Channel control for communication using dynamic spectrum access

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12177676-B2
Application number	US-202318464198-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 8, 2023
Priority date	May 15, 2020
Publication date	Dec 24, 2024
Grant date	Dec 24, 2024

Abstract

The disclosure described herein configures a base station and client devices for communication using dynamic spectrum access within a frequency spectrum that includes selecting, from a list of available channels, a set of channels as active channels. The active channels include uplink channels and downlink channels. An uplink channel and a downlink channel are assigned to a plurality of client devices based on locations the client devices, wherein at least some client devices have active channels in common. Acknowledgements from the subset of client devices having the common active channel are grouped, the acknowledgements containing medium access control (MAC) commands specific to the subset of client devices, where each message of a plurality of messages on the uplink channels is followed by a downlink acknowledgement.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A system comprising:
a processor; and
a memory comprising computer program code, the computer program code configured to, with the processor, cause the processor to:
select from a list of available dynamic spectrum access channels, a set of channels as active channels, the active channels comprising uplink channels and downlink channels;
assign an uplink channel and a downlink channel to a plurality of client devices based on locations of the plurality of client devices;
select one active channel as a beaconing channel to communicate during a beaconing period by hopping across the downlink channels on which a base station can communicate;
transmit a beacon signal on each of the downlink channels, the beaconing period occurring outside of a normal transmission period;
identify a subset of client devices of the plurality of client devices having an active channel in common; and
group acknowledgements from the subset of client devices having the common active channel, the acknowledgments containing medium access control (MAC) commands specific to the subset of client devices, wherein each message of a plurality of messages on the uplink channels is followed by a downlink acknowledgement.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein a beacon signal has embedded information including coordinates of a region of the plurality of regions, available channels for the region, and a buffer slot in the channels.

3. The system of claim 1 , wherein the computer program code is further configured to cause the processor to:
configure a new client device using the beaconing period, the new client device hopping across a plurality of channels stored within the new client device, the new client device identifying during the beaconing period (i) a region of the plurality of regions in which the new client device is located based on a global positioning system (GPS) location of the new client device and (ii) available channels from the plurality of channels stored within the new client device.

4. The system of claim 1 , wherein the computer program code is further configured to cause the processor to:
group the subset of client devices having the common active channel on shared channels that include the common active channel and at least one backup channel; and
assign time slots to the grouped client devices.

5. The system of claim 4 , wherein the computer program code is further configured to cause the processor to:
allow a client device of the grouped client devices to communicate only on the assigned uplink channel and the assigned downlink channel during an assigned time slot, wherein a time slot length for the assigned time slot for each client device is determined based at least on a throughput requirement of the client device and a configuration of a plurality of base station radios, wherein each client device begins communication within the assigned time slot assigned to the client device based at least in part on communication configuration information received from one or more of the plurality of base station radios.

6. The system of claim 5 , wherein the communication configuration information comprises at least a timestamp, a first data transmission time, a period length of the plurality of base station radios, and a slot length of the assigned time slot.

7. The system of claim 4 , wherein the computer program code is further configured to cause the processor to:
responsive to grouping the subset of client devices having the common active channel, assign remaining client devices only one active channel, wherein a dwell time is the same for all active channels, the dwell time of the base station radios on an uplink channel defining a time the base station radios stay on an uplink channel to serve the grouped client devices, and a number of dwell time overlaps are no greater than a number of available base station radios.

8. The system of claim 1 , wherein the system is configured for communication using a television white space (TVWS) spectrum.

9. A computerized method for communication using dynamic spectrum access, the computerized method comprising:
selecting from a list of available dynamic spectrum access channels, a set of channels as active channels, the active channels comprising uplink channels and downlink channels;
assigning an uplink channel and a downlink channel to a plurality of client devices based on locations of the plurality of client devices;
selecting one active channel as a beaconing channel to communicate during a beaconing period by hopping across the downlink channels on which a base station can communicate;
transmitting a beacon signal on each of the downlink channels, the beaconing period occurring outside of a normal transmission period;
identifying a subset of client devices of the plurality of client devices having an active channel in common; and
grouping acknowledgements from the subset of client devices having the common active channel, the acknowledgments containing medium access control (MAC) commands specific to the subset of client devices, wherein each message of a plurality of messages on the uplink channels is followed by a downlink acknowledgement.

10. The computerized method of claim 9 , wherein a beacon signal has embedded information including coordinates of a region of the plurality of regions, available channels for the region, and a buffer slot in the channels.

11. The computerized method of claim 9 , further comprising:
configuring a new client device using the beaconing period, the new client device hopping across a plurality of channels stored within the new client device, the new client device identifying during the beaconing period (i) a region of the plurality of regions in which the new client device is located based on a global positioning system (GPS) location of the new client device and (ii) available channels from the plurality of channels stored within the new client device.

12. The computerized method of claim 9 , further comprising:
grouping the subset of client devices having the common active channel on shared channels that include the common active channel and at least one backup channel; and
assign time slots to the grouped client devices.

13. The computerized method of claim 12 , further comprising:
allowing a client device of the grouped client devices to communicate only on the assigned uplink channel and the assigned downlink channel during an assigned time slot, wherein a time slot length for the assigned time slot for each client device is determined based at least on a throughput requirement of the client device and a configuration of a plurality of base station radios, wherein each client device begins communication within the assigned time slot assigned to the client device based at least in part on communication configuration information received from one or more of the plurality of base station radios.

14. The computerized method of claim 12 , further comprising:
responsive to grouping the subset of client devices having the common active channel, assigning remaining client devices only one active channel, wherein a dwell time is the same for all active channels, the dwell time of the base station radios on an uplink channel defining a time the base station radios stay on an uplink channel to serve the grouped client devices, and a number of dwell time overlaps are no greater than a number of available base station radio.

15. One or more computer storage media having computer-executable instructions for communication using dynamic spectrum access, that upon execution by a processor, cause the processor to at least

Assignees

• Microsoft Technology Licensing Llc

Inventors

• Chakraborty Tusher
• Vasisht Deepak
• Chandra Ranveer
• Kapetanovic Zerina
• Shi Heping
• Priyantha Nissanka Arachchige Bodhi

Classifications

• H04W72/23

  in the downlink direction of a wireless link, i.e. towards a terminal · CPC title

• H04W72/21

  in the uplink direction of a wireless link, i.e. towards the network · CPC title

• H04W72/12

  Wireless traffic scheduling · CPC title

• H04L5/0055

  Physical resource allocation for ACK/NACK (for physical mapping arrangements in ARQ protocols H04L1/1861) · CPC title

• H04L5/0012

  Hopping in multicarrier systems · CPC title