METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR DEVICE SYNCHRONIZATION AND POWER CONSERVATION IN A WIRELESS COMMUNICATION SYSTEM

• US 20130058318A1
• Filed: 02/22/2011
• Published: 03/07/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 02/22/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Inventors: Arunan, Thenmozhi, Bhatia, Ashutosh, Patro, Ranjeet Kumar
• Granted Patent: US 9,204,409 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/337
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 56/001 Synchronization between nodes
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 56/003 Arrangements to increase tolerance to errors in transmission or reception timing
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/70 in wireless communication networks

Abstract

The present invention provides a method and apparatus for device synchronization and power conservation in a wireless communication system. In one embodiment, a method of a communication device for device synchronization and conserving power includes determining one or more device parameters in a wireless communication system, where the one or more device parameters are indicative of one or more time slots and at least one additional guard slot required during data transaction. The method also includes forming a connection request including the one or more device parameters, and communicating the connection request to a controller in the wireless communication system. Moreover, the method includes receiving a connection assignment frame including a device allocation interval from the controller based on the one or more device parameters, wherein the device allocation interval includes the one or more time slots and the at least one additional guard slot allocated to the communication device for data transaction.

Claims

1. A method of a communication device for device synchronization and power conservation in a wireless communication system comprising:

determining one or more device parameters indicative of one or more time slots and at least one additional guard slot required for data transaction;

forming a connection request including the one or more device parameters;

communicating the connection request to a controller in the wireless communication system; and

receiving a connection assignment frame including a device allocation interval from the controller based on the one or more device parameters, wherein the device allocation interval includes the one or more time slots and the at least one additional guard slot allocated to the communication device for data transaction.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more device parameters are selected from the group consisting of a clock slew of the communication device with respect to the controller, minimum number of beacons frames to be skipped, a scale up factor, and a scale down factor.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the scale up factor and the scale down factor are determined based on remaining battery power and packet arrival rate.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the scale up factor and the scale down factor indicate minimum and maximum values of guard time with respect to the one or more time slots.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

skipping, listening of a number of beacons frames to conserve power, wherein the number of beacon frames to be skipped are advertised by the controller in the connection assignment frame.

6. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having instructions stored therein, that when executed by a communication device, result in performing a method comprising:

determining one or more device parameters indicative of one or more time slots and at least one additional guard slot required for data transaction;

forming a connection request including the one or more device parameters;

communicating the connection request to a controller in the wireless communication system; and

receiving a connection assignment frame including a device allocation interval from the controller based on the one or more device parameters, wherein the device allocation interval includes the one or more time slots and the at least one additional guard slot allocated to the communication device for data transaction.

7. The storage medium of claim 6, wherein the one or more device parameters are selected from the group consisting of a clock slew of the communication device with respect to the controller, minimum number of beacons frames to be skipped during a connection establishment phase, a power saving requirement, a scale up factor, and a scale down factor.

8. The storage medium of claim 7, wherein the scale up factor and the scale down factor are determined based on remaining battery power, packet arrival rate, and expected battery life time.

9. The storage medium of claim 8, wherein the scale up factor and the scale down factor indicate minimum and maximum values of guard time with respect to the one or more time slots.

10. The storage medium of claim 9, wherein the method further comprises:

skipping listening of a number of beacons frames during a connection establishment phase to conserve power, wherein the number of beacon frames are advertised by the controller in the connection assignment frame.

11. A communication device comprising:

a processor; and

memory coupled to the processor and configured to temporarily store instructions capable of;

determining one or more device parameters indicative of one or more time slots and at least one additional guard slot required during data transaction;

forming a connection request including the one or more device parameters;

communicating the connection request to a controller in a wireless communication system; and

receiving a connection assignment frame including a device allocation interval from the controller based on the one or more device parameters, wherein the device allocation interval includes the one or more time slots and the at least one additional guard slot allocated for data transaction.

12. The device of claim 11, wherein the one or more device parameters are selected from the group consisting of a clock slew of the communication device with respect to the controller, minimum number of beacons frames to be skipped during a connection establishment phase, a power saving requirement, a scale up factor, and a scale down factor.

13. The device of claim 12, wherein the scale up factor and the scale down factor are determined based on remaining battery power, packet arrival rate, and expected battery life time.

14. The device of claim 13, wherein the scale up factor and the scale down factor indicate minimum and maximum values of guard time with respect to the one or more time slots.

15. The device of claim 11, wherein the instructions are further capable of:

skipping listening of a number of beacons frames to conserve power, wherein the number of beacon frames are advertised by the controller in the connection assignment frame.

16. A method of a controller for allocating time slots in a medium access control (MAC) superframe to a communication device in a wireless communication system, comprising:

receiving a connection request from the communication device for establishment of a connection with the controller, wherein the connection request includes device parameters indicative of number of time slots and additional guard slots required for data transaction;

configuring the number of time slots and the additional guard slots in a MAC superframe based on the device parameters in the connection request; and

transmitting a connection assignment frame including a device allocation interval to the communication device, wherein the device allocation interval includes the number of time slots and the additional guard slots allocated to the communication device.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein receiving the connection request from the communication device for establishment of the connection with the controller further comprises:

sending an acknowledgement frame to the communication device in response to the connection request.

18. The method of claim 16, wherein configuring the number of time slots and the additional guard slots in the MAC superframe based on the device parameters in the connection request comprises:

determining whether there are unallocated time slots equal to the number of time slots and the additional guard slots in the MAC superframe;

if so, allocating the unallocated time slots in the MAC superframe to the communication device;

if not, determining whether there are any time slots in the MAC superframe allocated to one or more communication devices, wherein the one or more communication devices are having a lower priority than the communication device;

if so, unallocating the allocated time slots from the MAC superframe and allocating the unallocated time slots to the communication device; and

if not, rejecting the connection request received from the communication device.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein unallocating the allocated time slots from the MAC superframe and reallocating the unallocated time slots to the communication device comprises:

reallocating one or more unallocated time slots in the MAC superframe to the one or more communication devices; and

transmitting a connection assignment frame indicating reallocation of the time slots in the MAC superframe to the one or more communication devices.

20. The method of claim 16, wherein the device parameters are selected from the group consisting of clock slew of the communication device with respect to the controller, minimum number of beacons frames to be skipped, power saving information, a scale up factor, and a scale down factor.

21. The method of claim 19, wherein the scale up factor and the scale down factor are determined based on remaining battery power, packet arrival rate, and expected battery life time.

22. The method of claim 16, further comprising:

periodically determining a maximum number of beacon frames that the communication device can skip to listen based on a current network load; and

advertising the maximum number of beacon frames allowed to skip to the communication device.

23. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having instructions stored therein for allocating time slots in a medium access control (MAC) superframe to a communication device in a wireless communication system, that when executed by a controller, result in performing a method comprising:

receiving a connection request from the communication device for establishment of a connection with the controller, wherein the connection request includes device parameters indicative of number of time slots and additional guard slots required for data transaction;

configuring the number of time slots and the additional guard slots in a MAC superframe based on the device parameters in the connection request; and

transmitting a connection assignment frame including a device allocation interval to the communication device, wherein the device allocation interval includes the number of time slots and the additional guard slots allocated to the communication device.

24. The storage medium of claim 23, wherein the instructions to receive the connection request from the communication device for establishment of the connection with the controller further comprises:

sending an acknowledgement frame to the communication device in response to the connection request.

25. The storage medium of claim 23, wherein the instructions to configure the number of time slots and the additional guard slots in the MAC superframe based on the device parameters in the connection request comprises:

determining whether there are unallocated time slots equal to the number of time slots and the additional guard slots in the MAC superframe;

if so, allocating the unallocated time slots in the MAC superframe to the communication device;

if not, determining whether there are any time slots in the MAC superframe allocated to one or more communication devices, wherein the one or more communication devices are having a lower priority than the communication device;

if so, unallocating the allocated time slots from the MAC superframe and allocating the unallocated time slots to the communication device; and

if not, rejecting the connection request received from the communication device.

26. The storage medium of claim 25, wherein the instructions to unallocate the allocated time slots from the MAC superframe and reallocating the unallocated time slots to the communication device comprises:

reallocating one or more unallocated time slots in the MAC superframe to the one or more communication devices; and

transmitting a connection assignment frame indicating reallocation of the time slots in the MAC superframe to the one or more communication devices.

27. The storage medium of claim 23, wherein the device parameters are selected from the group consisting of clock slew of the communication device with respect to the controller, minimum number of beacons frames to be skipped, power saving information, a scale up factor, and a scale down factor.

29. The storage medium of claim 23, wherein the method further comprises:

periodically determining a maximum number of beacon frames that the communication device can skip to listen based on a current network load; and

advertising the maximum number of beacon frames allowed to skip during the connection establishment phase to the communication device.

28. The storage medium of claim 28, wherein the scale up factor and the scale down factor are determined based on remaining battery power, packet arrival rate, and expected battery life time.

30. A controller comprising:

a processor; and

memory coupled to the processor and configured to temporarily store instructions capable of;

receiving a connection request from a communication device for establishment of a connection with the controller, wherein the connection request includes device parameters indicative of number of time slots and additional guard slots required for data transaction;

configuring the number of time slots and the additional guard slots in a MAC superframe based on the device parameters in the connection request; and

transmitting a connection assignment frame including a device allocation interval to the communication device, wherein the device allocation interval includes the number of time slots and the additional guard slots allocated to the communication device.

31. The controller of claim 30, wherein the instructions to receive the connection request from the communication device for establishment of the connection with the controller further comprises:

sending an acknowledgement frame to the communication device in response to the connection request.

32. The controller of claim 30, wherein the instructions to configure the number of time slots and the additional guard slots in the MAC superframe based on the device parameters in the connection request comprises:

determining whether there are unallocated time slots equal to the number of time slots and the additional guard slots in the MAC superframe;

if so, allocating the unallocated time slots in the MAC superframe to the communication device;

if not, determining whether there are any time slots in the MAC superframe allocated to one or more communication devices, wherein the one or more communication devices are having a lower priority than the communication device;

if so, unallocating the allocated time slots from the MAC superframe and allocating the unallocated time slots to the communication device; and

if not, rejecting the connection request received from the communication device.

33. The controller of claim 32, wherein the instructions to unallocate the allocated time slots from the MAC superframe and reallocating the unallocated time slots to the communication device comprises:

reallocating. one or more unallocated time slots in the MAC superframe to the one or more communication devices; and

transmitting a connection assignment frame indicating reallocation of the time slots in the MAC superframe to the one or more communication devices.

34. The controller of claim 30, wherein the device parameters are selected from the group consisting of clock slew of the communication device with respect to the controller, minimum number of beacons frames to be skipped, power saving information, a scale up factor, and a scale down factor.

35. The controller of claim 34, wherein the scale up factor and the scale down factor are determined based on remaining battery power, packet arrival rate, and expected battery life time.

36. The controller of claim 30, wherein the instructions are further capable of:

periodically determining a maximum number of beacon frames that the communication device can skip to listen based on a current network load; and

advertising the maximum number of beacon frames allowed to skip to the communication device.

37. (canceled)