COMMUNICATION APPARATUS, COMMUNICATION METHOD, AND NON-TRANSITORY COMPUTER-READABLE STORAGE MEDIUM

• US 20200137772A1
• Filed: 10/21/2019
• Published: 04/30/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 10/29/2018
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha (Canon Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha (Canon Inc.)
• Inventors: Inohiza, Hirohiko
• Granted Patent: US 11,375,520 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0007 the frequencies being orthogonal, e.g. OFDM(A), DMT
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0037 Inter-user or inter-terminal allocation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0044 allocation of payload
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0064 Rate requirement of the data, e.g. scalable bandwidth, data priority
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/121 for groups of terminals or users
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/1268 of uplink data flows
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/21 in the uplink direction of a wireless link, i.e. towards the network
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/52 based on load
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/12 WLAN [Wireless Local Area Networks]
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/70 in wireless communication networks

Abstract

A communication apparatus obtains, from each of a plurality of other communication apparatuses, an amount of buffered data of the each of the plurality of other communication apparatuses, divides the plurality of other communication apparatuses into a plurality of groups based on the amount of buffered data of each of the plurality of other communication apparatuses, and assigns to each of the groups wireless frequency resources for which a shared data communication time is set.

Claims

1. A communication apparatus comprising:

an obtainment unit configured to obtain, from each of a plurality of other communication apparatuses, an amount of buffered data of the each of the plurality of other communication apparatuses;

a grouping unit configured to divide the plurality of other communication apparatuses into a plurality of groups based on the amount of buffered data of each of the plurality of other communication apparatuses; and

an assignment unit configured to assign to each of the groups wireless frequency resources for which a shared data communication time is set.

2. The communication apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising:

a calculation unit configured to calculate a communication time for data of each of the plurality of other communication apparatuses based on the amounts of buffered data obtained by the obtainment unit, wherein

the grouping unit divides the plurality of other communication apparatuses into a plurality of groups based on the communication times calculated by the calculation unit.

3. The communication apparatus according to claim 2, further comprising:

a setting unit configured to set the shared data communication times of the groups based on the communication times of each of the plurality of other communication apparatuses belonging to the group.

4. The communication apparatus according to claim 2, wherein in a case where there is another communication apparatus whose communication time is longer than a predetermined value from among the communication times of each of the plurality of other communication apparatuses, the grouping unit groups that other communication apparatus so as to belong to a plurality of groups.

5. The communication apparatus according to claim 2 further comprising:

a determination unit configured to determine a modulation and coding scheme that can be applied to each of the plurality of other communication apparatuses, wherein

the calculation unit calculates the communication time of each of the plurality of other communication apparatuses based on the data amounts and the modulation and coding scheme of each of the plurality of other communication apparatuses.

6. The communication apparatus according to claim 5, further comprising:

a changing unit configured to change the modulation and coding scheme that can be applied within an extent that the common data communication time is not exceeded in relation to the other communication apparatuses in the group whose communication time is less than the common data communication time.

7. The communication apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the grouping unit groups, by a predetermined number, the plurality of other communication apparatus.

8. The communication apparatus according to claim 7, wherein the predetermined number is a maximum number of units of wireless frequency resources that can be assigned to one group.

9. The communication apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the assignment unit assigns a plurality of wireless frequency resources to at least one of the plurality of other communication apparatuses belonging to the group in a case where a number of data of the plurality of other communication apparatuses belonging to the group is smaller than the maximum number of units of wireless frequency resources assignable to one group.

10. The communication apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the grouping unit divides the plurality of other communication apparatuses into a plurality of groups based on accuracy of transmit power or accuracy of a quality measurement of the each of the plurality of other communication apparatuses.

11. The communication apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a notification unit configured to notify the plurality of other communication apparatuses of the shared data communication time and information on assignment of the wireless frequency resources.

12. The communication apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the wireless frequency resources are resources for performing communication by OFDMA (Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access) by the plurality of other communication apparatuses.

13. The communication apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the communication apparatus is an access point supporting IEEE 802.11ax.

14. A communication method, the method comprising:

obtaining, from each of a plurality of other communication apparatuses, an amount of buffered data of the each of the plurality of other communication apparatuses;

dividing the plurality of other communication apparatuses into a plurality of groups based on the amount of buffered data of each of the plurality of other communication apparatuses; and

assigning to each of the groups wireless frequency resources for which a shared data communication time is set.

15. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing a computer program for causing a computer to execute a communication method, the method comprising:

obtaining, from each of a plurality of other communication apparatuses, an amount of buffered data of the each of the plurality of other communication apparatuses;

dividing the plurality of other communication apparatuses into a plurality of groups based on the amount of buffered data of each of the plurality of other communication apparatuses; and

assigning to each of the groups wireless frequency resources for which a shared data communication time is set.