Admission control for QoS-driven wireless LANs

• US 8,009,649 B1
• Filed: 11/19/2008
• Issued: 08/30/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 07/14/2000
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property II LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property II LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Ho, Jin-Meng, Lin, Wei
• Primary Examiner(s): SHEDRICK, CHARLES TERRELL
• Application Number:
  US12/313,330
• Time in Patent Office: 1,014 Days
• Field of Search: 370/338, 370/310
• US Class Current: 370/338
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/0268 using specific QoS parameters for wireless networks, e.g. QoS class identifier [QCI] or guaranteed bit rate [GBR] negotiating SLA or negotiating QoS H04W28/24
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/26 Resource reservation
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/543 based on requested quality, e.g. QoS
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 74/06 using polling

Abstract

A method and a system for a quality of service (QoS) point coordinator (PC) for a basic service set (BSS) in a wireless local area network (WLAN) is disclosed. The PC includes a QoS management entity (QME) and an admission control entity (ACE). The QME receives at least one reservation request message that characterizes one of a QoS session and a QoS application (session/application) that can be of a continuous/periodic flow type that is time sensitive, or can be of a discontinuous/bursty flow type that is time tolerant. The reservation request message contains at least one QoS parameter set and requests a resource of a communication channel in the BSS for the QoS session/application. The communication channel is organized into superframes, such that each superframe includes a contention-free period (CFP) and a contention-period (CP). The reservation request message requests a predetermined bandwidth of each CFP of the communication channel in the BSS. The ACE performs macro bandwidth management for QoS traffic transport of the session/application over a medium access control (MAC) sublayer for the communication channel by determining whether to grant the reservation request based on at least one QoS parameter set associated with the session/application.

Claims

1. A point coordinator for a basic service set in a wireless network, the point coordinator comprising:

a quality of service management entity for receiving a reservation request characterizing a quality of service session, the reservation request containing a quality of service parameter set and requesting a resource of a communication channel in the basic service set for the quality of service session;

an admission control entity for performing macro bandwidth management for quality of service traffic transport of the quality of service session over a medium access control sublayer for the communication channel, the admission control entity determining whether to grant the reservation request based on the quality of service parameter set; and

a frame schedule entity for providing the quality of service management entity with a channel status information on a superframe basis, the channel status information being related to a contention-free period and a channel bandwidth;

wherein the admission control entity admits a session of a continuous and periodic flow type to the communication channel of the basic service set when a bandwidth requested for the session of the continuous and periodic flow type does not exceed a useable total channel bandwidth minus a bandwidth used for the session of the continuous and periodic flow type.

2. A point coordinator for a basic service set in a wireless network, the point coordinator comprising:

a quality of service management entity for receiving a reservation request characterizing a quality of service session, the reservation request containing a quality of service parameter set and requesting a resource of a communication channel in the basic service set for the quality of service session;

an admission control entity for performing macro bandwidth management for quality of service traffic transport of the quality of service session over a medium access control sublayer for the communication channel, the admission control entity determining whether to grant the reservation request based on the quality of service parameter set; and

a frame schedule entity that provides the quality of service management entity with a channel status information on a superframe basis, the channel status information being related to a contention-free period and a channel bandwidth;

wherein the quality of service parameter set characterizing a quality of service session contains a priority level; and

wherein the admission control entity admits a session of a discontinuous and bursty flow type to the communication channel of the basic service set when a bandwidth requested for the session of the discontinuous and bursty flow type does not exceed a useable total channel bandwidth minus a bandwidth used for a session of a continuous/periodic flow type, and minus a bandwidth used for a session of the discontinuous and bursty flow type relating to a priority level that is higher than a priority level of the session requesting the bandwidth.

3. A point coordinator for a basic service set in a wireless network, the point coordinator comprising:

a quality of service management entity for receiving a reservation request characterizing a quality of service session, the reservation request containing a quality of service parameter set and requesting a resource of a communication channel in the basic service set for the quality of service session; and

an admission control entity for performing macro bandwidth management for quality of service traffic transport of the quality of service session over a medium access control sublayer for the communication channel, the admission control entity determining whether to grant the reservation request based on the quality of service parameter set;

wherein the quality of service parameter set characterizing the quality of service session contains a mean data rate and a maximum data burst, the mean data rate being related to a token rate of a token bucket and the maximum data burst being related to a bucket size of the token bucket; and

wherein an admission control is based on a bursty behavior of the token bucket.

4. A method for controlling access to a communication channel in a basic service set in a wireless network, the method comprising:

receiving a reservation request characterizing a quality of service session, the reservation request containing a quality of service parameter set and requesting a resource of the communication channel in the basic service set for the quality of service session;

performing macro bandwidth management for quality of service traffic transport of the quality of service session over a medium access control sublayer for the communication channel by determining whether to grant the reservation request based on the quality of service parameter set associated with the quality of service session;

generating channel status information on a superframe basis, the channel status information being related to a contention-free period and a channel bandwidth; and

admitting a session of a continuous and periodic flow type to the communication channel of the basic service set when a bandwidth requested for the session of the continuous and periodic flow type does not exceed a total useable channel bandwidth minus a bandwidth used for the session of the continuous and periodic flow type.

5. A method for controlling access to a communication channel in a basic service set in a wireless network, the method comprising:

receiving a reservation request characterizing a quality of service session, the reservation request containing a quality of service parameter set and requesting a resource of the communication channel in the basic service set for the quality of service session, wherein the quality of service parameter set contains a priority level;

performing macro bandwidth management for quality of service traffic transport of the quality of service session over a medium access control sublayer for the communication channel by determining whether to grant the reservation request based on the quality of service parameter set associated with the quality of service session;

generating channel status information on a superframe basis, the channel status information being related to a contention-free period and a channel bandwidth; and

admitting a session of a discontinuous and bursty flow type to the communication channel of the basic service set when a bandwidth requested for the session of the discontinuous and bursty flow type does not exceed a useable total channel bandwidth minus a bandwidth used for a session of a continuous and periodic flow type, and minus a bandwidth used for a session of the discontinuous and bursty flow type relating to a priority level that is higher than a priority level of the session requesting the bandwidth.

6. A method for controlling access to a communication channel in a basic service set in a wireless network, the method comprising:

receiving a reservation request characterizing a quality of service session, the reservation request containing a quality of service parameter set and requesting a resource of the communication channel in the basic service set for the quality of service session; and

performing macro bandwidth management for quality of service traffic transport of the quality of service session over a medium access control sublayer for the communication channel by determining whether to grant the reservation request based on the quality of service parameter set associated with the quality of service session;

wherein the quality of service parameter set characterizing the quality of service session contains a mean data rate and a maximum data burst, the mean data rate being related to a token rate of a token bucket and the maximum data burst being related to a bucket size of the token bucket, and

wherein an admission control is performed based on a bursty behavior of the token bucket.