METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR TRANSMITTING ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS IN RESPONSE TO RECEIVED FRAMES

• US 20170155490A1
• Filed: 02/13/2017
• Published: 06/01/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 05/11/2012
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: InterDigital Patent Holdings, Inc. (InterDigital, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: InterDigital Patent Holdings, Inc. (InterDigital, Inc.)
• Inventors: Grandhi, Sudheer A., Wang, Xiaofei, Lou, Hanqing, Ghosh, Monisha
• Application Number:
  US15/430,656
• Publication Number:
  US 20170155490A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/1607 Details of the supervisory signal
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/1671 the supervisory signal being transmitted together with control information
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/1854 Scheduling and prioritising arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/1864 ARQ related signaling H04L1/1607 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2001/0093 Point-to-multipoint
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0055 Physical resource allocation for ACK/NACK for physical mapping arrangements in ARQ protocols H04L1/1861

Abstract

Methods and apparatuses are disclosed for transmitting a delayed multi-user acknowledgement (ACK) frame in response to data packets received from multiple stations in wireless communication. A recipient may be include at least one processor, a receiver and a transmitter. The processor is configured to establish a group of stations. The receiver is configured to receive packets from the group of stations over a delay period, and the at least one processor configured to generate a delayed multi-user acknowledgement (ACK) frame based on successful receipt of the packets over the delay period. The transmitter is configured to transmit the delayed multi-user ACK frame to the group of stations following the delay period.

Claims

1. An access point (AP) in a wireless communication network, comprising:

at least one processor configured to establish a group of stations;

a receiver configured to receive packets from the group of stations over a delay period;

the at least one processor configured to generate a delayed multi-user acknowledgement (ACK) frame based on successful receipt of the packets over the delay period; and

a transmitter configured to transmit the delayed multi-user ACK frame to the group of stations following the delay period.

2. The AP of claim 1, wherein the delayed multi-user ACK frame is a block ACK frame configured to acknowledge the packets successfully received from at least one station belonging to the group of stations.

3. The AP of claim 1, wherein the delayed multi-user ACK frame includes an indication indicating whether the delayed multi-user ACK frame is a block ACK frame or a non-block ACK frame.

4. The AP of claim 1, wherein the delay period expires in response to receiving an ACK request from at least one station of the group of stations or in response to an expiration of a delay timer corresponding to the delay period.

5. The AP of claim 1, wherein:

the receiver is configured to receive a capability indication from each of a plurality of stations indicating a capability of receiving delayed multi-user ACK frames, and

the at least one processor is configured to establish the group of stations based on receipt of the capability indications.

6. The AP of claim 5, wherein:

the transmitter is configured to transmit a response message to each of the plurality of stations from which the capability indication is affirmative, wherein the response message includes configuration information associated with the delayed multi-user ACK frame.

7. The AP of claim 1, wherein:

the delayed multi-user ACK frame includes an ACK field for each station belonging to the group of stations, and

each ACK field includes at least one traffic identifier and a traffic identifier ACK for a corresponding traffic identifier of the at least one traffic identifier, wherein the traffic identifier ACK acknowledges at least one packet associated with the corresponding traffic identifier.

8. The AP of claim 1, wherein:

the at least one processor is configured to arrange a plurality of stations belonging to the group of stations into a sequential order, and

the delayed multi-user ACK frame includes a plurality of ACK fields arranged in the sequential order, wherein each ACK field of the plurality of ACK fields corresponds to a different station of the plurality of stations.

9. The AP of claim 1, further comprising a memory configured to accumulate the received packets from the group of stations over the delay period.

10. A method for use in an access point (AP) in a wireless communication network, the method comprising:

establishing a group of stations;

receiving packets from the group of stations over a delay period;

generating a delayed multi-user acknowledgement (ACK) frame based on successful receipt of the packets over the delay period; and

transmitting the delayed multi-user ACK frame to the group of stations following the delay period.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the delayed multi-user ACK frame is a block ACK frame configured to acknowledge the packets successfully received from at least one station belonging to the group of stations.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein the delayed multi-user ACK frame includes an indication indicating whether the delayed multi-user ACK frame is a block ACK frame or a non-block ACK frame.

13. The method of claim 10, wherein the delay period expires in response to receiving an ACK request from at least one station of the group of stations or in response to an expiration of a delay timer corresponding to the delay period.

14. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

receiving a capability indication from each of a plurality of stations indicating a capability of receiving delayed multi-user ACK frames, and

establishing the group of stations based on receipt of the capability indications.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

transmitting a response message to each station belonging to the group of stations from which the capability indication is affirmative, wherein the response message includes configuration information associated with the delayed multi-user ACK frame.

16. The method of claim 10, wherein:

the delayed multi-user ACK frame includes an ACK field for each station belonging to the group of stations, and

each ACK field includes at least one traffic identifier and a traffic identifier ACK for a corresponding traffic identifier of the at least one traffic identifier, wherein the traffic identifier ACK acknowledges at least one packet associated with the corresponding traffic identifier.

17. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

arranging a plurality of stations belonging to the group of stations into a sequential order, and

wherein the delayed multi-user ACK frame includes a plurality of ACK fields arranged in the sequential order, wherein each ACK field of the plurality of ACK fields corresponds to a different station of the plurality of stations.

18. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

accumulating the received packets over the delay period; and

generating the delayed multi-user ACK frame based on successful receipt of the accumulated packets.