Multi-radio coexistence-aware intelligent WiFi data aggregation

Abstract

The present disclosure relates to multi-radio coexistence-aware intelligent WiFi data aggregation. A mobile computing device is configured to dynamically aggregate wireless communications on a common antenna. The device determines that a WiFi communication in a first frequency band is associated with the antenna, and the WiFi communication has a plurality of allocated transmission time slots. The device determines that a second wireless communication in a second frequency band is also associated with the antenna, and determines the periodicity and / or media quality of the second wireless communication. Based on the periodicity and / or media quality of the second wireless communication, the device aggregates the WiFi communication and the second wireless communication, the aggregation comprising assigning a plurality of packets of the second wireless communication to an aggregate frame of a plurality of frames associated with the transmission time slots assigned to the WiFi communication.

Description

[0001] CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

[0002] This application claims the benefit of and priority to U.S. Patent Application No. 16 / 926,590, filed on July 10, 2020, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety for all purposes. Technical Field

[0003] The subject matter described herein relates to wireless communications, including multi-radio coexistence-aware intelligent WiFi data aggregation. Background Art

[0004] For small form factor mobile computing devices with radio communication capabilities (generally referred to herein as "radio components"), such as smart phones, tablets, smart watches, etc., shared hardware (HW) / radio frequency (RF) resources such as WiFi and Bluetooth (BT) antennas, front-end modules (FEMs), and low antenna isolation generally require coexistence schemes, such as requiring TDD (time division duplexing), such as when both WiFi and BT operate at the same frequency.

[0005] Such coexistence schemes are generally effective if the small form factor mobile computing device has only one active BT device, such as, for example, a BT headset that participates in Advanced Audio Distribution Profile (A2DP) audio streaming. In this example, A2DP audio has a data buffer and delay tolerance, so the WiFi radio component in the computing device can communicate with an access point (AP) such as a router, repeater, or other hardware device for WiFi networking communications before granting BT communications. However, with larger form factors, higher computing power, larger storage, larger screens, and multitasking features, newer mobile devices are catching up with traditional desktop computers in terms of features and performance. In addition, more users prefer mobile devices than desktop computers or laptop computers, where mobile devices can provide similar performance in application execution and excellent performance in communication.

[0006] Users are accustomed to using multiple wireless peripherals with desktop or portable PCs, and when using mobile devices such as tablets, smart phones or smart watches, they require similar functionality and performance. For example, with a docking station, users expect that a tablet can be connected to a BT mouse / trackpad, keyboard and / or pen, while using a BT headset for voice calls or music streaming. Desktop and portable PCs provide a large form factor for accommodating shared HW / RF resources, where WiFi and BT can provide parallel operation at the same frequency without interfering with each other. However, it is usually impossible for small devices such as tablets or phones to provide similar parallel operation.

[0007] Figure 1 An exemplary modern use case of a mobile computing device 102, i.e., a tablet such as an iPad or a smart phone such as an iPhone, is shown, where the mobile computing device 102 is expected to wirelessly connect to a variety of peripherals, such as a smart pen, keyboard, mouse / trackpad, BT / BT Low Energy (BTLE) headset for voice or music, etc. The mobile computing device 102 may also use a low-power wireless mesh network protocol such as Connect to home appliance control systems such as The mobile computing device 102 may also need to wirelessly connect to various other accessories such as tracking tags or tiles.

[0008] Over the years, empirical data has shown that in order to achieve stable WiFi performance at 2.4GHz when BT voice with enhanced synchronous connection steering (eSCO) is turned on, such as used in video calls such as FaceTime (FT) calls, WiFi calling, etc., a simple implementation is to turn off WiFi aggregation and use a "clear to send" (CTS) protocol such as CTS2S to reserve BT time assuming only one BT device is used and a BT headset (HS) is used.

[0009] BT voice usually requires 1.25ms / 7.5ms for corresponding data Tx / Rx. If it has retransmission, BT voice will require an additional 1.25ms / 7.5ms. Figure 2 WiFi / BT eSCO, time division duplex (TDD) time sharing scheme and how WiFi and BT time slots are arranged are shown. BT eSCO can take up to 1.25ms*2=2.5ms, while WiFi can use 5ms-6.25ms. With this scheme, even if WiFi has 2x2 streams, and in the case of a strong received signal strength indication (RSSI) such as >=60dBm, WiFi can achieve a baseline of >=100Mbps. In the case of aggregation closure and BT voice coexistence, WiFi can usually only achieve <=25Mbps. In the case of using one BT HS, such communication speed is sufficient. However, once the user adds other BT peripherals such as a smart pen, keyboard and / or mouse / touchpad, WiFi performance may be significantly affected. In addition to BT voice with short time intervals between packets, other BT devices such as game controllers (GC) also use time intervals of 7.5ms, and Bluetooth low energy (BTLE) for LE audio (LEA) may also have short time intervals for audio services.

[0010] In addition, conventional mobile computing devices also feature support for other RF communication types and protocols such as Ultra Wideband (UWB) and WiFi 5GHz-6GHz needs to coexist with UWB in the 6GHz-8GHz band, while WiFi and Need to coexist in the 2.4GHz-2.48GHz band because Also uses the 2.4GHz ISM band, as long as UWB or With regular, short-interval wireless traffic. In addition, WiFi / BT coexistence can be challenging when BT has real-time short-interval traffic, such as when using voice eSCO, LEA or GC.

[0011] Therefore, new coexistence techniques between wireless computing and communication devices are needed. Summary of the invention

[0012] This document describes a system and method for multi-radio coexistence-aware intelligent WiFi data aggregation. Using the limited aggregation feature, WiFi performance is significantly improved. Combined with BT clustering technology, where multiple BT packets are grouped together to report to the WiFi radio, mobile devices can provide acceptable WiFi performance even when connected to multiple BT devices.

[0013] In some aspects of the present disclosure, a mobile computing device is configured to dynamically aggregate wireless communications on a common antenna. A processor of the device determines that a WiFi communication in a first frequency band is associated with the antenna, the WiFi communication having a plurality of allocated transmission time slots. The processor determines that a second wireless communication in a second frequency band is also associated with the antenna, and determines a periodicity and / or a media quality of the second wireless communication. Based on the periodicity and / or the media quality of the second wireless communication, the processor aggregates the WiFi communication and the second wireless communication, the aggregation comprising assigning a plurality of packets of the second wireless communication to an aggregate frame of a plurality of frames associated with the transmission time slots allocated to the WiFi communication.

[0014] Specific implementations of the subject matter may include, but are not limited to, methods consistent with the description provided herein and articles including tangibly embodied machine-readable media that can be operated to cause one or more machines (e.g., computers, mobile devices, etc.) to generate operations that implement one or more of the features described. Similarly, a computer system that may include one or more processors and one or more memories coupled to the one or more processors is also described. A memory that may include a non-transitory computer-readable or machine-readable storage medium may include one or more programs, encode them, store them, etc., and the one or more programs cause one or more processors to perform one or more of the operations described herein. A computer-implemented method consistent with one or more specific implementations of the subject matter may be implemented by one or more data processors residing in a single computing system or multiple computing systems. Such multiple computing systems may be connected and may exchange data and / or commands or other instructions, etc., via one or more connections, including but not limited to connections through a network (e.g., the Internet, a wireless wide area network, a local area network, a wide area network, a wired network, etc.), direct connections between one or more computing systems in multiple computing systems, etc.

[0015] The details of one or more variations of the subject matter described herein are set forth in the drawings and the description below. Other features and advantages of the subject matter described herein will be apparent from the description and drawings, and from the claims. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0016] The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification, illustrate certain aspects of the subject matter disclosed herein and, together with the description, help explain some principles associated with the disclosed specific implementations. In the drawings:

[0017] Figure 1 An exemplary use case for wireless communication with a modern tablet is shown;

[0018] Figure 2 is an exemplary timing diagram showing WiFi / BT eSCO TDD scheduling;

[0019] Figure 3A and Figure 3B are several examples of WiFi communications using limited aggregation;

[0020] Figure 4 is an exemplary flow chart showing further details of limited aggregation decision making;

[0021] Figure 5 An example of the impact of simultaneous BT eSCO and Human Interface Device (HID) protocol communication traffic of a touchpad on a video calling user experience over a 2.4Ghz WiFi link is shown; and

[0022] Figure 6 An exemplary comparison of WiFi Rx performance with limited aggregation turned on and off is shown.

[0023] Where applicable, like reference numerals refer to like structures, features or elements. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0024] This document describes a system and method for multi-radio coexistence-aware intelligent WiFi data aggregation. According to some implementations, the system and method provide a limited aggregation feature in conjunction with BT clustering technology, where multiple BT packets are grouped together for reporting to the WiFi radio component, so that the mobile device can provide acceptable WiFi performance even when connected to multiple BT devices.

[0025] Figure 3A and Figure 3B FIG. 1 shows WiFi operation of a mobile computing device with limited aggregation. Figure 3A Instead of rejecting the aggregation requested from the access point (AP), the device will agree to the aggregation, however, it will propose the size of the aggregation based on the WiFi / BT coexistence strategy, such as Figure 3B For example, the AP may request 64 packets in an aggregate frame, and if the device calculates that it can fit in the time slot allocated for WiFi communication, the device may reply with n=10.

[0026] Figure 4 is a flow diagram illustrating further details of limited aggregation of mobile computing devices. Figure 3A The "n" shown is represented by Figure 4 The multiple inputs shown determine, for example, the amount of time allocated to WiFi, WiFi RSSI, and / or ambient noise, etc., the mobile computing device will calculate the appropriate size of the transmission and report it to the AP. Figure 4 The process flow shown is mainly applicable to the WiFi receive (Rx) case; for WiFi transmit (Tx), the mobile computing device has more freedom because it can calculate the amount of time allocated for WiFi Tx and will dynamically decide the aggregation size. Therefore, this document is more focused on the WiFi Rx case, which is more widely used in mobile devices and is more challenging to achieve high performance because the AP decides the Tx size, rate, etc.

[0027] At 402, it is determined whether there are any WiFi connections, and if so, whether they are of a specific frequency, such as 2.4 GHz or 5 GHz-6 GHz or up to 60 GHz. This step may also determine the infrastructure of the WiFi connection, and whether the connection is ad hoc, peer-to-peer, on a mesh network, etc. At 404, coexistence is determined, i.e., whether another wireless technology is starting in the same frequency band or is close enough to share an antenna, such as Bluetooth, UWB, Thread, LTE, etc.

[0028] At 406, it is determined whether the communication is periodic, i.e., whether the communication activity is determined with a certain periodicity, and if not, DA is disabled. For example, the method determines whether the interval is sufficiently short so that WiFi can use aggregation based on the coexisting communication technologies. If so, it is determined at 408 whether the media quality is sufficient for dynamic aggregation. For example, the system determines whether RSSI>65dBm, SRN>25dBm, and / or CCA<30%. If not, DA is disabled. If yes, it is determined at 410 whether the network infrastructure can support dynamic aggregation, i.e., whether the infrastructure can negotiate the aggregation scale with the AP using ADDPA. If yes, DA is enabled.

[0029] Figure 5 WiFi performance in the case of eSCO and BT HID for the trackpad is shown, and the impact on the FaceTime user experience over a 2.4Ghz WiFi link with simultaneous BT TeSCO and HID (trackpad) traffic. In this use case, the trackpad takes up to 2.5ms of additional talk time every 7.5ms. For WiFi operation, only 3.75ms is left every 7.5ms (eSCO takes 1.25ms / 7.5ms), and more significantly constitutes two separate frequent interrupt groups used by the WiFi antenna. In the case of aggregation off, this results in very inefficient use of the medium by the WiFi radio component, and a constant rate drop from the sending AP side, because the medium cannot always be reserved with serial "clear to send to self" (CTS2Self) message frame transmissions, because the BT eSCO and HID requests are high priority and generated a few milliseconds apart.

[0030] Video telephony or video calling applications such as FaceTime (FT) are latency sensitive, and momentary drops in Wi-Fi throughput caused by BT eSCO and HID interruptions can result in performance degradation in the form of video stuttering. Figure 5 is a table showing that at a Wi-Fi link interference level of 20%, which is typical in many user environments, the percentage of video call duration affected by video freeze is unacceptably high.

[0031] Figure 5 The table in also shows the video call performance in terms of video freeze percentage, where the proposed WiFi limited aggregation scheme is enabled. It can be observed that the video call performance improves significantly under the various WiFi link signal strength conditions tested. This is basically caused by the WiFi radio component making more efficient use of the allocated talk time by packing more data bytes per transmission packet (each physical layer packet has multiple MAC-level MPDUs aggregated according to the limited aggregation algorithm). This helps to avoid significant drops in WiFi throughput due to BT activity and helps meet the latency requirements of the FaceTime application. Generally speaking, a video freeze percentage > 6% is considered to be a sufficiently poor user experience that may cause the user to be disconnected.

[0032] Therefore, in limited aggregation scenarios, WiFi performance can be significantly improved, e.g. Figure 6 , which shows a comparison of WiFi Rx performance with limited aggregation turned on and off. These are simulation results using WiFi MIMO 2x2 and include a 30% Clear Channel Assessment (CCA) typical of an office environment.

[0033] However, some APs may not be compliant with the 802.11 standard, which can cause regressions. To avoid this problem, there are two options: In the first option, the WiFi host software will check the AP model, WiFi chipset vendor, and / or WiFi firmware version, and then based on the accumulated information and knowledge, a database can be built to list which APs can apply this feature. This can also be implemented in the WiFi driver based on collected counters, such as the number of aggregation sizes sent down by the AP relative to the number of aggregations required by the device. If it does not match, the WiFi driver will fall back to non-aggregation mode.

[0034] The WiFi firmware (similar to the WiFi driver) can also detect key counters and decide which is the best solution. For example, if the AP does not perform smaller aggregation scales such as still bursting with large aggregation or keeps tearing down aggregation, the device can decide to fall back to aggregation off mode to minimize regression.

[0035] One or more aspects or features of the subject matter described herein may be implemented in digital electronic circuits, integrated circuits, specially designed application specific integrated circuits (ASICs), field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), computer hardware, firmware, software, and / or combinations thereof. These various aspects or features may include specific implementations in one or more computer programs that can be executed and / or interpreted on a programmable system that includes at least one programmable processor that may be dedicated or general, at least one input device, and at least one output device, the programmable processor being coupled to receive data and instructions from a storage system and to transmit data and instructions to the storage system. A programmable system or computing system may include a client and a server. The client and the server are generally remote from each other and typically interact through a communication network. The relationship between the client and the server is generated by means of computer programs that run on respective computers and have a client-server relationship with each other.

[0036] These computer programs (also referred to as programs, software, software applications, applications, components or codes) include machine instructions for programmable processors and can be implemented in high-level procedural languages, object-oriented programming languages, functional programming languages, logical programming languages ​​and / or in assembly language / machine language. As used herein, the term "machine-readable medium" refers to any computer program product, device and / or device for providing machine instructions and / or data to a programmable processor, such as, for example, a disk, an optical disk, a memory and a programmable logic device (PLD), including a machine-readable medium that receives machine instructions as a machine-readable signal. The term "machine-readable signal" refers to any signal for providing machine instructions and / or data to a programmable processor. The machine-readable medium can store such machine instructions in a non-transitory manner, such as, for example, a non-transitory solid-state memory or a magnetic hard drive or any equivalent storage medium. Alternatively or in addition, the machine-readable medium can store such machine instructions in a transient manner, such as, for example, a processor cache or other random access memory associated with one or more physical processor cores.

[0037] To provide interaction with a user, one or more aspects or features of the subject matter described herein can be implemented on a computer having a display device for displaying information to the user, such as, for example, a cathode ray tube (CRT) or a liquid crystal display (LCD) or a light emitting diode (LED) monitor, and a keyboard and pointing device, such as, for example, a mouse or trackball, that the user can use to provide input to the computer. Other types of devices can also be used to provide interaction with the user. For example, the feedback provided to the user can be any form of sensory feedback, such as, for example, visual feedback, auditory feedback, or tactile feedback; and input from the user can be received in any form, including but not limited to sound, voice, or tactile input. Other possible input devices include, but are not limited to, touch screens or other touch-sensitive devices, such as single-point or multi-point resistive or capacitive touch pads, voice recognition hardware and software, optical scanners, optical pointers, digital image capture devices and associated interpretation software, etc.

[0038] In the above description and claims, phrases such as "at least one of..." or "one or more of..." may appear after a list of connected elements or features. The term "and / or" may also appear in two or more lists of elements or features. Unless otherwise implied or explicitly contradicted by the context in which it is used, such phrases are intended to mean any one of the elements or features listed individually, or any one of the listed elements or features combined with any of the other listed elements or features. For example, the phrases "at least one of A and B"; "one or more of A and B"; and "A and / or B" are each intended to mean "A alone, B alone, or A and B together". Similar interpretations are also intended for lists including three or more items. For example, the phrases "at least one of A, B, and C"; "one or more of A, B, and C"; and "A, B, and / or C" are each intended to mean "A alone, B alone, C alone, A and B together, A and C together, B and C together, or A and B and C together". The term “based on” as used above and in the claims is intended to mean “based, at least in part, on” such that non-listed features or elements are also allowable.

[0039] The subject matter described herein may be embodied in systems, devices, methods and / or articles, depending on the desired configuration. The specific implementations set forth in the preceding description do not represent all specific implementations consistent with the subject matter described herein. Instead, they are merely some examples consistent with aspects related to the subject matter. Although some variations have been described in detail above, other modifications or additions are also possible. Specifically, in addition to those features and / or variations set forth herein, other features and / or variations may also be provided. For example, the above-mentioned specific implementations may involve various combinations and sub-combinations of the features disclosed herein and / or combinations and sub-combinations of several additional features disclosed above. In addition, the logical flows shown in the accompanying drawings and / or described herein do not necessarily require the specific order shown or the sequential order to achieve the desired results. Other specific implementations may be within the scope of the following claims.

Claims

1. A method for aggregating wireless communications, the method comprising: determining, by the mobile computing device, that WiFi communications in a first frequency band are associated with the antenna, the WiFi communications having a plurality of allocated transmission time slots; determining, by the mobile computing device, that a second wireless communication in a second frequency band is also associated with the antenna; determining, by the mobile computing device, a periodicity of the second wireless communication; as well as Dynamic aggregation of the WiFi communication and the second wireless communication is determined by the mobile computing device based on the periodicity of the second wireless communication, the dynamic aggregation comprising assigning a plurality of packets of the second wireless communication to an aggregated frame in a plurality of frames associated with the transmission time slot assigned to the WiFi communication. The method of claim 1 , wherein the second wireless communication is in accordance with a Bluetooth protocol. The method of claim 1 , wherein the periodicity is compared to the transmission time slots allocated for the WiFi communication.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising determining, by the mobile computing device, a media quality of the second wireless communication, wherein: Determining the dynamic aggregation of the WiFi communication and the second wireless communication is based on the periodicity of the second wireless communication and the media quality, and wherein the media quality is determined based on at least a received signal strength indication greater than 65 dBm.

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising determining, by the mobile computing device, a media quality of the second wireless communication, wherein: Determining the dynamic aggregation of the WiFi communication and the second wireless communication is based on the periodicity of the second wireless communication and the media quality, and wherein the media quality is determined based on a signal-to-noise ratio greater than 25 dBm.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising determining, by the mobile computing device, a media quality of the second wireless communication, wherein: Determining the dynamic aggregation of the WiFi communication and the second wireless communication is based on the periodicity of the second wireless communication and the media quality, and wherein the media quality is determined based on a clear channel assessment of less than 30%.

7. A mobile computing device comprising one or more processors, the processors being configured to: determining that WiFi communications in a first frequency band are associated with the antenna, the WiFi communications having a plurality of allocated transmission time slots; determining that a second wireless communication in a second frequency band is also associated with the antenna; determining a periodicity of the second wireless communication; as well as Dynamic aggregation of the WiFi communication with the second wireless communication is determined based on the periodicity of the second wireless communication, the dynamic aggregation comprising assigning a plurality of packets of the second wireless communication to an aggregated frame in a plurality of frames associated with the transmission time slots assigned to the WiFi communication.

8. The mobile computing device of claim 7, wherein the second wireless communication is in accordance with a Bluetooth protocol.

9. The mobile computing device of claim 7, wherein the periodicity is compared to the transmission time slots allocated for the WiFi communication.

10. The mobile computing device of claim 7, wherein the processor is further configured to determine a media quality of the second wireless communication, wherein: Determining the dynamic aggregation of the WiFi communication and the second wireless communication is based on the periodicity of the second wireless communication and the media quality, and wherein the media quality is determined based on at least a received signal strength indication greater than 65 dBm.

11. The mobile computing device of claim 7, wherein the processor is further configured to determine a media quality of the second wireless communication, wherein: Determining the dynamic aggregation of the WiFi communication and the second wireless communication is based on the periodicity of the second wireless communication and the media quality, and wherein the media quality is determined based on a signal-to-noise ratio greater than 25 dBm.

12. The mobile computing device of claim 7, wherein the processor is further configured to determine a media quality of the second wireless communication, wherein: Determining the dynamic aggregation of the WiFi communication and the second wireless communication is based on the periodicity of the second wireless communication and the media quality, and wherein the media quality is determined based on a clear channel assessment of less than 30%.

13. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing instructions executable by one or more processors of a first device to cause the one or more processors to: determining that WiFi communications with a second device in a first frequency band are associated with an antenna of the first device, the WiFi communications having a plurality of allocated transmission time slots; determining that a second wireless communication in a second frequency band is also associated with the antenna of the first device; determining a periodicity of the second wireless communication; as well as The WiFi communication and the second wireless communication are aggregated based on the periodicity of the second wireless communication, the aggregating comprising assigning a plurality of packets of the second wireless communication to an aggregated frame of a plurality of frames associated with the transmission time slots assigned to the WiFi communication.

14. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 13, wherein the second wireless communication is in accordance with a Bluetooth protocol.

15. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 13, wherein the periodicity is compared to the transmission time slots allocated for the WiFi communication.

16. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 13, wherein the instructions further cause the one or more processors to determine a media quality of the second wireless communication, wherein: Determining the dynamic aggregation of the WiFi communication and the second wireless communication is based on the periodicity of the second wireless communication and the media quality, and wherein the media quality is determined based on at least a received signal strength indication greater than 65 dBm.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 13, wherein the instructions further cause the one or more processors to determine a media quality of the second wireless communication, wherein: Determining the dynamic aggregation of the WiFi communication and the second wireless communication is based on the periodicity of the second wireless communication and the media quality, and wherein the media quality is determined based on a signal-to-noise ratio greater than 25 dBm.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 13, wherein the instructions further cause the one or more processors to determine a media quality of the second wireless communication, wherein: Determining the dynamic aggregation of the WiFi communication and the second wireless communication is based on the periodicity of the second wireless communication and the media quality, and wherein the media quality is determined based on a clear channel assessment of less than 30%.

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