System and method for spectrum sharing among plural wireless radio networks
Spectrum that overlaps in time, geography and frequency is allocated to more than one radio network. The networks share the spectrum by employing spectrum sharing in accordance with spectrum sharing control data to avoid collisions between the transmissions of the networks.
1. A method of coordinating two or more networks to share spectrum, comprising:
receiving, with a spectrum management server, a spectrum allocation request from one of the networks, the spectrum management server having previously allocated spectrum by generating and transmitting a first spectrum allocation to another one of the networks for use in wireless communications, the first spectrum allocation including a first set of spectrum sharing spreading codes;
matching, with the spectrum management server, the spectrum allocation request to available spectrum to identify matched spectrum, the matched spectrum comprising spectrum that is the same in each of time, frequency and location as spectrum allocated in the first spectrum allocation and used by the another one of the networks for wireless communications; and
generating, with the spectrum management server, a second spectrum allocation and transmitting the second spectrum allocation to the requesting network, the second spectrum allocation including the spectrum that is the same in each of time, frequency and location and including a second set of spectrum sharing spreading codes different than the spreading codes in the first set of spectrum sharing spreading codes, the second set of spectrum sharing spreading codes used by the requesting network to carry out wireless communication using the spectrum that is the same in each of time, frequency and location and without interference to the wireless communications of the another one of the networks, the another one of the networks and the requesting network being individual networks that each respectively include a plurality of radio devices that are administered as a unit and communicate with each other within the network in accordance with the spectrum allocation for the respective network.
2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the spectrum management server allocates spreading codes so that the shared spectrum is divided unequally between the requesting network and the another one of the networks.
3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the shared spectrum is divided by relative throughput needs of the networks.
4. The method of claim 2 , wherein the shared spectrum is divided by relative priority of the networks.
5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first spectrum allocation and the second spectrum allocation respectively include a channel map of spectrum white spaces.
6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first spectrum allocation and the second spectrum allocation respectively include spectrum that is licensed from a governmental entity by a licensee and made available for sharing by the licensee.
7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the matched spectrum is from one of plural spectrum pools, and each pool is associated with plural networks that each have an ability to share spectrum with any other network associated with the pool with minimal or no interference between the networks.
8. A spectrum management server, comprising:
a communications interface over which the spectrum management server communicates with a first network and a second network, the first and second networks being individual networks that respectively include a plurality of radio devices that are administered as a unit and communicate with each other within the network in accordance with a spectrum allocation for the respective network; and
a processor that executes logical instructions to:
generate and transmit a first spectrum allocation including a first set of spectrum sharing spreading codes to the first network; and
in response to a spectrum allocation request from the second network, generate and transmit a second spectrum allocation including a second set of spectrum sharing spreading codes to the second network, the first and the second spectrum allocations including spectrum that is the same in each of time, frequency and location but where the spreading codes of the first set are unique relative to the spreading codes of the second set so that wireless communications of the second network carried out using the second spectrum allocation do not interfere with wireless communications of the first network carried out using the spectrum that is the same in each of time, frequency and location and in accordance with the first spectrum allocation.