System and method for communicating within a wireless communication network

• US 20060133342A1
• Filed: 12/14/2005
• Published: 06/22/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 12/17/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google Technology Holdings LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Motorola, Inc. (Motorola Solutions, Inc.)
• Inventors: Zeng, Surong
• Granted Patent: US 7,912,032 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/346
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 74/06 using polling
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/18 Self-organising networks, e.g. ad-hoc networks or sensor networks

Abstract

A system and method for providing a polling scheme to improve medium access control (MAC) in a multihop wireless communication network (100) comprising nodes (102) and access points (106). When an access point (106) is the source of data packets being transmitted to a neighbor node (102), a collision-avoidance protocol is employed for the communication. However, when the access point (106) is to be the receiver of data packets transmitted from a neighbor node (102), the access point (106) polls the neighbor node (102) by initiating contact with the neighbor node (102) and inviting the neighbor node (102) to send queued data packets to the access point (106). As a result, the polling process allows the access point (106) to gain limited control over its neighbor nodes (102) and increase the efficiency of the network (100).

Claims

1. A method for communicating in a wireless network comprising a plurality of nodes and at least one access point for providing the nodes with access to another network, the method comprising:

operating the access point to query each of the plurality of nodes to determine which of the plurality of nodes has information for transmission to the access point;

operating each of the nodes, in response to the query, to send a message to the access point indicating whether it has information for transmission to the access point; and

when a node sends the message to the access point indicating that it has information for transmission to the access point, operating that node to transmit the information to the access point.

2. A method as claimed in claim 1, further comprising:

when the node receives the query message and the node has packets for transmission to the access point, operating the node to send a positive acknowledgement message as the message to the access point followed by a packet to the access point.

3. A method as claimed in claim 1, further comprising:

when the node receives the query message and the node does not have packets for transmission to the access point, operating the node to send a negative acknowledgement message as the message to the access point to terminate current query activity with that node.

4. A method as claimed in claim 1, further comprising:

operating the access point to receive a message from one of the nodes including information pertaining to that node; and

operating the access point to retain the information pertaining to that node.

5. A method as claimed in claim 1, further comprising:

operating the access point to transmit information to at least one of the nodes.

6. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein:

the step of operating the access point to periodically query each of the plurality of nodes comprises operating the access point to assign priority levels to the nodes and to query the nodes having a higher priority more times than the nodes having a lower priority.

7. A method as claimed in claim 6, wherein:

the step of operating the access point to assign priority levels comprises assigning a respective priority level to each of the respective nodes based on at least one of an amount of traffic at the respective node, a type of traffic at the respective node and a quality of service of the traffic at the respective node.

8. A method as claimed in claim 1, further comprising:

operating the access point and the nodes to communicate using a multi-channel medium access control (MAC) protocol;

operating the access point to include channel selection information in a query message used to query each of the plurality of nodes; and

operating the node that sends the message to the access point indicating that it has information for transmission to the access point to include a positive acknowledgement message and the channel selection confirmation information for the query in the message

9. An access point, adapted to communicate in a wireless network comprising a plurality of nodes, to provide the nodes with access to another network, the access point comprising:

a transceiver; and

a controller, adapted to operating the transceiver to transmit messages to query each of the plurality of nodes to determine which of the plurality of nodes has information for transmission to the access point, and when the transceiver receives a message from a node indicating that the node has information for transmission to the access point, operating the transceiver to receive the information transmitted by that node.

10. An access point as claimed in claim 9, wherein:

the controller is further adapted to operate the transceiver to receive a positive acknowledgement message as the message, followed by a packet, that were transmitted by the node when the node receives the query message and the node has packets for transmission to the access point.

11. An access point as claimed in claim 9, wherein:

the controller is further adapted to operate the transceiver to receive a negative acknowledgement message as the message transmitted by the node when the node receives the query message and the node does not have packets for transmission to the access point, and the controller is further adapted to terminate current query activity with that node in response to the negative acknowledgment message.

12. An access point as claimed in claim 9, wherein:

the controller is further adapted to control the transceiver to receive a message from one of the nodes including information pertaining to that node, and the controller is further adapted to store the information pertaining to that node in a memory at the access point.

13. An access point as claimed in claim 9, wherein:

the controller is further adapted to operate the transceiver to transmit information to at least one of the nodes.

14. An access point as claimed in claim 9, wherein:

the controller is further adapted to assign priority levels to the nodes and to control the transceiver to send the messages to query the nodes having a higher priority more times than the nodes having a lower priority.

15. An access point as claimed in claim 14, wherein:

the controller is adapted to assign a respective priority level to each of the respective nodes based on at least one of an amount of traffic at the respective node, a type of traffic at the respective node and a quality of service of the traffic at the respective node.

16. An access point as claimed in claim 9, wherein:

the access point and the nodes are adapted to communicate using a multi-channel medium access control (MAC) protocol;

and the method further comprises operating the access point to include channel selection information in a query message used to query each of the plurality of nodes.

17. A wireless communication network comprising:

a plurality of nodes; and

at least one access point, adapted to provide the nodes with access to another network;

the access point being further adapted to query each of the plurality of nodes to determine which of the plurality of nodes has information for transmission to the access point; and

each of the nodes being adapted, in response to the query, to send a message to the access point indicating whether it has information for transmission to the access point.

18. A wireless communication network as claimed in claim 17, wherein:

the access point is further adapted to assign priority levels to the nodes and to query the nodes having a higher priority more times than the nodes having a lower priority.

19. A wireless communication network as claimed in claim 18, wherein:

the access point is adapted to assign a respective priority level to each of the respective nodes based on at least one of an amount of traffic at the respective node, a type of traffic at the respective node and a quality of service of the traffic at the respective node.

20. A wireless communication network as claimed in claim 17, wherein:

the access point and the nodes are adapted to communicate using a multi-channel medium access control (MAC) protocol.