| Patent application number | Description | Published |
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| 20090010179 | METHODS AND APPARATUS SUPPORTING TRAFFIC SIGNALING IN PEER TO PEER COMMUNICATIONS - Methods and apparatus related to peer to peer communication networks are described. An active connection list is maintained by a wireless communications device supporting peer to peer communications. In various embodiments, the active connection identifier list being maintained is in addition to a list of discovered peers in the local vicinity. Paging signaling, e.g., peer to peer paging signaling, is used to establish active connections. Air link peer to peer traffic resources include traffic control resources and traffic data resources. A wireless communications device seeking to transmit on a traffic data resource transmits a traffic request signal on a traffic control resource. An active connection identifier is, in some embodiments, associated with a particular subset of traffic control resources. Thus, a wireless communications device monitors the portion or portions of the traffic control resource corresponding to its active connections for traffic request signals, but need not monitor other portions. | 01-08-2009 |
| 20090010185 | PEER TO PEER COMMUNICATIONS METHODS AND APPARATUS PROVIDING FOR USE OF BOTH WAN UPLINK AND DOWNLINK BANDS - Methods and apparatus for supporting peer to peer communications are described. A peer to peer communications device uses both wide area network (WAN) uplink and downlink communications air link resources for peer to peer signaling. During an uplink share mode of operation a peer to peer wireless terminal uses a wide area network uplink communications band to communicate peer to peer signals, and the peer to peer wireless terminal implements a first transmission power control function. During a downlink share mode of operation, the peer to peer wireless terminal uses a wide area network downlink communications band to communicate peer to peer signals, and the peer to peer wireless terminal implements a second transmission power control function. The second power control function is different from the first power control function. | 01-08-2009 |
| 20090010186 | METHODS AND APPARATUS RELATED TO INTERFERENCE MANAGEMENT WHEN SHARING DOWNLINK BANDWIDTH BETWEEN WIDE AREA NETWORK USAGE AND PEER TO PEER SIGNALING - Methods and apparatus related to the sharing of wide area network (WAN) downlink bandwidth with peer to peer communication signaling usage are described. A WAN, e.g., cellular, wireless communications device using a base station attachment point, transmits a signal to be used by a peer to peer wireless communications device for controlling its peer to peer transmit power level. The peer to peer wireless communications device receives and measures the strength of the power control signal from the WAN wireless communications device. The measurement information is used by the peer to peer wireless communications device in determining whether or not peer to peer signal transmission is permitted and/or in determining a peer to peer transmission power level. Thus the WAN device is able to manage interference from the peer to peer devices in its vicinity which impacts its recovery of WAN base station downlink signals. | 01-08-2009 |
| 20090010231 | COMMUNICATIONS METHODS AND APPARATUS RELATED TO SYNCHRONIZATION WITH RESPECT TO A PEER TO PEER TIMING STRUCTURE - Methods and apparatus related to peer to peer communication networks are described. A peer to peer timing structure is implemented which includes recurring peer discovery intervals and traffic intervals. Some embodiments further include recurring paging intervals for peer to peer pages. A wireless communications device, supporting peer to peer communications and storing information defining the timing structure, determines a time reference point, facilitating a coarse level of synchronization with respect to the timing structure. The time reference point is determined based on a broadcast signal received from a communications device, e.g., a satellite, base station, or beacon signal transmitter. Multiple peer to peer wireless communications devices in a local vicinity thus obtain the same basic understanding as to the current relative point in time with respect to a common recurring peer to peer timing structure. Peer to peer timing synchronization is further refined based on received signals communicated between peers. | 01-08-2009 |
| 20090010232 | METHODS AND APPARATUS RELATED TO PEER TO PEER COMMUNICATIONS TIMING STRUCTURE - Methods and apparatus related to peer to peer communication networks are described. A peer to peer timing structure is implemented which includes a pattern of different types of time intervals including at least a peer discovery time interval and a traffic interval. A wireless communications device, supporting peer to peer operations stores the peer to peer timing structure information, accesses the stored information, and used the accessed information to determine an operation to be performed during a current time period. The operation is, e.g., a peer discovery operation, a peer to peer timing synchronization operation, a peer paging operation, or a peer to peer traffic signaling operation. Various exemplary relationships between the different types of intervals, including relative frequencies, relative durations, and spacing information, are described. Advantageous construction of the recurring peer to peer timing structure facilitates efficient utilization of air link resources and/or higher traffic data throughput capabilities. | 01-08-2009 |
| 20090010244 | METHODS AND APPARATUS SUPPORTING MULTIPLE TIMING SYNCHRONIZATIONS CORRESPONDING TO DIFFERENT COMMUNICATIONS PEERS - Methods and apparatus related to peer to peer communication networks are described. A wireless communications device supports peer to peer communications with multiple peers. The wireless communications device determines its transmit timing synchronization based on a reference signal received from a node such as a base station, a satellite, or a beacon transmitter which does not transmit user data. The wireless communications device determines a plurality of different receive timing adjustments corresponding to different peer communications devices based on signals received from those peer communications devices. The wireless communications device stores the plurality of determined receive timing adjustment information corresponding to the different peer communications devices. The wireless communications device retrieves and applies stored receive timing adjustment information which matches the particular device which transmitted the signal attempting to be recovered. | 01-08-2009 |
| 20090013081 | METHODS AND APPARATUS RELATED TO PEER DISCOVERY AND/OR PAGING IN PEER TO PEER WIRELESS COMMUNICATIONS - Methods and apparatus related to peer to peer communication networks are described. A peer to peer timing structure is implemented which includes recurring peer discovery intervals and traffic intervals. During a peer discovery interval, a wireless communications device, supporting peer to peer communications, monitors for and receives a broadcast signal from another peer wireless communications device, recovers an identifier from the received broadcast signal, and stores the received identifier in memory. The identifier is one of a device identifier and a user identifier. The wireless communications device maintains a list of discovered identifiers in its vicinity. In some embodiments, paging intervals are also included in the recurring peer to peer timing structure. In various embodiments, a wireless communications device receives or sends a page to a peer node prior to sending or receiving user data in a traffic interval. Various features are directed to peer paging protocol implementations. | 01-08-2009 |
| 20090015478 | TECHNIQUES FOR RECEIVER BEAMFORMING AND YIELDING-THRESHOLD ADJUSTMENTS IN PEER-TO-PEER NETWORKS - To mitigate interference between multiple peer-to-peer devices, transmitter yielding and/or receiver yielding may be performed among devices operating in a peer-to-peer network. Generally, a transmitter device will yield communications on a time slot to a higher priority transmitter device if it will cause unacceptable interference to a higher priority receiver device. Likewise, a receiver device may yield use of the time slot if interference is unacceptably high. Both transmitter and receiver yielding may be improved by use of beamforming at a receiver device. By utilizing beamforming information to make the transmitter and/or receiver yielding decisions, better interference mitigation may be achieved. | 01-15-2009 |
| 20090016219 | APPARATUS AND METHOD OF GENERATING AND MAINTAINING ORTHOGONAL CONNECTION IDENTIFICATIONS (CIDs) FOR WIRELESS NETWORKS - A first device is configured to select and utilize a connection identifier (CID) for a peer-to-peer communication connection between the first device and a second device in a wireless communications network. The CID is selected from a predetermined set of a plurality of CIDs. Prior to selecting the connection identifier, the first device monitors a CID broadcast channel to determine whether the CID is being utilized by other nearby connections. If it is determined that the CID is being utilized by another connection in the proximity, a different (unused) CID is selected. A transmission request is transmitted to the second device using a first transmission resource unit within a traffic management channel slot, the first transmission resource unit being determined as a function of the selected CID. The first device transmits traffic data to the second device in a traffic channel slot corresponding to the traffic management channel slot. | 01-15-2009 |
| 20090016229 | METHODS AND APPARATUS FOR CONTROLLING INTERFERENCE TO BROADCAST SIGNALING IN A PEER TO PEER NETWORK - Methods and apparatus related to broadcasting data and interference management in a peer to peer wireless communications network are described. Scheduling of traffic air link resources is performed on a slot by slot basis in a decentralized manner. Wireless devices intending to broadcast traffic signals transmit broadcast request signals, sometimes alternatively referred to as broadcast indicator signals. A priority level is associated with each of the broadcast request signals. A receiver device intending to receive broadcast signals detects the broadcast request signals and makes an interference determination as to whether the higher priority broadcast traffic signal can be successfully recovered in the presence of lower priority broadcast traffic signals. If the determination is that the expected interference from the lower priority broadcast traffic is unacceptable, the receiver device generates and transmits an interference control signal communicating to the lower priority device a command or request not to broadcast. | 01-15-2009 |
| 20090016231 | CONTROL CHANNEL DESIGN TO SUPPORT ONE-TO-ONE, MANY-TO-ONE, AND ONE-TO-MANY PEER-TO-PEER COMMUNICATIONS - A protocol is provided that facilitates downlink concurrent peer-to-peer communications (within a time slot or traffic slot) between one device and many terminals as well as uplink concurrent peer-to-peer communications (within a time slot or traffic slot) between a plurality of terminals and one device. The concurrent peer-to-peer communications may take place within an ad hoc network of devices. To facilitate such operation, a time-frequency structure is provided within a control channel that allows the device and terminals to identify the peer-to-peer connections. This time-frequency structure also allows terminals to identify other sibling terminals that have a connection with the same device, thereby allowing to more efficiently performing interference mitigation. That is, sibling peer-to-peer connections with the same device may be treated different from other non-related peer-to-peer connects for purposes of interference mitigation in a wireless network. | 01-15-2009 |
| 20090016248 | CODING METHODS OF COMMUNICATING IDENTIFIERS IN PEER DISCOVERY IN A PEER-TO-PEER NETWORK - Systems and methodologies are described that facilitate identifying peers based upon encoded signals during peer discovery in a peer to peer network. For example, direct signaling that partitions a time-frequency resource into a number of segments can be utilized to communicate an identifier within a peer discovery interval; thus, a particular segment selected for transmission can signal a portion of the identifier, while a remainder can be signaled based upon tones communicated within the selected segment. Moreover, a subset of symbols within the resource can be reserved (e.g., unused) to enable identifying and/or correcting timing offset. Further, signaling can be effectuated over a plurality of peer discovery intervals such that partial identifiers communicated during each of the peer discovery intervals can be linked (e.g., based upon overlapping bits and/or bloom filter information). | 01-15-2009 |
| 20090016249 | CODING METHODS OF COMMUNICATING IDENTIFIERS IN PEER DISCOVERY IN A PEER-TO-PEER NETWORK - Systems and methodologies are described that facilitate identifying peers based upon encoded signals during peer discovery in a peer to peer network. For example, direct signaling that partitions a time-frequency resource into a number of segments can be utilized to communicate an identifier within a peer discovery interval; thus, a particular segment selected for transmission can signal a portion of the identifier, while a remainder can be signaled based upon tones communicated within the selected segment. Moreover, a subset of symbols within the resource can be reserved (e.g., unused) to enable identifying and/or correcting timing offset. Further, signaling can be effectuated over a plurality of peer discovery intervals such that partial identifiers communicated during each of the peer discovery intervals can be linked (e.g., based upon overlapping bits and/or bloom filter information). | 01-15-2009 |
| 20090016250 | CODING METHODS OF COMMUNICATING IDENTIFIERS IN PEER DISCOVERY IN A PEER-TO-PEER NETWORK - Systems and methodologies are described that facilitate identifying peers based upon encoded signals during peer discovery in a peer to peer network. For example, direct signaling that partitions a time-frequency resource into a number of segments can be utilized to communicate an identifier within a peer discovery interval; thus, a particular segment selected for transmission can signal a portion of the identifier, while a remainder can be signaled based upon tones communicated within the selected segment. Moreover, a subset of symbols within the resource can be reserved (e.g., unused) to enable identifying and/or correcting timing offset. Further, signaling can be effectuated over a plurality of peer discovery intervals such that partial identifiers communicated during each of the peer discovery intervals can be linked (e.g., based upon overlapping bits and/or bloom filter information). | 01-15-2009 |
| 20090016271 | METHODS FOR SENDING SMALL PACKETS IN A PEER-TO-PEER (P2P) NETWORK - An improved mechanism is provided that facilitates transmission of small packets within an ad hoc peer-to-peer network. A small packet is identified to a receiver within a control channel so that its lower power can be considered in an interference management protocol implemented among local peer devices. In a traffic slot, a transmitter voluntarily backs down on the transmitter power as a smaller packet will require much lower signal-to-noise ratio. This will improve the signal energy per bit per noise power density for the transmission as well as minimize the interference caused to other wireless communications happening in the same spectrum. | 01-15-2009 |
| 20090016272 | METHODS FOR SENDING SMALL PACKETS IN A PEER-TO-PEER (P2P) NETWORK - An improved mechanism is provided that facilitates transmission of small packets within an ad hoc peer-to-peer network. A small packet is identified to a receiver within a control channel so that its lower power can be considered in an interference management protocol implemented among local peer devices. In a traffic slot, a transmitter voluntarily backs down on the transmitter power as a smaller packet will require much lower signal-to-noise ratio. This will improve the signal energy per bit per noise power density for the transmission as well as minimize the interference caused to other wireless communications happening in the same spectrum. | 01-15-2009 |
| 20090016284 | APPARATUS AND METHOD OF GENERATING AND MAINTAINING ORTHOGONAL CONNECTION IDENTIFICATIONS (CIDs) FOR WIRELESS NETWORKS - A first device is configured to select and utilize a connection identifier (CID) for a peer-to-peer communication connection between the first device and a second device in a wireless communications network. The CID is selected from a predetermined set of a plurality of CIDs. Prior to selecting the connection identifier, the first device monitors a CID broadcast channel to determine whether the CID is being utilized by other nearby connections. If it is determined that the CID is being utilized by another connection in the proximity, a different (unused) CID is selected. A transmission request is transmitted to the second device using a first transmission resource unit within a traffic management channel slot, the first transmission resource unit being determined as a function of the selected CID. The first device transmits traffic data to the second device in a traffic channel slot corresponding to the traffic management channel slot. | 01-15-2009 |
| 20090016285 | METHODS AND APPARATUS FOR CHANNEL ESTIMATION AND RATE FEEDBACK IN A PEER TO PEER NETWORK - Methods and apparatus for performing channel estimation and reporting back channel information or other information such as a suggested traffic transmission rate are described. A signal including a pilot signal of interest is received. Portions of the signal corresponding to the pilot signal are analyzed to determine if any of the portions, e.g., signal portions corresponding to individual tone symbols used to communicate the pilot signal, were subject to excessive interference, such as might be the result of collisions, rendering the signal portions unreliable. Signal sub-portions determined to be unreliable are excluded from a determination of the amount of pilot signal energy that was received. Signal interference is determined from a portion of the received signal on which the pilot signal was not transmitted. Channel information in the form of information and/or a suggested traffic rate may be reported back to the device which transmitted the pilot signal. | 01-15-2009 |
| 20090016287 | METHODS FOR SENDING SMALL PACKETS IN A PEER-TO-PEER (P2P) NETWORK - An improved mechanism is provided that facilitates transmission of small packets within an ad hoc peer-to-peer network. A small packet is identified to a receiver within a control channel so that its lower power can be considered in an interference management protocol implemented among local peer devices. In a traffic slot, a transmitter voluntarily backs down on the transmitter power as a smaller packet will require much lower signal-to-noise ratio. This will improve the signal energy per bit per noise power density for the transmission as well as minimize the interference caused to other wireless communications happening in the same spectrum. | 01-15-2009 |
| 20090016288 | METHODS FOR SENDING SMALL PACKETS IN A PEER-TO-PEER (P2P) NETWORK - An improved mechanism is provided that facilitates transmission of small packets within an ad hoc peer-to-peer network. A small packet is identified to a receiver within a control channel so that its lower power can be considered in an interference management protocol implemented among local peer devices. In a traffic slot, a transmitter voluntarily backs down on the transmitter power as a smaller packet will require much lower signal-to-noise ratio. This will improve the signal energy per bit per noise power density for the transmission as well as minimize the interference caused to other wireless communications happening in the same spectrum. | 01-15-2009 |
| 20090016289 | METHODS FOR SENDING SMALL PACKETS IN A PEER-TO-PEER (P2P) NETWORK - An improved mechanism is provided that facilitates transmission of small packets within an ad hoc peer-to-peer network. A small packet is identified to a receiver within a control channel so that its lower power can be considered in an interference management protocol implemented among local peer devices. In a traffic slot, a transmitter voluntarily backs down on the transmitter power as a smaller packet will require much lower signal-to-noise ratio. This will improve the signal energy per bit per noise power density for the transmission as well as minimize the interference caused to other wireless communications happening in the same spectrum. | 01-15-2009 |
| 20090016295 | CONTROL CHANNEL DESIGN TO SUPPORT ONE-TO-ONE, MANY-TO-ONE, AND ONE-TO-MANY PEER-TO-PEER COMMUNICATIONS - A protocol is provided that facilitates downlink concurrent peer-to-peer communications (within a time slot or traffic slot) between one device and many terminals as well as uplink concurrent peer-to-peer communications (within a time slot or traffic slot) between a plurality of terminals and one device. The concurrent peer-to-peer communications may take place within an ad hoc network of devices. To facilitate such operation, a time-frequency structure is provided within a control channel that allows the device and terminals to identify the peer-to-peer connections. This time-frequency structure also allows terminals to identify other sibling terminals that have a connection with the same device, thereby allowing to more efficiently performing interference mitigation. That is, sibling peer-to-peer connections with the same device may be treated different from other non-related peer-to-peer connects for purposes of interference mitigation in a wireless network. | 01-15-2009 |
| 20090016311 | METHODS AND APPARATUS FOR SUPPORTING GROUP COMMUNICATIONS WITH DATA RE-TRANSMISSION SUPPORT - Methods and apparatus related to group communications in a wireless communications system, e.g., a peer to peer wireless communications system, are described. Methods and apparatus directed to closed groups, e.g., where the number of group members are fixed at a given time and known to one or more members of the group, are described. Various embodiments are well suited to decentralized peer to peer wireless networks including a plurality of individual traffic resources, e.g., traffic slots and/or traffic segments, which may be independently scheduled in a decentralized manner. Some features and/or aspects are directed to the use of individual group member acknowledgement signaling in response to a transmitted group traffic data signal. By monitoring for anticipated individual group member acknowledgment signals and identifying members which have not signaled a positive acknowledgment, re-transmission can be directed and/or tailored to a subset of the group. | 01-15-2009 |
| 20090016315 | APPARATUS AND METHOD OF GENERATING AND MAINTAINING NON-ORTHOGONAL CONNECTION IDENTIFICATIONS (CIDs) FOR WIRELESS PEER-TO-PEER NETWORKS - Apparatus and method are provided for generating transmission connection identifiers (CIDs) in a non-orthogonal or pseudo-random manner identifying peer-to-peer connections in a wireless communication network. When a transmitter terminal intends to transmit to its peer receiver terminal, it just picks a transmission CID in a pseudo-random manner, without trying to avoid a similar transmission CID in a neighborhood. The method of generating this pseudo-random transmission CID may be agreed to between the transmitter and its intended receiver beforehand, for example, during the paging cycle. Also, the mapping between the transmission CID and a set of tone/symbols may not necessarily be orthogonal. In one embodiment, the transmission CID may also change over time in a pseudo-random fashion which is different between different transmitter/receiver pairs. With this property, two transmitter/receiver (Tx/Rx) pairs are not likely to use the same transmission CID for consecutive time intervals. | 01-15-2009 |
| 20090016317 | METHODS AND APPARATUS FOR SUPPORTING GROUP COMMUNICATIONS UTILIZING DEVICE IDENTIFIERS - Methods and apparatus related to group communications in a wireless communications system, e.g., a peer to peer wireless communications system, are described. Methods and apparatus directed to closed groups, e.g., where the number of group members are fixed at a given time and known to one or more members of the group, are described. Various embodiments are well suited to decentralized peer to peer wireless networks including a plurality of individual traffic resources, e.g., traffic slots and/or traffic segments, which may be independently scheduled in a decentralized manner. Various features and/or aspects are directed to associating group transmission request resources and/or request response resources with device identifiers as opposed to associating such resources with connection identifiers. This approach is well suited for large size groups of N members, where the number of the number of connections between members of the group is approximately N | 01-15-2009 |
| 20090016320 | Synchronization Of A Peer-To-Peer Communication Network - In an ad hoc peer-to-peer communications network, timing synchronization can be facilitated between two or more nodes based on respective timing adjustments. A sequence of timing synchronization time intervals can be determined based on a first timing reference received from a source. A symbol timing can be determined and included in a first signal transmitted during a dedicated time interval, which can be a chosen fraction of one of the timing synchronization time intervals. In the remaining portion of the time interval, such as a non-chosen fraction, a second signal that includes a second timing reference can be received. Based on the symbol timing and the second timing reference, a timing adjustment can be determined and timing of each node adjusted accordingly. | 01-15-2009 |
| 20090016321 | Synchronization Of A Peer-To-Peer Communication Network - In an ad hoc peer-to-peer communications network, timing synchronization can be facilitated between nodes as a function of a received timing of nearby nodes, as well as a network timing. A first timing reference can be used to determine a symbol timing. A second signal that includes a second timing reference can be used to determine a difference between the symbol timing and the second timing reference. The difference can be used to adjust a symbol timing, which can be transmitted to nearby nodes. The first timing reference and the second timing reference can be received from different sources. | 01-15-2009 |
| 20090016353 | CODING METHODS OF COMMUNICATING IDENTIFIERS IN PEER DISCOVERY IN A PEER-TO-PEER NETWORK - Systems and methodologies are described that facilitate identifying peers based upon encoded signals during peer discovery in a peer to peer network. For example, direct signaling that partitions a time-frequency resource into a number of segments can be utilized to communicate an identifier within a peer discovery interval; thus, a particular segment selected for transmission can signal a portion of the identifier, while a remainder can be signaled based upon tones communicated within the selected segment. Moreover, a subset of symbols within the resource can be reserved (e.g., unused) to enable identifying and/or correcting timing offset. Further, signaling can be effectuated over a plurality of peer discovery intervals such that partial identifiers communicated during each of the peer discovery intervals can be linked (e.g., based upon overlapping bits and/or bloom filter information). | 01-15-2009 |
| 20090016456 | Method and apparatus for reuse of wan infrastructure resources in a wireless peer-to-peer (P2P) network - To make efficient use of a frequency spectrum, a peer-to-peer network shares a wide area network (WAN) frequency spectrum as well as a time-frequency structure of the WAN, where the time-frequency structure includes a set of tones and symbols. A first wireless terminal monitors the time-frequency structure of the WAN to determine which subsets of tone-symbols are unused for WAN and/or other peer-to-peer connections. Then, the first wireless terminal selects and uses an unused subset of tone-symbols within the time-frequency structure for its peer-to-peer connection with a second wireless terminal. | 01-15-2009 |
| 20090017759 | METHODS AND APPARATUS FOR ACTIVE SUCCESSIVE INTERFERENCE CANCELLATION IN PEER-TO-PEER NETWORKS - In an ad hoc peer-to-peer communication network between wireless devices, a high priory first receiver device is configured to perform successive interference cancellation (SIC). The first receiver device sends a first rate report signal and a second rate report signal to a first transmitter device indicating a first and second transmission rates. A connection is established between the first transmitter device and the first receiver device in which the first receiver device is the intended receiver of traffic signals from the first transmitter device. The first receiver device receives a traffic signal in a subsequent traffic channel, the traffic signal including a first traffic signal from the first transmitter device having a first traffic transmission rate not exceeding the first transmission rate. The received traffic signal also includes a second traffic signal transmitted by an interfering second transmitter device having a second traffic transmission rate not exceeding the second transmission rate. | 01-15-2009 |
| 20090017760 | METHODS AND APPARATUS FOR SUCCESSIVE INTERFERENCE CANCELLATION BASED ON RATE CAPPING IN PEER-TO-PEER NETWORKS - In an ad hoc peer-to-peer communication network between wireless devices, a high priory first receiver device is configured to perform successive interference cancellation (SIC). The first receiver device receives a first transmission request from a first transmitter device indicating that the first transmitter device intends to transmit traffic to the first receiver device. Similarly, the first receiver device receives a second transmission request from an interferer second transmitter device. The first receiver device then determines a transmission rate cap for the interferer second transmitter device based on the signal strengths of the first and second transmission requests and sends it to the interferer second transmitter device. The transmission rate cap is a maximum rate at which the first receiver device can reliably decode traffic signals from the second transmitter device. | 01-15-2009 |
| 20090017761 | METHODS AND APPARATUS FOR SUCCESSIVE INTERFERENCE CANCELLATION BASED ON TWO RATE FEEDBACK IN PEER-TO-PEER NETWORKS - In an ad hoc peer-to-peer communication network between wireless devices, a high priory first receiver device is configured to perform successive interference cancellation. A first pilot signal is received by the first receiver device from the first transmitter device. Similarly, a second pilot signal is received from a second transmitter device, the second pilot signal indicating that the second transmitter device intends to transmit a second traffic signal. The first receiver device determines a first and a second transmission rates for traffic transmissions from the first transmitter device. A control message is then transmitted by the first receiver device to the first transmitter device including the first and second transmission rates. Subsequently, the first receiver device wirelessly receives a traffic signal including a first traffic signal from the first transmitter device including a first and a second signal components generated from a first and a second codewords, respectively. | 01-15-2009 |
| 20090017783 | METHODS AND APPARATUS FOR ACTIVE SUCCESSIVE INTERFERENCE CANCELLATION BASED ON ONE RATE FEEDBACK AND PROBABILITY ADAPTATION IN PEER-TO-PEER NETWORKS - A first receiver device receives a first pilot signal from a first transmitter device and a second pilot signal from a second transmitter device. The second pilot signal indicates that the second transmitter device intends to transmit a second traffic signal. The first receiver device determines a transmission rate for the first transmitter device as a function of the received signal strength of the first pilot and a predicted amount of the total interference to be perceived by the first receiver device. The predicted amount of the total interference being determined as a function of a SIC success probability. The transmission rate is sent to the first transmitter device. The first receiver device predicts whether the second traffic signal can be decoded and subtracted before the first receiver device decodes the first traffic signal to be transmitted by the first transmitter device as a function of the SIC success probability. | 01-15-2009 |
| 20090017801 | APPARATUS AND METHOD OF GENERATING AND MAINTAINING ORTHOGONAL CONNECTION IDENTIFICATIONS (CIDs) FOR WIRELESS NETWORKS - A first device is configured to select and utilize a connection identifier (CID) for a peer-to-peer communication connection between the first device and a second device in a wireless communications network. The CID is selected from a predetermined set of a plurality of CIDs. Prior to selecting the connection identifier, the first device monitors a CID broadcast channel to determine whether the CID is being utilized by other nearby connections. If it is determined that the CID is being utilized by another connection in the proximity, a different (unused) CID is selected. A transmission request is transmitted to the second device using a first transmission resource unit within a traffic control channel slot, the first transmission resource unit being determined as a function of the selected CID. The first device transmits traffic data to the second device in a traffic channel slot corresponding to the traffic control channel slot. | 01-15-2009 |
| 20090017829 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR INTERFERENCE MANAGEMENT BETWEEN NETWORKS SHARING A FREQUENCY SPECTRUM - A method and system are provided that allows a wireless terminal to share an allocated frequency spectrum for communications over two different networks while mitigating cross interference. For wireless terminals equipped with a single antenna, interference mitigation may be achieved by allocating first communication channels to a first network and allocating second communication channels to a second network, wherein the second communication channels are allocated within one or more of the first communication channels. For wireless terminals having multiple antennas, interference mitigation may be achieved with two orthogonally polarized antennas, where each antenna is used for communications with a different network. Consequently, a wireless terminal having a channel allocation for communicating over the first wireless network may reuse the same channel allocation to establish a communication link with a second wireless terminal via a second wireless network using at least part of the channel allocation for the first wireless network. | 01-15-2009 |
| 20090017843 | PERFORMING PAGING IN A WIRELESS PEER-TO-PEER NETWORK - Systems and methodologies are described that facilitate paging within a peer-to-peer communication network. A first wireless terminal monitors the paging channel of a wide area network. When a second wireless terminal intends to establish a peer-to-peer connection with the first wireless terminal, the second wireless terminal generates a paging message and transfers the message to the WAN, which routes the paging message to a base station. The base station uses its paging channel to send a paging message to the target first wireless terminal. The paging message indicates to the target first wireless terminal that the second wireless terminal intends to establish a peer-to-peer connection with the first wireless terminal. The paging message may further include parameters to be used to establish the peer-to-peer connection. Upon reception of the paging message, the second wireless terminal sends a signal directly to the first wireless terminal to start the direct peer-to-peer communication. | 01-15-2009 |
| 20090017851 | Synchronization Of A Peer-To-Peer Communication Network - In an ad hoc peer-to-peer communications network, timing synchronization is facilitated between two or more nodes. A node can establish an original symbol timing and receive a first timing synchronization symbol from a peer node. A timing adjustment can be calculated based in part on the first timing synchronization symbol. An adjusted symbol timing can be established by adjusting the first symbol timing by the calculated timing adjustment amount. The adjusted symbol timing can be conveyed to one or more peer nodes, in order to facilitate timing synchronization among the nodes. | 01-15-2009 |
| 20090017861 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR POWER SCALING IN PEER-TO-PEER COMMUNICATIONS - An ad hoc peer-to-peer network is provided in which a transmitter wireless terminal is configured to establish a peer-to-peer communication link with a receiver wireless terminal over a shared communication channel. The transmitter wireless terminal may scale its transmit power as a function of a channel gain for the communication channel between the transmitter and receiver wireless terminals. The scaled transmit power may be utilized by the transmitter and receiver wireless terminals to perform link scheduling over the communication channel. For instance, the scaled transmit power may be used by the transmitter wireless terminal to perform a transmitter yielding with other neighboring transmitter wireless terminals utilizing the shared communication channel. Similarly, the scaled transmit power may be used by the receiver wireless terminal to perform receiver yielding with other neighboring receiver wireless terminal utilizing the shared communication channel. | 01-15-2009 |
| 20090019113 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR SUPPORTING GROUP COMMUNICATIONS - Methods and apparatus supporting group communications in a peer to peer wireless network are described. Methods and apparatus are directed to implementations with closed groups, e.g., where the number of group members are fixed at a given time and known to one or more members of the group. Various embodiments are well suited to decentralized peer to peer wireless networks including a plurality of individual traffic resources, e.g., traffic slots and/or traffic segments, which may be independently scheduled. Approaches for implementing distributed scheduling for traffic air link resources which may carry group traffic signals and/or peer to peer traffic signals are described. Various aspects are directed to the transmitter side including: group traffic transmission request transmissions, reception of request response signaling, transmitter yielding decisions, group rate determination and/or group traffic data signaling. Other aspects are directed to the receiver side including: reception of group traffic transmission request signals, receiver yielding decisions, transmitting group request responses signals, and/or receiving group traffic signaling. | 01-15-2009 |
| 20090019150 | TECHNIQUES FOR CHOOSING AND BROADCASTING RECEIVER BEAMFORMING VECTORS IN PEER-TO-PEER (P2P) NETWORKS - One feature provides for establishing an ad hoc peer-to-peer network over an existing channel allocation for another network. To mitigate interference between multiple peer-to-peer devices, a plurality of receiver chains in a receiver device may be configured with beamforming coefficients so as to focus reception in the direction of an intended signal from a transmitter device while minimizing reception from other directions. Similarly, the receiver device may also use a plurality of antennas and a transmitter chain to beamform in the direction of the transmitter device, thereby focusing its transmission toward the transmitter device. The receiver device may also notify nearby devices that it is employing a plurality of receive antennas. This information can be used by the nearby devices to more intelligently perform transmitter yielding. By utilizing beamforming information to make the transmitter and/or receiver yielding decision, better interference mitigation may be achieved. | 01-15-2009 |
| 20090019165 | METHODS FOR SENDING SMALL PACKETS IN A PEER-TO-PEER (P2P) NETWORK - An improved mechanism is provided that facilitates transmission of small packets within an ad hoc peer-to-peer network. A small packet is identified to a receiver within a control channel so that its lower power can be considered in an interference management protocol implemented among local peer devices. In a traffic slot, a transmitter voluntarily backs down on the transmitter power as a smaller packet will require much lower signal-to-noise ratio. This will improve the signal energy per bit per noise power density for the transmission as well as minimize the interference caused to other wireless communications happening in the same spectrum. | 01-15-2009 |
| 20090019168 | APPARATUS AND METHOD OF GENERATING AND MAINTAINING HYBRID CONNECTION IDENTIFICATIONS (IDs) FOR PEER-TO-PEER WIRELESS NETWORKS - An apparatus and method are disclosed for generating a transmission connection identifier (CID) for a transmitter/receiver pair in a wireless network. The CID may be selected from or mapped to a hybrid CID space comprising a first set of orthogonal CIDs and a second set of non-orthogonal (random or pseudo-random) CIDs. When a transmitter device wants to initiate a peer-to-peer connection with a receiver device, the transmitter and receiver devices attempt to obtain a CID to identify their connection within a traffic channel in a shared frequency space. The first and/or second device attempt to select a CID from the first set of orthogonal CIDs. However, if a CID collision is detected, the first and second devices select their CID from the second set of non-orthogonal CIDs. The selected transmission CID may be used during a time slot or interval to facilitate communications between the first and second devices. | 01-15-2009 |
| 20090019169 | METHODS AND APPARATUS FOR COMMUNICATING IN A PEER TO PEER SYSTEM WHERE DEVICE COMMUNICATIONS MAY PARTIALLY INTERFERE WITH ONE ANOTHER - Methods and Apparatus for communicating information, e.g., control information, e.g., in the form of a control value, between communications devices, e.g., peer to peer communications devices, are described. Positional coding is used to encode a value to be communicated and the encoded value it then transmitted on a set of communications resources with the placement of signal energy on individual ones of the resources being used to create a pattern used to convey the value to be communicated. Resources, e.g., tone-symbols, which communicate unreliable signal portions due to interference are identified and not used in the positional decoding operation as either an energy carrying tone-symbol or a non-energy carrying tone-symbol. | 01-15-2009 |
| 20090019173 | METHODS AND APPARATUS FOR SUPPORTING BROADCAST COMMUNICATIONS IN A PEER TO PEER NETWORK - Methods and apparatus related to broadcasting data in a peer to peer wireless communications network are described. A timing structure is utilized employing slots of a first type which support broadcast traffic transmissions and unicast traffic transmissions and slots of a second type which support unicast traffic transmission but do not support broadcast traffic transmissions. In various embodiments, traffic air link resource scheduling is performed in a decentralized manner on a slot by slot basis. In some such embodiments, a wireless device prior to transmitting a broadcast data traffic signal, transmits a broadcast transmission request signal, sometimes alternatively referred to as a broadcast indicator signal; and a wireless device prior to transmitting a peer to peer unicast signal, transmits a peer to peer traffic transmission request signal. In various embodiments, for slots of the first type, broadcast transmission requests have priority over peer to peer unicast transmission requests. | 01-15-2009 |
| 20090019183 | METHODS AND APPARATUS FOR DATA EXCHANGE IN PEER TO PEER COMMUNICATIONS - An exemplary wireless communications device comprises a processor coupled to a memory and a wireless communications interface. The processor is configured to transmit a first transmission symbol at a first time index from a first set of time indices, and to transmit a second transmission symbol at a second time index different from the first time index from the first set of time indices, a portion of the first transmission symbol and a portion of the second transmission symbol including the same data. The first set of time indices is associated with a first device ID and includes at least one time index not contained in a second set of time indices associated with a second device ID, and the second set includes at least one time index not contained in the first set. | 01-15-2009 |
| 20090040996 | METHODS AND APPARATUS FOR SUPPORTING MULTIPLE COMMUNICATIONS MODES OF OPERATION - Methods and apparatus for supporting multiple modes of communication operation, e.g., with different parameters and/or frequency bands being used in the different modes of operation are described. One or more adjustments are made based on a signal or signals received in a first frequency band from a second communications device, e.g., an access router with reliable timing. The communications device selects between and operates in either the first frequency band, e.g., a WAN frequency band, or in a second frequency band, e.g., a LAN frequency band. The WAN and LAN frequency bands may be non-overlapping. One or more parameters used in the second frequency band have a predetermined relationship to one or more parameters used for communications in the first frequency band making the adjustment based on the signal received in the first frequency band relevant and useful to support communications in the second frequency band. | 02-12-2009 |
| 20090067382 | METHODS AND APPARATUS FOR IMPROVED UTILIZATION OF AIR LINK RESOURCES IN A WIRELESS COMMUNICATIONS SYSTEM INCLUDING A MULTI-ANTENNA ELEMENT BASE STATION - Methods and apparatus are described for improved utilization of air link resources. A base station includes at least one of a plurality of receive antenna elements and a plurality of transmit antenna elements for communicating with a wireless terminal. The base station generates channel estimation vectors corresponding to wireless terminals using the base station, where a generated channel estimation vector includes different elements corresponding to different base station antenna elements. The base station determines a level of orthogonality between pairs of channel estimation vectors corresponding to different wireless terminals. At least some of the segments to be assigned by the base station are substantially overlapping, e.g., the segments overlap fully or to a high degree. Wireless terminal pairs which have substantially orthogonal channel estimation vectors are matched and assigned to substantially overlapping segments, and the power level associated with the segments is controlled to be substantially the same. | 03-12-2009 |
| 20090082054 | POWER ALLOCATION SCHEME CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS - Systems and methodologies are described that facilitate and effectuate power allocation schemes that reuse power allocation patterns amongst different carriers for sectors in the same cell and uses different power allocation patterns between cells. The frequency reuse scheme generates power allocation patterns, selects one of the generated power allocation patterns for use among at least two carriers of at least two sectors in a cell, and employs a second disparate power allocation pattern for use between at two cells. | 03-26-2009 |
| 20090109850 | METHODS AND APPARATUS RELATED TO CONTROLLING TRAFFIC IN A WIRELESS COMMUNICATIONS SYSTEM USING SHARED AIR LINK TRAFFIC RESOURCES - A peer to peer communications system implements scheduling of traffic intervals in a distributed manner utilizing connection priority and interference information. A peer to peer timing structure includes a user scheduling interval, with ordered transmission request and response intervals, and an associated traffic interval. The priority associated with a request of an early interval is higher than the priority of a request of a later interval. A first device, connected to a second device, makes a decision as to whether or not to yield the traffic interval as a function of estimated interference that it will impose on higher priority connection receivers if it transmits during the traffic interval. The second device makes a decision as to whether or not to transmit a positive transmission request response signal as a function of a generated received signal quality value, based on received requests for its own and for higher priority connections. | 04-30-2009 |
| 20090109851 | METHODS AND APPARATUS RELATED TO SCHEDULING TRAFFIC IN A WIRELESS COMMUNICATIONS SYSTEM USING SHARED AIR LINK TRAFFIC RESOURCES - Methods and apparatus for use in a wireless communications system in which traffic air link resources may be, and sometimes are, shared are described. Various described methods and apparatus are well suited for use in a peer to peer communications system in which transmission control decisions are made in a decentralized manner. An exemplary peer to peer communications system implements the scheduling of traffic intervals in a distributed manner utilizing connection priority information and interference information. An exemplary peer to peer timing structure includes a user scheduling interval and an associated traffic interval. The user scheduling interval includes a plurality transmission request/request response rounds. By utilizing multiple request/request response rounds, a transmission decision corresponding to a connection to yield in an earlier round can be overridden in a subsequent round, resulting in higher overall traffic throughput in the system. | 04-30-2009 |
| 20090109949 | METHODS AND APPARATUS RELATED TO SIGNALING REQUEST TO TRANSMIT TRAFFIC IN A WIRELESS COMMUNICATIONS SYSTEM - Methods and apparatus related to the communication of traffic in peer to peer communications are described. A peer to peer communications system includes traffic slots, and for a pair of devices having a connection a first transmission request resource and a second transmission request resource are associated with a traffic transmission interval of the traffic slot, the first request resource preceding the second request resource. The first request resource is used for the first device to communicate a request to transmit traffic to the second device. The second request resource is used to communicate a request from the second device to transmit traffic to the first device. One protocol calls for a second resource request to override a first resource request. In another protocol the second resource is used to communicate additional information corresponding to a first resource request, when a request is communicated in the first resource. | 04-30-2009 |
| 20090111506 | METHODS AND APPARATUS FOR USE IN PEER TO PEER COMMUNICATIONS DEVICES AND/OR SYSTEMS RELATING TO RATE SCHEDULING, TRAFFIC SCHEDULING, RATE CONTROL, AND/OR POWER CONTROL - Methods and apparatus related to peer to peer communication networks are described. Embodiments directed to methods and apparatus for establishing traffic data transmission rates and/or transmission power levels between wireless terminals is described. Embodiments direct to methods and apparatus of making decisions whether or not to transmit as a function of the received power of the received response signals are also described. Transmission of pilot signals after granting of a transmission request and a decision to transmit traffic data has been made occurs in some embodiments. Rate information to be used in determining a traffic rate may be received in response to the pilot signal from a peer to peer (P2P) device. | 04-30-2009 |
| 20090129331 | OPPORTUNISTIC UPLINK SCHEDULING - Systems and methodologies are described that facilitate scheduling uplink transmissions. For instance, a time sharing scheme can be utilized such that differing mobile devices can be scheduled to transmit during differing time slots; however, it is also contemplated that a static scheme can be employed. Pursuant to an illustration, an interference budget can be combined with a time varying weighting factor associated with a base station; the weighting factor can be predefined and/or adaptively adjusted (e.g., based upon a load balancing mechanism). Moreover, the weighted interference budget can be leveraged for selecting mobile devices for uplink transmission (e.g., based at least in part upon path loss ratios of the mobile devices). Further, disparate interference budgets can be utilized by differing channels of a sector at a particular time. Also, for example, a base station can assign a loading factor to be utilized by wireless terminal(s) for generating channel quality report(s). | 05-21-2009 |
| 20090129345 | OPPORTUNISTIC UPLINK SCHEDULING - Systems and methodologies are described that facilitate scheduling uplink transmissions. For instance, a time sharing scheme can be utilized such that differing mobile devices can be scheduled to transmit during differing time slots; however, it is also contemplated that a static scheme can be employed. Pursuant to an illustration, an interference budget can be combined with a time varying weighting factor associated with a base station; the weighting factor can be predefined and/or adaptively adjusted (e.g., based upon a load balancing mechanism). Moreover, the weighted interference budget can be leveraged for selecting mobile devices for uplink transmission (e.g., based at least in part upon path loss ratios of the mobile devices). Further, disparate interference budgets can be utilized by differing channels of a sector at a particular time. Also, for example, a base station can assign a loading factor to be utilized by wireless terminal(s) for generating channel quality report(s). | 05-21-2009 |
| 20090131068 | OPPORTUNISTIC UPLINK SCHEDULING - Systems and methodologies are described that facilitate scheduling uplink transmissions. For instance, a time sharing scheme can be utilized such that differing mobile devices can be scheduled to transmit during differing time slots; however, it is also contemplated that a static scheme can be employed. Pursuant to an illustration, an interference budget can be combined with a time varying weighting factor associated with a base station; the weighting factor can be predefined and/or adaptively adjusted (e.g., based upon a load balancing mechanism). Moreover, the weighted interference budget can be leveraged for selecting mobile devices for uplink transmission (e.g., based at least in part upon path loss ratios of the mobile devices). Further, disparate interference budgets can be utilized by differing channels of a sector at a particular time. Also, for example, a base station can assign a loading factor to be utilized by wireless terminal(s) for generating channel quality report(s). | 05-21-2009 |
| 20090131069 | OPPORTUNISTIC UPLINK SCHEDULING - Systems and methodologies are described that facilitate scheduling uplink transmissions. For instance, a time sharing scheme can be utilized such that differing mobile devices can be scheduled to transmit during differing time slots; however, it is also contemplated that a static scheme can be employed. Pursuant to an illustration, an interference budget can be combined with a time varying weighting factor associated with a base station; the weighting factor can be predefined and/or adaptively adjusted (e.g., based upon a load balancing mechanism). Moreover, the weighted interference budget can be leveraged for selecting mobile devices for uplink transmission (e.g., based at least in part upon path loss ratios of the mobile devices). Further, disparate interference budgets can be utilized by differing channels of a sector at a particular time. Also, for example, a base station can assign a loading factor to be utilized by wireless terminal(s) for generating channel quality report(s). | 05-21-2009 |
| 20090135720 | METHODS AND APPARATUS RELATED TO SCHEDULING IN A WIRELESS COMMUNICATIONS SYSTEM USING SHARED AIR LINK RESOURCES FOR TRAFFIC - Methods and apparatus related to scheduling decisions of a peer to peer communications device for transmission into traffic intervals are described. A first peer to peer communications device maintains a set of information which allows it to base a scheduling decision for a current traffic interval upon prior performance in a prior traffic interval in which users of other connections were also operating. In some embodiments, the set of information includes a list of device or connection identifiers which the first peer to peer communications device has previously determined to have corresponded to a prior traffic interval in which the first peer to peer device had a low determined data rate. In some embodiments, the set of information includes: (i) a list of device or connection identifiers corresponding to prior traffic intervals and (ii) first peer to peer device data rate information associated with the prior traffic intervals | 05-28-2009 |
| 20090207093 | METHODS AND APPARATUS FOR USING MULTIPLE ANTENNAS HAVING DIFFERENT POLARIZATION - A MIMO wireless communications device supports a dual polarized mode of antenna operation and a single polarized mode of antenna operation. Antenna mode selection is performed as a function of signal to noise ratio information and/or rank information corresponding to a communications channel matrix. One of a communications device's processing chains is switched between first and second polarization orientation antennas, e.g., vertical and horizontally polarized antennas, as a function of the antenna mode selection. In various embodiments, the dual polarized mode is advantageously used for high SNR users, while in the low SNR regime, where the capacity is limited by received power, the single polarized antenna configuration, sometimes referred to as the spatial MIMO configuration, is used. | 08-20-2009 |
| 20090224990 | METHODS AND APPARATUS FOR SUPPORTING COMMUNICATIONS USING A FIRST POLARIZATION DIRECTION ELECTRICAL ANTENNA AND A SECOND POLARIZATION DIRECTION MAGNETIC ANTENNA - A communications device, e.g., a mobile wireless terminal, includes a plurality of antennas having different associated polarization directions. The plurality of antennas includes an electrical antenna, e.g., a dipole antenna and a magnetic antenna, e.g., a loop antenna or a slot antenna. In one embodiment the electrical antenna is used for receiving and/or transmitting signals associated with a vertical polarization direction, while the magnetic antenna is used for receiving and/or transmitting signals associated with a horizontal polarization direction in some embodiments different data streams are communicated concurrently via the electrical and magnetic antennas. Methods for operating the communications device to switch between the electrical and magnetic antennas and/or to control reception and/or transmission are described. The novel antenna configuration facilitates the use of the horizontal polarization direction communications between the communications device and a base station without the need for directionally azimuth positioning the magnetic antenna. | 09-10-2009 |
| 20090232034 | METHODS AND APPARATUS FOR WIRELESS COMMUNICATIONS INCLUDING DIRECT PAGING IN COMBINATION WITH HOPPED DATA SIGNALING - Methods and apparatus for wireless communications in regional networks, e.g., ad hoc peer to peer networks, are described. Wireless communications devices transmit and monitor for presence indicator signals broadcast from other peer communications devices in its local vicinity. A wireless communications device maintains a list of discovered devices in its vicinity. A first wireless communications device transmits a paging signal directly over an airlink to a second communications device, which is on its list and to which it desires to send data units, e.g., user data in a peer to peer traffic segment. In response to a received paging response signal from the second device, the first device transmits data units, intended for the second device, to a third device, which acts as an intermediary node. The power level for the data unit signal is controlled to be lower than the power level used for the paging signal. | 09-17-2009 |
| 20090232086 | METHODS AND APPARATUS FOR ACQUIRING AND USING MULTIPLE CONNECTION IDENTIFIERS - Methods and apparatus related to a peer to peer wireless communications system supporting the association of multiple connection identifiers with a single connection between a pair of wireless terminals are described. A differentiated quality of service is supported by assigning different numbers of connection identifiers to different connections. The number of connection identifiers assigned to a wireless terminal pair for a connection is a function of one of: data rate, priority information, and quality of service information. Being allocated a higher number of connection identifiers results in being allocated a higher number of traffic transmission request resources, thus increasing the likelihood that the connection is permitted to use a traffic transmission segment. The allocation of connection identifiers is performed in a distributed manner in which handshake signaling occurs between a wireless terminal pair seeking to establish a connection, e.g., as part of a multi-step paging scheme. | 09-17-2009 |
| 20090232142 | METHODS AND APPARATUS FOR USING CONNECTION IDENTIFIERS HAVING DIFFERENT PRIORITIES AT DIFFERENT TIMES - Methods and apparatus related to scheduling and/or utilization of air link traffic resources are described. A connection identifier is associated with priority with regard to use of an air link resource, e.g., a peer to peer traffic segment which is in contention. A particular connection may acquire and hold one or multiple connection identifiers. In some embodiments, the priority associated with a particular connection identifier is intentionally varied in a set of traffic slots. In some such embodiments, there is priority randomization from slot to slot. In one such implementation there is a statistically uniform average priority between the different connection identifiers over the recurring structure. Such an implementation facilitates access to traffic segments to a wide range of users, yet allows for differentiation with regard to the amount of access as a function of the number of connection identifiers being held by a particular connection. | 09-17-2009 |
| 20090232143 | METHODS AND APPARATUS FOR USING MULTIPLE CONNECTION IDENTIFIERS BASED ON TRAFFIC REQUIREMENTS - Methods and apparatus related to scheduling and/or utilization of air link traffic resources are described. A peer to peer connection holds a set of multiple connection identifiers for a plurality of successive traffic slots. Corresponding to a particular traffic slot, each of the connection identifiers in the set of connection identifiers has a different priority. Short term traffic needs are considered in the use of the multiple connection identifiers being held. For example, a communications device, corresponding to a peer to peer connection which is associated with a plurality of connection identifiers having different priorities, considers the amount and/or latency requirements of data to be transmitted at any given time when selecting which connection identifier to use when transmitting a traffic transmission request for a traffic segment which is in contention. | 09-17-2009 |
| 20090257351 | METHODS AND APPARATUS FOR COMMUNICATING AND/OR USING LOAD INFORMATION IN SUPPORT OF DECENTRALIZED TRAFFIC SCHEDULING DECISIONS - Methods and apparatus related to communicating and/or using load information in support of decentralized traffic scheduling decisions are described. Individual wireless terminals corresponding to a peer to peer connection which desire to communicate traffic signals make transmitter yielding and/or receiver yielding decisions on a traffic slot by traffic slot basis. Loading information is used to intentionally skew transmitter yielding decisions in response to conditions and/or needs in the system. A link load weight value is generated based on intended transmitter loading related information and/or intended receiver loading related information. Traffic request parameters and/or link load weight values are communicated between wireless communications devices in request and/or request response signaling. As part of a transmitter yielding decision, one or more of: a spillage value, weighted SINR, and an interference cost estimate is calculated based on: one or more link load weight values and channel condition measurement information. | 10-15-2009 |
| 20090323665 | METHODS AND APPARATUS FOR PROVIDING QUALITY OF SERVICE IN A PEER TO PEER NETWORK - Methods and apparatus related to scheduling traffic slots in a wireless communications system, e.g., an ad hoc peer to peer communications network are described. An implemented timing structure includes multiple traffic transmission slots and multiple request blocks with different priorities corresponding to a traffic transmission slot. A wireless terminal determines its own block priority level. If a wireless terminal's determined block priority level is the highest block priority level the wireless terminal is allowed to transmit a traffic transmission request in the highest traffic transmission request block; otherwise, the wireless terminal is restricted from transmitting a traffic transmission request in the highest priority request block. A wireless terminal monitors for request and/or request response activity corresponding to other connections high priority block signaling, and uses the collected information to determine its own block priority. | 12-31-2009 |
| 20100022190 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR SUPPORTING MULTI-HOP COMMUNICATIONS IN A PEER TO PEER COMMUNICATION SYSTEM - Methods and apparatus for wireless communications in networks, e.g., regional ad hoc peer to peer networks, are described. A communications node, e.g., a third node monitors for wireless communications between other peer communication nodes, e.g., a first node and a second node, in its local vicinity. The third node determines from the monitored wireless communication an indication of link quality corresponding to a communication link between the communication nodes which are communicating or seeking to establish a communications link. The third node generates an estimate of a link quality for a communications link between itself and the first node. Based on the indication of link quality and generated estimate of link quality, the third node decides whether or not to send a signal indicating availability to relay communication between the first and second nodes. The third node, when acting as an intermediary node after indicating its availability to so act, may receive traffic data e.g., user data communicated in a peer to peer traffic segment, from the first node. The third node communicates the received traffic data to the second node by transmitting the traffic data. | 01-28-2010 |
| 20100085973 | METHODS AND APPARATUS FOR IDENTIFYING AND/OR SELECTING A CONNECTION IDENTIFIER - Wireless terminals in a peer to peer system, which desire to communicate traffic signals, acquire a connection identifier associated with traffic transmission request air link resources. The air link resources in the system, in some embodiments, are structured so that each connection identifier has a one to one mapping to a request transmission unit, the request transmission units are arranged into a plurality of groups, and each group occurs in a different symbol time interval for the same traffic slot. A wireless terminal identifies locally available connection identifiers from a set of connection identifiers based on power received on individual connection identification transmission units in a set of connection identification transmission units; determines, for each group having an identified locally available connection identifier, an interference estimate; and selects a connection identifier from the identified locally available connection identifiers belonging to a group having an acceptable determined interference estimate. | 04-08-2010 |
| 20100118701 | METHODS AND APPARATUS FOR MAKING TRANSMITTER AND/OR RECEIVER COMMUNICATIONS DECISIONS - Methods and apparatus for making communications decisions are described. In some embodiments, a method includes recovering a quality of service level from a transmission request response signal and making a decision whether or not to transmit traffic data based on the recovered quality of service level. In other embodiments a method includes recovering a first quality of service level from a first transmission request response signal which is in response to a first traffic transmission request signal, and making a decision, based on the recovered first quality of service level, whether or not to transmit a second transmission request response signal in response to a second traffic transmission request signal. In some embodiments, the phase of the transmission request response signal is used to communicate the quality of service level. The device transmitting the transmission request response may also transmit pilots which can be used as phase reference signals. | 05-13-2010 |
| 20100118702 | METHODS AND APPARATUS SUPPORTING ADAPTIVE DECENTRALIZED TRAFFIC SCHEDULING INCLUDING A DYNAMIC TRANSMITTER YIELDING THRESHOLD - Methods and apparatus relating to scheduling of air link resources, e.g., traffic segments, in a wireless communications system are described. Various described methods and apparatus are well suited to wireless peer to peer networks in which traffic scheduling is decentralized, e.g. an ad hoc peer to peer network. An individual wireless terminal corresponding to a peer to peer connection which desires to transmit traffic signals make transmitter yielding decisions on a traffic slot by traffic slot basis. The transmitter yielding decision, in some embodiments, includes comparing a link quality estimate corresponding to a higher priority link intending to use the same traffic segment concurrently, to a dynamically generated transmitter yielding threshold. The dynamically generated transmitter yielding threshold is determined based on at least one of: quality of service information corresponding to its own link and historical link quality information corresponding to the higher priority link. | 05-13-2010 |
| 20100118733 | METHODS AND APPARATUS SUPPORTING ADAPTIVE DECENTRALIZED TRAFFIC SCHEDULING FOR WIRELESS COMMUNICATIONS - Methods and apparatus relating to scheduling of air link resources, e.g., traffic segments, in wireless communications are described. Various described methods and apparatus are well suited to wireless peer to peer networks in which traffic scheduling is decentralized, e.g. an ad hoc peer to peer network. A first wireless terminal receives a transmission request and quality of service information from a second wireless terminal corresponding to a connection. The first wireless terminal decides not to receiver yield, determines a request response transmission power level as a function of the received quality of service information, and transmits, at the determined power level, a generated request response signal. By controllably adjusting the transmission power level of a request response, transmitter yielding decisions of lower priority links are impacted, since lower priority links measure and use received power level information corresponding to request responses of higher priority links in their transmitter yielding decisions. | 05-13-2010 |
| 20100118761 | METHODS AND APPARATUS SUPPORTING ADAPTIVE DECENTRALIZED TRAFFIC SCHEDULING INCLUDING A DYNAMIC RECEIVER YIELDING THRESHOLD - Methods and apparatus relating to scheduling of air link resources, e.g., traffic segments, in a wireless communications system are described. Various described methods and apparatus are well suited to wireless peer to peer networks in which traffic scheduling is decentralized, e.g. an ad hoc peer to peer network. An individual wireless terminal corresponding to a peer to peer connection which desires to communicate traffic signals makes a receiver yielding decision. The receiver yielding decision, in some embodiments, includes comparing a link quality estimate corresponding to its own link, to a dynamically generated receiver yielding threshold. The dynamically generated receiver yielding threshold is determined based on at least one of: quality of service information corresponding to its own link and historical link quality information corresponding to its own link. | 05-13-2010 |
| 20100118843 | COMMUNICATIONS METHODS AND APPARATUS FOR USE IN COMMUNICATING WITH ACCESS ROUTERS AND/OR OTHER DEVICES ACTING AS COMMUNICATIONS PEERS - Methods and apparatus for performing peer to peer communications with access routers and non-access router peer devices are described. An access terminal generates a channel estimate estimating the channel between the access terminal and an access router. For at least some communication with the access router, a channel compensation operation is performed on a symbol to be transmitted prior to its transmission to the access router. In contrast, symbols transmitted to other access terminals are not subject to a channel compensation operation prior to transmission with the receiving access terminal being responsible for implementing a channel compensation operation on the received signal. | 05-13-2010 |
| 20100120372 | METHODS AND APPARATUS FOR SUPPORTING DISTRIBUTED SCHEDULING USING QUALITY OF SERVICE INFORMATION IN A PEER TO PEER NETWORK - Methods and apparatus well suited to decentralized traffic scheduling in wireless peer to peer network are described. An individual wireless terminal corresponding to a peer to peer connection makes a transmitter yielding or receiver yielding decision for a traffic slot. Quality of service information is disseminated as part of the scheduling control signaling. A scheduling control signal, e.g., a traffic transmission request signal or a traffic transmission request response signal, includes a pilot portion and a quality of service information portion. The pilot facilitates the recovery of the quality of service information by a plurality of different devices which may have different channel conditions with respect to the transmitter of the scheduling control signal. The different devices may benefit from utilizing the recovered quality of service information in making a yielding decision regarding traffic signaling in a traffic segment. | 05-13-2010 |
| 20100120445 | COMMUNICATIONS DECISION METHODS AND APPARATUS - Methods and apparatus for making communications decisions are described. In some embodiments, a method includes recovering a first quality of service level from a first transmission request signal directed to a second communications device, and making a decision whether or not to transmit traffic data to a third communications device based on the recovered first quality of service level. In other embodiments a method includes recovering a first quality of service level from a first transmission request signal, and making a decision whether or not to transmit a first transmission request response signal in response to a second transmission request signal based on the recovered first quality of service level. In some embodiments, the phase of the transmission request signal is used to communicate the quality of service level. The device transmitting the transmission request signal may also transmit pilots which can be used as phase reference signals. | 05-13-2010 |
| 20100124185 | RELAY COMMUNICATIONS METHODS AND APPARATUS - Methods and apparatus relating to interference mitigation in a wireless communications system including multi-sector base stations and relay stations are described. Different types of transmission slots are used, e.g., base station-relay station slots, relay station-access terminal slots, and base station-access terminal slots. Relay station to access terminal slots of a first schedule are non-overlapping with relay station to access terminal slots of a second schedule. A deployment pattern associates each particular base station sector and its associated relay station with one particular schedule. At least some different sectors of the same base station intentionally use different schedules. An access terminal determines and uses the schedule corresponding to the base station sector or relay station from which it intends to receive downlink signals. By utilizing multiple slot type allocation schedules and a particular schedule deployment pattern in the system, interference experienced by access terminals in boundary regions can be mitigated. | 05-20-2010 |
| 20100150080 | METHODS AND APPARATUS FOR REUSE OF A WIRELESS RESOURCE - Methods and apparatus related to reuse of a wireless resource are described. Various methods and apparatus are well suited to wireless communications systems lacking centralized control, e.g., an ad hoc peer to peer wireless communications system. A wireless device, corresponding to a second connection, evaluates whether or not it can reuse a resource associated with a first connection. The first connection is, e.g., an existing active connection and the second connection is, e.g., a potential connection. The wireless device receives one or more control signals from one or more first connection devices. The wireless device determines, based on the received control signals, one or more estimated SINRs characterizing expected results in the system if the two connections should use the same resource concurrently. The wireless device makes a resource reuse decision based on the determined estimated one or more SINRs and a threshold criteria. | 06-17-2010 |
| 20100151897 | METHODS AND APPARATUS FACILITATING AND/OR MAKING WIRELESS RESOURCE REUSE DECISIONS - Methods and apparatus related to reuse of a wireless resource are described. Various methods and apparatus are well suited to wireless communications systems lacking centralized control, e.g., an ad hoc peer to peer wireless communications system. A first wireless device of a first connection generates and transmits one or more control signals to be used by a wireless device of a second connection to make a resource reuse decision. The first connection is, e.g., an existing active connection and the second connection is, e.g., a potential connection. A transmission power level of a control signal is set based upon a predetermined relationship to at least one other signal previously communicated on the first connection, e.g., a peer discovery or paging signal. In some embodiments, the control signal is a single tone signal. The transmitted control signal facilitates the estimation of an expected SINR by a device of the second connection. | 06-17-2010 |
| 20100202400 | TRANSMISSION WITH COLLISION DETECTION AND MITIGATION FOR WIRELESS COMMUNICATION - Techniques for transmitting signals on shared resources in a manner to detect and/or combat collision are described. In an aspect, a terminal may transmit a signal on a subset of resource elements in a resource block, and at least one null resource element with no signal may be used to detect for collision of the signal. In another aspect, different terminals may simultaneously transmit their signals on different subsets of resource elements in a resource block. These different subsets of resource elements may be pseudo-randomly selected to randomize interference. In one design, a terminal may determine a resource block to use for transmission of a signal, select a subset of the resource elements in the resource block, and transmit the signal on the selected resource elements, e.g., to at least one other terminal for peer-to-peer communication. The signal may be a peer discovery signal, a paging signal, etc. | 08-12-2010 |
| 20100202434 | COMMUNICATIONS METHODS AND APPARATUS FOR SUPPORTING COMMUNICATIONS WITH PEERS USING MULTIPLE ANTENNA PATTERNS - Methods and apparatus for communicating information, e.g., peer discovery information, to peer communications devices using multiple antenna patterns at different times are described. One exemplary method includes transmitting first peer discovery information during a first period of time using a first antenna pattern, and transmitting second peer discovery information during a second period of time using a second antenna pattern which is different from the first antenna pattern. In at least some embodiments the first antenna pattern is a beam antenna pattern and the second antenna pattern is an omni-directional antenna pattern. In some embodiments, an omni-directional antenna pattern is used at least 50% of the time. This allows devices near the transmitting device to quickly obtain peer discovery information while devices further away make take longer to obtain the peer discovery information since they may need for a beam pattern facing their direction to be used. | 08-12-2010 |
| 20100291872 | METHODS AND APPARATUS FOR SUPPORTING COMMUNICATION OVER DIFFERENT RANGES IN A WIRELESS NETWORK - Methods and apparatus well suited for supporting communications over different ranges in, for example, a peer to peer wireless communications system, are described. In the peer to peer network at least some of the types of signals, e.g., peer discovery signals and/or paging signals, are transmitted with no closed loop power control. An exemplary peer to peer timing structure includes air link resources allocated for a particular type of signaling in which the resources are segmented into multiple blocks which do not overlap in time, different ones of the multiple blocks being associated with different ranges. The characteristics of the basic transmission units of the multiple blocks based on range are different, e.g., tone size and symbol width are different. A wireless communications device implements the peer to peer timing structure and uses resources from different range based blocks at different times. Data traffic transmission units may be the same regardless of the range. | 11-18-2010 |
| 20100309781 | SWITCHING BETWEEN MIMO AND RECEIVER BEAM FORMING IN A PEER-TO-PEER NETWORK - Aspects describe different multiple antenna techniques that can be utilized in a peer-to-peer network based on a network congestion level. A MIMO scheme where a transmitter sends to a receiver multiple spatial streams at substantially the same time in the same traffic segment can be utilized when network congestion level is low. A receiver beam forming scheme where transmitter sends a single stream in a traffic segment and receiver uses multiple receive antennas to maximize signal to noise ratio can be utilized when network congestion level is high. The connection pair (transmitter and receiver) occupy more control resources in the MIMO scheme than the receiver beam forming scheme. The decision related to which technique to utilize can be made at about the same time as a communication is initiated. Further, if network conditions change during a communication, the antenna technique that is utilized can be switched to a different technique during the communication exchange. | 12-09-2010 |
| 20100309854 | INTERFERENCE MANAGEMENT WITH MIMO IN A PEER-TO-PEER NETWORK - Aspects relate to interference management in a multiple-input-multiple-output peer-to-peer network utilizing connection scheduling. When channel side information is available at both transmitter and receiver, both devices determine transmit/receiver beamforming vectors. Transmitter sends a first transmission request signal with first transmit beamforming vector and a second transmission request signal with second transmit beamforming vector in a transmission request block. Receiver estimates SINRs of the MIMO channels associated with the receive beamforming vectors and determines whether to return request response signals. Based on received request response signals, transmitter decides to transmit streams of data using the corresponding transmit beamforming vectors in the data burst. When channel side information is available only at receiver, transmitter sends one transmission request signal. Receiver estimates the SINRs of the MIMO channels associated with receive beamforming vectors using MMSE and/or successive interference cancellation (SIC), and returns request response signals in the request response block. | 12-09-2010 |
| 20100310004 | METHODS AND APPARATUS FOR AMPLIFYING AND TRANSMITTING SIGNALS - A wireless communications device transmits during a first time using a single tone and during a second time using a plurality of tones. The wireless communications device uses linear power amplification for transmitting multi-tone signals and non-linear power amplification for transmitting at least some single tone signals. In some embodiments a linear amplification range on a first amplifier's characteristic curve is used for the linear amplification and a non-linear amplification range on the first amplifier's characteristic curve is used for the non-linear amplification. Filtering subsequent to the amplification is controlled to accommodate the type of amplification being used. In some embodiments, the decision as to whether to use linear amplification or non-linear amplification is a function of whether the intended transmitted signal is to be a single tone signal or a multi-tone signal. In some embodiments, the decision is also a function of intended range. | 12-09-2010 |
| 20110066738 | METHODS AND APPARATUS FOR CONTROLLING SWITCHING BETWEEN RESOURCES AND/OR COMMUNICATING RESOURCE CHANGE INFORMATION IN A WIRELESS COMMUNICATIONS SYSTEM - Methods and apparatus for controlling switching between resources and/or communicating resource change information in a wireless communications system are described. Various methods and apparatus are well suited for use in a decentralized wireless communications network, such as a decentralized peer to peer wireless network, where an individual communications device self allocates resources and makes resource switching decisions. A first communications device may decide that there is a need to switch from the first communications resource corresponding to a first identifier to a second communications resource corresponding to a second identifier, e.g., because of interference. The first communications device generates and transmits a broadcast change signal indicating a change from the first communications resource associated with the first identifier to a second communications resource associated with the second identifier. In some embodiments, the resource change signal is transmitted on at least one of the first and second communications resources. | 03-17-2011 |
| 20110085453 | METHODS AND APPARATUS FOR SELECTING AND TRANSMITTING PILOTS - Sets of communications resources, e.g., sets of peer discovery resources, in a peer to peer communications system may be use concurrently by multiple transmitting devices. The communications system supports a plurality of different pilot sequences. Multiple transmitting devices may transmit their signals on the same set of communications resources, but with different pilot sequences. This approach allows receiving devices to distinguish between multiple signal sources, e.g., wireless terminals, using a shared communications resource. A wireless communications device monitors a plurality of different sets of communications resources and selects, e.g., based on received energy levels, a set of communications resources from said plurality of different sets of communications resources to use for communication. The communications device further selects one of a plurality of different pilot sequences to use for said communication and transmits pilot signals using the selected pilot sequence and at least a portion of the selected set of communications resources. | 04-14-2011 |
| 20110085455 | METHODS AND APPARATUS FOR CONTROLLING CHANNEL UTILIZATION - Methods and apparatus for determining a portion of a channel, e.g., a peer discovery channel, to use in a communications network, e.g., an ad hoc peer to peer network, are described. In the communication network, the channel includes a recurring set of time/frequency resources. A device monitors the congestion level and decides to use a whole channel or a fraction of a channel (e.g., ½. ¼) as a function of the congestion level. The device may change the fraction of the channel it occupies as the congestion level changes. The device broadcasts control information indicating the fraction of the channel it occupies. The device may be a mobile wireless terminal. | 04-14-2011 |
| 20110085620 | METHODS AND APPARATUS FOR COMMUNICATING INFORMATION USING NON-COHERENT AND COHERENT MODULATION - Non-coherent modulation is used to communicate coding information via pilot signals using a first subset of resources, and coherent modulation is used to generate data signals. This allows for a stronger global code while keeping individual signaling complexity low. First and second communications devices communicate information using a set of communications resources. By performing non-coherent demodulation on pilot signals received on a first subset of said set of communications resources coding information is recovered. First and second channel estimates are generated from the pilot signals received on the first subset of said communications resources. Coherent demodulation is performed on data signals received on a second subset of said set of communications resources using said first and second channel estimates and said coding information to recover information communicated by said first communications device and to recover separate information communicated by said second communications device. | 04-14-2011 |
| 20110087768 | CODING METHODS AND APPARATUS FOR BROADCAST CHANNELS - Methods and apparatus related to selecting and/or using different coding methods for a broadcast channel are described. The coding method to be used is selected as a function of an estimated level of congestion. Various methods and apparatus are well suited for use in peer to peer wireless communications systems including broadcast peer discovery channels. A wireless communications device, e.g., a mobile terminal supporting peer to peer signaling, detects peer discovery signals from other devices and estimates a level of congestion. The wireless communications device selects one of a plurality of alternative coding methods as a function of the estimated level of congestion. Two different coding methods which may be used, in some embodiments, vary in at least one of: coding rate, convolution code used, and amount of resources used. The wireless device transmits information indicating the selected coding method and coded peer discovery data in accordance with the selected coding method. | 04-14-2011 |
| 20110149799 | METHODS AND APPARATUS FOR SUPPORTING MULTI-HOP PEER DISCOVERY IN PEER-TO-PEER WIRELESS NETWORKS - Methods and apparatus for supporting multi-hop peer discovery in peer-to-peer wireless networks are disclosed. One method supports multi-hop peer discovery using a first peer having a first unique identification code. The method includes decoding a second peer discovery signal to obtain a second unique identification code and a second local identification code of a second peer received during a peer-to-peer discovery channel, determining whether to select the second peer based on a predetermined criterion; and transmitting a first peer discovery signal having the first unique identification code, the second local identification code and a hop count when the predetermined criterion is satisfied. | 06-23-2011 |
