Communication apparatus, control method, and program

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12207177-B2
Application number	US-202117508743-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 22, 2021
Priority date	Apr 24, 2019
Publication date	Jan 21, 2025
Grant date	Jan 21, 2025

Abstract

When a communication is performed in a particular frequency channel included in a 6 GHz band, if a signal that is not according to the IEEE 802.11 series standard is detected in the 6 GHz band, control is performed such that a signal according to the IEEE 802.11 series standard is not allowed to be transmitted in the particular frequency channel.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A communication apparatus comprising:
one or more processors;
one or more memories storing instructions that when executed by the one or more processors cause the communication apparatus to perform operations comprising:
setting a first frequency channel as a channel to be used for communication according to an Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 series standard;
in a case where the first frequency channel is not included in a frequency range that is part of a 6 GHz band, proceeding with steps for using the first frequency channel in communication according to the IEEE 802.11 series standard; and
in a case where the first frequency channel is included in a frequency range that is part of the 6 GHz band,
(i) monitoring the first frequency channel to determine, by a first determining, whether a signal that is not a signal according to the IEEE 802.11 series standard is transmitted in the first frequency channel; and
(ii) performing control such that, with respect to communication in the first frequency channel, where the first determining determines that a signal not according to the IEEE 802.11 series standard is being transmitted in the first frequency channel, the communication apparatus does not allow signals according to the IEEE 802.11 series standard to be transmitted in the first frequency channel.

2. The communication apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the operations further comprise, in a case where the first determining determines that no signal that is not a signal according to the IEEE802.11 series standard is being transmitted in the first frequency channel during a predetermined period of time, transmitting a signal according to an IEEE802.11be standard in the first frequency channel.

3. The communication apparatus according to claim 2 , wherein in a case where the first determining determines that a signal that is not according to the IEEE802.11 series standard is transmitted in the first frequency channel during the predetermined period of time, not transmitting a signal according to the IEEE802.11be standard in the first frequency channel and instead transmitting a signal according to the IEEE802.11be standard in a second frequency channel, the second frequency channel being different from the first frequency channel.

4. The communication apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the first determining is used to determine, for each of a plurality of frequency channels in the 6 GHz band, whether a signal that is not according to the IEEE 802.11 series standard is transmitted in the each frequency channel during the predetermined time period.

5. The communication apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein when the communication apparatus starts to perform communication according to the IEEE 802.11 series standard, the communication apparatus executes the first determining.

6. The communication apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein when the communication apparatus is performing communication according to the IEEE 802.11 series standard, the first determining determines whether a signal is being transmitted in the first communication channel that is not according to the IEEE 802.11 series standard.

7. The communication apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the 6 GHz band is a frequency band from 5.925 GHz to 7.125 GHz.

8. The communication apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the operations further comprise acquiring location information indicating a location of the communication apparatus, and selecting, based on the acquired location information, whether or not to perform the determining by the first determining.

9. The communication apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein a signal that is not according to the IEEE 802.11 series standard includes a signal for fixed radio communication or satellite communication.

10. The communication apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the operations further comprise determining, by a second determining, whether a signal that is not according to the IEEE 802.11 series standard is being transmitted in a 5 GHz band.

11. The communication apparatus according to claim 10 , wherein a determination process by the first determining and a determination process by the second determining are performed in parallel.

12. The communication apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the operations further comprise, when the first determining determines that a signal that is not according to the IEEE 802.11 series standard is being transmitted in the first frequency channel, providing a particular notification to a user.

13. The communication apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the operations further comprise, when the communication apparatus is communicating with another communication apparatus, where the first determining determines that a signal that is not according to the IEEE 802.11 series standard is being transmitted in the first frequency channel, providing a particular notification to the other communication apparatus.

14. The communication apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the communication apparatus is a base station configured to establish a wireless network according to the IEEE 802.11 series standard.

15. The communication apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the communication apparatus is a slave station configured to wirelessly connect to a base station that is configured to establish a wireless network according to the IEEE 802.11 series standard.

16. A control method for controlling a communication apparatus, comprising:
setting a first frequency channel as a channel to be used for communication according to an Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 series standard;
in a case where the first frequency channel is not included in a frequency range that is part of a 6 GHz band, proceeding with steps for using the first frequency channel in communication according to the IEEE 802.11 series standard; and
in a case where the first frequency channel is included in a frequency range that is part of the 6 GHz band,
(i) monitoring the first frequency channel to determine, by a first determining, whether a signal that is not a signal according to the IEEE 802.11 series standard is transmitted in the first frequency channel; and
(ii) performing control such that, with respect to communication in the first frequency channel, where the first determining determines that a signal not according to the IEEE 802.11 series standard is being transmitted in the first frequency channel, the communication apparatus does not allow signals according to the IEEE 802.11 series standard to be transmitted in the first frequency channel.

17. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing instructions for causing a computing device to operate as the communication apparatus according to claim 1 .

18. A communication apparatus comprising:
circuitry that performs operations comprising:
setting a first frequency channel as a channel to be used for communication according to an Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 series standard;
in a case where the first frequency channel is not included in a frequency range that is part of a 6 GHz band, proceeding with steps for using the first frequency channel in communication according to the IEEE 802.11 series standard; and
in a case where the first frequency channel is included in a frequency range that is part of the 6 GHz band,
(i) monitoring the first frequency channel to determine, by a first determining, whether a signal that is not a signal

Assignees

• Canon Kk

Inventors

• Watanabe Ryo

Classifications

• H04W84/20

  Leader-follower arrangements · CPC title

• H04W72/0453

  Resources in frequency domain, e.g. a carrier in FDMA · CPC title

• H04W48/02

  Access restriction performed under specific conditions · CPC title

• H04W84/12

  WLAN [Wireless Local Area Networks] · CPC title

• H04W48/08 Primary

  Access restriction or access information delivery, e.g. discovery data delivery (signalling during connection H04W76/00) · CPC title