Patent Application
20160219633
Aspects of the present disclosure relate generally to wireless communication systems, and more particularly, to utilizing unidirectional antennas to ameliorate peer-to-peer device interference.
Wireless communication networks are widely deployed to provide various communication services such as telephony, video, data, messaging, broadcasts, and so on. Such networks, which are usually multiple access networks, support communications for multiple users by sharing the available network resources. One example of such a network is the UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access Network (UTRAN). The UTRAN is the radio access network (RAN) defined as a part of the Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS), a third generation (3G) mobile phone technology supported by the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP). UMTS, which is the successor to Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) technologies, currently supports various air interface standards, such as Wideband-Code Division Multiple Access (W-CDMA), Time Division-Code Division Multiple Access (TD-CDMA), and Time Division-Synchronous Code Division Multiple Access (TD-SCDMA). UMTS also supports enhanced 3G data communications protocols, such as High Speed Packet Access (HSPA), which provides higher data transfer speeds and capacity to associated UMTS networks.
Providing in-vehicle connectivity to wireless communication networks is particularly desirable. To this end, many vehicles are now Wi-Fi enabled, which allows drivers/passengers to access such networks from within the cabin of their vehicle. Because of the increased popularity of Wi-Fi Direct devices, many in-vehicle systems are now configured to pair with such devices. Wi-Fi Direct is a Wi-Fi standard, which is described in the Wi-Fi Peer-to-Peer (P2P) Technical Specification published by the Wi-Fi Alliance Technical Committee P2P Task Group, and incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. Wi-Fi Direct enables devices to connect easily with each other without requiring a wireless access point and to communicate at typical Wi-Fi speeds for various tasks (e.g., file transfer, Internet connectivity etc.). Moreover, Wi-Fi Direct allows two devices to establish a direct, peer-to-peer Wi-Fi connection without requiring a wireless router. For instance, as illustrated in
Signals from conventional in-vehicle Wi-Fi systems, however, often cause undesirable distractions to drivers. For instance, because Wi-Fi Direct device discovery transmissions from conventional in-vehicle systems typically have omnidirectional properties, transmissions from devices in neighboring vehicles often show up on a vehicle's head unit screen, which require user interaction (e.g., passcode entry, button activation, etc.). Namely, such device discovery transmissions are typically transmitted from Wi-Fi modules residing within a vehicle's dashboard via an 802.11n/ac standard operating within a 2.4-5 GHz band, which has omnidirectional antenna properties.
With the increasing popularity of vehicles with Wi-Fi Direct capability, the number of inadvertent device discovery transmissions received from neighboring vehicles will also undesirably increase. As illustrated in
The following presents a simplified summary of one or more aspects of the present disclosure, in order to provide a basic understanding of such aspects. This summary is not an extensive overview of all contemplated features of the disclosure, and is intended neither to identify key or critical elements of all aspects of the disclosure nor to delineate the scope of any or all aspects of the disclosure. Its sole purpose is to present some concepts of one or more aspects of the disclosure in a simplified form as a prelude to the more detailed description that is presented later.
Aspects of the present disclosure provide methods, apparatuses, computer program products, and processing systems directed towards utilizing unidirectional antennas to ameliorate peer-to-peer device interference. In one aspect, the disclosure provides a method, which includes transmitting at least one device discovery signal from a host device towards a cabin of a vehicle via at least one unidirectional antenna. The method further includes receiving a peer-to-peer connection request at the host device from a device within the cabin in response to the at least one device discovery signal, and establishing a peer-to-peer connection between the device within the cabin and the host device such that an establishment of the peer-to-peer connection is based on a processing of the peer-to-peer connection request.
In another aspect, a host device comprising a transmit circuit, a receive circuit, and a network circuit is disclosed. Here, the transmit circuit is configured to transmit at least one device discovery signal towards a cabin of a vehicle via at least one unidirectional antenna, whereas the receive circuit is configured to receive a peer-to-peer connection request from a device within the cabin in response to the at least one device discovery signal. The network circuit is then configured to establish a peer-to-peer connection with the device within the cabin based on a processing of the peer-to-peer connection request.
In a further aspect, another host device is disclosed, which comprises a means for transmitting a device discovery signal, a means for receiving a peer-to-peer connection request, and a means for establishing a peer-to-peer connection. Here, the means for transmitting is configured to transmit at least one device discovery signal towards a cabin of a vehicle via at least one unidirectional antenna, whereas the means for receiving is configured to receive a peer-to-peer connection request from a device within the cabin in response to the at least one device discovery signal. The means for establishing is then configured to establish a peer-to-peer connection with the device within the cabin based on a processing of the peer-to-peer connection request.
In yet another aspect, a non-transitory machine-readable storage medium having one or more instructions stored thereon is disclosed. Here, when executed by at least one processor, the one or more instructions cause the at least one processor to transmit at least one device discovery signal from a host device towards a cabin of a vehicle via at least one unidirectional antenna. The instructions further comprise instructions for causing the at least one processor to receive a peer-to-peer connection request at the host device from a device within the cabin in response to the at least one device discovery signal, and establish a peer-to-peer connection between the device within the cabin and the host device based on a processing of the peer-to-peer connection request.
These and other aspects of the invention will become more fully understood upon a review of the detailed description, which follows. Other aspects, features, and embodiments of the present invention will become apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art, upon reviewing the following description of specific, exemplary embodiments of the present invention in conjunction with the accompanying figures. While features of the present invention may be discussed relative to certain embodiments and figures below, all embodiments of the present invention can include one or more of the advantageous features discussed herein. In other words, while one or more embodiments may be discussed as having certain advantageous features, one or more of such features may also be used in accordance with the various embodiments of the invention discussed herein. In similar fashion, while exemplary embodiments may be discussed below as device, system, or method embodiments it should be understood that such exemplary embodiments can be implemented in various devices, systems, and methods.
The detailed description set forth below in connection with the appended drawings is intended as a description of various configurations and is not intended to represent the only configurations in which the concepts described herein may be practiced. The detailed description includes specific details for the purpose of providing a thorough understanding of various concepts. However, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that these concepts may be practiced without these specific details. In some instances, well known structures and components are shown in block diagram form in order to avoid obscuring such concepts.
As stated previously, device discovery transmissions from conventional in-vehicle peer-to-peer systems often cause undesirable distractions to neighboring drivers. Accordingly, aspects disclosed herein are directed towards ameliorating peer-to-peer device interference caused by in-vehicle systems. In a particular implementation, unidirectional antennas are placed in the interior roof of a vehicle, wherein peer-to-peer device discovery transmissions are transmitted from the unidirectional antennas in a downward direction towards the vehicle's cabin.
Referring next to
Depending on the desired coverage area, it may be desirable to transmit signals via multiple unidirectional antennas. Indeed, because of the aforementioned characteristics of beam width 410, adequate signal coverage of a vehicle's cabin may require an array of unidirectional antennas, rather than a single antenna. In
In another aspect of the disclosure, it is contemplated that the spacing between individual antennas of an array may be strategically selected according to the desired transmitting frequency of the antennas. For instance, in an exemplary implementation, the spacing between unidirectional antennas is selected to be approximately half the wavelength of signals transmitted from the antennas. Therefore, if a desired configuration comprises transmitting device discovery transmissions at 60 Ghz, a spacing of approximately 2.5 millimeters may be selected since signals transmitted at 60 Ghz have a wavelength of approximately 5 millimeters.
For some implementations, signal coverage may be provided for select areas within the cabin of a vehicle. Namely, rather than attempting to provide exhaustive signal coverage for the entire cabin, signal coverage may instead be limited to areas of the cabin in which a peer-to-peer device will likely be used. Unidirectional antennas, either individually or in a plurality of arrays, may then be placed in the interior roof of the cabin above these selected areas. In
In a further aspect of the disclosure, utilizing rotatable unidirectional antennas to provide signal coverage is contemplated. To this end, it should be appreciated that such antennas may be configured to rotate so as to point towards an area within the cabin for which signal coverage is desired. In
Here, although it is contemplated rotatable unidirectional antenna 740 may be rotated manually, it is also contemplated that such rotation may be performed via an automated electromechanical mechanism. For instance, any of various types of sensors may be used to determine a desired direction to rotate rotatable unidirectional antenna 740. A sensor may, for example, detect a signal from a peer-to-peer device and subsequently determine an approximate location of the device within the cabin. Host device 730 may then be configured to automatically rotate rotatable unidirectional antenna 740 toward the determined location to establish a peer-to-peer connection.
In yet a further aspect of the disclosure, utilizing an array of rotatable unidirectional antennas to provide signal coverage is contemplated. In
It is contemplated that the various aspects for utilizing unidirectional antennas to ameliorate peer-to-peer device interference disclosed herein may be incorporated within a peer-to-peer enabled device (e.g., host device 100, host device 730, host device 830, etc.). Accordingly, exemplary implementations of these aspects are provided below, as incorporated within a peer-to-peer enabled device.
Referring next to
In this example, the processing system 914 may be implemented with a bus architecture, represented generally by the bus 902. The bus 902 may include any number of interconnecting buses and bridges depending on the specific application of the processing system 914 and the overall design constraints. The bus 902 links together various circuits including one or more processors (represented generally by the processor 904), a memory 905, and computer-readable media (represented generally by the computer-readable medium 906). The bus 902 may also link various other circuits such as timing sources, peripherals, voltage regulators, and power management circuits, which are well known in the art, and therefore, will not be described any further. A bus interface 908 provides an interface between the bus 902 and a transceiver 910. The transceiver 910 provides a means for communicating with various other apparatus over a transmission medium. Depending upon the nature of the apparatus, a user interface 912 (e.g., keypad, display, speaker, microphone, joystick) may also be provided.
In an aspect of the disclosure, computer-readable medium 906 is configured to include various instructions 906a, 906b, and/or 906c to facilitate utilizing unidirectional antennas to ameliorate peer-to-peer device interference, as shown. In a similar aspect, such utilization can instead be implemented via hardware by coupling processor 904 to any of circuits 920, 930, and/or 940, as shown. Moreover, it is contemplated that the utilization of unidirectional antennas disclosed herein may be performed by any combination of instructions 906a, 906b, and/or 906c, with any combination of circuits 920, 930, and/or 940.
The processor 904 is responsible for managing the bus 902 and general processing, including the execution of software stored on the computer-readable medium 906. The software, when executed by the processor 904, causes the processing system 914 to perform the various functions described below for any particular apparatus. The computer-readable medium 906 may also be used for storing data that is manipulated by the processor 904 when executing software.
One or more processors 904 in the processing system may execute software. Software shall be construed broadly to mean instructions, instruction sets, code, code segments, program code, programs, subprograms, software modules, applications, software applications, software packages, routines, subroutines, objects, executables, threads of execution, procedures, functions, etc., whether referred to as software, firmware, middleware, microcode, hardware description language, or otherwise. The software may reside on a computer-readable medium 906. The computer-readable medium 906 may be a non-transitory computer-readable medium. A non-transitory computer-readable medium includes, by way of example, a magnetic storage device (e.g., hard disk, floppy disk, magnetic strip), an optical disk (e.g., a compact disc (CD) or a digital versatile disc (DVD)), a smart card, a flash memory device (e.g., a card, a stick, or a key drive), a random access memory (RAM), a read only memory (ROM), a programmable ROM (PROM), an erasable PROM (EPROM), an electrically erasable PROM (EEPROM), a register, a removable disk, and any other suitable medium for storing software and/or instructions that may be accessed and read by a computer. The computer-readable medium may also include, by way of example, a carrier wave, a transmission line, and any other suitable medium for transmitting software and/or instructions that may be accessed and read by a computer. The computer-readable medium 906 may reside in the processing system 914, external to the processing system 914, or distributed across multiple entities including the processing system 914. The computer-readable medium 906 may be embodied in a computer program product. By way of example, a computer program product may include a computer-readable medium in packaging materials. Those skilled in the art will recognize how best to implement the described functionality presented throughout this disclosure depending on the particular application and the overall design constraints imposed on the overall system.
As discussed below, host device 900 may be configured in any of a plurality of ways to facilitate utilizing unidirectional antennas to ameliorate peer-to-peer device interference. For instance, in an exemplary implementation, transmit instructions 906a and/or transmit circuit 920 may be configured to transmit at least one device discovery signal towards a cabin of a vehicle via at least one unidirectional antenna; receiving instructions 906b and/or receiving circuit 930 may be configured to receive a peer-to-peer connection request from a device within the cabin in response to the at least one device discovery signal; and network instructions 906c and/or network circuit 940 may be configured to establish a peer-to-peer connection with the device within the cabin based on a processing of the peer-to-peer connection request.
As illustrated in
In an aspect of the disclosure, transmit instructions 906a and transmit circuit 920 may further comprise subcomponents to facilitate transmitting device discovery signals via unidirectional antenna arrays (e.g., unidirectional antenna array 500). For instance, as illustrated in
As previously mentioned, because it may be desirable for a vehicle to have multiple unidirectional antenna arrays (e.g., vehicle 600 which includes unidirectional antenna array 630, unidirectional antenna array 640, unidirectional antenna array 650, and unidirectional antenna array 660), array instructions 1022 and/or array sub-circuit 1020 may be configured to facilitate transmitting the plurality of device discovery signals via a plurality of unidirectional antenna arrays. To conserve power, for example, array instructions 1022 and/or array sub-circuit 1020 may be coupled to a triggering mechanism, wherein the triggering mechanism activates particular arrays upon detecting that a user/device is within an array signal coverage area. Here, it is contemplated that any of various triggering mechanisms may be used. For instance, a sensor configured to detect whether a driver/passenger is seated within an array signal coverage area may be utilized, wherein such sensor may be any sensor commonly known in the art (e.g., optical sensor, heat sensor, weight sensor, etc.). A signal sensor may also be utilized, wherein such sensor detects signals emanating from peer-to-peer devices and activates arrays accordingly.
In a further aspect of the disclosure, as illustrated in
In accordance with another aspect of the disclosure, each of network instructions 906c and network circuit 940 may comprise any of a plurality of subcomponents to facilitate establishing peer-to-peer connections between host device 900 and devices within the cabin of a vehicle. For instance, as illustrated in
Implementations where host device 900 connects peer-to-peer devices to external networks are also contemplated. To facilitate such connections, network instructions 906c and network circuit 940 may comprise external network instructions 1122 and external network sub-circuit 1120, respectively. For instance, because it may be desirable for host device 900 to provide peer-to-peer devices with internet access via a secure network, external network instructions 1122 and/or external network sub-circuit 1120 may be configured to store/process credentials associated with accessing such secure network.
Referring next to
As illustrated, process 1200 begins at act 1210 where a unidirectional antenna or antenna array is pointed toward a desired signal coverage area. As previously stated, it is contemplated that unidirectional antennas are pointed downward from the interior roof of a vehicle's cabin so that signals transmitted from the antennas are directed towards the cabin. At act 1220, the unidirectional antennas are then calibrated to transmit signals as desired. For instance, such calibration may comprise calibrating a millimeter wave to transmit signals at a particular frequency (e.g., 60 GHz) and having a particular beam width (e.g., between three degrees and twenty degrees).
Once the unidirectional antennas are properly calibrated, a procedure for establishing a peer-to-peer connection may commence. Such procedure may, for example, include establishing a peer-to-peer connection via a Wi-Fi Direct protocol. Accordingly, at act 1230 device discovery signals may be transmitted from the unidirectional antennas to find peer-to-peer devices within the cabin of the vehicle. If a peer-to-peer device is within a coverage area of the device discovery transmissions, the peer-to-peer device then sends a connection request to the host device which is received at act 1240. Process 1200 then proceeds to act 1250 where the connection request is processed (e.g., via a Wi-Fi Protected Setup), and subsequently concludes at act 1260 with the host device establishing a peer-to-peer connection with the peer-to-peer device according to a processing of the connection request.
Several aspects of a telecommunications system have been presented with reference to a system utilizing a peer-to-peer architecture and a Wi-Fi (e.g., 802.11) air interface. As those skilled in the art will readily appreciate, various aspects described throughout this disclosure may be extended to other communication systems, network architectures and communication standards.
By way of example, various aspects may be extended to other systems such as those employing Long Term Evolution (LTE) (in FDD, TDD, or both modes), LTE-Advanced (LTE-A) (in FDD, TDD, or both modes), Universal Mobile Telecommunications Systems (UMTS), Global System for Mobile (GSM), CDMA2000, Evolution-Data Optimized (EV-DO), Ultra Mobile Broadband (UMB), IEEE 802.16 (WiMAX), IEEE 802.20, Ultra-Wideband (UWB), Bluetooth, and/or other suitable systems. The actual communication standard, network architecture, and/or communication standard employed will depend on the specific application and the overall design constraints imposed on the system.
Within the present disclosure, the word “exemplary” is used to mean “serving as an example, instance, or illustration.” Any implementation or aspect described herein as “exemplary” is not necessarily to be construed as preferred or advantageous over other aspects of the disclosure. Likewise, the term “aspects” does not require that all aspects of the disclosure include the discussed feature, advantage or mode of operation. The term “coupled” is used herein to refer to the direct or indirect coupling between two objects. For example, if object A physically touches object B, and object B touches object C, then objects A and C may still be considered coupled to one another—even if they do not directly physically touch each other. For instance, a first die may be coupled to a second die in a package even though the first die is never directly physically in contact with the second die. The terms “circuit” and “circuitry” are used broadly, and intended to include both hardware implementations of electrical devices and conductors that, when connected and configured, enable the performance of the functions described in the present disclosure, without limitation as to the type of electronic circuits, as well as software implementations of information and instructions that, when executed by a processor, enable the performance of the functions described in the present disclosure.
One or more of the components, steps, features and/or functions illustrated in
It is to be understood that the specific order or hierarchy of steps in the methods disclosed is an illustration of exemplary processes. Based upon design preferences, it is understood that the specific order or hierarchy of steps in the methods may be rearranged. The accompanying method claims present elements of the various steps in a sample order, and are not meant to be limited to the specific order or hierarchy presented unless specifically recited therein.
The previous description is provided to enable any person skilled in the art to practice the various aspects described herein. Various modifications to these aspects will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art, and the generic principles defined herein may be applied to other aspects. Thus, the claims are not intended to be limited to the aspects shown herein, but are to be accorded the full scope consistent with the language of the claims, wherein reference to an element in the singular is not intended to mean “one and only one” unless specifically so stated, but rather “one or more.” Unless specifically stated otherwise, the term “some” refers to one or more. A phrase referring to “at least one of” a list of items refers to any combination of those items, including single members. As an example, “at least one of: a, b, or c” is intended to cover: a; b; c; a and b; a and c; b and c; and a, b and c. All structural and functional equivalents to the elements of the various aspects described throughout this disclosure that are known or later come to be known to those of ordinary skill in the art are expressly incorporated herein by reference and are intended to be encompassed by the claims. Moreover, nothing disclosed herein is intended to be dedicated to the public regardless of whether such disclosure is explicitly recited in the claims. No claim element is to be construed under the provisions of 35 U.S.C. §112, sixth paragraph, unless the element is expressly recited using the phrase “means for” or, in the case of a method claim, the element is recited using the phrase “step for.”
