APPARATUS AND METHODS FOR MEDIA ACCESS CONTROL HEADER COMPRESSION

• US 20130128808A1
• Filed: 05/17/2012
• Published: 05/23/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 05/19/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Inventors: Wentink, Maarten Menzo, Abraham, Santosh Paul, Merlin, Simone, Awater, Geert, Taghavi Nasrabadi, Mohammad H., Quan, Zhi, Sampath, Hemanth, Asterjadhi, Alfred
• Granted Patent: US 9,515,925 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/328
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/003 Adaptive formatting arrangements particular to signalling, e.g. variable amount of bits
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/1614 using bitmaps
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/165 Variable formats
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2101/622 Layer-2 addresses, e.g. medium access control [MAC] addresses
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/74 Address processing for routing
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/2596 Translation of addresses of the same type other than IP, e.g. translation from MAC to MAC addresses
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/04 Protocols for data compression, e.g. ROHC
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/22 Parsing or analysis of headers
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/06 Optimizing the usage of the radio link, e.g. header compression, information sizing , discarding information system modifying transmission characteristic according to link quality by modifying frame length H04L1/0007; dynamic adaptation of the packet size for flow control or congestion control H04L47/365
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/26 Network addressing or numbering for mobility support
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/12 WLAN [Wireless Local Area Networks]

Abstract

Systems, methods, and devices for communicating packets having a plurality of types are described herein. In some aspects, the packets include a compressed MAC header. In some aspects the packets include an acknowledgment (ACK) frame. The fields included in a particular packet type may be based on the type of information to be communicated to the receiving device.

Claims

1. A method of communicating in a wireless network, the method comprising:

generating a data packet including a local identifier of either a transmitter of the data packet or a receiver of the data packet based on a direction in which the data packet is sent, and a global identifier or local identifier of the other of the transmitter of the data packet and the receiver of the data packet based on the direction in which the data packet is sent; and

transmitting the data packet.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the local identifier comprises an access identifier, and the global identifier comprises a media access control address.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the local identifier comprises 13 bits and the global identifier comprises 48 bits.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the data packet further includes information indicating a link type over which the data packet is transmitted.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the data packet further includes information indicating the direction in which the data packet is sent.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the information is included in at least one of a to-distribution system field and a from-distribution system field.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein an identifier of the receiver precedes an identifier of the transmitter in the data packet.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the local identifier and the global identifier in combination uniquely define a pair consisting of the receiver and the transmitter.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the data packet includes a field indicating if at least one of a destination address field and a source address field is present in the data packet.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the field that identifies whether the data packet includes at least one of a destination address field and a source address field is one or more of a type field and a subtype field of a frame control field.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein the field that identifies whether the data packet includes at least one of a destination address field and a source address field is a single bit.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the data packet includes a field that identifies whether the data packet includes a compressed header or an uncompressed header.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the field that identifies whether the data packet includes a compressed header or an uncompressed header is a protocol version field.

14. The method claim 12, wherein the field that identifies whether the data packet includes a compressed header or an uncompressed header is one or more of a type field and a subtype field of a frame control field.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein the data packet does not include at least one of a duration field, high throughput control field, and a quality of service control field.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein the data packet includes a sequence control field.

31. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the data packet does not include at least one of a duration field, high throughput control field, and a quality of service control field.

32. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the data packet includes a sequence control field.

17. An apparatus for communicating in a wireless network, the apparatus comprising:

a processor configured to generate a data packet including a local identifier of either a transmitter of the data packet or a receiver of the data packet based on a direction in which the data packet is sent, and a global identifier or local identifier of the other of the transmitter of the data packet and the receiver of the data packet based on the direction in which the data packet is sent; and

a transmitter configured to transmit the data packet.

18. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the local identifier comprises an access identifier, and the global identifier comprises a media access control address.

19. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the local identifier comprises 13 bits and the global identifier comprises 48 bits.

20. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the data packet further includes information indicating a link type over which the data packet is transmitted.

21. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the data packet further includes information indicating the direction in which the data packet is sent.

22. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein the information is included in at least one of a to-distribution system field and a from-distribution system field.

23. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein an identifier of the receiver precedes an identifier of the transmitter in the data packet.

24. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the local identifier and the global identifier in combination uniquely define a pair consisting of the receiver and the transmitter.

25. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the data packet includes a field indicating if at least one of a destination address field and a source address field is present in the data packet.

26. The apparatus of claim 25, wherein the field that identifies whether the data packet includes at least one of a destination address field and a source address field is one or more of a type field and a subtype field of a frame control field.

27. The apparatus of claim 25, wherein the field that identifies whether the data packet includes at least one of a destination address field and a source address field is a single bit.

28. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the data packet includes a field that identifies whether the data packet includes a compressed header or an uncompressed header.

29. The apparatus of claim 28, wherein the field that identifies whether the data packet includes a compressed header or an uncompressed header is a protocol version field.

30. The apparatus of claim 28, wherein the field that identifies whether the data packet includes a compressed header or an uncompressed header is one or more of a type field and a subtype field of a frame control field.

33. An apparatus for communicating in a wireless network, the apparatus comprising:

means for generating a data packet including a local identifier of either a transmitter of the data packet or a receiver of the data packet based on a direction in which the data packet is sent, and a global identifier or local identifier of the other of the transmitter of the data packet and the receiver of the data packet based on the direction in which the data packet is sent; and

means for transmitting the data packet.

34. A computer-readable medium comprising instructions that when executed by a computer cause the computer to perform a method of communicating in a wireless network, the method comprising:

generating a data packet including a local identifier of either a transmitter of the data packet or a receiver of the data packet based on a direction in which the data packet is sent, and a global identifier or local identifier of the other of the transmitter of the data packet and the receiver of the data packet based on the direction in which the data packet is sent; and

transmitting the data packet.