Beacon packet having traffic indicator flag
First Claim
1. A method for broadcasting a beacon packet to one or more client stations, the beacon packet including a preamble, a header and a data portion, the method comprising the steps of:
- determining if there is any data buffered for any of the client stations;
if there is data buffered, setting a traffic indicator flag to a first logic value, the traffic indicator flag being located before the data portion of the beacon packet;
if there is not any data buffered, setting the traffic indicator flag to a second logic value, which is different than the first logic value; and
broadcasting the beacon packet to the client stations.
4 Assignments
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Accused Products
Abstract
Disclosed are systems, methods, computer program products and computer data signals for broadcasting a beacon packet to one or more client stations and for processing a beacon packet. The beacon packet includes a preamble, a header and a data portion. In one broadcasting method, it is determined if there is any data buffered for any of the client stations. If there is data buffered, a traffic indicator flag located before the data portion of the beacon packet is set to a first logic value. If there is not any data buffered, the traffic indicator flag is set to a second logic value. The beacon packet is broadcast to the client stations.
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Citations
19 Claims
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1. A method for broadcasting a beacon packet to one or more client stations, the beacon packet including a preamble, a header and a data portion, the method comprising the steps of:
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determining if there is any data buffered for any of the client stations;
if there is data buffered, setting a traffic indicator flag to a first logic value, the traffic indicator flag being located before the data portion of the beacon packet;
if there is not any data buffered, setting the traffic indicator flag to a second logic value, which is different than the first logic value; and
broadcasting the beacon packet to the client stations. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5)
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6. A method for processing a beacon packet, the beacon packet including a preamble, a header and a data portion, the method comprising the steps of:
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receiving the beacon packet;
processing a first portion of the beacon packet so as to determine a value of a traffic indicator flag in the beacon packet, the traffic indicator flag being located before the data portion of the beacon packet;
if the traffic indicator flag has a first logic value, entering a sleep mode; and
if the traffic indicator flag has a second logic value, remaining in normal operating mode and processing all or substantially all of the remaining portion of the beacon packet. - View Dependent Claims (7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14)
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15. A computer data signal embodied in a beacon packet, the beacon packet including a preamble, a header and a data portion, the computer data signal comprising:
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a first data segment including a traffic indicator flag that is located before the data portion of the beacon packet, the traffic indicator flag being set to a first logic value to indicate that there is data buffered for one or more client stations, or being set to a second logic value to indicate that there is not any data buffered; and
a second data segment including a plurality of client-specific traffic indicator flags being located within the data portion of the beacon packet, each of the client-specific traffic indicator flags indicating whether or not there is any data buffered for a corresponding one of the client stations. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17, 18, 19)
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Specification