APPARATUS, SYSTEM, AND METHOD FOR TRANSITIONING BETWEEN WIRELESS ACCESS POINTS BASED ON A RECEIVED SIGNAL STRENGTH INDICATOR VALUE OF A LOW-POWER WAKE-UP PACKET
A wireless communication device, a system, and a method. The device may use memory circuitry and processing circuitry to process a packet wirelessly transmitted to the STA from a serving AP. The packet may be configured according to a first wireless communication protocol from a serving AP, such as, for example, WLAN. The wireless communication device may further process a low modulation packet configured according to a second wireless communication protocol from a candidate access point, the low modulation packet being at a modulation rate lower than a lowest modulation rate for the first wireless communication protocol. The second wireless communication protocol may be the LP-WU radio communication protocol. The device may determine a received signal strength indicator (RSSI) value of the low modulation packet, and may further process a frame including information on an address or signature, such as a Service Set Identifier (SSID) for the serving AP corresponding to the candidate access point, the frame being from the serving access point, from the candidate access point, or from another wireless communication device. The device may then associate the RSSI value with the address of the candidate access point, and trigger transition of the device from the serving access point to the candidate access point based on the RSSI value and on the address of the candidate access point.
1 . A wireless communication device including a memory and processing circuitry coupled to the memory and including logic to:
process a packet configured according to a first wireless communication protocol from a serving access point,
process a low modulation packet configured according to a second wireless communication protocol from a candidate access point, the low modulation packet being at a modulation rate lower than a lowest modulation rate for the first wireless communication protocol;
process a frame including information on an address of the candidate access point, the frame being from the serving access point, from the candidate access point, or from another wireless communication device;
associate an RSSI value of the low modulation packet with the address of the candidate access point;
trigger transition of the device from the serving access point to the candidate access point based on the RSSI value and on the address of the candidate access point.
2 . The device of claim 1 , wherein:
the second wireless communication protocol includes a low-power wake-up receiver (LP-WUR) protocol conforming to Institute for Electronic and Electrical Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 standard, the modulation rate of the low modulation packet being an On-Off Keying (OOK) modulation rate; and
the first wireless communication protocol includes a standard from an 802.11 standards family of the Institute for Electronic and Electrical Engineers (IEEE), the lowest modulation rate being a Binary Phase Shift Keying (BPSK) modulation rate.
3 . The device of claim 1 , wherein:
the candidate access point includes a plurality of candidate access points;
the address of a candidate access point includes a plurality of addresses for respective ones of the candidate access points;
the low modulation packet includes a plurality of low modulation packets, each of the low modulation packets further being from a corresponding one of the candidate access points and further being at a modulation rate lower than a lowest modulation rate for the first wireless communication protocol;
the RSSI value includes a plurality of RSSI values for each of the low modulation packets; and
the logic is to trigger transition of the device from the serving access point to one of the plurality of candidate access points based on the RSSI values and the corresponding addresses of the candidate access points.
4 . The device of claim 1 , wherein the frame is a neighbor report frame from the serving access point configured according to the first wireless communication protocol, the neighbor report frame including information on a timing for a transmission of the low modulation packet from the candidate access point to allow the logic to associate the RSSI value with the address of the candidate access point, the information on the timing for the transmission of the low modulation packet including at least one of a target transmission time of the low modulation packet and an interval at which the low modulation packet is to be transmitted.
5 . The device of claim 1 , wherein the frame includes the low modulation packet and is from the candidate access point, and wherein the low modulation packet includes the information on the address of the candidate access point.
6 . The device of claim 1 , wherein the frame is from the serving access point, the device further including logic to:
determine an RSSI value of the packet configured according to the first wireless communication protocol from the serving access point or of the frame sent from the serving access point;
trigger transition of the device from the serving access point to the candidate access point based on a comparison of the RSSI value of the low modulation packet with the RSSI value of the packet configured according to the first wireless communication protocol from the serving access point or of the frame sent from the serving access point.
7 . The device of claim 1 , wherein the logic is further to compare the RSSI value of the low modulation packet from the candidate access point with an RSSI value associated with the serving access point or with other candidate access points, and to trigger transition to one of the candidate access points associated with a highest RSSI value, or to one of the candidate access points with an RSSI value above a predetermined RSSI threshold value.
8 . The device of claim 1 , further including:
a first radio and first front-end module to carry signals configured according to the first wireless communication protocol;
a first baseband processor connected to the first radio and first front-end module;
a second radio and second front-end module to carry signals configured according to the second wireless communication protocol;
a second baseband processor connected to the second radio and second front-end module;
one or more antennas connected to the first front-end module and the second front end module to communicate signals configured according to the first wireless communication protocol and the second wireless communication protocol.
9 . The device of claim 1 , wherein the packet configured according to the first wireless communication protocol from the serving access point and the low modulation packet configured according to the second wireless communication protocol from the candidate access point both have a legacy PHY preamble according to the first wireless communication protocol.
10 . A product comprising one or more tangible computer-readable non-transitory storage media comprising computer-executable instructions operable to, when executed by at least one computer processor, enable the at least one computer processor to implement operations at a wireless communication device, the operations comprising:
processing a packet configured according to a first wireless communication protocol from a serving access point,
processing a low modulation packet configured according to a second wireless communication protocol from a candidate access point, the low modulation packet being at a modulation rate lower than a lowest modulation rate for the first wireless communication protocol;
determining a received signal strength indicator (RSSI) value of the low modulation packet;
processing a frame including information on an address of the candidate access point, the frame being from the serving access point, from the candidate access point, or from another wireless communication device;
associating the RSSI value with the address of the candidate access point;
triggering transition of the device from the serving access point to the candidate access point based on the RSSI value and on the address of the candidate access point.
11 . The product of claim 10 , wherein:
the second wireless communication protocol includes a low-power wake-up receiver (LP-WUR) protocol conforming to Institute for Electronic and Electrical Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 standard, and the modulation rate of the low modulation packet is an On-Off Keying (OOK) modulation rate; and
the first communication protocol includes a standard from an 802.11 standards family of the Institute for Electronic and Electrical Engineering (IEEE), the lowest modulation rate being a Binary Phase Shift Keying (BPSK) modulation rate.
12 . The product of claim 10 , wherein the frame is a neighbor report frame from the serving access point, the neighbor report frame including information on a timing for a transmission of the low modulation packet from the candidate access point to allow the logic to associate the RSSI value with the address of the candidate access point.
13 . The product of claim 10 , wherein the frame includes the low modulation packet and is from the candidate access point, and wherein the low modulation packet includes the information on the address of the candidate access point.
14 . The product of claim 10 , wherein the frame is from the serving access point, the device further including logic to:
determine an RSSI value of the packet configured according to the first wireless communication protocol from the serving access point or of the frame sent from the serving access point;
trigger transition of the device from the serving access point to the candidate access point based on a comparison of the RSSI value of the low modulation packet with the RSSI value of the packet configured according to the first wireless communication protocol from the serving access point or of the frame sent from the serving access point.
15 . The product of claim 10 , further including:
a first radio and first front-end module to carry signals configured according to the first wireless communication protocol;
a first baseband processor connected to the first radio and first front-end module;
a second radio and second front-end module to carry signals configured according to the second wireless communication protocol;
a second baseband processor connected to the second radio and second front-end module; and
one or more antennas connected to the first and second front-end modules.
16 . The product of claim 10 , wherein the packet configured according to the first wireless communication protocol from the serving access point and the low modulation packet configured according to the second wireless communication protocol from the candidate access point both have a legacy PHY preamble according to the first wireless communication protocol.
17 . A wireless communication device including:
a memory;
processing circuitry coupled to the memory and including logic to:
process a packet configured according to a first wireless communication protocol from a wireless station;
cause transmission to the wireless station of a low modulation packet configured according to a second wireless communication protocol, the low modulation packet being at a modulation rate lower than a lowest modulation rate for the first wireless communication protocol;
wherein the packet configured according to the first wireless communication protocol and the low modulation packet configured according to the second wireless communication protocol both have a legacy PHY preamble according to the first wireless communication protocol.
18 . The device of claim 17 , wherein:
the second wireless communication protocol includes a low-power wake-up receiver (LP-WUR) protocol conforming to Institute for Electronic and Electrical Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 standard; and
the first communication protocol includes a standard from an 802.11 standards family of the Institute for Electronic and Electrical Engineers (IEEE), the lowest modulation rate being a Binary Phase Shift Keying (BPSK) modulation rate.
19 . The device of claim 17 , wherein the logic is further to cause transmission of a neighbor report frame configured according to the first wireless communication protocol or to another wireless communication protocol and including information on a timing for a transmission of the low modulation packet, the information on the timing for the transmission of the low modulation packet including at least one of a target transmission time of the low modulation packet and an interval at which the low modulation packet is to be transmitted.
20 . The device of claim 17 , wherein the wireless communication device is to be used as part of an access point, and wherein the low modulation packet includes information on an address of the access point.
21 . The device of claim 17 , further including:
a first radio and first front-end module to carry signals configured according to the first wireless communication protocol;
a first baseband processor connected to the first radio and first front-end module;
a second radio and second front-end module to carry signals configured according to the second wireless communication protocol; and
a second baseband processor connected to the second radio and second front-end module.
22 . A product comprising one or more tangible computer-readable non-transitory storage media comprising computer-executable instructions operable to, when executed by at least one computer processor, enable the at least one computer processor to implement operations at a wireless communication device, the operations comprising:
processing a packet configured according to a first wireless communication protocol from a wireless station;
causing transmission to the wireless station of a low modulation packet configured according to a second wireless communication protocol, the low modulation packet being at a modulation rate lower than a lowest modulation rate for the first wireless communication protocol;
wherein the packet configured according to the first wireless communication protocol and the low modulation packet configured according to the second wireless communication protocol both have a legacy PHY preamble according to the first wireless communication protocol.
23 . The product of claim 22 , wherein:
the second wireless communication protocol includes a low-power wake-up receiver (LP-WUR) protocol conforming to Institute for Electronic and Electrical Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 standard, and the modulation rate of the low modulation packet is an On-Off Keying (OOK) modulation rate; and
the first communication protocol includes a standard from an 802.11 standards family of the Institute for Electronic and Electrical Engineers (IEEE), the lowest modulation rate being a Binary Phase Shift Keying (BPSK) modulation rate.
24 . The product of claim 22 , wherein the wireless communication device is to be used as part of an access point, and wherein the low modulation packet includes information on an address of the access point.
25 . The product of claim 22 , wherein the packet configured according to the first wireless communication protocol is a neighbor report frame from the serving access point, the neighbor report frame including information on a timing for a transmission of the low modulation packet from the candidate access point to allow the logic to associate an RSSI value with the address of the candidate access point.