Single-Wire WiFi Bluetooth Coordination via PTA Arbitration
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing wireless communication devices face interference and increased manufacturing costs due to the need for multiple wires and pins to coordinate between WiFi and Bluetooth modules, which hinders throughput and increases power consumption.
Innovation Solution
A wireless communication device that coordinates between WiFi and Bluetooth modules using only one wire, employing a Packet Traffic Arbitrator (PTA) module to manage transceiving operations through request and reservation type mechanisms, ensuring efficient arbitration and minimizing interference.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If multiple wires and pins are used to coordinate between WiFi and Bluetooth modules, then coordination reliability is improved, but device complexity and manufacturing cost increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges multiple coordination signals into a single shared bus that both WiFi and Bluetooth modules can access. Instead of having separate dedicated wires for each module's control signals, a unified bus structure is used where modules share the same physical medium for coordination, thereby reducing the number of wires and pins while maintaining coordination capability through protocol-based access control
Solution Approach 2:
The single shared bus serves multiple functions: it carries coordination signals for both WiFi and Bluetooth modules, enables interrupt notifications, facilitates data exchange, and provides timing synchronization. This multi-functional approach eliminates the need for separate dedicated wires for each function, reducing overall device complexity while preserving reliable coordination through protocol mechanisms
2Reliability
If multiple wires are used for module coordination, then communication reliability is improved, but power consumption increases
Solution Approach 1:
By combining multiple coordination functions into a single shared bus, the patent reduces the total number of active electrical connections that consume power. The unified bus structure requires fewer pins and wires, thereby reducing the overall power consumption of the coordination interface while maintaining communication reliability through protocol-based error handling and acknowledgment mechanisms
3Adaptability or versatility
If time slot sharing is implemented between WiFi and Bluetooth, then spectrum utilization is improved, but throughput is reduced due to blocking
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements feedback mechanisms where modules can interrupt each other and request priority access to the shared bus based on current traffic conditions. This allows dynamic adjustment of time slot allocation, enabling higher priority transmissions to preempt lower priority ones, thereby improving throughput while maintaining spectrum utilization efficiency
Solution Approach 2:
The time slot assignment is made dynamic rather than fixed, allowing modules to adjust their access rights based on real-time needs. The system can adaptively allocate spectrum resources by enabling interrupts and priority-based access, transforming the static time sharing into a flexible dynamic mechanism that optimizes both spectrum utilization and throughput
Data Source
AI summary
The invention provides a mobile communication device having a first wireless communication module with a strong driving circuit, and a second wireless communication module with a weak driving circuit. The first wireless communication module is coupled to the second wireless communication module via only one wire. The first wireless communication module sends a first traffic pattern of a first wireless transceiving to the second wireless communication module via the wire, and receives a second traffic of a second wireless transceiving from the second wireless communication module via the wire. The second traffic pattern indicates whether the second wireless communication module decides to use a remaining period of time, in which the first wireless communication module is not required to perform wireless transceiving, for the second wireless transceiving.