METHODS AND APPARATUS FOR SUPPORTING GROUP COMMUNICATIONS WITH DATA RE-TRANSMISSION SUPPORT
First Claim
1. A group communications method comprising:
- transmitting data to members of a group in a first signal directed to said group;
monitoring for acknowledgements from the members of the group indicating that said data was received; and
re-transmitting the data in a second signal directed to a subset of said group, said subset including members of the group from which acknowledgements were not received and excluding at least one member of the group from which an acknowledgement was received.
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Accused Products
Abstract
Methods and apparatus related to group communications in a wireless communications system, e.g., a peer to peer wireless communications system, are described. Methods and apparatus directed to closed groups, e.g., where the number of group members are fixed at a given time and known to one or more members of the group, are described. Various embodiments are well suited to decentralized peer to peer wireless networks including a plurality of individual traffic resources, e.g., traffic slots and/or traffic segments, which may be independently scheduled in a decentralized manner. Some features and/or aspects are directed to the use of individual group member acknowledgement signaling in response to a transmitted group traffic data signal. By monitoring for anticipated individual group member acknowledgment signals and identifying members which have not signaled a positive acknowledgment, re-transmission can be directed and/or tailored to a subset of the group.
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Citations
39 Claims
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1. A group communications method comprising:
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transmitting data to members of a group in a first signal directed to said group; monitoring for acknowledgements from the members of the group indicating that said data was received; and re-transmitting the data in a second signal directed to a subset of said group, said subset including members of the group from which acknowledgements were not received and excluding at least one member of the group from which an acknowledgement was received. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17)
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18. A communications device supporting group communications, the communications device comprising:
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a wireless transmitter module; a group signaling control module configured to control the wireless transmitter module to transmit data to members of a group in a first signal directed to said group; an acknowledgment monitoring module configured to monitor for acknowledgements from the members of the group indicating that said data was received; and a re-transmission control module configured to control said wireless transmitter module to re-transmit the data in a second signal directed to a subset of said group, said subset including members of the group from which acknowledgements were not received and excluding at least one member of the group from which an acknowledgement was received. - View Dependent Claims (19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31)
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32. A communications device supporting group communications, the communications device comprising:
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wireless transmitter means; group signaling control means for controlling the wireless transmitter means to transmit data to members of a group in a first signal directed to said group; acknowledgment monitoring means configured for monitoring for acknowledgements from the members of the group indicating that said data was received; and re-transmission control means for controlling said wireless transmitter module to re-transmit the data in a second signal directed to a subset of said group, said subset including members of the group from which acknowledgements were not received and excluding at least one member of the group from which an acknowledgement was received. - View Dependent Claims (33, 34, 35, 36)
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37. A computer program product for use in a communications device to implement group communications, the computer program product comprising:
computer readable medium comprising; code for causing a computer to transmit data to members of a group in a first signal directed to said group; code for causing a computer to monitor for acknowledgements from the members of the group indicating that said data was received; and code for causing a computer to re-transmitting the data in a second signal directed to a subset of said group, said subset including members of the group from which acknowledgements were not received and excluding at least one member of the group from which an acknowledgement was received. - View Dependent Claims (38, 39)
Specification