System and method for communicating within a wireless communication network
First Claim
1. A method for communicating in a wireless network comprising a plurality of nodes and at least one access point for providing the nodes with access to another network, the method comprising:
- operating the access point to assign a respective priority level to each of the plurality of nodes based on at least one of an amount of traffic at the node and a quality of service associated with a type of the traffic at the node;
operating the access point to transmit a query based on its own status, wherein the query is transmitted to one node of the plurality of nodes to determine if the node has information for transmission to the access point, wherein the access point queries the nodes having a higher priority more times than the nodes having a lower priority, wherein the query invites the node to initiate a transmission with the access point;
operating the node, in response to the query, to send a message to the access point indicating whether it has information for transmission to the access point; and
when the node sends the message to the access point indicating that it has information for transmission to the access point, operating the node to transmit the information to the access point.
5 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A system and method for providing a polling scheme to improve medium access control (MAC) in a multihop wireless communication network (100) comprising nodes (102) and access points (106). When an access point (106) is the source of data packets being transmitted to a neighbor node (102), a collision-avoidance protocol is employed for the communication. However, when the access point (106) is to be the receiver of data packets transmitted from a neighbor node (102), the access point (106) polls the neighbor node (102) by initiating contact with the neighbor node (102) and inviting the neighbor node (102) to send queued data packets to the access point (106). As a result, the polling process allows the access point (106) to gain limited control over its neighbor nodes (102) and increase the efficiency of the network (100).
47 Citations
16 Claims
-
1. A method for communicating in a wireless network comprising a plurality of nodes and at least one access point for providing the nodes with access to another network, the method comprising:
-
operating the access point to assign a respective priority level to each of the plurality of nodes based on at least one of an amount of traffic at the node and a quality of service associated with a type of the traffic at the node; operating the access point to transmit a query based on its own status, wherein the query is transmitted to one node of the plurality of nodes to determine if the node has information for transmission to the access point, wherein the access point queries the nodes having a higher priority more times than the nodes having a lower priority, wherein the query invites the node to initiate a transmission with the access point; operating the node, in response to the query, to send a message to the access point indicating whether it has information for transmission to the access point; and when the node sends the message to the access point indicating that it has information for transmission to the access point, operating the node to transmit the information to the access point. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
-
-
7. An access point, operating within a wireless network comprising a plurality of nodes, to provide the nodes with access to another network, the access point comprising:
-
a transceiver; and a controller, for assigning a respective priority level to each of the plurality of nodes based on at least one of an amount of traffic at the node and a quality of service associated with a type of the traffic at the node, and controlling the transceiver to transmit a query based on a status of the access point, wherein the query is transmitted to one node of the plurality of nodes to determine if the node has information for transmission to the access point, wherein the nodes having a higher priority are queried more times than the nodes having a lower priority, wherein the query invites the node to initiate a transmission with the access point, and when the transceiver receives a message from the node indicating that the node has information for transmission to the access point, controlling the transceiver to receive the information transmitted by the node. - View Dependent Claims (8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
-
-
13. A wireless communication network comprising:
-
a plurality of nodes; and at least one access point, operating to provide the nodes with access to another network; the access point operating to assign a respective priority level to each of the plurality of nodes based on at least one of an amount of traffic at the node and a quality of service associated with a type of the traffic at the node; the access point further operating to transmit a query based on its own status, wherein the query is transmitted to one node of the plurality of nodes to determine if the node has information for transmission to the access point, wherein the access point queries the nodes having a higher priority more times than the nodes having a lower priority, wherein the query invites the node to initiate a transmission with the access point; and the node operating, in response to the query, to send a message to the access point indicating whether it has information for transmission to the access point. - View Dependent Claims (14)
-
-
15. A method for communicating between an access point and a plurality of nodes in a multi-hopping wireless network with multi-channel media access control (MAC), the method comprising:
-
operating the access point to; consecutively poll each of a plurality of neighbor nodes using a round-robin polling scheme to determine which of the plurality of neighbor nodes has information for transmission to the access point; operating each node, in response to receiving a query to; reply with a reverse clear to send message and thereafter transmit a data packet message when the node is free and has information for transmission to the access point, wherein the received query is a reverse request to send message, inviting the node to initiate transmission with the access point; and reply with a reverse not clear to send message when the node does not have information for transmission to the access point. - View Dependent Claims (16)
-
Specification