METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR EFFICIENT ADDRESSING AND POWER SAVINGS IN WIRELESS COMMUNICATIONS

• US 20110149822A1
• Filed: 02/28/2011
• Published: 06/23/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 04/25/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Interdigital Technology Corporation (InterDigital, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Interdigital Technology Corporation (InterDigital, Inc.)
• Inventors: Sammour, Mohammed, Chandra, Arty, Grandhi, Sudheer A.
• Granted Patent: US 8,639,257 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/311
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/08 User group management
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/0209 in terminal devices terminal devices per se H04W88/02
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/0216 using a pre-established activity schedule, e.g. traffic indication frame
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/0219 where the power saving management affects multiple terminals
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/0229 where the received signal is a wanted signal
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/186 Processing of subscriber group data
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/12 WLAN [Wireless Local Area Networks]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/08 Access point devices
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/70 in wireless communication networks

Abstract

A method and apparatus for addressing groups of stations in wireless communications by assigning the stations into a number of groups. Group information may be signaled to each station and a group identifier may be indicated in a frame. The group information may be applied to a performance enhancement, for example power savings for the station, wherein the station enters a power saving mode on a condition that the station determines that it is not a member of the group.

Claims

1. A method for use in an Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 access point (AP), the method comprising:

transmitting a frame to a plurality of stations (STA)s, wherein the frame includes group information in a portion of the frame, and wherein the group information is associated with a group and is used for a performance enhancement function.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the performance enhancement function includes at least one of:

a power saving function, a packet scheduling function, a data scheduling function, a radio resource management function, or a quality of service (QoS) function.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the portion of the management action frame is a physical layer (PHY) header.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the group information is included in a signal field of the PHY header.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the portion of the frame is a medium access control (MAC) header.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the group information indicates at least one of:

a power saving mode, a power save validity, or a group identifier.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the group information is associated with at least one of:

timing information, an order associated with the group, frame listening, or a decoding rule.

8. A method for use in an Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 wireless station (STA), the method comprising:

receiving a frame, wherein the frame includes group information in a portion of the frame, wherein the group information is associated with a group; and

determining whether the STA is a member of the group.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the portion of the frame is a physical layer (PHY) header.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the group information is included in a signal field of the PHY header.

11. The method of claim 8, wherein the first portion of the frame is a medium access control (MAC) header.

12. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

entering a power saving mode based on a determination that the STA is not a member of the group.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein entering the power saving mode is based on an indication of validity of the power saving mode.

14. The method of claim 8, wherein the group information is associated with at least one of:

timing information, an order associated with the group, frame listening, or a decoding rule.

15. An Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 access point (AP) comprising:

a transmitter configured to transmit a frame to a plurality of stations (STA)s, wherein the frame includes group information in a portion of the frame, and wherein the group information is associated with a group and is used for a performance enhancement function.

16. The AP of claim 15, wherein the transmitter is configured to transmit the group information in a physical layer (PHY) header of the frame.

17. An Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 wireless station (STA) comprising:

a receiver configured to receive a frame, wherein the frame includes group information in a portion of the frame, and wherein the group information is associated with a group; and

a processor configured to determine whether the STA is a member of the group.

18. The STA of claim 17 wherein the processor is further configured to enter a power saving mode based on a determination that the STA is not a member of the group.

19. The STA of claim 18, wherein the processor is further configured to enter the power saving mode based on an indication of validity of the power saving mode.

20. The STA of claim 17, wherein the receiver is configured to receive the frame including group information that is associated with at least one of:

timing information, an order associated with the group, frame listening, or a decoding rule.