Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba

Zhong Fan

Fengming Cao

Sadia Quadri

Parag Kulkarni

Sedat Gormus

Siva Kupanna Subramani

Dritan Kaleshi

Siok Kheng Tan

Simon Martin Daniel Armour

Chetan Harsha

In a 3GPP LTE-A support for Mobile Type Communications, that is, M2M communications scheme, improvements of the random access are necessary to prevent random channel overload. Enhanced backoff in the presence of overload is such a mechanism, Counting the number of devices seeking RACH based on the number of received random access requests or else responses, and allocating Random Access resources on the basis of the number of requests, is another. Further, a channel aware resource allocation approach provides a way of determining, from the received requests, delay-tolerance of the M2M devices, based on which they are prioritized in accessing the random channel. Even within the prioritized devices, a smaller subset thereof may be prioritized further, according to radio conditions, to provide better access to those with higher SNR RBs.

RAN overload control for M2M communications in LTE networks

A method for allocating communication channels to access points in a communications network comprising: identifying, amongst the access points, one or more interference-prone pairs of access points, wherein each interference-prone pair comprises a first access point and a second access point that are currently using the same or overlapping communication channels to communicate with their respective client user devices, determining the number N of non-overlapping channels that are available for allocating to the access points; allocating the N non-overlapping channels between the access points in such a way as minimize the number of interference-prone pairs of access points; and where an access point cannot be allocated any one of the N channels without it comprising part of an interference-prone pair, selecting a particular one of the N channels to allocate to the access point based on a selection criterion.

Method for allocating communication channels to access points in a communications network

Opportunistic forwarding of packet based communication is implemented by way of attention to link quality to determine a suitable prioritised route for communication. Ranking of potential routes (or the next hop in a route) can be conducted locally, with reference to a link quality metric also. Channel access by nodes of the same rank in a graph based network can be by way of link quality also.

Forwarding and routing in sensor networks

A Communications apparatus, suitable for establishing a wireless communications connection with a further apparatus, comprises first and second communications means. The first communications means is suitable to establish a wireless communication connection with the further apparatus and the second communications means is operable to retrieve identification information from such further apparatus. The first communications means is operable only to establish a wireless communication connection with a further apparatus on the basis of an authorization made on the basis of information retrieved from the further apparatus by the second communications means.

Wireless communications method and apparatus

In a network comprising user devices and signal notes, communication links are scheduled by identifying one or more active signal node/user device pairs, wherein each active pair comprises a signal node that is presently communicating with a respective active user device over a signal channel. Then, one or more inactive signal node/user device pairs is identified; each inactive pair comprises an inactive signal node that is not presently communicating over the signal channel and a potential user device that is capable of communicating with the inactive signal node over the signal channel. One of the inactive pairs is then identified which, when made into an active pair, will achieve the greatest total fairness criterion, the total fairness criterion being a sum of a fairness criterion for the potential user device in the inactive pair in question and a fairness criterion for each of the active user devices in the event that the respective inactive pair becomes an active pair. The fairness criterion for each user device is dependent on the transmission rate achievable between the user device and the signal node in its respective pair.

Radio resource management for distributed cellular systems

An arrangement for wireless communication includes apparatus operable to establish a region of wireless communications capability, and operable to establish communication with a communications hub by way of a backhaul. The apparatus is operable to determine availability of communication facilities on the backhaul and, in response to a request by a communications device operating with the use of the region of wireless communications capability, is operable to offer the backhaul implemented communication facilities to the communications device subject to the existence of a fault in offering of said facilities. The apparatus includes fault detection means operable to detect the presence of a fault. In the event of a fault being detected, the apparatus is operable to emit a signal intended to communicate the existence of the fault to t communications device.

Automated fault reporting in femto cells

A method of identifying an available channel of a plurality of frequency channels defined in a radio frequency spectrum for use by a transmitting station, wherein scanning for an available channel in a frequency spectrum is performed by a scanning method in which a bidirectional search is performed away from an initial channel frequency. The method may include steps to take when a boundary of the spectrum is encountered, and may also take into account existing information concerning channel reservation. A related scanner and radio apparatus is also described.

Channel searching method and apparatus

The invention relates to a method of accessing a channel in a wireless network having a plurality of communication nodes, the method comprising identifying a first channel available for use, forming a cognitive network to manage utilization of said first channel, said cognitive network comprising a leader node and at least one of said plurality of said communication nodes, managing said cognitive network by means of said leader node including identifying a second channel available for use in an event that said first channel being no longer available for use, and switching to said second channel upon said second channel being identified.

The invention provides a system whereby a node can configure itself automatically with an address when it joins or establishes a network. Once the network is established, the nodes within that network exchange hello messages that are modified to give an indication of the network to which the nodes belongs. If two networks begin to merge with each other then the nodes at the edge of that network will receive hello messages from nodes which identify two different networks. When this occurs, the node can determine that network merging is occurring and carry out the process of duplicate address detection to ensure the uniqueness of its address within the entire combined network.

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Bristol, United Kingdom

Zhong Fan