SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR FULL-DUPLEX MEDIA ACCESS CONTROL USING REQUEST-TO-SEND SIGNALING

• US 20140078940A1
• Filed: 09/14/2012
• Published: 03/20/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 09/14/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Aggarwal, Vaneet, Jana, Rittwik, Rice, Christopher W., Shankaranarayanan, Nemmara K.
• Granted Patent: US 9,935,785 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/278
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/1854 Scheduling and prioritising arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/188 Time-out mechanisms
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/1887 Scheduling and prioritising arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/40013 Details regarding a bus controller
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/14 Two-way operation using the same type of signal, i.e. duplex

Abstract

A system and method for full-duplex communications provided by modifying the Media Access Control sub-layer of communication node protocols. The modification allows communication nodes to communicate with one another in full-duplex, where each node transmits and receives data simultaneously with other nodes in a single frequency. A timing of the simultaneous data transmissions, acknowledgments, and short-interframe-space waiting periods can be determined based on network-allocation-vector data transmitted in association with request-to-send or clear-to-send signals.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

transmitting to a communication node a request-to-send first data to the communication node;

receiving from the communication node a response indicating availability;

transmitting to the communication node the first data on a frequency while receiving a second data from the communication node on the frequency; and

transmitting a first acknowledgement indicating reception of the second data while receiving, from the communication node, a second acknowledgement indicating reception at the communication node of the first data.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the frequency comprises multiple channels.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the multiple channels are non-contiguous.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising transmitting the first data and receiving the second data only after waiting, after receiving the response indicating availability, a short-interframe-space provided time.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the second data was taken out-of-order from a queue associated with the communication node.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the first data and the second data have one of identical packet sizes and asymmetric packet sizes.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the response comprises a network-allocation-vector indicating a length of transmission;

and

wherein the method further comprises timing transmission of the first data and the first acknowledgment based on the network-allocation-vector.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

after receiving from the communication node the response indicating availability, only transmitting the first data and the first acknowledgement to the communication node upon determining that the communication node is full-duplex enabled.

9. A system comprising:

a processor; and

a computer-readable storage medium storing instructions which, when executed by the processor, cause the processor perform a method comprising;

transmitting to a communication node a request-to-send first data to the communication node;

receiving from the communication node a response indicating availability;

transmitting to the communication node the first data on a frequency while receiving a second data from the communication node on the frequency; and

transmitting a first acknowledgement indicating reception of the second data while receiving, from the communication node, a second acknowledgement indicating reception at the communication node of the first data.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the frequency comprises multiple channels.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the multiple channels are non-contiguous.

12. The system of claim 9, the computer-readable medium storing additional instructions which result in the method further comprising transmitting the first data and receiving the second data only after waiting, after receiving the response indicating availability, a short-interframe-space provided time.

13. The system of claim 9, wherein the second data was taken out-of-order from a queue associated with the communication node.

14. The system of claim 9, wherein the first data and the second data have one of identical packet sizes and asymmetric packet sizes.

15. The system of claim 9, the computer-readable storage medium storing additional instructions which result in the method further comprising:

after receiving from the communication node the response indicating availability, only transmitting the first data and the first acknowledgement to the communication node upon determining that the communication node is full-duplex enabled.

16. The system of claim 9, wherein the response comprises a network-allocation-vector indicating a length of transmission;

and

wherein the computer-readable storage medium stores additional instructions which result in the method further comprising timing transmission of the first data and the first acknowledgment based on the network-allocation-vector.

17. A computer-readable storage medium storing instructions which, when executed by a computing device, result in the computing device performing a method comprising:

transmitting to a communication node a request-to-send first data to the communication node;

receiving from the communication node a response indicating availability;

transmitting to the communication node the first data on a frequency while receiving a second data from the communication node on the frequency; and

transmitting a first acknowledgement indicating reception of the second data while receiving, from the communication node, a second acknowledgement indicating reception at the communication node of the first data.

18. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 17, wherein the frequency comprises multiple channels.

19. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 18, wherein the multiple channels are non-contiguous.

20. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 17, the computer-readable medium storing additional instructions which result in the method further comprising transmitting the first data and receiving the second data only after waiting, after receiving the response indicating availability, a short-interframe-space provided time.