Channel control for communication using dynamic spectrum access

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2025071560-A1
Application number	US-202418945176-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Nov 12, 2024
Priority date	May 15, 2020
Publication date	Feb 27, 2025
Grant date	—

Abstract

This disclosure details a base station and client devices using dynamic spectrum access for communication within a frequency spectrum by selecting channels dynamically for efficient communication. This includes identifying active uplink and downlink channels from an available list and allocating them to multiple client devices based on their locations, with some devices sharing common active channels. A downlink channel is designated as a beaconing channel, used for beaconing with embedded information, including the coordinates of a region among a plurality of regions, available channels for the region, and a buffer slot in the channels, during a beaconing period occurring outside regular transmission times. Acknowledgments with medium access control (MAC) commands for an identified subset of client devices sharing an active channel are grouped and transmitted, with each message in the plurality of messages on the uplink channels followed by a downlink acknowledgment.

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, wherein the beacon signal has embedded information including coordinates of a region of a plurality of regions, available channels for the region, and a buffer slot in the channels; 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 active channel in common, wherein the grouped 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 the list of available dynamic spectrum access channels is less than a total number of available channels available in a region associated with the plurality of client devices.

3 . The system of claim 1 , wherein a different subset of the available channels are communicated to each different client device of the plurality of client devices.

4 . 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.

5 . 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 active channel in common on shared channels that include the active channel in common and at least one backup channel; and assign time slots to the grouped subset of client devices.

6 . The system of claim 5 , wherein the computer program code is further configured to cause the processor to:
allow a client device of the grouped subset of 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.

7 . The system of claim 6 , 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.

8 . The system of claim 5 , wherein the computer program code is further configured to cause the processor to:
responsive to grouping the subset of client devices having the active channel in common, assign remaining client devices only one active channel, wherein a dwell time is identical for all active channels, the dwell time of a base station radios on an uplink channel defining a time the base station radios stay on an uplink channel to serve the grouped subset of client devices, and a number of dwell time overlaps are no greater than a number of available base station radios.

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

10 . 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, wherein the beacon signal has embedded information including coordinates of a region of a plurality of regions, available channels for the region, and a buffer slot in the channels; 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 active channel in common, the grouped 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.

11 . The computerized method of claim 10 , wherein the list of available dynamic spectrum access channels is less than a total number of available channels available in a region associated with the plurality of client devices.

12 . The computerized method of claim 10 , wherein a different subset of the available channels are communicated to each different client device of the plurality of client devices.

13 . The computerized method of claim 10 , 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.

14 . The computerized method of claim 10 , further comprising:
grouping the subset of client devices having the active channel in common on shared channels that include the active channel in common and at least one backup channel; and assign time slots to the grouped subset of client devices.

15 . The computerized method of claim 14 , further comprising:
allowing a client device of the grouped subset of 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

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