Communication apparatus, communication method, and communication system

• US 20070064738A1
• Filed: 09/27/2006
• Published: 03/22/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 01/09/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Palmira Wireless AG
• Original Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba (Toshiba Corporation)
• Inventors: Takagi, Masahiro, Utsunomiya, Yoriko, Nishibayashi, Yasuyuki
• Granted Patent: US 7,706,408 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/473
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/1607 Details of the supervisory signal
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/1614 using bitmaps
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/413 with random access, e.g. carrier-sense multiple-access with collision detection [CSMA-CD]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/46 Interconnection of networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/66 Arrangements for connecting between networks having differing types of switching systems, e.g. gateways
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2101/622 Layer-2 addresses, e.g. medium access control [MAC] addresses
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0044 allocation of payload
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0055 Physical resource allocation for ACK/NACK for physical mapping arrangements in ARQ protocols H04L1/1861
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/22 Parsing or analysis of headers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/323 in the physical layer [OSI layer 1]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/324 in the data link layer [OSI layer 2], e.g. HDLC
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/06 Optimizing the usage of the radio link, e.g. header compression, information sizing , discarding information system modifying transmission characteristic according to link quality by modifying frame length H04L1/0007; dynamic adaptation of the packet size for flow control or congestion control H04L47/365
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/065 using assembly or disassembly of packets
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/14 using intermediate storage
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/0203 in the radio access network or backbone network of wireless communication networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 74/0816 with collision avoidance
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/12 WLAN [Wireless Local Area Networks]
• CPC Class Codes: Y02B 70/30 Systems integrating technologies related to power network operation and communication or information technologies for improving the carbon footprint of the management of residential or tertiary loads, i.e. smart grids as climate change mitigation technology in the buildings sector, including also the last stages of power distribution and the control, monitoring or operating management systems at local level
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/70 in wireless communication networks

Abstract

A physical frame is constructed, the physical frame including a medium access control super-frame payload which in turn includes a plurality of medium access control frames. With respect to the constructed physical frame, virtual carrier sense information is set in the plurality of medium access control frame so that a result of carrier sense is identical to another by virtual carrier sense based on the plurality of medium access control frames in the medium access control super-frame payload. The physical frame in which the virtual carrier sense information has been set is transmitted to a destined communication apparatus.

Claims

1-30. -30. (canceled)

31. A communication apparatus, comprising:

a physical frame construction device configured to construct a single physical frame containing a MAC header and a plurality of MAC frames; and

a transmission device configured to transmit the physical frame to a destination communication apparatus.

32. The apparatus according to claim 31, wherein

each of the MAC frames is a fixed length, and the MAC header includes information indicating the number of the MAC frames included in the physical frame.

33. The apparatus according to claim 31, wherein

each of the MAC frames includes a Frame Check Sequence( FCS), which is used to detect whether an error occurred in each of the MAC frames.

34. The apparatus according to claim 31, further comprising:

a reception device configured to receive a partial ACK frame, which is transmitted as a response for an acknowledgement of receipt of the physical frame, after the destination communication apparatus receives the physical frame and a Short IFS (SIFS) period elapses.

35. The apparatus according to claim 34, wherein the partial ACK frame is capable of being interpreted by other communication apparatus that cannot decode the physical frame.

36. The apparatus according to claim 34, further comprising:

a checking device configured to check whether each of the plurality of MAC frames has been received correctly, based on the partial ACK frame received by the reception device.

37. The apparatus according to claim 34,

wherein sequence numbers are assigned to the MAC frames included in the physical frame, and wherein the partial ACK frame includes a partial ACK bit map which includes true and false values corresponding to an arrangement of the sequence numbers, the true and false values each indicating whether each of the MAC frames has received correctly.

38. A communication apparatus, comprising:

a physical frame reception device configured to receive a single physical frame containing a MAC header and a plurality of MAC frames; and

a transmission device configured to transmit, without new procedures for contending for a transmission privilege, a block ACK frame as a response for an acknowledgement of receipt of the physical frame, after said physical frame is received and a Short IFS (SIFS) period lapses.

39. The apparatus according to claim 38, wherein

the block ACK frame contains a receiving state indicating whether each of the MAC frames included in the physical frame received by the reception device was received correctly.

40. The apparatus according to claim 39, wherein

the physical frame reception device further receives a physical frame retransmitted based on the receiving state, the physical frame including a MAC frame which was not received correctly, and

wherein the transmission device transmits, without referring to a history of past receiving states, a new block ACK frame which contains a receiving state indicating only whether a MAC frame included in the retransmitted physical frame was received correctly.

41. The apparatus according to claim 39, wherein

the physical frame reception device further receives a physical frame retransmitted based on the receiving state, the physical frame including a MAC frame which was not received correctly, and

wherein the transmission device transmits a new block ACK frame which contains an updated receiving state that is updated from a previous receiving state by a receiving state indicating whether a MAC frame included in the retransmitted physical frame was received correctly.

42. The apparatus according to claim 38, further comprising:

a construction device configured to construct a partial ACK bit map which includes true and false values corresponding to an arrangement of sequence numbers, wherein the sequence numbers are assigned to the MAC frames included in the physical frame, and the true and false values each indicates whether each of the MAC frames was received correctly, and

wherein the transmission device transmits the block ACK frame containing the partial ACK bit map.

43. The apparatus according to claim 42, wherein

the physical frame reception device further receives a physical frame retransmitted based on a receiving state, the physical frame including a MAC frame which was not received correctly, and

wherein the construction device constructs the partial ACK bit map, based only on true and false values each indicating whether each of the MAC frames contained in the retransmitted physical frame was received correctly, without referring to a history of past receiving states.

44. The apparatus according to claim 42, wherein

the physical frame reception device further receives a physical frame retransmitted based on a receiving state, the physical frame including a MAC frame which was not received correctly, and

wherein the construction device constructs a new partial ACK bit map which is updated from a previous partial ACK bit map by true and false values each indicating whether each of the MAC frames contained in the retransmitted physical frame was received correctly.

45. The apparatus according to claim 38, further comprising:

a buffer configured to temporarily store, of the MAC frames contained in the received physical frame, a MAC frame which was received correctly, so that the MAC frame can be read out in order of sequence numbers, wherein the sequence numbers are assigned to the MAC frames included in the physical frame;

a transferring device configured to read from the buffer MAC frames having sequence numbers which are smaller than a sequence number of a first MAC frame contained in a physical frame newly received, and transfer the MAC frames to an upper layer processing; and

a deletion device configured to delete the MAC frames transferred from said buffer.