Power saving when using aggregated packets

• US 20060087996A1
• Filed: 10/27/2004
• Published: 04/27/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 10/27/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Guangdong OPPO Mobile Telecommunications Corporation Limited
• Original Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Inventors: Stephens, Adrian P.
• Granted Patent: US 8,009,601 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/311
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/18 for broadcast or conference , e.g. multicast
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/00 Routing or path finding of packets in data switching networks routing or path finding in wireless networks H04W40/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/286 during data packet transmission, e.g. high speed packet access [HSPA]

Abstract

In a communications packet directed to multiple addresses and having a directory of the addresses in order of transmission, a device receiving the packet may use the directory to help determine when the last frame in which the device has an interest is received, and then enter a low power mode for the remainder of the packet reception. The device constructing the packet for transmission may arrange the frames in a manner that promotes overall power savings in the group of addressed devices.

Claims

1. An apparatus, comprising

a wireless communications device adapted to:

receive at least a portion of a packet containing multiple groups of addressed frames directed to different addresses, each group containing adjacent frames addressed to a same address, the packet further containing a list of the addresses in order of transmission of the groups within the packet;

determine, based on the list, which address is identified with a last of the multiple groups to be transmitted in which the wireless communications device has an interest; and

transition to a low-power mode for a substantial remainder of the packet after receiving the last of the multiple groups in which the wireless communications device has an interest.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the packet comprises at least one section of address types selected from a list consisting of a multicast section and a unicast section.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the list precedes the multiple groups in the packet.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the low-power mode comprises a disabled receiver in the wireless communications device.

5. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein the wireless communications device is further adapted to set a timer to determine an end of the low power mode.

6. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the wireless communications device further comprises a dipole antenna to receive electromagnetic signals modulated to communicate the packet.

7. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the wireless communications device further comprises a rechargeable battery to power the wireless communications device.

8. A method, comprising:

receiving, in a wireless communications device, at least a portion of a packet comprising a directory structure followed by multiple addressed frames organized in groups of frames with like addresses, the directory structure containing a list of addresses of the addressed frames in an order the groups are to be received;

determining, from the list of addresses and from monitoring received frames, which of the multiple addressed frames is a last frame in which the wireless communications device has an interest; and

placing the wireless communications device in a low power mode after receiving the last frame in which the wireless communications device has an interest, but before an end of the packet.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein said placing in a low power mode comprises disabling a receiver in the wireless communications device.

10. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

setting a timer to determine approximately when an end of the packet is received; and

returning to an operational mode after the timer expires.

11. An article comprising

a machine-readable medium that provides instructions, which when executed by a computing platform, cause said computing platform to perform operations comprising:

receiving, in a wireless communications device, at least a portion of a packet comprising a directory structure followed by multiple addressed frames, the directory structure containing a list of addresses of the addressed frames in an order the addressed frames are to be received;

determining which of the multiple addressed frames is a last frame addressed to the wireless communications device; and

placing the wireless communications device in a low power mode after receiving the last frame addressed to the wireless communications device.

12. The article of claim 11, wherein said placing in a low power mode comprises disabling a receiver in the wireless communications device.

13. The article of claim 11, further comprising:

setting a timer to determine approximately when an end of the packet is received; and

returning to an operational mode after the timer expires.

14. An apparatus, comprising

a wireless communications device adapted to construct a packet containing a directory structure followed by multiple addressed frames, the multiple addressed frames organized into groups containing like addresses, the directory structure containing a list of addresses in the addressed frames in an order the groups are to be transmitted.

15. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the addressed frames comprise a multicast section of frames containing multicast addresses and a unicast section of frames containing unicast addresses, the multicast section to be transmitted before the unicast section.

16. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the multicast section comprises frame groups arranged in order of length of the frame groups.

17. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the multicast section comprises frame groups arranged in order of value of a parameter derived by dividing each frame group length by a quantity of devices having an interest in the frame group.

18. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the unicast section comprises frame groups arranged in order of length of the frame groups.

19. A method, comprising:

constructing a packet containing a directory structure followed by multiple addressed frames, the directory structure containing a list of addresses in the addressed frames in an order the addressed frames are to be transmitted;

wherein the addressed frames comprise a multicast section of frames and a unicast section of frames, the multicast section to be transmitted before the unicast section;

wherein each address in the list of addresses appears only once in the directory structure, and addressed frames are organized into groups of adjacent frames with a same address.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the groups of frames of the multicast section are arranged in order of length of the groups.

21. The method of claim 19, wherein the addressed frames of the multicast section are arranged in order of a value of a parameter derived by dividing a length of each particular group by a quantity of devices that are expected to have an interest in the frames of the particular group.

22. The method of claim 19, wherein the frame groups of the unicast section are arranged in order of length.

23. An article comprising

a machine-readable medium that provides instructions, which when executed by a computing platform, cause said computing platform to perform operations comprising:

constructing a packet containing as directory structure followed by multiple addressed frames, the multiple addressed frames organized into groups of frames having a like address, the directory structure containing a list of the like addresses in an order the groups of frames are to be transmitted.

24. The article of claim 23, wherein the addressed frames comprise a multicast section containing groups of frames with multicast addresses and a unicast section containing groups of frames with multicast addresses, the multicast section to be transmitted before the unicast section.

25. The article of claim 24, wherein the groups of the multicast section are arranged in order of length of the groups.

26. The article of claim 24, wherein the groups of the multicast section are arranged in order of a value of a parameter derived by dividing a length of each particular group by a quantity of devices that are expected to have an interest in frames in the particular group.

27. The article of claim 24, wherein the groups of the unicast section are arranged in order of length of each group.