COOPERATIVE MULTI-BAND OPERATION SCHEMES IN WIRELESS LOCAL AREA NETWORKS

摘要

A cooperative multi-band wireless station architecture that enables full duplex operations of wireless stations (STAs). Such an STA includes a WIFI transceiver and one or more additional transceivers. The two transceivers (and the associated channels) operate in mutually exclusive WIFI bands or different types of protocols and therefore can transmit and/or receive simultaneously without signal interference to each other. The multiple transceivers can perform independent clear channel assessment (CCA) and then simultaneously perform signal transmission or reception jointly or independently. In a cooperative multi-band operation, one channel may be used as an independent assistant channel and responsible for supplying assistant information relevant to a transmission opportunity (TXOP) for the other channel (primary channel) to take corresponding actions. Alternatively, coordinated by a cooperative management unit (CMU) in the STA, the multiple channels in the STA may jointly and simultaneously perform data transmission or reception as peers.