Techniques to enable direct link discovery in a wireless local area network

• US 20070201410A1
• Filed: 02/14/2006
• Published: 08/30/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 02/14/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Original Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Inventors: Ginzburg, Boris
• Granted Patent: US 7,522,571 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/338
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 40/00 Communication routing or communication path finding
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 48/16 Discovering, processing access restriction or access information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 48/20 Selecting an access point
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/14 Direct-mode setup
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/12 WLAN [Wireless Local Area Networks]

Abstract

An embodiment of the present invention provides an apparatus, comprising a wireless station operable in a wireless local area network, the wireless station capable of automatic discovery of other stations in a basic service set (BSS) which are capable of supporting direct link setup (DLS).

Claims

1. An apparatus, comprising:

a wireless station operable in a wireless local area network, said wireless station capable of automatic discovery of other stations in a basic service set (BSS) which are capable of supporting direct link setup (DLS).

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said discovery of other stations is enabled by DLS capable stations adding an Information Element (IE) indicating DLS capability to an association/re-association request.

3. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein said wireless station is capable of wireless communication with an access point (AP) and wherein said AP keeps DLS capability information on each member of its BSS.

4. The apparatus of claim 3, wherein wireless stations in said wireless network which want to know if there are other wireless stations capable of supporting DLS, sends a DLS list request via a new management frame to an AP to which it is associated.

5. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein said AP responds to said DLS list request frame with a DLS list response frame containing a list of all DLS capable BSS members.

6. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein said list of all DLS capable BSS members includes for each station:

encryption cipher;

supported rate set; and

current transmit and receive data rate.

7. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein said wireless station is capable of sending a NULL data frame to another DLS capable station prior to DLS establishment, thereby enabling the estimation of possible DLS data rates with other stations.

8. A method, comprising:

automatically discovering other stations in a basic service set (BSS) which are capable of supporting direct link setup (DLS) by a wireless station operable in said BSS.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising adding an Information Element (IE) indicating DLS capability to an association/re-association request to discover other DLS capable stations.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising keeping, by an AP in communication with said wireless station, DLS capability information on each member of its BSS.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising sending a DLS list request via a new management frame to an AP to which it is associated by wireless stations in said wireless network which want to know if there are other wireless stations capable of supporting DLS.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising responding by said AP to said DLS list request frame with a DLS list response frame containing a list of all DLS capable BSS members.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein said list of all DLS capable BSS members includes for each station:

encryption cipher;

supported rate set; and

current transmit and receive data rate.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising sending, by said wireless station, a NULL data frame to another DLS capable station prior to DLS establishment, thereby enabling the estimation of possible DLS data rates with other stations.

15. A machine-accessible medium that provides instructions, which when accessed, cause a machine to perform operations comprising:

automatically discovering other stations in a basic service set (BSS) which are capable of supporting direct link setup (DLS) by a wireless station operable in said BSS.

16. The machine-accessible medium of claim 15, further comprising said instructions causing said machine to perform operations further comprising adding an Information Element (IE) indicating DLS capability to an association/re-association request to discover other DLS capable stations.

17. The machine-accessible medium of claim 16, further comprising said instructions causing said machine to perform operations further comprising keeping, by an AP in communication with said wireless station, DLS capability information on each member of its BSS.

18. The machine-accessible medium of claim 17, further comprising said instructions causing said machine to perform operations further comprising sending a DLS list request via a new management frame to an AP to which it is associated by wireless stations in said wireless network which want to know if there are other wireless stations capable of supporting DLS.

19. The machine-accessible medium of claim 15, further comprising said instructions causing said machine to perform operations further comprising responding by said AP to said DLS list request frame with a DLS list response frame containing a list of all DLS capable BSS members.

20. A system, comprising:

a first wireless station including a dipole antenna enabling operation in a wireless local area network (WLAN);

at least one additional wireless station operable in a basic service set (BSS) with said first wireless station; and

wherein said first wireless station is capable of automatically discovering if said at least one additional wireless station is capable of supporting direct link setup (DLS).

21. The system of claim 20, wherein said discovery that said at least additional wireless station is DLS capable is enabled by adding an Information Element (IE) indicating DLS capability to an association/re-association request.

22. The system of claim 21, wherein said wireless station is capable of wireless communication with an access point (AP) and wherein said AP keeps DLS capability information on each member of its BSS.

23. The system of claim 22, wherein wireless stations in said wireless network which want to know if there are other wireless stations capable of supporting DLS, sends a DLS list request via a new management frame to an AP to which it is associated.

24. The system of claim 23, wherein said AP responds to said DLS list request frame with a DLS list response frame containing a list of all DLS capable BSS members.

25. The system of claim 24, wherein said list of all DLS capable BSS members includes for each station:

encryption cipher;

supported rate set; and

current transmit and receive data rate.