System and method for extending battery life

• US 7,885,217 B2
• Filed: 03/22/2007
• Issued: 02/08/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 03/22/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hewlett Packard Enterprise Development LP (Hewlett-Packard Enterprise Company)
• Original Assignee: Aruba Networks Incorporated (Hewlett-Packard Enterprise Company)
• Inventors: Iyer, Pradeep, Taylor, John Richard
• Primary Examiner(s): Hsu; Alpus H
• Assistant Examiner(s): HASSAN, SAAD K
• Application Number:
  US11/728,255
• Publication Number:
  US 20080232373A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,419 Days
• Field of Search: 370/392, 370/252, 370/328, 370/329, 455/422.1, 455/553.1
• US Class Current: 370/311
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/189 in combination with wireless systems selective distribution or broadcast in wireless communication networks H04W4/06
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/16 Multipoint routing
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/06 Selective distribution of broadcast services, e.g. multimedia broadcast multicast service [MBMS]; Services to user groups; One-way selective calling services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 40/10 based on available power or energy
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/0216 using a pre-established activity schedule, e.g. traffic indication frame
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/70 in wireless communication networks

Abstract

According to one embodiment of the invention, a method comprises determining whether a non-unicast message is to be transmitted by a transmitting device, which may involve a setting a Delivery Traffic Indicator Map (DTIM) Interval value to reflect a longer periodicity than associated with a Listen Interval. After such determination, the non-unicast message may be converted into one or more unicast messages for transmission.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

determining by a wireless device whether a non-unicast message is to be transmitted by the wireless device by checking a Delivery Traffic Indicator Map (DTIM) Interval and a Listening Interval, the DTIM Interval representing a time period between successive checks by a wireless receiving device for non-unicast messages and the Listening interval representing a time period between successive checks by the wireless receiving device for unicast messages; and

converting the non-unicast message into one or more unicast messages for transmission upon determining that the DTIM Interval is greater than the Listening Interval while the wireless device maintains an ability to check for and receive non-unicast messages in accordance with the DTIM Interval,

wherein the DTIM Interval is set to be greater than the Listening Interval so that the wireless receiving device is checking for unicast messages more frequently than non-unicast messages.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the non-unicast message is a multicast message.

3. The method of claim 1 further comprises setting the DTIM Interval to be greater than the Listening Interval by setting a DTIM Interval value to be greater than a value representing the Listening Interval.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the converting of the unicast message includes conversion of all non-unicast messages to be transmitted by the transmitting device after comparing the DTIM Interval value and the value representing the Listening Interval.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the Listening interval being a multiple of a beacon interval that controls wake-up of the receiving device for unicast traffic.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein prior to the wireless device determining whether the non-unicast message is to be transmitted, the method further comprises advertising a battery-boost mode capability by placement of information within an information element of a transmitted message, the battery-boost mode indicates that the wireless device is adapted to convert non-unicast traffic into unicast traffic for transmission and increase the DTIM interval.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the data includes an Organizationally Unique Identifier (OUI) including one or more bits to identify that the transmitting device supports the battery-boost mode.

8. The method of claim 2, wherein determining whether the multicast message is to be transmitted includes determining if medium access control (MAC) addresses for a particular multicast group identified by a Multicast Group identifier are found in an association table stored in the wireless device and the DTIM Interval is less than the Listening Interval.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the converting of the multicast message into one or more unicast messages includes converting the multicast message into unicast frames each uniquely addressed with a MAC address contained in the association table directed to a device that is also a member of the particular multicast group.

10. The method of claim 1 further comprising transmitting the non-unicast message from the wireless device upon determining that the DTIM Interval is not greater than the Listening Interval.

11. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium embodying software that is executed by hardware logic implemented within a transmitting device that is adapted to transmit messages to a receiving device, comprising:

a first software module that, when executed by the hardware logic within the transmitting device, determines whether a non-unicast message is to be transmitted from the transmitting device by checking a Delivery Traffic Indicator Map (DTIM) Interval and a Listening Interval, the DTIM Interval representing a time period between successive checks by the receiving device for non-unicast messages-and the Listening interval representing a time period between successive checks by the receiving device for unicast messages; and

a second software module that, when executed by the hardware logic within the transmitting device, converts the non-unicast message into one or more unicast messages for transmission so as to (i) achieve reduced power consumption by increasing an amount of time between wake-up events for receipt of non-unicast messages when the DTIM Interval is greater than the Listening Interval and (ii) maintain an ability to check for and receive non-unicast messages in accordance with the DTIM Interval.

12. The computer readable storage medium of claim 11, wherein the second software module to convert all non-unicast messages to unicast messages to be transmitted by the transmitting device provided a DTIM Interval value representing the DTIM Interval is greater than a value representing the Listening Interval.

13. The computer readable storage medium of claim 12 further comprising a third software module to set a DTIM Interval value representing the DTIM Interval to be greater in value than a value representing the Listening interval being multiple beacon cycles.

14. The computer readable storage medium of claim 11, wherein the non-unicast message is a multicast message.

15. The computer readable storage medium of claim 11 further comprising a third software module to analyze data within a predetermined information element to determine if the transmitting device supports a battery-boost mode, the battery-boost mode indicates that the wireless device is adapted to (i) convert non-unicast traffic into unicast traffic for transmission and (ii) increase the DTIM interval.

16. The computer readable storage medium of claim 14, wherein the first software module to determine if medium access control (MAC) addresses for a particular multicast group identified by a Multicast Group identifier are found in an association table stored in the transmitting device.

17. The computer readable storage medium of claim 16, wherein the second software module to convert the multicast message into unicast frames each uniquely addressed with a medium access control (MAC) address contained in the association table directed to a device that is also a member of the particular multicast group.

18. A wireless device of a network, comprising:

a memory; and

a processor coupled to the memory, the processor to determine whether a non-unicast message is to be transmitted and to convert the non-unicast message into one or more unicast messages for transmission upon determining that a Delivery Traffic Indicator Map (DTIM) Interval, representing a time period between successive checks by a wireless receiving device of the network for non-unicast data, represents a longer periodicity than a Listening Interval, the Listening Interval being a representation of a time period between successive checks by the wireless receiving device for unicast data,

wherein the DTIM Interval is set to be greater than the Listening Interval so that the wireless receiving device is checking for unicast messages more frequently than non-unicast messages while maintaining an ability to check for and receive non-unicast messages in accordance with the DTIM Interval.

19. The wireless device of claim 18, wherein the processor determining that the DTIM Interval represents a longer periodicity than the Listening Interval by determining that a DTIM Interval value is greater than a value representing the Listening Interval, the DTIM Interval value identifies a number of beacon cycles for the DTIM Interval.

20. The wireless device of claim 18 being an access point.

21. A method comprising:

receiving a non-unicast message by a wireless device;

checking a Delivery Traffic Indicator Map (DTIM) Interval and a Listening Interval by the wireless device, the DTIM Interval representing a time period between successive checks by a wireless receiving device for non-unicast messages and the Listening Interval representing a time period between successive checks by the wireless receiving device for unicast messages;

converting the non-unicast message into one or more unicast messages for transmission from the wireless device if the DTIM Interval is greater than the Listening Interval while the wireless device maintains an ability to check for and receive non-unicast messages in accordance with the DTIM Interval; and

transmitting the non-unicast message by the wireless device if the DTIM Interval is not greater than the Listening Interval,

wherein the DTIM Interval is set to be greater than the Listening Interval.

22. The method of claim 21 wherein the wireless device is an access point.