Reconfigurable multi-radio bridge
地域：
AZ
AZ Phoenix
摘要
Methods and systems describe herein relate to a reconfigurable multi-radio bridge that may connect a local area network (LAN) with an access point (AP) or other WAP to the backhaul and may dynamically change and/or select transmission methods. An example implementation of a reconfigurable multi-radio bridge performs a method including discovering a topology of a network that includes one or more wireless stations (STAs), evaluating a metric for each of at least two routes discovered in the topology, receiving a packet that identifies a first STA of the one or more STAs as an intended destination of the packet, selecting a route of the at least two routes over which to send the packet based on the metric, and sending the packet from a reconfigurable multi-radio bridge over the selected route toward the first STA.
說明書
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
This patent application claims the benefit of prior filed U.S. Provisional Application No. 62/756,008 filed on Nov. 5, 2018. The 62/756,008 application is incorporated herein by reference.
The implementations discussed herein are related to a reconfigurable multi-radio bridge.
Unless otherwise indicated herein, the materials described herein are not prior art to the claims in the present application and are not admitted to be prior art by inclusion in this section.
Home, office, stadium, and outdoor networks, a.k.a. wireless local area networks (WLAN) are established using a device called a Wireless Access Point (WAP). The WAP may include a router. The WAP wirelessly couples all the devices of the local network, e.g. wireless stations such as: computers, printers, televisions, digital video (DVD) players, security cameras and smoke detectors to one another and to the Cable or Subscriber Line through which Internet, video, and television is delivered to the local network. Most WAPs implement the IEEE 802.11 standard which is a contention based standard for handling communications among multiple competing devices for a shared wireless communication medium on a selected one of a plurality of communication channels. The frequency range of each communication channel is specified in the corresponding one of the IEEE 802.11 protocols being implemented, e.g. “a”, “b”, “g”, “n”, “ac”, “ad”, “ax”. Communications follow a hub and spoke model with a WAP at the hub and the spokes corresponding to the wireless links to each ‘client’ device.
權(quán)利要求
What is claimed is:1. A method, comprising:discovering a topology of a network that includes a first wireless station (STA), a second STA, and an access point (AP); evaluating a metric for each of at least two routes discovered in the topology; receiving a first packet that identifies the first STA as an intended destination of the first packet; selecting a route of the at least two routes over which to send the first packet based on the metric, each of the at least two routes reaching the first STA; sending the first packet from a reconfigurable multi-radio bridge over the selected route toward the first STA; and coordinating with the AP to effect simultaneous transmission of:the first packet from the AP directly to the first STA over a first channel included in the selected route; a nulling signal from the AP directly to the second STA over a second channel; and a second packet from the reconfigurable multi-radio bridge directly to the second STA over a third channel. 2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the receiving comprises receiving the first packet in a first frequency band and the sending comprises sending the first packet in a second frequency band different from the first frequency band. 3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the receiving comprises converting a carrier frequency into an intermediate frequency. 4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the sending comprises converting a baseband signal into an intermediate frequency. 5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising coordinating with the AP to effect simultaneous transmission of:a third packet over the first channel from the AP directly to the first STA; and the third packet over a fourth channel from the reconfigurable multi-radio bridge directly to the STA. 6. A method, comprising:discovering a topology of a network that includes a wireless station (STA) and an access point (AP); evaluating a metric for each of at least two routes discovered in the topology; receiving a packet that identifies the STA as an intended destination of the packet; selecting a route of the at least two routes over which to send the packet based on the metric, each of the at least two routes reaching the STA, wherein the selecting comprises selecting a route that includes one of a first channel from the AP directly to the STA or a second channel from a reconfigurable multi-radio bridge directly to the STA; sending the packet from the reconfigurable multi-radio bridge over the selected route toward the STA, wherein the sending comprises sending the packet over one of the first channel or the second channel to the STA; and one of:in response to the packet being sent over the first channel, retransmitting the packet from the reconfigurable multi-radio bridge directly to the STA over the second channel; or in response to the packet being sent over the second channel, retransmitting the packet from the AP directly to the STA over the first channel. 7. A method, comprising:discovering a topology of a network that includes a wireless station (STA) and an access point (AP); evaluating a metric for each of at least two routes discovered in the topology; receiving a packet that identifies the STA as an intended destination of the packet; selecting a route of the at least two routes over which to send the packet based on the metric, each of the at least two routes reaching the STA; sending the packet from a reconfigurable multi-radio bridge over the selected route toward the STA, wherein the sending comprises sending the packet to the AP for the AP to send to the STA over a first link from the AP directly to the STA; replicating a basic service set (BSS) of the AP at the reconfigurable multi-radio bridge; establishing a second link directly between the STA and the reconfigurable multi-radio bridge; and sending additional packets to the STA over the second link. 8. The method of claim 7 , wherein at least one of:the reconfigurable multi-radio bridge periodically replicates the BSS; and the reconfigurable multi-radio bridge replicates the BSS in response to a BSS-replication trigger. 9. The method of claim 8 , wherein the BSS-replication trigger comprises at least one of:a determination that a first interference level of the first link exceeds: a threshold interference level or a second interference level of the second link; a determination that a first received signal strength indicator (RSSI) of the first link is less than: a threshold RSSI or a second RSSI of the second link; and a command from the AP. 10. The method of claim 7 , further comprising terminating the BSS and the second link in response to a BSS-termination trigger. 11. The method of claim 1 , wherein the evaluating the metric for each of the at least two routes comprise evaluating at least one of: supported modulation and coding scheme (MCS), received signal strength indicator (RSSI), clear channel assessment (CCA) level, interference, estimated throughput, airtime, traffic priority, route congestion, and bridge/WAP load. 12. A method, comprising:discovering a topology of a network that includes a wireless station (STA) and an access point (AP); evaluating a metric for each of at least two routes discovered in the topology, including evaluating the metric for a first link from the AP to the STA and for a second link from a reconfigurable multi-radio bridge to the STA and determining that the first link has a better metric than the second link; receiving a packet that identifies the STA as an intended destination of the packet; selecting a route of the at least two routes over which to send the packet based on the metric, each of the at least two routes reaching the STA, wherein the selecting the route based on the metric comprises selecting the first link; determining a total duration to send the packet from the reconfigurable multi-radio bridge to the AP and from the AP to the STA; and reserving a transmit opportunity (TXOP) equal to the total duration; and sending the packet from the reconfigurable multi-radio bridge over the selected route toward the STA, including sending the packet from the reconfigurable multi-radio bridge to the AP during a first portion of the reserved TXOP; wherein the AP sends the packet to the STA during a remainder portion of the reserved TXOP. 13. A reconfigurable multi-radio bridge, comprising:a first reconfigurable radio comprising a first transmit/receive (TX/RX) channel and a second TX/RX channel, wherein the first reconfigurable radio is configured to selectively transmit and receive data on the first TX/RX channel or the second TX/RX channel; and a second reconfigurable radio comprising a third TX/RX channel and a fourth TX/RX channel, wherein the second reconfigurable radio is configured to selectively transmit and receive data on the third TX/RX channel or the fourth TX/RX channel, wherein the first TX/RX channel comprises a first baseband (BB) circuit and the second TX/RX channel comprises the same first BB circuit; wherein the third TX/RX channel comprises a second BB circuit and the fourth TX/RX channel comprises the same second BB circuit; and wherein to selectively transmit and receive data, the first reconfigurable radio and the second reconfigurable radio are configured to:discover a topology of a network that includes a wireless station (STA) and an access point (AP); evaluate a metric for each of at least two routes discovered in the topology; receive a packet that identifies the STA as an intended destination of the packet; select a route of the at least two routes over which to send the first packet based on the metric, each of the at least two routes reaching the STA, wherein select a route comprises select a route that includes one of a first channel from the AP directly to the STA or a second channel from the reconfigurable multi-radio bridge directly to the STA; send the packet from the reconfigurable multi-radio bridge over the selected route toward the STA, wherein send the packet comprises send the packet over one of the first channel or the second channel to the STA; and one of:in response to the packet being sent over the first channel, retransmit the packet from the reconfigurable multi-radio bridge directly to the STA over the second channel; or in response to the packet being sent over the second channel, retransmit the packet from the AP directly to the STA over the first channel. 14. The reconfigurable multi-radio bridge of claim 13 , wherein:the first TX/RX channel further comprises a first radio frequency (RF) circuit, a first front end module (FEM), and a first antenna; the second TX/RX channel further comprises a second FEM and a second antenna; the third TX/RX channel further comprises a second RF circuit, a third FEM, and a third antenna; and the fourth TX/RX channel further comprises a fourth FEM and a fourth antenna. 15. A reconfigurable multi-radio bridge system comprising:a network; a memory; and a processor operatively coupled to the memory, where the processor configured to:discover a topology of the network that includes one or more wireless stations (STAs) and an access point (AP); evaluate a metric for each of at least two routes discovered in the topology; receive a packet that identifies a first STA of the one or more STAs as an intended destination of the packet; select a route of the at least two routes over which to send the packet based on the metric, each of the at least two routes reaching the first STA; send the packet from a reconfigurable multi-radio bridge over the selected route toward the first STA; and coordinate with the AP to enable simultaneous transmission of:the packet over a first channel from the AP directly to the first STA; and the packet over a second channel from the reconfigurable multi-radio bridge directly to the first STA. 16. The system of claim 15 , wherein the network further includes a second STA as one of the one or more STAs and the processor is further configured to coordinate with the AP to enable simultaneous transmission of:a second packet from the AP directly to the first STA over the first channel included in the selected route; a nulling signal from the AP directly to the second STA over a second channel; and a third packet from the reconfigurable multi-radio bridge directly to the second STA over a third channel. 17. The system of claim 15 , wherein the processor is further configured to:receive a second packet that identifies the first STA as an intended destination of the second packet, select a route of the at least two routes over which to send the second packet based on the metric, each of the at least two routes reaching the first STA, wherein selecting the route over which to send the second packet comprises selecting a route that includes one of the first channel from the AP directly to the first STA or the second channel from the reconfigurable multi-radio bridge directly to the first STA; and sending the second packet over the selected route, including sending the second packet over one of the first channel or the second channel to the first STA, the processor is further configured to:in response to the second packet being sent over the first channel, retransmit the second packet from the reconfigurable multi-radio bridge directly to the first STA over the second channel; or in response to the second packet being sent over the second channel, retransmit the second packet from the AP directly to the first STA over the first channel. 18. The system of claim 15 , wherein the processor is further configured to:receive a second packet that identifies the first STA as an intended destination of the second packet, select a route of the at least two routes over which to send the second packet based on the metric, each of the at least two routes reaching the first STA; send the second packet from the reconfigurable multi-radio bridge over the selected route toward the first STA, including sending the second packet to the AP for the AP to send to the first STA over a first link from the AP directly to the first STA; replicate a basic service set (BSS) of the AP at the reconfigurable multi-radio bridge; establish a second link directly between the first STA and the reconfigurable multi-radio bridge; and send additional packets to the first STA over the second link. 19. The system of claim 18 , wherein at least one of:the reconfigurable multi-radio bridge periodically replicates the BSS; and the reconfigurable multi-radio bridge replicates the BSS in response to a BSS-replication trigger. 20. The system of claim 15 , wherein:the system further comprises the reconfigurable multi-radio bridge; the reconfigurable multi-radio bridge comprises a first reconfigurable radio and a second reconfigurable radio; the first reconfigurable radio comprises a millimeter (mm) wave radio; and the second reconfigurable radio comprises a centimeter (cm) wave radio. 21. The system of claim 15 , wherein:the system further comprises the reconfigurable multi-radio bridge; the reconfigurable multi-radio bridge comprises a first reconfigurable radio and a second reconfigurable radio; the first reconfigurable radio is configured to operate in a 60 gigahertz (GHz) band; and the second reconfigurable radio is configured to operate in at least one of a 2.4 GHz band, a 5 GHz band, or a 6 GHz band. 22. The reconfigurable multi-radio bridge of claim 13 , wherein:the first reconfigurable radio comprises a millimeter (mm) wave radio; and the second reconfigurable radio comprises a centimeter (cm) wave radio. 23. The reconfigurable multi-radio bridge of claim 13 , wherein:the first reconfigurable radio is configured to operate in a 60 gigahertz (GHz) band; and the second reconfigurable radio is configured to operate in at least one of a 2.4 GHz band, a 5 GHz band, or a 6 GHz band.
意見反饋
使用該功能遇到問題