Methods and Arrangements for Adaptive Delay Control

• US 20140185535A1
• Filed: 12/29/2012
• Published: 07/03/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 04/24/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Adrian P. Stephens, Emily H. Qi, Park, Minyoung, Thomas A. Tetzlaff
• Original Assignee: Adrian P. Stephens, Emily H. Qi, Park, Minyoung, Thomas A. Tetzlaff
• Inventors: Park, Minyoung, Stephens, Adrian P., Tetzlaff, Thomas A., Qi, Emily H.
• Granted Patent: US 9,345,045 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/329
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 56/0005 synchronizing of arrival of multiple uplinks
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 74/04 Scheduled access hybrid access H04W74/02

Abstract

Logic may comprise hardware and/or code to coordinate communications of wireless communications devices. Logic coordinate communications in an access point by implementing adaptive delays. Logic may determine a delay for stations awaking from a doze state during which the station should perform clear channel assessment prior to transmitting packets on a channel. Logic may collect information about devices and/or communications within a basic service set (BSS) such as the statistics of the received packets length in time, the type of stations in the network, and/or other information available. Based upon the information collected, the logic may determine a delay and transmit the delay to devices in the BSS. Logic may receive and update the delay in memory and then implement the delay after switching to an awake state from a doze state.

Claims

1. A method to coordinate transmissions of devices on a wireless network, the method comprising:

generating, by a first communications device, a frame indicating a delay, the frame to instruct other communication devices in the wireless network to defer for the delay, wherein deference by each of the other communications devices is triggered in each of the other communications devices by a switch from a doze state to an awake state absent detection of a frame sequence with a network allocation vector that results in the network allocation vector being set before an expiration of the delay; and

transmitting, by the first communications device, the frame.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

collecting, by the first communications device, information associated with other communications devices based on communications between the other communication devices and the first communications device;

determining, by the first communications device, the delay based upon the information.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein collecting, by the first communications device, information associated with devices comprises collecting length information of one or more received packets from the other communication devices.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein collecting comprises collecting information regarding one or more types of the other communications devices, wherein the one or more types comprise a sensor type, a cellular offloading type, or both a sensor type and a cellular offloading type.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein generating the frame comprises generating a management frame with a ProbeDelay information element, the ProbeDelay information element comprising the delay.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein generating the frame management frame with a ProbeDelay information element comprises generating a beacon frame, an association response frame, or a reassociation response frame.

7. An apparatus to coordinate transmissions of devices on a wireless network, the apparatus comprising:

a medium access control logic to generate a frame indicating a delay, the frame to instruct other communication devices in the wireless network to defer for the delay, wherein deference by each of the other communications devices is triggered in each of the other communications devices by a switch from a doze state to an awake state by each of the other communications devices, absent detection of a frame sequence with a network allocation vector that results in the network allocation vector being set by each of the other communications devices, before an expiration of the delay; and

a physical layer logic to encapsulate and transmit the frame.

8. The apparatus of claim 7, further comprising a processor, a memory, a radio, and one or more antenna to transmit the frame encapsulated by the preamble.

9. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the medium access control logic comprises logic to collect information associated with devices based on communications between the communication devices and the apparatus and to determine a delay based upon the information.

10. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the medium access control logic comprises logic to collect the length information of received packets from the communication devices associated with the apparatus.

11. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the medium access control logic comprises logic to collect types of the communications devices that are associated with the apparatus, wherein the types of the communications devices comprise sensor types, cellular offloading types, and both a sensor type and a cellular offloading type.

12. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the medium access control logic comprises logic to generate a management frame with a ProbeDelay information element, the ProbeDelay information element comprising the delay.

13. A program product to coordinate transmissions of devices on a wireless network, the program product comprising:

a storage medium comprising instructions to be executed by a processor-based device, wherein the instructions, when executed by the processor-based device, perform operations, the operations comprising;

generating, by a first communications device, a frame indicating a delay, the frame to instruct other communication devices in the wireless network to defer for the delay, wherein deference by each of the other communications devices is triggered in each of the other communications devices by a switch from a doze state to an awake state by each of the other communications devices, absent detection of a frame sequence with a network allocation vector that results in the network allocation vector being set by each of the other communications devices, before an expiration of the delay; and

transmitting, by the first communications device, the frame.

14. The machine accessible product of claim 13, wherein the operations further comprise:

collecting, by the first communications device, information associated with devices based on communications between the communication devices and the first communications device;

determining, by the first communications device, a delay based upon the information.

15. The machine accessible product of claim 14, wherein collecting, by the first communications device, information associated with devices comprises collecting length information of received packets from the communication devices associated with the first communications device.

16. The machine accessible product of claim 14, wherein collecting, by the first communications device, information associated with devices comprises collecting types of the communications devices that are associated with the first communications device, wherein the types of the communications devices comprise sensor types, cellular offloading types, and both a sensor type and a cellular offloading type.

17. The machine accessible product of claim 13, wherein generating the frame comprises generating a management frame with a ProbeDelay information element, the ProbeDelay information element comprising the delay.

18. A method to coordinate transmissions of devices on a wireless network, the method comprising:

receiving, by a first communications device, a frame indicating a delay to instruct the first communication device to defer transmissions after switching from a doze state to an awake state for the delay unless a frame sequence with a network allocation vector is detected by the first communications device and the network allocation vector is set for the first communications device before the expiration of the delay;

parsing, by the first communications device, the frame to determine the delay; and

adjusting, by the first communications device, a ProbeDelay value for channel access based upon the delay.

19. The method of claim 18, further comprising deferring transmissions after switching from a doze state to an awake state to perform clear channel assessment for the delay unless a frame sequence with a network allocation vector is detected and the network allocation vector is correctly set for the first communications device before the expiration of the delay.

20. The method of claim 18, further comprising transmitting a communication after the expiration of the delay.

21. The method of claim 18, wherein parsing the frame to determine the delay comprises parsing a management frame with a ProbeDelay information element and parsing the ProbeDelay information element comprising the delay to determine the delay.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein parsing the management frame comprises parsing a beacon frame, an association response frame, or a reassociation response frame.

23. An apparatus to coordinate transmissions of devices on a wireless network, the apparatus comprising:

a medium access control logic to receive a frame indicating a delay to instruct the apparatus to defer transmissions after switching from a doze state to an awake state for the delay unless the apparatus detects a frame sequence with a network allocation vector and sets the network allocation vector for the apparatus before the expiration of the delay;

parse the frame to determine the delay; and

adjust a ProbeDelay value for channel access based upon the delay; and

a physical layer logic to receive the frame.

24. The apparatus of claim 23, further comprising a processor, a memory, a radio, and one or more antenna coupled with the physical layer logic to transmit a communication.

25. The apparatus of claim 23, further comprising memory coupled with the medium access control logic, the medium access control logic to store an indication of the delay in the memory.

26. The apparatus of claim 23, wherein the medium access control logic comprises logic to defer transmissions after switching from a doze state to an awake state to perform clear channel assessment for the delay unless a frame sequence with a network allocation vector is detected and the network allocation vector is correctly set for apparatus before the expiration of the delay.

27. The apparatus of claim 23, wherein the medium access control logic comprises logic to parse a management frame with a ProbeDelay information element and parse the ProbeDelay information element comprising the delay to determine the delay.

28. A program product to coordinate transmissions of devices on a wireless network, the program product comprising:

a storage medium comprising instructions to be executed by a processor-based device, wherein the instructions, when executed by the processor-based device, perform operations, the operations comprising;

receiving, by a first communications device, a frame indicating a delay to instruct the first communication device to defer transmissions after switching from a doze state to an awake state for the delay unless the first communication device detects a frame sequence with a network allocation vector and sets the network allocation vector for the first communications device before the expiration of the delay;

parsing, by the first communications device, the frame to determine the delay; and

adjusting, by the first communications device, a ProbeDelay value for channel access based upon the delay.

29. The machine accessible product of claim 28, wherein parsing the frame to determine the delay comprises parsing a management frame with a ProbeDelay information element and parsing the ProbeDelay information element comprising the delay to determine the delay.

30. The machine accessible product of claim 29, wherein parsing the management frame comprises parsing a beacon frame, an association response frame, or a reassociation response frame.