Hardware control interface for IEEE standard 802.11 including transmission control interface component and a transmission status interface component

• US 7,716,379 B2
• Filed: 04/26/2007
• Issued: 05/11/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 04/26/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Kuehnel, Thomas W., Ruan, Jiandong
• Primary Examiner(s): Duong; Oanh
• Application Number:
  US11/789,932
• Publication Number:
  US 20080270630A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,111 Days
• Field of Search: 709/223, 709/224, 709/250, 719/321, 719/327
• US Class Current: 709/250
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 13/387 for adaptation of different data processing systems to different peripheral devices, e.g. protocol converters for incompatible systems, open system
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/18 Negotiating wireless communication parameters
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/22 Negotiating communication rate
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 74/08 Non-scheduled access, e.g. ALOHA hybrid access H04W74/02
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/12 WLAN [Wireless Local Area Networks]

Abstract

A standardized 802.11 hardware control interface may be provided such that a driver may communicate with any one or more of a variety of network adapters.

Claims

1. A computer, comprising:

a processing unit comprising at least one processor; and

a driver module that executes on the processing unit, the driver module comprising a hardware control interface having at least a transmission control interface component configured to provide transmission control information and a transmission status interface component configured to provide transmission status information to a network adapter to control the network adapter to communicate in accordance with IEEE standard 802.11, wherein

the transmission control information comprises;

a first field comprising at least one flag, each one of the at least one flag representing transmission-related information;

a second field comprising transmission rate information;

a third field comprising arbitration inter-frame space number information; and

a fourth field comprising contention window information; and

the transmission status information comprises;

a first field comprising at least one flag, each one of the at least one flag representing transmission status information;

a second field comprising information related to a number of times that the network adapter has attempted to re-transmit a packet; and

a third field comprising information related to a data rate at which the packet has been successfully transmitted.

2. The computer of claim 1, wherein the transmission control information further comprises:

a fifth field comprising an index in a basic service set table and/or an index in a peer table.

3. The computer of claim 1, wherein the transmission control information further comprises:

a sixth field comprising information related to a time at which transmission occurs.

4. The computer of claim 1, wherein a first one of the at least one flag of the first field of the transmission control information indicates whether acknowledgement of a wireless transmission is required.

5. The computer of claim 1, wherein a second one of the at least one flag of the first field of the transmission control information indicates whether the packet should be encrypted by the network adapter.

6. The computer of claim 1, wherein the contention window information comprises a maximum contention window size and a minimum contention window size.

7. The computer of claim 1, wherein the at least one flag comprises seven or more flags.

8. The computer of claim 1, wherein the transmission status information further comprises:

a fourth field comprising information related to a data rate at which an acknowledgment frame has been received; and

a fifth field comprising received signal strength information related to a strength of a signal received by the network adapter.

9. In a computer system comprising a driver module that at least partially controls a network adapter to engage in wireless communication in accordance with IEEE standard 802.11, a computer-readable storage medium having computer-executable instructions, which, when executed, perform a method comprising an act of:

(A) providing transmission control information to the network adapter via a transmission control interface component, the transmission control information comprising;

a first field comprising at least one flags, each one of the at least one flags representing transmission-related information;

a second field comprising transmission rate information;

a third field comprising arbitration inter-frame space number information; and

a fourth field comprising contention window information; and

(B) providing transmission status information to the network adapter via a transmission status interface component, the transmission status information comprising;

a first field comprising at least one flag, each one of the at least one flag representing transmission status information;

a second field comprising information related to a number of times that the network adapter has attempted to re-transmit a packet; and

a third field comprising information related to a data rate at which the packet has been successfully transmitted.

10. The computer-readable medium of claim 9, wherein the transmission control information further comprises:

a fifth field comprising an index in a basic service set table and/or an index in a peer table.

11. The computer-readable medium of claim 9, wherein the transmission control information further comprises:

a sixth field comprising information related to a time at which transmission occurs.

12. The computer-readable medium of claim 9, wherein a first one of the at least one flag of the first field of the transmission control information indicates whether acknowledgement of a wireless transmission is required.

13. The computer-readable medium of claim 9, wherein a second one of the at least one flag of the first field of the transmission control information indicates whether the packet should be encrypted by the network adapter.

14. The computer-readable medium of claim 9, wherein the contention window information comprises a maximum contention window size and a minimum contention window size.

15. The computer-readable medium of claim 9, wherein the at least one flag comprises seven or more flags.

16. The computer-readable medium of claim 9, the transmission status information further comprises:

a fourth field comprising information related to a data rate at which an acknowledgment frame has been received; and

a fifth field comprising received signal strength information related to a strength of a signal received by the network adapter.