Microsoft Technology Licensing, LLC

Mark Clear

Amer A Hassan

Peter Fortman

Mukund Sankaranarayan

Paul William Garnett

Mitesh K Desai

Henrique Filgueiras

Paul W Mitchell

Trideepraj Roychoudhury

Paul Mitchell

Opportunistic use of spectrum is disclosed that allows a device access to a wireless local area network (WLAN) when necessary on a restricted frequency band and provides efficient scanning and switching of device communications to an unrestricted frequency band when channels become available in the unrestricted frequency band. A device operating in the network on the restricted frequency band may receive information on a channel set over a channel in the restricted frequency band. The channel set may be a subset of channels in the network and indicate network channels available for potential use in the unrestricted frequency band. The device may then only scan the subset of channels in the channel set to search for available channels in the unrestricted band. The channel set may be determined by the network based on the operation of the device in the coverage of the restricted frequency band.

Opportunistic use of spectrum

Application data traffic transmitted and received by wireless devices in a network may be mapped to channels based on traffic type and channel metrics. The traffic type may be classified by modality such as by voice, video, application sharing, instant messaging, emergency call, or any other application modality. The channels may be associated with characteristics that include, for example, a frequency band or channel metrics. The traffic types may be prioritized relative to one another and each may be associated with a hierarchical frequency band prioritization or a channel prioritization based on other channel metrics. A list of traffic types or modalities may be mapped to a list of available channels in a network by mapping channel characteristics to modalities based on modality traffic type prioritization, frequency band prioritization or channel metric prioritization. The mapping may then be utilized to control channel assignment for devices operating in the network.

Hierarchical spectrum offload

Examples disclosed herein relate to efficient hierarchical radio frequency (RF) spectrum assigning across both licensed and unlicensed frequencies in a given area. Wireless devices in the area are detected by a spectrum manager, which also detects all available RF frequencies that are available. Conditional, relative, or absolute RF assignment rules received by an administrator or from an administrative device dictate the allocation conditions for assigning wireless devices to different frequencies, channels, channel widths, bands, durations, or other specifics of the available RF frequencies. Alternatively, RF spectra may be assigned reactively based on the current, historical, or future network usage on the available network frequencies.

Hierarchical spectrum coordination

A wireless device that automatically forms a connection to a remote device in accordance with a peer-to-peer protocol. The remote device may be designated as an auto-connect device for the wireless device such that, when the wireless device determines that it is in the vicinity of the auto-connect device, it can re-form a connection to the remote device based on stored information for re-establishing connections among a persistent group of devices, but without any express user input. When a user requests that the wireless device perform a function that involves interaction with an auto-connect device, that function may be performed with the delay associated with forming a connection. Any of multiple techniques may be employed for identifying devices designated as auto-connect devices and for determining when the wireless device and a remote, auto-connect devices are in close proximity.

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Snohomish, WA, United States of America

Mark Clear