Systems and methods for implementing a wireless device that supports WLAN modules operating simultaneously in different wireless bands

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9516540-B2
Application number	US-201314109887-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 17, 2013
Priority date	Oct 14, 2013
Publication date	Dec 6, 2016
Grant date	Dec 6, 2016

Abstract

Systems and methods for enabling a WLAN client to communicate simultaneously over more than one band at a time are described, where each client has at least one radio that is operational in each supported band. Load balancing based on traffic requirements optimizes the use of the multiple bands.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A simultaneous client wireless device comprising:
a first wireless module configured to perform communication functions of the MAC (media access control) and PHY (physical) layers for a first wireless radio operable in a first wireless band comprising a first plurality of channels;
a second wireless module configured to perform communication functions of the MAC and PHY layers for a second wireless radio operable in a second wireless band comprising a second plurality of channels; and
a communication module configured as an intermediate layer between the MAC layer of the first wireless module and a network layer, and between the MAC layer of the second wireless module and the network layer, the communication module configured to:
use an application programming interface to retrieve information from the MAC layer and write information to the MAC layer of the first wireless module and to retrieve information from the MAC layer and write information to the MAC layer of the second wireless module, and
manage simultaneous communications with a wireless device over the first wireless band and the second wireless band, wherein the communications over the first wireless band and the second wireless band use a local area network protocol;

wherein the client wireless device is configured to select any of a channel from the first plurality of channels and the second plurality of channels for communications with the wireless device based on a condition of the first plurality of channels and the second plurality of channels or a band from the first wireless band and the second wireless band for communications with the wireless device based on a condition of the first wireless band and the second wireless band.

2. The simultaneous client wireless device of claim 1 , wherein the first wireless module is a chipset, and the second wireless module is a chipset.

3. The simultaneous client wireless device of claim 1 , wherein the communication module is further configured to receive packets for processing from layer three of the network.

4. The simultaneous client wireless device of claim 1 , wherein the communication module is further configured to order received packets received over the first wireless band and the second wireless band and pass the ordered packets to layer three.

5. The simultaneous client wireless device of claim 1 , wherein the communication module is further configured to perform layer two aggregation of communications over the first wireless band and the second wireless band.

Assignees

• Netgear Inc

Inventors

• Emmanuel Joseph Amalan Arul
• Amini Peiman
• Liu Chia-Wei

Classifications

• H04W72/52 Primary

  based on load · CPC title

• H04B1/0057

  using diplexing or multiplexing filters for selecting the desired band · CPC title

• H04W28/0215 Primary

  based on user or device properties, e.g. MTC-capable devices (services for machine-to-machine communication [M2M] or machine type communication [MTC] H04W4/70; wireless resource selection or allocation plan definition based on terminal or device properties H04W72/51) · CPC title

• H04W28/0263

  involving mapping traffic to individual bearers or channels, e.g. traffic flow template [TFT] · CPC title

• H04W72/0486

  Electricity · mapped topic