Multiservice communication device with dedicated environmental monitoring
View Patent ↗A multiservice communication device includes a plurality of transceivers that wirelessly transceive data with a corresponding plurality of networks in accordance with a corresponding plurality of network protocols. An environmental monitoring receiver processes received RF signals over a broadband spectrum and that generates environmental data in response thereto. A processing module processes the environmental data and generates a least one control signal in response thereto, the at least one control signal for adapting at least one of the plurality of transceivers based on the environmental data. In an embodiment of the present invention, the environmental monitoring receiver can be implemented via one of the plurality of transceivers when operating in an environmental monitoring mode.
1. A multiservice communication device comprising:
at least one transceiver that wirelessly transceives data with selected ones of a plurality of networks in accordance with a corresponding plurality of network protocols;
an environmental monitoring receiver that processes received RF signals over a broadband spectrum to search for areas of unused spectrum via spectral monitoring of network spectrum corresponding to each of the plurality of networks and that generates environmental data in response thereto, wherein the environmental data identifies the areas of unused spectrum and corresponding ones of the plurality of networks and wherein the environmental data further includes an identification of undesired channels, based on an analysis of noise and interference; and
a processing module, coupled to the at least one transceiver and the environmental monitoring receiver that processes the environmental data and generates at least one control signal in response thereto, the at least one control signal for adapting the at least one transceiver based on the environmental data.
2. The multiservice communication device of claim 1 wherein the at least one control signal for adapting the transceiver controls a communication handoff of the multiservice communication device from a first network to a second network.
3. The multiservice communication device of claim 1 wherein the processing module generates the at least one control signal for adapting the at least one transceiver, based on the areas of unused spectrum, to by changing a frequency channel used by the at least one transceivers.
4. The multiservice communication device of claim 1 wherein the at least one control signal for adapting the at least one transceiver modifies a transmission parameter of the at least one transceiver.
5. The multiservice communication device of claim 1 wherein the at least one control signal for adapting the at least one transceiver modifies a receive parameter of the at least one transceiver.
6. The multiservice communication device of claim 1 wherein the corresponding plurality of network protocols includes at least one of: a 802.11 protocol, a WIMAX protocol, a Bluetooth protocol, a wireless HDMI protocol, a 60 GHz piconet protocol, a cellular data protocol, and a cellular voice protocol.
7. The multiservice communication device of claim 1 wherein the environmental monitoring receiver includes a narrowband receiver that is scanned over the broadband spectrum.
8. The multiservice communication device of claim 7 wherein the environmental monitoring receiver is adaptively scanned over the broadband spectrum to avoid transmission interference from the at least one transceiver.
9. The multiservice communication device of claim 1 wherein the environmental monitoring receiver includes a broadband receiver that contemporaneously captures the received RF signals over the broadband spectrum and generates environmental data by analyzing the broadband spectrum using frequency domain analysis.
10. The multiservice communication device of claim 9 wherein the environmental monitoring receiver adaptively analyzes the broadband spectrum over the broadband spectrum to identify transmission interference from the at least one transceiver.
11. The multiservice communication device of claim 1 wherein at least one of the plurality of transceivers includes a cognitive radio transceiver.
12. A multiservice communication device comprising:
a plurality of transceivers that wirelessly transceive data with a corresponding plurality of networks in accordance with a corresponding plurality of network protocols, wherein at least one of the plurality of transceivers is a multi-mode transceiver that is switchable between, an environmental monitoring mode of operation, when the multi-mode transceiver processes received RF signals over a broadband spectrum to search for areas of unused spectrum via spectral monitoring of network spectrum corresponding to each of the plurality of networks and generates environmental data in response thereto, wherein the environmental data identifies the areas of unused spectrum and corresponding ones of the plurality of networks and wherein the environmental data further includes an identification of undesired channels, based on an analysis of noise and interference and in a transceiver mode of operation, the multi-mode transceiver wirelessly transceives data over a selected one of the plurality of networks; and
a processing module, coupled to the plurality of transceivers that processes the environmental data and generates at least one control signal in response thereto, the at least one control signal for adapting at least one of the plurality of transceivers based on the environmental data.
13. The multiservice communication device of claim 12 wherein the at least one control signal for adapting at least one of the plurality of transceivers controls a communication handoff of the multiservice communication device from a first network to a second network.
14. The multiservice communication device of claim 12 wherein the at least one control signal for adapting at least one of the plurality of transceivers changes a frequency channel used by at least one of the plurality of transceivers.
15. The multiservice communication device of claim 12 wherein the at least one control signal for adapting at least one of the plurality of transceivers modifies a transmission parameter of at least one of the plurality of transceivers.
16. The multiservice communication device of claim 12 wherein the at least one control signal for adapting at least one of the plurality of transceivers modifies a receive parameter of at least one of the plurality of transceivers.
17. The multiservice communication device of claim 12 wherein the environmental monitoring receiver includes a narrowband receiver that is scanned over the broadband spectrum.
18. The multiservice communication device of claim 12 wherein the environmental monitoring receiver includes a broadband receiver that contemporaneously captures the received RF signals over the broadband spectrum and generates environmental data by analyzing the broadband spectrum using frequency domain analysis.
19. A multiservice communication device comprising:
a plurality of transceivers that wirelessly transceive data with a corresponding plurality of networks in accordance with a corresponding plurality of network protocols, wherein the plurality of transceivers includes at least one cognitive radio transceiver and further a multi-mode transceiver that is switchable between, an environmental monitoring mode of operation, when the multi-mode transceiver processes received RF signals over a broadband spectrum to search for areas of unused spectrum via spectral monitoring of network spectrum corresponding to each of the plurality of networks and generates environmental data in response thereto, wherein the environmental data identifies the areas of unused spectrum and corresponding ones of the plurality of networks and wherein the environmental data further includes an identification of undesired channels, based on an analysis of noise and interference and in a transceiver mode of operation, the multi-mode transceiver wirelessly transceives data over a selected one of the plurality of networks; and
a processing module, coupled to the plurality of transceivers that processes the environmental data and generates a least one control signal in response thereto, the at least one control signal for adapting the at least one cognitive radio transceiver based on the environmental data.