Packet-level service differentiation for quality of service provisioning over wireless local area networks

• US 20060198301A1
• Filed: 03/07/2005
• Published: 09/07/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 03/07/2005
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Texas Instruments, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Texas Instruments, Inc.
• Inventors: Xhafa, Ariton, Airy, Manish, Chhaya, Harshal S., Lu, Xiaolin
• Application Number:
  US11/074,359
• Publication Number:
  US 20060198301A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/229
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/10 Flow control; Congestion control
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/13 in a LAN segment, e.g. ring or bus
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/2433 Allocation of priorities to traffic types
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/31 by tagging of packets, e.g. using discard eligibility [DE] bits
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/02 Traffic management, e.g. flow control or congestion control
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/569 of the traffic information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/04 Registration at HLR or HSS [Home Subscriber Server]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/12 WLAN [Wireless Local Area Networks]

Abstract

The present invention provides a packet prioritizer for use with a wireless local area network (WLAN) access point. In one embodiment, the packet prioritizer includes a priority tagger configured to provide a packet priority for a WLAN packet. Additionally, the packet prioritizer also includes a priority scheduler coupled to the priority tagger and configured to provide a strict priority scheduling of the WLAN packet through the WLAN access point based on the packet priority.

Claims

1. A packet prioritizer for use with a wireless local area network (WLAN) access point, comprising:

a priority tagger configured to provide a packet priority for a WLAN packet; and

a priority scheduler coupled to said priority tagger and configured to provide a strict priority scheduling of said WLAN packet through said WLAN access point based on said packet priority.

2. The packet prioritizer as recited in claim 1 wherein said priority tagger is configured to inspect a datagram associated with said WLAN packet, extract a service destination port address from within said datagram, map said service destination port address to a specific priority access category and set a tag in a media access control (MAC) header to provide said packet priority based on said service destination port address.

3. The packet prioritizer as recited in claim 2 wherein said specific priority access category conforms to the IEEE 802.11e standard.

4. The packet prioritizer as recited in claim 2 wherein said tag conforms to the IEEE 802.1D MAC bridge specification.

5. The packet prioritizer as recited in claim 1 wherein said strict priority scheduling consistently schedules a higher priority WLAN packet ahead of a lower priority WLAN packet through said WLAN access point.

6. The packet prioritizer as recited in claim 1 wherein said strict priority scheduling sets lower defer times for higher priority WLAN packets following a channel idle detect.

7. The packet prioritizer as recited in claim 1 further comprising a priority parameter adapter configured to adapt at least one operation-specific parameter for said packet priority based on a channel loading condition of said WLAN access point.

8. The packet prioritizer as recited in claim 7 wherein said at least one operation-specific parameter is selected from the group consisting of:

an inactive packet priority category;

an arbitration interframe spacing;

a minimum contention window; and

a maximum contention window.

9. A method of packet prioritizing for use with a wireless local area network (WLAN) access point, comprising:

providing a packet priority for a WLAN packet; and

further providing a strict priority scheduling of said WLAN packet through said WLAN access point based on said packet priority.

10. The method as recited in claim 9 wherein said providing includes:

inspecting a datagram associated with said WLAN packet, extracting a service destination port address from within said datagram,

mapping said service destination port address to a specific priority access category, and

setting a tag in a media access control (MAC) header to provide said packet priority based on said service destination port address.

11. The method as recited in claim 10 wherein said specific priority access category conforms to the IEEE 802.11e standard.

12. The method as recited in claim 10 wherein said tag conforms to the IEEE 802.1D MAC bridge specification.

13. The method as recited in claim 9 wherein said strict priority scheduling consistently schedules a higher priority WLAN packet ahead of a lower priority WLAN packet through said WLAN access point.

14. The method as recited in claim 9 wherein said strict priority scheduling sets lower defer times for higher priority WLAN packets following a channel idle detect.

15. The method as recited in claim 9 further comprising adapting at least one operation-specific parameter for said packet priority based on a channel loading condition of said WLAN access point.

16. The method as recited in claim 15 wherein said at least one operation-specific parameter is selected from the group consisting of:

an inactive packet priority category;

an arbitration interframe spacing;

a minimum contention window; and

a maximum contention window.

17. An access point for use with a wireless local area network (WLAN), comprising:

a wired interface section coupled to a wired network;

a wireless interface section wirelessly coupled to multiple end-user devices; and

a packet prioritizer coupled to said wired and wireless interface sections, including;

a priority tagger that provides a packet priority for a WLAN packet; and

a priority scheduler, coupled to said priority tagger, that provides a strict priority scheduling of said WLAN packet through said access point based on said packet priority.

18. The access point as recited in claim 17 wherein said priority tagger inspects a datagram associated with said WLAN packet, extracts a service destination port address from within said datagram, maps said service destination port address to a specific priority access category and sets a tag in a media access control (MAC) header to provide said packet priority based on said service destination port address.

19. The access point as recited in claim 18 wherein said specific priority access category conforms to the IEEE 802.11e standard.

20. The access point as recited in claim 18 wherein said tag conforms to the IEEE 802.1D MAC bridge specification.

21. The access point as recited in claim 17 wherein said strict priority scheduling consistently schedules a higher priority WLAN packet ahead of a lower priority WLAN packet through said WLAN access point.

22. The access point as recited in claim 17 wherein said priority scheduler sets lower defer times for higher priority WLAN packets following a channel idle detect.

23. The access point as recited in claim 17 further comprising a priority parameter adapter that adapts at least one operation-specific parameter for said packet priority based on a channel loading condition of said access point.

24. The access point as recited in claim 23 wherein said at least one operation-specific parameter is selected from the group consisting of:

an inactive packet priority category;

an arbitration interframe spacing;

a minimum contention window; and

a maximum contention window.