered to and/or provides identification, characteristics, and/or communication information to the example incumbent database 106. In this manner, the example incumbent database 106 tracks operation of all the incumbent ST As within a location(s).

The example non-incumbent STA 102 of FIG. 1 is a Wi-Fi enabled device that attempts an unlicensed operation within the target band. The example non-incumbent STA 102 may be, for example, a computing device, a portable device, a mobile device, a mobile telephone, a smart phone, a tablet, a gaming system, a digital camera, a digital video recorder, a television, a set top box, an e-book reader, and/or any other Wi-Fi enabled device. Because the location of the example non-incumbent STA 102 may not be accurate (e.g., based on how the location is acquired, Wi-Fi positioning, GPS, etc.), the example non-incumbent station location range 103 represents the possible locations of the example non-incumbent STA 102, given the variability of the location information (e.g., based on the accuracy of the geolocation determination of the non- incumbent STA 102). The example non-incumbent station location range 103 allows the example co-existence determiner 108 to determine the minimum possible distance (D_min,2) for interference calculations.

As described above, the example incumbent database 106 of FIG. 1 stores information related to the incumbent STA 100 and the incumbent STA's operation within the target band. For example, such information may include the location of the incumbent STA 100, antenna characteristics (e.g., transmission (Tx) power, beam orientation, attenuation, antenna gain, etc.) corresponding to the incumbent STA 100, communication bandwidth and channel information corresponding to the incumbent STA 100, incoming observation time periods of the incumbent STA 100, margin data corresponding to the number of devices (e.g., STAs) at a particular location, etc. An external device (e.g., the example co-existence determiner 108) may download and/or query information stored in the example incumbent database 106 periodically,

aperiodically, or based on a trigger (e.g., when the example incumbent database 106 is updated).

The example co-existence determiner 108 of FIG. 1 is a device (e.g., a server or a processor) that determines (A) an approximate location of the AP 104 (e.g., represented by the example AP range 105), (B) which channels the AP can use for communication, and/or (C) the amount of interference that the example non-incumbent ST A 102 may generate on the incumbent ST A 100 based on a two-step process. For example, the example co-existence determiner 108 may be implemented as a processor in the example non-incumbent ST A 102, in the example AP 104, and/or as a stand-alone device (e.g., a server) capable of communicating with the non- incumbent STA 102, the AP 104, and/or the incumbent database 106. In some examples, the coexistence determiner 108 determines the location of the AP 104 (e.g., the example AP range 105) based on a distance measurement solution (e.g., distance measurement solutions defined in 802.11 for location services) and/or based on worst case distance. The worse-case distance corresponds to when the example AP 104 receives a location/precious from the example non- incumbent STA 102 (e.g., corresponding to the non-incumbent STA range 103). In such an example, the co-existence determiner 108 may determine the AP range 105 based on an area within a 200-meter radius from the non-incumbent STA range 103, where 200 meters corresponds to the maximum distance between the AP 104 and the non-incumbent STA 102 where the AP 104 can receive a packet (e.g., a maximum reception distance). Additional examples of how the example co-existence determiner 108 determines the AP range 105 is further described below in conjunction with FIGS. 2A-2C. In some examples, the co-existence determiner 108 may determine which channels to use for communication based on a minimum distance (Dmin,i) between the example incumbent STA 100 and the determined AP range 105.

The example co-existence determiner 108 of FIG. 1 determines the amount of potential interference in the first step by calculating a link budget between the incumbent STA 100 and the non-incumbent STA 102. The calculation of the link budget is based on the Tx power of the non-incumbent STA 102, the antenna gain and attenuation of the non-incumbent STA 102, channel attenuation based on D_min,2, and antenna characteristics of the incumbent STA 100. The example co-existence determiner 108 calculates a potential interference based on the link budget and other factors (e.g., determined by the FCC, for example). The example co-existence determiner 108 determines the amount of potential interference in the second step based on the type of device corresponding to the incumbent STA 100. For example, if the incumbent STA 100 is a P2P device, the example co-existence determiner 108 determines the amount of potential interference by performing an energy detection on the incumbent transmission channel and evaluates, based on the energy measured, how much interference would be generated on the receiving channel. The example co-existence determiner 108 bases the energy detection on channel and bandwidth information corresponding to the UL and DL transmissions of the incumbent STA 100, Tx power and antenna characteristics of the incumbent STA 100, incoming observation time periods (e.g., where there is insurance that the example incumbent STA 100 will be transmitting data packets), etc. In some examples, the second step includes determining if a minimum incumbent energy has been detected (e.g., 99% or 99.9% of detection), to eliminate the risk of a signal that was received but not detected. If the example co-existence determiner 108 determines that the potential interference is too high and/or the energy detection threshold is not satisfied, the example co-existence determiner 108 prevents the non-incumbent STA 102 from utilizing the target band. The example co-existence determiner 108 is further described below in conjunction with FIG. 3.

FIGS. 2A-2C illustrate example estimations of an example AP range 105 of FIG. 1. Each of the example FIGS. 2A-2C include the example AP 104, the example co-existence determiner 108, and the example AP range 105 (e.g., determined by the example co-existence determiner 108) of FIG. 1. FIG. 2A further includes example non-incumbent STAs/APs 200, 206, 212, example non-incumbent STA/AP ranges 202, 208, 214, and example potential AP ranges 204, 210, 216. FIG. 2B further includes example non-incumbent STAs/APs 220, 226, example non- incumbent STA/AP ranges 222, 228, and example potential AP ranges 224, 230. Example 2C further includes example potential AP range 224, 240, an example non-incumbent STAs/APs 236, and an example non-incumbent STA/AP range 238. Although the examples of FIGS. 2A- 2C set forth example estimations of the AP range 105, the co-existence determiner 108 may determine the AP range 105 based on additional techniques and/or a combination of the techniques described herein.

In FIG. 2A, the example AP 104 transmits location requests to connected APs and/or any STA/AP within range of the example AP 104 (e.g., 200 meters). The example non-incumbent STAs/APs 200, 206, 212 transmit a response to the example AP 104. The response may include the location of the transmitting device and/or a precision/accuracy of the location determination by the transmitting device. Accordingly, the example co-existence determiner 108 can determine the non-incumbent device STA/AP ranges 202, 208, 214. In some examples, the co-existence determiner 108 determines the potential AP ranges 204, 210, 216 based on the worst-case scenario. The worse-case scenario corresponds to the maximum reception distance (e.g., Rmax, 200 meters, for example) that the example AP 104 can receive a data packet from. For example, the co-existence determiner 108 may determine the first potential AP range 204 by extending the example non-incumbent STA/AP range 202 by the Rmax,i . Similarly, the example co-existence determiner 108 determines the second potential AP range 210 and the third potential AP range 216 by extending the example non-incumbent STA/AP ranges 208, 214 by Rmax,2 and Rmax,3, respectively. The example co-existence determiner 108 determines the example AP range 105 corresponding to the area where the example potential AP ranges 204, 210, 216 overlap.

In FIG. 2B, the example AP 104 is a multiple input, multiple output (MIMO) AP capable of determining the angle of a received data packet from a connected device. In this manner, when the example AP 1-4 receives a response to a location request, the example co-existence determiner 108 can determine the example potential AP range 224 based on the example non- incumbent STA/AP range, the angle of transmission, and the Rmax (worse-case distance). For example, when the example AP 104 receives the location/precision from the first example non- incumbent STA/AP 220, the example AP 104 determines the potential AP range 224 by determining and extending the example no-incumbent STA/AP range 222 based on the Rmax,i and a determined angle of transmission, θι. Similarly, the example AP 104 determines the example potential AP range 230 based on a determined angle of transmission, θ₂, Rmax,2, and received location information from the example non-incumbent STA/AP 226 (e.g.,

corresponding to the example non-incumbent STA/AP range 228). The example co-existence determiner 108 determines the example AP range 105 corresponding to the area where the example potential AP ranges 224, 230 overlap.

In FIG. 2C, the example AP 104 determines its own potential AP range 234 based on its own tracking system (e.g., Wi-Fi position system, GPS, etc.). However, as described herein, some APs may have poor self-location accuracy. Accordingly, to increase the accuracy of the potential AP range 234, the example co-existence determiner 108 determines a second example potential AP range 240 based on location/precision information from the example non- incumbent STA/AP 236 (e.g., corresponding to the example non-incumbent STA/AP range 238) and the Rmax. Accordingly, the example co-existence determiner 108 increases its location accuracy by determining the example AP range 105 corresponding to the area where the example potential AP ranges 234, 240 overlap.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of the example co-existence determiner 108 of FIG. 1. The example co-existence determiner 108 includes an example interface 300, an example device characteristics determiner 304, an example interference determiner 308, and an example permission determiner 310.

The example interface 300 of FIG. 3 interfaces with the radio architecture of the device implementing the co-existence determiner (e.g., the radio architecture 600 of FIG. 6) to communicate with other devices (e.g., the example incumbent STA 100, the example non-incumbent STA 102, the example incumbent database 106, and/or any other device). In some examples, the interface 300 of FIG. 3 requests (e.g., via the radio architecture 600 of FIG. 6) geolocation information from an associated STA (e.g., the non-incumbent STA 102) with a location configuration information (LCI) request. In such examples, the non- incumbent STA 102 responds with an LCI response with the geolocation information and, in some instances, the precision/imprecision of the geolocation information. In some examples, the interface 300 requests (e.g., via the radio architecture 600 of FIG. 6) that all STAs in communication with the AP 104 provide their geolocation information by broadcasting the LCI request. In some examples, the interface 300 requests (e.g., via the radio architecture 600 of FIG. 6) geolocation information for unassociated STAs by broadcasting or unicasting the LCI request. In some examples, the interface 300 requests (e.g., via the radio architecture 600 of FIG. 6) a neighbor AP to provide geolocation information by including the LCI request in an action frame. Assuming the AP 104 is operating at 6 GHz and is collocated with another AP at 2.4 and/or 5GHz, or that the AP is a multi-band AP that operates on multiple bands, the interface 300 can make that request (e.g., via the radio architecture 600 of FIG. 6) at 2.4 or 5 GHz, or at 6 GHz in a channel on which the AP 104 is already enabled. In some examples, an LCI request, an LCI report and/or another measurement request or report includes a field that describes the signal strength of the GPS signal. In some example, the example interface 300 interfaces with the example incumbent database 106 to gather data related to the incumbent STA 100 in the target band. In some examples, the interface 300 interfaces with the example non-incumbent STA 102 and/or the example AP 104 to gather additional data regarding the non-incumbent STA 102 and/or the target band.

The example geolocation determiner 302 of FIG. 3 uses the collected geolocation to derive its own geolocation information (e.g., the example AP range 105). The example geolocation determiner 302 estimates the distance between the AP 104 and the STA (e.g., the example non-incumbent STA 102) from which it collected the geolocation information. In some examples, the geolocation determiner 302 uses a distance measurement solution (e.g., as defined in IEEE 802.1 lx for location service). In some examples, the geolocation determiner 302 uses the worst-case distance, which can be defined as being 200 meters (m) for Wi-Fi, for

determining the example AP range 105 based on the location information of the non-incumbent STA 102 and/or another AP and the 200-meter maximum reception distance. In some examples, the geolocation determiner 302 utilizes the results between multiple STAs/APs or take the one that is the most precise, as described above in conjunction with FIGS. 2A-2B. In some examples, the geolocation determiner 302 uses the geolocation information of the example AP 104 (e.g., which may have low accuracy) along with the geolocation information of one or more STAs/APs to determine the example AP range 105, as described above in conjunction with FIG. 2C.

The example device characteristics determiner 304 of FIG. 3 determines characteristics of the of the example incumbent STA 100, the example non-incumbent STA 102, and/or the AP 104 based on the known characteristics of the AP 104 and/or data received from the interface 300. For example, the device characteristics determiner 304 may determine if the example incumbent STA 100 is a satellite receiver or other type of incumbent device. Additionally, the example device characteristics determiner 304 may determine if the AP 104 is located indoors or outdoors (e.g., based on a comparison of a GPS signal detection level to a predefined threshold). In some examples, the device characteristics determiner 304 may determine the minimum distance (e.g., Dmin,i) between the example AP 104 (e.g., based on the AP range 105) and the incumbent STA 100 (e.g., based on data in the example incumbent database 106). Additionally, the device characteristics determiner 304 may determine the Tx power of the non-incumbent STA 102, the antenna gain and attenuation of the non-incumbent STA 102, channel attenuation based on Dmin,2, antenna characteristics of the incumbent STA 100, channel and bandwidth information corresponding to the UL and DL transmissions of the incumbent STA 100, Tx power and antenna characteristics of the incumbent STA 100, incoming observation time periods (e.g., where there is insurance that the example incumbent STA 100 will be transmitting data packets), etc.

The example channel selector 306 of FIG. 3 determines whether coexistence is possible and, if so, using which channels. The example channel selector 306 uses the location of the incumbent STA 100 and the AP range 105 to determine whether the AP 104 and the incumbent STA 100 can coexist. In some examples, the channel selector 306 uses information (e.g., geolocation information) stored in the incumbent database 106 to determine whether the AP 104 and the incumbent STA 100 can coexist based on, for example, their separation, their operating frequency(-ies), their orientation(s), etc. In some examples, the incumbent database 106 is an FCC universal licensing system (ULS) database. In some examples, the channel selector 306 uses one or more additional, and/or alternative, parameters, rules, etc. to determine coexistence. For instance, the AP 104 may use a channel that is occupied by a satellite when the AP 104 is indoors. As described above, the device characteristics determiner 304 determines whether the AP 104 is indoors or outdoors based on a comparison of a GPS signal detection level to a predefined threshold (e.g., if the GPS signal level is above a threshold, it is considered outdoor and cannot use the channel, otherwise it is considered indoor and can use the channel). In some examples, the channel selector 306 stores a list of channels (or bands) that are believed to not cause interference with an incumbent, and/or a list of channels (or bands) that may cause interference with an incumbent in a local memory (e.g., the example local memory 1013 of FIG. 10) for subsequent retrieval.

The example interference determiner 308 of FIG. 3 determines a potential interference that the example non-incumbent STA 102 may create to the example incumbent STA 100. The example interference determiner 308 determines the amount of potential interference in the first step by calculating a link budget between the incumbent STA 100 and the non-incumbent STA 102. The example interference determiner 308 calculates a potential interference based on the link budget and other factors (e.g., determined by the FCC, for example). The example interference determiner 308 determines the amount of potential interference in the second step based on the type of device corresponding to the incumbent STA 100. For example, if the incumbent STA 100 is a P2P device, the example interference determiner 308 determines the amount of potential interference by performing an energy detection on the incumbent transmission channel and evaluates, based on the energy measured, how much interference would be generated on the receiving channel. The example interference determiner 308 bases the energy detection on channel and bandwidth information corresponding to the UL and DL transmissions of the incumbent ST A 100, Tx power and antenna characteristics of the incumbent STA 100, incoming observation time periods (e.g., where there is insurance that the example incumbent STA 100 will be transmitting data packets), etc. In some examples, the interference determiner 308 determines if a minimum incumbent energy has been detected (e.g., 99% or 99.9% of detection), to eliminate the risk of a signal that was received but not detected.

The example permission determiner 310 of FIG. 3 determines whether to prevent or allow the example non-incumbent STA 102 from using the target band based on interference and/or energy detection. For example, if the interference determiner 308 determines that the potential interference is too high and/or the energy detection threshold is not satisfied, the example interference determiner 308 prevents the non-incumbent STA 102 from utilizing the target band.

While an example manner of implementing the co-existence determiner 108 of FIG. 1 is illustrated in FIG. 3, one or more of the elements, processes and/or devices illustrated in FIG. 3 may be combined, divided, re-arranged, omitted, eliminated and/or implemented in any other way. Further, the example interface 300, the example geolocation determiner 302, the example device characteristics determiner 304, the example channel selector 306, the example interface determiner 308, the example permission determiner 310, and/or, more generally, the example coexistence determiner 108 of FIG. 3 may be implemented by hardware, software, firmware and/or any combination of hardware, software and/or firmware. Thus, for example, any of the example interface 300, the example geolocation determiner 302, the example device characteristics determiner 304, the example channel selector 306, the example interface determiner 308, the example permission determiner 310, and/or, more generally, the example co-existence determiner 108 of FIG. 3 could be implemented by one or more analog or digital circuit(s), logic circuits, programmable processor(s), programmable controlled s), graphics processing unit(s) (GPU(s)), digital signal processor(s) (DSP(s)), application specific integrated circuit(s)

(ASIC(s)), programmable logic device(s) (PLD(s)) and/or field programmable logic device(s) (FPLD(s)). When reading any of the apparatus or system claims of this patent to cover a purely software and/or firmware implementation, at least one of the example interface 300, the example geolocation determiner 302, the example device characteristics determiner 304, the example channel selector 306, the example interface determiner 308, the example permission determiner 310, and/or, more generally, the example co-existence determiner 108 of FIG. 3 is/are hereby expressly defined to include a non-transitory computer readable storage device or storage disk such as a memory, a digital versatile disk (DVD), a compact disk (CD), a Blu-ray disk, etc. including the software and/or firmware. Further still, the example co-existence determiner 108 of FIG. 1 may include one or more elements, processes and/or devices in addition to, or instead of, those illustrated in FIG. 3, and/or may include more than one of any or all of the illustrated elements, processes and devices. As used herein, the phrase "in communication," including variations thereof, encompasses direct communication and/or indirect communication through one or more intermediary components, and does not require direct physical (e.g., wired) communication and/or constant communication, but rather additionally includes selective communication at periodic intervals, scheduled intervals, aperiodic intervals, and/or one-time events.

Flowcharts representative of example hardware logic or machine readable instructions for implementing the co-existence determiner 108 of FIG. 1 are shown in FIGS. 4-5 A. The machine readable instructions may be a program or portion of a program for execution by a processor such as the processor 1012 shown in the example processor platform 1000 discussed below in connection with FIG. 10. The program may be embodied in software stored on a non-transitory computer readable storage medium such as a CD-ROM, a floppy disk, a hard drive, a DVD, a Blu-ray disk, or a memory associated with the processor 1012, but the entire program and/or parts thereof could alternatively be executed by a device other than the processor 1012 and/or embodied in firmware or dedicated hardware. Further, although the example program is described with reference to the flowchart illustrated in FIG. 4, many other methods of implementing the example co-existence determiner 108 may alternatively be used. For example, the order of execution of the blocks may be changed, and/or some of the blocks described may be changed, eliminated, or combined. Additionally or alternatively, any or all of the blocks may be implemented by one or more hardware circuits (e.g., discrete and/or integrated analog and/or digital circuitry, an FPGA, an ASIC, a comparator, an operational-amplifier (op-amp), a logic circuit, etc.) structured to perform the corresponding operation without executing software or firmware.

As mentioned above, the example processes of FIGS. 4-5B may be implemented using executable instructions (e.g., computer and/or machine readable instructions) stored on a non- transitory computer and/or machine readable medium such as a hard disk drive, a flash memory, a read-only memory, a compact disk, a digital versatile disk, a cache, a random-access memory and/or any other storage device or storage disk in which information is stored for any duration (e.g., for extended time periods, permanently, for brief instances, for temporarily buffering, and/or for caching of the information). As used herein, the term non-transitory computer readable medium is expressly defined to include any type of computer readable storage device and/or storage disk and to exclude propagating signals and to exclude transmission media.

"Including" and "comprising" (and all forms and tenses thereof) are used herein to be open ended terms. Thus, whenever a claim employs any form of "include" or "comprise" (e.g., comprises, includes, comprising, including, having, etc.) as a preamble or within a claim recitation of any kind, it is to be understood that additional elements, terms, etc. may be present without falling outside the scope of the corresponding claim or recitation. As used herein, when the phrase "at least" is used as the transition term in, for example, a preamble of a claim, it is open-ended in the same manner as the term "comprising" and "including" are open ended. The term "and/or" when used, for example, in a form such as A, B, and/or C refers to any

combination or subset of A, B, C such as (1) A alone, (2) B alone, (3) C alone, (4) A with B, (5) A with C, and (6) B with C.

FIG. 4 illustrate an example flowchart 400 representative of example machine readable instructions that may be executed by the example co-existence determiner 108 of FIG. 1 to facilitate wireless connectivity for incumbent devices and non-incumbent devices in a target frequency band. Although the flowchart 400 of FIG. 4 is described in conjunction with the example co-existence determiner 108 of FIG. 1, the instructions may be executed by any coexistence determiner with any number of incumbent and/or non-incumbent stations.

At block 402, the example interface 300 transmits (e.g., via the radio architecture 600 of FIG. 6) a request for location/precision information from any STA/AP within the Wi-Fi range of the AP 104 (e.g., within 300 m of the AP 104, for example). In some examples, the interface 300 of FIG. 3 requests (e.g., via the radio architecture 600 of FIG. 6) geolocation information from an associated STA (e.g., the non-incumbent STA 102) with a LCI request. In some examples, the interface 300 requests (e.g., via the radio architecture 600 of FIG. 6) that all STAs/APs in communication with the AP 104 provide their geolocation information by broadcasting the LCI request. In some examples, the interface 300 requests (e.g., via the radio architecture 600 of FIG. 6) geolocation information for unassociated STAs/APs by broadcasting or unicasting the LCI request.

At block 404, the example interface 300 receive response(s) from the request. The response(s) may include location information and precision information (e.g., coordinates of the responding device within some range corresponding to the precision/accuracy of the position system of the responding device). At block 406, the example geolocation determiner 302 approximates the location of the AP 104 (e.g., determines the AP range 105 of FIGS. 1-2C) based on the response(s), as described above in conjunction with FIGS. 1-3.

For all (e.g., or some of the) incumbents using a target band (e.g., a frequency band that the AP 104 is capable of communicating in) (block 408 to block 420), the example device characteristics determiner 304 determines if the incumbent STA 100 is a satellite receiver (block 410). If the incumbent STA 100 is a satellite receiver, the AP 104 will not cause interference on the example incumbent STA 100 if the AP 104 is located indoors. The example device characteristics determiner 304 may determine if the incumbent STA 100 is a satellite receiver by receiving incumbent device type data from the example incumbent database 106 of FIG. 1. Accordingly, if the example device characteristics determiner 304 determines that the example incumbent STA 100 is not a satellite receiver (block 410: NO), the process continues to block 412.

If the example device characteristics determiner 304 determines that the example incumbent STA 100 is a satellite receiver (block 410: YES), the example device characteristics determiner 304 determines if the AP 104 is located indoors (block 412). As described above in conjunction with FIG. 3, the example device characteristics determiner 304 determines if the AP 104 is located indoors based on a comparison of a GPS signal detection level that the AP 104 gets to a predefined threshold. If the GPS signal detection level is above the predefined threshold, the example device characteristics determiner 304 determines that the AP 104 is located outdoors. If the example device characteristics determiner 304 determines that the AP 104 is located indoors (block 412: YES), the process continues to block 420 to continues to process other incumbent devices.

If the example device characteristics determiner 304 determines that the AP 104 is not located indoors (block 412: NO), the example device characteristics determiner 304 determines a minimum distance (e.g., Dmin,i) between the approximated AP location (e.g., the AP range 105) and device (e.g., the incumbent STA 100) (block 414). The location of the incumbent STA 100 may be based on location information stored in the example incumbent database 106. At block 416, the device characteristics determiner 304 determines if the minimum distance (Dmin,i) is more than a predefined threshold distance. The predefined threshold distance corresponds to an amount of interference that the AP 104 would cause at the incumbent STA 100 if using the channels being used by the incumbent STA 100 for communications. If the device

characteristics determiner 304 determines that the minimum distance (Dmin,i) is more than a predefined threshold distance (e.g., block 416: YES), the process continues to block 420 to continues to process other incumbent devices.

If the device characteristics determiner 304 determines that the minimum distance (Dmin,i) is not more than a predefined threshold distance (e.g., block 416: NO), the example channel selector 306 blocks the channel(s) being used by the incumbent device (block 418). At block 422, the example channel selector 306 determines if one or more channels are available for communication. If the example channel selector 306 determines that one or more channels are not available for communication (block 422: NO), the process ends. If the example channel selector 306 determines that one or more channels are available for communication (block 422: YES), the channel selector 306 selects the one or more channels from the available channel(s) 424. For example, if the AP 104 is capable of operating in both the 5 GHz channel and the 6 GHz channel, and the 6 GHz channel is blocked (e.g., due to the example incumbent STA 100), then the example channel selector 306 selects the 5 GHz channel for communication.

FIGS. 5A-5B illustrate an example flowchart 500 representative of example machine readable instructions that may be executed by the example co-existence determiner 108 of FIG. 1 to facilitate wireless connectivity for incumbent devices and non-incumbent devices in a target frequency band. Although the flowchart 500 of FIG. 5 is described in conjunction with the example co-existence determiner 108 of FIG. 1, the instructions may be executed by any coexistence determiner with any number of incumbent and/or non-incumbent stations. For example, if there are more than one incumbent STA 100, the below-instructions may be repeated for each of the incumbent stations before non-incumbent station is authorized to use the target band.

At block 502, the example interface 300 receives a request for non-incumbent STA 102 to use the target band. The request may come from the non-incumbent STA 102 itself or from a device in communication with the non-incumbent STA 102 (e.g., the example AP 104). At block 504, the example device characteristics determiner 304 determines the Tx power of the non-incumbent STA 102 (e.g., by communicating directly or indirectly with the non-incumbent STA 102). At block 506, the example device characteristics determiner 304 determines the antenna gain and attenuation of the example non-incumbent STA 102 (e.g., by communicating directly or indirectly with the non-incumbent STA 102). At block 508, the example device characteristics determiner 304 determines channel attenuation based on worst case line of site (LoS) channel mode and D_min,2 (e.g., the minimum possible distance between the example incumbent STA 100 and the example non-incumbent STA 102). Dmin,2 may be determined based on the location information of the example incumbent STA 100 stored in the example incumbent database 106 and the example non-incumbent station location range 103 (e.g., by calculating the minimum distance between any point in the example non-incumbent station location range 103 and the incumbent station location).

At block 510, the example device characteristics determiner 304 determines antenna characteristics (e.g., beam orientation, attenuation, antenna gain, etc.) of the example incumbent STA 100 (e.g., based on data stored in the example incumbent database 106 of FIG. 1). At block 512, the example interference determiner 308 determines a link budget between the example incumbent STA 100 and the example non-incumbent STA 102 based on the Tx power, the antenna gain and attenuation, the channel attenuation, and the antenna characteristics determined at blocks 304-310. At block 514, the example interference determiner 308 determines if there are more than a threshold number of STAs in the area corresponding to the incumbent STA 100. The threshold may be based on user preferences, manufacture preferences, and/or based on an amount of interference seen by the incumbent STA 100. If the example interference determiner 308 determines that there is more than a threshold number of enabled STAs in the area (block 514: YES), the example interference determiner 308 determines a margin corresponding to possible, and/or actual, cumulative interference (block 516). The margin may correspond to the number of STAs in the area (e.g., the margin increases as the number of STAs increases). At block 518, the example interference determiner 308 calculates the worst-case interference seen by the example incumbent ST A 100 based on the determined link budget and the margin.

If the example interference determiner 308 determines that there is not more than a threshold number of enabled STAs in the area (block 514: NO), the example interference determiner 308 calculates the worst-case interference seen by the incumbent ST A 100 based on the determined link budget (block 520). At block 522, the example interference determiner 308 determines if the worse-case interference is above an interference threshold (e.g., determined by a user, manufacturer, and/or the FCC). If the example interference determiner 308 determines that the worse-case interference is above the interference threshold (block 522: YES), the process continues to block 526 of FIG. 5B. If the example interference determiner 308 determines that the worse-case interference is not above the interference threshold (block 522: NO), the example permission determiner 310 allows the example non-incumbent ST A 102 to operate in the target bank (block 524).

At block 526 of FIG. 5B, the example device characteristics determiner 304 determines if the incumbent STA 100 is a P2P device (e.g., based on data stored in the example incumbent database 106 and/or communications with the P2P device). If the example device characteristics determiner 304 determines that the incumbent STA 100 is a P2P device (block 526: YES), the example device characteristics determiner 304 determines the receiver (Rx) channel bandwidth and the Tx channel bandwidth of the incumbent P2P device (block 528). At block 530, the example device characteristics determiner 304 determines the Tx power and Tx antenna characteristics of the incumbent P2P device on the Tx channel. At block 532, the example device characteristics determiner 304 determines the incoming observational time periods associated with transmission. In some examples, the determined characteristics are determined based on (A) data stored in the incumbent database 106 and/or (B) communications between the example incumbent STA 100 (e.g., the P2P device), the example co-existence determiner 108, and/or the AP 104.

At block 534, the example interference determiner 308 performs energy detection on the Tx channel based on the determined channel bandwidth, the Tx power, the Tx antenna characterisitcs, and/or the incoming observation time periods (e.g., determined at block 528- 332). In some examples, the energy detection may be based on other characteristics defined by the FCC. At block 536, the example interference determiner 308 determines if the detected energy is below an incumbent energy threshold. The incumbent energy threshold corresponds to the minimum amount of energy (e.g., 95%, 99%, 99.9%, etc.) that must be detected for the example interference determiner 308 to determine that the energy detection is sufficient enough to allow for the example non-incumbent ST A 102 to utilize the target band without interfering with the incumbent STA 100 (e.g., the P2P device). If energy is detected below the threshold, or if no energy is detected, there is a risk that a signal was received but not detected.

If the example interference determiner 308 determines that the detected energy is below the incumbent energy threshold (block 536: YES), the process continues to block 542, as further described below. If the example interference determiner 308 determines that the detected energy is not below the incumbent energy threshold (block 536: NO), the example interference determiner 308 determines the interference of a potential non-incumbent STA transmission on the Rx channel (e.g., of the P2P device) based on the detected energy (block 538). At block 540, the example interference determiner 308 determines if the interference on the Rx channel is above an Rx interference threshold. If the example interference determiner 308 determines that the interference on the Rx channel is above the Rx interference threshold (block 540: YES), the example permission determiner 310 prevents the example non-incumbent STA 102 from operating in the target band (block 542). If the example interference determiner 308 determines that the interference on the Rx channel is not above the Rx interference threshold (block 540: NO), the example permission determiner 310 allows the example non-incumbent STA 102 to operate in the target band (block 544). Returning to block 526, if the example device

characteristics determiner 304 determines that the incumbent STA 100 is not a P2P device (block 526: NO), the example co-existence determiner 108 processes the interference based on the example non-incumbent STA 102 being an incumbent satellite device, or other non-P2P incumbent device (block 546).

FIG. 6 is a block diagram of a radio architecture 600 in accordance with some

embodiments that may be implemented in the example AP 104 and/or the example non- incumbent STA 102, and/or as a stand-alone device. Radio architecture 600 may include radio front-end module (FEM) circuitry 604a-b, radio IC circuitry 606a-b and baseband processing circuitry 608a-b. Radio architecture 600 as shown includes both Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) functionality and Bluetooth (BT) functionality although embodiments are not so limited. In this disclosure, "WLAN" and "Wi-Fi" are used interchangeably.

FEM circuitry 604a-b may include a WLAN or Wi-Fi FEM circuitry 604a and a

Bluetooth (BT) FEM circuitry 604b. The WLAN FEM circuitry 604a may include a receive signal path comprising circuitry configured to operate on WLAN RF signals received from one or more antennas 601, to amplify the received signals and to provide the amplified versions of the received signals to the WLAN radio IC circuitry 606a for further processing. The BT FEM circuitry 604b may include a receive signal path which may include circuitry configured to operate on BT RF signals received from one or more antennas 601, to amplify the received signals and to provide the amplified versions of the received signals to the BT radio IC circuitry 606b for further processing. FEM circuitry 604a may also include a transmit signal path which may include circuitry configured to amplify WLAN signals provided by the radio IC circuitry 606a for wireless transmission by one or more of the antennas 601. In addition, FEM circuitry 604b may also include a transmit signal path which may include circuitry configured to amplify BT signals provided by the radio IC circuitry 606b for wireless transmission by the one or more antennas. In the embodiment of FIG. 6, although FEM 604a and FEM 604b are shown as being distinct from one another, embodiments are not so limited, and include within their scope the use of an FEM (not shown) that includes a transmit path and/or a receive path for both WLAN and BT signals, or the use of one or more FEM circuitries where at least some of the FEM circuitries share transmit and/or receive signal paths for both WLAN and BT signals.

Radio IC circuitry 606a-b as shown may include WLAN radio IC circuitry 606a and BT radio IC circuitry 606b. The WLAN radio IC circuitry 606a may include a receive signal path which may include circuitry to down-convert WLAN RF signals received from the FEM circuitry 604a and provide baseband signals to WLAN baseband processing circuitry 608a. BT radio IC circuitry 606b may in turn include a receive signal path which may include circuitry to down-convert BT RF signals received from the FEM circuitry 604b and provide baseband signals to BT baseband processing circuitry 608b. WLAN radio IC circuitry 606a may also include a transmit signal path which may include circuitry to up-convert WLAN baseband signals provided by the WLAN baseband processing circuitry 608a and provide WLAN RF output signals to the FEM circuitry 604a for subsequent wireless transmission by the one or more antennas 601. BT radio IC circuitry 606b may also include a transmit signal path which may include circuitry to up-convert BT baseband signals provided by the BT baseband processing circuitry 608b and provide BT RF output signals to the FEM circuitry 604b for subsequent wireless transmission by the one or more antennas 601. In the embodiment of FIG. 6, although radio IC circuitries 606a and 606b are shown as being distinct from one another, embodiments are not so limited, and include within their scope the use of a radio IC circuitry (not shown) that includes a transmit signal path and/or a receive signal path for both WLAN and BT signals, or the use of one or more radio IC circuitries where at least some of the radio IC circuitries share transmit and/or receive signal paths for both WLAN and BT signals.

Baseband processing circuity 608a-b may include a WLAN baseband processing circuitry 608a and a BT baseband processing circuitry 608b. The WLAN baseband processing circuitry 608a may include a memory, such as, for example, a set of RAM arrays in a Fast Fourier Transform or Inverse Fast Fourier Transform block (not shown) of the WLAN baseband processing circuitry 608a. Each of the WLAN baseband circuitry 608a and the BT baseband circuitry 608b may further include one or more processors and control logic to process the signals received from the corresponding WLAN or BT receive signal path of the radio IC circuitry 606a-b, and to also generate corresponding WLAN or BT baseband signals for the transmit signal path of the radio IC circuitry 606a-b. Each of the baseband processing circuitries 608a and 608b may further include physical layer (PHY) and medium access control layer (MAC) circuitry, and may further interface with application processor 610 for generation and processing of the baseband signals and for controlling operations of the radio IC circuitry 606a- b.

Referring still to FIG. 6, according to the shown embodiment, WLAN-BT coexistence circuitry 613 may include logic providing an interface between the WLAN baseband circuitry 608a and the BT baseband circuitry 608b to enable use cases requiring WLAN and BT coexistence. In addition, a switch 603 may be provided between the WLAN FEM circuitry 604a and the BT FEM circuitry 604b to allow switching between the WLAN and BT radios according to application needs. In addition, although the antennas 601 are depicted as being respectively connected to the WLAN FEM circuitry 604a and the BT FEM circuitry 604b, embodiments include within their scope the sharing of one or more antennas as between the WLAN and BT FEMs, or the provision of more than one antenna connected to each of FEM 604a or 604b. In some embodiments, the front-end module circuitry 604a-b, the radio IC circuitry 606a- b, and baseband processing circuitry 608a-b may be provided on a single radio card, such as wireless radio card 602. In some other embodiments, the one or more antennas 601, the FEM circuitry 604a-b and the radio IC circuitry 606a-b may be provided on a single radio card. In some other embodiments, the radio IC circuitry 606a-b and the baseband processing circuitry 608a-b may be provided on a single chip or integrated circuit (IC), such as IC 612.

In some embodiments, the wireless radio card 602 may include a WLAN radio card and may be configured for Wi-Fi communications, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect. In some of these embodiments, the radio architecture 600 may be configured to receive and transmit orthogonal frequency division multiplexed (OFDM) or orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) communication signals over a multicarrier communication channel. The OFDM or OFDMA signals may comprise a plurality of orthogonal subcarriers.

In some of these multicarrier embodiments, radio architecture 600 may be part of a Wi-Fi communication station (STA) such as a wireless access point (AP), a base station or a mobile device including a Wi-Fi device. In some of these embodiments, radio architecture 600 may be configured to transmit and receive signals in accordance with specific communication standards and/or protocols, such as any of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) standards including, 802.11n-2009, IEEE 802.11-2012, IEEE 802.11-2016, 802.11n-2009, 802.1 lac, 802.1 lah, 802.1 lad, 802.1 lay and/or 802.1 lax standards and/or proposed

specifications for WLANs, although the scope of embodiments is not limited in this respect. Radio architecture 600 may also be suitable to transmit and/or receive communications in accordance with other techniques and standards.

In some embodiments, the radio architecture 600 may be configured for high-efficiency Wi-Fi (HEW) communications in accordance with the IEEE 802.1 lax standard. In these embodiments, the radio architecture 600 may be configured to communicate in accordance with an OFDMA technique, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect.

In some other embodiments, the radio architecture 600 may be configured to transmit and receive signals transmitted using one or more other modulation techniques such as spread spectrum modulation (e.g., direct sequence code division multiple access (DS-CDMA) and/or frequency hopping code division multiple access (FH-CDMA)), time-division multiplexing (TDM) modulation, and/or frequency-division multiplexing (FDM) modulation, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect.

In some embodiments, as further shown in FIG. 6, the BT baseband circuitry 608b may be compliant with a Bluetooth (BT) connectivity standard such as Bluetooth, Bluetooth 8.0 or Bluetooth 6.0, or any other iteration of the Bluetooth Standard. In embodiments that include BT functionality as shown for example in FIG. 6, the radio architecture 600 may be configured to establish a BT synchronous connection oriented (SCO) link and or a BT low energy (BT LE) link. In some of the embodiments that include functionality, the radio architecture 600 may be configured to establish an extended SCO (eSCO) link for BT communications, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect. In some of these embodiments that include a BT functionality, the radio architecture may be configured to engage in a BT

Asynchronous Connection-Less (ACL) communications, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect. In some embodiments, as shown in FIG. 6, the functions of a BT radio card and WLAN radio card may be combined on a single wireless radio card, such as single wireless radio card 602, although embodiments are not so limited, and include within their scope discrete WLAN and BT radio cards

In some embodiments, the radio-architecture 600 may include other radio cards, such as a cellular radio card configured for cellular (e.g., 5GPP such as LTE, LTE-Advanced or 7G communications).

In some IEEE 802.11 embodiments, the radio architecture 600 may be configured for communication over various channel bandwidths including bandwidths having center

frequencies of about 900 MHz, 2.4 GHz, 5 GHz, and bandwidths of about 2 MHz, 4 MHz, 5 MHz, 5.5 MHz, 6 MHz, 8 MHz, 10 MHz, 20 MHz, 40 MHz, 80 MHz (with contiguous bandwidths) or 80+80 MHz (160MHz) (with non-contiguous bandwidths). In some

embodiments, a 920 MHz channel bandwidth may be used. The scope of the embodiments is not limited with respect to the above center frequencies however.

FIG. 7 illustrates WLAN FEM circuitry 604a in accordance with some embodiments. Although the example of FIG. 7 is described in conjunction with the WLAN FEM circuitry 604a, the example of FIG. 7 may be described in conjunction with the example BT FEM circuitry 604b (FIG. 6), although other circuitry configurations may also be suitable. In some embodiments, the FEM circuitry 604a may include a TX/RX switch 702 to switch between transmit mode and receive mode operation. The FEM circuitry 604a may include a receive signal path and a transmit signal path. The receive signal path of the FEM circuitry 604a may include a low-noise amplifier (LNA) 706 to amplify received RF signals 703 and provide the amplified received RF signals 707 as an output (e.g., to the radio IC circuitry 606a-b (FIG. 6)). The transmit signal path of the circuitry 604a may include a power amplifier (PA) to amplify input RF signals 709 (e.g., provided by the radio IC circuitry 606a-b), and one or more filters 712, such as band-pass filters (BPFs), low-pass filters (LPFs) or other types of filters, to generate RF signals 715 for subsequent transmission (e.g., by one or more of the antennas 601 (FIG. 6)) via an example duplexer 714.

In some dual-mode embodiments for Wi-Fi communication, the FEM circuitry 604a may be configured to operate in either the 2.4 GHz frequency spectrum or the 8 GHz frequency spectrum. In these embodiments, the receive signal path of the FEM circuitry 604a may include a receive signal path duplexer 704 to separate the signals from each spectrum as well as provide a separate LNA 706 for each spectrum as shown. In these embodiments, the transmit signal path of the FEM circuitry 604a may also include a power amplifier 710 and a filter 712, such as a BPF, a LPF or another type of filter for each frequency spectrum and a transmit signal path duplexer 704 to provide the signals of one of the different spectrums onto a single transmit path for subsequent transmission by the one or more of the antennas 601 (FIG. 6). In some embodiments, BT communications may utilize the 2.4 GHz signal paths and may utilize the same FEM circuitry 604a as the one used for WLAN communications.

FIG. 8 illustrates radio IC circuitry 606a in accordance with some embodiments. The radio IC circuitry 606a is one example of circuitry that may be suitable for use as the WLAN or BT radio IC circuitry 606a/606b (FIG. 6), although other circuitry configurations may also be suitable. Alternatively, the example of FIG. 8 may be described in conjunction with the example BT radio IC circuitry 606b.

In some embodiments, the radio IC circuitry 606a may include a receive signal path and a transmit signal path. The receive signal path of the radio IC circuitry 606a may include at least mixer circuitry 802, such as, for example, down-conversion mixer circuitry, amplifier circuitry 806 and filter circuitry 808. The transmit signal path of the radio IC circuitry 606a may include at least filter circuitry 812 and mixer circuitry 814, such as, for example, up-conversion mixer circuitry. Radio IC circuitry 606a may also include synthesizer circuitry 804 for synthesizing a frequency 805 for use by the mixer circuitry 802 and the mixer circuitry 814. The mixer circuitry 802 and/or 814 may each, according to some embodiments, be configured to provide direct conversion functionality. The latter type of circuitry presents a much simpler architecture as compared with standard super-heterodyne mixer circuitries, and any flicker noise brought about by the same may be alleviated for example through the use of OFDM modulation. FIG. 8 illustrates only a simplified version of a radio IC circuitry, and may include, although not shown, embodiments where each of the depicted circuitries may include more than one component. For instance, mixer circuitry 814 may each include one or more mixers, and filter circuitries 808 and/or 812 may each include one or more filters, such as one or more BPFs and/or LPFs according to application needs. For example, when mixer circuitries are of the direct-conversion type, they may each include two or more mixers.

In some embodiments, mixer circuitry 802 may be configured to down-convert RF signals 707 received from the FEM circuitry 604a-b (FIG. 6) based on the synthesized frequency 805 provided by synthesizer circuitry 804. The amplifier circuitry 806 may be configured to amplify the down-converted signals and the filter circuitry 808 may include a LPF configured to remove unwanted signals from the down-converted signals to generate output baseband signals 807. Output baseband signals 807 may be provided to the baseband processing circuitry 608a-b (FIG. 6) for further processing. In some embodiments, the output baseband signals 807 may be zero-frequency baseband signals, although this is not a requirement. In some embodiments, mixer circuitry 802 may comprise passive mixers, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect.

In some embodiments, the mixer circuitry 814 may be configured to up-convert input baseband signals 811 based on the synthesized frequency 805 provided by the synthesizer circuitry 804 to generate RF output signals 709 for the FEM circuitry 604a-b. The baseband signals 811 may be provided by the baseband processing circuitry 608a-b and may be filtered by filter circuitry 812. The filter circuitry 812 may include a LPF or a BPF, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect.

In some embodiments, the mixer circuitry 802 and the mixer circuitry 814 may each include two or more mixers and may be arranged for quadrature down-conversion and/or up- conversion respectively with the help of synthesizer 804. In some embodiments, the mixer circuitry 802 and the mixer circuitry 814 may each include two or more mixers each configured for image rejection (e.g., Hartley image rejection). In some embodiments, the mixer circuitry 802 and the mixer circuitry 814 may be arranged for direct down-conversion and/or direct up- conversion, respectively. In some embodiments, the mixer circuitry 802 and the mixer circuitry 814 may be configured for super-heterodyne operation, although this is not a requirement.

Mixer circuitry 802 may comprise, according to one embodiment: quadrature passive mixers (e.g., for the in-phase (I) and quadrature phase (Q) paths). In such an embodiment, RF input signal 707 from FIG. 8 may be down-converted to provide I and Q baseband output signals to be sent to the baseband processor

Quadrature passive mixers may be driven by zero and ninety-degree time-varying LO switching signals provided by a quadrature circuitry which may be configured to receive a LO frequency (fLO) from a local oscillator or a synthesizer, such as LO frequency 805 of synthesizer 804 (FIG. 8). In some embodiments, the LO frequency may be the carrier frequency, while in other embodiments, the LO frequency may be a fraction of the carrier frequency (e.g., one-half the carrier frequency, one-third the carrier frequency). In some embodiments, the zero and ninety-degree time- varying switching signals may be generated by the synthesizer, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect.

In some embodiments, the LO signals may differ in duty cycle (the percentage of one period in which the LO signal is high) and/or offset (the difference between start points of the period). In some embodiments, the LO signals may have an 85% duty cycle and an 80% offset. In some embodiments, each branch of the mixer circuitry (e.g., the in-phase (I) and quadrature phase (Q) path) may operate at an 80% duty cycle, which may result in a significant reduction is power consumption.

The RF input signal 707 (FIG. 7) may comprise a balanced signal, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect. The I and Q baseband output signals may be provided to low-noise amplifier, such as amplifier circuitry 806 (FIG. 8) or to filter circuitry 808 (FIG. 8).

In some embodiments, the output baseband signals 807 and the input baseband signals 811 may be analog baseband signals, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect. In some alternate embodiments, the output baseband signals 807 and the input baseband signals 811 may be digital baseband signals. In these alternate embodiments, the radio IC circuitry may include analog-to-digital converter (ADC) and digital-to-analog converter (DAC) circuitry.

In some dual-mode embodiments, a separate radio IC circuitry may be provided for processing signals for each spectrum, or for other spectrums not mentioned here, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect.

In some embodiments, the synthesizer circuitry 804 may be a fractional-N synthesizer or a fractional N/N+l synthesizer, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect as other types of frequency synthesizers may be suitable. For example, synthesizer circuitry 804 may be a delta-sigma synthesizer, a frequency multiplier, or a synthesizer comprising a phase-locked loop with a frequency divider. According to some embodiments, the synthesizer circuitry 804 may include digital synthesizer circuitry. An advantage of using a digital synthesizer circuitry is that, although it may still include some analog components, its footprint may be scaled down much more than the footprint of an analog synthesizer circuitry. In some embodiments, frequency input into synthesizer circuity 804 may be provided by a voltage controlled oscillator (VCO), although that is not a requirement. A divider control input may further be provided by either the baseband processing circuitry 608a-b (FIG. 6) or the application processor 610 (FIG. 6) depending on the desired output frequency 805. In some embodiments, a divider control input (e.g., N) may be determined from a look-up table (e.g., within a Wi-Fi card) based on a channel number and a channel center frequency as determined or indicated by the application processor 610. The application processor 610 may include, or otherwise be connected to, the example co-existence determiner 108.

In some embodiments, synthesizer circuitry 804 may be configured to generate a carrier frequency as the output frequency 805, while in other embodiments, the output frequency 805 may be a fraction of the carrier frequency (e.g., one-half the carrier frequency, one-third the carrier frequency). In some embodiments, the output frequency 805 may be a LO frequency (fLO).

FIG. 9 illustrates a functional block diagram of baseband processing circuitry 608a in accordance with some embodiments. The baseband processing circuitry 608a is one example of circuitry that may be suitable for use as the baseband processing circuitry 608a (FIG. 6), although other circuitry configurations may also be suitable. Alternatively, the example of FIG. 83 may be used to implement the example BT baseband processing circuitry 608b of FIG. 6. The baseband processing circuitry 608a may include a receive baseband processor (RX BBP) 902 for processing receive baseband signals 809 provided by the radio IC circuitry 606a-b (FIG. 6) and a transmit baseband processor (TX BBP) 904 for generating transmit baseband signals 811 for the radio IC circuitry 606a-b. The baseband processing circuitry 608a may also include control logic 906 for coordinating the operations of the baseband processing circuitry 608a.

In some embodiments (e.g., when analog baseband signals are exchanged between the baseband processing circuitry 608a-b and the radio IC circuitry 606a-b), the baseband processing circuitry 608a may include ADC 910 to convert analog baseband signals 909 received from the radio IC circuitry 606a-b to digital baseband signals for processing by the RX BBP 902. In these embodiments, the baseband processing circuitry 608a may also include DAC 912 to convert digital baseband signals from the TX BBP 904 to analog baseband signals 911.

In some embodiments that communicate OFDM signals or OFDMA signals, such as through baseband processor 608a, the transmit baseband processor 904 may be configured to generate OFDM or OFDMA signals as appropriate for transmission by performing an inverse fast Fourier transform (IFFT). The receive baseband processor 902 may be configured to process received OFDM signals or OFDMA signals by performing an FFT. In some embodiments, the receive baseband processor 902 may be configured to detect the presence of an OFDM signal or OFDMA signal by performing an autocorrelation, to detect a preamble, such as a short preamble, and by performing a cross-correlation, to detect a long preamble. The preambles may be part of a predetermined frame structure for Wi-Fi communication.

Referring back to FIG. 6, in some embodiments, the antennas 601 (FIG. 6) may each comprise one or more directional or omnidirectional antennas, including, for example, dipole antennas, monopole antennas, patch antennas, loop antennas, microstrip antennas or other types of antennas suitable for transmission of RF signals. In some multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) embodiments, the antennas may be effectively separated to take advantage of spatial diversity and the different channel characteristics that may result. Antennas 601 may each include a set of phased-array antennas, although embodiments are not so limited.

Although the radio-architecture 600 is illustrated as having several separate functional elements, one or more of the functional elements may be combined and may be implemented by combinations of software-configured elements, such as processing elements including digital signal processors (DSPs), and/or other hardware elements. For example, some elements may comprise one or more microprocessors, DSPs, field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), application specific integrated circuits (ASICs), radio-frequency integrated circuits (RFICs) and combinations of various hardware and logic circuitry for performing at least the functions described herein. In some embodiments, the functional elements may refer to one or more processes operating on one or more processing elements.

FIG. 10 is a block diagram of an example processor platform 1000 structured to execute the instructions of FIGS. 4-5B to implement the co-existence determiner 108 of FIG. 3. The processor platform 1000 can be, for example, a server, a personal computer, a workstation, a self-learning machine (e.g., a neural network), a mobile device (e.g., a cell phone, a smart phone, a tablet such as an iPad™), a personal digital assistant (PDA), an Internet appliance, a DVD player, a CD player, a digital video recorder, a Blu-ray player, a gaming console, a personal video recorder, a set top box, a headset or other wearable device, or any other type of computing device.

The processor platform 1000 of the illustrated example includes a processor 1012. The processor 1012 of the illustrated example is hardware. For example, the processor 1012 can be implemented by one or more integrated circuits, logic circuits, microprocessors, GPUs, DSPs, or controllers from any desired family or manufacturer. The hardware processor may be a semiconductor based (e.g., silicon based) device. In this example, the processor 1012 implements the example interface 300, the example geolocation determiner 302, the example device characteristics determiner 304, the example channel selector 306, the example

interference determiner 308, and/or the example permission determiner 310.

The processor 1012 of the illustrated example includes a local memory 1013 (e.g., a cache). The processor 1012 of the illustrated example is in communication with a main memory including a volatile memory 1014 and a non- volatile memory 1016 via a bus 1018. The volatile memory 1014 may be implemented by Synchronous Dynamic Random Access Memory

(SDRAM), Dynamic Random Access Memory (DRAM), RAMBUS® Dynamic Random Access Memory (RDRAM®) and/or any other type of random access memory device. The non-volatile memory 1016 may be implemented by flash memory and/or any other desired type of memory device. Access to the main memory 1014, 1016 is controlled by a memory controller. The processor platform 1000 of the illustrated example also includes an interface circuit 1020. The interface circuit 1020 may be implemented by any type of interface standard, such as an Ethernet interface, a universal serial bus (USB), a Bluetooth® interface, a near field communication (NFC) interface, and/or a PCI express interface.

In the illustrated example, one or more input devices 1022 are connected to the interface circuit 1020. The input device(s) 1022 permit(s) a user to enter data and/or commands into the processor 1012. The input device(s) can be implemented by, for example, a keyboard, a button, a mouse, a touchscreen, a track-pad, a trackball, and/or isopoint.

One or more output devices 1024 are also connected to the interface circuit 1020 of the illustrated example. The output devices 1024 can be implemented, for example, by display devices (e.g., a light emitting diode (LED), an organic light emitting diode (OLED), a liquid crystal display (LCD), a cathode ray tube display (CRT), an in-place switching (IPS) display, a touchscreen, etc.), a tactile output device, a printer and/or speaker. The interface circuit 1020 of the illustrated example, thus, typically includes a graphics driver card, a graphics driver chip and/or a graphics driver processor.

The interface circuit 1020 of the illustrated example also includes a communication device such as a transmitter, a receiver, a transceiver, a modem, a residential gateway, a wireless access point, and/or a network interface to facilitate exchange of data with external machines (e.g., computing devices of any kind) via a network 1026. The communication can be via, for example, an Ethernet connection, a digital subscriber line (DSL) connection, a telephone line connection, a coaxial cable system, a satellite system, a line-of-site wireless system, a cellular telephone system, etc.

The processor platform 1000 of the illustrated example also includes one or more mass storage devices 1028 for storing software and/or data. Examples of such mass storage devices 1028 include floppy disk drives, hard drive disks, compact disk drives, Blu-ray disk drives, redundant array of independent disks (RAID) systems, and digital versatile disk (DVD) drives.

The machine executable instructions 1032 of FIGS 4-5B may be stored in the mass storage device 1028, in the volatile memory 1014, in the non-volatile memory 1016, and/or on a removable non-transitory computer readable storage medium such as a CD or DVD.

Example 1 includes an apparatus to mitigate coexistence interference in a wireless network, the apparatus comprising a station component interface to receive an expected transmission power from an access point, an index processor to determine a set of preferred resource unit (ru) indexes from a set of available ru indexes for at least one of (a) uplink transmission to the access point based on a comparison of allowable transmission power and the expected transmission power or (b) downlink reception based on a comparison of a noise floor to a noise threshold, and the station component interface to transmit a message including the preferred ru indexes to the access point.

Example 2 includes the apparatus of example 1, further including a station condition analyzer to determine at least one of (a) the allowable transmission power of each of the available ru indexes or (b) the noise floor of each of the available ru indexes.

Example 3 includes the apparatus of example 1, wherein the index processor is to determine the set of preferred ru indexes based on whether the allowable transmission power satisfies the expected transmission power.

Example 4 includes the apparatus of example 1, further including a station condition analyzer to determine if a bandwidth requirement for transmission is satisfied.

Example 5 includes the apparatus of example 4, further including a packet generator to, when the station condition analyzer determines that the bandwidth requirement is not satisfied, generate an updated message including an expanded bandwidth of the preferred ru indexes, the station component interface to transmit the updated message to the access point.

Example 6 includes the apparatus of examples 1-5, wherein the index processor is to determine the set of preferred ru indexes from the set of available ru indexes for uplink transmission by, when the allowable transmission power is more than the expected transmission power, including an ru index in the set of preferred ru indexes for uplink transmission.

Example 7 includes the apparatus of examples 1-5, wherein the index processor is to determine the set of preferred ru indexes from the set of available ru indexes for downlink reception by, when the noise floor is less than the noise threshold, including an ru index in the set of preferred ru indexes for downlink reception.

Example 8 includes the apparatus of examples 1-5, further including a station condition analyzer to measure a data success rate corresponding to the preferred ru indexes for at least one of the uplink transmission or the downlink transmission, the index processor to when the data success rate is above a threshold, increase a range of the preferred ru indexes, and when the data success rate is below the threshold, decrease the range of the preferred ru indexes. Example 9 includes a method to mitigate coexistence interference in a wireless network, the method comprising receiving, by executing an instruction using a processor, an expected transmission power from an access point, determining, by executing an instruction using the processor, a set of preferred resource unit (ru) indexes from a set of available ru indexes for at least one of (a) uplink transmission to the access point based on a comparison of allowable transmission power and the expected transmission power or (b) downlink reception based on a comparison of a noise floor to a noise threshold, and transmitting, by executing an instruction using the processor, a message including the preferred ru indexes to the access point.

Example 10 includes the method of example 9, further including a station condition analyzer to determine at least one of (a) the allowable transmission power of each of the available ru indexes or (b) the noise floor of each of the available ru indexes.

Example 11 includes the method of example 9, wherein the index processor is to determine the set of preferred ru indexes based on whether the allowable transmission power satisfies the expected transmission power.

Example 12 includes the method of example 9, further including determining if a bandwidth requirement for transmission is satisfied.

Example 13 includes the method of example 12, further including, when the bandwidth requirement is not satisfied, generating an updated message including an expanded bandwidth of the preferred ru indexes and transmitting the updated message to the access point.

Example 14 includes the method of examples 9-13, wherein the determining of the set of preferred ru indexes from the set of available ru indexes for uplink transmission includes, when the allowable transmission power is more than the expected transmission power, including an ru index in the set of preferred ru indexes for uplink transmission.

Example 15 includes the method of examples 9-13, wherein the determining of the set of preferred ru indexes from the set of available ru indexes for downlink reception includes, when the noise floor is less than the noise threshold, including an ru index in the set of preferred ru indexes for downlink reception.

Example 16 includes the method of examples 9-13, further including measuring a data success rate corresponding to the preferred ru indexes for at least one of the uplink transmission or the downlink transmission, when the data success rate is above a threshold, increase a range of the preferred ru indexes, and when the data success rate is below the threshold, decrease the range of the preferred ru indexes.

Example 17 includes a non-transitory computer readable storage medium including instructions which, when executed, cause a machine to at least receive an expected transmission power from an access point, determine a set of preferred resource unit (ru) indexes from a set of available ru indexes for at least one of (a) uplink transmission to the access point based on a comparison of allowable transmission power and the expected transmission power or (b) downlink reception based on a comparison of a noise floor to a noise threshold, and transmit a message including the preferred ru indexes to the access point.

Example 18 includes the computer readable storage medium of example 17, wherein the instructions cause the machine to determine at least one of (a) the allowable transmission power of each of the available ru indexes or (b) the noise floor of each of the available ru indexes.

Example 19 includes the computer readable storage medium of example 17, wherein the instructions cause the machine to determine the set of preferred ru indexes based on whether the allowable transmission power satisfies the expected transmission power.

Example 20 includes the computer readable storage medium of example 17, wherein the instructions cause the machine to determine if a bandwidth requirement for transmission is satisfied.

Example 21 includes the computer readable storage medium of example 20, wherein the instructions cause the machine to, when the bandwidth requirement is not satisfied, generate an updated message including an expanded bandwidth of the preferred ru indexes and transmit the updated message to the access point.

Example 22 includes the computer readable storage mediums of examples 17-21, wherein the instructions cause the machine to determine the set of preferred ru indexes from the set of available ru indexes for uplink transmission by, when the allowable transmission power is more than the expected transmission power, including an ru index in the set of preferred ru indexes for uplink transmission.

Example 23 includes the computer readable storage medium of examples 17-21, wherein the instructions cause the machine to determine the set of preferred ru indexes from the set of available ru indexes for downlink reception by, when the noise floor is less than the noise threshold, including an ru index in the set of preferred ru indexes for downlink reception. Example 24 includes the computer readable storage medium of examples 17-21, wherein the instructions cause the machine to measure a data success rate corresponding to the preferred ru indexes for at least one of the uplink transmission or the downlink transmission, when the data success rate is above a threshold, increase a range of the preferred ru indexes, and when the data success rate is below the threshold, decrease the range of the preferred ru indexes.

Example 25 includes an apparatus to mitigate coexistence interference in a wireless network, the apparatus comprising memory and processing circuitry, configured to receive an expected transmission power from an access point, determine a set of preferred resource unit (ru) indexes from a set of available ru indexes for at least one of (a) uplink transmission to the access point based on a comparison of allowable transmission power and the expected transmission power or (b) downlink reception based on a comparison of a noise floor to a noise threshold, and transmit a message including the preferred ru indexes to the access point.

Example 26 includes the apparatus of example 25, wherein the link budget corresponds to at least one of a transmission power, an antenna gain, an antenna attenuation, a channel attenuation, or an antenna characteristic.

Example 27 includes the apparatus of example 25, wherein the memory and processing circuit is configured to, when the number of devices is less than a threshold number of devices, calculate of the interference based on a worst case interference seen by the incumbent device based on link budget.

Example 28 includes the apparatus of example 27, wherein the memory and processing circuit is configured to, when the number of devices is more than the threshold number of devices, determine a cumulative interference, the memory and processing circuit to calculate the interference based on the worst case interference and the cumulative interference.

Example 29 includes the apparatus of examples 25-28, wherein the memory and processing circuit is configured to, when the interference is above the threshold, perform an energy detection on a transmission channel based on at least one of a channel bandwidth, a transmission power, transmission antenna characteristics, or incoming observation time periods.

Example 30 includes the apparatus of example 29, wherein the memory and processing circuit is configured to, when the detected energy is below an incumbent energy threshold, prevent the non-incumbent device to operate in the target band. Example 31 includes the apparatus of example 29, wherein the memory and processing circuit is configured to, when the detected energy is above an incumbent energy threshold, determine a potential interference of a transmission from the non-incumbent device on a receiver channel of the incumbent device based on the energy detection.

Example 32 includes the apparatus of example 31, wherein the memory and processing circuit is configured is to when the potential interference above a receiver interference threshold, prevent the non-incumbent device from operating in the target band, and when the potential interference below a receiver interference threshold, allow the non-incumbent device to operate in the target band.

Example 33 includes an apparatus to facilitate wireless connectivity for incumbent devices and non-incumbent devices in a target frequency band, the apparatus comprising a first means for determining a link budget between a non-incumbent device and an incumbent device in a target band, and calculating an interference based on the link budget and a number of non- incumbent devices within a threshold distance to the non-incumbent device, and a second means for, when the interference is below a threshold, allowing the non-incumbent device to operate in the target band.

Example 34 includes the apparatus of example 33, wherein the link budget corresponds to at least one of a transmission power, an antenna gain, an antenna attenuation, a channel attenuation, or an antenna characteristic.

Example 35 includes the apparatus of example 33, wherein the first means includes means for, when the number of devices is less than a threshold number of devices, calculating of the interference based on a worst case interference seen by the incumbent device based on link budget.

Example 36 includes the apparatus of example 35, wherein the first means includes means for, when the number of devices is more than the threshold number of devices, determining a cumulative interference, the interference determiner is to calculate the interference based on the worst case interference and the cumulative interference.

Example 37 includes the apparatus of examples 33-36, wherein the first means includes means for, when the interference is above the threshold, performing an energy detection on a transmission channel based on at least one of a channel bandwidth, a transmission power, transmission antenna characteristics, or incoming observation time periods. Example 38 includes the apparatus of example 37, wherein the second means includes means for, when the detected energy is below an incumbent energy threshold, preventing the non-incumbent device to operate in the target band.

Example 39 includes the apparatus of example 37, wherein the first means includes means for, when the detected energy is above an incumbent energy threshold, determining a potential interference of a transmission from the non-incumbent device on a receiver channel of the incumbent device based on the energy detection.

Example 40 includes the apparatus of example 39, wherein the second means includes means for when the potential interference above a receiver interference threshold, preventing the non-incumbent device from operating in the target band, and when the potential interference below a receiver interference threshold, allowing the non-incumbent device to operate in the target band.

Example 41 includes an apparatus to facilitate wireless connectivity for incumbent devices and non-incumbent devices in a target frequency band, the apparatus comprising an interface to transmit a request for location data to a device, a geolocation determiner to estimate a location of an access point based on a response to the request, a device characteristics determiner to determine a minimum distance between the access point and an incumbent device based on the estimated location, and a permission determiner to, when the minimum distance is more than a threshold distance, prevent the access point from operating in a channel being used by the incumbent device.

Example 42 includes the apparatus of example 41, wherein the location data includes a geolocation and at least one of an accuracy or precision of the geolocation.

Example 43 includes the apparatus of example 42, wherein the geolocation determiner to is to estimate the location based on the geolocation and a maximum reception distance of the access point.

Example 44 includes the apparatus of examples 41, wherein the geolocation determiner to determine the minimum distance further based on the location of the incumbent device, the location of the incumbent device being received from an incumbent database.

Example 45 includes the apparatus of examples 41-44, wherein the permission determiner is to, when the maximum distance is more than a threshold distance, allow the access point to operate in the channel being used by the incumbent device. Example 46 includes the apparatus of example 45, wherein the permission determiner is to, when the access point is indoors and the incumbent device is a satellite receiver, allow the access point to operate in the channel being used by the incumbent device.

Example 47 includes the apparatus of examples 41-44, wherein the permission determiner is to, when the minimum distance is less than the threshold distance, allow the access point to operate in the channel being used by the incumbent device.

Example 48 includes a method to facilitate wireless connectivity for incumbent devices and non-incumbent devices in a target frequency band, the method comprising transmitting a request for location data to a device, estimating a location of an access point based on a response to the request, determining a minimum distance between the access point and an incumbent device based on the estimated location, and when the minimum distance is more than a threshold distance, preventing the access point from operating in a channel being used by the incumbent device.

Example 49 includes the method of example 48, wherein the location data includes a geolocation and at least one of an accuracy or precision of the geolocation.

Example 50 includes the method of example 49, wherein the estimating of the location is based on the geolocation, and a maximum reception distance of the access point.

Example 51 includes the method of example 48, wherein determining the minimum distance is further based on the location of the incumbent device, the location of the incumbent device being received from an incumbent database.

Example 52 includes the method of examples 48-51, further including, when the maximum distance is more than a threshold distance, allowing the access point to operate in the channel being used by the incumbent device.

Example 53 includes the method of example 53, further including, when the access point is indoors and the incumbent device is a satellite receiver, allowing the access point to operate in the channel being used by the incumbent device.

Example 54 includes the method of examples 48-51, further including, when the minimum distance is less than the threshold distance, allowing the access point to operate in the channel being used by the incumbent device.

Example 55 includes a non-transitory computer readable storage medium comprising instructions which, when executed, cause a machine to at least transmit a request for location data to a device, estimate a location of an access point based on a response to the request, determine a minimum distance between the access point and an incumbent device based on the estimated location, and when the minimum distance is more than a threshold distance, prevent the access point from operating in a channel being used by the incumbent device.

Example 56 includes the computer readable storage medium of example 55, wherein the location data includes a geolocation and at least one of an accuracy or precision of the geolocation.

Example 57 includes the computer readable storage medium of example 56, wherein the instructions cause a machine to estimate the location based on the geolocation, and a maximum reception distance of the access point.

Example 58 includes the computer readable storage medium of example 55, wherein the instructions cause a machine to determine the minimum distance further based on the location of the incumbent device, the location of the incumbent device being received from an incumbent database.

Example 59 includes the computer readable storage medium of examples 55-58, wherein the instructions cause a machine to, when the maximum distance is more than a threshold distance, allow the access point to operate in the channel being used by the incumbent device.

Example 60 includes the computer readable storage medium of example 59, wherein the instructions cause a machine to, when the access point is indoors and the incumbent device is a satellite receiver, allow the access point to operate in the channel being used by the incumbent device.

Example 61 includes the computer readable storage medium of examples 55-58, wherein the instructions cause a machine to, when the minimum distance is less than the threshold distance, allow the access point to operate in the channel being used by the incumbent device.

Example 62 includes an apparatus to facilitate wireless connectivity for incumbent devices and non-incumbent devices in a target frequency band, the apparatus comprising memory and processing circuitry, configured to transmit a request for location data to a device, estimate a location of an access point based on a response to the request, determine a minimum distance between the access point and an incumbent device based on the estimated location, and when the minimum distance is more than a threshold distance, prevent the access point from operating in a channel being used by the incumbent device. Example 63 includes the apparatus of example 62, wherein the location data includes a geolocation and at least one of an accuracy or precision of the geolocation.

Example 64 includes the apparatus of example 63, wherein the memory and processing circuitry is to estimate the location based on the geolocation and a maximum reception distance of the access point.

Example 65 includes the apparatus of examples 62, wherein the memory and processing circuitry is to determine the minimum distance further based on the location of the incumbent device, the location of the incumbent device being received from an incumbent database.

Example 66 includes the apparatus of examples 62-65, wherein the memory and processing circuitry is to, when the maximum distance is more than a threshold distance, allow the access point to operate in the channel being used by the incumbent device.

Example 67 includes the apparatus of example 66, wherein the memory and processing circuitry is to, when the access point is indoors and the incumbent device is a satellite receiver, allow the access point to operate in the channel being used by the incumbent device.

Example 68 includes the apparatus of examples 62-65, wherein the memory and processing circuitry is to, when the minimum distance is less than the threshold distance, allow the access point to operate in the channel being used by the incumbent device.

Example 69 includes an apparatus to facilitate wireless connectivity for incumbent devices and non-incumbent devices in a target frequency band, the apparatus comprising a first means for transmitting a request for location data to a device, a second means for estimating a location of an access point based on a response to the request, a third means for determining a minimum distance between the access point and an incumbent device based on the estimated location, and a third means for, when the minimum distance is more than a threshold distance, preventing the access point from operating in a channel being used by the incumbent device.

Example 70 includes the apparatus of example 69, wherein the location data includes a geolocation and at least one of an accuracy or precision of the geolocation.

Example 71 includes the apparatus of example 70, wherein the second means includes means for estimating the location based on the geolocation and a maximum reception distance of the access point. Example 72 includes the apparatus of examples 69, wherein the second means includes means for determining the minimum distance further based on the location of the incumbent device, the location of the incumbent device being received from an incumbent database.

Example 73 includes the apparatus of examples 69-72, wherein the third means includes means for, when the maximum distance is more than a threshold distance, allowing the access point to operate in the channel being used by the incumbent device.

Example 74 includes the apparatus of example 73, wherein the third means includes means for, when the access point is indoors and the incumbent device is a satellite receiver, allowing the access point to operate in the channel being used by the incumbent device.

Example 75 includes the apparatus of examples 69-72, wherein the third means includes means for, when the minimum distance is less than the threshold distance, allowing the access point to operate in the channel being used by the incumbent device.

From the foregoing, it would be appreciated that the above disclosed method, apparatus, and articles of manufacture facilitate wireless connectivity for incumbent devices and non- incumbent devices in a target frequency band. Examples disclosed herein include developing a better AP location estimation and determining whether co-existence in a target band is achievable with incumbent devices and non-incumbent devices based on the AP location estimation. Examples disclosed further herein include processing data corresponding to incumbent devices operating in a target band and processing data corresponding to non- incumbent devices that request permission to operate in the target band to determine if the non- incumbent devices will or will not cause problems for the incumbent devices. Examples disclosed herein allows the expansion of Wi-Fi into new target bands without interfering with devices that are already operating in the target band.

Although certain example methods, apparatus and articles of manufacture have been described herein, the scope of coverage of this patent is not limited thereto. On the contrary, this patent covers all methods, apparatus and articles of manufacture fairly falling within the scope of the claims of this patent.

Claims

What Is Claimed Is:

1. An apparatus to facilitate wireless connectivity for incumbent devices and non- incumbent devices in a target frequency band, the apparatus comprising:

an interference determiner to:

determine a link budget between a non-incumbent device and an incumbent device in a target band; and

calculate an interference based on the link budget and a number of non-incumbent devices within a threshold distance to the non-incumbent device; and

a permission determiner to, when the interference is below a threshold, allow the non- incumbent device to operate in the target band.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the link budget corresponds to at least one of a transmission power, an antenna gain, an antenna attenuation, a channel attenuation, or an antenna characteristic.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the interference determiner is to, when the number of devices is less than a threshold number of devices, calculate of the interference based on a worst case interference seen by the incumbent device based on link budget.

4. The apparatus of claim 3, wherein the interference determiner is to, when the number of devices is more than the threshold number of devices, determine a cumulative interference, the interference determiner is to calculate the interference based on the worst case interference and the cumulative interference.

5. The apparatus of claims 1-4, wherein the interference determiner is to, when the interference is above the threshold, perform an energy detection on a transmission channel based on at least one of a channel bandwidth, a transmission power, transmission antenna

characteristics, or incoming observation time periods.

6. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein the permission determiner is to, when the detected energy is below an incumbent energy threshold, prevent the non-incumbent device to operate in the target band.

7. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein the interference determiner is to, when the detected energy is above an incumbent energy threshold, determine a potential interference of a transmission from the non-incumbent device on a receiver channel of the incumbent device based on the energy detection.

8. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the permission determiner is to: when the potential interference above a receiver interference threshold, prevent the non- incumbent device from operating in the target band; and

when the potential interference below a receiver interference threshold, allow the non- incumbent device to operate in the target band.

9. A method to facilitate wireless connectivity for incumbent devices and non- incumbent devices in a target frequency band, the method comprising:

determining a link budget between a non-incumbent device and an incumbent device in a target band;

calculating an interference based on the link budget and a number of non-incumbent devices within a threshold distance to the non-incumbent device; and

when the interference is below a threshold, allowing the non-incumbent device to operate in the target band.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the link budget corresponds to at least one of a transmission power, an antenna gain, an antenna attenuation, a channel attenuation, or an antenna characteristic.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein, when the number of devices is less than a threshold number of devices, the calculating of the interference being based on a worst case interference seen by the incumbent device based on link budget.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein, when the number of devices is more than the threshold number of devices, determining a cumulative interference, the calculating of the interference being based on the worst case interference and the cumulative interference.

13. The method of claims 9-12, further including, when the interference is above the threshold, performing an energy detection on a transmission channel based on at least one of a channel bandwidth, a transmission power, transmission antenna characteristics, or incoming observation time periods.

14. The method of claim 13, further including, when the detected energy is below an incumbent energy threshold, preventing the non-incumbent device to operate in the target band.

15. The method of claim 13, further including, when the detected energy is above an incumbent energy threshold, determining a potential interference of a transmission from the non- incumbent device on a receiver channel of the incumbent device based on the energy detection.

16. The method of claim 15, further including:

when the potential interference above a receiver interference threshold, preventing the non-incumbent device from operating in the target band; and

when the potential interference below a receiver interference threshold, allowing the non- incumbent device to operate in the target band.

17. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium comprising instructions which, when executed, cause a machine to at least:

determine a link budget between a non-incumbent device and an incumbent device in a target band;

when the interference is below a threshold, allow the non-incumbent device to operate in the target band.

18. The computer readable storage medium of claim 17, wherein the link budget corresponds to at least one of a transmission power, an antenna gain, an antenna attenuation, a channel attenuation, or an antenna characteristic.

19. The computer readable storage medium of claim 17, wherein the instructions cause a machine to, when the number of devices is less than a threshold number of devices, calculate the interference based on a worst case interference seen by the incumbent device based on link budget.

20. The computer readable storage medium of claim 19, wherein the instructions cause a machine to, when the number of devices is more than the threshold number of devices, determine a cumulative interference, the calculating of the interference being based on the worst case interference and the cumulative interference.

21. The computer readable storage medium of claims 17-20, wherein the instructions cause a machine to, when the interference is above the threshold, perform an energy detection on a transmission channel based on at least one of a channel bandwidth, a transmission power, transmission antenna characteristics, or incoming observation time periods.

22. The computer readable storage medium of claim 21, wherein the instructions cause a machine to, when the detected energy is below an incumbent energy threshold, prevent the non-incumbent device to operate in the target band.

23. The computer readable storage medium of claim 21, wherein the instructions cause a machine to, when the detected energy is above an incumbent energy threshold, determine a potential interference of a transmission from the non-incumbent device on a receiver channel of the incumbent device based on the energy detection.

24. The computer readable storage medium of claim 23, wherein the instructions cause a machine to:

when the potential interference above a receiver interference threshold, prevent the non- incumbent device from operating in the target band; and

25. An apparatus to facilitate wireless connectivity for incumbent devices and non- incumbent devices in a target frequency band, the apparatus comprising memory and processing circuity, configured to: