Power Saving for Multi-Hop Communications

• US 20150029916A1
• Filed: 12/03/2013
• Published: 01/29/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 07/23/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Disney Enterprises Incorporated (The Walt Disney Company)
• Original Assignee: Disney Enterprises Incorporated (The Walt Disney Company)
• Inventors: Mangold, Stefan, Vukadinovic, Vladimir, Glaropoulos, Ioannis
• Granted Patent: US 9,191,894 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: Y02D 30/70 in wireless communication networks

Abstract

There is provided a system and method for transmitting a data packet from a transmitting device to a destination device using an intermediary device. The transmitting device configured to determine an identity of the destination device, generate an announcement message that includes the identity of the destination device, transmit the announcement message to an intermediary device, receive an acknowledgement message from the intermediary device in response to transmitting the announcement message to the intermediary device, and transmit the data packet to the intermediary device for delivery to the destination device.

Claims

1. A transmitting device comprising:

a processor configured to;

determine an identity of a destination device;

generate an announcement message that includes the identity of the destination device;

transmit the announcement message to an intermediary device;

receive an acknowledgement message from the intermediary device in response to transmitting the announcement message to the intermediary device; and

transmit a data packet to the intermediary device for delivery to the destination device.

2. The transmitting device of claim 1, wherein the announcement message includes an announcement traffic indication message (ATIM).

3. The transmitting device of claim 1, wherein the identity of the destination device includes a media access control (MAC) address.

4. The transmitting device of claim 1, wherein before the transmitting device transmits the data packet to the intermediary device, the intermediary device is further configured to generate a second announcement message including the identity of the destination device and transmit the second announcement message to the destination device.

5. The transmitting device of claim 1, wherein the intermediary device receives the data packet from the transmitting device and transmits the data packet to the destination device.

6. The transmitting device of claim 1, wherein the transmitting device transmits the announcement message to the intermediary device using Wi-Fi.

7. A system for transmitting a data packet across a plurality of devices, the system comprising:

a transmitting device;

an intermediary device; and

a destination device;

the transmitting device configured to;

generate a first announcement message including an identity of the destination device; and

transmit the first announcement message to the intermediary device;

the intermediary device configured to;

receive the first announcement from the transmitting device;

generate a second announcement message using the identity of the destination device obtained from the first announcement message; and

transmit the second announcement to the destination device;

the destination device configured to;

receive the second announcement message from the intermediary device.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the intermediary device includes a plurality of intermediary devices, and wherein each of the plurality of intermediary devices is configured to receive, generate, and transmit an announcement message using the identity of the destination device.

9. The system of claim 7, wherein the first announcement message and the second announcement message includes an ATIM.

10. The system of claim 7, wherein the identity of the destination device includes a MAC address.

11. The system of claim 7, wherein the intermediary device is further configured to transmit a first acknowledgement message to the transmitting device in response to receiving the first announcement message from the transmitting device, and the destination device is further configured to transmit a second acknowledgement message to the intermediary device in response to receiving the second announcement message from the intermediary device.

12. The system of claim 7, wherein the transmitting device is further configured to transmit the data packet to the intermediary device for delivery to the destination device, and the intermediary device is further configured to transmit the data packet to the destination device.

13. The system of claim 7, wherein the transmitting device transmits the first announcement message to the intermediary device using Wi-Fi.

14. A method for transmitting a data packet from a transmitting device, the method comprising:

determining an identity of a destination device;

generating an announcement message that includes the identity of the destination device;

transmitting the announcement message to an intermediary device;

receiving an acknowledgement message from the intermediary device in response to transmitting the announcement message to the intermediary device; and

transmitting a data packet to the intermediary device for delivery to the destination device.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the announcement message includes an ATIM.

16. The method of claim 14, wherein the identity of the destination device includes a MAC address.

17. The method of claim 14, wherein before the transmitting device transmits the data packet to the intermediary device, the intermediary device is further configured to generate a second announcement message including the identity of the destination device and transmit the second announcement message to the destination device.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the transmitting device, the intermediary device, and the destination device remain in an awake state for a beacon interval.

19. The method of claim 14, wherein the intermediary device receives the data packet from the transmitting device and transmits the data packet to the destination device.

20. The method of claim 14, wherein the transmitting device transmits the announcement message to the intermediary device using WiFi.