WLAN Access Point and Client Station

 Figure 1 illustrates an exemplary block diagram of an access point 102 (AP) 102. It is noted that the block diagram of the AP of Figure 1 is merely one example of a possible system. As shown, the access point 102 may include processor(s) 110 which may execute program instructions for the access point 102. The processor(s) 110 may also be coupled to memory management unit (MMU) 212, which may be configured to receive addresses from the processor(s) 110 and translate those addresses to locations in memory (e.g., memory 104 and read only memory (ROM) 108) or to other circuits or devices. 

The access point 102 may include at least one network port 118. The network port 118 may be configured to couple to a wired network and provide a plurality of devices, such as client stations 212, access to the internet. For example, the network port 118 (or an additional network port) may be configured to couple to a local network, such as a home network or an enterprise network. For examplenetwork port 118 may be an ethernet port. The local network may provide connectivity to additional networks, such as the internet. 

The access point 102 may include at least one antenna116. The at least one antenna116 may be configured to operate as a wireless transceiver and may be further configured to communicate with client station 212 via wireless communication circuitry 112 (or radio). The antenna116 communicates with the wireless communication circuitry 112 via communication chain 114. Communication chain 114 may comprise one or more receive chains, one or more tran112smit chains or both. The wireless communication circuitry 112 may be configured to communicate via Wi-Fi or WLAN, e.g., 802.11. Any 802.11 protocol may be used, including 802.11a, b, g, n, ac, and ax. The wireless communication circuitry 112 may also, or alternatively, be configured to communicate via various other wireless communication technologies, including, but not limited to, Long-Term Evolution (LTE), LTE Advanced (LTE-A), Global System for mobile (GSM), Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA), CDMA2000, etc., for example when the AP is co-located with a base station in case of a small cell, or in other instances when it may be desirable for the access point 102 to communicate via various different wireless communication technologies. 

Figure 2 illustrates an example simplified block diagram of a client station 212. According to embodiments, client station 212 may be a user equipment device (UE), a mobile device or wireless station, and/or a wireless device, client station, or wireless station. As shown, the client station 212 may include a system on chip (SOC) 220, which may include portions for various purposes. The SOC 220 may be coupled to various other circuits of the client station 212. For example, the client station 212 may include various types of memory (e.g., including NAND flashmemory 214), a connector interface (i/f) 222 (or dock) (e.g., for coupling to a computer system, dock, charging station, etc.), the display 218, cellular communication circuitry 226 such as for LTE, GSM, etc., and short to medium range wireless communication circuitry 224 (e.g., Bluetooth.TM. and WLAN circuitry). The client station 212 may further comprise one or more NAND flashmemory 214 that comprise SIM (Subscriber Identity Module) functionality, such as one or more UICC(s) (Universal Integrated Circuit Card(s) 216 ) cards. The cellular communication circuitry 226 may couple to one or more antennas, such as antenna228 and antenna230 as shown. The short to medium range wireless communication circuitry 224 may also couple to one or more antennas, such as antenna232 and antenna234 as shown. Alternatively, the short to medium range wireless communication circuitry 224 may couple to the antenna228 and antenna230 in addition to, or instead of, coupling to the antenna232 and antenna234. The short to medium range wireless communication circuitry 224 may comprise multiple receive chains and/or multiple transmit chains for receiving and/or transmitting multiple spatial streams, such as in a multiple-input multiple output (MIMO) configuration. 

As shown, the SOC 220 may include processor(s) 208 which may execute program instructions for the client station 212 and display circuitry 210 which may perform graphics processing and provide display signals to the display 218. The processor(s) 208 may also be coupled to memory management unit (MMU) 204, which may be configured to receive addresses from the processor(s) 208 and translate those addresses to locations in memory (e.g., memory 202, read only memory (ROM) 206, NAND flashmemory 214) and/or to other circuits or devices, such as the display circuitry 210, cellular communication circuitry 226, short rangewireless communication circuitry 224, connector interface (i/f) 222, and/or display 218. The MMU 204 may be configured to perform memory protection and page table translation or set up. In some embodiments, the MMU 204 may be included as a portion of the processor(s) 208.

As noted above, the client station 212 may be configured to communicate wirelessly directly with one or more neighboring client stations. The client station 212 may be configured to communicate according to a WLAN RAT for communication in a WLAN network.

As described herein, the client station 212 may include hardware and software components for implementing the features described herein. For example, the processor 208 of the client station 212 may be configured to implement part or all of the features described herein, e.g., by executing program instructions stored on a memory medium (e.g., a non-transitory computer-readable memory medium). Alternatively (or in addition), processor 208 may be configured as a programmable hardware element, such as an FPGA (field Programmable Gate Array), or as an ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit). Alternatively (or in addition) the processor 208 of the UE 212, in conjunction with one or more of the other components 220, 210, 202, 214, 222, 226, 228, 204, 216, 206, 218 may be configured to implement part or all of the features described herein. 

In addition, as described herein, processor 208 may be comprised of one or more processing elements. In other words, one or more processing elements may be included in processor 208. Thus, processor 208 may include one or more integrated circuits (ICs) that are configured to perform the functions of processor 208. In addition, each integrated circuit may include circuitry (e.g., first circuitry, second circuitry, etc.) configured to perform the functions of processor(s) 110. 

Further, as described herein, cellular communication circuitry 226 and short rangewireless communication circuitry 224 may each be comprised of one or more processing elements. In other words, one or more processing elements may be included in cellular communication circuitry 226 and short rangewireless communication circuitry 224. Thus, each of cellular communication circuitry 226 and short rangewireless communication circuitry 224 may include one or more integrated circuits (ICs) that are configured to perform the functions of cellular communication circuitry 226 and short rangewireless communication circuitry 224, respectively. In addition, each integrated circuit may include circuitry (e.g., first circuitry, second circuitry, etc.) configured to perform the functions of cellular communication circuitry 226 and short range  wireless communication circuitry 224. 

Wi-Fi Peer to Peer Communication Protocol 

In some embodiments, Wi-Fi devices (e.g., client station 212) may be able to communicate with each other in a peer-to-peer manner, i.e., without the communications going through an access point. There are currently two types of Wi-Fi Peer to peernetworking protocols in the Wi-Fi Alliance. In one type of peer to peerprotocol, when two Wi-Fi devices (e.g., client stations) communicate with each other, one of the Wi-Fi devices essentially acts as a pseudo access point and the other acts as a client device. In a second type of Wi-Fi Peer to peerprotocol, referred to as neighbor awareness networking (NAN), the two Wi-Fi client devices (client stations or wireless stations) act as similar peer devices in communicating with each other, i.e., neither one behaves as an access point.