Frame based MAC control in WLAN communication devices
First Claim
1. A WLAN (Wireless Local Area Network) transmitter device comprising:
- a transmission buffer for buffering data received from a target system, the buffered data comprising data to be transmitted over a wireless medium; and
a MAC (Medium Access Control) control unit for controlling access to said wireless medium, wherein said MAC control unit is capable of selectively applying any one of at least two different control mechanisms to data to be transmitted, wherein the data received from said target system comprises data frames each having associated an individual control header comprising control information, said control information specifying at least one control mechanism to be applied to data of the associated data frame, and wherein said MAC control unit is arranged to extract control information from each control header associated to a data frame, and select a control mechanism specified by the extracted control information.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A WLAN (Wireless Local Area Network) communication device and method are provided where a MAC (Medium Access Control) control unit controls access to a wireless medium. The MAC control unit is capable of selectively applying any one of at least two different control mechanisms to data to be transmitted. The data received from a target system comprises data frames, each having associated an individual control header comprising control information. The control information specifies at least one control mechanism to be applied to data of the associated data frame. The MAC control unit extracts control information from each control header associated to a data frame, and selects a control mechanism specified by the extracted control information.
18 Citations
59 Claims
-
1. A WLAN (Wireless Local Area Network) transmitter device comprising:
-
a transmission buffer for buffering data received from a target system, the buffered data comprising data to be transmitted over a wireless medium; and
a MAC (Medium Access Control) control unit for controlling access to said wireless medium, wherein said MAC control unit is capable of selectively applying any one of at least two different control mechanisms to data to be transmitted, wherein the data received from said target system comprises data frames each having associated an individual control header comprising control information, said control information specifying at least one control mechanism to be applied to data of the associated data frame, and wherein said MAC control unit is arranged to extract control information from each control header associated to a data frame, and select a control mechanism specified by the extracted control information. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28)
-
-
29. An integrated circuit chip comprising:
-
a transmission buffer circuit for buffering data received from a target system, the buffered data comprising data to be transmitted over a wireless medium; and
a MAC (Medium Access Control) control circuit for controlling access to said wireless medium, wherein said MAC control circuit is capable of selectively applying any one of at least two different control mechanisms to data to be transmitted, wherein the data received from said target system comprises data frames each having associated an individual control header comprising control information, said control information specifying at least one control mechanism to be applied to data of the associated data frame, and wherein said MAC control circuit is arranged to extract control information from each control header associated to a data frame, and select a control mechanism specified by the extracted control information.
-
-
30. A method of operating a WLAN (Wireless Local Area Network) transmitter device, comprising:
-
receiving data from a target system, the data comprising data to be transmitted over a wireless medium;
buffering the received data; and
controlling access to said wireless medium by selectively applying any one of at least two different control mechanisms to data to be transmitted, wherein the data received from said target system comprises data frames each having associated an individual control header comprising control information, said control information specifying at least one control mechanism to be applied to data of the associated data frame, and wherein controlling access to said wireless medium comprises;
extracting control information from each control header associated to a data frame; and
selecting a control mechanism specified by the extracted control information. - View Dependent Claims (31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57)
-
-
58. A computer readable storage medium storing instructions that, when executed on a processor, cause the processor to associate individual control headers to individual data frames to be sent to a WLAN (Wireless Local Area Network) communication device, said individual control headers containing control information specifying at least one of at least two different control mechanisms to be applied to data of the associated data frame by a MAC (Medium Access Control) control unit of said WLAN communication device.
-
59. A method of controlling operation of a WLAN (Wireless Local Area Network) communication device, comprising:
-
associating individual control headers to individual data frames to be sent to said WLAN communication device, said individual control headers containing control information specifying at least one of at least two different control mechanisms to be applied to data of the associated data frame by a MAC (Medium Access Control) control unit of said WLAN communication device; and
sending the data frames and associated control headers to said WLAN communication device.
-
Specification