WO2019212503A1

WO2019212503A1 - System, methods, and apparatus to facilitate channelization

Info

Publication number: WO2019212503A1
Application number: PCT/US2018/030266
Authority: WO
Inventors: Shahrnaz Azizi; Juan FANG; Mikhail Galeev; Thomas Kenney; Bahareh Sadeghi; Yaron Alpert; Laurent Cariou
Original assignee: Intel Corporation
Priority date: 2018-04-30
Filing date: 2018-04-30
Publication date: 2019-11-07
Also published as: DE112018007535T5

Abstract

System, Methods, and apparatus to facilitate channelization are disclosed. An example method includes receiving information corresponding to a first and second device operating within a region, the first and second devices operating in a overlapping frequency band, wherein the first device cannot be sensed by an access point and wherein the second device can be sensed by the access point; reserving, by executing an instruction using a processor, a first channel of the frequency band for the first device; reserving, by executing an instruction using the processor, a second channel of the frequency band for the second device based on the reserving of the first channel; and transmitting reservation information to the second device.

Description

SYSTEM, METHODS, AND APPARATUS TO FACILITATE CHANNELIZATION

FIELD OF THE DISCLOSURE

This disclosure relates generally to wireless fidelity connectivity (Wi-Fi) and, more particularly, to a system, methods, and apparatus to facilitate channelization.

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 exchanges radio frequency Wi-Fi signals with 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 an example managed heterogeneous network to facilitate channelization in a frequency band for Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Zigbee, Z-wave and Internet of Things devices.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of the example united gateway of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of the example assisting node of FIG. 1.

FIGS. 4-6 are flowcharts representative of example machine readable instructions that may be executed to implement the example unified gateway of FIGS. 1 and 2.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart representative of example machine readable instructions that may be executed to implement the example assisting node of FIGS. 1 and 3.

FIG. 8 is an example channelization of an example frequency band.

FIG. 9 illustrates an example BT hopping protocol in an example frequency band with and without Wi-Fi hopping. FIG. 10A is a block diagram of a radio architecture in accordance with some embodiments.

FIG. 10B is a block diagram of an alternative radio architecture in accordance with some embodiments.

FIG. 11 illustrates a front-end module circuitry for use in the radio architecture of FIG. 10A in accordance with some embodiments.

FIG. 12 illustrates a radio IC circuitry for use in the radio architecture of FIG. 10A in accordance with some embodiments.

FIG. 13 illustrates a baseband processing circuitry for use in the radio architecture of FIG. 10A in accordance with some embodiments.

FIG. 14 is a block diagram of a processor platform structured to execute the example machine readable instructions of FIGS. 4-7 to implement the example unified gateway and/or the example assisting node of FIGS. 1-3.

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 operation environments (e.g., homes, offices, coffee shops, restaurants, parks, airports, etc.) may provide Wi-Fi to the 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 operation environment may provide one or more Wi-Fi access points (APs) to output Wi-Fi signals to the Wi-Fi enabled devices within a range of the Wi-Fi signals (e.g., an access point).

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 for how the AP communicates with the devices to provide access to the Internet by transmitting uplink (UL) transmissions and receiving downlink (DL) transmissions to/from the Internet.

Internet of Things (IoT) devices, devices implementing Bluetooth (BT), light BT (BLE), Z-wave, and/or Zigbee (e.g., IEEE 802.15.4) protocols, and/or devices implementing Wi-Fi protocols may operate in the same band (e.g., 2.4 Gigahertz (GHz) band). As such devices gain in popularity and Wi-Fi protocols adapt to high throughput Wi-Fi devices, the 2.4 GHz band may become a very dense band for communications. Conventional coexistence techniques (e.g., including adaptive frequency hopping or timing hopping, in-device temporal and/or spatial coexistence, channel planning, and listen-before talking) will not be sufficient to provide reliable and consistent connection in the 2.4 GHz band. Additionally, IoT devices, Bluetooth-based devices, Z-wave-based devices, Zigbee-based devices, and/or any other wireless device may perform frequency and/or time hopping to increase the reliability of a transmission (e.g., a BT transmission, by spreading the BT transmission across multiple frequency channel s/re source units in case one of the channels/resource units correspond to adverse conditions and/or interference). However, such conventional techniques schedule Wi-Fi communications in a frequency band without taking into account BT hopping patterns. Examples disclosed herein facilitate channelization in a frequency band (e.g., the 2.4 gigahertz) for a variety of devices operating with different protocols (e.g., Wi-Fi, BT, BLE, Z-wave, Zigbee, etc.) and schedule Wi Fi communications in conjunction with hopping patterns (e.g., BT hopping and/or any other type of frequency and/or time hopping) to provide reliable and consistent connections for such devices in the 2.4 GHz band. As used herein, time hopping refers to allocating different users to the same channel at different points in time. For example, during a first time interval (e.g., tl- t2), a first device is assigned for ETL/DL transmission on one or more channels and then during a subsequent time interval (e.g., t2-t3), a second device is assigned for EIL/DL transmission on the one or more channels.

Examples disclosed herein include a unified gateway to manage 2.4 GHz band channelization with the help of assisting nodes. The unified gateway and assisting nodes are triple/quadruple-mode devices that can receive/transmit using multiple communication I/F, such as Bluetooth, Bluetooth low energy (BLE), Z-wave, Zigbee, etc. signals to form an

activity/interference map of an entire coverage area. In this manner, the unified gateway can assign and allocate orthogonal frequency-division multiple access (OFDMA) resource units (RIJs) and/or any other type of RU to the assigning nodes and/or other devices (e.g., stations) to optimize use of the spectrum (e.g., in time and frequency) while minimizing the interference level. Additionally, using examples disclosed herein the unified gateway may include a broad heterogeneous networking/coordination role to optimize quality of service, battery life, etc. In some examples disclosed herein, the unified gateway receives frequency and/or time hopping patterns from devices implementing BT/Zigbee/Z-wave/BLE/etc. from such devices (e.g., via a Wi-Fi connection with the device) and/or via the assisting node(s). In such examples, the unified gateway can schedule Wi-Fi communications (e.g., which frequency channel and/or resource unit to use for each Wi-Fi device) based on the frequency and/or time hopping signals of devices implementing BT, Zigbee, Z-wave, BLE, etc. and the location of the Wi-fi devices with respect to the BT/Z-wave/Zigbee/IoT devices, thereby reducing interference of the different devices types operating in the same frequency band. Examples disclosed herein may leverage the relationship of the unified gateway and the assisting nodes to improve overall network performance similar to channel bounding and distributed multiple input multiple output techniques. In some examples, the unified gateway and/or assisting nodes may be full-duplex devices to further leverage full duplex techniques.

FIG. 1 illustrates communications in an example managed heterogeneous network of wireless devices 100 using WLAN Wi-Fi protocols in a common frequency band (e.g., the 2.4 GHz band, for example). The example managed heterogenous network of wireless devices 100 includes an example AP 102, an example unified gateway (ETG) 104, example assisting nodes l06a-c, example regions l07a-c, first example devices 108, second example devices 110, and an example network 112. Although the example of FIG. 1 corresponds to communications within a particular frequency band (e.g., 2.4 GHz band), FIG. 1 may be described in conjunction with any frequency band.

The example AP 102 of FIG. 1 is a device that allows the first example device 108 to wirelessly access the example network 112 (e.g., the Internet). The example AP 102 may be a router, a modem-router, and/or any other device that provides a wireless connection to a network 112. A router provides a wireless communication link to the first example devices 108. The router accesses the network through a wire connection via a modem. A modem-router combines the functionalities of the modem and the router. The example AP 102 communicates with the first example devices 108 to provide access to the example network 112 (e.g., the Internet). The example AP 102 includes the example ETG 104.

The example UG 104 of FIG. 1 defines a channelization in a frequency band (e.g., the 2.4 GHz band) where the entire frequency band (e.g., the 2.4 GHz industrial, scientific, and medical (ISM) band) is defined as one channel. The example UG 104 divides the channel into RUs and dynamically allocates these RUs to different sets of devices (e.g., the first example devices 108 and the second example device 106 for UL and/or DL transmissions) which may use different protocols (e.g., Bluetooth (BT), BT low energy (BLE), Zigbee, Z-wave, Wi-Fi, etc.). For example, the UG 104 may define the 2.4 GHz band as one band with 802.11 RU allocations. In some examples, the example UG 104 may allocate the RUs to have a shorter time duration than the entire packet. In such an example, the UG 104 allocates RUs intelligently to different devices and/or the example assisting nodes l06a-c to manage their local area coverage. Because some of the example devices 108, 110 may be older devices (e.g., legacy devices compliant with 1 lax or previous amendments) and/or otherwise incapable of adjusting RUs, the example UG 104 may reserve RUs for such devices and allocate the remaining RUs for the remaining devices (e.g., for UL and/or DL transmissions) to manage the example network of wireless devices 100 without interference and/or while establishing coexistence. The example UG 104 manages the example heterogeneous network of wireless devices 100 as one coherent entity by coordinating among the different devices 108, 110. To coordinate among the different devices 108, 110, the example UG 104 may receive information (e.g., reports) from the example assisting nodes l06a- c. As further described below, the example assisting nodes l06a-c gather data from the second example devices 110, that may not be heard by the example AP 102. The information may correspond to the capabilities, characteristics, and/or operations of the example device 108, 110. For example, if one of the devices is a Wi-Fi device, the information corresponding to such a device may include information related to the location of the device, the identification of the transmitting device (e.g., the example reachable device 108 and/or the example assisting nodes l06a-c), which RUs the device can operate on, is the device capable of frequency and/or time hopping during a transmission period, etc. In another example if one of the devices is a BT device, the information may include information related to the location of the BT devices, BT hopping patterns of the BT device, etc. In some examples, the UG 104 deploys interference management techniques as well as optimizing performance for quality of service (QoS), battery life, etc. for the heterogeneous network of wireless devices 100. The example UG 104 is able to manage coexistence of devices operating in new and/or future protocols and legacy devices all operating in the 2.4 GHz band. In some examples, the UG 104 takes advantage of existing features, such as time-slotted channel hopping (TSCH) frequency selection/assignment in 802.15.4 radios or adapting frequency hopping in Bluetooth, to further improve overall network performance. As described above, the example UG 104 of FIG. 1 designs OFDMA allocations for the example device 108, 110. In some examples, the UG 104 allocates the RUs by defining the granularity of the smallest resource unit (SRU) to be relatively fine (e.g., 500 kilohertz (kHz)) to manage other technologies such as Bluetooth, 15.4 (e.g., Zigbee), etc., as illustrated in FIG. 5, as well as 1 lax Wi-Fi RU allocations (e.g., based on time and/or frequency), which are not an integer multiple of 1 MHz. For example, the 1 lax 26-tone allocation is 2.03125 MHz. If the example UG 104 chooses a 1 MHz granularity, then to align an 1 lax 26-tone, the UG 104 would implement a 3 MHz chuck which leaves almost 30% of the allocation unoccupied. Accordingly, a finer granularity may be desired.

Once the example UG 104 of FIG. 1 defines the SRU, larger RUs allocations are defined by grouping a number of SRUs. The example UG 104 may group in a format that allows efficient signaling for scheduling purposes. The finer the RU granularity is, to signal an assigned RU to a device, the more bits of information may be needed, thereby increasing signaling overhead and decreasing efficiency of the spectrum. Accordingly, the example UG 104 efficiently groups the SRUs. In some examples, the UG 104 groups RUs and aligns OFDMA allocation sizes with 1 lg/n channelization and 1 lax RUs.

In some examples, the UG 104 of FIG. 1 groups RUs and aligns RUs allocation sizes with channelization corresponding to devices implementing Bluetooth, BLE, Z-wave, Zigbee, etc. For example, the UG 104 may reserve one or more RUs for operation of Bluetooth, BLE, Z- wave, and Zigbee protocol(s) in the example region l07a based on the information (e.g., report(s)) from the example assisting node l06a and/or reports from the devices implementing the BT/BLE/Z-wave/Zigbee/etc. protocols (e.g., via a Wi-Fi connection). The allocation of the example UG 104 may influence the existing coexistence mechanisms. For example, device equipped with the adaptive frequency and/or time hopping (e.g., hopping) will discover the reserved allocation(s) as channels with less interference and will eventually hop within that reserved allocation. Unlike conventional Wi-Fi APs that do not consider channelization of devices that the conventional AP cannot sense, the example UG 104 exchanges information between the example assisting nodes l06a-c to enable scheduling to reserve a number of resource units for certain durations of time to be dedicated to Bluetooth, BLE, Z-wave, Zigbee, etc. protocols that may or may not be sensed directly by the AP. For example, if wireless speakers implementing Bluetooth may not be sensed by the AP 102 due to the maximum range of such a device. Accordingly, the BT speakers may be operating in the frequency band being channeled by the AP 102, but the AP 102 may not otherwise be aware of the BT device.

Accordingly, the example assisting nodes l06a-b and/or the Wi-Fi devices (e.g., coupled to via a wired or wireless connection) transmit the frequency and/or time allocations of such a BT speaker to the AP 102, to avoid collisions (e.g., via scheduling of the frequency band).

Additionally or alternatively, if such devices implementing Bluetooth, BLE, Z-wave, Zigbee, etc. protocols may be equipped with radio architecture to perform Wi-Fi communications as well, the example devices may transmit the frequency and/or time hopping (e.g., BT hopping) pattern directly to the UG 104. In this manner, the UG 104 can schedule the RUs for the Wi-Fi devices (e.g., for both UL and DL transmissions) based on the location and BT hopping patterns of the BT devices. For example, the UG 104 and/or the example assisting nodes l06a-c can keep the BLE advertising channels reserved to prevent any Wi-Fi operation near BLE devices to manage interference among them. In another example, the UG 104 and/or the example assisting nodes l06a-c can schedule Wi-Fi devices to switch channels of Wi-Fi devices near BLE devices when the BLE devices hop to/near a frequency channel being used by the Wi-Fi device.

In some examples, the UG 104 of FIG. 1 defines flexible sized guard bands among the RUs to manage adjacent interference among different technologies. In some examples, the UG 104 defines the fine granularity of RUs to motivate definition of smaller subcarrier spacing. The example UG 104 may define the RUs allocations to concurrently support different subcarrier spacing. Once the RUs allocations for Wi-Fi devices have been generated to take into account non-reachable devices 110, the UG 104 transmits the RUs allocations to the corresponding reachable devices 108 and/or assisting nodes l06a-c. The example UG 104 is further described below in conjunction with FIG. 2.

The example assisting nodes l06a-c of FIG. 1 monitor activities within the example regions l06a-c to identify the example devices 108, 110 that are using 2.4 GHz band

communications. In some examples, the assisting nodes l06a-c assist the UG 104 to utilize existing protocol features, such as Bluetooth adapting frequency and/or time hopping in, to improve overall network performance, and to manage coexistence. The example assisting nodes l06a-c generate information (e.g., reports) based on the monitored activities. The information may include, for example, the number and/or type of device 108, 110 in the example regions l07a-c, data related to which band and/or RUs the devices 108, 110 are utilizing and/or are capable of utilizing, BT hopping patterns being used by devices, the identification of the transmitting device (e.g., the example reachable device 108 and/or the example assisting nodes l06a-c), and/or any other data related to the example devices 108, 110 within the example regions l07a-c. The example assisting nodes l06a-c transmit the information/report(s) to the example AP 102 for further processing. In this manner, the example AP 102 can become aware of the example unreachable device 110 and schedule the frequency band to avoid interference with such devices 110. The example assisting nodes l06a-c may generate and transmit such information/reports periodically, aperiodically, and/or based on a trigger (e.g., when a new device enters the example regions l07a-c and/or an old device leaves, or otherwise ceases communication within, the example regions l07a-c). Additionally, the AP 102 transmits instructions to the example assisting nodes l06a-c. In some examples, the instructions correspond to ignoring one of more of the example devices 108 in the example regions l07a-c, because the example AP 102 is already monitoring communications with the one or more example devices 108 (e.g., in order to conserve the resources of the example assisting nodes l06a-c). In some examples, the instructions may correspond to allocation instructions corresponding to which RUs a particular device 108, 110 should be utilizing. In such examples, in response to receiving the allocation instructions, the example assisting node l06a-c may transmit instructions to the example devices 108, 110 to communicate using the identified RUs. Some components of the example assisting nodes l06a-c are further described below in conjunction with FIG. 3.

The example devices 108, 110 of FIG. 1 are Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and/or 2.4 GHz enabled computing devices. The example devices 108, 110 may be, for example, computing devices, portable devices, mobile devices, mobile telephones, smart phones, tablets, gaming systems, digital cameras, digital video recorders, televisions, set top boxes, e-book readers, controllers, headphones, Bluetooth headsets, smart devices, and/or any other Wi-Fi/Bluetooth/2.4 GHz enabled device. The example devices 108, 110 include two groups of devices: the first example devices 108 (e.g., reachable devices) and the second example device 110 (e.g., unreachable devices). The first example devices 108 are devices (e.g., stations) that utilize the 2.4 GHz band to communicate with the example AP 102 (e.g., reachable devices). The second example devices 110 may be devices that utilize the 2.4 GHz band for other purposes (e.g., IoT devices, devices implementing Bluetooth, devices implementing Bluetooth low energy (BLE), devices implementing Zigbee, devices implementing Z-wave etc.) and may not be sensed by the example AP 102 (e.g., the devices’ transmission ranges are not large enough to reach the AP 102 because the transmission power of such devices is low). For example, the unreachable device 110 may not have an antenna strong enough to transmit signals to the example AP 102. Because the example assisting nodes l06a-c may be spread throughout the network of wireless devices 100, the example assisting nodes l06a-c may be within communication range of the devices 110 that are otherwise unreachable from the AP 102. Accordingly, the example assisting node l06a identify the operation (e.g., BT hopping patterns and/or other capabilities/characteristics) of the second example devices 110 and generate the information/report based on the second example devices 110 to facilitate the channelization of the 2.4 GHz plan. Additionally or alternatively, the reachable devices 108 may transmit the frequency allocations of the frequency band of unreachable devices 110 to the example assisting node l06a and/or the example AP 102. Some of the example devices 108, 110 may be legacy devices and/or non-Wi-Fi devices.

While the example devices 108, 110 may include implement different wireless protocols (e.g., Bluetooth, BLE, Zigbee, Z-wave, Wi-Fi, etc.) in the example network of wireless devices

100, examples disclosed herein may be utilized with any other type of device including unified devices (e.g., such as a device that includes a low power replacement for BLE) and other high throughput, high efficient replacement to 1 lax to accommodate for future technologies. Such unified devices may provide alternative solutions where a low power narrowband LTD (e.g., 2 MHz) can provide similar functionality to a Zigbee device, but can differentiate from the inherent Wi-Fi security and IP connection (e.g., enabling new use cases and deployments). For example, a unified device may be a IoT sensor that monitors the level of chemicals in a barrel. The requirement for such a sensor may include having Internet protocol (IP) connectivity to a lab/manufacture secure WLAN network. Another example unified device may be a lower power unified device that can meet the functionality of BLE or a 15.4 device. Another example unified device may be a high throughput unified device, which meets the functionality of high throughput 1 lax devices. Other categories of unified devices can be considered based on different usage scenarios. Accordingly, the example UG 104 and the example devices 108, 110, may be unified devices, will be defined and governed in the entire 2.4 GHz band. The devices 108, 110 that comply with the unified technology will follow the example UG 104 and the example assisting nodes l06a-c scheduling without interfering among themselves. The example network 112 of FIG. 1 is a system of interconnected systems exchanging data. The example network 112 may be implemented using any type of public or private network such as, but not limited to, the Internet, a telephone network, a local area network (LAN), a cable network, and/or a wireless network. To enable communication via the network 112, the example Wi-Fi AP 102 includes a communication interface that enables a connection to an Ethernet, a digital subscriber line (DSL), a telephone line, a coaxial cable, or any wireless connection, etc.

In operation, the example assisting nodes l06a-c generate information (e.g., reports) based on 2.4 GHz band communications of the example devices 108, 110 within the respective example regions l07a-c (e.g., number and/or locations of devices 108, 110, capabilities of the devices 108, 110, BT hopping patterns, etc.). Additionally, the example reachable devices 108 may transmit information corresponding to the example unreachable devices 108, 110 to the assisting nodes l06a-c and/or the example AP 102. The example assisting nodes l06a-c transmit the generated information/reports to the example UG 104 of the example AP 102. The example UG 104 reserves/allocates RUs for the example devices 108, 110 in the example network of wireless devices 100 based on the information/reports. The UG 104 channelizes the entire 2.4 GHz band as one wideband channel greater than 90 Mega-hertz, (MHz). The example UG 104 and/or one or more of the example devices 108, 110 will have wideband operation and will be capable of transmitting/receiving in a smaller portion of the band via the use of the OFDMA technology. The example UG 104 transmits instructions to the example devices 108 and/or the example assisting nodes l06a-c to implement the generated channelization allocation for UL and/or DL transmissions for the example devices 108, 110. The example assisting nodes l06a-c may transmit the instructions to the respective second example devices 110.

The UG 104 leverages the OFDMA technology to enable alignment of RUs to

Bluetooth/BLE, 15.4 channels (e.g., Zigbee), etc. for interference management. In this manner, the UG 104 enables operation of future narrowband devices in one or more RUs allocations, involving physical layer changes which are not implementable solely though cloud spectrum sharing. In some examples, the UG 104 and/or the assisting nodes l06a-c may be full-duplex devices to further leverage full duplex techniques.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of the example UG 104 of FIG. 1. The example UG 104 includes an example interface 200, an example information analyzer 202, an example resource unit allocator 204, and an example network processor 206. Although the example UG 104 is described in conjunction with the example AP 102 in the example network of wireless devices 100 of FIG. 1, the example UG 104 may operate in conjunction with any device in any type of wireless communication network.

The example interface 200 of FIG. 2 communicates with the example reachable devices

108 and/or the example assisting nodes l06a-c via radio architecture of the example AP 102 (e.g., the example radio architecture 1000 of FIG. 10A/10B). For example, the interface 200 may receive information/reports from the example assisting nodes l06a-c and/or reachable devices 108. As described above, the information/reports may correspond to a location of the devices 108, 110, the capabilities/operation of the devices 108, 110, the types of the devices 108, 110, BT frequency patterns of the devices 108, 110, the number of devices in a particular location/region, and/or any other data corresponding to the devices 108, 110. In this manner, the example resource unit allocator 204 can dynamically schedule the frequency band to achieve coexistence between the devices 108, 110 while avoiding interference, as further described below. Additionally, the example interface 200 may transmit RUs allocations to the

corresponding example reachable devices 108 and/or the example assisting nodes l06a-c (e.g., to forward to the corresponding reachable and/or unreachable devices 108, 110).

The example information analyzer 202 of FIG. 2 processes received information/reports from the example reachable devices 108 and/or the example assisting nodes l06a-c to determine characteristics of the network of wireless devices 100. For example, the assisting node l06a may transmit information/report corresponding to the characteristics of the devices 108, 110 within the example region l07a. If the devices 108, 110 include a positioning system, the

information/report may include an exact location, capabilities and configuration of the device. If any of the devices 108, 110 do not include a positioning system, the example information analyzer 202 may determine the location of the example devices 108, 110 based on the location, capabilities and configuration of the example assisting node l06a (e.g., the devices are location within the example region l07a). In some examples, non-reachable devices 108 may be out of the control of the example UG 104. For example, if a computer is connected to a BT speaker, the BT speaker may operate on its own protocol (e.g., using a BT hopping pattern) that the example UG 104 did not generate. Accordingly, the computer or the example assisting node l06a (e.g., connected to the computer) may transmit the BT hopping pattern of the speaker to the example UG 104. The location of the BT speakers corresponds to the location of the computer. In this manner, the example information analyzer 202 may determine which frequency channels are reserved by BT devices (e.g., for BT hopping or otherwise) of unreachable device 110 based on the information/reports. Additionally, the example information analyzer 202 may determine the number of devices within the example regions l07a-c and/or the locations of the devices 108, 110 based on the information/reports. Additionally, the example information analyzer 202 may determine which of the example device 108, 110 are capable of being controlled (e.g., for use in different RUs and/or for RU hopping).

The example resource unit allocator 204 of FIG. 2 allocates RUs to each of the example devices 108, 110 that are capable of adjusting operation (e.g., non -legacy devices) to ensure that all the devices 108, 110 can operate (e.g., for UL and/or DL transmissions) within the same frequency band while reducing the likelihood of interference between devices. As further described above in conjunction with FIG. 1, the example resource unit allocator 204 defines the frequency band (2.4 GHz band) where the entire frequency band is defined as one channel. The example resource unit allocator 204 divides the channel into RUs to be able to schedule the example devices 108, 110 (e.g., to specific RUs). The RUs correspond to a SRU and/or a grouping of SRUs to generate a RU. The example resource unit allocator 204 reserves RUs for legacy devices that are not capable of adjusting operation and/or for devices that cannot be controlled by the example resource unit allocator 204 (e.g., devices implementing BT/BLE/Z- wave/Zigbee/etc. protocols that are not connected to, or otherwise cannot be sensed by, the example UG 104). The example resource unit allocator 204 allocates the remaining RUs for the remaining devices 108, 110 based on their location. For example, if there is a BT device within the example region l07a utilizing a BT pattern that corresponds to three RUs (e.g., RUs 24, 37, 46), the example resource unit allocator 204 will schedule the remaining devices 108, 110 to in channels that are outside of a threshold distance (e.g., 3 channels) from the three RUs (e.g., utilizing RUs outside of RUs 21-27, 34-40, and 43-49). In some examples, there will not be enough RUs for the example resource unit allocator 204 to schedule to avoid the channels used by BT hopping patterns of a BT device. Accordingly, the example resource unit allocator 204 may allocate a Wi-Fi based on a frequency/time/RUs hopping pattern for the devices 108, 110 within the same region and/or within a threshold distance from the BT device. In this manner, the example resource unit allocator 204 ensures that devices within a threshold distance of each other do not utilize the same (or close) RUs at the same time, thereby eliminating, or otherwise reducing, the possibility of interference between the devices. In such examples, the resource unit allocator 204 may need to synchronize the Wi-Fi timing with the BT timing to facilitate both hopping patterns. For example, BT device may hop in intervals corresponding by 625 microseconds. Accordingly, the example resource unit allocator 204 may synchronize the RU hopping based on the BT hopping protocol. In some examples, the resource unit allocator 204 may define RU allocation to have a shorter time duration than the entire packet.

The example network processor 206 of FIG. 2 determines how to transmit RU allocations to the corresponding devices 108, 110. For example, the network processor 206 determines whether to transmit a particular RUs allocation directly to a reachable device 108 and/or to the corresponding assisting node l06a-c. To determine which assisting node l06a-c to transmit the device-specific RUs allocation to, the example network processor 206 may process the location information and/or assisting node information from the received information/reports.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of some components of the example assisting node l06a of FIG. 1. The example assisting node l06a includes an example interface 300 and an example information generator 302. The example assisting node l06a may include other components (e.g., including hardware, software, and/or firmware) not included in the block diagram of FIG.

1. For example, the assisting node l06a may include, amongst other components, the radio architecture 1000 of FIG. 1. Although the example assisting node l06a is described in conjunction with the example AP 102 in the example network of wireless devices 100 of FIG. 1, FIG. 2 may be used to describe any assisting node (e.g., the example assisting nodes l06a-c) in conjunction with any device in any type of wireless communication network.

The example interface 300 of FIG. 3 communicates with the example devices 108, 110 within the region l07a and/or the example AP 102 using radio architecture (e.g., the example radio architecture 1000 of FIG. 10A/10B). For example, the interface 300 may communicate with the example devices 108, 110 to gather data corresponding to the devices 108, 110 within the region l07a. Such data includes device identifiers, device connections (e.g., other devices that connected to the devices 108, 110 via a BT connection), device types, location data of the devices 108, 110, BT hopping patterns of the devices 108, 110 or other devices within the region l07a, device capabilities (e.g., whether Wi-Fi hopping in time and/or frequency is available, what channels are the device capable of operating on, etc.), and/or any other data related to the devices 108, 110. The example interface 300 may transmit information/report to the example AP 102 corresponding to the collected data. Additionally, the example interface 300 receives RUs allocations for the devices 108, 110 within the example region l07a. The example interface 300 may transmit the RUs allocations to the corresponding device 108, 110.

The example information generator 302 of FIG. 3 generates one or more

reports/information based on the retrieved data corresponding to the devices 108, 110 within the example region l07a. The information/report includes any data that may be helpful for the example UG 104 to allocate RUs to every device 108, 110 within the wireless devices 100. For example, the information/report includes the gathered data, location data (e.g., of the devices within the region and/or of the assisting node l06a), data corresponding to which devices can adjust RUs, and/or any other data that may help the example UG 104 allocate RUs.

While an example manner of implementing the example unified gateway 104 and the example assisting nodes l06a-c of FIG. 1 is illustrated in FIGS. 2 and 3, one or more of the elements, processes and/or devices illustrated in FIGS. 2 and 3 may be combined, divided, re- arranged, omitted, eliminated and/or implemented in any other way. Further, the example interface 200, the example information analyzer 202, the example resource unit allocator 204, the example network processor 206, the example interface 300, the example information generator 302, and/or, more generally, the example UG 104 and/or the example assisting nodes l06a-c of FIGS. 2 and 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 200, the example information analyzer 202, the example resource unit allocator 204, the example network processor 206, the example interface 300, the example information generator 302, and/or, more generally, the example UG 104 and/or the example assisting nodes l06a-c of FIGS. 2 and 3 could be implemented by one or more analog or digital circuit(s), logic circuits, programmable processor(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, the example interface 200, the example information analyzer 202, the example resource unit allocator 204, the example network processor 206, the example interface 300, the example information generator 302, and/or, more generally, the example UG 104 and/or the example assisting nodes l06a-c of FIGS. 2 and 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 interface 200, the example information analyzer 202, the example resource unit allocator 204, the example network processor 206, the example interface 300, the example information generator 302, and/or, more generally, the example UG 104 and/or the example assisting nodes l06a-c of FIGS. 2 and 3 may include one or more elements, processes and/or devices in addition to, or instead of, those illustrated in FIGS. 2 and/or 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, machine readable instructions, hardware implemented state machines, and/or any combination thereof for implementing the example unified gateway 104 of FIG. 1 is shown in FIGS. 4-6 and flowcharts representative of example machine readable instructions for implementing the example assisting nodes l06a-c of FIG. 1 is shown in FIG. 7. The machine readable instructions may be an executable program or portion of an executable program for execution by a computer processor such as the processor 1412 shown in the example processor platform 1400 discussed below in connection with FIG.

14. 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 digital versatile disk (DVD), a Blu-ray disk, or a memory associated with the processor 1412, but the entire program and/or parts thereof could alternatively be executed by a device other than the processor 1412 and/or embodied in firmware or dedicated hardware. Further, although the example program is described with reference to the flowchart illustrated in FIGS. 4-7, many other methods of implementing the example unified gateway 104 and/or the example assisting nodes l06a-c 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, a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA), an Application Specific Integrated circuit (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. 4-7 may be implemented using coded 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, (6) B with C, and (7) A with B and with C.

FIG. 4 is an example flowchart 400 representative of example machine readable instructions that may be executed by the example unified gateway 104 of FIGS. 1 and 2 to facilitate channelization in a frequency band (e.g., the 2.4 gigahertz frequency band) for Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, BLE, Z-wave, Zigbee, and/or any other protocol. Although the example flowchart 400 is described in conjunction with the example UG 104 of FIGS. 1 and 2, the example flowchart may be described in conjunction with any unified gateway in any wireless network.

At block 402, the example interface 200 receives information/report(s) from one or more of the example assisting nodes l06a-c and/or the example devices 108 (e.g., the reachable devices). As described above, the information/report include information (e.g., operational data, characteristics, location data, identification data, etc.) about the example devices 108, 110 in the example regions l07a-c and communication data (e.g., connectivity data, BT hopping patterns, etc.) corresponding to the example devices 108, 110. At block 404, the example information analyzer 202 determines if the information/report(s) correspond to a first set of devices not capable of adjusting RUs (e.g., legacy devices and/or other non-Wi-Fi devices). If the example information analyzer 202 determines that the information/report does not correspond to a first set of devices not capable of adjusting RUs (block 404: NO), the process continues to block 408. If the example information analyzer 202 determines that the information/report corresponds to a first set of devices not capable of adjusting RUs (block 404: YES), the example resource unit allocator 204 reserves the RUs for the first set of devices (block 406). In this manner, the example resource unit allocator 204 ensures that such devices do not experience interference (e.g., during UL and/or DL transmission) from the other devices capable of adjusting RUs. For example, if a Bluetooth speaker is utilizing part of the 2.4 GHz band corresponding to an 802.11 PPDU, the example resource unit allocator 204 may reserve the 802.11 PPDU for the Bluetooth speaker in the example network of wireless devices 100.

At block 408, the example resource unit allocator 204 reserves the remaining RUs to a second set of devices (e.g., stations) capable of adjusting RUs. The example resource unit allocator 204 may allocate the remaining RUs (e.g., for UL and/or DL transmission of the remaining devices) in an optimal manner by considering the entire 2.4 GHz band and the functionality, capabilities, and/or needs of the remaining devices, as further described below in conjunction with FIG. 5. At block 410, the example network processor 206 generates allocation instructions for the assisting node(s) l06a-c and/or the reachable devices (e.g., devices 108 included in the second set). For example, if the example unified gateway 104 is able to communicate directly with a device of the second set, the example network processor 206 may generate the RUs allocation instructions to be transmitted directly to the device. If the example gateway 104 is not able to communicate directly with a device of the second set, the example network processor 206 may generate the RUs allocation instructions to be transmitted to the corresponding example assisting node l07a-c and the corresponding example assisting node l07a-c forwards the allocation instructions to the device. As described above in conjunction with FIG. 2, when the allocation corresponds to a RU hopping pattern (e.g., time-based and/or frequency -based), the example resource unit allocator 204 may synchronize the timing of the RU hopping pattern based on the timing of the BT hopping pattern. At block 412, the example interface 200 transmits the allocation information (e.g., instructions) to the assisting node(s) l06a-c and/or the example reachable device 108 in the second set.

FIG. 5 is an example flowchart 408 representative of example machine readable instructions that may be executed by the example unified gateway 104 of FIGS. 1 and 2 to reserve the remaining RUs to a second set of devices capable of adjusting RUs, as further described above in conjunction with FIG. 4. Although the example flowchart 500 is described in conjunction with the example UG 104 of FIGS. 1 and 2, the example flowchart may be described in conjunction with any unified gateway in any wireless network.

At block 502, the example network processor 206 determines if there is a device corresponding to a BT hopping pattern in or near an identified Wi-Fi device. The example network processor 206 may determine that the device corresponds to a BT hopping pattern based on the BT hopping pattern in the information/report. The example network processor 206 determines that the device is in or near an identified Wi-Fi device based on the location data of the information/report and/or the location of the assisting node l06a-c. If the example network processor 206 determines that a device corresponding to a BT hopping pattern is not in or near a Wi-Fi device (block 502: NO), the process continues to block 512, as further described below. If the example network processor 206 determines that a device corresponding to a BT hopping pattern is in or near a Wi-Fi device (block 502: YES), the example network processor 206 determines the details of the BT hopping pattern (e.g., what RUs are being utilized for BT communications and at what times) (block 504).

At block 506, the example network processor 206 determines if the corresponding Wi-Fi device(s) (e.g., the Wi-Fi devices that implement and/or are near the device running a BT hopping pattern) can utilize RUs that are not within a threshold range of the channels used in the BT hopping pattern(s). For example, if there are few devices in the network of wireless devices 100, there may be plenty of RUs to use so that any device near the BT device can utilize an RU that is not included in the BT hopping pattern. However, if the BT hopping pattern uses a lot of RUs and/or there are a lot of devices in the network of wireless devices 100, it may not be possible to utilize RUs that are not within a threshold range of the channels used in the BT hopping pattern(s). If the example network processor 206 determines that the corresponding Wi-Fi device(s) cannot utilize RUs that are not within a threshold range of the channels used in the BT hopping pattern(s) (block 506: NO), the example resource unit allocator 204 schedules the corresponding Wi-Fi device(s) by generating Wi-Fi hopping pattern(s) for one of more of the corresponding Wi-Fi device(s) to avoid utilization of RUs within a threshold range of the channels used in the BT hopping pattern (block 508). An example Wi-Fi hopping pattern is further described below in conjunction with FIG. 9. If the example network processor 206 determines that the corresponding Wi-Fi device(s) can utilize RUs that are not within a threshold range of the channels used in the BT hopping pattern(s) (block 506: YES), the example resource unit allocator 204 schedules the corresponding Wi-Fi devices to RU(s) outside of a threshold range of the channels used by the BT hopping pattern (block 510). At block 512, the example resource unit allocator 204 schedules the remaining Wi-Fi device(s) (e.g., the Wi-Fi devices not near BT devices utilizing BT hopping patterns) to the remaining channel(s) (block 512).

FIG. 6 is an example flowchart 600 representative of example machine readable instructions that may be executed by the example unified gateway 104 of FIGS. 1 and 2 to transmit instructions to one or more of the example assisting nodes l06a-c to ignore

communications of one or more devices to conserve resources. Although the example flowchart 600 is described in conjunction with the example UG 104 of FIGS. 1 and 2, the example flowchart may be described in conjunction with any unified gateway in any wireless network.

At block 602, the example interface 200 receives one or more information/reports from one or more of the example assisting nodes l06a-c corresponding to the first example devices 108 and the second example devices 110. As described above in conjunction with FIG. 1, the first example devices 108 are devices that may be monitored and/or in communications with the example AP 102 (e.g., reachable devices) and the second example devices are devices that may not be heard and/or in communications with the example AP 102 (e.g., unreachable devices). Accordingly, the example reachable devices 108 may be monitored by both the example AP 102 and the example assisting node l06a-c. At block 604, the example network processor 206 determines which of the devices corresponding to the information/report(s) are sensed by the example AP 102 (e.g., the reachable first example devices 108). At block 606, the example interface 200 transmits instructions to the respective assisting nodes l06a-c to ignore data from the reachable devices 108 that can be sensed by the example AP 102. In this manner, the example assisting node l06a-c can conserve resources.

FIG. 7 is an example flowchart 700 representative of example machine readable instructions that may be executed by the example assisting nodes l06a-c of FIG. 1 to facilitate channelization in a frequency band (e.g., the 2.4 gigahertz frequency band) for Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Zigbee, Z-wave, BLE, and/or any other protocol. The example of FIG. 7 is described in conjunction with the example assisting node l06a. Alternatively, the instructions of FIG. 700 may be implemented by any of the example assisting nodes l06a-c.

At block 702, the example interface 300 monitors the activities (e.g., the 2.4 GHz activities) within the example region l07a to gather data corresponding to the devices and/or communications within the region l07a. At block 704, the example information generator 302 generates information/report identifying the example devices 108, 110, device types, BT hopping patterns, location data, OFDMA sub channel data, etc. In this manner, the RUs allocation of the 2.4 GHz channel can be determined within the example region l07a. At block 706, the example interface 300 transmits the information/report to the example UG 104 of the example AP 102 of FIG. 1.

At block 708, the example interface 300 receives allocation instructions from the example UG 104. The allocation instructions include instructions as to the RUs that are to be used by one or more of the example devices 108, 110 of the first example region l07a. For example, the allocation instructions may correspond to a first RU to be used by a first reachable device 108, a second RU to be used by a second reachable device 110, a RU to be used by a first unreachable device 108, etc. Additionally or alternatively, the allocation instructions may correspond to hopping patterns for the corresponding device (e.g., to avoid using RUs at or near channels reserved for BT at the same time as the BT device(s)). At block 710, the example interface 300 transmits the allocation instructions to the devices 108, 110 identified in the instructions. For example, the interface 300 may transmit the allocation instructions to all devices in the example region l07a and/or may transmit individualized allocation instructions devices identified in the instructions.

At block 712, the example interface 300 continues monitoring activities within the example region l07a. In some examples, the assisting node l06a may receive instructions from the example UG 104 to ignore particular devices 108, 110. In such examples, the assisting node l06a continues monitoring activities for devices not included in the ignore instructions. At block 714, the example information generator 302 determines if the dynamic of the example region l07a has changed. The dynamic of the example regions l07a may change when, for example, a device enters the example region l07a and/or leaves the example region l07a. If the example information generator 302 determines that the dynamic of the example region l07a has not changed (block 714: NO), the example interface 300 continues to monitor activities of the example devices 108, 110 in the example region l07a. If the example information generator 302 determines that the dynamic of the example region l07a has changed (block 714: YES), the example information generator 302 generates a information/report based on the new dynamic to send to the example UG 104 of the example AP 102.

FIG. 8 illustrates channelization in the 2.4 GHz band. FIG. 8 includes an example IEEE 802.11 channelization 800, an example IEEE 802.15.4 channelization 802, an example Bluetooth channelization 804, and an example BLE channelization in the 2.4 GHz ISM channel 806.

As described above in conjunction with FIG. 1, the example ETG 104 defines one wideband channel for the entire unlicensed spectrum 2400 MHz to 2483.5 MHz. The example ETG 104 controls the entire wideband channel (e.g., 83.5 MHz). Within the wideband channel, guard bands for lower and upper parts of ISM band can be defined. The example ETG 104 defines a RIJs allocation by which it can selectively and dynamically schedule a number of devices 108, 110 in certain RIJs to manage interference with legacy Wi-Fi and non-Wi-Fi technologies, and to establish methods for coexistence with legacy Wi-Fi. If future devices have bandwidth similar to legacy Wi-Fi devices, then new methods of backward compatibility will also be defined as part of the ETG 104 operation (e.g., the ETG 104 will enable backward compatibility for such devices). The example Bluetooth channelization 804 illustrates an example BT hopping pattern between channels in the 2.4 GHz ISM band.

FIG. 9 compares an example BT hopping pattern without Wi-Fi OFDMA adaptation 900 and an example BT hopping pattern with Wi-Fi OFDMA adaptation 902 (e.g., OFDMA/RIJ based Wi-Fi hopping) within a frequency band. Although the example of FIG. 9 corresponds a particular allocation of the 2.4 GHz frequency band, a different frequency band and/or OFDMA RET allocation (e.g., in time and/or frequency) may alternatively be used.

In the example BT hopping pattern without Wi-Fi RETs adaptation 900 of FIG. 9, the example BT hopping pattern hops to various different RETs. If the BT device that is utilizing the illustrate BT pattern is located near (e.g., within the same region and/or within a threshold distance from) one of the users (e.g., Wi-Fi devices), then the BT device and/or the user may suffer from interference. For example, if the BT device is located near user 6, then user 6 and/or the BT device may experience high interference when the BT device utilizes the RUs 38.

However, if the BT device is only located near user 9, then there may be no or limited interference cause by the BT hopping pattern. Accordingly, the example UG 104 can allocate the users to RUs without performing any Wi-Fi hopping.

In the example BT hopping pattern with RUs adaption 902 of FIG. 9, the user 1 is located within a threshold distance and/or in the same region as the BT device that is utilizing the BT hopping pattern and users 5 and 7 are not located within the threshold distance as the BT device. Additionally, due to the characteristics of the example network of wireless devices 100 (e.g., the number of devices 108, 110, the characteristics of the devices, etc.) it may be impossible to for the UG 104 to schedule user q to a RUs that is outside of a threshold distance to the channels used by the BT device. Accordingly, the example UG 104 instructs user 1 to perform a Wi-Fi hopping pattern with other Wi-Fi users (e.g., user 5 and user 7) that are capable of Wi-Fi hopping, to ensure that user 5 and the BT device are not using the same RUs and/or are not using RUs near each other. In this manner, because user 5 and user 7 are not located near the BT device, user 5/user 7 and the BT device will not cause interference on each other and the user 1 and the BT device will not cause interference on each other (e.g., because they are using different RUs throughout the transmission opportunity).

FIGS. 10A/10B are block diagrams of a radio architecture 1000 in accordance with some embodiments that may be implemented in the example AP 102 and/or the example assisting nodes l06a-c. Radio architecture 1000 may include radio front-end module (FEM) circuitry l004a-b, radio IC circuitry l006a-b and baseband processing circuitry l008a-b. Radio architecture 1000 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 l004a-b may include a WLAN or Wi-Fi FEM circuitry l004a and a Bluetooth (BT) FEM circuitry l004b. The WLAN FEM circuitry l004a may include a receive signal path comprising circuitry configured to operate on WLAN RF signals received from one or more antennas 1001, to amplify the received signals and to provide the amplified versions of the received signals to the WLAN radio IC circuitry l006a for further processing. The BT FEM circuitry l004b may include a receive signal path which may include circuitry configured to operate on BT RF signals received from one or more antennas 1001, to amplify the received signals and to provide the amplified versions of the received signals to the BT radio IC circuitry l006b for further processing. FEM circuitry l004a may also include a transmit signal path which may include circuitry configured to amplify WLAN signals provided by the radio IC circuitry l006a for wireless transmission by one or more of the antennas 1001. In addition, FEM circuitry l004b may also include a transmit signal path which may include circuitry configured to amplify BT signals provided by the radio IC circuitry l006b for wireless transmission by the one or more antennas. In the embodiment of FIG. 10A, although FEM l004a and FEM l004b 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 l006a-b as shown may include WLAN radio IC circuitry l006a and BT radio IC circuitry l006b. The WLAN radio IC circuitry l006a may include a receive signal path which may include circuitry to down-convert WLAN RF signals received from the FEM circuitry l004a and provide baseband signals to WLAN baseband processing circuitry l008a. BT radio IC circuitry l006b may in turn include a receive signal path which may include circuitry to down-convert BT RF signals received from the FEM circuitry l004b and provide baseband signals to BT baseband processing circuitry l008b. WLAN radio IC circuitry l006a may also include a transmit signal path which may include circuitry to up-convert WLAN baseband signals provided by the WLAN baseband processing circuitry l008a and provide WLAN RF output signals to the FEM circuitry l004a for subsequent wireless transmission by the one or more antennas 1001. BT radio IC circuitry l006b may also include a transmit signal path which may include circuitry to up-convert BT baseband signals provided by the BT baseband processing circuitry l008b and provide BT RF output signals to the FEM circuitry l004b for subsequent wireless transmission by the one or more antennas 1001. In the embodiment of FIG. 10 A, although radio IC circuitries l006a and l006b 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. For example, as shown in FIG. 10B, the example radio architecture 1000 may include example software defined front end module circuitry l004c, example software defined radio IC circuitry l006c, and an example control module (CM) 1007. The example control module 1007 that has access to timing and hopping patterns. Accordingly, the control module 1007 may configure the software defined front end module circuity l004c and/or the example software defined radio IC circuitry l006c to separate BT and Wi-Fi signals and pass them to the appropriate upper layer processor (e.g., the application processor 1010) for further processing. Additionally, the example control module 1007 may take baseband signals and configure the software defined front end module circuity l004c and/or the example software defined radio IC circuitry l006c for transmitting the right waveform and/or superimposing a waveform of BT and Wi-Fi.

Baseband processing circuity l008a-b may include a WLAN baseband processing circuitry l008a and a BT baseband processing circuitry l008b. The WLAN baseband processing circuitry l008a 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 l008a. Each of the WLAN baseband circuitry l008a and the BT baseband circuitry l008b 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 l006a-b, and to also generate corresponding WLAN or BT baseband signals for the transmit signal path of the radio IC circuitry l006a-b. Each of the baseband processing circuitries l008a and l008b may further include physical layer (PHY) and medium access control layer (MAC) circuitry, and may further interface with the application processor 1010 for generation and processing of the baseband signals and for controlling operations of the radio IC circuitry l006a-b.

Referring still to FIGS. 10A/10B, according to the shown embodiment, WLAN-BT coexistence circuitry 1013 may include logic providing an interface between the WLAN baseband circuitry l008a and the BT baseband circuitry l008b to enable use cases requiring WLAN and BT coexistence. In addition, a switch 1003 may be provided between the WLAN FEM circuitry l004a and the BT FEM circuitry l004b to allow switching between the WLAN and BT radios according to application needs. In addition, although the antennas 1001 are depicted as being respectively connected to the WLAN FEM circuitry l004a and the BT FEM circuitry l004b, 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 l004a or l004b.

In some embodiments, the front-end module circuitry l004a-b, the radio IC circuitry l006a-b, and baseband processing circuitry l008a-b may be provided on a single radio card, such as wireless radio card 1002. In some other embodiments, the one or more antennas 1001, the FEM circuitry l004a-b and the radio IC circuitry l006a-b may be provided on a single radio card. In some other embodiments, the radio IC circuitry l006a-b and the baseband processing circuitry l008a-b may be provided on a single chip or integrated circuit (IC), such as IC 1012.

In some embodiments, the wireless radio card 1002 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 1000 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 1000 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 1000 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. l ln-2009, IEEE 802.11-2012, IEEE 802.11-2016, 802. l ln-2009,

802.1 lac, 802.11 ah, 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 1000 may also be suitable to transmit and/or receive communications in accordance with other techniques and standards.

In some embodiments, the radio architecture 1000 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 1000 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 1000 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. 10A/B, the BT baseband circuitry l008b may be compliant with a Bluetooth (BT) connectivity standard such as Bluetooth, Bluetooth 12.0 or Bluetooth 10.0, or any other iteration of the Bluetooth Standard. In embodiments that include BT functionality as shown for example in FIG. 10A/B, the radio architecture 1000 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 1000 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. 10A/B, 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 1002, although embodiments are not so limited, and include within their scope discrete WLAN and BT radio cards

In some embodiments, the radio-architecture 1000 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 1000 may be configured for communication over various channel bandwidths including bandwidths having center frequencies of about 900 MHz, 2.4 GHz, 5 GHz, 6 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, IόOMHz, 320 MHz (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. 11 illustrates WLAN FEM circuitry l004a in accordance with some embodiments. Although the example of FIG. 11 is described in conjunction with the WLAN FEM circuitry l004a, the example of FIG. 11 may be described in conjunction with the example BT FEM circuitry l004b (FIG. 10A), although other circuitry configurations may also be suitable.

In some embodiments, the FEM circuitry l004a may include a TX/RX switch 1102 to switch between transmit mode and receive mode operation. The FEM circuitry l004a may include a receive signal path and a transmit signal path. The receive signal path of the FEM circuitry l004a may include a low-noise amplifier (LNA) 1106 to amplify received RF signals 1103 and provide the amplified received RF signals 1107 as an output (e.g., to the radio IC circuitry l006a-b (FIG. 10A)). The transmit signal path of the circuitry l004a may include a power amplifier (PA) to amplify input RF signals 1109 (e.g., provided by the radio IC circuitry l006a-b), and one or more filters 1112, such as band-pass filters (BPFs), low-pass filters (LPFs) or other types of filters, to generate RF signals 1115 for subsequent transmission (e.g., by one or more of the antennas 1001 (FIG. 10A)) via an example duplexer 1114.

In some dual-mode embodiments for Wi-Fi communication, the FEM circuitry l004a may be configured to operate in either the 2.4 GHz frequency spectrum or the 12 GHz frequency spectrum. In these embodiments, the receive signal path of the FEM circuitry l004a may include a receive signal path duplexer 1104 to separate the signals from each spectrum as well as provide a separate LNA 1106 for each spectrum as shown. In these embodiments, the transmit signal path of the FEM circuitry l004a may also include a power amplifier 1110 and a filter 1112, such as a BPF, a LPF or another type of filter for each frequency spectrum and a transmit signal path duplexer 1104 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 1001 (FIG. 10A). In some embodiments, BT communications may utilize the 2.4 GHz signal paths and may utilize the same FEM circuitry l004a as the one used for WLAN communications.

FIG. 12 illustrates radio IC circuitry l006a in accordance with some embodiments. The radio IC circuitry l006a is one example of circuitry that may be suitable for use as the WLAN or BT radio IC circuitry !006a/l006b (FIG. 10A), although other circuitry configurations may also be suitable. Alternatively, the example of FIG. 12 may be described in conjunction with the example BT radio IC circuitry l006b.

In some embodiments, the radio IC circuitry l006a may include a receive signal path and a transmit signal path. The receive signal path of the radio IC circuitry l006a may include at least mixer circuitry 1202, such as, for example, down-conversion mixer circuitry, amplifier circuitry 1206 and filter circuitry 1208. The transmit signal path of the radio IC circuitry l006a may include at least filter circuitry 1212 and mixer circuitry 1214, such as, for example, up- conversion mixer circuitry. Radio IC circuitry l006a may also include synthesizer circuitry 1204 for synthesizing a frequency 1205 for use by the mixer circuitry 1202 and the mixer circuitry 1214. The mixer circuitry 1202 and/or 1214 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. 12 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 1214 may each include one or more mixers, and filter circuitries 1208 and/or 1212 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 1202 may be configured to down-convert RF signals 1107 received from the FEM circuitry l004a-b (FIG. 10 A) based on the synthesized frequency 1205 provided by synthesizer circuitry 1204. The amplifier circuitry 1206 may be configured to amplify the down-converted signals and the filter circuitry 1208 may include a LPF configured to remove unwanted signals from the down-converted signals to generate output baseband signals 1207. Output baseband signals 1207 may be provided to the baseband processing circuitry l008a-b (FIG. 10 A) for further processing. In some embodiments, the output baseband signals 1207 may be zero-frequency baseband signals, although this is not a requirement. In some embodiments, mixer circuitry 1202 may comprise passive mixers, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect.

In some embodiments, the mixer circuitry 1214 may be configured to up-convert input baseband signals 1211 based on the synthesized frequency 1205 provided by the synthesizer circuitry 1204 to generate RF output signals 1109 for the FEM circuitry l004a-b. The baseband signals 1211 may be provided by the baseband processing circuitry l008a-b and may be filtered by filter circuitry 1212. The filter circuitry 1212 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 1202 and the mixer circuitry 1214 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 1204. In some embodiments, the mixer circuitry 1202 and the mixer circuitry 1214 may each include two or more mixers each configured for image rejection (e.g., Hartley image rejection). In some embodiments, the mixer circuitry 1202 and the mixer circuitry 1214 may be arranged for direct down-conversion and/or direct up-conversion, respectively. In some embodiments, the mixer circuitry 1202 and the mixer circuitry 1214 may be configured for super-heterodyne operation, although this is not a requirement.

Mixer circuitry 1202 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 1107 from FIG. 12 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 1205 of synthesizer 1204 (FIG. 12). 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 1107 (FIG. 11) 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 1206 (FIG. 12) or to filter circuitry 1208 (FIG. 12).

In some embodiments, the output baseband signals 1207 and the input baseband signals 1211 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 1207 and the input baseband signals 1211 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 1204 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 1204 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 1204 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 1204 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 l008a-b (FIG. 10 A) depending on the desired output frequency 1205. 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. The application processor 1010 may include, or otherwise be connected to, the example UG 104.

In some embodiments, synthesizer circuitry 1204 may be configured to generate a carrier frequency as the output frequency 1205, while in other embodiments, the output frequency 1205 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 1205 may be a LO frequency (fLO).

FIG. 13 illustrates a functional block diagram of baseband processing circuitry l008a in accordance with some embodiments. The baseband processing circuitry l008a is one example of circuitry that may be suitable for use as the baseband processing circuitry l008a (FIG. 10 A), although other circuitry configurations may also be suitable. Alternatively, the example of FIG. 123 may be used to implement the example BT baseband processing circuitry l008b of FIG.

10 A.

The baseband processing circuitry l008a may include a receive baseband processor (RX BBP) 1302 for processing receive baseband signals 1209 provided by the radio IC circuitry l006a-b (FIG. 10 A) and a transmit baseband processor (TX BBP) 1304 for generating transmit baseband signals 1211 for the radio IC circuitry l006a-b. The baseband processing circuitry l008a may also include control logic 1306 for coordinating the operations of the baseband processing circuitry l008a.

In some embodiments (e.g., when analog baseband signals are exchanged between the baseband processing circuitry l008a-b and the radio IC circuitry l006a-b), the baseband processing circuitry l008a may include ADC 1310 to convert analog baseband signals 1309 received from the radio IC circuitry l006a-b to digital baseband signals for processing by the RX BBP 1302. In these embodiments, the baseband processing circuitry l008a may also include DAC 1312 to convert digital baseband signals from the TX BBP 1304 to analog baseband signals 1311.

In some embodiments that communicate OFDM signals or OFDMA signals, such as through baseband processor l008a, the transmit baseband processor 1304 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 1302 may be configured to process received OFDM signals or OFDMA signals by performing an FFT. In some

embodiments, the receive baseband processor 1302 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. 10A/10B, in some embodiments, the antennas 1001 (FIG.

10A/10B) 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 1001 may each include a set of phased-array antennas, although embodiments are not so limited.

Although the radio-architecture 1000 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. 14 is a block diagram of an example processor platform 1400 structured to execute the instructions of FIGS. 4-7 to implement the example UG 104 of FIG. 2 and/or the example assisting node l06a of FIG. 3. The processor platform 1400 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 1400 of the illustrated example includes a processor 1412. The processor 1412 of the illustrated example is hardware. For example, the processor 1412 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 example processor 1412 is used to implement the example interface 200, the example information analyzer 202, the example resource unit allocator 204, the example network processor 206 of FIG. 2 and/or the example interface 300 and/or the example information generator 302 of FIG. 3.

The processor 1412 of the illustrated example includes a local memory 1413 (e.g., a cache). The processor 1412 of the illustrated example is in communication with a main memory including a volatile memory 1414 and a non-volatile memory 1416 via a bus 1418. The volatile memory 1414 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 1416 may be implemented by flash memory and/or any other desired type of memory device. Access to the main memory 1414, 1416 is controlled by a memory controller.

The processor platform 1400 of the illustrated example also includes an interface circuit 1420. The interface circuit 1420 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 1422 are connected to the interface circuit 1420. The input device(s) 1422 permit(s) a user to enter data and/or commands into the processor 1412. 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 1424 are also connected to the interface circuit 1420 of the illustrated example. The output devices 1424 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 1420 of the illustrated example, thus, typically includes a graphics driver card, a graphics driver chip and/or a graphics driver processor.

The interface circuit 1420 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 1426. 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 1400 of the illustrated example also includes one or more mass storage devices 1428 for storing software and/or data. Examples of such mass storage devices 1428 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 1432 of FIGS 4-7 may be stored in the mass storage device 1428, in the volatile memory 1414, in the non-volatile memory 1416, and/or on a removable non-transitory computer readable storage medium such as a CD or DVD.

Example 1 includes a method comprising receiving information corresponding to a first and second device operating within a region, the first and second devices operating in an overlapping frequency band, wherein the first device cannot be sensed by an access point and wherein the second device can be sensed by the access point, reserving, by executing an instruction using a processor, a first channel of the frequency band for the first device, reserving, by executing an instruction using the processor, a second channel of the overlapping frequency band for the second device based on the reserving of the first channel, and transmitting reservation information to the second device.

Example 2 includes the method of example 1, wherein the first device corresponds to device implementing at least one of a bluetooth protocol, a bluetooth low energy protocol, a z- wave protocol, or a zigbee protocol.

Example 3 includes the method of example 1, wherein the second device corresponds to a wi-fi station implementing a wi-fi protocol.

Example 4 includes the method of example 1, wherein an assisting node monitors the first device and the second device to generate and transmit the information.

Example 5 includes the method of example 4, wherein the assisting node can sense the second device.

Example 6 includes the method of example 1, wherein the first and second channels are orthogonal frequency-division multiple access-based resource unit allocations.

Example 7 includes the method of example 1, wherein the first device performs a hopping pattern to communicate in the first channel and a third channel of the frequency band. Example 8 includes the method of example 7, further including reserving the third channel for the first device.

Example 9 includes the method of example 7, wherein the third channel is the second channel, further including reserving a fourth channel of the frequency band for the second device, the reservation corresponding to hopping to the fourth channel when the first device is to use the third channel.

Example 10 includes the method of example 1, wherein the first device cannot be sensed by the access point because a transmission range of the first device is not strong enough to reach the access point.

Example 11 includes the method of example 1, further including reserving at least one of the first channel or the second channel for a duration of time shorter than an entire packet.

Example 12 includes the method of example 1, further including controlling all channels of the frequency band.

Example 13 includes an apparatus comprising an interface to receive information corresponding to a first and second device operating within a region, the first and second devices operating in an overlapping frequency band, wherein the first device cannot be sensed by an access point and wherein the second device can be sensed by the access point, a resource unit allocator to reserve a first channel of the frequency band for the first device, and reserve a second channel of the frequency band for the second device, and the interface to transmit reservation information to the second device.

Example 14 includes the apparatus of example 13, wherein the first device corresponds to device implementing at least one of a bluetooth protocol, a bluetooth low energy protocol, a z- wave protocol, or a zigbee protocol.

Example 15 includes the apparatus of example 13, wherein the second device

corresponds to a wi-fi station implementing a wi-fi protocol.

Example 16 includes the apparatus of example 13, wherein an assisting node monitors the first device and the second device to generate and transmit the information to the interface.

Example 17 includes the apparatus of example 16, wherein the assisting node can sense the second device.

Example 18 includes the apparatus of example 13, wherein the first and second channels are orthogonal frequency-division multiple access resource units. Example 19 includes the apparatus of example 13, wherein the first device performs a hopping pattern to communicate in the first channel and a third channel of the frequency band.

Example 20 includes the apparatus of example 19, wherein the resource unit allocator is to reserve the third channel for the first device.

Example 21 includes the apparatus of example 19, wherein the third channel is the second channel, the resource unit allocator to reserve a fourth channel of the frequency band for the second device, the reservation corresponding to hopping to the fourth channel when the first device is to use the third channel.

Example 22 includes the apparatus of example 19, wherein the first device cannot be sensed by the access point because a transmission range of the first device is not strong enough to reach the access point.

Example 23 includes the apparatus of example 13, wherein the resource unit allocator is to reserve at least one of the first channel or the second channel for a duration of time shorter than an entire packet.

Example 24 includes the apparatus of example 13, wherein the resource unit allocator is to control all channels of the frequency band.

Example 25 includes a tangible computer readable medium comprising instructions which, when executed, cause a machine to at least receive information corresponding to a first and second device operating within a region, the first and second devices operating in an overlapping frequency band, wherein the first device cannot be sensed by an access point and wherein the second device can be sensed by the access point, reserve a first channel of the frequency band for the first device, reserve a second channel of the frequency band for the second device, and transmit reservation information to the second device.

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. A method comprising:

receiving information corresponding to a first and second device operating within a region, the first and second devices operating in an overlapping frequency band, wherein the first device cannot be sensed by an access point and wherein the second device can be sensed by the access point;

reserving, by executing an instruction using a processor, a first channel of the frequency band for the first device;

reserving, by executing an instruction using the processor, a second channel of the overlapping frequency band for the second device based on the reserving of the first channel; and transmitting reservation information to the second device.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the first device corresponds to device

implementing at least one of a Bluetooth protocol, a Bluetooth low energy protocol, a Z-wave protocol, or a Zigbee protocol.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the second device corresponds to a Wi-Fi station implementing a Wi-Fi protocol.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein an assisting node monitors the first device and the second device to generate and transmit the information.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the assisting node can sense the second device.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the first and second channels are orthogonal frequency-division multiple access-based resource unit allocations.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the first device performs a hopping pattern to communicate in the first channel and a third channel of the frequency band.

8. The method of claim 7, further including reserving the third channel for the first device.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein the third channel is the second channel, further including reserving a fourth channel of the frequency band for the second device, the reservation corresponding to hopping to the fourth channel when the first device is to use the third channel.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the first device cannot be sensed by the access point because a transmission range of the first device is not strong enough to reach the access point.

11. The method of claim 1, further including reserving at least one of the first channel or the second channel for a duration of time shorter than an entire packet.

12. The method of claim 1, further including controlling all channels of the frequency band.

13. An apparatus comprising:

an interface to receive information corresponding to a first and second device operating within a region, the first and second devices operating in an overlapping frequency band, wherein the first device cannot be sensed by an access point and wherein the second device can be sensed by the access point;

a resource unit allocator to:

reserve a first channel of the frequency band for the first device; and reserve a second channel of the frequency band for the second device; and the interface to transmit reservation information to the second device.

14. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the first device corresponds to device implementing at least one of a Bluetooth protocol, a Bluetooth low energy protocol, a Z-wave protocol, or a Zigbee protocol.

15. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the second device corresponds to a Wi-Fi station implementing a Wi-Fi protocol.

16. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein an assisting node monitors the first device and the second device to generate and transmit the information to the interface.

17. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the assisting node can sense the second device.

18. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the first and second channels are orthogonal frequency-division multiple access resource units.

19. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the first device performs a hopping pattern to communicate in the first channel and a third channel of the frequency band.

20. The apparatus of claim 19, wherein the resource unit allocator is to reserve the third channel for the first device.

21. The apparatus of claim 19, wherein the third channel is the second channel, the resource unit allocator to reserve a fourth channel of the frequency band for the second device, the reservation corresponding to hopping to the fourth channel when the first device is to use the third channel.

22. The apparatus of claim 19, wherein the first device cannot be sensed by the access point because a transmission range of the first device is not strong enough to reach the access point.

23. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the resource unit allocator is to reserve at least one of the first channel or the second channel for a duration of time shorter than an entire packet.

24. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the resource unit allocator is to control all channels of the frequency band.

25. A tangible computer readable medium comprising instructions which, when executed, cause a machine to at least:

receive information corresponding to a first and second device operating within a region, the first and second devices operating in an overlapping frequency band, wherein the first device cannot be sensed by an access point and wherein the second device can be sensed by the access point;

reserve a first channel of the frequency band for the first device;

reserve a second channel of the frequency band for the second device; and

transmit reservation information to the second device.