Coexistence signaling

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9585027-B2
Application number	US-201514952862-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 25, 2015
Priority date	Jan 6, 2006
Publication date	Feb 28, 2017
Grant date	Feb 28, 2017

Abstract

Methods and systems for enhanced 2-wire and 3-wire WLAN Bluetooth coexistence solution may include determining whether adaptive frequency hopping is active in a Bluetooth communication device. If the adaptive frequency hopping is active, handshaking with a collocated non-Bluetooth communication device may be disabled. The collocated non-Bluetooth communication device may be a wireless local area network communication device. If the adaptive frequency hopping is inactive, handshaking with the collocated non-Bluetooth communication device may be enabled. If the adaptive frequency hopping is inactive, the Bluetooth communication device may initiate handshaking prior to transmitting data. If the adaptive frequency hopping is inactive, the Bluetooth communication device may also respond to the handshaking initiated by the collocated non-Bluetooth communication device. The handshaking may be executed via a 2-wire Bluetooth/WLAN coexistence interface or a 3-wire Bluetooth/WLAN coexistence interface.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A device comprising:
a first radio circuit configured to:
determine whether at least one frequency has been scanned for interference based at least in part on whether adaptive frequency hopping is active for the first radio circuit, the adaptive frequency hopping being active being indicative of the at least one frequency having been scanned for interference; and
ignore a first co-existence signal transmitted by a second radio circuit when the at least one frequency has been scanned for interference, wherein the second radio circuit is collocated with the first radio circuit in the device and the first co-existence signal indicates an intent of the second radio circuit to transmit first data during a time period.

2. The device of claim 1 , wherein the first radio circuit is further configured to:
reply to the first co-existence signal with a second co-existence signal when the at least one frequency has not been scanned for interference and the first radio circuit intends to transmit second data during the time period.

3. The device of claim 1 , wherein the first radio circuit is further configured to:
transmit a third co-existence signal when the at least one frequency has not been scanned for interference and irrespective of whether any co-existence signals have been received from the second radio circuit, wherein the third co-existence signal indicates an intent of the first radio circuit to transmit data.

4. The device of claim 1 , wherein the first radio circuit is further configured to scan the at least one frequency for interference.

5. The device of claim 1 , wherein the first radio circuit is further configured to receive, from another circuit, an indication that the at least one frequency has been scanned for interference by the another circuit.

6. The device of claim 1 , wherein the first radio circuit comprises a Bluetooth radio circuit and the second radio circuit comprises a wireless local area network (WLAN) radio circuit.

7. The device of claim 1 , wherein the first radio circuit is coupled to the second radio circuit by at least two wires and the first co-existence signal is transmitted by the second radio circuit over at least one of the at least two wires.

8. The device of claim 7 , wherein the first radio circuit is configured to receive the first co-existence signal over the at least one of the at least two wires prior to ignoring the first co-existence signal.

9. A method comprising:
preparing, by a first radio frequency (RF) circuit, to transmit a first RF signal on a frequency;
determining, by the first RF circuit whether the frequency has been scanned for interference based at least in part on whether adaptive frequency hopping is active for the first RF circuit, the adaptive frequency hopping being active being indicative of the frequency having been scanned for interference; and
transmitting, by the first RF circuit, the first RF signal on the frequency when the frequency has been scanned for interference, otherwise transmitting, by the first RF circuit, a first co-existence signal to a second RF circuit that is collocated with the first RF circuit in a device, the first co-existence signal indicates an intent of the first RF circuit to transmit the first RF signal during a time period.

10. The method of claim 9 , further comprising:
ignoring, by the first RF circuit, a second co-existence signal transmitted by the second RF circuit when the frequency has been scanned for interference.

11. The method of claim 10 , wherein the second co-existence signal is received by the first RF circuit prior to being ignored by the first RF circuit.

12. The method of claim 9 , further comprising:
scanning the frequency for interference by the first RF circuit.

13. The method of claim 9 , further comprising:
receiving, by the first RF circuit and from another circuit, an indication that the frequency has been scanned for interference by the another circuit.

14. The method of claim 9 , wherein the first RF circuit comprises a Bluetooth circuit and the second RF circuit comprises a wireless local area network (WLAN) circuit.

15. The method of claim 9 , wherein the first RF circuit is coupled to the second RF circuit by at least two wires and the first co-existence signal is transmitted over one of the at least two wires.

16. A computer program product comprising instructions stored in a non-transitory computer readable storage medium, the instructions comprising:
instructions to determine, by a first RF circuit, whether a frequency has been scanned for interference based at least in part on whether adaptive frequency hopping is active for the first RF circuit, wherein the first RF circuit is coupled to a second RF circuit by at least two wires and the adaptive frequency hopping being active is indicative of the frequency having been scanned for interference; and
instructions to transmit, by the first RF circuit, an RF signal on the frequency when the frequency has been scanned for interference, otherwise to transmit, by the first RF circuit to the second RF circuit via at least one of the at least two wires, a first co-existence signal that indicates an intent of the first RF circuit to transmit the RF signal during a time period.

17. The computer program product of claim 16 , wherein the instructions further comprise:
instructions to receive, by the first RF circuit, a second co-existence signal transmitted by the second RF circuit over another at least one of the at least two wires; and
instructions to ignore, by the first RF circuit, the second co-existence signal when the frequency has been scanned for interference.

18. The computer program product of claim 16 , wherein the first RF circuit comprises a Bluetooth circuit and the second RF circuit comprises a wireless local area network (WLAN) circuit.

Assignees

• Broadcom Corp

Inventors

• Grushkevich Asif

Classifications

• H04B1/713

  using frequency hopping · CPC title

• H04W16/14 Primary

  Spectrum sharing arrangements {between different networks} · CPC title

• H04L12/10

  Current supply arrangements · CPC title

• H04W84/12

  WLAN [Wireless Local Area Networks] · CPC title

• H04B1/715

  Interference-related aspects · CPC title