Segment bursting with priority pre-emption and reduced latency
First Claim
Patent Images
1. A method of bounding latency of transmissions by stations on a shared access medium comprising:
- associating one of multiple priority levels with a transmission; and
controlling the amount of time the transmission occupies the shared access medium based on the associated priority level, wherein the transmission is a burst transmission of frames and wherein controlling comprises;
providing the burst transmission with control of the medium at the associated priority level, and wherein providing comprises;
providing in all but the last of the frames in the burst transmission a contention control indicator for indicating contention-free access and providing in all of the frames in the burst transmission the associated priority level so that the burst transmission may be interrupted by another of the stations having a pending frame with a higher priority level than the associated priority level.
6 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A scheme for bounding latency of transmissions for QoS in network stations operating in shared medium access network. The length of segment burst transmissions are limited by allowing the segment burst transmission of a given priority to be interrupted by higher priority traffic. Restrictions are placed on frame length for transmissions of all priority levels or, alternatively, at all but the highest of the priority levels.
220 Citations
17 Claims
-
1. A method of bounding latency of transmissions by stations on a shared access medium comprising:
-
associating one of multiple priority levels with a transmission; and
controlling the amount of time the transmission occupies the shared access medium based on the associated priority level, wherein the transmission is a burst transmission of frames and wherein controlling comprises;
providing the burst transmission with control of the medium at the associated priority level, and wherein providing comprises;
providing in all but the last of the frames in the burst transmission a contention control indicator for indicating contention-free access and providing in all of the frames in the burst transmission the associated priority level so that the burst transmission may be interrupted by another of the stations having a pending frame with a higher priority level than the associated priority level. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4)
-
-
5. A media access control unit for bounding latency of transmissions by stations on a shared access medium comprising:
-
a transmit handler to associate one of multiple priority levels with a transmission and to control the amount of time the transmission occupies the shared access medium based on the associated priority level, wherein the transmission is a burst transmission and the transmit handler comprises;
a segmentation unit for segmenting a MAC service data unit into segments for transmission in frames on the shared access medium in the burst transmission; and
a frame transmit unit for providing segments in frames in the burst transmission at the associated priority level, and wherein the frame transmit unit provides a set contention control indicator for indicating contention-free access in all but the last of the frames in the burst transmission and provides in all of the frames in the burst transmission the associated priority level so that the burst transmission may be interrupted by another of the stations having a pending frame with a higher priority level than the specified priority level. - View Dependent Claims (6, 7)
-
-
8. A method of reducing latency of transmission by stations on a shared access medium, the method comprising:
-
having a first station begin a burst transmission of frames;
associating one of multiple priority levels with the burst transmission;
providing an inter-frame contention phase between frames;
during the inter-frame contention phase, having the first station signal the priority level of the burst transmission and signal that the first station desires contention-free access to complete the burst transmission;
during the inter-frame contention phase, having at least a second station contend to interrupt the burst transmission with a second transmission by signaling a priority level associated with the second transmission; and
having the first station interrupt the burst transmission in the event that the priority level signaled by the second station is higher than the priority level of the burst transmission. - View Dependent Claims (9, 10, 11, 12)
-
-
13. A method of operating a media access control unit for reducing latency of transmission by stations on a shared access medium, wherein one such medium access control unit is associated with each of a plurality of stations, the method comprising:
-
beginning a burst transmission of frames;
associating one of multiple priority levels with the burst transmission;
providing an inter-frame contention phase between frames;
during the inter-frame contention phase, having the station transmitting the burst transmission signal the priority level of the burst transmission and signal that the station desires contention-free access to complete the burst transmission;
during the inter-frame contention phase, having the station transmitting the burst transmission listen for the priority level of another station contending to interrupt the burst transmission with a second transmission; and
interrupting the burst transmission in the event that the priority level signaled by the other station is higher than the priority level of the burst transmission. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15, 16, 17)
-
Specification