Redundant links for reliable communication
In order to maintain performance during wireless communication, a transmitting electronic device may concurrently and independently communicate redundant information to a receiving electronic device. In particular, information associated with a data stream may be communicated to the receiving electronic device using one or more channels by two radios using one or more wireless local area network communication protocols. The packets transmitted by the radios may preferentially include the same information. Moreover, the transmitting electronic device may attempt to maintain the redundant communication if a performance metric associated with the one or more channels degrades. For example, the transmitting electronic device may transfer communication to a different channel or may compress the information in the packets in the one or more channels if the throughput drops below a threshold value. Furthermore, the concurrent communication may allow the transmitting electronic device determine link quality without disrupting the communication of the information.
1. An integrated circuit, comprising:
an input port configured to receive information associated with a data stream;
a first interface circuit, configured to couple to a first antenna, and configured to communicate first frames including the information associated with the data stream from the integrated circuit addressed to a receiving electronic device via a first channel using a wireless-local-area-network (WLAN) communication protocol; and
a second interface circuit, configured to couple to the second antenna, and configured to communicate second frames including the information associated with the data stream from the integrated circuit addressed to the receiving electronic device via a second channel using the WLAN communication protocol, wherein the second channel is different than the first channel;
wherein the second frames are communicated from the integrated circuit addressed to the receiving electronic device concurrently with the first frames; and
wherein the integrated circuit is configured to provide an instruction addressed to the receiving electronic device to use the first channel during the communication of the first frames and to use the second channel during the communication of the second frames.
2. The integrated circuit of claim 1 , wherein the WLAN communication protocol is compatible with an Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 standard.
3. The integrated circuit of claim 1 , wherein the communication of the first frames via the first channel is independent of the communication of the second frames via the second channel.
4. The integrated circuit of claim 1 , wherein the first interface circuit is configured to transfer communication of the first frames to a third channel when one of: a connection with the receiving electronic device associated with the first channel is lost, a performance metric associated with the communication via the first channel degrades below a threshold value, or a performance metric associated with communication via the third channel exceeds the performance metric associated with communication via the first channel;
wherein the second interface circuit is configured to transfer communication of the second frames to a fourth channel when one of: a connection with the receiving electronic device associated with the second channel is lost, a performance metric associated with the communication via the second channel degrades below a threshold value, or a performance metric associated with communication via the fourth channel exceeds a performance metric associated with communication via the second channel;
wherein the concurrent communication of the first frames and the second frames ensures the information, addressed to the receiving electronic device, is communicated without disruption during the transfer to one of the third channel or the fourth channel; and
wherein the integrated circuit is configured to provide an instruction addressed to the receiving electronic device to perform one of: transferring the communication of the first frames from the first channel to the third channel; or transferring the communication of the second frames from the second channel to the fourth channel.
5. The integrated circuit of claim 1 , wherein, when one of a connection with the receiving electronic device associated with the first channel is lost or a connection with the receiving electronic device associated with the second channel is lost, the communication of one of the first frames and the second frames ensures the information, addressed to the receiving electronic device, is communicated without disruption and without further action by the integrated circuit.
6. The integrated circuit of claim 1 , wherein the integrated circuit is configured to compress at least one of the information included in the first frames or the information included in the second frames when one of: a performance metric associated with the communication via the first channel degrades below a first threshold value; or a performance metric associated with the communication via the second channel degrades below a second threshold value; and
wherein the compression maintains approximately a common margin in the performance metric associated with the communication via the first channel and in the performance metric associated with the communication via the second channel.
7. The integrated circuit of claim 1 , wherein the integrated circuit is configured to provide a communication warning message and to selectively discontinue the redundant communication of the information via the first frames and the second frames when at least one of: a performance metric associated with the communication via the first channel is below a first threshold value; or a performance metric associated with the communication via the second channel is below a second threshold value.
8. The integrated circuit of claim 1 , wherein the integrated circuit is configured to jointly encode the first frames and the second frames to provide one of information gain or error correction based on the concurrent communication.
9. The integrated circuit of claim 1 , wherein the integrated circuit is configured to detect dropouts in at least one of the first frames or the second frames based on the concurrent communication.
10. The integrated circuit of claim 1 , wherein, during the communication of the information, the integrated circuit is configured to determine, without disrupting the communication of the information, one of: for a given channel, a distance to a receiving electronic device and an associated phase distortion; or channel calibration associated with one of the first channel or the second channel.
11. The integrated circuit of claim 1 , wherein, during the communication of the information, the integrated circuit is configured to dynamically perform spectral analysis of channels associated with the WLAN communication protocol using one of the first interface circuit or the second interface circuit without disrupting the communication of the information; and
wherein the dynamic spectral analysis involves capturing time-domain signals associated with at least a given channel during the communication and performing a Fourier transform or a discrete Fourier transform to determine a spectrum or a power spectrum distribution.
12. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium for use in conjunction with an integrated circuit, the computer-readable storage medium storing program instructions, wherein, when executed by the integrated circuit, the program instructions cause the integrated circuit to perform operations comprising:
providing an instruction addressed to a receiving electronic device to use a first channel during communication of first frames and to use a second channel during the communication of second frames;
receiving information associated with a data stream via an input port in the integrated circuit;
communicating the first frames from the integrated circuit addressed to the receiving electronic device with the information associated with the data stream via the first channel using a first interface circuit in the integrated circuit and a wireless-local-area-network (WLAN) communication protocol; and
communicating from the integrated circuit addressed to the receiving electronic device the second frames with the information associated with the data stream via the second channel using a second interface circuit in the integrated circuit and the WLAN communication protocol, wherein the second channel is different than the first channel;
wherein the second frames are communicated from the integrated circuit addressed to the receiving electronic device concurrently with the first frames.
13. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 12 , wherein the WLAN communication protocol is compatible with an Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 standard.
14. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 12 , wherein the communication of the first frames via the first channel is independent of the communication of the second frames via the second channel.
15. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 12 , wherein the operations comprise:
transferring communication of the first frames to a third channel when one of: a connection with the receiving electronic device associated with the first channel is lost, a performance metric associated with the communication via the first channel degrades below a first threshold value, or a performance metric associated with communication via the third channel exceeds the performance metric associated with communication via the first channel;
transferring communication of the second frames to a fourth channel when one of: a connection with the receiving electronic device associated with the second channel is lost, a performance metric associated with the communication via the second channel degrades below a second threshold value, or a performance metric associated with communication via the fourth channel exceeds the performance metric associated with communication via the second channel, wherein the concurrent communication of the first frames and the second frames ensures the information, addressed to the receiving electronic device, is communicated without disruption during the transfer to one of the third channel or the fourth channel; and
providing an instruction addressed to the receiving electronic device to perform one of: transferring the communication of the first frames from the first channel to the third channel; or transferring the communication of the second frames from the second channel to the fourth channel.
16. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 12 , wherein the operations comprise jointly encoding the first frames and the second frames to provide one of information gain or error correction based on the concurrent communication.
17. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 12 , wherein, when one of a connection with the receiving electronic device associated with the first channel is lost or a connection with the receiving electronic device associated with the second channel is lost, the communication of one of the first frames or the second frames ensures the information, addressed to the receiving electronic device, is communicated without disruption and without further action by the integrated circuit.
18. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 12 , wherein the operations comprise determining, during the communication ; and without disrupting the communication of the information, one of: for a given channel, a distance to a receiving electronic device and an associated phase distortion; or channel calibration associated with one of the first channel and the second channel.
19. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 12 , wherein the operations comprise dynamically performing, during the communication, spectral analysis of channels associated with the WLAN communication protocol using one of the first interface circuit or the second interface circuit without disrupting the communication of the information; and
wherein the dynamic spectral analysis involves capturing time-domain signals associated with at least a given channel during the communication and performing a Fourier transform or a discrete Fourier transform to determine a spectrum or a power spectrum distribution.
20. A method for communicating information associated with a data stream from an integrated circuit addressed to a receiving electronic device, wherein the method comprises:
by the integrated circuit:
providing an instruction addressed to the receiving electronic device to use a first channel during communication of first frames and to use a second channel during the communication of second frames;
receiving the information associated with the data stream via an input port in the integrated circuit;
communicating the first frames from the integrated circuit addressed to the receiving electronic device with the information associated with the data stream via the first channel using a first interface circuit in the integrated circuit and a wireless-local-area-network (WLAN) communication protocol; and
communicating the second frames from the integrated circuit addressed to the receiving electronic device with the information associated with the data stream via the second channel using a second interface circuit in the integrated circuit and the WLAN communication protocol, wherein the second channel is different than the first channel; and
wherein the second frames are communicated from the integrated circuit addressed to the receiving electronic device concurrently with the first frames.