MEDIA ACCESS CONTROL PROTOCOL DATA UNIT AGGREGATION IN A TIME DIVISION MULTIPLE ACCESS MEDIA ACCESS CONTROL LAYER

• US 20100091759A1
• Filed: 12/15/2006
• Published: 04/15/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 12/15/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Thomson Licensing (Vantiva SA)
• Original Assignee: Thomson Licensing (Vantiva SA)
• Inventors: Tian, Qingjiang, Stahl, Thomas Anthony, Rhodes, Robert Andrew, Diemer, Rodger Anthony
• Granted Patent: US 9,385,881 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/347
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2832 Interconnection of the control functionalities between home networks single bridge functionality H04L12/4625
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2012/2841 Wireless
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2012/2849 Audio/video appliances
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/611 for multicast or broadcast systems for broadcast or conference H04L12/18; arrangements for broadcast or distribution combined with broadcast H04H20/00; arrangements for broadcast applications with a direct linkage to broadcast information or to broadcast space-time H04H60/00; selective distribution of broadcast services, e.g. multimedia broadcast multicast service [MBMS], H04W4/06
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/22 Parsing or analysis of headers

Abstract

A method and apparatus are described for creating a multi-media stream (e.g., video, voice, audio, etc. . . . ) Super-MAC frame in a physical protocol data unit, including inserting a physical layer header into a channel time allocation and generating the multi-media stream SuperMAC frame further including, appending a media access control header after the physical layer header, calculating a header correction code, appending the header correction code after the media access control header, appending a media access control multi-media stream payload from a transmit queue, calculating a frame check sequence, appending the frame check sequence after the media access control multi-media stream payload and repeating the above acts, after inserting the physical layer header, until one of the channel time allocation is full or all transmit queues are empty.

Claims

1. A method for creating a multi-media stream SuperMAC frame in a physical protocol data unit, said method comprising:

inserting a physical layer header into a channel time allocation;

generating said multi-media stream SuperMAC frame, said generating act further comprising;

appending a media access control header to said physical layer header;

calculating a header correction code;

appending said header correction code to said media access control header;

appending a media access control multi-media stream payload from a transmit queue to said header correction code;

calculating a frame check sequence;

appending said frame check sequence to said media access control multi-media stream payload; and

repeating said above acts, after inserting said physical layer header, until one of said channel time allocation is full or all transmit queues are empty.

2. The method according to claim 1, further comprising transmitting said physical layer header at a first predetermined rate.

3. The method according to claim 2, further comprising transmitting said physical layer header at a second predetermined rate.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein said physical layer header includes a length of said SuperMAC frame.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein said media access control header includes a length of said multi-media stream payload.

6. The method according to claim. 1, wherein said header correction code is used to correct errors in said media access control header.

7. A method for decoding a received multi-media stream SuperMAC frame, said method comprising:

isolating a media access control header;

isolating a header correction code;

checking for and correcting errors in said media access control header;

determining a boundary for a unit of multi-media stream payload within said multi-media stream SuperMAC frame;

repeating said above acts until all multi-media payloads have been recovered from said multi-media stream SuperMAC frame; and

converting said multi-media stream SuperMAC frame to multi-media Ethernet frames.

8. An apparatus for creating a multi-media stream SuperMAC frame in a physical protocol data unit, comprising:

means for inserting a physical layer header into a channel time allocation;

means for generating said multi-media stream SuperMAC frame, said means for generating further comprising;

means for appending a media access control header to said physical layer header;

means for calculating a header correction code;

means for appending said header correction code to said media access control header;

means for appending a media access control multi-media stream payload from a transmit queue to said header correction code;

means for calculating a frame check sequence;

means for appending said frame check sequence to said media access control multi-media stream payload; and

means for repeating said above acts, after inserting said physical layer header insertion, until one of said channel time allocation is full or all transmit queues are empty.

9. The apparatus according to claim 8, further comprising means for transmitting said physical layer header at a first predetermined rate.

10. The apparatus according to claim 9, further comprising means for transmitting said physical layer header at a second predetermined rate.

11. The apparatus according to claim 8, wherein said physical layer header includes a length of said SuperMAC frame.

12. The apparatus according to claim 8, wherein said media access control header includes a length of said video payload.

13. The apparatus according to claim 8, wherein said header correction code is used to correct errors in said media access control header.

14. An apparatus for decoding a received multi-media stream SuperMAC frame in a physical protocol data unit, comprising:

means for isolating a physical layer header;

means for isolating a media access control header;

means for isolating a header correction code;

means for checking for and correcting errors in said media access control header;

means for determining a boundary for a unit of multi-media stream payload within said multi-media stream SuperMAC frame;

means for repeating said above acts, after said physical layer header, until all multi-media stream payloads have been recovered from said multi-media stream SuperMAC frame; and

means for converting said multi-media stream SuperMAC frame to multi-media stream Ethernet frames