Use of location information in multi-radio devices for mmWave beamforming

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9531446-B2
Application number	US-201113993218-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 15, 2011
Priority date	Dec 15, 2011
Publication date	Dec 27, 2016
Grant date	Dec 27, 2016

Abstract

A system and method are provided for using location services available from other radios in a multi-radio system to assist a beamforming mechanism, particularly in establishing and maintaining mmWave communication link. A majority of wireless client devices for use in a mmWave communication link are equipped with multiple radios. Many of the “other” radios include technologies that support location based services, including GPS, Wi-Fi and cellular communications. One or more non-mmWave in one device is used to provide relative location information regarding the other device with which the mmWave communication link is to be established. The relative location information is used to derive a direction for communication, and to compute beamforming parameters, in a limited set of transmit/receive sectors where the destination device is likely to be found, in order to streamline the beamforming process.

First claim

We claim:

1. A method for streamlining a beamforming process between wireless communicating devices, comprising:
obtaining a relative position between a first wireless communicating device and a second wireless communicating device using an omnidirectional wireless communication link;
commencing a beamforming process for a directional wireless communication link, with a processor in at least one of the first and second wireless communicating devices, based on the obtained relative position between the first and second wireless communicating devices; and
wherein the beamforming process comprising conducting a sector sweep in a limited set of one or more sectors, the limited set being less than all of the sectors and defined based on the obtained relative position between the first and second wireless communicating devices;
wherein the beamforming process bypassing a sector sweep and conducting only refined beamforming when the processor determines that the obtained relative position between the first and second wireless communicating devices supports such an approach;
wherein the directional wireless communication link is a 60 GHz communication link;
transmitting data across the directional wireless communication link when the processor substantially completes the beamforming process.

2. The method of claim 1 , the obtaining of the relative position between the first and second wireless communicating devices comprising one or both of the first and second wireless communicating devices resolving a geographic position of the at least one of the first and second wireless communicating devices with reference to a Global Positioning Satellite (GPS) system via a GPS receiver in one of the first and second wireless communicating devices.

3. The method of claim 1 , the omnidirectional wireless communication link being a cellular communication link or a Wi-Fi communication link, and
the directional wireless communication link being a millimeter wave (mmWave) communication link.

4. The method of claim 3 , the obtaining of the relative position between the first and second wireless communicating devices comprising one of the first and second wireless communicating devices resolving a geographic position of at least one of the first and second wireless communicating devices by employing a triangulation algorithm that makes use of characteristics of one of the cellular communication link and the Wi-Fi communication link.

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
monitoring, with the processor, at least one communication link quality parameter while transmitting the data across the directional wireless communication link;
determining, based on the at least one communication link quality parameter, that re-beamforming should be performed;
obtaining an updated relative position between the first and second wireless communicating devices; and
performing re-beamforming with the processor using the updated relative position between the first and second wireless communicating devices.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising storing information on the obtained relative position between the first and second wireless communicating devices for use by the processor in a data storage device in at least one of the first and second wireless communicating devices.

7. A system for streamlining a beamforming process between wireless communicating devices, comprising:
a first wireless communicating device, and a second wireless communicating device in wireless communication with the first wireless communicating device, each of the first and second wireless communicating devices comprising:
a radio that receives position information;
a radio that conducts omnidirectional wireless communication;
a radio that conducts directional wireless communication separate from the radio that conducts omnidirectional wireless communication; and
a processor programmed (1) to execute a beamforming scheme for establishing a directional communication link between the first and second wireless communicating devices for the directional wireless communication, (2) to obtain a relative position between the first and second wireless communicating devices, and (3) to execute the beamforming scheme including the obtained relative position as a starting point for the beamforming scheme, wherein the directional wireless communication link is a 60 GHz communication link;
wherein respective radios that conduct directional wireless communication separate from the radios that conduct omnidirectional wireless communication in the first and second wireless communicating devices being millimeter wave (mmWave) radios for establishing a mmWave communication link between the first and the second wireless communicating devices;
wherein the processor in at least one of the first and second wireless communicating devices being further programmed to execute the beamforming scheme by conducting a sector sweep initially in a limited set of one or more sectors, the limited set being less than all of the sectors and defined based on the obtained relative position between the first and second wireless communicating devices.

8. The system of claim 7 , the radio that receives position information and the radio that conducts omnidirectional wireless communication in at least one of the first and second wireless communicating device being a same radio.

9. The system of claim 7 , wherein the respective radios that conduct omnidirectional wireless communication in the first and second wireless communicating devices being cellular radios or Wi-Fi radios.

10. The system of claim 7 , the processor in at least one of the first and second wireless communicating devices being further programmed to determine that the obtained relative position between the first and second wireless communicating devices is of such a quality that the beamforming scheme conducts only refined beamforming.

11. The system of claim 7 , all communication between the first and second wireless communicating devices regarding obtaining the relative position between the first and second wireless communicating devices being conducted between respective radios that conduct omnidirectional wireless communication in the first and second wireless communicating devices.

12. The system of claim 7 , the radio that receives position information in at least one of the first and second wireless communicating devices being a Global Positioning Satellite (GPS) radio and the obtained relative position between the first and second wireless communicating devices being based on a GPS position of the at least one of the first and second wireless communicating devices.

13. The system of claim 7 , the radio that receives position information in at least one of the first and second wireless communicating devices being a cellular radio or a Wi-Fi radio, and the obtained relative position between the first and second wireless communicating devices being based on a processor in at least one of the first and second wireless communicating devices resolving a geographic position of one of the first and second wireless communicating devices by employing a triangulation algorithm that makes use of characteristics of one of a cellular communication link and a Wi-Fi communication link in which the first and second wireless communicating devices participate.

14. The system of claim 7 , the processor in at least one of the first and second wireless communicating devices being further programmed to
monitor at least one communication link quality parameter of the directional communication link between the first and second wireless communicating devices while transmitting

Assignees

• Sadeghi Bahareh
• Cordeiro Carlos
• Li Guoqing
• Somayazulu Vallabhajosyula S
• Intel Corp

Inventors

• Sadeghi Bahareh
• Cordeiro Carlos
• Li Guoqing
• Somayazulu Vallabhajosyula S

Classifications

• H04B7/00 Primary

  Radio transmission systems, i.e. using radiation field (H04B10/00, H04B15/00 take precedence) · CPC title

• H04W16/28 Primary

  using beam steering · CPC title

• H04W88/06

  adapted for operation in multiple networks {or having at least two operational modes}, e.g. multi-mode terminals · CPC title

• H04W64/00

  Locating users or terminals {or network equipment} for network management purposes, e.g. mobility management · CPC title

• G01S5/0072

  Transmission between mobile stations, e.g. anti-collision systems · CPC title