ACCESS POINT MANAGED CONCURRENT TRANSMISSIONS

• US 20160270106A1
• Filed: 09/10/2015
• Published: 09/15/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 03/11/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Inventors: Zhou, Yan, Barriac, Gwendolyn Denise, Merlin, Simone, Cherian, George
• Granted Patent: US 9,723,623 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/70 Services for machine-to-machine communication [M2M] or machine type communication [MTC]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/121 for groups of terminals or users
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/1263 Mapping of traffic onto schedule, e.g. scheduled allocation or multiplexing of flows
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 74/0808 using carrier sensing, e.g. carrier sense multiple access [CSMA]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/14 Direct-mode setup

Abstract

An access point may schedule concurrent peer-to-peer transmissions for different stations in a basic service set (BSS) of an Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 architecture.

Claims

1. A method for scheduling concurrent transmissions, the method comprising:

scheduling, at an access point, a first station in a first group of stations and a second station in the first group of stations to perform peer-to-peer transmissions during a first time period, wherein the second station defers to a transmission from the first station based on carrier sense multiple access (CSMA); and

scheduling a third station in a second group of stations and a fourth station in the second group of stations to perform peer-to-peer transmissions during the first time period, wherein the fourth station defers to a transmission from the third station based on CSMA.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the access point is included in a basic service set (BSS) of an Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 architecture.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

generating first operation parameters for peer-to-peer transmissions within the first group of stations; and

generating second operation parameters for peer-to-peer transmissions within the second group of the stations.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the first operation parameters include at least one of CSMA parameters, Enhanced Distributed Channel Access (EDCA) parameters, energy detection thresholds, a transmission power, a transmission data rate, a transmission channel, or a beamforming target node.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising scheduling a wireless transmission between the access point and a particular station in the first group of stations during the first time period.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the wireless transmission is scheduled using a CSMA process.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein the wireless transmission is scheduled without using a CSMA process.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising transmitting an indication that a peer-to-peer transmission in the first group of stations during the first time period is to defer to a wireless transmission between the access point and a particular station in the first group of stations.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising transmitting an indication that a peer-to-peer transmission in the first group of stations during the first time period is to defer to an overlapping basic service set (OBSS) transmission.

10. An access point comprising:

a processor; and

a memory storing instructions executable by the processor to perform operations comprising;

scheduling a first station in a first group of stations and a second station in the first group of stations to perform peer-to-peer transmissions during a first time period, wherein the second station defers to a transmission from the first station based on carrier sense multiple access (CSMA); and

scheduling a third station in a second group of stations and a fourth station in the second group of stations to perform peer-to-peer transmissions during the first time period, wherein the fourth station defers to a transmission from the third station based on CSMA.

11. The access point of claim 10, wherein the access point is included in a basic service set (BSS) of an Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 architecture.

12. The access point of claim 10, wherein the operations further comprise:

generating first operation parameters for peer-to-peer transmissions within the first group of stations; and

generating second operation parameters for peer-to-peer transmissions within the second group of the stations.

13. The access point of claim 12, wherein the first operation parameters include at least one of CSMA parameters, Enhanced Distributed Channel Access (EDCA) parameters, energy detection thresholds, a transmission power, a transmission data rate, a transmission channel, or a beamforming target node.

14. The access point of claim 10, wherein the operations further comprise scheduling a wireless transmission between the access point and a particular station in the first group of stations during the first time period.

15. The access point of claim 14, wherein the wireless transmission is scheduled using a CSMA process.

16. The access point of claim 14, wherein the wireless transmission is scheduled without using a CSMA process.

17. The access point of claim 14, wherein the operations further comprise transmitting an indication that a peer-to-peer transmission in the first group of stations during the first time period is to defer to a wireless transmission between the access point and a particular station in the first group of stations.

18. The access point of claim 10, wherein the operations further comprise transmitting an indication that a peer-to-peer transmission in the first group of stations during the first time period is to defer to an overlapping basic service set (OBSS) transmission.

19. A non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising instructions for scheduling concurrent transmissions, the instructions, when executed by a processor at an access point, cause the processor to perform operations including:

scheduling a first station in a first group of stations and a second station in the first group of stations to perform peer-to-peer transmissions during a first time period, wherein the second station defers to a transmission from the first station based on carrier sense multiple access (CSMA); and

scheduling a third station in a second group of stations and a fourth station in the second group of stations to perform peer-to-peer transmissions during the first time period, wherein the fourth station defers to a transmission from the third station based on CSMA.

20. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 19, wherein the operations further comprise:

generating first operation parameters for peer-to-peer transmissions within the first group of stations; and

generating second operation parameters for peer-to-peer transmissions within the second group of the stations.

21. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 20, wherein the first operation parameters include at least one of CSMA parameters, Enhanced Distributed Channel Access (EDCA) parameters, energy detection thresholds, a transmission power, a transmission data rate, a transmission channel, or a beamforming target node.

22. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 19, further comprising scheduling a wireless transmission between the access point and a particular station in the first group of stations during the first time period.

23. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 22, wherein the wireless transmission is scheduled using a CSMA process.

24. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 22, wherein the wireless transmission is scheduled without using a CSMA process.

25. An access point comprising:

means for scheduling a first station in a first group of stations and a second station in the first group of stations to perform peer-to-peer transmissions during a first time period, wherein the second station defers to a transmission from the first station based on carrier sense multiple access (CSMA); and

means for scheduling a third station in a second group of stations and a fourth station in the second group of stations to perform peer-to-peer transmissions during the first time period, wherein the fourth station defers to a transmission from the third station based on CSMA.

26. The access point of claim 25, further comprising means for scheduling a wireless transmission between the access point and a particular station in the first group of stations during the first time period.