Techniques for energy detection level adjustments

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016112969-A1
Application number	US-201414516323-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Oct 16, 2014
Priority date	Oct 16, 2014
Publication date	Apr 21, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

Methods, systems, and devices are described for improve network performance, such as throughput and PER, by allowing nodes to adjust energy detection (ED) threshold levels. For example, a method for Wi-Fi wireless communication includes determining, by a first node, an ED threshold level for a second node of a wireless network based at least in part on a metric for the first node. The method may also include signaling, from the first node to the second node, an ED level set element that indicates the determined ED threshold level. In another example, a method includes signaling, by a first node, an ED level adjustment capability of the first node to one or more nodes in a wireless network.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A method for Wi-Fi wireless communication, comprising:
determining, by a first node, an energy detection (ED) threshold level for a second node of a wireless network based at least in part on a metric for the first node; and signaling, from the first node to the second node, an ED level set element that indicates the determined ED threshold level.

2 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
signaling, by at least one of the first node and the second node, an ED level adjustment capability of the at least one of the first node and the second node to one or more nodes in the wireless network.

3 . The method of claim 1 , wherein determining the ED threshold level for the second node further comprises:
determining, by the first node, the ED threshold level for a group of nodes, wherein the second node is part of the group of nodes, and wherein the ED level set element further comprises a group indicator that identifies the group of nodes.

4 . The method of claim 1 , wherein determining the ED threshold level for the second node further comprises:
determining, by the first node, the ED threshold level for the second node as an amount of decibel (dB) relative to a received signal strength indication (RSSI) from the first node, wherein the RSSI can be determined by the frame carrying the ED level set element or any frame from the first node.

5 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
determining a received signal strength indication (RSSI) from one of a frame carrying the ED level set element or another frame transmitted by the first node, wherein signaling the ED level set element further comprises signaling an amount of decibel (dB) relative to the RSSI to instruct the second node to adjust the ED threshold level of the second node by the amount of dB relative to the RSSI.

6 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
signaling a time schedule for executing an ED level adjustment to the determined ED threshold level, wherein the time schedule identifies either a single time window start time and a single time window duration or a periodic time window start time, a periodic time window duration, a period, and a number of periods.

7 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
signaling a range threshold wherein additional nodes that are within the range threshold are instructed to comply with the ED threshold level, wherein the range threshold identifies one or both of:
a geographical radius from the first node, and
a hop count threshold from the first node.

8 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the ED level set element further comprises a broadcast ignoring duration that instructs the second node to ignore the ED level set element in a broadcast frame for the broadcast ignoring duration responsive to the ED level set element received in unicast or multicast frames.

9 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
collecting metrics, at the first node, from other nodes in the wireless network, wherein determining the ED threshold level is based at least in part on the metrics collected from the other nodes.

10 . The method of claim 9 , further comprising:
applying, by the first node, the ED threshold level to the other nodes in the wireless network when a threshold number of the other nodes suffer interference.

11 . The method of claim 9 , further comprising:
sending, by the first node, the ED level set element to an access point of the wireless network that instructs the access point to adjust a common ED threshold level for all served nodes of the access point.

12 . The method of claim 11 , further comprising:
forwarding the ED level set element, by the access point, to other access points in the wireless network.

13 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the ED level set element is a first ED level set element, further comprising:
classifying all nodes in a basic service set (BSS) including the second node into at least two groups; determining a different ED threshold level for each group; and signaling a second ED level set element that indicates the different ED threshold level for each group to an access point serving the BSS.

14 . The method of claim 13 , wherein classifying all nodes in the BSS including the second node into at least two groups further comprises:
determining, for each node in the BSS, whether a performance metric of the node exceeds a threshold, wherein the performance metric includes at least one of a throughput of the node, a packet error rate of the node, an access delay, a retry rate, a packet latency, a signal strength between the node and a serving access point; classifying each node with the performance metric exceeding the threshold into a first group; and classifying each node with the performance metric below the threshold into a second group.

15 . The method of claim 14 , wherein classifying all of the nodes in the BSS further comprises:
classifying each nodes in the BSS based on a common agreement across all access points in the wireless network.

16 . The method of claim 13 , further comprising:
allocating dedicated resources to each of the nodes based on the group of the node, wherein the dedicated resources are allocated based on a common agreement across all access points in the wireless network; and signaling the dedicated resources to the group via an ED level set element for the group.

17 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
determining, by the first node, interference conditions for neighboring nodes, wherein the interference conditions include whether neighboring nodes are interferers to a receiver of the first node; and sending, by the first node, the ED level set element to at least one of the neighboring nodes, to adjust the ED threshold level of the at least one neighboring node to the ED threshold level based at least in part on the interference conditions.

18 . A device for Wi-Fi wireless communication, comprising:
an energy detection (ED) level decision unit to determine an ED threshold level for a first node of a wireless network based at least in part on a metric of the first node; and a transmitter to signal an ED level set element that indicates the determined ED threshold level.

19 . The device of claim 18 , further comprising:
the transmitter to signal an ED level adjustment capability of the first node to one or more nodes in the wireless network.

20 . The device of claim 18 , further comprising:
the ED level decision unit to determine an ED threshold level for a group of nodes, wherein the first node is part of the group of nodes; and the transmitter to signal the ED level set element that further comprises a group indicator that identifies the group of nodes.

21 . The device of claim 18 , further comprising:
a scheduler to determine a time schedule for executing an ED level adjustment to the determined ED threshold level, wherein the time schedule identifies either a single time window start time and a single time window duration or a periodic time window start time, a periodic time window duration, a period, and a number of periods; and the transmitter to signal the time schedule.

22 . The device of claim 18 , further comprising:
a range detector to determine one of a geographical radius from the first node and a hop count threshold from the first node, wherein additional nodes that are within the range threshold are instructed to comply with the ED threshold level; a scheduler to

Assignees

• Qualcomm Inc

Inventors

• Zhou Yan
• Merlin Simone

Classifications

• H04W72/0473

  the resource being transmission power · CPC title

• H04W24/08

  Testing, {supervising or monitoring} using real traffic · CPC title

• H04W52/36 Primary

  with a discrete range or set of values, e.g. step size, ramping or offsets · CPC title

• H04W48/08 Primary

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

• H04W84/12

  WLAN [Wireless Local Area Networks] · CPC title