Media access control device guaranteeing communication quality in wireless LAN for VoIP

• US 7,286,551 B2
• Filed: 05/04/2005
• Issued: 10/23/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 11/11/2004
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute
• Original Assignee: Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute
• Inventors: Kim, Jung Sik, Park, Chan Won
• Primary Examiner(s): Phu; Sanh D.
• Application Number:
  US11/122,941
• Publication Number:
  US 20060098626A1
• Time in Patent Office: 902 Days
• Field of Search: 370/445, 370/230.1, 370/412, 370/458, 370/462, 455/41.2
• US Class Current: 370/412
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/10 Flow control; Congestion control
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/2416 Real-time traffic
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/245 using preemption
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/32 by discarding or delaying data units, e.g. packets or frames
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1101 Session protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/80 Responding to QoS
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/61 taking into account QoS or priority requirements
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/16 Implementation or adaptation of Internet protocol [IP], of transmission control protocol [TCP] or of user datagram protocol [UDP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/321 Interlayer communication protocols or service data unit [SDU] definitions; Interfaces between layers
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/02 Traffic management, e.g. flow control or congestion control
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/14 using intermediate storage
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/569 of the traffic information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 74/0875 with assigned priorities based access
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/04 Registration at HLR or HSS [Home Subscriber Server]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/12 WLAN [Wireless Local Area Networks]

Abstract

A MAC device guarantees QoS in a VoIP wireless LAN by giving higher priority to voice data than to non-voice data. Transmission data generated by an application program is provided to a modem according to the priority assigned to the data. A kernel classifies the transmission data into voice and non-voice data. A MAC driver stores the voice and non-voice data in two queues, and transmits a MAC header to a MAC transmitter to notify it of generation of the transmission data, and transmits the stored voice or non-voice data to the MAC transmitter according to the type of a transmission interrupt received from the MAC transmitter in response to the notification. The MAC transmitter combines the voice or non-voice data, received from the MAC driver in response to the transmission interrupt, with a corresponding header, and outputs it to the modem.

Claims

1. A Media Access Control (MAC) device for guaranteeing Quality of Service (QoS) in a Voice over IP (VoIP) wireless LAN, wherein transmission data generated by an application program is provided to a modem according to priority assigned to the transmission data, the device comprising a kernel, a MAC driver, and a MAC transmitter, wherein the kernel classifies the transmission data received from the application program into voice data and non-voice data;

wherein, while performing wireless LAN data service management, the MAC driver stores the classified voice and non-voice data received from the kernel respectively in two queues, and transmits a MAC header to the MAC transmitter to notify the MAC transmitter of the generation of the transmission data, and then transmits the stored voice or non-voice data to the MAC transmitter according to the type of a transmission interrupt received from the MAC transmitter in response to the notification, and wherein the MAC transmitter determines, based on the MAC header received from the MAC driver, that the transmission data has been generated, independently operates a MAC protocol for voice data and for non-voice data with a higher priority given to voice data than to non-voice data, provides a transmission interrupt corresponding to a data type preferentially getting a medium access opportunity to the MAC driver, combines voice or non-voice data corresponding to the data type preferentially getting the medium access opportunity, received from the MAC driver in response to the transmission interrupt, with a corresponding header, and outputs the combined data to the modem.

2. The device according to claim 1, wherein the kernel comprises:

a Real-time Transport Protocol (RTP) supporting real-time voice transmission and communication;

a User Datagram Protocol (UDP) supporting high-speed data transmission;

a Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) corresponding to a transport layer and supporting error correction and retransmission; and

an Internet Protocol (IP) controlling transmission of packets between different networks according to IP addresses, wherein voice data is transferred to the IP via both the RTP and the UDP, and non-voice data is transferred to the IP via the UDP or the TCP.

3. The device according to claim 1, wherein the MAC driver comprises:

a voice queue, as one of the two queues, for storing voice data classified by the kernel;

a non-voice queue, as the other of the two queues, for storing non-voice data classified by the kernel; and

a management module for performing wireless LAN data service management.

4. The device according to claim 1, wherein the MAC transmitter comprises:

voice and non-voice header registers for storing respective MAC data frame headers of voice and non-voice transmission data received from the MAC driver;

voice and non-voice transport protocol processors for seeking a medium access opportunity for transmission of voice and non-voice transmission data received from the MAC driver according to a priority scheme based on the type of the transmission data if respective MAC data frame headers of the voice and non-voice transmission data are stored in the voice and non-voice header registers, and transferring a transmission interrupt to the MAC driver when getting the medium access opportunity, the transmission interrupt requesting transmission of a corresponding one of the voice and non-voice transmission data;

a transmission FIFO for storing voice and non-voice data received from the MAC driver according to an order in which the transmission interrupt is transferred to the MAC driver, and outputting the data in an order in which the data is input to the transmission FIFO; and

a transmission processor for combining a data frame output from the transmission FIFO with header information recorded in the voice and non-voice header registers, and transmitting the combined data frame.

5. The device according to claim 2, wherein if the application program generates voice data, the application program commands the IP to write a predetermined value in a Type of Service (TOS) field of an IP header of the voice data, and the IP discriminates between voice and non-voice data based on a value of the TOS field.

6. The device according to claim 2, wherein, when commanding the MAC driver to transfer transmission data, the IP in the kernel sends a parameter indicating the type of the transmission data, together with the transmission data, to the MAC driver, thereby enabling the MAC driver to determine whether the transmission data is voice or non-voice data.

7. The device according to claim 4, wherein the voice and non-voice transport protocol processors perform backoff, Enhanced Distributed Channel Access (EDCA), and retransmission according to IEEE 802.11 rules.

8. The device according to claim 4, wherein, in order to get a medium access opportunity, the voice and non-voice transport protocol processors use voice and non-voice QoS parameters including minimum and maximum contention window values, an Arbitration Inter-Frame Space Number (AIFSN) determining a transmission slot time, and a maximum transmission opportunity duration (TXOP limit),

wherein the voice QoS parameters and the non-voice QoS parameters are set to give a higher priority to transmission of voice data than to transmission of non-voice data.

9. The device according to claim 4, wherein each of the voice and non-voice header registers is configured to store duration/ID information, frame control information, first address information, second address information, third address information, sequence control information, forth address information, and QoS control information as header information, and output the header information in the named order.

10. The device according to claim 4, wherein the MAC transmitter is implemented in hardware comprising:

a host interface connected with a processor in an application layer;

a Physical Layer Convergence Protocol (PLCP) interface connected with the modem;

a voice header processor including the voice header register, the voice header processor processing headers of voice transmission data;

a non-voice header processor including the non-voice header register, the non-voice header processor processing headers of non-voice transmission data;

voice and non-voice transmission coordinators serving respectively as the voice and non-voice transport protocol processors;

a backoff processor supporting a transport protocol of the voice and non-voice transmission coordinators to perform backoff;

voice and non-voice random generators for generating backoff count values for voice and non-voice data, respectively, the backoff count values being used as a basis for operating the backoff processor;

a transmission data synchronization module for transferring PLCP information of a transmission data frame, the PLCP information including a signal field, a header length, data octet size, PLCP transmission service information, and PLCP length/time information, from one of the voice and transmission coordinators, the one coordinator having being given a medium access opportunity, to the PLCP interface;

a transmission FIFO for sequentially inputting and outputting transmission data frame bodies;

a MUX &

data pump module serving as the transmission processor; and

a Time Synchronization Function (TSF) timer for receiving a beacon frame transmitted from an Access Point (AP) to achieve time synchronization; and

a DMA &

interrupt processor for notifying the MAC driver of start of voice and non-voice transmission data, transmission success, and transmission failure.