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Synchronized beacon for wireless access point having multiple radiosRelated Patent Categories: Telecommunications, Transmitter And Receiver At Same Station (e.g., Transceiver)Synchronized beacon for wireless access point having multiple radios description/claimsThe Patent Description & Claims data below is from USPTO Patent Application 20060217076, Synchronized beacon for wireless access point having multiple radios. Brief Patent Description - Full Patent Description - Patent Application Claims
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS [0001] The present application claims priority to and the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 60/594,315 entitled "Synchronized Beacon for Network Having Multiple Radios" filed on 28 Mar. 2005 by Donald M. Bishop, the entire contents of which are hereby expressly incorporated by reference. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION [0002] a. Field of the Invention [0003] The present invention pertains generally to communication networks and specifically to networks having multiple radios. [0004] b. Description of the Background [0005] Wireless communications networks are being widely deployed. In order to ensure subscriber coverage, a wireless network may have several radio transceivers positioned so that the coverage areas of the radios overlap. As radio coverage areas overlap, some interference and undesirable cross-communication between radios may occur. Such interference may decrease available bandwidth, which diminishes the number and quality of potential subscriber connections. [0006] Many wireless protocols have a feature whereby a device can sense if another device is using the specific frequency or band, and the first device will refrain from transmitting. In some protocols, the first device may retry the transmission at a later time, which may be a randomly generated time. Such a feature aims to minimize one device `talking over` another device and preventing both device's transmissions from getting through. This collision detection feature is widely used in many different protocols, including standard wired Ethernet and wireless Ethernet-based protocols such as IEEE 802.11 wireless protocols. [0007] A distinct problem with such protocols is that the bandwidth is inherently underutilized and throughput for each device can be much less than optimal, especially when many devices are communicating on the network. When many devices attempt to communicate on the band simultaneously, the collision detection and avoidance procedures begin to occupy much of the communication bandwidth. [0008] It would therefore be advantageous to provide a system and method for providing improved use of the available bandwidth for communication networks having several radios. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION [0009] A wireless access point having multiple radio transceivers and multiple antennas is operated by sending a beacon signal from several radio transceivers simultaneously. The radio transceivers may normally operate by delay sending a transmission when another ongoing transmission is detected, which would normally prevent beacon signals from being broadcast simultaneously. By forcing the beacon signals to transmit simultaneously, the available bandwidth is utilized much more efficiently. Embodiments include wireless access points that contain multiple directional antennas as well as those that have overlapping coverage areas. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS [0010] In the drawings, [0011] FIG. 1 is a diagrammatic illustration of an embodiment showing a wireless network with overlapping coverage areas. [0012] FIG. 2 is a diagrammatic illustration of an embodiment showing a wireless access point having multiple radios. [0013] FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustration of an embodiment showing a method for synchronizing beacon signals for networked radios. [0014] FIG. 4 is a plan view illustration of a residential neighborhood having wireless access service. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [0015] While the invention is susceptible to various modifications and alternative forms, specific embodiments thereof are shown by way of example in the drawings and will herein be described in detail. It should be understood, however, that there is no intent to limit the invention to the particular forms disclosed, but on the contrary, the invention is to cover all modifications, equivalents, and alternatives falling within the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the claims. Like reference numbers signify the elements throughout the description of the figures. It will also be understood that when an element is referred to as being "connected" or "coupled" to another element, it can be directly connected or coupled to the other element or one or a multitude of intervening elements may also be present. In contrast, when an element is referred to as being "directly connected" or "directly coupled" to another element, there are no intervening elements present. [0016] The present invention may be embodied as devices, systems, methods, and/or computer program products. Accordingly, the present invention may be embodied in hardware and/or in software (including firmware, resident software, micro-code, etc.) Furthermore, the present invention may take the form of a computer program product on a computer-usable or computer-readable storage medium having computer-usable or computer-readable program code embodied in the medium for use by or in connection with an instruction execution system. In the context of this document, a computer-usable or computer-readable medium may be any medium that can contain, store, communicate, propagate, or transport the program for use by or in connection with the instruction execution system, apparatus, or device. [0017] The computer-usable or computer-readable medium may be, for example but not limited to, an electronic, magnetic, optical, electromagnetic, infrared, or semiconductor system, apparatus, device, or propagation medium. More specific examples (a non-exhaustive list) of the computer-readable medium would include the following: an electrical connection having one or more wires, a portable computer diskette, a random access memory (RAM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM or Flash memory), an optical fiber, a portable compact disc read only memory (CD-ROM), and a digital versatile disk read only memory (DVD-ROM). Note that the computer-usable or computer-readable medium could even be paper or another suitable medium upon which the program is printed, as the program can be electronically captured, via, for instance, optical scanning of the paper or other medium, then compiled, interpreted, of otherwise processed in a suitable manner, if necessary, and then stored in a computer memory. [0018] FIG. 1 illustrates an embodiment 100 showing a wireless network with overlapping coverage areas. A network controller 102 is connected to a network backbone 104. Connected to the backbone 104 are radio transceivers 106, 108, 110, and 112. Each radio transceiver has an antenna, such as antenna 109 connected to transceiver 108. Transceiver 106 has a coverage area 114. Similarly, transceivers 108, 110, and 112 have coverage areas 116, 118, and 120, respectively. A wireless device 122 is located in an overlapping coverage area 124. In the area 124, radio transmissions from transceivers 106, 108, and 112 all overlap. [0019] In embodiment 100, two or more of the transceivers 106, 108, 110, and 112 may simultaneously transmit a beacon signal. By simultaneously transmitting a beacon signal, bandwidth is freed up that would otherwise be dedicated to transmitting and receiving beacon signals from transceivers with overlapping coverage areas. Continue reading about Synchronized beacon for wireless access point having multiple radios... 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