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US-12628064-B2 - Electronic device for WLAN communication and operating method thereof

US12628064B2US 12628064 B2US12628064 B2US 12628064B2US-12628064-B2

Abstract

The disclosure relates to a method and an electronic device including a communication circuit and a processor. The processor may establish a plurality of links with an electronic device through the communication circuit, identify a downlink (DL) signal quality and an uplink (UL) signal quality of each of the plurality of links, detect at least one DL satisfying a predetermined first reference signal quality among the plurality of links, in a case that no link satisfying a second reference signal quality is detected among the plurality of links, perform a function related to improvement of UL signal qualities for the plurality of links, detect at least one UL satisfying the predetermined second reference signal quality, based on the performance of the function related to the improvement of the UL signal quality among the links, and perform the WLAN communication.

Inventors

  • Hyunkee MIN
  • Wonbin PARK
  • Kiyeong Jeong
  • Junsu CHOI

Assignees

  • SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS CO., LTD.

Dates

Publication Date
20260512
Application Date
20231025
Priority Date
20221101

Claims (14)

  1. 1 . An electronic device comprising: memory storing instructions; communication circuitry configured to support wireless local area network (WLAN) communication; and a processor operatively connected to the communication circuitry, wherein the instructions, when executed by the processor, cause the electronic device to: establish a plurality of links with an external electronic device through the communication circuitry; identify a downlink (DL) signal quality and an uplink (UL) signal quality of each of the plurality of links, wherein the DL signal quality includes DL throughput, and the UL signal quality includes UL throughput; in a case that at least one DL exceeding a predetermined first reference throughput is detected among the plurality of links based on the DL throughput, and no UL exceeding a predetermined second reference throughput is detected among the plurality of links based on the UL throughput, perform a function related to improvement of UL signal qualities for the plurality of links; and based on the result of performing the function related to the improvement of the UL signal quality, while at least one DL is detected as exceeding the predetermined first reference throughput: when at least one UL exceeding the predetermined second reference throughput is detected among the plurality of links, allocate at least one traffic identifier (TID) to the at least one DL and the at least one UL through TID link mapping, and perform the WLAN communication with the external electronic device, based on the at least one DL and the at least one UL to which the at least one TID is allocated, wherein a DL function of at least one remaining DL other than the at least one DL is switched to an inactive state through the TID link mapping, and a UL function of at least one remaining UL other than the at least one UL is switched to an inactive state through the TID link mapping, and when no UL exceeding the predetermined second reference throughput is detected among the plurality of links, perform access to another external electronic device or switch to a cellular network.
  2. 2 . The electronic device of claim 1 , wherein the instructions, when executed by the processor, cause the electronic device to, in a case that no DL exceeding the predetermined first reference throughput is detected among the plurality of links based on the DL throughput, perform access to another external electronic device or switching to a cellular network.
  3. 3 . The electronic device of claim 1 , wherein the instructions, when executed by the processor, cause the electronic device to, in a case that a non-line of sight (NLOS) detection condition is satisfied, based on channel state information of at least one link among the plurality of links, identify a DL signal quality and a UL signal quality of each of the plurality of links.
  4. 4 . The electronic device of claim 1 , wherein the instructions, when executed by the processor, cause the electronic device to, in a case that a UL retransmission rate or a number of failures of at least one link among the plurality of links are satisfied with a predetermined signal quality identification condition, identify the DL signal quality and the UL signal quality of each of the plurality of links.
  5. 5 . The electronic device of claim 1 , wherein the instructions, when executed by the processor, cause the electronic device to: identify the DL signal quality of each of the plurality of links; and in a case that the DL signal quality of at least one link among the plurality of links is satisfied with a predetermined signal quality identification condition, identify the UL signal quality of each of the plurality of links.
  6. 6 . The electronic device of claim 1 , wherein the function related to improvement of UL signal qualities includes at least one of application of dual carrier modulation (DCM) to the at least one UL, using an extended range physical protocol data unit (PPDU), using a multi-link (ML) duplication mode, expansion of a guard interval (GI), or using a diversity mode.
  7. 7 . The electronic device of claim 1 , wherein the UL signal quality is identified based on at least one of a sounding signal, a domain name system (DNS) query, or a hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP) request.
  8. 8 . A method of operating an electronic device, the method comprising: establishing a plurality of links with an external electronic device through wireless local area network (WLAN) communication; identifying a downlink (DL) signal quality and an uplink (UL) signal quality of each of the plurality of links, wherein the DL signal quality includes DL throughput, and the UL signal quality includes UL throughput; in a case that at least one DL exceeding a predetermined first reference throughput is detected among the plurality of links based on the DL throughput and no UL exceeding a predetermined second reference throughput is detected among the plurality of links based on the UL throughput, performing a function related to improvement of UL signal qualities for the plurality of links; and based on the result of performing the function related to improvement of UL signal quality, while at least one DL is detected as exceeding the predetermined first reference throughput: when at least one UL exceeding the predetermined second reference throughput is detected among the plurality of links, allocating at least one traffic identifier (TID) to the at least one DL and the at least one UL through TID link mapping, and performing the WLAN communication with the external electronic device, based on the at least one DL and the at least one UL to which the at least one TID is allocated, wherein a DL function of at least one remaining DL other than the at least one DL is switched to an inactive state through the TID link mapping, and a UL function of at least one remaining UL other than the at least one UL is switched to an inactive state through the TID link mapping; and when no UL exceeding the predetermined second reference throughput is detected among the plurality of links, performing access to another external electronic device or switching to a cellular network.
  9. 9 . The method of claim 8 , further comprising, in a case that no DL exceeding the predetermined first reference throughput is detected among the plurality of links based on the DL throughput, performing access to another external electronic device or switching to a cellular network.
  10. 10 . The method of claim 8 , wherein the identifying of the DL signal quality and the UL signal quality comprises, in a case that a non-line of sight (NLOS) detection condition is satisfied based on channel state information of at least one link among the plurality of links, identifying a DL signal quality and a UL signal quality of each of the plurality of links.
  11. 11 . The method of claim 8 , wherein the identifying of the DL signal quality and the UL signal quality comprises, in a case that a UL retransmission rate or a number of failures of at least one link among the plurality of links are satisfied with a predetermined signal quality identification condition, identifying the DL signal quality and the UL signal quality of each of the plurality of links.
  12. 12 . The method of claim 8 , wherein the identifying the DL signal quality and the UL signal quality comprises: identifying the DL signal quality of each of the plurality of links; and in a case that the DL signal quality of at least one link among the plurality of links is satisfied with a predetermined signal quality identification condition, identifying the UL signal quality of each of the plurality of links.
  13. 13 . The method of claim 8 , wherein the function related to improvement of UL signal qualities includes at least one of application of dual carrier modulation (DCM) to the at least one UL, using an extended range physical protocol data unit (PPDU), using a multi-link (ML) duplication mode, expansion of a guard interval (GI), or using a diversity mode.
  14. 14 . The method of claim 8 , wherein the UL signal quality is identified based on at least one of a sounding signal, a domain name system (DNS) query, or a hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP) request.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION This application is a continuation application of International Application No. PCT/KR2023/016490, filed on Oct. 23, 2023, which claims priority from and derives the benefit of Korean Patent Application No. 10-2022-0143409, filed on Nov. 1, 2022, and further claims priority from and derives the benefit of Korean Patent Application No. 10-2022-10-2022-0173736, filed on Dec. 13, 2022, the entire contents of each of these applications is hereby incorporated in its entirety, by reference. TECHNICAL FIELD Various embodiments of the disclosure relate to an electronic device for wireless local area network (WLAN) communication and a method of operating the same. BACKGROUND A WLAN system may support wireless connections of various electronic devices such as smartphones, tablets, tablet personal computers (PCs), or notebooks through predetermined frequency bands (for example, a band of about 2.4 GHz, a band of about 5 GHz, and/or a band of about 6 GHz). The WLAN system can be installed in not only private spaces such as a user's home but also public spaces such as an airport, a train station, an office, or a department store. The WLAN system may be defined in the institute of electrical and electronics engineers (IEEE) 802.11 standard. For example, the IEEE 802.11 standard is being developed to IEEE 802.11b, IEEE 802.11a, IEEE 802.11g, IEEE 802.11n, IEEE 802.11ac, IEEE 802.11ax, and IEEE 802.11be. DISCLOSURE An electronic device of a WLAN system may be connected to an access point (AP) and perform WLAN communication. The electronic device may have a smaller number of antennas and/or relatively lower transmission power for WLAN communication than the AP due to restriction of the size and/or the weight of the electronic device to move. As the electronic device uses the smaller number of antennas and/or relatively lower transmission power than the AP, the quality of an uplink (UL) signal, which the electronic device transmits to the AP, may be relatively lower than a quality of a downlink (DL) signal which the AP transmits to the AP. The use of WLAN communication using the AP by the electronic device may be restricted since transmission of the UL signal of the electronic device has failed due to the quality of the UL signal being relatively lower than the quality of the DL signal. For example, when the electronic device is located in a non-line of sight (NLOS) environment, the electronic device may receive the DL signal from the AP. However, the electronic device fails in transmission of the UL signal to the AP at the location of the NLOS environment, and thus WLAN communication using the AP may be restricted. Various embodiments of the disclosure disclose an apparatus and a method of an electronic device for improving the quality of the UL signal and/or the DL signal with an external electronic device (for example, the AP). The technical subjects pursued in the disclosure are not limited to the above-mentioned technical subjects, and other technical subjects which are not mentioned may be clearly understood through the following descriptions by those skilled in the art of the disclosure. According to various embodiments, an electronic device may comprise a communication circuit configured to support WLAN communication and a processor operatively connected to the communication circuit. According to an embodiment, the processor may establish a plurality of links with an external electronic device through the communication circuit. According to an embodiment, the processor may identify a downlink (DL) signal quality and an uplink (UL) signal quality of each of the plurality of links. According to an embodiment, the processor may detect at least one DL satisfying a predetermined first reference signal quality among the plurality of links based on the DL signal quality. According to an embodiment, in a case that no link satisfying a predetermined second reference signal quality is detected among the plurality of links based on the UL signal quality, the processor may perform a function related to improvement of UL signal qualities for the plurality of links. According to an embodiment, the processor may detect at least one UL satisfying the predetermined second reference signal quality, based on the performance of the function related to the improvement of the UL signal quality among the plurality of links. According to an embodiment, the processor may perform the WLAN communication with the external electronic device, based on the at least one DL and the at least one UL. According to various embodiments, an electronic device may include a communication circuit configured to support WLAN communication and a processor operatively connected to the communication circuit. According to an embodiment, the processor may establish communication links with the external electronic device through the communication circuit. According to an embodiment, the processor may identify a downlink (DL) si