APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR CONTROLLING SLOT USAGE

• US 20160073433A1
• Filed: 07/05/2013
• Published: 03/10/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 07/05/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute
• Original Assignee: Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute
• Inventors: KWON, Hyoung Jin, LEE, Jae Seung, CHEONG, Min Ho, YU, Hee Jung, PARK, Jae Woo, LEE, Sok Kyu
• Granted Patent: US 9,807,804 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 74/08 Non-scheduled access, e.g. ALOHA hybrid access H04W74/02
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 74/0891 for synchronized access
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/12 WLAN [Wireless Local Area Networks]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/12 Access point controller devices

Abstract

Provided is slot use control apparatus and method, including an access point (AP) to control a slotted channel access of a station (STA) in a wireless local area network (WLAN) includes generating a synchronization (synch) frame including an identification value indicating an STA allocated to a slot, and broadcasting the generated synch frame when a channel is in an idle state at a start point of the slot.

Claims

1. A slot use control method for an access point (AP) to control a slotted channel access of a station (STA) in a wireless local area network (WLAN), the method comprising:

generating a synchronization (synch) frame including an identification value indicating an STA allocated to a slot; and

broadcasting the generated synch frame when a channel is in an idle state at a start point of the slot.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the generating comprises generating the synch frame by setting a receiver address (RA) value for a media access control (MAC) header.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the generating comprises generating the synch frame by setting a receiver association identification (AID) value and a basic service set identification (BSSID) value to a short MAC (SM) header.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the generating comprises generating the synch frame using a value of most significant bits (MSBs) of an AID value as the identification value when the station allocated to the slot corresponds to a station group including a plurality of STAs, and when the station group is hierarchically divided using the AID value.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein a value of least significant bits (LSBs) of the AID value have identical patterns.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the generating comprises generating the synch frame by setting an identification bit field to identify a group station and a unique station included in a station group when the station allocated to the slot corresponds to the station group including a plurality of STAs.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the generating comprises:

generating the synch frame to have a format including at least one of a long training field (LFT), a short training field (STF), and a signal (SIG) field; and

setting a receiver AID value and a BBSID value to the SIG field.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the generating comprises setting a partial AID value or a partial BSSID value to the SIG field.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the generating comprises generating the synch frame to further include a duration value.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

setting a value indicating a length of an interval in which the generated synch frame is retransmitted,

wherein the broadcasting comprises retransmitting the generated synch frame for each interval having the predetermined value.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

transmitting a contention-free end (CF-end) frame when a frame is not received from the station allocated to the slot during a predetermined period of a data sensing time.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

transmitting a CF-end frame when a response management frame corresponding to a frame transmitted to the station allocated to the slot is not received from the station allocated to the station during a predetermined period of a data sensing time.

13. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving, from the station allocated to the slot, a CF-end frame including a duration field having a value including a sum of a time for transmitting the CF-end frame, a short interframe space (SIFS), and a time for transmitting a response CF-end frame;

setting a value of the duration field included in the received CF-end frame as “

0”

; and

transmitting the predetermined CF-end frame.

14. A slot use control apparatus for an access point (AP) to control a slotted channel access of a station (STA) in a wireless local area network (WLAN), the apparatus comprising:

a generator to generate a synchronization (synch) frame including an identification value indicating an STA allocated to a slot; and

a transmitter to broadcast the generated synch frame when a channel is in an idle state at a start point of the slot.