Granted Patent B2

US 12,625,748 · App. 18/155,494 · Granted May 12, 2026

Inventors: Qiang Wang (Freemont, CA); Marianna Carrera (San Jose, CA); Kan Hu (Shanghai, CN); Haibo Chen (Shanghai, CN); Ambroise Popper (Paris, FR)

Assignee: MaxLinear, Inc.

G06F9/542G06F3/038G06F3/1254G06F13/102H04W84/02H04W4/20

Abstract

Claims (79)

1 . A wireless network device, comprising:

a wireless signal driver configured to generate a Wi-Fi network;

an application-driver framework configured for application-agnostic and driver-agnostic communication, the application-driver framework including:

a bidirectional interface that communicatively couples the wireless signal driver to the application-driver framework, the bidirectional interface being configured to convert driver-agnostic command signals to driver-specific command signals and to convert driver-specific event signals to driver-agnostic event signals; and

an application interface that is configured to interface one or more applications with the application-driver framework, the application interface being configured to communicate application-agnostic command signals and application-agnostic event signals with the application-driver framework and to communicate application-specific event signals and application-specific command signals with the one or more applications and the application-driver framework, the application interface being configured to perform application-specific filtering to convert application-agnostic event signals to application-specific event signals, wherein a first application of the one or more applications being related to interacting with a physical environment, by using changes in Wi-Fi signals for spatial diagnostics or motion detection.

2 . The wireless network device of claim 1 , wherein:

at least one application of the one or more applications includes a library;

the application-driver framework is configured to implement a user-space background process; and

the at least one application is dynamically loaded by the user-space background process.

3 . The wireless network device of claim 1 , wherein at least one application is implemented as:

a dynamically loadable library; or

a standalone process interfaced by an inter-process communication bus.

4 . The wireless network device of claim 1 , wherein:

the one or more applications is configured to use wireless signal information associated with a wireless network or to invoke a wireless function implemented by the wireless network; and

the wireless network is generated or supported by the wireless signal driver.

5 . The wireless network device of claim 4 , wherein the one or more applications includes one or more or a combination of:

a home management application;

a media access control (MAC) sublayer management entity (MLME) delegation;

a client steering application;

a channel and power management application;

application management;

a data path control application; and

a spatial stream diagnostic application.

6 . The wireless network device of claim 4 , further comprising:

a first chipset including a first chipset architecture; and

a second chipset including a second chipset architecture, wherein:

a first application of the one or more applications is run on the first chipset;

a second application of the one or more applications is run on the second chipset; and

the application-driver framework is configured to provide compatibility between the first application and the second application.

7 . The wireless network device of claim 1 , wherein the wireless signal driver, the application-driver framework, the bidirectional interface, and the application interface are configured as a Wi-Fi repeater, a wireless access point (WAP), or a Wi-Fi gateway.

8 . The wireless network device of claim 1 , wherein the application-driver framework is configured to initiate an asynchronous framework event that as the application agnostic event signal, the asynchronous framework event including at least one of a periodic application update, an application restart event, or an application quit event.

9 . The wireless network device of claim 1 , wherein the application-driver framework is configured to provide a compatible interface between a first application of the one or more applications and a second application of the one or more applications and the wireless signal driver, the first application and the second application developed by different developers and listed on a cloud server as usable with the wireless network device.

10 . A method performed by a wireless network device, the method comprising:

providing a wireless network by the wireless network device using a wireless signal driver, the wireless signal driver configured to generate a Wi-Fi network;

interfacing the wireless signal driver with a bi-directional interface, the bi-directional interface converting driver-agnostic command signals to driver-specific command signals and converting driver-specific event signals to driver-agnostic event signals;

interfacing one or more applications with an application-driver framework of a bi-directional interface via an application interface, a first application of the one or more applications being related to interacting with a physical environment by using changes in Wi-Fi signals for spatial diagnostics or motion detection;

communicating an application-agnostic command signal, via the application interface, to the application-driver framework;

communicating an application-agnostic event signal, via the application interface, to the application-driver framework;

communicating an application-specific command signal, via the application interface, to the one or more applications; and

communicating an application-specific event signal, via the application interface, to the one or more applications, the application interface performing application-specific filtering to convert application-agnostic event signals to application-specific event signals.

11 . The method of claim 10 , further comprising:

implementing a user-space background process by the application-driver framework; and

dynamically loading at least one application of the one or more applications by the user-space background process, the at least one application including a library.

12 . The method of claim 10 , further comprising implementing at least one application of the one or more applications as a dynamically loadable library or a standalone process interfaced by an inter-process communication bus.

13 . The method of claim 10 , further comprising:

using, by the one or more applications, wireless signal information associated with a wireless network generated or supported by the wireless signal driver; or

invoking, by the one or more applications, a wireless function implemented by the wireless network.

14 . The method of claim 13 , wherein the one or more applications includes one or more of or a combination of:

a home management application;

a media access control (MAC) sublayer management entity (MLME) delegation;

a client steering application;

a channel and power management application;

application management;

a data path control application; and

a spatial stream diagnostic application.

15 . The method of claim 10 , wherein the application-agnostic event signal includes an asynchronous framework event, the method further comprising:

filtering, by the application interface, the asynchronous framework event to generate the application-specific event signal from the application-agnostic event signal.

16 . The method of claim 15 , wherein the asynchronous framework event includes at least one of a periodic application update, an application restart event, or an application quit event.

17 . The method of claim 10 , further comprising:

communicating a signal to the application interface from a first application of the one or more applications, the signal including an application-specific invoke command; and

filtering, by the application interface, the application-specific invoke command to generate an application-agnostic invoke command,

wherein the application-agnostic invoke command is the application-agnostic command signal communicated via the application interface to the application-driver framework.

18 . The method of claim 17 , wherein the application-specific invoke command includes a command to update the first application, restart the first application, or quit the first application.

19 . The method of claim 10 , further comprising:

communicating a signal to the application interface from a first application of the one or more applications, the signal including a first application-specific command signal;

filtering, by the application interface, the first application-specific command to generate the application-agnostic command signal that is communicated to the application-driver framework;

performing processing of the application-agnostic command signal by the application-driver framework;

communicating a framework event from the application-driver framework to the application interface as at least part of the application-agnostic event signal, the framework event based on the processing of the application-agnostic command signal; and

filtering, by the application interface, the application-agnostic event signal to generate the application-specific event signal that is communicated to the one or more applications,

wherein the application-specific event signal is specifically compatible with a second application of the one or more applications that is different from the first application; and

wherein communicating the application-specific event signal to the one or more applications includes communicating the application-specific event signal to the second application.

20 . One or more non-transitory computer-readable media within a wireless network device, the non-transitory computer-readable media storing instructions which, when executed by one or more processors, cause the wireless network device to perform one or more operations, the operations comprising:

providing a wireless network by the wireless network device using a wireless signal driver, the wireless signal driver configured to generate a Wi-Fi network;

interfacing the wireless signal driver with a bi-directional interface, the bi-directional interface converting driver-agnostic command signals to driver-specific command signals and converting driver-specific event signals to driver-agnostic event signals;

interfacing one or more applications with an application-driver framework of a bi-directional interface via an application interface, a first application of the one or more applications being related to interacting with a physical environment by using changes in Wi-Fi signals for spatial diagnostics or motion detection;

communicating an application-agnostic command signal, via the application interface, to the application-driver framework;

communicating an application-agnostic event signal, via the application interface, to the application-driver framework;

communicating an application-specific command signal, via the application interface, to the one or more applications; and

communicating an application-specific event signal, via the application interface, to the one or more applications, the application interface performing application-specific filtering to convert application-agnostic event signals to application-specific event signals.

Assignments (2)

Continuity (3)

References Cited (11)