Exhibit 4

Case 2:23-cv-00202-JRG-RSP Document 81-5 Filed 07/15/24 Page 1 of 42 PageID #: 1698
c12) United States Patent 

Da Silva et al. 

(54) DIRECTED WIRELESS COMMUNICATION 

(71) Applicant: XR Communications, LLC, Solana 

Beach, CA (US) 

(72) Inventors: Marcus Da Silva, Spokane, WA (US); 

Vahid Tarokh, Cambridge, MA (US); 

Praveen Mehrotra, Spokane, WA (US); 

William J. Crilly, Jr., Liberty Lake, 

WA (US); James Brennan, 

( *) Notice: 

Sammamish, WA (US); Robert J. 

Conley, Liberty Lake, WA (US); 

Siavash Alamouti, Spokane, WA (US); 

Eduardo Casas, Vancouver (CA); 

Hujun Yin, Spokane, WA (US); Bobby 

Jose, Verndale, WA (US); Yang-Seok 

Choi, Liberty Lake, WA (US) 

Subject to any disclaimer, the term ofthis 

patent is extended or adjusted under 35 

U.S.C. 154(b) by O days. 

(21) Appl. No.: 15/495,539 

(22) 

(65) 

Filed: Apr. 24, 2017 

Prior Publication Data 

US 2017/0230094 Al Aug. 10, 2017 

Related U.S. Application Data 

(60) Continuation of application No. 15/260,147, filed on 

Sep. 8, 2016, which is a continuation of application 

(Continued) 

(51) Int. Cl. 

H04B 7106 

H04B 7104 

(52) U.S. Cl. 

(2006.01) 

(2017.01) 

(Continued) 

CPC ............. H04B 710617 (2013.01); H04B 7104 

(2013.01); H04B 710621 (2013.01); 

(Continued) 

I 1111111111111111 1111111111 1111111111 11111 1111111111 11111 lll111111111111111 

US010715235B2 

(IO) Patent No.: 

(45) Date of Patent: 

US 10,715,235 B2 

Jul. 14, 2020 

(58) Field of Classification Search 

None 

See application file for complete search history. 

(56) References Cited 

EP 

EP 

U.S. PATENT DOCUMENTS 

4,231,040 A 

4,750,147 A 

10/1980 Walker 

6/1988 Roy, III et al. 

(Continued) 

FOREIGN PATENT DOCUMENTS 

0817517 Al 

1117270 A2 

1/1998 

7/2001 

(Continued) 

OTHER PUBLICATIONS 

Anastasi, et. al., "MAC Protocols for Wideband Wireless Local 

Access: Evolution Towards Wireless ATM", IEEE Personal Communications Magazine, pp. 53-64, Oct. 1998. 

(Continued) 

Primary Examiner - Shuwang Liu 

Assistant Examiner - Gina M McKie 

(74) Attorney, Agent, or Firm - Klein, O'Neill & Singh, 

LLP 

(57) ABSTRACT 

Disclosed herein are methods and apparatuses configured to 

direct wireless communication. In some embodiments, a 

network apparatus is configured to: receive a first signal 

transmission from a remote station via a first antenna 

element of an antenna and a second signal transmission from 

the remote station via a second antenna element of the 

antenna simultaneously; determine first signal information 

for the first transmission; determine second signal information for the second transmission, wherein the second signal 

information is different than the first signal information; 

determine a set of weighting values based on the first signal 

information and the second signal information, wherein the 

set of weighting values is configured to construct one or 

(Continued) 

~ 1QZ r200 

212 Multi-Beam 

DirectedSJgnal 

System 

Case 2:23-cv-00202-JRG-RSP Document 81-5 Filed 07/15/24 Page 2 of 42 PageID #: 1699
US 10,715,235 B2 

Page 2 

more beam-formed transmission signals; and generate the 6,311,075 Bl 10/2001 Bevan et al. 

one or more beam-formed transmission signals based on the 6,330,460 Bl 12/2001 Wong et al. 

set of weighting values for transmission to the remote 6,337,659 Bl 1/2002 Kim 

6,345,188 Bl 2/2002 Keskitalo et al. station. 6,351,499 Bl 2/2002 Paulraj et al. 

6,359,923 Bl 3/2002 Agee et al. 

19 Claims, 18 Drawing Sheets 6,414,986 Bl 7/2002 Usui 

6,438,376 Bl 8/2002 Elliott et al. 

6,470,195 Bl 10/2002 Meyer 

6,501,955 Bl 12/2002 Durrant et al. 

6,564,036 Bl 5/2003 Kasapi 

Related U.S. Application Data 6,597,678 Bl 7/2003 Kuwahara et al. 

6,611,231 B2 8/2003 Crilly, Jr. et al. 

No. 13/855,410, filed on Apr. 2, 2013, now Pat. No. 6,611,695 Bl 8/2003 Periyalwar 

9,462,589, which is a division of application No. 6,628,235 B2 9/2003 Wight 

10/700,329, filed on Nov. 3, 2003, now Pat. No. 6,631,277 B2 10/2003 Berg et al. 

8,412,106. 6,665,545 Bl 12/2003 Raleigh et al. 

6,667,712 B2 12/2003 Ericson et al. 

6,687,492 Bl 2/2004 Sugar et al. 

(60) Provisional application No. 60/423,660, filed on Nov. 6,694,154 Bl 2/2004 Molnar et al. 

4, 2002. 6,714,584 Bl * 3/2004 Ishii . H04B 7/086 

375/144 

(51) Int. Cl. 6,748,216 Bl 6/2004 Lee 

6,778,988 B2 8/2004 Bengtson H04W 16128 (2009.01) 6,795,409 Bl 9/2004 Youssefmir et al. 

H04W72/04 (2009.01) 6,823,174 Bl 11/2004 Masenten et al. 

H04B 171318 (2015.01) 6,850,741 B2 2/2005 Lei et al. 

(52) U.S. Cl. 6,853,333 B2 2/2005 Ericson et al. 

6,907,269 B2 6/2005 Yamaguchi et al. 

CPC .......... H04B 171318 (2015.01); H04W 16128 6,982,968 Bl 1/2006 Barratt et al. 

(2013.01); H04W 721046 (2013.01) 7,020,110 B2 3/2006 Walton et al. 

7,031,266 Bl 4/2006 Patel et al. 

(56) References Cited 7,031,336 B2 4/2006 Scherzer et al. 

7,039,441 Bl 5/2006 Reudink et al. 

U.S. PATENT DOCUMENTS 7,054,662 B2 5/2006 Judson 

7,062,294 Bl 6/2006 Rogard et al. 

4,965,732 A 10/1990 Roy, III et al. 7,062,296 B2 6/2006 Brennan et al. 

5,095,531 A 3/1992 Ito 7,133,380 Bl 11/2006 Winters et al. 

5,327,143 A 7/1994 Goetz et al. 7,289,826 Bl 10/2007 Hovers et al. 

5,345,599 A 9/1994 Paulraj et al. 7,346,365 Bl 3/2008 Hovers et al. 

5,471,647 A 11/1995 Gerlach et al. 7,492,743 B2 2/2009 Uhlik 

5,515,378 A 5/1996 Roy, III et al. 7,529,305 Bl 5/2009 Tong et al. 

5,546,090 A 8/1996 Roy, III et al. 7,729,728 B2 6/2010 Brennan et al. 

5,548,813 A 8/1996 Charas et al. 8,412,106 B2 4/2013 da Silva et al. 

5,553,074 A 9/1996 Acampora 9,462,589 B2 10/2016 Da Silva 

5,592,490 A 1/1997 Barratt et al. 2001/0003443 Al 6/2001 Velazquez et al. 

5,602,555 A 2/1997 Searle et al. 2001/0033600 Al 10/2001 Yang et al. 

5,603,089 A 2/1997 Searle et al. 2002/0034967 Al 3/2002 Taniguchi et al. 

5,634,199 A 5/1997 Gerlach et al. 2002/0097700 Al 7/2002 Alastalo et al. 

5,642,353 A 6/1997 Roy, III et al. 2002/0103013 Al 8/2002 Watson et al. 

5,649,293 A 7/1997 Reed 2002/0137 538 Al * 9/2002 Chen. H04B 7/0491 

5,687,194 A 11/1997 Paneth et al. 455/575.7 

5,697,066 A 12/1997 Acampora 2002/0158801 Al* 10/2002 Crilly, Jr. ................ G0lS 13/74 

5,739,788 A 4/1998 Dybdal et al. 342/378 

5,771,017 A 6/1998 Dean et al. 2003/0017853 Al 1/2003 Kanamaluru et al. 

5,809,141 A 9/1998 Dent et al. 2003/0064752 Al 4/2003 Adachi et al. 

5,809,422 A * 9/1998 Raleigh. H04B 7/2609 2003/0073465 Al 4/2003 Li 

455/444 2003/0114196 Al 6/2003 Chitrapu 

5,828,658 A 10/1998 Ottersten et al. 2004/0014429 Al 1/2004 Guo 

5,886,988 A 3/1999 Yun et al. 2004/0063468 Al 4/2004 Frank 

5,890,067 A 3/1999 Chang et al. 2004/0066762 Al 4/2004 Alastalo 

5,914,946 A 6/1999 Avidor et al. 2012/0009964 Al* 1/2012 Gormley. H04B 7/0634 5,933,421 A 8/1999 Alamouti et al. 455/509 5,966,094 A 10/1999 Ward et al. 2013/0094454 Al* 4/2013 Soriaga . H04B 7/0691 5,987,037 A 11/1999 Gans 

6,006,110 A 12/1999 Raleigh 370/329 

6,049,307 A 4/2000 Lim 

6,067,290 A 5/2000 Paulraj et al. FOREIGN PATENT DOCUMENTS 

6,091,788 A 7/2000 Keskitalo et al. 

6,101,399 A 8/2000 Raleigh et al. GB 2349045 A 10/2000 

6,104,935 A 8/2000 Smith et al. WO WO 96/21117 7 /1996 

6,108,323 A 8/2000 Gray WO WO 97/00543 Al 1/1997 

6,115,427 A 9/2000 Calderbank et al. WO WO 97/33388 Al 9/1997 

6,141,335 A 10/2000 Kuwahara et al. WO WO 98/09381 Al 3/1998 

6,169,759 Bl 1/2001 Kanterakis et al. WO WO 98/18271 A3 4/1998 

6,169,910 Bl 1/2001 Tamil et al. WO 9921391 A2 4/1999 

6,208,858 Bl 3/2001 Antonio et al. WO WO 99/21391 A2 4/1999 

6,219,561 Bl 4/2001 Raleigh WO WO 00/38455 Al 6/2000 

6,233,466 Bl 5/2001 Wong et al. WO WO 00/038455 Al 6/2000 

Case 2:23-cv-00202-JRG-RSP Document 81-5 Filed 07/15/24 Page 3 of 42 PageID #: 1700
US 10,715,235 B2 

Page 3 

(56) 

WO 

WO 

WO 

WO 

WO 

References Cited 

FOREIGN PATENT DOCUMENTS 

WO 00/72464 Al 

WO 01/010156 Al 

WO 01/10156 Al 

WO 02/063836 A2 

WO 03/075396 A2 

11/2000 

2/2001 

2/2001 

8/2002 

9/2003 

OTHER PUBLICATIONS 

Berg, J., "Building penetration loss along urban street microcells," 

in Proceedings of PIMRC '96-7th International Symposium on 

Personal, Indoor, and Mobile Communications, 3:795-797 (1996). 

Damoss, E. and L. Correia, eds., COST 231 Final Report-Digital 

Mobile Radio-Towards Future Generation Systems. European 

Commission, Directorate General XIII, Report No. RJR 18957 

(ISBN 92-828-54167), 516 pages. (1999). 

Deng, S., "Empirical Model of WWW Document Arrivals at Access 

Link," Communications, 1996. ICC '96, Conference Record, Converging Technologies for Tomorrow's Applications. 1996 IEEE 

International Conference, 197-202 ( 1996). 

Gans et al., "High data rate indoor wireless communications using 

antenna arrays," in Proceedings of 6th International Symposium on 

Personal, Indoor and Mobile Radio Communications, 3: 1040-1046 

(1995). 

German et al., "Wireless Indoor Channel Modeling: Statistical 

Agreement of Ray Tracing Simulations and Channel Sounding 

Measurements," in Proceeding of 2001 IEEE International Conference on Acoustics, Speech, and Signal Processing, 4:2501-2504 

(2001). 

Gucsalla, R., "Characterizing the Variability of Arrival Processes 

with Indexes of Dispersion", IEEE JSAC, 9(2):203-211 (1990). 

Hashemi, H., "The Indoor Propagation Channel," Proceedings of 

the IEEE, 81 (7): 943-968 (1993). 

Jakes, W.C., ed., Microwave Mobile Communications. Wiley, 1974. 

645 pages. 

Kivinen et al., "Empirical Characterization of Wide hand Indoor 

radio Channel at 5.3 GHz," IEEE Transactions on Antennas and 

ProtJagation, 49(8): 1192-1203 (2001). 

Leland et. Al., "On the Self-Similar Nature of Ethernet Traffic," 

IEEE/ACM Transactions on Networking, 2(1):1-15 (1994). 

Medbo, J. and J. Berg, "Simple and accurate path loss modeling at 

5 GHz in indoor environments with corridors," in Vehicular Technology Conference Fall 2000. IEEE VTS Fall VTC2000. 52nd 

Vehicular Technology Conference, 1 :30-36 (2000). 

"Part 11: Wireless LAN Medium Access Control (MAC) and 

Physical Layer (PHY) specifications: Higher-Speed Physical Layer 

Extension in the 2.4 GHz Band", Supplement to IEEE Standard for 

Information technology-Telecommunications and information 

exchange between systems-Local and metropolitan area networksSpecific requirements. IEEE Std 802.llb-1999(R2003); Sponsor 

LAN/MAN Standards Committee of the IEEE Computer Society; 

Reaffirmed Jun. 12, 2003, Approved Sep. 16, 1999, IEEE-SA 

Standards Board. 

Martin Cooper, "A Layman's Guide to Cellular, Annual Review of 

Communications", 1996, pp. 993-997. 

Anderson et al., "An Adaptive Array for Mobile Communication 

Systems", IEEE Transactions on Vehicular Technology, vol. 40, No. 

1, Feb. 1991, pp. 230-236. 

G. J. Foschini et al., "BLAST: Bell Labs Layered Space-Time, An 

Architecture for Realizing Very High Data Rates Over Fading 

Wireless Channels", https://web.archive/ org/web/ 1999022107 4508/ 

https://www.bell-labs.com/pr, Lucent Technologies, 1998, 3 pages. 

Brandenburg, L. H. et al., "Capacity of the Gaussian Channel With 

Memory: The Multivariate Case", The Bell System Technical 

Journal, vol. 63, No. 5, May-Jun. 1974, pp. 745-764. 

Dean Chapman, "First-Hand: Sidelobe Cancellers and the Like", 

http:ethw.org/First-Hand: Sidelobe _ Cancellers_and_the_Like, Apr. 12, 

2017, 4 pages. 

Li, Hang et al., "Coded Beamforming for Block Fading Vector 

Channel", 2001 IEEE, pp. 1137-1141. 

Dandekar, K.R. et al., "Effect of mutual coupling on direction 

finding in smart antenna applications", Electronics Letters, vol. 36, 

No. 22, Oct. 26, 2000, pp. 1889-1891. 

L. Bigler, H.P. et al., "Experimental Direction of Arrival and Spatial 

Signature Measurements at 900 MHz for Smart Antenna Systems", 

1995 IEEE, pp. 55-58. 

Jeng, Shiann-Shiun et al., "Experimental Evaluation of Smart 

Antenna System Performance for Capacity Improvement", 1997 

IEEE, pp. 369-373. 

Jeng, Shiann-Shiun et al., "Experimental Evaluation of Smart 

Antenna System Performance for Wireless Communications", IEEE 

Transactions on Antennas and Propagation, vol. 46, No. 6, Jun. 

1998, pp. 749-757. 

Xu, G. et al., "Experimental Studies of Space-Division-MultipleAccess Schemes for Spectral Efficient Wireless Communications", 

1994 IEEE, pp. 800-804. 

Jeng, Shiann-Shiun et al., "Experimental Studies of Spatial Signature Variation at 900 MHz for Smart Antenna Systems", IEEE 

Transactions on Antennas and Propagation, vol. 46, No. 7, Jul. 1998, 

pp. 953-962. 

Fenn, Alan J. et al., "The Development of Phased-Array Radar 

Technology", Lincoln Laboratory Journal, vol. 12, No. 2, 2000, pp. 

321-340. 

Foschini, Gerard J., "Layered Space-Time Architecture for Wireless 

Communication in a Fading Environment When Using MultiElement Antennas", Bell Labs Technical Journal, Autumn 1996, pp. 

41-59. 

"Part 11: Wireless LAN Medium Access Control (MAC) and 

Physical Layer (PHY) specifications High-speed Physical Layer in 

the 5 GHz Band", Supplement to IEEE Standard for Information 

technology-Telecommunications and information exchange between 

systems-Local and metropolitan area networks-Specific requirements. IEEE Std 802.lla-1999(R2003); Sponsor LAN/MAN Standards Committee of the IEEE Computer Society; Reaffirmed Jun. 

12, 2003, IEEE-SA Standards Board. 

Cooper, Martin, et al., "Intelligent Antennas: Spatial Division 

Multiple Access", Annual Review of Communications, 1996, pp. 

999-1002. 

Kaye, A. Roger, et al., "Transmission of Multiplexed PAM Signals 

Over Multiple Channel and Diversity Systems", IEEE Transactions 

on Communication Technology, vol. Com-18, No. 5, Oct. 1970, pp. 

520-526. 

Kang, Joonhyuk, et al., Low Complexity Array Response Vector 

Estimation for Smart Antenna Systems, 2000 IEEE, pp. 841-845. 

Dandekar, Kapil R., et al., "Modeling and Prediction of the Wireless 

Vector Channel Encountered by Smart Antenna Systems", Microwave and Optical Technology Letters, vol. 35, No. 4, Nov. 20, 2002, 

pp. 281-283. 

Swales, S.C., et al., "Multi-Beam Adaptive Base-Station Antennas 

for Cellular Land Mobile Radio Systems", 1989 IEEE 39th Vehicular Technology Conference, San Francisco, vol. 1, pp. 341-348. 

Balaban, Philip, et al., "Optimum Diversity Combining and Equalization in Digital Data Transmission with Applications to Cellular 

Mobile Radio-Part 1: Theoretical Considerations", IEEE Transactions on Communications, vol. 40, No. 5, May 1992, pp. 885-894. 

Naguib, Ayman F., et al., "Performance of CDMA Cellular Networks With Base-Station Antenna Arrays: The Downlink", 1994 

IEEE, pp. 795-799. 

Cadzow, J.A., et al., "Resolution of Coherent Signals Using a Linear 

Array", 1987 IEEE, pp. 1597-1600. 

Reudink, D.O., et al., "A Scanning Spot-Beam Satellite System", 

The Bell System Technical Journal, vol. 56, No. 8, Oct. 1997, pp. 

1549-1560. 

Nowicki, David, et al., "Smart Antenna Strategies", Mobile Communications Int'!, Apr. 1995, pp. 1-10. 

Xu, Guanghan, et al., "Smart Antenna Systems for Wireless Communications", 1998 IEEE, pp. 631-634. 

Paulraj, Arogyaswami J., et al., "Space-Time Processing for Wireless Communications", IEEE Signal Processing Magazine, Nov. 

1997, pp. 49-83. 

Case 2:23-cv-00202-JRG-RSP Document 81-5 Filed 07/15/24 Page 4 of 42 PageID #: 1701
US 10,715,235 B2 

Page 4 

(56) References Cited 

OTHER PUBLICATIONS 

Winters, Jack H., et al., "The Impact of Antenna Diversity on the 

Capacity of Wireless Communication Systems", IEEE Transactions 

on Communications, vol. 42, No. 2/3/4, Feb./Mar./Apr. 1994, pp. 

1740-1751. 

Goldburg, Mark, et al., "The Impacts of SDMA on PCS System 

Design", IEEE, 1994, Session 1.10, ArrayComm, Inc., Santa Clara, 

CA, pp. 242-246. 

Li, Hang, et al., "Transmission Optimization Over Flat Rayleigh 

Fading Channel with Multiple Antennas", 1999 IEEE, pp. 210-214. 

Van Etten W., "Maximum Likelihood Receiver for Multiple Channel Transmission Systems", IEEE Transactions on Communications, Feb. 1976, pp. 276-283. 

Kavak, Adnan, et al., "Vector Channels for Smart AntennasMeasurements, Statistical Modeling, and Directional Properties in 

Outdoor Environments", IEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory 

and Techniques, vol. 48, No. 6, Jun. 2000, pp. 930-937. 

Related Virtual Exhibits, Smart Antenna Systems Tutorial, IEC 

ComForum at WCA 2001: Jun. 25-27, 2001, World Trade Center, 

Boston, MA, USA. 

Raleigh, G.G., et al., "Adaptive Antenna Transmission for Frequency Duplex Digital Wireless Communication", 1997 IEEE, pp. 

641-646. 

Gerlach, Derek, "Adaptive Transmitting Antenna Arrays at the Base 

Station in Mobile Radio Networks", Aug. 1995, UMI Company, 

Ann Arbor, MI, 108 pages. 

Gerlach, Derek et al., "Adaptive Transmitting Antenna Arrays with 

Feedback", IEEE Signal Processing Letters, vol. 1, No. 10, Oct. 

1994, pp. 150-152. 

Lehne, Per H., et al. "An Overview of Smart Antenna Technology 

for Mobile Communications Systems", IEEE Communications Surveys, http://www.comsoc.org/pubs/surveys, Fourth Quarter 1999, 

vol. 2, No. 4, pp. 2-13. 

Gerlach, Derek et al., "Base station transmitting antenna arrays for 

multipath environments", Signal Processing 54 (1996) pp. 59-73. 

Naguib, Ayman F., et al. "Capacity Improvement of Base-Station 

Antenna Arrays Cellular CDMA", 1993 IEEE, pp. 1437-1441. 

Liang et al; "Forward link antenna diversity using feedback for 

indoor communication systems", IEEE, 1995 International Conference on Acoustics, Speech, and Signal Processing, vol. 3, pp. 

1753-1755. 

Paulraj, Arogyaswami; "Smart antennas for battlefield multimedia 

wireless networks with dual use applications", Army Research 

Office, Grant No. DAAH04-95-l-0249, Aug. 15, 1998, 1-22. 

Anthony S. Acampora et al., "A New Adaptive MAC Layer Protocol 

for Broadband Packet Wireless Networks in Harsh Fading and 

Interference Environments", IEEE/ ACM Transactions on Networking, vol. 8, No. 3, Jun. 2000, pp. 328-336. 

Anthony S. Acampora et al., "A New Adaptive MAC Layer Protocol 

for Wireless ATM Networks in Harsh Fading and Interference 

Environments", IEEE, 1997, Center for Wireless Communications, 

University of California, San Diego, pp. 410-415. 

Anthony S. Acampora et al., "A Wireless Network for Wide-Band 

Indoor Communications", IEEE Journal on Selected Areas in Communications, vol. SAC-5, No. 5, Jun. 1987, pp. 796-805. 

A. S. Acampora et al., "System Applications for Wireless Indoor 

Communications", IEEE Communications Magazine, Aug. 1987, 

vol. 25, No. 8, pp. 11-20. 

G.J. Foschini et al., "On Limits of Wireless Communications in a 

Fading Environment When Using Multiple Antennas", Wireless 

Personal Communications 6, Kluwer Academic Publishers, 1998, 

Netherlands, pp. 311-335. 

Supplement to IEEE Standard for Information technologyTelecommunications and information exchange between systemsLocal and metropolitan area networks-Specific requirements, "Part 

11: Wireless LAN Medium Access Control (MAC) and Physical 

Layer (PHY) specifications, High-speed Physical Layer in the 5 

GHz Band", IEEE-SA Standards Board, Jun. 12, 2003, IEEE Std 

802.lla-1999(R2003), 91 pages. 

Supplement to IEEE Standard for Information technologyTelecommunications and information exchange between systemsLocal and metropolitan area networks-Specific requirements, "Part 

11: Wireless LAN Medium Access Control (MAC) and Physical 

Layer (PHY) specifications: Higher-Speed Physical Layer Extension in the 2.4 GHz Band", IEEE Std 802.llb-1999 (R2003), 

Institute of Electrical Engineers, Inc., Jan. 20, 2000, U.S.A., 96 

pages. 

Krishnamurthy, S.et al., "Polling Based Media Access Protocols for 

Use With Smart Adaptive Array Antennas", Conference Record, 

International Conference on Universal Personal Communications, 

Florence, Oct. 1998. 

Krishnamurthy, S.V. et al.; "Polling-Based Media Access Protocols 

for Use with Smart Adaptive Array Antennas," IEEE/ACM Trans. 

Networking vol. 9, No. 2, Apr. 2001. 

Interface, Feb. 1999, pp. 176-181; Interface, Mar. 1999, pp. 168-

173. (Japanese) 

Wolniansky, P. W. et al., "V-Blast: An Architecture for Realizing 

Very High Data Rates Over the Rich-Scattering Wireless Channel," 

Proc. URSI ISSSE: 295-300, Sep. 1998. 

Winters, J.H. "Optimum Combining in Digital Mobile Radio with 

Cochannel Interference", IEEE Journal on Selected Areas in Communications, vol. SAC-2, No. 4, Jul. 1984. 

Zhang, Z. et al., "Performance of a Modified Polling Strategy for 

Broadband Wireless LANs in a Harsh Fading Environment," IEEE 

GLobecom '91 Conference Record, Dec. 1991, Phoenix. 

Acampora, A.S. et al., "Media Access Protocols for Use with Smart 

Adaptive Array Antennas to Enable Wireless Multimedia Applications", 9th Tyrrehenian Workshop on Digital Communications, 

Lerici (Italy), Sep. 1997. 

Zhang, Z. et al., "Performance of a Modified Polling Strategy for 

Broadband Wireless Access in a Harsh Fading Environment," 

Telecommunication Systems, vol. 1, No. 3, 1993, p. 279-294. 

XR Communications, LLC, dba Vivato Technologies v. D-Link 

Systems, Inc., et al., Case No. 8:17-cv-0596-AG(JCGx), Defendants' Invalidity Contentions Pursuant to Standing Patent Rules 2.5 

and 2.6, dated Nov. 10, 2017, 85 pages. 

D. Gerlach and A. Paulraj, "Base Station Transmitter Arrays with 

Mobile to Base Feedback," Conference Record of the TwentySeventh Asilomar Conference on Signals, Systems& Computers, 

1993, pp. 1432-1436. 

I.A. Glover and P.M. Grant, Digital Communications, Prentice Hall 

Europe, 1998, pp. 80-86, § 2.6, "Correlation functions". 

ANSI/IEEE Standard 802.11: Wireless LAN Medium Access Control (MAC) and Physical Layer (PHY) Specifications, 1999 Edition. 

Z.C. Fluhr and P.T. Porter, "Advanced Mobile Phone Service: 

Control Architecture," Bell System Technical Journal, vol. 58, No. 

1, Jan. 1979, pp. 43-69 ("Fluhr"). 

Hillebrand, ed., "GSM and UMTS: The Creation of Global Mobile 

Communication,"John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., 2002, pp. 316-317 

("Hillebrand"). 

Andrew T. Campbell, et al., "Design, Implementation, and Evaluation of Cellular IP," IEEE Personal Communications (Aug. 2000). 

Donghee Shim, et al., "Should the Smart Antenna Be a Tracking 

Beam Array or Switching Beam Array?," 48th IEEE Vehicular 

Technology Conference (VTC'98) (May 21, 1998). 

Sandra Kay Miller, "Facing the Challenge of Wireless Security," 

Computer, pp. 16-18 (Jul. 2001). 

IEEE 802.11-1997. 

Jack H. Winters, "Smart Antennas," Chapter 6 of WTEC Panel 

Report on Wireless Technologies and Information Networks (Jul. 

2000). 

Constantine Balanis, Antenna Theory (1997) (selected pages). 

S.C. Swales, et al., "The Performance Enhancement of Multibeam 

Adaptive Base-Station Antennas for Cellular Land Mobile Radio 

Systems," IEEE Transactions on Vehicular Technology, vol. 39, No. 

1 (Feb. 1990). 

John Litva, et al., Digital Beamforming in Wireless Networks 

(1996) (selected pages). 

Joseph C. Liberti, Jr., et al., Smart Antennas for Wireless Communications (1999) (selected pages). 

IEEE Standards Bearer (Oct. 1997). 

Case 2:23-cv-00202-JRG-RSP Document 81-5 Filed 07/15/24 Page 5 of 42 PageID #: 1702
(56) References Cited 

OTHER PUBLICATIONS 

US 10,715,235 B2 

Page 5 

Oliver C. Ibe, Essentials of ATM Networks and Services, Addison 

Wesley (1997). 

Andrew S. Tanenbaum, Computer Networks, Third Edition, Prentice Hall ( 1996). 

Bellafiore et al., "Smart antenna system analysis, integration and 

performance for mobile ad-hoc networks (MANETs), " in IEEE 

Transactions on Antennas and Propagation, vol. 50, No. 5, pp. 

571-581, May 2002 (Year: 2002). 

Lal et al., "A novel MAC layer protocol for space division multiple 

access in wireless ad hoc networks, " Proceedings. Eleventh International Conference on Computer Communications and Networks, 

Miami, FL, USA, 2002, pp. 614-619 (Year: 2002). 

* cited by examiner 

Case 2:23-cv-00202-JRG-RSP Document 81-5 Filed 07/15/24 Page 6 of 42 PageID #: 1703
U.S. Patent 

106(1) 

Client Device 

104(1) 

Jul. 14, 2020 Sheet 1 of 18 US 10,715,235 B2 

Access 

Station 

102 

106(2) 

Client Device 

104(2) 

r100 

••• 

106(N) 

Client Device 

104(N) 

Case 2:23-cv-00202-JRG-RSP Document 81-5 Filed 07/15/24 Page 7 of 42 PageID #: 1704
U.S. Patent Jul. 14, 2020 Sheet 2 of 18 US 10,715,235 B2 

212 

Access Station 102 

Multi-Beam 

Directed Signal 

System 

206 

r200 

// ,,r216 

/ 210 \ 

I \ 

I \ 

I \ 

I Antenna Assembly \ 

I 208 ) 

\ I 

\ I 

\ / 

\ .._ ___ , ...... .._ ....... ,-_, I 

/ ' ' I \ /I \\'\'I 

'- / I \ \ '\ 'x 

'-../ I \ ,/, / X 

, 

/ \ \ \,....,. A 

, 

' 

, r 214(N) 

/ I - - - _\-- -, '\ ', 

/ \ \ ' ' / I \ \ '\ ', 214(1) \ / / \ \ , , 

y/ I \ '\ ' 

// / 214(2) ~\ ', ', 

/ I '-\ ,•••' I \ \ '\ _o-r-"-_ 

I \ \ 204 

~ic::ij/ \ \ 

\ I 

' I ' / , __ 202 

Case 2:23-cv-00202-JRG-RSP Document 81-5 Filed 07/15/24 Page 8 of 42 PageID #: 1705
U.S. Patent Jul. 14, 2020 Sheet 3 of 18 US 10,715,235 B2 

Multi-Beam Directed 

Signal S~stem 206 

Signal Control / 

Coordination Logic 

304 

__. 

/'\, 

1/210 

. ,. ~ 

Antenna Assembl~ 208 

214(2) Antenna Array 

302 

Case 2:23-cv-00202-JRG-RSP Document 81-5 Filed 07/15/24 Page 9 of 42 PageID #: 1706
U.S. Patent Jul. 14, 2020 Sheet 4 of 18 US 10,715,235 B2 

404 

0 0 0 0 

I I I / ,_, 

400 r302 

0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 

0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 

402(2) 

101 410 

402(1)~ i___{ 408 

!n I 1rr 

! fT .J 

In I 

IU I 

l nl 

I LIi 

I~ I 

I nl 

T UT 

In I 

IU I 

' J 

-406(2) 

Case 2:23-cv-00202-JRG-RSP Document 81-5 Filed 07/15/24 Page 10 of 42 PageID #:

1707
U.S. Patent Jul. 14, 2020 

502 

506_/ 

Sheet 5 of 18 US 10,715,235 B2 

rsoo 

\ 

\ 

\ 

504 

508(1)_)\ 

\ t;.-,• ~ 

' 

510 

Case 2:23-cv-00202-JRG-RSP Document 81-5 Filed 07/15/24 Page 11 of 42 PageID #:

1708
U.S. Patent Jul. 14, 2020 Sheet 6 of 18 US 10,715,235 B2 

Antenna Array 

302 

Multi-Beam Directed 

Signal System 206 

r700 

r 

Signal Control / 

Coordination Logic - - - - - - - - - - _ , -.... 

304 o-< Access Point 702(1) ) 

lJ==========

·o-< Access Point 702(2) ) 

: 

-IJ------------~ -------- ----- ----........ -.... o-< Access Point 702(N) ) 

~ ~~-- --~ -------

Case 2:23-cv-00202-JRG-RSP Document 81-5 Filed 07/15/24 Page 12 of 42 PageID #:

1709
U.S. Patent Jul. 14, 2020 Sheet 7 of 18 US 10,715,235 B2 

'I 

Antenna ArraJ'. 302 

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 \. 

l I 

r 'I r 

Left Transmit Right Transmit 

Antenna Board Antenna Board 

800 802 

TX Logic TX Logic 

812(0) ~ 

~ - 812(8) - V • • ' / 812(7) 

• • - - 812(15) 

• • ~ 

~~~ ~ 

- .. , j 

.. \. 

I I 

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 

Transmit Beam-Forming Network 808 

r , " 

Left Receive r 'I Right Receive 

Antenna Board 7'9-f'C Antenna Board 

"" 804 806 , 'I ~ 

RX Logic RX Logic 

814(0) 814(8) 

• • • • • • 814(7) 814(15) \. .. \. 

t , ,, t r 

?u,. f-c 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 

.,._ 

\. Receive Beam-Forming Network 810 

Case 2:23-cv-00202-JRG-RSP Document 81-5 Filed 07/15/24 Page 13 of 42 PageID #:

1710
U.S. Patent Jul. 14, 2020 Sheet 8 of 18 US 10,715,235 B2 

Multi-Beam Directed Signal System 206 

, 

Signal Control / , 

Coordination Logic Receiver / Transmitters 

304 

-. input Rx/Tx 824(0) output 

Multi-Beam 

Controller -. input Rx/Tx 824(1) output 816 \. • • • Memory 

Component(s) . input Rx/Tx 824(15) output - 818 \. 

\. 

- Scanning Communication -

- Receiver lnterface(s) -

. 822 820 \. 

'Ir ,1, ' " 

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 

Transmit Beam-Forming Network 808 

,l 

I 

" ..... 

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 7u,-FA 

Receive Beam-Forming Network 810 \. 

Case 2:23-cv-00202-JRG-RSP Document 81-5 Filed 07/15/24 Page 14 of 42 PageID #:

1711
U.S. Patent Jul. 14, 2020 Sheet 9 of 18 

Constructive Receive 

Indicators (1, 2, ... , N) 

- MAC - 900(1) ,. 

MAC - 900(2) 

• • • 

MAC ,__ 

900(N) 

Et hernet 

Swit ch/Router 

\. 908 

'I ~ '\ 

I 

/ I 

- l 

- I 

I I 

I I 

I I 

I I 

I I 

I I 

I I 

I I I 

- I 

I 

I I 

I I 

I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I 

I I I I 

- I 

- I 

I l 

1, 

,--

,---. 

Receive Indicators 

(1, 2, ... , N) 

'\ (, I 

I I BB Unit - I 

- I 

I I 902(1) I t \. 

I I 

I I 

I I 

I I 

I I 

I I I BB Unit I 

- I 

I 902(2) I I 

I I 

I I I I I I I I I I • 

I I • • I I I I I I 

I I I I , I I BB Unit - I 

- I 

I I 902(N) \ I 

MAC 'I 

Coordinator Logic 

904 

'I 

, 

-

-

, 

,__ 

US 10,715,235 B2 

r206 

'I .,...... 

RF ,..._ 

906(1) 

RF 

906(2) -

• • • 

RF 

906(N) -

Beam-Forming 

Networks 

808 I 810 

\.. 

Antenna 

Array 

302 

Case 2:23-cv-00202-JRG-RSP Document 81-5 Filed 07/15/24 Page 15 of 42 PageID #:

1712
U.S. Patent Jul. 14, 2020 Sheet 10 of 18 US 10,715,235 B2 

Receive Indicators (1, 2 ... 13) 

••• "I r .., r 'I 

BB Unit BB Unit BB Unit 

,, , ' , ' ••• 902(1} 902(2} 902(13} .... _... .... ... .... ,I 

Receive J l ~l H Control Control Control 

Indicators I Data I Data ••• I Data 

Combiner , ' 1' 1J 

'I .., 'I 

1000 MAC MAC MAC .... ••• 900(1} 900(2} 900(13} .... 

l h h 

MAC 

Coordinator ••• 

Logic 

Constructive Receive Indicators (1, 2 .. 13) 

904 r 'I 

~----------·-------·--·--··--·------------------------ Timer Logic 

1006 .., 

Receive Indicator 'I 

-

- Watchdog Enable Information Interrupt .... ... 

I 1004 Enable Info. ◄----- r .., 1014 r .., Masking Register .... 

Channel 1010 .., 

Assignment '- Watchdog 

Information J • Timer 

1002 1012 

r 

Scanning Logic t 

1008 

.... 

Case 2:23-cv-00202-JRG-RSP Document 81-5 Filed 07/15/24 Page 16 of 42 PageID #:

1713
U.S. Patent Jul. 14, 2020 Sheet 11 of 18 US 10,715,235 B2 

busy() ❖ r1100 

busy Defer 

1102 ,. 

1 ' t timeout. 

Receive - busy BackOff 

1116 - 1104 

rxend i

timeout 

1 

error()~, dat 

busy Idle ' 

a() 

notforus( ) ~, 

1106 

·- ' new~-

I 

,, sho ~ Data 1126 RTS 1128 I TxRTS 

rt() 

nav( )~, 1108 

t txend ' timeout WaitCTS 

1r 

, ' 'I 1110 

TxACK TxCTS t rxend 1118 1120 \.. \.. TxData 4--

txend txend 1112 ._ \.. 

,, '' ,, ,, 1J ♦ txend r timeout WaitACK 

1114 \.. 

,. t rxend 

TxFail() TxOK() 

1124 1122 

t mo 

,, I 

re( } 

Case 2:23-cv-00202-JRG-RSP Document 81-5 Filed 07/15/24 Page 17 of 42 PageID #:

1714
U.S. Patent Jul. 14, 2020 Sheet 12 of 18 US 10,715,235 B2 

1204 

r1200 

-"""-;--~---- ,.,. ... ' I ,,,,,,, - ...... 

•• •••• ?- I .. , / ', I I I ,', 1/ / / "/ \ ', 

I I .._ ~\ 1208 

: 1

1

Noise/WLAN\/ 

✓ Interference , 

\ 

\ 

Antenna Array 

304 ~ 

[ ____ ---:\________ ----------~ 

-- 1206~ ------

Keep 

Index W Out 

ID Info. ® w® 

ID Info. 

--- -- -' ' ___ ._ __ '\ 

Scanning 

Receiver 

822 

) 

-

\ 

\ 

I 

I 

t ® w® 

----""-+---+----I + - -

ID Info. Int 

ID Info. Int 

Rx/Tx 

824(0} 

Weighting Matrix 

1210 

Rx/Tx 

824(1) ••• 

RxfTx 

824(N) 

Case 2:23-cv-00202-JRG-RSP Document 81-5 Filed 07/15/24 Page 18 of 42 PageID #:

1715
U.S. Patent Jul. 14, 2020 Sheet 13 of 18 US 10,715,235 B2 

400(1) 

400(0) 

Multi-Beam Directed Signal System 206 

A: 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 

Butler Matrix 1300 

Tx/Rx: 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 

s s s s s s s s s s s s s s s s 

p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p 

400(15) 

1302(0) 1302(15) 

1 302 ( 1 ) ,___ _________________ .............. ____________________________________ "---'-_ 1302 ( 14) 

Baseband-Processor(s) 902 

Case 2:23-cv-00202-JRG-RSP Document 81-5 Filed 07/15/24 Page 19 of 42 PageID #:

1716
U.S. Patent 

400(1) 

400(0) 

Gain 

1400 

12,_.,__ 

Signal 14 -

Level 16 

(dB) 

22 

24 

26 

28 

30 

32 

34 

36 

38 

40 

Jul. 14, 2020 Sheet 14 of 18 US 10,715,235 B2 

400(N-1) 

400(N) 

••• 

Butler Matrix 1300 

••• 

r1500 

1504 

1502 

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120 130 140 150 160 170 180 

Angle (degrees) 

';'9, 15 

Case 2:23-cv-00202-JRG-RSP Document 81-5 Filed 07/15/24 Page 20 of 42 PageID #:

1717
U.S. Patent Jul. 14, 2020 Sheet 15 of 18 

Start 

Association/ 

Re-association 

US 10,715,235 B2 

r1600 

Association 1608 

Sample RSSI 1614 

Monitor State 

1602 

Disassociate 

client device 

Smoothed RSSI Drop .1fil.2 

Scan Timeout 1fil2 

Force Roam 

State 

1606 

Correct Beam 

Test State 

1604 

Case 2:23-cv-00202-JRG-RSP Document 81-5 Filed 07/15/24 Page 21 of 42 PageID #:

1718
U.S. Patent Jul. 14, 2020 Sheet 16 of 18 

r " 

Generate a directed wireless 

communication for data 

/1702 

communication with a client device 

" 

Receive the directed 

wireless communication 

v-1704 

at an antenna assembly 

1' 

r 

Emanate a directed communication 

beam for the data communication 

v-1706 

with the client device 

H 

r " 

Transmit the data communication 

to the client device via the 

/1708 

directed communication beam 

\. ... 

r Emanate a second directed 

communication beam for data 

/1710 

communication reception from 

\. 

a second client device ... 

r Receive the second data 

communication from the second 

/1712 

client device via the second 

directed communication beam \.. ... 

US 10,715,235 B2 

r1700 

Case 2:23-cv-00202-JRG-RSP Document 81-5 Filed 07/15/24 Page 22 of 42 PageID #:

1719
U.S. Patent Jul. 14, 2020 Sheet 17 of 18 

r "' Coordinate directed wireless communication 

with client devices via directed communication 

beams emanated from an antenna assembly .... 

, , 

Route data communication transmissions 

through a transmit beam-forming network to 

antenna elements of the antenna assembly 

such that a data communication transmission 

is communicated to a client device via a 

directed communication beam 

, , .... 

Monitor the directed communication beams 

for data communication receptions 

from the client devices ... 

, . 

Receive data communication receptions through a 

receive beam-forming network from the antenna 

elements of the antenna assembly such that a 

data communication reception is received from a 

client device via a directed communication beam 

'" 

, . r 'I 

Determine which of multiple channels provides 

acceptable data communication transmission 

... and/or reception with a client device 

1 ' 

r .... 

Maintain information corresponding 

to one or more of the client devices 

... _..; 

US 10,715,235 B2 

1802 

r1800 

V 

1804 

V 1806 

V 1808 

V 1810 

V 1812 

Case 2:23-cv-00202-JRG-RSP Document 81-5 Filed 07/15/24 Page 23 of 42 PageID #:

1720
U.S. Patent Jul. 14, 2020 Sheet 18 of 18 US 10,715,235 B2 

Associate a client device with a 1902 

r1900 

directed communication beam of a 

multi-beam directed signal system 

Receive signal strength indications 1904 

for data packets received from 

the client device 

Calculate a signal strength average 1906 

for the client device from the 

received signal strength indications 

Sample adjacent signal strength 1908 

indications for an adjacent directed 

communication beam 

Calculate a second signal strength 1910 

average for the adjacent directed 

communication beam 

1916 

econd sign 

gth average Yes Disassociate the client device 

association with the directed 

communication beam n signal stren 

average? 

Maintain the client device 

association with the directed 

communication beam 

1918 

Reassociate the client device 

with the adjacent directed 

communication beam 

Case 2:23-cv-00202-JRG-RSP Document 81-5 Filed 07/15/24 Page 24 of 42 PageID #:

1721
US 10,715,235 B2 

1 

DIRECTED WIRELESS COMMUNICATION 

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED 

APPLICATIONS 

This application is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. 

2 

tion can occur if two or more centralized points of emanation 

are positioned proximate to have overlapping coverage 

areas. 

SUMMARY 

Directed wireless communication is described herein. In 

an implementation, a multi-beam directed signal system 

coordinates directed wireless communication with client 

No. 15/260,147, filed Sep. 8, 2016, which is a continuation 

application of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/855,410, 

filed on Apr. 2, 2013 (now U.S. Pat. No. 9,462,589), which 

is a divisional application ofU.S. patent application Ser. No. 

10/700,329, filed on Nov. 3, 2003 (now U.S. Pat. No. 

8,412,106), which claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional 

Application No. 60/423,660, filed on Nov. 4, 2002. Each of 

10 devices. A transmit beam-forming network routes data communication transmissions to the client devices via directed 

the above-referenced patent applications is incorporated 15 

herein by reference in its entirety. 

BACKGROUND 

The following disclosure relates to directed wireless com- 20 

munication. 

Computing devices and other similar devices implemented to send and/or receive data can be interconnected in 

communication beams that are emanated from an antenna 

assembly, and a receive beam-forming network receives 

data communication receptions from the client devices via 

the directed communication beams. 

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 

The same numbers are used throughout the drawings to 

reference like features and components. 

FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary wireless communications 

environment. 

a wired network or wireless network to allow the data to be 

communicated between the devices. Wired networks, such 

as wide area networks (WANs) and local area networks 

(LAN s) for example, tend to have a high bandwidth and can 

therefore be configured to communicate digital data at high 

data rates. One obvious drawback to wired networks is that 

FIG. 2 illustrates an exemplary directed wireless commu25 nication system. 

FIG. 3 illustrates an exemplary communication beam 

array which can be generated with the exemplary directed 

wireless communication system shown in FIG. 2. 

the range of movement of a device is constrained since the 

device needs to be physically connected to the network for 

data exchange, For example, a user of a portable computing 

device will need to remain near to a wired network junction 

FIG. 4 illustrates an exemplary antenna array for an 

30 antenna assembly as shown in FIG. 3. 

FIG. 5 illustrates an exemplary implementation of the 

directed wireless communication system shown in FIG. 2. 

to maintain a connection to the wired network. 

An alternative to wired networks is a wireless network 

that is configured to support similar data communications 

but in a more accommodating manner. For example, the user 

FIG. 6 illustrates an exemplary set of communication 

beams that emanate from an antenna array of an antenna 35 assembly as shown in FIG. 3. 

FIG. 7 illustrates an exemplary multi-beam directed signal system that establishes multiple access points. 

FIGS. SA and SB illustrate various components of a 

40 multi-beam directed signal system and an antenna assembly 

of the directed wireless communication system shown in 

FIG. 2. 

of the portable computing device can move around within a 

region that is supported by the wireless network without 

having to be physically connected to the network. A limitation of conventional wireless networks, however, is their 

relatively low bandwidth which results in a much slower 

exchange of data than a wired network. Further, conventional wireless networks are implemented with multiple base 

stations, or access points, that relay communications 45 

between wireless-configured devices. These conventional 

access points have a limited communication range, typically 

20 to 200 feet, and a wireless network requires a large 

number of these access points to cover and provide a 

communication link over a large area. 

Many conventional wireless communication systems and 

networks implement omni-directional antennas to transmit 

data packets to a client device and receive data packets from 

50 

or via an access point. With a standard wireless LAN, for 

example, a transmission is communicated equally in all 55 

directions from an onmi-directional antenna, or point of 

emanation. Receiving devices located within range and 

positioned at any angle with respect to the emanating point 

can receive the wireless transmission. 

However, standard onmi-directional wireless LANs or 60 

onmi-directional wireless wide area networks (WANs) have 

drawbacks and limitations. For example, transmission range 

is limited and electromagnetic interference associated with 

transmissions is unmanaged and can interfere with or otherwise restrict the use of other communicating devices that 65 

operate in the same frequency band within the transmission 

coverage area. Furthermore, inefficiencies and data corrupFIG. 9 illustrates an exemplary multi-beam directed signal system that includes various components such as 

medium access controllers (MA Cs), baseband units, and 

MAC coordinator logic. 

FIG. 10 further illustrates various components of the 

exemplary multi-beam directed signal system shown in FIG. 

9. 

FIG. 11 illustrates a state transition diagram for a medium 

access controller (MAC). 

FIG. 12 illustrates a multi-beam directed signal system 

receiving and weighting various communication signals. 

FIG. 13 illustrates an exemplary multi-beam directed 

signal system that includes various component implementations. 

FIG. 14 further illustrates a component implementation of 

the multi-beam directed signal system for complementary 

beam-forming. 

FIG. 15 illustrates a graph depicting a signal level output 

(dB) for the component implementation shown in FIG. 14. 

FIG. 16 illustrates a state transition diagram for a roaming 

client device in wireless communication with a multi-beam 

directed signal system as shown in FIG. 2. 

FIG. 17 is a flow diagram of an exemplary method for a 

directed wireless communication system implemented with 

a multi-beam directed signal system and antenna assembly. 

Case 2:23-cv-00202-JRG-RSP Document 81-5 Filed 07/15/24 Page 25 of 42 PageID #:

1722
US 10,715,235 B2 

3 

FIG. 18 is a flow diagram of an exemplary method for a 

directed wireless communication system implemented with 

a multi-beam directed signal system and antenna assembly. 

4 

FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary wireless communications 

environment 100 that is generally representative of any 

number of different types of wireless communications enviFIG. 19 ronments, including but not limited to those pertaining to is a flow diagram of an exemplary method for 

client device roaming in a directed wireless communication 

system. 

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF CERTAIN 

EMBODIMENTS 

5 wireless local area networks (LANs) or wide area networks 

(WANs) (e.g., Wi-Fi compatible) technology, cellular technology, trunking technology, and the like. In wireless communications environment 100, an access station 102 communicates with remote client devices 104(1), 104(2), ... , 

10 104(N) via wireless communication or communication links 

106(1), 106(2), ... , 106(N), respectively. Although not 

required, access station 102 is typically fixed, and remote 

client devices 104 may be fixed or mobile. Although only 

three remote client devices 104 are shown, access station 

Directed wireless communication is described in which a 

multi-beam directed signal system is implemented to communicate over a wireless communication link via an antenna 

assembly with client devices implemented for wireless communication within the wireless system. The directed wireless communication system can be implemented to communicate with multiple devices, such as portable computers, 

computing devices, and any other type of electronic and/or 

communication device that can be configured for wireless 20 

communication. Further, the multiple electronic and/or computing devices can be configured to communicate with one 

another within the wireless communication system. Additionally, a directed wireless communication system can be 

implemented as a wireless local area network (WLAN), a 25 

wireless wide area network (WAN), a wireless metropolitan 

area network (MAN), or as any number of other similar 

wireless network configurations. 

15 102 can wirelessly communicate with any number of different client devices 104. 

The following description identifies various systems and 

methods that may be included in such directed wireless 30 

communication systems and networks. It should be noted, 

however, that these are merely exemplary and that not all of 

the techniques described herein need be implemented in a 

given wireless system or network. Furthermore, many of the 

exemplary systems and methods described herein are also 35 

applicable and/or adaptable for use in other communication 

systems and networks. 

Directed wireless communication provides improved performance over conventional wireless network arrangements 

by utilizing multi-beam receiving and/or transmitting adap- 40 

tive antennas, when practical. In an implementation, simultaneous transmission and reception may occur at a wireless 

routing device by applying multi-channel techniques. In a 

described implementation, a multi-beam directed signal 

system (e.g., also referred to as an access point or Wi-Fi 45 

switch) is a long-range packet switch designed to support 

802.llb clients in accordance with an 802.11 standard. An 

increase in communication range is achieved by beamforming directed communication beams which simultaneously transmit directed signals and receive communication 50 

signals from different directions via receive and transmit 

beam-forming networks. 

The multi-beam directed signal system establishes multiple point-to-point links ( e.g., directed communication 

beams) by which data packets can be communicated. The 55 

point-to-point links have a communication range that covers 

a much larger area than conventional access points, eliminating the need for multiple communication access points 

and significantly reducing the complexity and cost of a 

wireless LAN (WLAN) network. Further, a client device can 60 

use a conventional wireless card to communicate with the 

multi-beam directed signal system over long distances with 

no modification of the client device. Accordingly, directed 

wireless communication as described herein represents a 

significant improvement over conventional wireless net- 65 

works that use switched beam and/or omni-directional 

antennas. 

A directed wireless communication system, Wi-Fi communication system, access station 102, and/or remote client 

devices 104 may operate in accordance with any IEEE 

802.11 or similar standard. With respect to a cellular system, 

for example, access station 102 and/or remote client devices 

104 may operate in accordance with any analog or digital 

standard, including but not limited to those using time 

division/demand multiple access (TDMA), code division 

multiple access (CDMA), spread spectrum, some combination thereof, or any other such technology. 

Access station 102 can be implemented as a nexus point, 

a trunking radio, a base station, a Wi-Fi switch, an access 

point, some combination and/or derivative thereof, and so 

forth. Remote client devices 104 may be, for example, a 

hand-held device, a desktop or laptop computer, an expansion card or similar that is coupled to a desktop or laptop 

computer, a personal digital assistant (FDA), a mobile 

phone, a vehicle having a wireless communication device, a 

tablet or hand/palm-sized computer, a portable inventoryrelated scanning device, any device capable of processing 

generally, some combination thereof, and the like. Further, a 

client device 104 may be any device implemented to receive 

and/or transmit information (e.g., in the form of data packets) via the applicable wireless communication links 106. 

Remote client devices 104 may also operate in accordance 

with any standardized and/or specialized technology that is 

compatible with the operation of access station 102. 

FIG. 2 illustrates an exemplary directed wireless communication system 200 that can be implemented in any form of 

a wireless communications environment 100 as described 

with reference to FIG. 1. The directed wireless communication system 200 includes an access station 102 and remote 

client devices 202 and 204. The access station 102 includes 

a multi-beam directed signal system 206 coupled to an 

antenna assembly 208 via a communication link 210. In this 

example implementation, access station 102 is coupled to an 

Ethernet backbone 212. 

The antenna assembly 208 can be implemented as two or 

more antennas, and optionally as a phased array of antenna 

elements, to emanate multiple directed communication 

beams 214(1), 214(2), ... , 214(N). The antenna assembly 

208 is an unobtrusive indoor or outdoor Wi-Fi antenna panel 

that can include various operability components such as RF 

devices and components, a central processing unit, a power 

supply, and other logic components. The antenna assembly 

can be implemented as a lightweight and thin structure that 

can be mounted on a wall or in a corner of a room to provide 

wireless communication over a broad coverage area, such as 

throughout a building and surrounding area, or over an 

expanded region, such as a college campus or an entire 

corporate or manufacturing complex. While the antenna 

Case 2:23-cv-00202-JRG-RSP Document 81-5 Filed 07/15/24 Page 26 of 42 PageID #:

1723
US 10,715,235 B2 

5 

assembly may be applicable or adaptable for use in many 

other communication systems, the antenna assembly is 

described in the context of an exemplary wireless communications environment 100 (FIG. 1). 

The multi-beam directed signal system 206 can transmit 5 

and/or receive (i.e., transceive) information ( e.g., in the form 

of data packets) by way of one or more directed communication beams 214 as a wireless communication via the 

antenna assembly 208. Additionally, wireless communication(s) are transmitted and/or received from (i.e., transceived 10 

with respect to) a remote client device, such as client devices 

202 and 204. The wireless communications may be transceived directionally with respect to one or more particular 

communication beams 214. The multi-beam directed signal 

system 206 can be implemented for multi-channel directed 15 

wireless communication. For example, client device 202 can 

communicate via directed communication beam 214(1) with 

a first channel of the multi-beam directed signal system 206, 

and client device 204 can communicate via directed communication beam, 214(N) with a second channel of the 20 

multi-beam directed signal system 206. 

In the exemplary directed wireless communication system 

200, signals may be sent from a transmitter to a receiver 

using electromagnetic waves that emanate from one or more 

antenna elements of the antenna assembly 208 which are 25 

focused in one or more desired directions. For example, the 

multi-beam directed signal system generates a directed 

wireless communication for transmission to wireless client 

device 202 via directed communication beam 214(1). This is 

in contrast to conventional omni-directional transmission 30 

6 

A transmission peak of a directed communication beam 

214 occurs in the transmission pattern 300 when a generated 

and particular amount of energy is directed in a particular 

direction. Transmission peaks are, therefore, associated with 

the signal path and/or communication beam to a desired 

receiving node, such as another wireless routing device or a 

wireless client device. In some cases, sidelobes to a communication beam may also be considered to represent transmission peak(s). 

Conversely, a transmission null (e.g., not a communication beam) occurs in the transmission pattern when no 

transmission of energy occurs in a particular direction, or a 

relatively insignificant amount of energy is transmitted in a 

particular direction. Thus, a transmission null is associated 

with a signal path or lack of a communication beam towards 

an undesired, possibly interfering, device and/or object. 

Transmission nulls may also be associated with the intent to 

maximize power in another direction (i.e., associated with a 

transmission peak), to increase data integrity or data security, and/or to save power, for example. A determination to 

direct a transmission null and/or a transmission peak ( e.g., a 

communication beam 214) in a particular direction can be 

made based on collected or otherwise provided routing 

information which may include a variety of data associated 

with the operation of the multi-beam directed signal system 

206, wireless routing device, and other devices at other 

locations or nodes within the wireless network. 

One or more of the communication beams 214(1), 

214(2), ... , 214(N) are directed out symmetrically from 

antenna array 302 to communicate information (e.g., in the 

form of data packets) with one or more wireless client 

devices. The communication beam array 300 shown in FIG. 

3 is merely exemplary and other communication beam 

arrays, or patterns, may differ in width, shape, number, 

systems that transmit a communication in all directions from 

an onmi-directional antenna (e.g., example omni-directional 

transmission area 216 emanating from a central transmission 

point with reference to antenna assembly 208 and shown 

only for comparison). Although not to scale, the illustration 

depicts that the power to transmit over the omni-directional 

transmission area 216 can be directed as one or more 

communication beams over a farther distance 218 from a 

point of transmission ( e.g., antenna assembly 208). 

35 angular coverage, azimuth, and so forth. Further, although 

all of the directed communication beams 214 are shown 

emanating from antenna array 302 at what would appear as 

a same time, transmission and reception via one or more 

communication beams 214 is controlled and coordinated 

When the electromagnetic waves are focused in a desired 40 

direction, the pattern formed by the electromagnetic wave is 

termed a "beam" or "beam pattern", such as a directed 

communication beam 214. The production and/or application of such electromagnetic beams 214 is typically referred 

with signal control and coordination logic 304 of the multibeam directed signal system 206. 

The signal control and coordination logic 304 can monitor 

each of the directed communication beams 214 as an individual access point. Further, the signal control and coordination logic 304 can control a directed wireless transmission 

to a first client device and a directed wireless transmission 

from a second client device such that the directed wireless 

transmission does not interfere with the directed wireless 

reception. Optionally, a directed wireless transmission and a 

directed wireless reception can be simultaneous. 

As used herein, the term "logic" ( e.g., signal control and 

coordination logic 304) refers to hardware, firmware, software, or any combination thereof that may be implemented 

to perform the logical operations associated with a given 

to as "beam-forming." Beam-forming provides a number of 45 

benefits such as greater range and/or coverage per unit of 

transmitted power, improved resistance to interference, 

increased immunity to the deleterious effects of multi-path 

transmission signals, and so forth. For example, a single 

communication beam 214(1) can be directed for communi- 50 

cation with a specific wireless-configured client device 202 

and can be transmitted over a much greater distance 218 than 

would be covered by a conventional omni-directional 

antenna (e.g., example onmi-directional transmission area 

216 shown only for comparison). 55 task. Such, logic can also include any supporting circuitry 

that may be required to complete a given task including 

supportive non-logical operations. For example, "logic" 

may also include analog circuitry, memory, input/output 

FIG. 3 illustrates an exemplary communication beam 

array 300 of directed communication beams 214(1), 

214(2), ... 214(N) that emanate from an antenna array 302 

which is part of the antenna assembly 208. Antenna assembly 208 is also referred to herein as an "adaptive antenna" 60 

which describes an arrangement that includes the antenna 

array 302 having a plurality of antenna elements, and 

operatively supporting mechanisms and/or components 

(e.g., circuits, logic, etc.) that are part of a wireless routing 

device and configured to produce a transmission pattern that 65 

selectively places transmission nulls and/or peaks in certain 

directions within an applicable coverage area. 

(I/O) circuitry, interface circuitry, power providing/regulating circuitry, etc. 

The directed communication beams 214 of antenna array 

302 can be directionally controllable, such as steerable in an 

analog implementation or stepable in a digital implementation. For example, a directed communication beam 214 can 

be directionally stepable by the width (e.g., degrees) of the 

communication beam to "steer" or "aim" addressable data 

packets when communicating with a client device. Further, 

Case 2:23-cv-00202-JRG-RSP Document 81-5 Filed 07/15/24 Page 27 of 42 PageID #:

1724
US 10,715,235 B2 

7 a communication beam 214 can be directionally controllable 

such that only an intended client device will receive a 

directed wireless communication via the communication 

beam 214, and such that an unintended recipient will not be 

able to receive the directed wireless communication. 

Although data signals ( e.g., information as data packets) 

5 

8 

4rr • 8J.-4J. GR= --A- 2- = 128,r = 26dBi 

For an example outdoor implementation of an antenna array 

can be directed to and from a particular client device ( e.g., 

client devices 202 and 204) via one or more directed 

communication beams 214, interference between communications beams 214 can occur. For example, a downlink 10 

signal transmission from antenna assembly 208 via communication beam 214(2) can corrupt an uplink signal reception 

where w=8A and h=8A, the antenna gain is determined by 

the equation: 

4rr-8J.-8J. GR = --A- 2- = 256,r = 29.1 dBi 

at antenna assembly 208 via communication beam 214(3). 

The signal control and coordination logic 304 coordinates 

uplink and downlink signal transmissions across ( e.g., 15 

between and/or among) the different communication beams 

214 so as to avoid, or at least reduce, the frequency at which 

downlink directed signals are transmitted via a first communication beam (e.g., communication beam 214(2)) while 

uplink directed signals are being received via a second 20 

communication beam (e.g., communication beam 214(3)). 

When dissipation losses are zero, the antenna gain is equivalent to directivity. The effective aperture may include the 

effect of losses, and therefore the formulas may be used to 

calculate the gain. When the actual dimensions of the 

antenna array 302 are used as the "effective area", the losses 

are assumed to be zero (e.g., for an ideal implementation). 

In this example illustration, the antenna array 302 is 

shown configured for indoor use with sixteen antenna elements (e.g., sixteen of antenna elements 400 formed or 

otherwise positioned together) each having two parallel 

rows of four communication signal transfer slots each (e.g., 

slot rows 406(1) and 406(2)). The antenna array 302 can be 

configured for outdoor use with thirty-two antenna elements 

FIG. 4 illustrates an exemplary antenna array 302 (also 

referred to herein as an adaptive antenna) that is formed with 

an array of antenna elements 400. Each antenna element 400 

(e.g., multiple antenna elements 400) each having two 

parallel rows of eight communication signal transfer slots 

each, or can be configured as a larger antenna array or 

has multiple communication signal transfer slots 402 ( e.g., 25 

transfer slots 402(1) and 402(2)) that are formed into a front 

surface 404 of an antenna element 400. The antenna array 

302 transmits and receives data as electromagnetic communication signals via the transfer slots 402 in each antenna 

element 400. 30 antenna panel with more antenna elements having more 

communication signal transfer slots per slot row. The 

antenna array 302 can be configured with as many antenna 

elements 400 having any number of transfer slots 402 per 

slot row 406 as needed to provide communication signal 

In an exemplary implementation, the communication signal transfer slots 402 in an antenna element 400 are formed 

into two parallel slot rows 406(1) and 406(2) in which the 

transfer slots 402(1) in slot row 406(1) are staggered, or 

otherwise offset, in relation to the transfer slots 402(2) in slot 

row 406(2). Each transfer slot 402(1) in slot row 406(1) is 

offset from each transfer slot 402(2) in slot row 406(2) in a 

direction 408 and a distance 410. For example, transfer slot 

402(1) in slot row 406(1) is offset from transfer slot 402(2) 

in slot row 408(2) in a direction that is parallel to the slot 

rows 406 ( e.g., the direction 408) over a distance that is 

approximately the length of one rectangular transfer slot 402 

(e.g., the distance 410). The distance 410 between transfer 

slots 402 in a slot row 406 is approximately the antenna 

element wavelength Aj2 apart. 

The gain of an adaptive antenna ( e.g., antenna array 302) 

is dependent on the implementation of the multi-beam 

directed signal system 206. However, for a uniformly illuminated antenna array, the antenna gain is related to its 

effective aperture by an equation: 

4n·A,JJ 

GR=~ 

Assuming Aeff is equal to a cross-sectional area of the 

antenna array: 

where w is the width of the antenna, h is the height of the 

antenna, and A is the wavelength. For an example indoor 

implementation of an antenna array where w=8A and h=4A, 

the antenna gain is determined by the equation: 

35 transfer ( e.g., wireless communication) over a region or 

desired coverage area. 

FIG. 5 illustrates an exemplary implementation 500 of a 

directed wireless communication system ( e.g., directed 

wireless communication system 200 shown in FIG. 2) that 

40 includes antenna assembly 208 and antenna array 302 as 

shown in FIG. 4. In this example, antenna array 302 is 

positioned outside of a building 502 and mounted on an 

adjacent building 504 to provide wireless communication 

throughout building 502 and throughout a region 506 out45 side of building 502. The antenna array 302 is coupled to the 

multi-beam directed signal system 206 (FIG. 2) which can 

be communicatively coupled via a LAN connection, for 

example, to a server computing device positioned in building 504. The server computing device can be implemented 

50 to administrate and control the associated functions and 

operations of the directed wireless communication system 

200. Alternatively, antenna array 302 can be mounted within 

building 502 to provide wireless communication throughout 

building 502 and throughout the region 506 outside of 

55 building 502. For example, antenna array 302 can be 

mounted in a corner between two interior perpendicular 

walls to provide wireless communication coverage throughout the coverage area (e.g., building 502 and region 506 

60 

outside of the building). 

The directed wireless communication system 200 (e.g., 

shown in implementation 500) provides wireless communication of information ( e.g., in the form of data packets) via 

directed communication beams 508(1), 508(2), ... , 508(N) 

to any number of electronic and/or computing client devices 

65 that are configured to recognize and receive transmission 

signals from the antenna array 302. Any one or more of the 

electronic and computing client devices may also transmit 

Case 2:23-cv-00202-JRG-RSP Document 81-5 Filed 07/15/24 Page 28 of 42 PageID #:

1725
US 10,715,235 B2 

9 10 

erage area or region for each respective access point 702 

may correspond to, for example, a respective directed communication beam 214 as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, or a 

respective communication beam 602 as shown in FIG. 6. 

Although communication signals directed into ( or 

obtained from) different access points 702 may be directed 

at particular or specific coverage areas, interference between 

access points 702 can occur. For example, a downlink signal 

transmission for access point 702(2) can destroy an uplink 

information via the directed communication beams 508. 

Such electronic and computing devices can include printing 

devices, desktop and portable computing devices such as a 

personal digital assistant (PDA), cellular phone, and similar 

mobile communication devices, and any other type of elec- 5 

tronic devices configured for wireless communication connectivity throughout building 502, as well as portable 

devices outside of building 502, such as computing device 

510 within region 506. One or more of the electronic and 

computing client devices may also be connected together via 10 signal reception for access point 702(1). Generally, signal 

control and coordination logic 304 coordinates uplink signal 

receptions and downlink signal transmissions across (e.g., 

between and/or among) different access points 702 so as to 

avoid, or at least reduce, the frequency at which downlink 

a wired network and/or communication link. 

FIG. 6 illustrates an exemplary set or array of communication beams 600 that emanate from an antenna array 302 as 

shown in FIGS. 3 and 4. In a described implementation, 

antenna array 302 can include sixteen antenna elements 

400(0, 1, ... , 14, and 15) (not explicitly shown in FIGS. 4 

and 6). From the sixteen antenna elements 400(0-15), sixteen different communication beams 602(0), 602(1), ... , 

602(15) are formed as the wireless communication signals 

emanating from antenna elements 400(0-15) which may add 

and/or subtract from each other during electromagnetic 

propagation. 

Communication beams 602(1), 602(15) spread out, or are 

directed out, symmetrically from a central communication 

beam 602(0). The narrowest beam is the central beam 

602(0), and the beams become wider as they spread outward 

from the central beam. For example, beam 602(15) adjacent 

beam 602(0) is slightly wider than beam 602(0), and beam 

602(5) is wider than beam 602(15). Also, beam 602(10) is 

wider still than beam 602(5). The communication beam 

pattern of the set of communication beams 600 illustrated in 

FIG. 6 are exemplary only and other communication beam 

pattern sets may differ in width, shape, number, angular 

coverage, azimuth, and so forth. 

Due to implementation effects of the interactions between 

and among the wireless signals as they emanate from 

antenna array 302 (e.g., assuming a linear antenna array in 

a described implementation), communication beam 602(8) 

is degenerate such that its beam pattern is formed on both 

sides of antenna array 302. These implementation effects 

also account for the increasing widths of the other beams 

602(1-7) and 602(15-9) as they spread outward from the 

central communication beam 602(0). In addition to the 

implementation effects of the interactions between and 

among the wireless signals, an obliquity effect explains that 

an azimuth beamwidth is related to the projected horizontal 

dimension of the array, as viewed from an oblique angle. 

Accordingly, the array appears narrower when viewed from 

an oblique angle, and therefore has a wider beamwidth as 

compared to a beamwidth viewed from a perpendicular 

angle. Beamwidth and directivity are inversely proportional 

and an obliquity factor (i.e., cos(azimuth angle)) defines a 

reduction in antenna array directivity at oblique angles and 

thus an increase in beamwidth. In a further implementation, 

communication beams 602(7) and 602(9) may be too wide 

for efficient and productive use. Hence, communication 

beams 602(7), 602(8), and 602(9) are not used and the 

implementation utilizes the remaining thirteen communication beams 602 (e.g., communication beams 602(0-6) and 

beams 602(10-15)). 

FIG. 7 illustrates an exemplary implementation 700 of the 

multi-beam directed signal system 206 which establishes 

multiple access points 702(1), 702(2), 702(N). The multibeam directed signal system 206 establishes any number 

access points 702 which can each correspond to, for 

example, an individual access point in accordance with an 

IEEE 802.11-based standard. Additionally, a wireless cov15 signals are transmitted at a first access point while uplink 

signals are being received at a second access point. 

Specifically, signal control and coordination logic 304 is 

adapted to monitor the multiple access points 702(1), 702 

(2), ... , 702(N) to ascertain when a signal, or communi20 cation of information, is being received. When an access 

point 702 is ascertained to be receiving a signal, the signal 

control and coordination logic 304 limits (e.g., prevents, 

delays, etc.) the transmission of signals on the other access 

points 702 such that signal transmission does not interfere 

25 with signal reception. The monitoring, ascertaining, and 

restraining of signals can be based on and/or responsive to 

many factors. For example, the signals can be coordinated 

( e.g., analyzed and controlled) based on a per-channel basis. 

FIGS. SA and 8B illustrate various components of the 

30 multi-beam directed signal system 206 and the antenna 

assembly 208 both shown in FIGS. 2 and 3. FIG. SA 

illustrates antenna array 302 which includes the sixteen 

antenna elements 400(0, 1, ... , 15) as described with 

reference to FIG. 6. The antenna assembly 208 includes RF 

35 (radio frequency) components which are shown as a left 

transmit antenna board 800, a right transmit antenna board 

802, a left receive antenna board 804, and a right receive 

antenna board 806. The multi-beam directed signal system 

206 includes a transmit beam-forming network 808 and a 

40 receive beam-forming network 810. 

The left transmit antenna board 800 includes transmission 

logic 812(0, 1, 7) and the right transmit antenna board 802 

includes transmission logic 812(8, 9, . . . , 15). Each 

transmission logic 812 (e.g., circuit, component, etc.) cor45 responds to an antenna element 400(0-15) of the antenna 

array 302 and corresponds to a signal connection ( e.g., node, 

port, channel, etc.) of the transmit beam-forming network 

808(0-15). Similarly, the left receive antenna board 804 

includes reception logic 814(0, 1, ... , 7) and the right 

50 receive antenna board 806 includes reception logic 814(8, 9, 

15). Each reception logic 814 (e.g., circuit, component, etc.) 

corresponds to an antenna element 400(0-15) of the antenna 

array 302 and corresponds to a signal connection ( e.g., node, 

port, channel, etc.) of the receive beam-forming network 

55 810(0-15). 

Generally, a beam-forming network 808 and 810 may 

include multiple ports for connecting to antenna array 302 

and multiple ports for connecting to the multiple RF components, such as the transmit and receive antenna boards 

60 800-806. One or more active components (e.g., a power 

amplifier (PA), a low-noise amplifier (LNA), etc.) may also 

be coupled to the multiple ports on the antenna array side of 

a beam-forming network. Thus, antenna array 302 may be 

directly or indirectly coupled to a beam-forming network 

65 808 and 810. 

Specifically, a beam-forming network 808 and 810 may 

include at least "N" ports for each of the multiple RF 

Case 2:23-cv-00202-JRG-RSP Document 81-5 Filed 07/15/24 Page 29 of 42 PageID #:

1726
US 10,715,235 B2 

11 

transmission and receive logic components 812 and 814, 

respectively. For example, each directed communication 

beam 214 (FIG. 2) or 602 (FIG. 6) emanating from antenna 

array 302 corresponds to an RF logic component 812 and/or 

814. Each RF logic component 812 and 814 can be implemented as, for example, a transmit and/or receive signal 

processor operating at one or more radio frequencies, with 

each frequency corresponding to a different channel. It 

should be noted that channels may be defined alternatively 

(and/or additionally) using a mechanism other than frequency, such as a code, a time slot, some combination 

thereof, and so forth. 

FIG. 8B further illustrates various components of the 

multi-beam directed signal system 206 which includes the 

signal control and coordination logic 304, a multi-beam 

controller 816, one or more memory components 818, 

communication interface(s) 820, a scanning receiver 822, 

and receiver/transmitters (Rx/Tx) 824(0, 1, ... , 15). The 

multi-beam controller 816 (e.g., any of a processor, controller, logic, circuitry, etc.) can be implemented to control 

channel assigmnents for communication signals and data 

communication coordinated by the signal control and coordination logic 304. 

The channel assignments coordinated by the signal control and coordination logic 304 provide the best channel 

assignment for a signal based on given measurement information. Parameters of a channel assignment algorithm 

include: 

ChannelAssigmnentCycle which identifies a duration 

between changes in the channel assignment; 

Heavy Interference which identifies an interference activity threshold. If, for example, interference activity is determined to be above this value, a particular channel may be 

considered deficient for the duration of time that the interference can be detected; 

BadChannelThreshold which identifies a number of measurement periods ( e.g., a MeasurementDuration) that a channel has interference activity above the Heavyinterference 

threshold; and 

Jaminterference which identifies an interference activity 

threshold above the Heavyinterference parameter. 

Further, channel assignment internal parameters can 

include: 

12 

P,(t) which is a packet error rate (PER) of the ith Rx/Tx 

824 and which is averaged over the MeasurementDuration 

period; 

D,(t) which is a delay of the ith Rx/Tx 824 and which is 

5 averaged over the MeasurementDuration period; 

pu(t) which is channel utilization of the ith beam on the 

jth channel and which is measured by both the Rx/Tx 824 

and scanning receiver 822 and averaged over the MeasurementDuration period. This is also referred to as a Channel 

10 Utilization Factor (CUF); 

Ns/t) which is a number of downlink data packets transmitted on the jth channel and which is averaged over the 

MeasurementDuration period; 

Nr,it) which is a number of correctly received uplink data 

15 packets transmitted by client devices associated with the ith 

beam on the jth channel, and which is averaged over the 

MeasurementDuration period; 

Nn,it) which is a number of uplink data packets transmitted by client devices associated with other communica20 tion beams, and which are correctly received by the ith beam 

on the jth channel. This is measured by the scanning receiver 

822 and is averaged over the MeasurementDuration period. 

This is also referred to as the Selflnterference Metric (SIM); 

No,it) which is a number of uplink data packets trans25 mitted by the client devices from overlapping subnets and 

which are correctly received by the ith beam on the jth 

channel. This is measured by the scanning receiver 822 and 

is averaged over the MeasurementDuration period. This is 

also referred to as the Overlapping Subnet Interference 

30 (OSI); 

Ne,it) which is a number of uplink data packets with 

Physical Layer Convergence Procedure (PLCP) or data 

Cyclic Redundancy Check (CRC) errors in the ith beam on 

the jth channel and which is measured by the scanning 

35 receiver 822 and averaged over the MeasurementDuration 

period. This is also referred to as the Unidentified Interference Metric (UIM); and 

I,it) which is the interference of the ith beam on the jth 

channel and which is measured by the scanning receiver 

40 822. 

MeasurementCycle which identifies a time duration ( e.g., 

twenty-four hours) in which a measurement is completed; 45 

MeasurementDuration which identifies a time duration 

These and other metrics can be maintained with a memory 

component 818 in a data table (or similar data construct) 

within the MeasurementCycle. When the cycle restarts, the 

data table can either be cleared or updated with some aging 

factor to identify past metrics. 

The metric I,it) can be derived from other measurements 

when the receiver/transmitters 824 are on the same channel. 

In such cases, I,it) can be estimated by first estimating a 

total number of packets from any overlapping subnets by an 

(e.g., minutes) between two measurement points; 

PeakLoadLimit which identifies a maximum load allowed 

on one channel; and 

ChannelSixBiasFactor which is a bias factor to compensate for transmission on channel six to reduce inter-modulation. 50 equation: 

The scanning receiver 822 and the receiver/transmitters 

(Rx/Tx) 824 measure metrics of channel activity every 

specified MeasurementDuration during a cycle of Measure- 55 

mentCycle. The metrics can include a number of associated 

client devices, throughput and packet error rates (PER) of 

each receiver/transmitter 824, interference and channel utilization of each communication beam ( e.g., frequency, or 

channel), and/or any number of other metrics. The channel 60 

activity metrics include: 

N,(t) which is a number of associated clients of the ith 

Rx/Tx 824 and which is averaged over the MeasurementDuration period; 

S,(t) which is the throughput of the ith Rx/Tx 824 mea- 65 

sured in packets/second or bytes/second, and which is averaged over the MeasurementDuration period; 

Nou(t) 

Nlu(t) = Nou(t) + Neu(t). Nru(t) + Nnu(t) + Nou(t) 

Further, I,it) may be estimated by: 

Nlu(t) Iu(t) = ------~------ •Pu(t) NS;(t) + Nru(t) + Nnu(t) + Nou(t) + Neu(t) 

For channel assigmnent pre-processing, a channel that has 

interference activity which exceeds Heavy Interference for a 

BadChanne!Threshold is not used. The interference activity 

is averaged over intervals of the MeasurementDuration 

period. In an implementation, a MeasurementCycle can 

Case 2:23-cv-00202-JRG-RSP Document 81-5 Filed 07/15/24 Page 30 of 42 PageID #:

1727
US 10,715,235 B2 

13 

include forty-eight measurement intervals. A channel can be 

eliminated if the interference activity Heavyinterference 

exceeds the BadChanne!Threshold for a specified number of 

periods. 

The total number of active users ( e.g., client devices) 5 

associated with any one directed communication beam 214 

(FIG. 2) or 602 (FIG. 6) can be estimated by dividing the 

number of associated users of that communication beam by 

the percentage of time available to those users. The total 

number of users on beam i and channel j may therefore be 10 

described by: 

15 

14 

Block 2: communication beams bk+l to N-1 (1 to N-1) 

are assigned to channel C2 Then the communication traffic 

load of channels C1 and C2 are: 

N-! 

L~2(t) = ~ N;c2(t) 

i=bk+l 

The peak communication load on the first block for 

combination k is denoted by: 

PL 1(k)~max{Lkc 1(t)} where tis of the set [0,1] 

PL2 (k)~max{Lk 0 (t)} where tis of the set [0,1] where -I,it)=min{I,it), Heavy Interference} which is the 

interference activity limited to a maximum allowable interference on a given communication beam. This ensures that 

the estimate does not provide large peaks due to an unusual 

period of high interference. 

And the peak communication load for the busiest block 

20 (e.g., channel) is: 

A block-based channel assignnient algorithm assigns 

adjacent communication beams to the same frequency channel which minimizes the hidden beam problem as described 25 

further with reference to FIG. 14. The algorithm allocates 

the thirteen communication beams into a maximum of three 

blocks, with each block assigned to one frequency channel 

(e.g., channels 1, 6, or 11) so that the peak load on each 

channel is minimized. To determine an optimal solution, the 30 

boundaries between the assignnient blocks (i.e. the number 

of communication beams in each block) and the frequency 

channel of each block is determined. 

There are sixty-six possible combinations that divide 

thirteen communication beams into three blocks. For each of 35 

these possible combinations, the three blocks would be 

assigned to the three different channels. The number of 

channel permutations is six and the best channel-beam 

combination from three hundred, ninety-six (66x6=396) 

possible combinations can be determined. A factor L)t) is 40 

denoted as the total load on the jth frequency channel at time 

(t) such that. L/=max {L)t)} where t is of the set [0,T] 

which is the peak load on the jth channel in the last 

measurement period, and where T is the measurement cycle 

(i.e., MeasurementCycle ). A combination can be determined 45 

that minimizes the peak load on all of the channels which 

can be described as min{max{L/}} where j is of the set 

[fJ6f11lIn an event that the overall network communication load, 

or traffic, is minimal, fewer than the three frequency chan- 50 

nels may be used. A parameter PeakLoadLimit identifies a 

communication load limit below which only two of the 

frequency channels (e.g., channel 1 and channel 11, for 

example) are used. If the peak communication load on either 

of the two channels exceeds the PeakLoadLimit, then the 55 

three frequency channels can be utilized. 

The block-based channel assignment algorithm can be 

implemented to utilize two or three frequency channels. 

Initially, the thirteen communication beams are divided into 

two blocks of which there are twelve possible combinations. 60 

For each combination, the channel selections can be f1 f6, 

f 1f11, f6fi, f6f11, f11fi, or f11f6 such that there are a total of 

seventy-two block and channel combinations. Assuming that 

PLm=(k)~max{PL 1 (k),PLik))} 

A combination index R with the least peak communication load is then selected such that PLmaxCR)=min {PLmax 

(k)} where (0sks71) which is the combination of channels 

and beams that minimize the peak load on any channel. If the 

peak load on a channel is not less than the PeakLoadLimit, 

then a three channel assignment can be implemented. Initially, the thirteen communication beams are divided into 

three blocks of which there are sixty-six possible combinations. For each combination, the channel selections can be 

fJ 6f11, fJ 11f6, f6fJ 11, f6f11fi, f11f 1f6, or f11f6f 1 such that 

there are a total of three-hundred, ninety-six block and 

channel combinations. Assuming that the kth block-channel 

combination has a configuration as follows: 

Block 1: communication beams 0 to bk (0 to N-3) are 

assigned to channel C1 ; and 

Block 2: communication beams bk+l to Pk (1 to N-2) are 

assigned to channel C2 ; and 

Block 3: communication beams pk+l to N-1 (2 to N-1) 

are assigned to channel C3 ; 

Then the communication traffic load of channels Ci, C2 , 

and C3 are: 

Pk 

L~2(t) = ~ N;c2(t) 

i=bk+l 

N-! 

L~3 = ~ N;c3(t) 

i=pk+l 

The peak communication load on the first block for 

combination k is denoted by: 

PL 1(k)~max{Lkc 1(t)} where tis of the set [0,1] 

PL 1(k)~max{Lk 0 (t)} where tis of the set [0,1] 

PLs(k)~max{Lk c3(t)} where tis of the set [0,1], 

the kth block-channel combination has a configuration as 

follows: 

Block 1: communication beams 0 to bk (0 to N-2) are 

assigned to channel C1 ; and 

and the peak communication load for the busiest block 

65 (e.g., channel) is: 

Case 2:23-cv-00202-JRG-RSP Document 81-5 Filed 07/15/24 Page 31 of 42 PageID #:

1728
US 10,715,235 B2 

15 

A combination index R with the least peak communication load is then selected such that PLmaxCR)=min{PLmax 

(k)} where (0sks395) which is the combination of channels 

and beams that minimize the peak load on any channel. 

When taking into account intermodulation such that chan- 5 

nel combinations f 1 f6 and f6 fu are to be avoided, then f6 is 

avoided. Initially, the thirteen communication beams are 

divided into two blocks of which there are twelve possible 

combinations. For each combination, the channel selections 

can be f1 fu and fu f1 such that there are a total of twenty- 10 

four block and channel combinations. Assuming that the kth 

block-channel combination has a configuration as follows: 

Block 1: communication beams 0 to bk (0 to N-2) are 

assigned to channel C1 ; and 

Block 2: communication beams bk+l to N-1 (1 to N-1) 15 

are assigned to channel C2 Then the communication traffic 

load of channels f 1 and fu is the sum of the loads of the 

communication beams assigned to those channels as follows: 

16 

as used in an IEEE 802.16.1 MAC; Nominal direction to a 

node---e.g., one or two dimension; Nominal transmit power 

level to a node; Nominal received signal strength indicator 

(RSSI) level from a node; Nominal channel to transmit on, 

and perhaps a backup channel; Nominal channel to receive 

on, and perhaps a backup channel; Nominal transmission 

data rate, e.g., 6 Mbps-54 Mbps, or as available; Nominal 

receive data rate, e.g., 6 Mbps-54 Mbps, or as available; 

Known station interference nulls; and Unknown station 

interference nulls. 

In an exemplary implementation, and within the structure 

of signal control/coordination logic 304, the routing table(s) 

are configured to receive or include data and/or primitives 

( e.g., function calls) from an Internet Protocol (IP) layer and 

a medium access control (MAC) layer, and to instruct a 

physical (PHY) layer to provide media access through the 

MAC layer. Therefore, in some examples, a routing table is 

more than simply a data table ( or other similar structure) 

since it may also perform or otherwise support controlling 

20 and/or scheduling functions. 

L}1 (t) = ~ N;11 (t) 

Ji 

V(iEfi) 

The communication interface(s) 820 can be implemented 

as any one of a serial, parallel, network, or wireless interface 

that communicatively couples the multi-beam directed signal system 206 with other electronic and/or computing L}u (t) = ~ N;Ju (t) V (i E Ju) 

Ju 

The peak communication load on the first block for 

combination k is denoted by: 

25 devices. For example, the multi-beam directed signal system 

206 can be coupled with a wired connection ( e.g., an 

input/output cable) via a communication interface 820 to a 

network switch that communicates digital information corresponding to a communication signal to a server computing 

PL2 (k)~max{Lkf! 1(t)} where tis of the set [0,1] 

and the peak communication load for the busiest block 

(e.g., channel) is: 

30 device. Any of the communication interfaces 820 can also be 

implemented as an input/output connector to couple digital, 

universal serial bus (USB), local area network (LAN), wide 

area network (WAN), metropolitan area network (MAN), 

and similar types of information and communication con35 nections. 

PLm=~max{PL 1(k),PLo(k)} 

The scanning receiver 822 scans each directed communication beam (e.g., directed communication beams 214 

shown in FIGS. 2 and 3) consecutively and monitors for 

client devices and associated information such as the transA combination index R with the least peak communication load is then selected such that PLmaxCR)=min {PLmax 

(k)} where (0sks71) which is the combination of channels 

and beams that minimize the peak load on any channel. If the 

peak load on a channel is not less than the PeakLoadLimit, 

then a three channel assignment can be implemented. 

40 mit power of a client device, roaming status, and the many 

other communication factors to update data that is maintained about each client device that is in communication via 

a communication beam. In an implementation, the scanning 

Memory component(s) 818 can maintain routing and 

signal information which can include transmit power level 45 

information, transmit data rate information, antenna pointing direction information, weighting information, constraints information, null/zero location information, peak 

location information, quality of service (QoS) information, 

priority information, lifetime information, frequency infor- 50 

mation, timing information, user and node authentication 

information, keep out area information, etc., that is associated with each sending and receiving communication channel of the wireless communication system and within the 

multi-beam directed signal system 206. In an implementa- 55 

tion, at least some of routing information can be maintained 

with memory component(s) 818 within one or more routing 

tables or similar data structure(s ). 

The routing table(s) or similar data structure(s) provide an 

information basis for each routing decision within the wire- 60 

less communication system ( e.g., multi-beam directed signal 

system 206). By way of example, routing table(s) entries 

may include all or part of the following information: IP 

address ( e.g., IPv6) of a node in the wireless network-e.g., 

as an index; 48-bit unique address---e.g., IEEE 802.1 MAC 65 

address; Protocol ID---e.g., IEEE 802.11, 802.16.1, etc.; 

Modulation method; Connection ID (CID) of a node-e.g., 

receiver 822 can be described in two operating states: a scan 

mode and a roaming mode. While operating in the scan 

mode, the scanning receiver 822 periodically scans the 

thirteen communication beams on the three channels and 

collects activity information to be maintained with the client 

device data. 

FIG. 9 illustrates an exemplary multi-beam directed signal system 206 that includes various components such as 

medium access controllers (MACs) 900, baseband units 

(BB) 902, and MAC coordinator logic 904. The multi-beam 

directed signal system 206 also includes radio frequency 

(RF) components 906 such as the left and right transmit 

antenna boards 800 and 802 (shown in FIG. 8), respectively, 

and the left and right receive antenna boards 804 and 806, 

respectively. This example also illustrates the antenna array 

302, the transmit beam-forming network 808 and the receive 

beam-forming network 810, and an Ethernet switch and/or 

router 908. 

As described in the implementation with reference to FIG. 

8, antenna array 302 (e.g., via antenna assembly 208) is 

coupled to the beam-forming networks 808 (transmit) and 

810 (receive). The beam-forming networks 808 and 810 are 

coupled to multiple RF components 906(1), 906(2), .. 

906(N). Respective RF components 906(1), 906(2), ... , 

Case 2:23-cv-00202-JRG-RSP Document 81-5 Filed 07/15/24 Page 32 of 42 PageID #:

1729
US 10,715,235 B2 

17 

906(N) are each coupled to a respective baseband unit 

902(1), 902(2), ... , 902(N) which are coupled to MAC 

coordinator logic 904. The Ethernet switch/router 908 is 

coupled to the multiple MACs 900(1), 900(2), ... , 900(N) 

which are also each coupled to MAC coordinator logic 904. 5 

In operation generally, each MAC 900 is associated with 

a respective baseband unit 902. Although not specifically 

shown in FIG. 9, each respective MAC 900 may also be 

communicatively coupled to a corresponding baseband unit 

902. MAC coordinator logic 904 is configured to coordinate 10 

the activities of the multiple MACs 900 with regard to at 

least one non-associated respective baseband unit 902. For 

example, MAC coordinator logic 904 may forward an 

instruction to MAC 900(1) responsive, at least partly, to an 

indicator provided from baseband unit 902(2). MAC coor- 15 

dinator logic 904 can be implemented as hardware, software, 

firmware, and/or some combination thereof. 

The Ethernet switch/router 908 is coupled to Ethernet 

backbone 212 (FIG. 2) and is configured to relay incoming 

packets from Ethernet backbone 212 to the appropriate 20 

MAC 900 to which they correspond. Ethernet switch/router 

908 is also configured to relay outgoing packets from the 

multiple MACs 900 to Ethernet backbone 212. Ethernet 

switch/router 908 may be implemented using, for example, 

a general purpose central processing unit (CPU) and 25 

memory. The CPU and memory can handle layer-2 Internet 

protocol (IP) responsibilities, flow control, and so forth. 

When receiving packets from Ethernet backbone 212, Ethernet switch/router 908 obtains the destination port for the 

destination MAC 900 address. In this manner, an Ethernet 30 

switch and/or router may be realized using software ( or 

hardware, firmware, some combination thereof, etc.). 

The beam-forming networks 808 and 810, in conjunction 

with antenna array 302, form the multiple directed communication beams 214 (FIGS. 2 and 3), A beam-forming 35 

network can be implemented as an active or passive beamformer. Examples of such active and passive beam-formers 

include a tuned vector modulator (multiplier), a Butler 

matrix, a Rotman lens, a canonical beam-former, a lumpedelement beam-former with static or variable inductors and 40 

capacitors, and so forth. Alternatively, communication 

beams may be formed using full adaptive beam-forming. 

18 

2, N) and each respective MAC 900(1, 2, ... , N) is 

associated with a corresponding baseband unit 

902(1, 2, ... , N). Although not illustrated in this example 

or required, each MAC 900 and associated respective baseband unit 902 may be located on individual respective 

electronic cards. Additionally, the respective RF component 

906 to which each respective baseband unit 902 is coupled 

may also be located on the individual respective electronic 

cards. 

Each respective MAC 900 and corresponding baseband 

unit 902 may be associated with a different respective access 

point, such as access points 702(1, 2, ... , N) (FIG. 7). Each 

respective RF component 906, along with signal nodes ( e.g., 

ports, communication nodes, etc.) of the beam-forming 

networks 808 and 810, and/or antenna array 302, and 

respective communication beams 214 may also correspond 

to the different respective access points 702. The MACs 900 

are configured to control access to the media that is provided, at least partially, by baseband units 902. In this case, 

the media corresponds to the signals transmitted and/or 

received via communication beams 214 (FIGS. 2 and 3). 

These signals can be analog, digital, and so forth. In a 

described implementation, digital signals comprise one or 

more data packets. 

In a packet-based environment, a data packet arriving at 

the multi-beam directed signal system 206 (or at access 

station 102) via a particular communication beam 214 from 

a particular remote client device 202 (FIG. 2) is received via 

the antenna array 302 and the beam-forming networks 808 

and/or 810. The data packet is processed through a particular 

RF component 906 and a corresponding baseband unit 902. 

The data packet is then forwarded from baseband unit 902 

to a corresponding MAC 900 which facilitates data packet 

communication via the Ethernet backbone 212 (FIG. 2) by 

Ethernet switch/router 908. Data packets arriving at the 

multi-beam directed signal system 206 (or at access station 

102) via Ethernet switch/router 908 are transmitted to a 

remote client device 202 and/or 204 via directed communication beam(s) 214 in an opposite communication path. The 

transmission and reception of data packets via directed 

communication beams 214, as well as the forwarding of 

packets within the multi-beam directed signal system 206 is 

controlled at least partially by the MACs 900. 

In a typical MAC-baseband environment, a MAC controls 

As described with reference to FIGS. SA and 8B, a 

beam-forming network 808 and 810 may include multiple 

ports for connecting to antenna array 302 and additional 

ports for connecting to the multiple RF components 906. 

One or more active components (e.g., a power amplifier 

(PA), a low-noise amplifier (LNA), etc.) may also be 

coupled to the multiple ports on the antenna array side of the 

beam-forming networks 808 and 810. Thus, antenna array 

302 may be directly or indirectly coupled to the beamforming networks 808 and 810. 

45 the associated baseband circuitry using input solely from the 

associated baseband circuitry. For example, if baseband 

circuitry indicates to its associated MAC that it is receiving 

a packet, then the associated MAC does not initiate the 

baseband circuitry to transmit a packet, which can jeoparThe beam-forming networks 808 and 810 may include at 

least "N" parts for each of the multiple RF components 

906(1, 2, . . . , N). In an example implementation, each 

communication beam 214 emanating from antenna array 

302 corresponds to an RF component 906. Each RF component 906 can be implemented as a transmit and/or receive 

signal processor operating at radio frequencies and each RF 

component 906 can operate at one or more frequencies, with 

each frequency corresponding to a different channel. It 

should be noted that charmels may be defined alternatively 

(and/or additionally) using a mechanism other than frequency, such as a code, a time slot, a signal node, some 

combination thereof, and so forth. 

As described above, each respective RF component 906 

(1, 2, ... , N) is coupled to a respective baseband unit 902(1, 

50 dize the integrity of the packet being received. 

With co-located access points 702 (e.g., as in FIG. 7) 

and/or co-located pairs of MACs 900 and associated baseband units 902, a first access point 702(1) and/or a first MAC 

900(1 )/baseband unit 902(1) pair are unaware of the condi55 tion or state (e.g., transmitting, receiving, idle, etc.) of a 

second access point 702(2) and/or a second MAC 900(2)/ 

baseband unit 902(2) pair, and vice versa. As a result, absent 

additional control and/or logic, a data packet being received 

by the first access point 702(1) and/or the first MAC 

60 900(1)/baseband unit 902(1) pair can be corrupted (e.g., 

altered, destroyed, interfered with, rendered unusable for its 

intended purpose, etc.) by a transmission from the second 

access point 702(2) and/or the second MAC 900(2)/baseband unit 902(2) pair. This corruption may occur even 

65 though the packet reception and the packet transmission are 

effectuated using different communication beams 214(3) and 

214(2), respectively, when the reception and transmission 

Case 2:23-cv-00202-JRG-RSP Document 81-5 Filed 07/15/24 Page 33 of 42 PageID #:

1730
US 10,715,235 B2 

19 

occur on the same channel. Effectively, an incoming data 

packet reception via a first communication beam 214 can be 

rendered unsuccessful by an outgoing data packet transmission via a second communication beam 214 that occurs on 

the same channel and is overlapping. 

20 

The constructive receive indicators provided from MAC 

coordinator logic 904 may be comprised of any one or more 

different indications interpretable by the MACs 900. For 

example, the constructive receive indicators may comprise 

5 an indication for one or more predetermined inputs, such as 

a CCA or busy/non-busy input of the MACs 900. Alternatively, the constructive receive indicators may be input to a 

different type of do-not-transmit input, a specially-designed 

As described above, MAC coordinator logic 904 is 

coupled to the multiple baseband units 902(1, 2, ... , N) and 

to the multiple MACs 900(1, 2, . . . , N). The MAC 

coordinator logic 904 is configured to prevent MACs 900(1, 

2, ... , N) from generating or otherwise causing a trans- 10 

mission if at least one and optionally if any of the baseband 

units 902(1, 2, ... , N) are receiving. For example, if 

baseband unit 902(2) indicates that it is receiving a data 

packet, MAC coordinator logic 904 initiates that MACs 15 

900(1, 2, . . . , N) refrain from generating or otherwise 

causing a data packet transmission during the data packet 

reception. Factors that can modify, tune, tweak, extend, etc. 

this data packet transmission restraint may include one or 

more of the MA Cs 900 enabling transmissions on different 20 

channel(s) from that of baseband unit 902(2) which is 

input, a message-capable input, some combination thereof, 

and so forth. Furthermore, a constructive receive indicator 

may comprise an analog or digital indication ( of one or more 

bits), the driving of one or more lines, the presentation of 

one or more messages, some combination thereof, and the 

like. 

FIG. 10 further illustrates various components of the 

multi-beam directed signal system 206 shown in FIG. 9 

which includes the MACs 900, baseband units 902, and 

MAC coordinator logic 904. In this example, the exemplary 

multi-beam directed signal system 206 includes thirteen 

MACs 900(1, 2, ... , 13) and thirteen baseband units 902(1, 

2, . . . , 13) that are associated respectively therewith. 

receiving. 

More specifically, each baseband unit 902 forwards a 

corresponding receive indicator to MAC coordinator logic 

904 which monitors the baseband units 902. The MAC 

coordinator logic 904 analyzes the receive indicators to 

generate constructive receive indicators that are communicated, or otherwise provided, to each of the MACs 900. In 

a described implementation, each baseband unit 902 forwards a receive indicator that reflects whether and/or when 

Thirteen baseband units 902(1, 2, ... , 13) and thirteen 

MACs 900(1, 2, ... , 13) are utilized in this exemplary 

multi-beam directed signal system 206 to comport with the 

25 efficiently usable communication beams 602(0-6) and 602 

(10-15) of the exemplary set of communication beams 

shown in FIG. 6. However, the elements and features 

described with reference to FIG. 10 are applicable to multibeam directed signal systems 206 and/or access stations 102 

30 with more than or fewer than thirteen MACs 900 and 

a baseband unit 902 is currently receiving a signal. Optionally, not physically forwarding an indicator may constitute a 

receive indicator that reflects no signal is being received. 

After processing the different receive indicators, MAC coordinator logic 904 forwards the same constructive receive 35 

indicator to each MAC 900 based on multiple, and possibly 

associated baseband units 902. 

The baseband units 902(1, 2, ... , 13) are configured to 

communicate with MACs 900(1, 2, ... , 13), and vice versa, 

directly or indirectly without MAC coordinator logic 904 

input. Specifically, control data may be transferred there 

between which may include, for example, data packets for 

all, receive indicators. The MAC coordinator logic 904 may 

provide different constructive receive indicators to at least 

different subsets of the MACs 900. 

The receive indicators forwarded to MAC coordinator 40 

wireless communication on communication beams 214 

(FIGS. 2 and 3), carrier sense multiple access/collision 

avoidance (CSMA/CA) type information, and so forth. The 

media access technique in 802.11 is based on a Carrier Sense 

logic 904 may be comprised of any one or more different Multiple Access (CSMA) operation in which a each station 

indications from the baseband units 902. For example, the 

receive indicators may comprise clear charmel assessment 

(CCA) or busy/non-busy indications. Alternatively, the 

receive indicators may comprise indications of signal reception based on energy signals, cross-correlation signals, data 

signals, other transmit and/or control signals, some combination thereof, and so forth. Furthermore, a receive indicator 

may comprise an analog or digital indication ( of one or more 

bits), the driving of one or more lines, the presentation of 

one or more messages, some combination thereof, and so 

forth. 

The MAC coordinator logic 904 is configured to accept 

the receive indicators from the baseband units 902 and 

combine them in some marmer to generate or otherwise 

produce the constructive receive indicator(s). For example, 

MAC coordinator logic 904 may "OR" the receive indicators together to generate the constructive receive indicator 

(s). Consequently, if any receive indicator from baseband 

units 902 indicates that a baseband unit is receiving a signal, 

then, the constructive receive indicator indicates to each 

MAC 900 that a reception is occurring on a directed communication beam 214 (and/or access point 702) of the 

multi-beam directed signal system 206. As a result, the 

MA Cs 900 that are provided with an affirmative constructive 

receive indicator do not cause their respective associated 

baseband units 902 to transmit. 

transmits only when it determines that no other station is 

currently transmitting. This tends to avoid collisions that 

occur when two or more stations transmit at the same time 

45 where a collision would typically require that a transmitted 

packet be retransmitted. 

In this example, the baseband units 902(1, 2, ... , 13) 

forward receive indicators (1, 2, ... , 13) to MAC coordinator logic 904. The MAC coordinator logic 904 includes a 

50 receive indicators combiner 1000 which may be comprised 

of one or more of program coding, a field-programmable 

gate array, discrete logic gates, and so forth, and which may 

be implemented as hardware, software, firmware, and/or 

some combination thereof. Receive indicators combiner 

55 1000 combines receive indicators (1, 2, ... , 13) to generate 

constructive receive indicators (1, 2, ... , 13). For example, 

receive indicators (1, 2, ... , 13) may be combined using a 

logical "OR" functionality which ensures that if any one or 

more receive indicators of receive indicators (1, 2, ... , 13) 

60 is indicating that a signal is being received, then the associated constructive receive indicators of constructive receive 

indicators (1, 2, ... , 13) also indicate that a signal is being 

received. 

The constructive receive indicators (1, 2, ... 13) are 

65 provided or otherwise communicated to MACs 900(1, 

2, ... 13), respectively, so that. MACs 900(1, 2, ... , 13) 

do not cause baseband units 902(1, 2, ... , 13) to transmit 

Case 2:23-cv-00202-JRG-RSP Document 81-5 Filed 07/15/24 Page 34 of 42 PageID #:

1731
US 10,715,235 B2 

21 

a signal while another signal is being received. The baseband units 902(1, 2, . . . , 13) and the MACs 900(1, 

22 

directed signal system 206 to account for multiple timer 

functions, or one implementation may be capable of handling multiple timer functions. Timer logic 1006 includes a 

watchdog timer 1012 and optionally watchdog interrupt 

2, ... , 13) may be segmented or grouped by a characteristic 

and/or state, such as by wireless communication channels. 

When segmented or grouped, a constructive receive indicator of a given segment or group indicates to a MAC that a 

signal is being received and that no signal should therefore 

5 enable information 1014. 

be transmitted when any receive indicator of that given 

segment or group indicates that a signal is being received ( or 

when multiple receive indicators of that given segment or 10 

group indicate that multiple signals are being received). 

The MAC coordinator logic 904 can be modified, 

adjusted, expanded, etc. based on any number of different 

factors that include channel assignment information 1002, 

receive indicator enable information 1004, timer logic 1006, 15 

and scanning logic 1008. Although illustrated as separate 

components, any one or combination of the channel assignment information 1002, receive indicator enable information 

1004, timer logic 1006, and/or scanning logic 1008 can be 

implemented together and/or as part of MAC coordinator 20 

logic 904 or as another component of a multi-beam directed 

signal system 206. 

Channel assignment information 1002 enables receive 

indicators (1, 2, ... , 13) to be combined by the receive 

indicators combiner 1000 on a per-channel basis. As a result, 25 

constructive receive indicators (1, 2, ... , 13) restrain signal 

transmissions from MAC 900 and baseband unit 902 pairs 

when a signal reception is occurring on the same channel, 

even if by a different MAC 900 and baseband unit 902 pair. 

A downlinked data packet that is transmitted on one channel 30 

while an uplinked data packet is being received on another 

channel does not usually cause the uplinked data packet to 

be corrupted. On the other hand, a downlinked data packet 

that is transmitted on a channel while an uplinked data 

packet is being received on the same channel does usually 35 

cause the uplinked data packet to be corrupted (e.g., indistinguishable, non-communicative, etc.), even if the transmission and reception occur via different communication 

beams 214 (FIGS. 2 and 3). 

Channel assignment information 1002 may be imple- 40 

mented as, for example, a vector that relates each MAC 900 

and associated baseband unit 902 to one of two or more 

channels. Hence, prior to a combination generated by the 

receive indicators combiner 1000, each respective receive 

indicator (1, 2, ... , 13) can be mapped to a channel 45 

segmentation or grouping based on a wireless communication channel used by a corresponding MAC 900 and baseband unit 902 pair. 

For a first factor, timer logic 1006 relates to individual 

receive indicators (1, 2, ... , 13). A duration of watchdog 

timer 1012 is set equal to a maximum data packet duration 

(e.g., a maximum-allowed length of a data packet). Watchdog timer 1012 is started when a particular receive indicator 

begins indicating that a signal is being received and stopped 

when the particular receive indicator ceases indicating that 

the signal is being received. If watchdog timer 1012 is not 

tolled by an indication of signal reception cessation prior to 

its expiration, then the signal being received is likely to not 

be intended for multi-beam directed signal system 206. In 

this case, timer logic 1006 may indicate that the baseband 

unit 902 corresponding to the particular receive indicator is 

not to be used in a combination operation. This exclusion 

indication may be effectuated using receive indicator enable 

information 1004 ( e.g., by setting a bit in masking register 

1010). 

For a second factor, timer logic 1006 relates to constructive receive indicators (1, 2, ... , 13) on a per-channel basis. 

A duration of watchdog timer 1012 is set with consideration 

of a temporal threshold beyond which a problem or error 

should be contemplated to have occurred and hence investigated. Watchdog timer 1012 is started when a particular 

constructive receive indicator ( or indicators) for a given 

channel begins indicating that a signal is being received on 

the given channel and stopped when the particular constructive receive indicator ceases indicating that the signal is 

being received on the given channel. If watchdog timer 1012 

is not tolled by an indication of signal reception cessation 

prior to its expiration, then there is a likelihood that an error 

has occurred. 

Watchdog interrupt enable information 1014 is used for 

this second factor, and it stipulates which channel(s) (and 

thus which constructive receive indicators) are enabled for 

interruption. If watchdog timer 1012 expires and the given 

channel is enabled in accordance with watchdog interrupt 

enable information 1014, an interrupt is generated and 

provided to MAC coordinator logic 904 or another component of the multi-beam directed signal system 206. 

Scanning logic 1008 may act independently or interactively with any one or more of channel assignment information 1002, receive indicator enable information 1004, and 

timer logic 1006. For example, scanning logic 1008 can scan 

across communication beams 214 using different channels 

50 on receive to detect which channel or channels have the least 

Receive indicator enable information 1004 provides information for receive indicators combiner 1000 that stipulates 

which receive indicators (1, 2, ... , 13) are to be used in a 

combination operation to produce the constructive receive 

indicators (1, 2, ... , 13). Thus, certain receive indicators 

may be excluded from the combination operation for one or 

more operational considerations. The receive indicator 55 

enable information 1004 may be implemented as, for 

example, a masking register 1010 that comprises a register 

with exclusionary bits for masking one or more of the 

receive indicators (1, 2, . . . , 13) from a combination 

operation of the receive indicators combiner 1000. In a 60 

described implementation, masking register 1010 includes 

thirteen bits that correspond to the thirteen receive indicators 

(1, 2, ... , 13), which correspond to the thirteen baseband 

units 902(1, 2, ... , 13). 

Timer logic 1006 can be used for one or more factors and, 65 

although only shown once, may alternatively be implemented as multiple components in an exemplary multi-beam 

or lowest interference levels. This scanning may occur once, 

periodically, continuously, and the like. A channel assignment vector or similar for channel assignment information 

1002 may be configured responsive to such scanning and 

interference determinations of scanning logic 1008. 

As another example, scanning logic 1008 may scan across 

communication beams 214 to detect the presence of other 

access points (e.g., non-co-located access points) that are 

causing interference on a regular or constant basis. The 

existence of an access point may be inferred by receiving a 

basic service set identifier (BSSID) being broadcast by 

another access point. When another access point is detected 

within a coverage area of a particular communication beam 

214 (e.g., when an overlapping subnet is detected), scanning 

logic 1008 may interact with receive indicator enable information 1004 to mask out a corresponding receive indicator 

from a baseband unit 902 that corresponds to the particular 

Case 2:23-cv-00202-JRG-RSP Document 81-5 Filed 07/15/24 Page 35 of 42 PageID #:

1732
US 10,715,235 B2 

23 

communication beam 214. As a result, frequent receptions 

from the overlapping subnet do not constantly prevent 

baseband unit 902 and MAC 900 pairs on the same channel 

from transmitting. 

24 

), notforus( ), and nav( ). The diagram 1100 also includes 

PHY indications that initiate a state transition such as busy, 

timeout, new, transmission end (txend), and receive end 

(rxend). The PHY indications are asynchronous events (e.g., 

5 interrupts) that terminate states for a MAC controller 900. In an exemplary implementation, multi-beam directed 

signal system 206 can be configured such that the receive 

indicators (1, 2, ... , 13) correspond to the state of the clear 

channel assessment (CCA) output as detected by baseband 

units 902(1, 2, . . . , 13), and the constructive receive 

indicators (1, 2, ... , 13) correspond to the state of the clear 10 

An indication receive end (rxend) identifies that a receiver 

has detected the end of a frame or an error. An indication 

transmission end (txend) identifies that a receiver has completed sending a frame. A busy indication is a receiver 

indication that a channel is busy. A timeout indication is 

generated when a transition state timer has expired. A new 

indication identifies that a new frame has been queued. 

channel assessment input to MACs 900(1, 2, ... , 13). Based 

on the values for receive indicators (1, 2, ... , 13), channel 

assignment information 1002, and receive indicator enable 

information 1004, MAC coordinator logic 904 determines 

the constructive receive indicators (1, 2, ... , 13) for each 15 

RF component 906 (FIG. 9) (as provided via MACs 900, 

baseband units 902, etc.). 

A busy( ) function returns a receiver indication that a 

channel is busy, and an error( ) function indicates that a 

received frame had a CRC error. A notforus( ) function 

indicates that a frame was not addressed to a particular 

station, and a nav( ) function indicates that a timer has not 

expired. A data( ) function indicates that data is queued to 

In an exemplary implementation, MAC coordinator logic 

904 is configured to operate such that an indicator "channel_ wide_busy" for each channel is defined, where chan- 20 

nel_wide_busy is affirmative (e.g., active) if the receive 

indicator from any baseband units operating on that channel 

indicates that a signal is being received, excluding those 

baseband units whose receive indicator enable information 

send, and a short( ) function indicates that a MAC protocol 

data unit is shorter than an RTS Threshold and that there are 

additional data fragments to be sent from a current MAC 

controller. A more() function facilitates obtaining the additional data fragments. 

is not set (e.g., in masking register 1010). Further, MAC 25 

coordinator logic 904 sets the constructive receive indicator 

FIG. 12 illustrates an exemplary implementation 1200 of 

the multi-beam directed signal system 206 that weighs 

signals received via antenna array 302. Communication 

and/or data transfer signals are received from sources 1202 

(e.g., sources A and B). The signals received from sources 

1202 are considered desired signals because they are from 

nodes within the wireless routing network. Further, signals 

for a particular MAC 900 and baseband unit 902 pair to 

affirmative (e.g., busy) if the receive indicator for that 

baseband unit 902 indicates affirmative (e.g., busy), or if 

"channel_wide_busy" for the channel of the particular MAC 30 

900 and baseband unit 902 pair is affirmative (e.g., active). 

FIG. 11 illustrates a state transition diagram 1100 for a 

MAC controller 900 as shown in FIGS. 9 and 10. MAC 

controller states include Defer 1102, BackOff 1104, Idle 

1106, TransmissionRTS (TxRTS) 1108, WaitCTS 1110, 

Transmission Data (TxData) 1112, Wait Acknowledgement 

(WaitACK) 114, Receive 1116, Transmission Acknowledgement (TxACK) 1118, and TransmissionCTS (TxCTS) 1120. 

The state transition diagram 1100 also includes received 

frame types Data 1126 and RTS 1128, as well as procedures 

Transmission okay (TxOK( )) 1122 and Transmission fail 

(TxFail( )) 1124. 

The TxOK( ) procedure 1122 removes bytes transmitted 

from an outgoing queue and resets retry counter( s) and a 

contention window. The TxFail( ) procedure 1124 increments a retry counter, checks that the number of retries has 

not been exceeded, and increases the contention window. 

The Receive state 1116 ends if there is a transmission or 

check error, if the carrier is lost, or when a duration indicated 

such as noise and WLAN interference associated with 

another external wireless system 1204 are not desired. 

These signals, both desired and undesired, are received 

35 via antenna array 302 and are provided to the signal control 

and coordination logic 304 (shown in FIG. 3) from the 

receiver/transmitters (Rx/Tx) 824(0), 824(1), ... , 824(N) 

(also shown in FIG. 8B). In this example, the signal control 

and coordination logic 304 includes the scanning receiver 

40 822 that is configured to update routing information 1206 

with regard to the received signals. For example, scanning 

receiver 822 may identify information about different 

classes of interferers ( e.g., known and unknown types) 

within the routing information 1206. In this example, rout45 ing information 1206 includes connection indexed routing 

table(s) based on identification information, such as address 

information, CID, and the like. The routing table includes 

identifiers of the desired sources and other identifiers for the 

in a header has elapsed. If there is an error, the Defer state 50 

1102 timeout is set to initiate. If a frame did not have an error 

interferers ("Int"). Further, the routing table includes stored 

weighting values (w) each associated with a particular signal 

source 1202 ( e.g., sources A and B). Other information such 

and is not addressed to a particular station, and it's duration 

field is greater than the current timer value, then the timer is 

set to the value of the frame's duration field. 

At the BackOff state 1104, a backoff counter is decremented every slot time and a backoff count is saved if this 

state is exited due to a channel becoming busy. When the 

backoff counter decrements to zero and MAC service data 

units are queued to transmit, the contention window and 

retry counts are reset. A MAC service data unit is the 

payload carried by a MAC (e.g., in an 802.11 implementation which will typically be an Ethernet frame). The MAC 

900 adds a MAC header and a 32-bit CRC to the MAC 

service data unit to form a MAC protocol data unit. 

Additionally, the state transition diagram 1100 includes 

various functions that return logical value(s) to control state 

transitions such as data( ), short( ), more( ), busy( ), error( 

as "keep out" identifiers may also be included in this 

exemplary routing table. 

A description of the received signal( s) can be stored in the 

55 routing table in the form of the pattern or weighting of the 

signal(s). In this example, a polynomial expansion in z, 

w(z)=w 0+w1z+w2 z2+w3 z3+w4 z

4 + ... +w,z' can be utilized 

to establish the values of the weights (w,) to be applied to a 

weight vector. The routing table(s) may store such weighing 

60 patterns as a function of 8, or the zeroes of the polynomial, 

for example. One advantage of zero storage is that the zeros 

represent directions for communication that should be nulled 

out to prevent self-interference or interfering with other 

nodes or possibly other known wireless communication 

65 systems, such as WLAN 1204 that is not part of the wireless 

routing network, but is operating within at least a portion of 

a potential coverage area 1208 and frequency bands. 

Case 2:23-cv-00202-JRG-RSP Document 81-5 Filed 07/15/24 Page 36 of 42 PageID #:

1733
US 10,715,235 B2 

25 

The polynomial expansion in z, w(z), and the zeroes may 

26 

Similarly, the sixteen transmit/receive ports are numbered 

from Tx/Rx(O, 1, ... , 15). Antenna ports A(0-15) are 

coupled to and populated with sixteen antenna elements 

400(0), 400(1), ... , 400(15), respectively. Likewise, transbe calculated from each other and each may be stored. 

Updates can be generated frequently (e.g., in certain implementations, about every millisecond), and a zero storage 

system may be more advantageous in most wireless network 

environments because only a few values will change at a 

given time. Storing the weighting values will in general 

require changes to all of the weighting values w(i) when any 

change in the pattern occurs. Note that w(i) andA(8) may be 

expressed as Fourier transform pairs (discrete due to the 

finite antenna element space). The w(i) is equivalent to a 

time domain impulse response ( e.g., a time domain unit 

sample response) and the A(8) is equivalent to the frequency 

response (e.g., an evaluation of w(z) sampled along a unit 

circle). 

5 mit/receive ports Tx/Rx(0-15) are coupled to and populated 

with sixteen signal processors 1302(0), 1302(1), ... , 

1302(15), respectively. These signal processors 1302 are 

also directly or indirectly coupled to baseband processors 

902. It should be noted that one or more active components 

10 (e.g., a power amplifier (PA), a low-noise amplifier (LNA), 

etc.) may also be coupled on the antenna port side of Butler 

matrix 1300. 

In an exemplary transmission operation, communication 

signals are provided from baseband processors 902 to the 

The stored weighting values associated with each connection, data signal, and/or source are utilized in a weighting 

matrix 1210 which operates to apply the latest weighting 

values to the received signals and also to transmitted signals. 

15 multiple transmit and/or receive signal processors 1302. The 

multiple signal processors 1302 forward the communication 

signals to the transmit/receive ports Tx/Rx(0-15) of Butler 

matrix 1300. After signal processing (e.g., signal combinaIn this illustrative example, subsequently received signals 20 

will be processed using the most recent weighting values in 

tion, signal splitting, signal phase shifting, and the like), 

Butler matrix 1300 outputs communication signals on the 

antenna ports A(0-15). Individual antenna elements 400 

wirelessly transmit the communication signals, as altered by 

Butler matrix 1300, from the antenna ports A(0-15) in 

predetermined communication beam patterns. The communication beam patterns are predetermined by the shape, 

orientation, constituency, etc. of antenna array 302 and by 

the Butler matrix 1300 signal processing. In addition to 

transmissions, wireless signals such as wireless communications 106 (FIG. 1) are received responsive to the commuthe weighting matrix 1210. Thus, as described herein, the 

multi-beam directed signal system 206 is configured to 

control the transmission amplitude frequency band and 

directionality of data packets to other nodes and assist in 25 

reducing the effects associated with received noise and 

interference ( e.g., self interference and/or external interference). This is accomplished with the signal control and 

coordination logic 304 within the multi-beam directed signal 

system 206. 

FIG. 13 illustrates an exemplary multi-beam directed 

signal system 206 that includes an antenna array 302 and a 

Butler matrix 1300 implemented as a beam-forming network 

(e.g., transmit beam-forming network 808 and/or receive 

beam-forming network 810 shown in FIGS. 8Aand 8B). The 35 

multi-beam directed signal system 206 also includes multiple signal processors (SPs) 1302 and one or more baseband 

processors ( e.g., baseband units 902 described with reference to FIGS. 9 and 10). Baseband processors 902 accept 

communication signals from and provide communication 40 

signals to the multiple receiver/transmitters 824 (FIG. 8B). 

30 nication beams 214 formed by antenna array 302 in conjunction with Butler matrix 1300 in an inverse process. 

A separate baseband processor 902 may be assigned to each 

signal processor 1302, or a single baseband processor 902 

may be assigned to any number of the multiple signal 

processors 1302. 45 

Exemplary Butler matrix 1300 is a passive device that 

forms, in conjunction with antenna array 302, communication beams 214 using signal combiners, signal splitters, 

and/or signal phase shifters. Butler matrix 1300 includes a 

first side with multiple antenna ports ( designated by "A") 50 

and a second side with multiple transmit and/or receive 

signal processor ports ( designated by "Tx/Rx"). The number 

of antenna ports and transmit/receive ports indicate the order 

of the Butler matrix 1300, which in this example, includes 

sixteen antenna ports and sixteen transmit/receive ports. 55 

Thus, Butler matrix 1300 has an order of sixteen. 

Although Butler matrix 1300 is so illustrated, the antenna 

ports and transmit/receive ports need not be distributed on 

separate, much less opposite, sides of a Butler matrix. Also, 

although not necessary, Butler matrices typically have an 60 

equal number of antenna ports and transmit and/or receive 

signal processor ports. Furthermore, although Butler matrices are typically of an order that is a power of two ( e.g., 2, 

FIG. 14 further illustrates an exemplary modified Butler 

matrix 1300 for a complementary beam-forming, post-combining implementation, Complementary beam-forming is a 

technique to reduce the effect of communication beam nulls 

and increase sidelobe levels without a severe power penalty 

to the main beam. This is done to reduce the effect of the 

"hidden beam." As described below, increasing the range of 

802.11 networks without increased transmit power and using 

standard clients is possible with adaptive antenna arrays, 

such as, for example, directional high-gain antennas. Using 

high gain antennas, it is possible to direct the energy in a 

given direction and hence increase the range in that direction. 

Forming directional transmit communication beams has 

the side effect of hiding the transmitted energy from some 

client devices in a CSMA network (i.e., negatively impacting the carrier sense mechanism in the network). A client 

device measures the energy transmitted from access points 

and from other client devices. If the client device cannot 

detect the presence of other transmissions, it attempts to 

access the medium. Therefore, when directional communication beams are used, many client devices detect the 

medium as idle when in fact it is busy. This has an effect on 

the performance of the network and is referred to as the 

"hidden beam" problem. 

In practice, a communication beam ( e.g., directional 

beam) has a main beam whose width can be controlled by 

the size of the antenna aperture, and sidelobes which vary in 

different directions. However, these communication beams 

may have nulls in certain directions that affect the wireless 

network with a hidden beam. Since a given receiver's energy 

detect threshold is usually lower than it's decoding thresh4, 8, 16, 32, 64, . . . , r), they may alternatively be old, it is possible to direct a high power signal towards an 

implemented with any number of ports. 

The sixteen antenna ports of Butler matrix 1300 are 

identified or otherwise numbered from A(0, 1, ... , 15). 

65 intended client device and yet ensure a minimum transmit 

power towards other clients in the network so that the signal 

may be detected by other clients. 

Case 2:23-cv-00202-JRG-RSP Document 81-5 Filed 07/15/24 Page 37 of 42 PageID #:

1734
US 10,715,235 B2 

27 

Complementary beam-forming ensures a minimum transmit power in all directions while preserving the shape of the 

main communication beam. The complementary beamforming techniques also ensure that multiple transmit beams 

in arbitrary directions are complemented by another beam in 5 

all other directions. The complementary beam does not 

interfere with the intended beams and increases the probability that other users in the network can detect the signal. 

The modified Butler matrix 1300 includes the antenna 

ports 400(0, 1, ... , N-1, N) and a gain mechanism 1400 10 

configured to modify the signal at output port 400(0). A 

transmit signal is input to a corresponding input port of the 

Butler matrix and, in conjunction with the gain mechanism 

1400, a complementary beam is formed due to the increase 

in gain. The result is a directional communication beam 15 

from the antenna in a given direction. A complementary 

beam-forming, pre-combining implementation can also be 

implemented. 

28 

FIG. 16 illustrates a transition diagram 1600 for a roaming 

client device that transitions from one communication location within a wireless network system to another. For 

example, client device 202 (FIG. 2), while in wireless 

communication with access station 102 via directed communication beam 214(1) may roam (e.g., move, relocate, 

transition, etc.) such that communication with access station 

102 would be facilitated via directed communication beam 

214(2). A client device initially associates to one directed 

signal of the multi-beam directed signal system 206 by 

selecting the signal (e.g., communication beam) with the 

best signal at the time of association. However, because the 

client device may be portable and/or the wireless environment may change (e.g., due to device transitions, interference, etc.), the initially selected directed signal may not 

provide a continuous, or the best, communication channel 

over which to communicate information (e.g., in the data 

Mathematically, a complementary beam-forming, post- packets) and hence the client may have to roam and/or be 

combining implementation may be described as: 20 associated with another directed communication beam. 

Y; = { YY; i = 0 

y; y 2 l 

0sisN-1 

where y, is the power applied to antenna element i and y 

is the gain value contained in the gain mechanism 1400. To 

ensure the same output power as with no complementary 

beam-forming, the output voltage on all of the Butler matrix 

ports can be adjusted by a scaling factor: 

G- ✓ --- N , -y 2 +N -1 

The power for the main communication beam will then 

be: 

or stated in terms of dB: 

{ 

(y+N-1)2} D..PdB = lOlog -N-(y-2-+-N--- 1

-) 

For example, for a sixteen element antenna array 302, if 

y=3.5, then the power loss is approximately 1 dB. 

Roaming is dependent on client device implementation, is 

initiated by a client device, and may not be directly controlled by the multi-beam directed signal system 206. In 

most commercially available client devices, roaming is 

25 triggered when the channel quality (SNR) falls below a 

threshold. The channel quality assessment (SNR measurement) is based on received strength of a directed communication beam. To ensure that a client device is associated 

with the best signal, the multi-beam directed signal system 

30 206 directs the client device to roam to the directed communication beam with the best signal quality using a beamswitching algorithm. 

Additionally, to ensure seamless roaming between communication beams, the multi-beam directed signal system 

35 206 implements Inter-Access Point Protocol (IAPP) which 

is defined by IEEE 802.1 lf to support interoperability, 

mobility, handover messaging between directed communication beams 214, and coordination between access stations 

102 in a wireless communications environment. Beam40 switching can be implemented by the multi-beam controller 

816 (FIG. 8B) in the multi-beam directed signal system 206 

to ensure that client devices are associated with the directed 

communication beam 214 having the best signal level and 

45 

IAPP to ensure client-initiated seamless roaming. 

The beam-switching algorithm disassociates a client 

device once it moves out of an associated main communication beam. However, such movement of a client device is 

difficult to detect in the wireless environment and disassociation may result in data packet loss and a long association 

50 procedure. The effect is particularly significant for client 

devices located between adjacent directed communication 

beams. Hence, the beam-switching algorithm will disassociate a client device when there is a determinable difference 

FIG. 15 illustrates a graph 1500 depicting the signal level 

output ( dB) for certain ports of the modified Butler Matrix 55 

1300 shown in FIG. 14. Graph 1500 depicts the shape of a 

transmit communication beam 1502 without complementary 

beam-forming and a transmit communication beam 1504 

with complementary beam-forming applied. In this 

example, the transmit communication beam is derived from 60 

a signal at port 400(0) of Butler Matrix 1300. As shown, the 

output with complementary beam-forming (e.g., transmit 

communication beam 1504) has higher sidelobes in all 

directions and removes all of the deep nulls except for the 

nulls on the main communication beam. The peak power of 65 

the main communication beam is approximately one dB 

lower than that without complementary beam-forming. 

between signal qualities on different communication beams. 

With reference to FIG. 16, a client device may be 

described as being in a monitor state 1602, a correct beam 

test state 1604, and a force roam state 1606. In the monitor 

state 1602, a client device is associated with a directed 

communication beam 214 while the multi-beam directed 

signal system 206 (e.g., access station 102) continues to 

sample and collect receive strength signal indications (RSSI) 

values for each data packet received from the client device. 

The multi-beam controller 816 recalculates a new measure 

identified as a smoothed RSSI value (SmoothedRSSIValue) 

over an RSSI window size (RSSIWindowSize) and compares it to an RSSI lower control limit threshold (RSSILowerControlLimit ). 

Case 2:23-cv-00202-JRG-RSP Document 81-5 Filed 07/15/24 Page 38 of 42 PageID #:

1735
US 10,715,235 B2 

29 

In the correct beam test state 1604, the scanning receiver 

822 measures the RSSis and calculates a smoothed RSSI 

value (SmoothedRSSIValue) for the client device on each of 

the adjacent ports ( e.g., communication beams). Samples of 

the RSSI window size (RSSIWindowSize) for the two 

adjacent ports are averaged and compared to the same 

parameter for the current communication beam to determine 

the best, or most effective, communication beam. In the 

force roam state 1606, the client device is temporarily 

disassociated so that it cannot associate to the current 

directed communication beam. 

An association transition 1608 to the correct beam test 

state 1604 occurs when a client device associates a directed 

30 

panel and third party access points ( e.g., access stations, 

multi-beam directed signal system, etc.). 

Methods for directed wireless communication may be 

described in the general context of computer-executable 

5 instructions. Generally, computer-executable instructions 

include routines, programs, objects, components, data structures, and the like that perform particular functions or 

implement particular abstract data types. Methods for 

directed wireless communication may also be practiced in 

10 distributed computing environments where functions are 

performed by remote processing devices that are linked 

through a communications network. In a distributed computing environment, computer-executable instructions may 

communication beam 214. From the correct beam test state 15 

be located in both local and remote computer storage media, 

including memory storage devices. 

1604, a correct beam transition 1610 indicates that a current 

communication beam is the best communication link 

between the client device and the multi-beam directed signal 

system. New RSSI values are sampled and a new lower 

control limit (LowerControlLimit) is recalculated. A scan 20 

timeout transition 1612 from the correct beam test state 1604 

FIG. 17 illustrates a method 1700 for directed wireless 

communication. The order in which the method is described 

is not intended to be construed as a limitation, and any 

number of the described method blocks can be combined in 

any order to implement the method. Furthermore, the 

method can be implemented in any suitable hardware, 

indicates that the scanning receiver 822 has been monitoring 

the adjacent communication beams for more than a roaming 

scan timeout duration (RoamingScanTimeout) without any 

decision about the correct beam. 

From the monitor state 1602, a sample RSSI transition 

1614 indicates that the smoothed RSSI value (SmoothedRSSIValue) and the RSSI lower control limit (RSSILowerControlLimit) are re-calculated. A smoothed RSSI drop 

transition 1616 from the monitor state 1602 drops the 

smoothed RSSI value (SmoothedRSSIValue) to an RSSI 

lower control limit (RSSILowerControlLimit). A wrong 

beam transition 1618 from the correct beam test state 1604 

software, firmware, or combination thereof. 

At block 1702, a directed wireless communication is 

generated for data communication with a client device. At 

25 block 1704, the directed wireless communication is received 

at an antenna assembly, and at block 1706, a directed 

communication beam is emanated for the data communication with the client device. For example, the multi-beam 

directed signal system 206 (shown in FIG. 2) generates a 

30 directed wireless communication for data communication 

with client device 202. Antenna assembly 208 receives the 

generated wireless communication and emanates a directed 

communication beam 214(1) for the data communication 

indicates a better communication beam is identified that has 35 

with client device 202. In an embodiment, the directed 

communication beam can be emanated from two or more 

antenna elements of the antenna assembly as an electromag- an RSSI that exceeds the RSSI of the current communication 

beam by a signal drop threshold dB (Signa!DropThreshold). 

The client device is disassociated from the current communication beam and a timeout transition 1620 occurs after a 

roaming time out (RoamingTimeOut). The state information 40 

corresponding to the client device is then removed ( e.g., 

deleted, discarded, etc.). 

netic signal that includes transmission peaks and transmissions nulls within a coverage area of the directed communication beam 214(1). 

At block 1708, the data communication is transmitted to 

the client device via the directed communication beam. At 

block 1710, a second directed communication beam is 

emanated for data communication reception from a second 

client device, and at block 1712, a second data communiThe lower control limit parameter (LowerControlLimit) is 

calculated using both the mean and the standard deviation of 

RSSI as follows: 

LowerControlLimit= R.SS/ ~2CT 

__ l N-1 

RSS/ = - ~ RSSI; N = RSS/Window Size in frames 

N i=O 

l N-1 

CT= N ~ (RSSI; - RSS/) 2 

i=O 

45 cation is received from the second client device via the 

second directed communication beam. For example, an 

additional directed communication beam 214(N) can be 

emanated from antenna assembly 208 for data communication reception from client device 204. The data communi50 cation transmission (at block 1708) can be controlled so as 

not to interfere with receiving the second data communication (at block 1712) and optionally, transmitting the data 

communication and receiving the second directed data communication is simultaneous. 

55 FIG. 18 illustrates a method 1800 for directed wireless 

The RSSI, is the RSSI value reported for frame i. The 

N-lth frame is the most recent frame. The smoothed RSSI 

value (SmoothedRSSIValue (S)) is calculated when RSSI 

values are sample when a data packet is received. The 60 

smoothed RSSI value is calculated as S

1

=0.1 *RSSI1+0.9*S1_ 

communication. The order in which the method is described 

is not intended to be construed as a limitation, and any 

number of the described method blocks can be combined in 

any order to implement the method. Furthermore, the 

method can be implemented in any suitable hardware, 

software, firmware, or combination thereof. 

1. This value is then compared to the lower control limit 

(LowerControlLimit) and if it is larger than the limit, the 

client device enters the correct beam test state 1604. The 

IAPP seamless roaming enables seamless client-initiated 

roaming between communication beams within an antenna 

panel, between antenna panels, and between an antenna 

At block 1802, directed wireless communication is coordinated with client devices via directed communication 

beams emanated from an antenna assembly. For example, 

65 wireless communications are coordinated by the signal 

control and coordination logic 304 (shown in FIG. 3) with 

client devices 202 and 204 (FIG. 2) via directed communiCase 2:23-cv-00202-JRG-RSP Document 81-5 Filed 07/15/24 Page 39 of 42 PageID #:

1736
US 10,715,235 B2 

31 

cation beams 214(1) and 214(N), respectively, which are 

emanated from antenna assembly 208. A directed communication beam can be emanated as an electromagnetic signal 

that includes transmission peaks and transmission nulls 

within a coverage area of the directed communication beam. 5 

Further, energy can be transmitted on a side lobe of a 

directed communication beam corresponding to a first client 

device such that a second client device will detect the side 

lobe energy and recognize that a data communication transmission is being emanated to the first client device via the 10 

directed communication beam. 

32 

directed communication beam 214(2) (shown in FIGS. 2 and 

3), and a signal strength average is calculated for the 

adjacent directed communication beam 214(2). 

At block 1912, the signal strength average is compared to 

the second signal strength average and a determination is 

made as to which provides a more effective, or better, 

communication link. If the second signal strength average 

does not indicate that the adjacent directed communication 

beam would provide a better communication link than the 

directed communication beam (i.e., no from block 912), then 

the client device association with the initial directed communication beam is maintained at block 914. 

If the second signal strength average indicates that the 

adjacent directed communication beam would provide a 

The directed wireless communication can be coordinated 

such that only client device 202 receives a first directed 

wireless communication via communication beam 214(1), 

and such that only client device 204 receives a second 

directed wireless communication via communication beam 

214(N). Coordinating directed wireless communication can 

include simultaneous data communication transmission to 

client device 202 via directed communication beam 214(1) 

and a data communication reception from client device 204 

via directed communication beam 214(N). Further, the data 

communication transmission is coordinated so as not to 

interfere with the data communication reception. 

15 better communication link than the directed communication 

beam (i.e., no from block 912), then the client device is 

disassociated with the directed communication beam at 

block 916. At block 918, the client device is re-associated 

with the adjacent directed communication beam. The 

20 method 1900 can then continue and be reiterated from block 

1902. Additionally, the method 1900 can be implemented for 

any number of client devices in wireless communication 

with a directed wireless communication system. 

At block 1804, data communication transmissions are Although wireless communication system(s) have been 

routed through a transmit beam-forming network to antenna 

elements of the antenna assembly such that a data communication transmission is communicated to a client device via 

a directed communication beam. At block 1806, the directed 

communication beams are monitored for data communication receptions from the client devices. At block 1808, data 

communication receptions are received through a receive 

beam-forming network from the antenna elements of the 

antenna assembly such that a data communication reception 

25 described in language specific to structural features and/or 

methods, it is to be understood that the subject of the 

appended claims is not necessarily limited to the specific 

features or methods described. Rather, the specific features 

and methods are disclosed as exemplary implementations of 

30 wireless communication system(s). 

is received from a client device via a directed communication beam. For example, a data communication reception 35 

can be received from a client device with scarming receiver 

822 (shown in FIG. 8B). 

At block 1810, a determination is made as to which of 

multiple channels provides acceptable data communication 

transmission and/or reception with a client device. At block 40 

1812, information is maintained corresponding to one or 

more of the client devices. The information can include a 

transmit power level, a data transmit rate, an antenna direction, quality of service data, and timing data. Further, 

coordinating a directed wireless communication with a 45 

client device (as described in block 1802) can be based on 

the information that is maintained (at block 1812). 

FIG. 19 illustrates a method 1900 for directed wireless 

communication. The order in which the method is described 

is not intended to be construed as a limitation, and any 50 

number of the described method blocks can be combined in 

any order to implement the method. Furthermore, the 

method can be implemented in any suitable hardware, 

software, firmware, or combination thereof. 

What is claimed is: 

1. A receiver for use in a wireless communications system, the receiver comprising: 

an antenna, wherein the antenna comprises a first antenna 

element and a second antenna element; 

a transceiver operatively coupled to the antenna and 

configured to transmit and receive electromagnetic 

signals using the antenna; and 

a processor operatively coupled to the transceiver, the 

processor configured to: 

receive a first signal transmission from a remote station 

via the first antenna element and a second signal 

transmission from the remote station via the second 

antenna element simultaneously; 

determine first signal information for the first signal 

transmission; 

determine second signal information for the second 

signal transmission, wherein the second signal information is different than the first signal information; 

determine a set of weighting values based on the first 

signal information and the second signal information, wherein the set of weighting values is configured to be used by the transceiver to construct one or 

At block 1902, a client device is associated with a directed 55 more beam-formed transmission signals; 

communication beam. For example, a portable client device 

202 (shown in FIG. 2) is associated with communication 

beam 214(1) (shown in FIGS. 2 and 3). At block 1904, signal 

strength indications are received for data packets received 

from the client device via the directed communication beam. 

cause the transceiver to transmit a third signal to the 

remote station via the antenna, the third signal comprising content based on the set of weighting values. 

2. The receiver as recited in claim 1, wherein the first 

60 signal transmission and the second signal transmission comprise electromagnetic signals comprising one or more transmission peaks and one or more transmission nulls. 

At block 1906, a signal strength average for the client device 

is calculated from the received signal strength indications. 

At block 1908, adjacent signal strength indications are 

sampled for an adjacent directed communication beam. At 

block 1910, a second signal strength average is calculated 

for the adjacent directed communication beam. For example, 

signal strength indications are sampled for an adjacent 

3. The receiver as recited in claim 2, wherein the first 

signal transmission and the second signal transmission are 

65 directional transmissions. 

4. The receiver as recited in claim 1, wherein the content 

comprises data configured to be used by the remote station 

Case 2:23-cv-00202-JRG-RSP Document 81-5 Filed 07/15/24 Page 40 of 42 PageID #:

1737
US 10,715,235 B2 

33 

to modify the placement of one or more transmission peaks 

and one or more transmission nulls in a subsequent signal 

transmission. 

5. The receiver as recited in claim 4, wherein the set of 

weighting values is further based on one or more of: a 5 

transmit power level, a data transmit rate, an antenna direction, quality of service data, or timing data. 

34 

transmitting to the remote station a third signal comprising content based on the set of weighting values. 

9. The method as recited in claim 8, further comprising: 

transmitting the third signal to the remote station via the 

antenna. 

10. The method as recited in claim 8, wherein the first 

signal transmission and the second signal transmission are 

directional transmissions. 6. A receiver for use in a wireless communications system, the receiver comprising: 

an antenna; 

a transceiver operatively coupled to the antenna and 

configured to transmit and receive electromagnetic 

signals using the antenna; and 

11. The method as recited in claim 8, wherein the set of 

10 weighting values is further based on one or more of: a 

transmit power level, a data transmit rate, an antenna direction, quality of service data, or timing data. 

12. The method as recited in claim 11, wherein the content a processor operatively coupled to the transceiver, the 

processor configured to: 

receive a first signal transmission from a remote station 

via the antenna and a second signal transmission 

from the remote station via the antenna simultane15 comprises data configured to be used by the remote station 

to modify the placement of one or more transmission peaks 

and one or more transmission nulls in a subsequent signal 

transmission. 

ously; 

determine first signal information for the first signal 20 

transmission; 

determine second signal information for the second 

signal transmission, wherein the second signal information is different than the first signal information; 

determine a set of weighting values based on the first 25 

signal information and the second signal information, wherein the set of weighting values is configured to be used by the transceiver construct one or 

more beam-formed transmission signals; 

cause the transceiver to generate a third signal com- 30 

prising content based on the set of weighting values; 

determine a plurality of signal strength indications for 

the first signal transmission; 

determine a first signal strength average based on the 

plurality of signal strength indications for the first 35 

signal transmission; 

determine a plurality of signal strength indications for 

the second signal transmission; 

determine a second signal strength average based on 

the plurality of signal strength indications for the 40 

second signal transmission; and 

cause the transceiver to generate a fourth signal based 

on the first signal strength average and the second 

signal strength average. 

7. The receiver as recited in claim 6, wherein the proces- 45 

sor is further configured to: cause the transceiver to transmit 

the fourth signal to the remote station via the antenna. 

8. A method in a wireless communications system, the 

method comprising: 

receiving a first signal transmission from a remote station 50 

via a first antenna element of an antenna and a second 

13. The method as recited in claim 12, further comprising: 

determining a plurality of signal strength indications for 

the first signal transmission; 

determining a first signal strength average based on the 

plurality of signal strength indications for the first 

signal transmission; 

determining a plurality of signal strength indications for 

the second signal transmission; 

determining a second signal strength average based on the 

plurality of signal strength indications for the second 

signal transmission; and 

generating a fourth signal based on the first signal strength 

average and the second signal strength average. 

14. The method as recited in claim 13, further comprising: 

causing the transceiver to transmit the fourth signal to the 

remote station via the antenna. 

15. An apparatus for use in a wireless communications 

system, the apparatus comprising: 

an antenna; 

a transceiver operatively coupled to the antenna; and 

a processor operatively coupled to the transceiver, the 

processor configured to: 

receive a first signal transmission from a remote station 

via the antenna, 

the first signal transmission comprising first signal information, wherein the first signal information comprises 

one or more of: a transmit power level, a data transmit 

rate, an antenna direction, quality of service data, or 

timing data; 

receive a second signal transmission from the remote 

station via the antenna, the second signal transmission comprising second signal information; 

determine a set of weighting values based on the first 

signal information and the second signal information, wherein the set of weighting values is configured to be used by the transceiver to construct one or 

more beam-formed transmission signals; 

signal transmission from the remote station via a second antenna element of the antenna simultaneously, 

wherein the first signal transmission and the second 

signal transmission comprise electromagnetic signals 55 

comprising one or more transmission peaks and one or 

more transmission nulls; 

cause the transceiver to generate a third signal comprising content based on the set of weighting values. 

16. The apparatus as recited in claim 15, wherein the first 

signal transmission and the second signal transmission com60 prise electromagnetic signals comprising one or more transmission peaks and one or more transmission nulls. 

determining first signal information for the first signal 

transmission; 

determining second signal information for the second 

signal transmission, wherein the second signal information is different than the first signal information; 

determining a set of weighting values based on the first 

signal information and the second signal information, 

wherein the set of weighting values is configured to be 

used by the remote station to construct one or more 

beam-formed transmission signals; and 

17. The apparatus as recited in claim 16, wherein the 

processor is configured to receive a fourth signal transmission from an interferer source, the fourth signal transmission 

65 being undesired, and the processor is configured to store 

identifying information concerning the undesired interferer 

source and the remote station. 

Case 2:23-cv-00202-JRG-RSP Document 81-5 Filed 07/15/24 Page 41 of 42 PageID #:

1738
US 10,715,235 B2 

35 

18. The apparatus as recited in claim 17, wherein the 

processor is configured to identify a further interferer signal 

transmission from the interferer source, and to identify a 

further desired signal transmission from the remote station, 

wherein the processor is further configured to prevent the 5 

transceiver from transmitting a fifth signal transmission via 

the antenna during reception of the further desired signal 

transmission but to allow the transceiver to transmit a sixth 

signal transmission via the antenna during reception of the 

further interferer signal transmission. 10 

19. The apparatus as recited in claim 15, wherein the set 

of weighting values are applied to the third signal, and 

wherein the transceiver is configured to receive a fourth 

signal transmitted from the remote station, and the processor 

is configured to apply the set of weighting values to the 15 

fourth signal. 

* * * * * 

36 

Case 2:23-cv-00202-JRG-RSP Document 81-5 Filed 07/15/24 Page 42 of 42 PageID #:

1739