STANDBY TIME IMPROVEMENTS FOR STATIONS IN A WIRELESS NETWORK

• US 20140064173A1
• Filed: 11/08/2013
• Published: 03/06/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 03/03/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Inventors: Meylan, Arnaud, Deshpande, Manoj M., Nanda, Sanjiv
• Granted Patent: US 9,439,146 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/311
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/0216 using a pre-established activity schedule, e.g. traffic indication frame
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/0225 using monitoring of external events, e.g. the presence of a signal
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/12 WLAN [Wireless Local Area Networks]
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/70 in wireless communication networks

Abstract

A method includes receiving, at a station, a first delivery traffic indication message (DTIM) assigned to a first delivery interval. The first DTIM is configured to indicate whether group-addressed traffic is scheduled for delivery during a beacon interval. The first delivery interval is larger than a second delivery interval associated with a second DTIM. The method further includes receiving the group-addressed traffic during the beacon interval.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving, at a station, a slow delivery traffic indication message, DTIM, sent at a slower rate than a regular DTIM, with the regular DTIM indicating first broadcast and multicast traffic and the slow DTIM indicating second broadcast and multicast traffic; and

receiving the second broadcast and multicast traffic as indicated by the slow DTIM.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one of broadcast traffic and multicast traffic includes traffic associated with managing network connectivity and network monitoring, and wherein any incoming traffic data is buffered.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the station sleeps through the regular DTIM.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the slow DTIM is sent in every N regular DTIM, and wherein N is greater than one.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the DTIM is sent at every beacon interval and wherein the second broadcast and multicast traffic is delivered to a station in a power-save mode.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the slow DTIM is sent in each listen interval for every station or for a group of stations having a same listen interval.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the station is associated with a wireless local area network, WLAN.

8. An apparatus comprising:

means for receiving a slow delivery traffic indication message, DTIM, sent at a slower rate than a regular DTIM, with the regular DTIM indicating first broadcast and multicast traffic and the slow DTIM indicating second broadcast and multicast traffic; and

means for receiving the second broadcast and multicast traffic as indicated by the slow DTIM.

9. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the at least one of broadcast traffic and multicast traffic includes traffic associated with managing network connectivity and network monitoring, and wherein any incoming traffic data is buffered.

10. The apparatus of claim 8 further comprising:

means for sleeping through the regular DTIM.

11. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the slow DTIM is sent in every N regular DTIM, and wherein N is greater than one.

12. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the DTIM is sent at every beacon interval and wherein the second broadcast and multicast traffic is delivered to an apparatus in a power-save mode.

13. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the slow DTIM is sent in each listen interval for every apparatus or for a group of apparatuses having a same listen interval.

14. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the apparatus is associated with a wireless local area network, WLAN.

15. A non-transitory computer-readable medium including program code that, when executed by a processor, causes the processor to:

receive, at a station, a slow delivery traffic indication message, DTIM, sent at a slower rate than a regular DTIM, with the regular DTIM indicating first broadcast and multicast traffic and the slow DTIM indicating second broadcast and multicast traffic; and

receive the second broadcast and multicast traffic as indicated by the slow DTIM.