METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR MONITORING FOR SIGNALS AND SELECTING AND/OR USING A COMMUNICATIONS BAND BASED ON THE MONITORING RESULTS

摘要

Methods and apparatus for supporting peer to peer communications are described. A plurality of wide area network communications bands in a wireless communications system are also available for use to communicate peer to peer signals. Some WAN bands may be, and sometimes are unused by a base station for WAN communications at a particular location. A peer to peer communications device monitors one or more WAN communications bands. Received signals in the monitored band or bands are compared to threshold criteria. In one embodiment, if the peer to peer communications device finds that no signal is detected in the monitored band or that the received evaluated signal from the monitored band is below a specified threshold level, then the peer to peer wireless terminal is allowed to use a band which is either the monitored band or a band corresponding to the monitored band for peer to peer signaling.