METHODS FOR RECEPTION FAILURE IDENTIFICATION AND REMEDIATION FOR WIFI

• US 20200136758A1
• Filed: 12/23/2019
• Published: 04/30/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 03/17/2014
• Status: Active Application

• Current Assignee: InterDigital Patent Holdings, Inc. (InterDigital, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: InterDigital Patent Holdings, Inc. (InterDigital, Inc.)
• Inventors: Wang, Xiaofei, Zhang, Guodong, Lou, Hanqing, Oteri, Oghenekome, Ghosh, Monisha, Olesen, Robert L.
• Application Number:
  US16/725,607
• Publication Number:
  US 20200136758A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/0025 Transmission of mode-switching indication
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/0061 Error detection codes
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/08 by repeating transmission, e.g. Verdan system H04L1/1858 and H04L1/189 take precedence
• 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 1/20 using signal quality detector
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 74/04 Scheduled access hybrid access H04W74/02
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/12 WLAN [Wireless Local Area Networks]

Abstract

A method and apparatus are disclosed for identifying different types of reception failures of a packet. A station (STA) may receive a packet from a transmitting STA and determine whether it is properly received by performing at least one check of a plurality of checks. The STA may determine that reception of the packet was not properly received due to a reception failure based on the at least one check and may generate a negative acknowledgement signal (NACK) signal including an indication of the reception failure cause to enable the transmitting STA to remediate the reception failure cause. The least one check includes determining whether a frame check sequence (FCS) passes, whether a CSMA wireless medium remains busy immediately after an expected packet transmission time, whether there is a power spike during reception of the signal, or whether there are Short training field (STF) and Long Training Field (MT) correlations.

Claims

1. A method for use in an IEEE 802.11 station (STA), the method comprising:

receiving a packet within a received signal via a carrier sense multiple access (CSMA) wireless medium from a transmitting STA;

determining whether the packet is properly received within the received signal by performing at least one of a plurality of checks;

determining the packet was not properly received due to a reception failure based on the at least one of the plurality of checks; and

generating a negative acknowledgement (NACK) signal including an indication of a reception failure cause and a recommended action to enable the transmitting STA to remediate the reception failure cause.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one of the plurality of checks includes determining whether a Physical Layer Convergence Protocol (PLCP) header of the packet is decoded properly.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

on a condition that the PLCP header of the packet is decoded properly, determining whether a frame check sequence (FCS) of the packet passes; and

on a condition that the FCS of the packet fails, determining whether the CSMA wireless medium is busy based on a clear channel assessment (CCA) after a length of time indicated in the PLCP header of the packet.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising:

on condition that the CSMA wireless medium is determined to be busy, identifying the reception failure cause to be due to reception of an overlapping packet; and

performing a Request to Send/Clear to Send (RTS/CTS) procedure to reserve a transmit opportunity (TXOP) for retransmission of the packet.

5. The method of claim 3, further comprising:

on condition that the CSMA wireless medium is determined to not be busy, determining whether there was a sudden power level change during reception of the signal.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising;

on a condition that there was a sudden power level change during reception of the signal, identifying the reception failure cause to be due to reception of an overlapping packet; and

performing a Request to Send/Clear to Send (RTS/CTS) procedure to reserve a transmit opportunity (TXOP) for retransmission of the packet.

7. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

on a condition that there was no sudden power level change during reception of the signal, determining whether a modulation and coding scheme (MCS) of a frame body of the packet is greater than an MCS of a preamble of the packet;

on a condition that the MCS of the frame body of the packet is greater than the MCS of the preamble of the packet, identifying the reception failure cause to be due to an MCS that is too high; and

including, in the recommended action in the NACK signal, an indication to decrease the MCS.

8. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

on a condition that there was no sudden power level change during reception of the signal, determining whether a modulation and coding scheme (MCS) of a frame body of the packet is greater than an MCS of a preamble of the packet;

on a condition that the MCS of the frame body of the packet is greater than the MCS of the preamble of the packet, identifying the reception failure cause to be due to an MCS that is too high; and

including, in the recommended action in the NACK signal, an indication to increase transmit power.

9. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

on a condition that there was no sudden power level change during reception of the signal, determining whether a modulation and coding scheme (MCS) of a frame body of the packet is greater than an MCS of a preamble of the packet;

on a condition that the MCS of the frame body of the packet is greater than the MCS of the preamble of the packet, identifying the reception failure cause to be due to an MCS that is too high; and

including, in the recommended action in the NACK signal, an indication to perform a mixed retransmission that includes retransmitting an aggregated medium access control (MAC) protocol data unit (A-MPDU).

10. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

on condition that the PLCP header of the packet is not decoded properly, determining whether a high power level was observed during reception of the packet.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

on a condition that a high power level was not observed during reception the packet, identifying the reception failure cause to be due to interference or noise; and

including, in the recommended action in the NACK signal, an indication to increase transmit power.

12. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

on a condition that a high power level was observed during reception of the packet, determining whether there are Short Training Field (STF) and/or Long Training Field (LTF) correlations;

on a condition that there are STF and/or LTF correlations, identifying the reception failure cause to be due to a collision; and

including, in the recommended action in the NACK signal, an indication to immediately retransmit the packet.

13. The method of claim 1, further comprising;

sending a reporting and measurement capability message to the STA.

14. The method of claim 1, further comprising;

sending a reporting and measurement reporting message to the transmitting STA.

15. An IEEE 802.11 station (STA) comprising:

a receiver configured to receive a packet within a received signal via a carrier sense multiple access (CSMA) wireless medium from a transmitting STA;

a processor configured to determine whether the packet is properly received within the received signal by performing at least one of a plurality of checks;

the processor further configured to determine that the packet was not properly received due to a reception failure based on the at least one of the plurality of checks; and

a transmitter configured to generate a negative acknowledgement (NACK) signal including an indication of a reception failure cause and a recommended action to enable the transmitting STA to remediate the reception failure cause.

16. The STA of claim 15, wherein the at least one of the plurality of checks includes determining whether a Physical Layer Convergence Protocol (PLCP) header of the packet is decoded properly.

17. The STA of claim 16, further comprising:

on a condition that the PLCP header of the packet is decoded properly, the processor further configured to determine whether a frame check sequence (FCS) of the packet passes; and

on a condition that the FCS of the packet fails, the processor further configured to determine whether the CSMA wireless medium is busy based on a clear channel assessment (CCA) after a length of time indicated in the PLCP header of the packet.

18. The STA of claim 17, further comprising:

on condition that the CSMA wireless medium is determined to be busy, the STA configured to identify the reception failure cause to be due to reception of an overlapping packet; and

the STA further configured to perform a Request to Send/Clear to Send (RTS/CTS) procedure to reserve a transmit opportunity (TXOP) for retransmission of the packet.

19. A method for use in a station (STA), the method comprising:

transmitting, by a transmitting STA, a packet via a carrier sense multiple access (CSMA) wireless medium to a receiving STA;

receiving a negative acknowledgement (NACK) signal including an indication of a reception failure cause based on at least one check of a plurality of checks performed by the receiving STA and a recommended action to enable the transmitting STA to remediate the reception failure cause; and

remediating the reception failure cause based on the recommended action; and

retransmitting the packet via the CSMA wireless medium.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the at least one of the plurality of checks includes determining whether a frame check sequence (FCS) passes, whether the CSMA wireless medium remains busy immediately after an expected packet transmission time, whether there is a power spike during reception of the signal, or whether there are Short training field (STF) and Long Training Field (LTF) correlations and wherein the remediating the reception failure cause includes adjusting a modulation and coding scheme (MCS) or adjusting a transmit power control (TPC).

21. A method for use in an IEEE 802.11 station (STA), the method comprising:

receiving a packet within a received signal via a carrier sense multiple access (CSMA) wireless medium from a transmitting STA;

determining whether the packet was properly received within the received signal by performing at least one of a plurality of checks, the at least one of the plurality of checks including determining whether a Physical Layer Convergence Protocol (PLCP) header of the packet is decoded properly;

determining that the packet was not properly received due to a reception failure based on the at least one of the plurality of checks; and

generating a negative acknowledgement (NACK) signal including an indication of a reception failure cause and a recommended action to enable the transmitting STA to remediate the reception failure cause;

on a condition that the PLCP header was not decoded properly and that a high power level was not detected during reception of the packet;

including an indication to increase transmit power in the recommended action; and

on a condition that the PLCP header was not decoded properly, that a high power level was detected during reception of the packet, and that Short Training Field (STF) and/or Long Training Field (LTF) correlations were detected during reception of the packet;

including an indication to immediately retransmit the packet in the recommended action.

22. An IEEE 802.11 station (STA) comprising:

a receiver configured to receive a packet within a received signal via a carrier sense multiple access (CSMA) wireless medium from a transmitting STA;

a processor configured to determine whether the packet was properly received within the received signal by performing at least one of a plurality of checks, the at least one of a plurality of checks including determining whether a. Physical Layer Convergence Protocol (PLCP) header of the packet is decoded properly;

the processor further configured to determine the packet was not properly received due to a reception failure based on the at least one of the plurality of checks; and

a transmitter configured to generate a negative acknowledgement (NACK) signal including an indication of a reception failure cause and a recommended action to enable the transmitting STA to remediate the reception failure cause;

wherein on a condition that the PLCP header was not decoded properly and a high power level was not detection during reception of the packet;

the recommended action includes an indication to increase transmit power; and

wherein on a condition that the PLCP header was not decoded properly, that a high power level was detected during reception of the packet, and that Short Training Field (STF) and/or Long Training Field (LTF) correlations were detected during reception of the packet;

the recommended action includes an indication to immediately retransmit the packet.

23. A method for use in a station (STA), the method comprising:

transmitting a packet via a carrier sense multiple access (CSMA) wireless medium to a receiving STA;

receiving a negative acknowledgement (NACK) signal including an indication of a reception failure cause based on at least one check of a plurality of checks performed by the receiving STA, and a recommended action to enable the STA to remediate the reception failure cause, wherein the at least one of the plurality of checks includes determining whether a Physical Layer Convergence Protocol (PLCP) header of the packet is decoded properly; and

remediating the reception failure cause based on the recommended action;

wherein the recommended action includes an indication to increase transmit power on a condition that the PLCP header was not decoded properly and that a high power level was not detected during reception of the packet; and

wherein the recommended action includes an indication to immediately retransmit the packet on a condition that the PLCP header was not decoded properly, that a high power level was detected during reception of the packet, and that Short Training Field (STF) and/or Long Training Field (LTF) correlations were detected during reception of the packet; and

retransmitting the packet via the CSMA wireless medium.