ONE METHOD OF DELEGATE-BASED GROUP CHANNEL ACCESS

• US 20150189458A1
• Filed: 05/03/2012
• Published: 07/02/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 07/12/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Inventors: Li, Honggang, Huang, Rui
• Granted Patent: US 9,544,710 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0039 Frequency-contiguous, i.e. with no allocation of frequencies for one user or terminal between the frequencies allocated to another
• 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 4/70 Services for machine-to-machine communication [M2M] or machine type communication [MTC]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 56/004 compensating for timing error of reception due to propagation delay
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/0446 Resources in time domain, e.g. slots or frames
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/51 based on terminal or device properties

Abstract

A delegate-based group channel access method is disclosed for machine-to-machine (M2M) communication. The delegate-based group channel access method groups M2M devices having common characteristics together, assigns a single delegate or multiple delegates from the group according to some criteria, and uses the assigned delegate to perform channel access. This method avoids unnecessary peer-to-peer communication between M2M devices reduces the probability of collision on the channel during initial channel access, and reduces the control signaling overhead. The, delegate-based group channel access method also coordinates the number of slots to backoff so that all M2M devices in the group keep pace with the delegate.

Claims

1. A method to perform machine-to-machine (M2M) communication in a wireless network, the method comprising:

collecting, by a base station in the wireless network, a plurality of M2M mobile stations in the wireless network into a group based on a common characteristic of the plurality of M2M mobile stations;

selecting, by the base station, a delegate M2M mobile station from the collected group; and

receiving, by the base station, a ranging code from the delegate M2M mobile station on behalf of the group, wherein the group is trying to access a wireless channel.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

sending, by the base station, a ranging a acknowledgement and channel allocation to the group;

wherein the group is thereafter able to communicate with the base station over the wireless channel.

3. The method of claim 1, collecting, by the base station, the plurality of M2M mobile stations into the group based on the common characteristic further comprising:

collecting the plurality of M2M mobile stations into the group based on similarity of geo-location of the plurality of M2M mobile stations relative to other mobile stations in the wireless network.

4. The method of claim 1, collecting, by the base station, the plurality of M2M mobile stations into the group based on the common characteristic further comprising:

collecting the plurality of M2M mobile stations into the group based on traffic characteristics of the plurality of M2M mobile stations relative to other mobile stations in the wireless network.

5. The method of claim 1, collecting, by the base station, the plurality of M2M mobile stations into the group based on the common characteristic further comprising:

collecting the plurality of M2M mobile stations into the group based on functionality of the plurality of M2M mobile stations relative to other mobile stations in the wireless network.

6. The method of claim 1, collecting, by the base station, the plurality of M2M mobile stations into the group based on the common characteristic further comprising:

collecting the plurality of M2M mobile stations into the group based on ownership of the plurality of M2M mobile stations relative to other mobile stations in the wireless network.

8. The method of claim 1, selecting, by the base station, a delegate M2M mobile station from the collected group further comprising:

for each of the plurality of M2M mobile stations in, the group, determining, by the base station, whether one of the plurality of M2M mobile stations in the group has a power supply; and

selecting the delegate M2M mobile station having the power supply.

9. The method of claim 1, selecting, by the base station, a delegate M2M mobile station from the collected group further comprising:

selecting, by the base station, any one of the plurality of M2M mobile stations as the delegate M2M mobile station; and

for each succeeding delegate selection by the base station, selecting a different one of the plurality of M2M mobile stations in a round-robin fashion, until each of the plurality of M2M mobile stations is selected as the delegate M2M mobile station.

7. The method of claim , selecting, by the base station, a delegate M2M mobile station from the collected group further comprising:

for each of the plurality of M2M mobile stations in the group, determining, by the base station, a channel quality, wherein one of the plurality of M2M mobile stations has a higher channel quality than that of the remaining M2M mobile stations; and

selecting the delegate M2M mobile station having the higher channel quality.

10. A method to perform machine-to-machine (M2M) communication in a wireless network, the method comprising:

transmitting, by a delegate M2M mobile station in the wireless network, a ranging code to a base station in the wireless network, wherein the delegate M2M mobile station transmits on behalf of a group of one or more M2M mobile stations, wherein the one or more M2M mobile stations in the group share a common characteristic;

wherein the delegate M2M mobile station is attempting to access a wireless channel on behalf of the group.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

receiving, by the delegate M2M mobile station, a ranging acknowledgement and channel allocation from the base station, wherein each of the M2M mobile stations in the group is able to hear the ranging acknowledgement;

wherein the M2M mobile stations in the group are thereafter able to access the wireless channel in either a contention-based or a contention-free manner.

12. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

receiving, by the delegate M2M mobile station, no ranging acknowledgement from the base station;

generating, by each M2M mobile station in the group, a group backoff slot index; and

performing a backoff operation, by each M2M mobile station in the group, of a same number of slots, wherein the same number is based on the group backoff slot index.

13. The method of claim 12, generating, by each M2M mobile station in the group, the group backoff slot index further comprising:

generating, by each M2M mobile station in the group, the group backoff slot index using the following formula;

Backoff_Slot_Index=f(MGID, Backoff_Window, Initial_Offset)

wherein MGID is an M2M group identifier, Backoff_Window is a maximum number of backoff slots in a range, wherein the range is related to a number of random access retries allowed for the wireless channel and Initial_Offset is some initial value for a random number generator.

14. A method to perform machine-to-machine M2M communication in a wireless network, the method comprising:

receiving, by a base station in the wireless network, a ranging code from a delegate M2M mobile station on behalf of a group, the group comprising a plurality of M2M mobile stations, the group being identified to the base station by a M2M group identifier (MGID);

wherein the plurality of M2M mobile stations are part of the group based on a common characteristic;

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

sending, by the base station, a ranging acknowledgement and channel allocation to the delegate M2M mobile station;

wherein the group is thereafter able to communicate with the base station over the wireless channel.

16. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

receiving, by the delegate M2M mobile station, no ranging acknowledgement from the base station;

generating, by each of the plurality of M2M mobile stations in the group, a group backoff slot index; and

performing a backoff operation, by each of the plurality of M2M mobile stations in the group, of a same number of slots, wherein the same number is based on the group backoff slot index.

17. The method of claim 16, generating, by each of the plurality of M2M mobile stations in the group, the group backoff slot index further comprising:

generating, by each of the plurality of M2M mobile stations in the group, the group backoff slot index using the following formula;

Backoff_Slot_Index=f(MGID, Backoff_Window, Initial_Offset)

wherein MGR) is an M2M group identifier, Backoff_Window is a maximum number of backoff slots in a range, wherein the range is related to a number of random access retries allowed for the wireless channel, and Initial_Offset is some initial value for a random number generator.

18. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

collecting, by the base station in the wireless network, the plurality of M2M mobile stations in the wireless network into the group based on a common characteristic of the plurality of M2M mobile stations.

19. The method of claim 18, further comprising:

collecting the plurality of M2M mobile stations into the group based on the common characteristic, wherein the common characteristic is selected from a group consisting of geographic location, traffic characteristics, device functionality, and device ownership.

20. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

selecting, by the base station, the delegate M2M mobile station from the collected group.

21. The method of claim 20, further comprising:

selecting, by the base station, the delegate M2M mobile station from the collected group based on the delegate M2M mobile station having a superior channel quality, relative to other M2M mobile stations in the group.

22. The method of claim 20, further comprising:

selecting, by the base station, the delegate M2M mobile station from the, collected group based on the delegate M2M mobile station having a power supply.

23. The method of claim 20, further comprising:

selecting, by the base station, the delegate M2M mobile station from the collected group based on a round-robin approach in which, each time the base station selects a delegate, a different M2M mobile station in the group is selected until all M2M mobile stations have been selected as a delegate.