MAC extensions for smart antenna support

• US 20030169769A1
• Filed: 07/02/2002
• Published: 09/11/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 03/08/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Texas Instruments, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Texas Instruments, Inc.
• Inventors: Ho, Jin-Meng, Shaver, Don, Lu, Xiaolin
• Granted Patent: US 7,630,403 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/473
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/04 using two or more spaced independent antennas
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/0006 by adapting the transmission format
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/1621 Group acknowledgement, i.e. the acknowledgement message defining a range of identifiers, e.g. of sequence numbers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/1671 the supervisory signal being transmitted together with control information
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 49/9057 Arrangements for supporting packet reassembly or resequencing
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/02 Arrangements for optimising operational condition
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/06 Optimizing the usage of the radio link, e.g. header compression, information sizing , discarding information system modifying transmission characteristic according to link quality by modifying frame length H04L1/0007; dynamic adaptation of the packet size for flow control or congestion control H04L47/365
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/065 using assembly or disassembly of packets

Abstract

Apparatus and methods implement aggregation frames and allocation frames. The aggregation frames include a plurality of MSDUs or fragments thereof aggregated or otherwise combined together. An aggregation frame makes more efficient use of the wireless communication resources. The allocation frame defines a plurality of time intervals. The allocation frame specifies a pair of stations that are permitted to communicate with each other during each time interval as well as the antenna configuration to be used for the communication. This permits stations to know ahead of time when they are to communicate, with which other stations and the antenna configuration that should be used. A buffered traffic field can also be added to the frames to specify how much data remains to be transmitted following the current frame. This enables network traffic to be scheduled more effectively.

Claims

1. A method of implementing a wireless network having a plurality of wireless stations, comprising:

(a) forming an aggregation frame including a plurality of data unit fields and corresponding length fields, the data unit fields being used to hold data units and the length fields being used to hold a value indicating the length of a corresponding data unit field; and

(b) transmitting said aggregation frame to a receiving station for decoding by said receiving station.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein (a) also includes forming the aggregation frame to include a sequence control field corresponding to each of the data unit fields, each sequence control field including a sequence number and a fragment number for a corresponding data unit.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein at least one of the data units comprises a fragment of a larger data unit.

4. The method of claim 3 wherein for at least one of the data units that comprises a fragment, the sequence number included in the sequence control field identifies the data unit of which the fragment is a part, and the fragment number included in said sequence control field identifies the fragment of said data unit.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein at least one of the data units comprises a fragment of a larger data unit.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein (a) also includes forming the aggregation frame to include a count field which contains a value representative of the number of data units contained in the data unit fields.

7. The method of claim 1 further including forming an allocation frame to specify a plurality of time intervals and for each time interval, the allocation frame identifies a pair of stations which can communicate during the time interval and an antenna configuration for the communications between the identified pair of stations.

8. The method of claim 7 wherein the allocation frame further identifies which one of the pair of stations is to transmit information and which is to receive information.

9. The method of claim 7 wherein the allocation frame further includes an allocation count which provides the number of time intervals specified in the allocation frame.

10. The method of claim 1 wherein (a) further includes forming the aggregation frame to include a buffered traffic field which specifies the amount of data units remaining to be transmitted following the transmission of the aggregation frame.

11. The method of claim 1 further including a forward frame containing direction and traffic stream and station identifier values that are used to obtain station addresses based on previously transmitted matched address information.

12. A method of implementing a wireless network having a plurality of wireless stations, comprising:

(a) forming an allocation frame to specify a plurality of time intervals and for each time interval, the allocation frame identifies a pair of stations which can communicate during the time interval and an antenna configuration for the communications between the identified pair of stations; and

(b) transmitting said allocation frame to a plurality of receiving stations for decoding by said receiving stations.

13. The method of claim 12 wherein the allocation frame further identifies which one of the pair of stations is to transmit information and which is to receive information.

14. The method of claim 12 wherein the allocation frame further includes an allocation count which provides the number of time intervals specified in the allocation frame.

15. The method of claim 12 wherein said allocation frame further includes a duration value which indicates the time duration of all of said plurality of time intervals.

16. The method of claim 12 further including forming and transmitting an aggregation frame to include a plurality of data unit fields and corresponding length fields, the data unit fields being used to hold data units and the length fields being used to hold a value indicating the length of a corresponding data unit field.

17. The method of claim 16 wherein the aggregation frame also includes a sequence control field corresponding to each of the data unit fields, each sequence control field including a sequence number and a fragment number for a corresponding data unit.

18. The method of claim 16 further including forming the aggregation frame to include a count field which contains a value representative of the number of data units contained in the data unit fields.

19. The method of claim 12 further including a forward frame containing direction and traffic stream and station identifier values that are used to obtain station addresses based on previously transmitted matched address information.

20. A method of implementing a wireless network having a plurality of wireless stations, comprising:

(a) forming a forward frame containing direction and traffic stream and station identifier values that are used to obtain station addresses based on previously transmitted matched address information; and

(b) transmitting said forward frame.

21. The method of claim 20 wherein said forward frame includes a direction bit to indicate the direction of the transmission of the frame.

22. A method of implementing a wireless network having a plurality of wireless stations, comprising:

(a) forming a feedback frame containing group acknowledgment and channel state information regarding a channel; and

(b) transmitting said feedback frame.

23. A station usable to communicate across a wireless network, comprising:

a host device;

a medium access control (MAC) sublayer coupled to said host device; and

a physical layer coupled to said MAC sublayer;

wherein said MAC sublayer forms aggregation frames to include a plurality of data unit fields and corresponding length fields, the data unit fields being used to hold data units and the length fields being used to hold a value indicating the length of a corresponding data unit field.

24. The station of claim 23 wherein the aggregation frame also includes a sequence control field corresponding to each of the data unit fields, each sequence control field including a sequence number and a fragment number for a corresponding data unit.

25. The station of claim 24 wherein at least one of the data units comprises a fragment of a larger data unit.

26. The station of claim 25 wherein, for at least one of the data units that comprises a fragment, the sequence number included in the sequence control field identifies the data unit of which the fragment is a part, and the fragment number included in said sequence control field identifies the fragment of said data unit.

27. The station of claim 23 wherein at least one of the data units comprises a fragment of a larger data unit.

28. The station of claim 23 wherein the aggregation frame also includes a count field which contains a value representative of the number of data units contained in the data unit fields.

29. The station of claim 23 wherein said MAC sublayer also forms an allocation frame which specifies a plurality of time intervals and for each time interval, the allocation frame identifies a pair of stations which can communicate during the time interval and an antenna configuration for the communications between the identified pair of stations.

30. The station of claim 29 wherein the allocation frame further identifies which one of the pair of stations is to transmit information and which is to receive information.

31. The station of claim 29 wherein the allocation frame further includes an allocation count which provides the number of time intervals specified in the allocation frame.

32. The station of claim 23 wherein the aggregation frame also includes a buffered traffic field which specifies the amount of data units remaining to be transmitted following the transmission of the aggregation frame.

33. The station of claim 23 wherein said MAC sublayer also forms a forward frame containing direction and traffic stream and station identifier values that are used to obtain station addresses based on previously transmitted matched address information.

34. A station usable to communicate across a wireless network, comprising:

a host device;

a medium access control (MAC) sublayer coupled to said host device; and

a physical layer coupled to said MAC sublayer;

wherein said MAC sublayer forms allocation frames each of which specifies a plurality of time intervals and for each time interval, the allocation frame identifies a pair of stations which can communicate during the time interval and an antenna configuration for the communications between the identified pair of stations.

35. The station of claim 34 wherein the allocation frame further identifies which one of the pair of stations is to transmit information and which is to receive information.

36. The station of claim 34 wherein the allocation frame further includes an allocation count which provides the number of time intervals specified in the allocation frame.

37. The station of claim 34 wherein the allocation frame further includes a duration value which indicates the time duration of all of said plurality of time intervals.

38. The station of claim 34 wherein said MAC sublayer also forms and transmits an aggregation frame to include a plurality of data unit fields and corresponding length fields, the data unit fields being used to hold data units and the length fields being used to hold a value indicating the length of a corresponding data unit field.

39. The station of claim 38 wherein the aggregation frame also includes a sequence control field corresponding to each of the data unit fields, each sequence control field including a sequence number and a fragment number for a corresponding data unit.

40. The station of claim 38 wherein the aggregation frame also includes a count field which contains a value representative of the number of data units contained in the data unit fields.

41. The station of claim 34 wherein said MAC sublayer also forms a forward frame containing direction and traffic stream and station identifier values that are used to obtain station addresses based on previously transmitted matched address information.

42. The station of claim 34 wherein said MAC sublayer further forms a feedback frame containing group acknowledgment and channel state information regarding a channel.