SCALABLE MEDIA ACCESS CONTROL FOR MULTI-HOP HIGH BANDWIDTH COMMUNICATIONS

• US 20060268908A1
• Filed: 08/04/2006
• Published: 11/30/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 05/13/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: CommWorks Solutions, LLC (IP Investments Group LLC)
• Original Assignee: Kiyon, Inc.
• Inventors: Nova, Michael, Gui, Chao, Wang, Weilin, Patil, Abhishek, Wang, Xudong
• Granted Patent: US 7,957,356 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/401
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/046 comprising network management agents or mobile agents therefor
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/12 Discovery or management of network topologies
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/16 Threshold monitoring
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/50 Testing arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/122 by minimising distances, e.g. by selecting a route with minimum of number of hops
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/302 Route determination based on requested QoS
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/66 Layer 2 routing, e.g. in Ethernet based MAN's
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/24 Traffic characterised by specific attributes, e.g. priority or QoS
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/70 Admission control; Resource allocation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/724 at intermediate nodes, e.g. resource reservation protocol [RSVP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/762 triggered by the network
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/801 Real time traffic
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/805 QOS or priority aware
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/824 Applicable to portable or mobile terminals
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/829 Topology based
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/086 among access entities
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/24 Negotiating SLA [Service Level Agreement]; Negotiating QoS [Quality of Service]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/26 Resource reservation
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 40/02 Communication route or path selection, e.g. power-based or shortest path routing
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 40/24 Connectivity information management, e.g. connectivity discovery or connectivity update
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/20 : Control channels or signalling for resource management
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/542 : using measured or perceived quality
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 74/0816 : with collision avoidance
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/18 : Management of setup rejection or failure
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/04 : Registration at HLR or HSS [Home Subscriber Server]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 80/02 : Data link layer protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/18 : Self-organising networks, e.g. ad-hoc networks or sensor networks
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/70 : in wireless communication networks

Abstract

A scalable medium access control (“MAC”) module is provided that avoids conflict resource reservation so that network performance does not degrade as the number of hops or nodes in a wireless network increases. The MAC also provides different access schemes for traffic with different quality of service (“QoS”) requirements such that QoS is guaranteed and network resources are efficiently utilized. Furthermore, the resource allocation scheme determines the routing path as resources is allocated for data traffice, thereby achieving more robust layer-2 routing at the MAC layer. Finally, the scalable MAC is compliant with both WiMedia MAC and IEEE 802.15.3 MAC.

Claims

1. A medium access control communication module system configured to be deployed in a wireless communication device capable of high bandwidth communication over a wireless communication network, the module comprising:

a topology module configured to parse a beacon signal to obtain information about nodes in the wireless communication network, the topology module further configured to allocate timeslots for data communication;

a signaling module configured to send control messages to and receive control messages from one or more nodes in the wireless communication network, the signaling module further configured to send routing messages to and receive routing messages from one or more nodes in the wireless communication network; and

a resource allocation module configured to reserve data transmission resources in the wireless communication network using fair resource allocation for best effort traffic and end-to-end admission control for reliable transmission traffic.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the topology module further comprises a beacon module configured to receive an analyze beacon signals to determine the quality of the wireless link between a first node and a second node.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the topology module further comprises a timeslot module configured to allocate initial timeslots to the node and inform neighboring nodes of the reservation of said initial timeslots.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the resource allocation module further comprises a best effort traffic module configured to reallocate timeslots between a plurality of links to optimize best effort traffic communications.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the resource allocation module further comprises a reliable traffic module configured to establish an end-to-end route between a first node and an end node and confirm sufficient resource allocation at each node in the path between the first node and the end node prior to initiating reliable transmission of data to meet a predetermined quality of service level.

6. A computer implemented method for high bandwidth communication over a wireless communication network, the method comprising:

receiving one or more beacon signals via a wireless communication interface;

parsing each beacon signal to identify a sender node and network synchronization information;

adding each identified sender node to a neighbor list;

determining a signal quality for a beacon signal from a sender node;

establishing a wireless communication link with a sender node if the signal quality of the beacon signal meets a predetermined level;

analyzing the synchronization information to align a beacon period, a contention access period, and a contention free period with the wireless communication network.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising adding an established wireless communication link to the neighbor list.

8. The method of claim 6, further comprising aligning a superframe with one or more superframes from one or more sender nodes.

9. The method of claim 6, further comprising allocating a plurality of initial timeslots for data communication over the wireless communication network.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising informing neighboring nodes about the allocated initial timeslots.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein the plurality of initial timeslots are substantially evenly spread throughout the contention free period.

12. The method of claim 6, further comprising allocating a plurality of additional timeslots, wherein the additional timeslots fall within a block of timeslots identified by an initial timeslot.

13. A computer implemented method for reliable high bandwidth communication over a wireless communication network from a sender node to a destination node, the method comprising:

receiving at the sender node quality of service parameters describing a desired level of reliability for data communication;

identifying a route to the destination node, the route comprising one or more sequential nodes;

identifying a link to the a first sequential node in the identified route;

allocating one or more timeslots for the identified link, wherein the number of allocated timeslots is sufficient to provide the desired level of reliability described in the quality of service parameters; and

repeating the steps of identifying a link and allocating one or more timeslots at each sequential node in the identified route to the destination node until the sender node and all sequential nodes in the identified route have allocated sufficient timeslots to provide the desired level of reliability described in the quality of service parameters between the sender node and the destination node.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein allocating one or more timeslots further comprises informing neighbor nodes of the resource allocation.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the informed neighbor nodes are within two hops of the allocating node.

16. The method of claim 13, wherein the last sequential node in the identified route sends a reservation success message to the sender node to inform the sender node that the desired level of reliability described in the quality of service parameters between the sender node and the destination node has been reserved.

17. The method of claim 16, further comprising initiating the reliable high bandwidth communication upon receipt of the reservation success message.

18. A wireless communication system comprising:

two or more wireless communication devices, each configured with a high bandwidth radio adaptable for communication over a wireless communication network;

a media access control (MAC) module executable on each of the two or more wireless communication devices, wherein the MAC module is configured for high bandwidth wireless communications between the two or more wireless communication devices using said high bandwidth radios.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein the high bandwidth radio is an ultra-wide band (UWB) radio.

20. The system of claim 18, wherein the high bandwidth radio is WiFi radio.

21. The system of claim 18, wherein the high bandwidth radio is WiMAX radio.

22. The system of claim 18, wherein the high bandwidth wireless communications consist of single-hop communications.

23. The system of claim 18, wherein the high bandwidth wireless communications comprise multi-hop communications.

24. The system of claim 18, wherein the two or more wireless communication devices form a mesh network.

25. The system of claim 18, wherein the high bandwidth wireless communications support the delivery of voice data.

26. The system of claim 18, wherein the high bandwidth wireless communications support the delivery of video data.

27. The system of claim 18, wherein the high bandwidth wireless communications support the delivery of multimedia data.

28. The system of claim 27, wherein the multimedia data comprises internet protocol multimedia subsystem (IMS) services.

29. The system of claim 18, wherein the high bandwidth wireless communications support the delivery of a combination of audio and video data.

30. The system of claim 18, further comprising a second wireless communication network, wherein said two or more wireless communication devices are communicatively coupled with the second wireless communication network.

31. The system of claim 30, wherein the second wireless communication network is a digital home network.

32. The system of claim 30, wherein the second wireless communication network is a wired local area network.

33. The system of claim 30, wherein the second wireless communication network is an unlicensed mobile access network.

34. The system of claim 30, wherein the second wireless communication network is a generic access network.

35. The system of claim 30, wherein the wireless communication network is an ultra-wide band network and the second network is a WiFi network.

36. The system of claim 30, wherein the wireless communication network is an ultra-wide band network and the second network is a WiMAX network.

37. A wireless communication system comprising:

a first node comprising an ultra-wide band radio and a first signaling module, said first node configured to communicate over a wireless communication network;

a second node comprising a WiFi radio and a second signaling module, said second node configured to communicate over a wireless communication network;

a third node comprising an ultra-wide band radio, a WiFi radio, and a third signaling module, said third node configured to communicate over a wireless communication network;

wherein said first and second signaling modules are configured to send and receive control messages to and from said third signaling module to establish parameters for wireless communication between said first and second nodes.

38. The wireless communication system of claim 37, wherein said control messages are sent during a beacon period.

39. The wireless communication system of claim 37, wherein said parameters comprise one or more timeslots assigned to the first node for transmission of data.

40. The wireless communication system of claim 37, wherein said parameters comprise one or more timeslots assigned to the second node for transmission of data.

41. A method for seamless transition by a wireless communication device from a first wireless communication network to a second wireless communication network, wherein the first and second wireless communication networks use different wireless communication protocols, comprising:

communicating on a first wireless communication network employing a first protocol;

identifying a beacon signal from a second wireless communication network employing a second protocol;

parsing the beacon signal to identify parameters for communication on the second wireless communication network;

reserving a communication channel on the second wireless communication network; and

communicating on the second wireless communication network using said reserved channel.

42. The method of claim 41, wherein the first wireless communication network is a local area network and the second wireless communication network is a wide area network.

43. The method of claim 42, wherein said identifying a beacon signal step further comprises identifying a reduction in signal strength for communications on the local area network.

44. The method of claim 42, wherein the local area network is configured for ultra-wide band communication and the wide area network is configured for code division multiple access communication.

45. The method of claim 42, wherein the local area network is configured for WiFi communication and the wide area network is configured for code division multiple access communication.

46. The method of claim 42, wherein the local area network is configured for ultra-wide band communication and the wide area network is configured for global system for mobile communication.

47. The method of claim 42, wherein the local area network is configured for WiFi communication and the wide area network is configured for global system for mobile communication.