TECHNIQUES FOR MONITORING THE QUALITY OF SHORT-RANGE WIRELESS LINKS

• US 20110128881A1
• Filed: 07/08/2009
• Published: 06/02/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 07/28/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V. (Koninklijke Philips N.V.)
• Original Assignee: Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V. (Koninklijke Philips N.V.)
• Inventors: Zhai, Hongqiang
• Granted Patent: US 8,705,390 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/252
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 17/24 with feedback of measurements to the transmitter
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 17/309 Measuring or estimating channel quality parameters

Abstract

A method for monitoring of a wireless link quality comprises measuring the link quality of a wireless link (120-XY) between a beacon device (110-X) transmitting a beacon and a beacon device (110-Y) receiving the beacon, wherein the measuring is performed by the receiving device (S320); saving link quality measures in a local neighborhood link quality (LNLQ) table (400) maintained by the receiving device (110-Y) (S330); and advertising the link quality measures of wireless links by transmitting the measures in beacons (S340).

Claims

1. A method (300) for continuous monitoring of a wireless link quality, comprising:

measuring the link quality of a wireless link (120-XY) between a beacon device (110-X) transmitting a beacon and a beacon device (110-Y) receiving the beacon, wherein the measuring is performed by the receiving device (S320); and

advertising the link quality measures of wireless links by transmitting the measures in beacons (S340).

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the link quality measures include at least one of a noise-to-signal ratio, a data transfer rate, and a receive signal strength indicator (RSSI).

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

saving link quality measures in table (400) maintained by the receiving device (110-Y) (S330), wherein the LNLQ table (400) includes at least a device address field (410) designating the addresses of receiving devices and transmitting devices, and a link quality field (420) including the link quality measures of wireless links between respective receiving devices and transmitting devices designated in the device address field (410).

4. The method of claim 1, wherein advertising the link quality measures further comprises transmitting a link quality information element (LQIE) (200) in beacons sent by the receiving device (110-Y).

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the LQIE (200) is a data structure that includes at least:

an element identification field (210), a length field (220), a control field (230), an a plurality of link fields (250), wherein each link field maintains the link quality measures of a wireless link between a receiving device and a transmitting device.

6. The method of claim 4, further comprising updating a LNLQ table of a device receiving the LQIE 200.

7. A computer readable medium having stored thereon computer executable code causing a processor to perform the process of monitoring of a wireless link quality, comprising:

measuring the link quality of a wireless link (120-XY) between a beacon device (110-X) transmitting a beacon and a beacon device (110-Y) receiving the beacon, wherein the measuring is performed by the receiving device (S320);

saving link quality measures in a local neighborhood link quality (LNLQ) table (400) maintained by the receiving device (110-Y) (S330); and

advertising the link quality measures of wireless links by transmitting the measures in beacons (S340).

8. A method (500) for on-demand monitoring of a wireless link quality, comprising:

broadcasting by an initiating device (110-X) a link quality monitoring command including at least a link quality information element (LQIE) (200) (S510);

waiting a predefined amount of time (S520); and

performing a check to determine if at least one device (110-Y) responded to the link quality monitoring command with its LQIE (S530).

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

saving link quality measures designated in each received LQIE in a local neighborhood link quality (LNLQ) table (400) of the initiating device (110-X) (S535); and

broadcasting another link quality monitoring command if no device has responded with a LQIE (S540, S510).

10. The method of claim 9, wherein a device may be either a beaconing device or a non-beaconing device.

11. The method of claim 8, wherein the at least one device (110-Y) performs:

determining if its address is designated in the LQIE (200) included in the link quality monitoring command; and

sending a LQIE that includes link quality measures of wireless links between the device (110-Y) and its neighboring devices.

12. The method of claim 9, wherein the link quality monitoring command is a medium access (MAC) frame including a header, a payload data, and a frame check sequence, wherein the header indicates that the MAC frame is the link quality monitoring command and the MAC frame payload data includes the LQIE (200).

13. A computer readable medium having stored thereon computer executable code causing a processor to perform the process of on-demand monitoring of a wireless link quality, comprising:

broadcasting by an initiating device (110-X) a link quality monitoring command including at least a link quality information element (LQIE) (200) (S510);

waiting a predefined amount of time (S520);

performing a check to determine if at least one device (110-Y) responded to the link quality monitoring command with its LQIE (S530); and

saving link quality measures designated in each received LQIE in a local neighborhood link quality (LNLQ) table (400) of the initiating device (110-X) (S535).

14. A device forming a frame structure of a link quality information element (LQIE) (200) for transmission over a wireless network, wherein the LQIE includes:

an element identification field (210);

a length field (220) for designating the size of the of the LQIE excluding a size of the element identification field and the length field;

a control field (230) including control information specifying at least a monitoring method type, a quality measure type, and addresses'"'"' location of neighboring devices; and

a plurality of link fields (250) for maintaining link quality measures of wireless links.

15. A device forming a medium access control (MAC) frame structure of a link quality monitoring command is transmitted in a wireless network, the link quality monitoring command includes:

a header designating that the MAC frame is of the link quality monitoring command;

a payload data including at least a link quality information element (LQIE) 200; and

a frame check sequence for errors checking.