SCHEDULING METHOD FOR MACHINE-TO-MACHINE COMMUNICATION

• US 20130163495A1
• Filed: 01/13/2011
• Published: 06/27/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 10/27/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: LG Electronics, Inc. (LG Corporation)
• Original Assignee: LG Electronics, Inc. (LG Corporation)
• Inventors: Lim, Jaewon, Kim, Suhwook, Kim, Bonghoe
• Granted Patent: US 9,036,532 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/311
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/12 specially adapted for proprietary or special-purpose networking environments, e.g. medical networks, sensor networks, networks in vehicles or remote metering networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/08 User group management
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/70 Services for machine-to-machine communication [M2M] or machine type communication [MTC]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/121 for groups of terminals or users

Abstract

One embodiment of the present invention provides a scheduling method for machine-to-machine (M2M) communication. The method comprises the steps of: receiving a connection request message from each of a plurality of machines; grouping the plurality of machines into one or more groups; transmitting information on the group to which each machine belongs, to the machine; transmitting information on the machines belonging to each group, and control information including information on a time interval allocated to each group, to machines belonging to each group; and communicating with machines belonging to each group in a time interval allocated to each group.

Claims

1. A method of scheduling M2M (machine-to-machine) communication, the method comprising:

receiving an association request message from each of a plurality of devices;

grouping the plurality of the devices into one or more groups;

transmitting control information including information on devices belonging to each group and information on a time interval assigned to each group to the devices belonging to each group; and

communicating with devices belonging to each group at a time interval assigned to each group.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the control information is a super beacon message.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the information on the time interval assigned to each group comprises one or more of a start point of the time interval, a size of the time interval, and period information of the time interval.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the communicating is performed in accordance with scheduling information of the time interval assigned to each group, wherein the scheduling information is transmitted with contained in a sub-beacon, and wherein the scheduling information comprises transmission and reception time information of each device in the corresponding time interval.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising transmitting information on the groups to the corresponding device belonging to each of the groups in response to a reception of the association request message, wherein the association message is an Association Request message and wherein the association response message is an Association Response message.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the grouping comprises grouping devices having a same or similar transmitting and receiving periods among the plurality of devices into a single group.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising assigning a time interval to each group.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein scheduling information of a corresponding interval is transmitted at a time interval assigned to each group to devices belonging to a group to which a corresponding time interval is assigned, and then the communicating with the devices is then performed.

9. An M2M (machine-to-machine) communication method, comprising the steps of:

transmitting, by a machine device, an association request message to an access point;

receiving, by a machine device, information on a group to which the machine device belongs from the access point;

receiving control information including information on other devices belonging to the machine device belonging group and information on a time interval assigned to the machine device belonging group from the access point;

operating in a sleep state until arriving in the time interval using the control information;

receiving schedule information in the time interval by entering a communication enabled state from the sleep state if arriving in the time interval; and

transmitting and receiving data using the schedule information.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the control information is a super beacon message.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein the information on the time interval assigned to each group comprises one or more of a start point of the time interval, a size of the time interval, and period information of the time interval.

12. The method of claim 9, further comprising receiving an association response message from the access point, wherein the association message is an Association Request message and wherein the association response message is an Association Response message.

13. An access point supporting M2M (machine-to-machine) communication, the access point comprising:

a transceiving unit for receiving an association request message from each of a plurality of devices; and

a processor for grouping a plurality of the devices into one or more groups, and transmitting control information including information on devices belonging to each group and information on a time interval assigned to each group to the devices belonging to each group.

14. The access point of claim 13, wherein the control information is a super beacon message.

15. The access point of claim 13, wherein the information on the time interval assigned to each group comprises one or more of a start point of the time interval, a size of the time interval, and period information of the time interval.

16. The access point of claim 13, wherein the transceiving unit receives an association response message from the access point, wherein the association message is an Association Request message and wherein the association response message is an Association Response message.

17. A device comprising:

a transceiving unit for transmitting an association request message to an access point, receiving an association response message from the access point, receiving information on a group to which the machine device belongs from the access point, receiving control information including information on other devices belonging to the machine device belonging group and information on a time interval assigned to the machine device belonging group from the access point; and

a processor for operating in a sleep state until arriving in the time interval using the control information, receiving schedule information in the time interval via the transceiving unit if arriving in the time interval, and transmitting and receiving data using the schedule information.