NEGOTIATION OF QUALITY OF SERVICE (QoS) INFORMATION FOR NETWORK MANAGEMENT TRAFFIC IN A WIRELESS LOCAL AREA NETWORK (WLAN)

• US 20110225272A1
• Filed: 03/11/2011
• Published: 09/15/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 03/15/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Malikie Innovations Limited (Key Patent Innovations Limited)
• Original Assignee: Blackberry Limited
• Inventors: Montemurro, Michael Peter, McCann, Stephen
• Granted Patent: US 9,615,383 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/221
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/24 Negotiating SLA [Service Level Agreement]; Negotiating QoS [Quality of Service]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 74/006 in the downlink, i.e. towards the terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/12 WLAN [Wireless Local Area Networks]

Abstract

An access point advertises a management frame quality of service (MFQ) policy that defines an access category used for transmitting a first type of management frame. Each mobile station associated with the access point is to prioritize transmission of management frames according to the MFQ policy advertised by the access point, unless a policy configuration request for the mobile station to prioritize transmission of management frames according to a different MFQ policy has been accepted.

Claims

1. A method for a mobile station associated with an access point, the method comprising:

transmitting a policy configuration request to request a change from a management frame quality of service (MFQ) policy advertised by the access point,

wherein the MFQ policy defines an access category used for transmitting a first type of management frame.

2. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the policy configuration request includes an element indicative of the change from the MFQ policy.

3. The method as claimed in claim 1, further comprising:

receiving, from the access point, a policy configuration response in response to the policy configuration request.

4. The method as claimed in claim 3, wherein the policy configuration response includes an indication that the change included in the policy configuration request has been accepted by the access point.

5. The method as claimed in claim 4, further comprising:

transmitting management frames of the first type in accordance with the change from the MFQ policy after receiving the policy configuration response indicating that the change has been accepted.

6. The method as claimed in claim 3, wherein the policy configuration response includes an indication that the change included in the policy configuration request has been rejected by the access point.

7. The method as claimed in claim 6, further comprising:

transmitting management frames of the first type in accordance with the MFQ policy after receiving the policy configuration response indicating that the change has been rejected.

8. The method as claimed in claim 3, further comprising:

transmitting, to the access point, a second policy configuration request to request a second change from the MFQ policy.

9. The method as claimed in claim 8, wherein the second policy configuration request is different from the first policy configuration request.

10. The method as claimed in claim 8, wherein the second policy configuration request is the same as the first policy configuration request.

11. A method for an access point associated with a mobile station, the method comprising:

receiving, from the mobile station, a policy configuration request to request a change from a management frame quality of service (MFQ) policy advertised by the access point,

wherein the MFQ policy defines an access category used for transmitting a first type of management frame.

12. The method as claimed in claim 11, wherein the policy configuration request includes an element indicative of the change from the MFQ policy.

13. The method as claimed in claim 11, further comprising:

transmitting a policy configuration response to the mobile station in response to the policy configuration request.

14. The method as claimed in claim 13, wherein the policy configuration response includes an indication that the change included in the policy configuration request has been accepted by the access point.

15. The method as claimed in claim 13, wherein the policy configuration response includes an indication that the change included in the policy configuration request has been rejected by the access point.

16. A mobile station comprising:

a processor configured to;

transmit a policy configuration request to request a change from a management frame quality of service (MFQ) policy advertised by an access point with which the mobile station is associated,

wherein the MFQ policy defines an access category used for transmitting a first type of management frame.

17. The mobile station as claimed in claim 16, wherein the policy configuration request includes an element indicative of the change from the MFQ policy.

18. The mobile station as claimed in claim 16, wherein the processor is further configured to:

receive, from the access point, a policy configuration response in response to the policy configuration request.

19. The mobile station as claimed in claim 18, wherein the policy configuration response includes an indication that the change included in the policy configuration request has been accepted by the access point.

20. The mobile station as claimed in claim 19, wherein the processor is further configured to:

transmit management frames of the first type in accordance with the change from the MFQ policy after receiving the policy configuration response indicating that the change has been accepted.

21. An access point comprising:

a processor configured to;

receive, from a mobile station associated with the access point, a policy configuration request to request a change from a management frame quality of service MFQ policy advertised by the access point,

wherein the MFQ policy defines an access category used for transmitting a first type of management frame.

22. The access point as claimed in claim 21, wherein the policy configuration request includes an element indicative of the change from the MFQ policy.

23. The access point as claimed in claim 21, wherein the processor is further configured to:

transmit a policy configuration response to the mobile station in response to the policy configuration request.

24. The access point as claimed in claim 23, wherein the policy configuration response includes an indication that the change included in the policy configuration request has been accepted by the access point.

25. The access point as claimed in claim 23, wherein the policy configuration response includes an indication that the change included in the policy configuration request has been rejected by the access point.