Method and apparatus for communicating using multiple frequency bands

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10004095-B2
Application number	US-201715603539-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 24, 2017
Priority date	Jul 6, 2016
Publication date	Jun 19, 2018
Grant date	Jun 19, 2018

Abstract

Various exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure disclose a method and an apparatus for communicating by using multiple frequency bands of an electronic device in a wireless communication system. The electronic device comprises: a first wireless communication circuit configured to perform wireless communication with at least one external electronic device by using a first frequency band; a second wireless communication circuit configured to perform wireless communication with the at least one external electronic device by using a second frequency band; and a processor functionally connected with the first wireless communication circuit and the second wireless communication circuit. The processor is configured to establish a wireless connection with the at least one external electronic device based on the first frequency band by using the first wireless communication circuit; determine whether it is possible to establish a wireless connection with the at least one external electronic device based on the second frequency band by using the second wireless communication circuit, during establishment of the wireless connection with the at least one electronic device based on the first frequency band; when it is not possible to establish a wireless connection with the at least one external electronic device based on the second frequency band according to the determining, perform data communication with the at least one external electronic device based on the first frequency band; and when it is possible to establish a wireless connection with the at least one external electronic device based on the second frequency band, perform data communication with the at least one external electronic device based on the second frequency band.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An electronic device comprising:
a first wireless communication circuit configured to communicate based on a first frequency band;
a second wireless communication circuit configured to communicate based on a second frequency band;
a third wireless communication circuit configured to perform wireless communication with at least one external electronic device based on a third frequency band; and
a processor functionally connected with the first wireless communication circuit and the second wireless communication circuit, the processor configured to:
discover the at least one external electronic device based on the first frequency band by using the first wireless communication circuit;
establish a wireless connection with the at least one external electronic device based on the first frequency band by using the first wireless communication circuit;
determine whether the at least one external electronic device is discovered based on the second frequency band, during establishment of the wireless connection with the at least one external electronic device based on the first frequency band;
when the at least one external electronic device is not discovered based on the second frequency band, perform data communication with the at least one external electronic device based on the first frequency band; and
when the at least one external electronic device is discovered based on the second frequency band, perform data communication with the at least one external electronic device based on the second frequency band,

wherein the processor is further configured to control a conversion among the second frequency band, the first frequency band, and the third frequency band, and
wherein the first frequency band has a coverage larger than that of the second frequency band, and the third frequency band has a coverage larger than that of the first frequency band.

2. The electronic device of claim 1 , wherein the processor is configured to exchange synchronization information of the second frequency band with the at least one external electronic device using the first frequency band, and determine whether the at least one external electronic device is discovered through the second frequency band based on at least a part of the synchronization information,
wherein the synchronization information includes an identification of a discovery channel and a discovery window.

3. The electronic device of claim 2 , wherein the processor is further configured to:
establish a Wi-Fi (Neighbor Awareness Networking) NAN cluster using the discovery window and discovery channel; and
exchanging at least one service discovery frame using the discovery channel during the discovery window;
wherein determining whether the at least one external electronic device is discovered through the second frequency band is based on the at least one service discovery frame.

4. The electronic device of claim 1 , wherein the processor is configured to perform a low-power discovery based on the second frequency band through a low-power discovery window shared with the at least one external electronic device.

5. The electronic device of claim 1 , wherein the processor is configured to:
when the at least one external electronic device is discovered based on the second frequency band, process data communication based on the first frequency band, and perform a low-power discovery for discovering the at least one external electronic device based on the second frequency band according to a predetermined period.

6. The electronic device of claim 1 , wherein the processor is configured to:
when the at least one external electronic device is discovered based on the second frequency band, control the second wireless communication circuit to establish a wireless connection with the at least one external electronic device based on the second frequency band, select at least one wireless connection for data communication from among the wireless connection based on the first frequency band and the wireless connection based on the second frequency band in consideration of a data transmission state.

7. The electronic device of claim 6 , wherein the processor is configured to:
when the wireless connection based on the second frequency band is established, disconnect the wireless connection based on the first frequency band or maintain the wireless connection based on the first frequency band in a power save state.

8. The electronic device of claim 1 , wherein the processor is configured to:
when at least one wireless connection is established from among the wireless connection based on the first frequency band or the wireless connection based on the second frequency band, determine whether it is possible to establish a wireless connection with a new external electronic device based on the first frequency band or the second frequency band, and
establish a wireless connection with the new external electronic device based on a one of the first frequency band or the second frequency band when it is possible to establish the wireless connection.

9. The electronic device of claim 1 , wherein establishing the wireless connection with the at least one external electronic device using the first band comprises:
establishing a cluster with the first frequency band; and
discovering the at least one external electronic device in the cluster.

10. The electronic device of claim 9 , further comprising exchanging information for establishing a sub cluster for the second frequency band, in a discovery window of the cluster.

11. A method for operating of an electronic device, the method comprising:
discovering at least one external electronic device based on a first frequency band by using a first wireless communication circuit;
establishing a wireless connection with the at least one external electronic device using the first frequency band;
determining whether the at least one external electronic device is discovered using a second frequency band during establishment of the wireless connection with the at least one external electronic device using the first frequency band;
when the at least one external electronic device is not discovered using the second frequency band, performing data communication with the at least one external electronic device based on the first frequency band; and
when the at least one external electronic device is discovered using the second frequency band, performing data communication with the at least one external electronic device based on the second frequency band;
wherein the electronic device supports at least one of the first frequency band, the second frequency band, and a third frequency band,
wherein the electronic device controls a conversion among the second frequency band, the first frequency band, and the third frequency band, and
wherein the first frequency band has a coverage larger than that of the second frequency band, and the third frequency band has a coverage larger than that of the first frequency band.

12. The method of claim 11 , wherein the determining whether the wireless connection with the at least one external electronic device is possible established comprises:
exchanging synchronization information of the second frequency band with the at least one external electronic device, and determining whether the at least one external electronic device is discovered through the second frequency band based on at least a part of the synchronization information, and
wherein the synchronization information is configured to include at least one piece of information of a discovery channel and a discovery window for discovering.

13. The method of

Assignees

• Samsung Electronics Co Ltd

Inventors

• Jung Bu-Seop

Classifications

• H04W88/06 Primary

  adapted for operation in multiple networks {or having at least two operational modes}, e.g. multi-mode terminals · CPC title

• H04W76/27

  Transitions between radio resource control [RRC] states · CPC title

• H04W56/002

  Mutual synchronization · CPC title

• H04W76/34

  Selective release of ongoing connections · CPC title

• H04W84/18

  Self-organising networks, e.g. ad-hoc networks or sensor networks · CPC title