Methods and apparatus for providing information indicative of traffic delay of a wireless link

• US 8,040,853 B2
• Filed: 07/23/2007
• Issued: 10/18/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 05/26/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Original Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Inventors: Qi, Emily H.
• Primary Examiner(s): Ferris; Derrick
• Assistant Examiner(s): Anwar; Mohammad
• Application Number:
  US11/781,655
• Publication Number:
  US 20080188214A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,548 Days
• Field of Search: 370/328, 370/332, 370/333
• US Class Current: 370/332
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0852 Delays
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/00 Supervisory, monitoring or testing arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/10 Scheduling measurement reports ; Arrangements for measurement reports

Abstract

Embodiments of methods and apparatus for providing information indicative of traffic delay of a wireless link are generally described herein. Other embodiments may be described and claimed.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving, by a reporting node, a measurement request message from a request node via a wireless link, said measurement request message comprising a bin increment mode value corresponding to an exponential bin increment mode;

transmitting, by the reporting node, via the wireless link, one or more data frames to the request node in response to the received measurement request message;

monitoring, by the reporting node, the wireless link for one or more acknowledgement frames transmitted by the request node in response to the one or more data frames; and

generating, by the reporting node, histogram information indicative of delay associated with the wireless link based on the one or more transmitted data frames and the one or more received acknowledgement frames by utilizing a plurality of bins having one or more bin increments corresponding to the bin increment mode,

wherein the one or more bin increments are derived from the following equations;

B₀;

Delay<

i₀, for i=0;

B_i;

i₀+(2<sup>i−

1</sup>*Δ

i)≦

Delay<

i₀+(2ⁱ*Δ

i), for 0<

i<

N−

1;

B_N-1;

i₀+(2<sup>i−

1</sup>*Δ

i)≦

Delay, for i=N−

1;

where i is a bin number, N is a number of bins, Δ

i is a bin duration, and i₀ is a bin offset.

2. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein said monitoring the wireless link further comprises monitoring during one or more transmit time intervals, and wherein each of the one or more transmit time intervals is associated with one of the one or more data frame or one of the one or more acknowledgement frame.

3. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein the measurement request message further comprises information indicative of one or more of a measurement duration, a traffic identifier, a bin offset, a bin duration, or a number of bins.

4. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein generating the histogram information indicative of delay associated with the wireless link further comprises associating each of a plurality of transmit time intervals of the duration of traffic to one of the plurality of bins, and wherein each of the plurality of bins is associated with a delay interval.

5. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein generating the histogram information indicative of delay associated with the wireless link further comprises generating information indicative of one of a maximum delay, a minimum delay, a mode delay, an average delay, or jitter associated with the wireless link.

6. A method as defined in claim 1, further comprising transmitting the histogram information to the request node.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the exponential bin increment mode is a binary exponential bin increment mode.

8. An article of manufacture comprising:

a tangible and non-transitory storage medium; and

a plurality of programming instructions stored on the storage medium, which, in response to execution of the instructions, causes a wireless node to;

receive, via a wireless link, a measurement request message from a request node, said request message comprising a bin increment mode value corresponding to an exponential bin increment mode;

transmit, via the wireless link, one or more data frames to the request node in response to the measurement request message;

monitor the wireless link for one or more acknowledgement frames transmitted by the request node in response to the one or more data frames; and

generate histogram information indicative of delay associated with the wireless link based on the one or more transmitted data frames and the one or more received acknowledgement frames by utilizing a plurality of bins having one or more bin increments corresponding to the bin increment mode,

wherein the one or more bin increments are derived from the following equations;

B₀;

Delay<

i₀, for i=0;

B_i;

i₀+(2<sup>i−

1</sup>*Δ

i)≦

Delay<

i₀+(2ⁱ*Δ

i), for 0<

i<

N−

1;

B_N-1;

i₀+(2<sup>i−

1</sup>*Δ

i)≦

Delay, for i=N−

1;

where i is a bin number, N is a number of bins, Δ

i is a bin duration, and i₀ is a bin offset.

9. An article of manufacture as defined in claim 8, wherein said to monitor the wireless link further comprises to monitor during one or more transmit time intervals, and wherein each of the one or more transmit time intervals is associated with one of the one or more data frame or one of the one or more acknowledgement frame.

10. An article of manufacture as defined in claim 8, wherein the measurement request further comprises information indicative of one or more of a measurement duration, a traffic identifier, a bin offset, a bin duration, or a number of bins.

11. An article of manufacture as defined in claim 8, wherein said to generate histogram information further comprises to generate the histogram information indicative of delay associated with the wireless link by associating each of a plurality of transmit time intervals of the duration of traffic to one of the plurality of bins, and wherein each of the plurality of bins is associated with a delay interval.

12. An article of manufacture as defined in claim 8, wherein said to generate histogram information further comprises to generate information indicative of one of a maximum delay, a minimum delay, a mode delay, an average delay, or jitter associated with the wireless link.

13. An article of manufacture as defined in claim 8, wherein the plurality of programming instructions are further designed to cause the wireless node to transmit the histogram information to the request node.

14. An apparatus comprising:

a receiver configured to receive, via a wireless link, a measurement request message from a request node, said request message comprising a bin increment mode value corresponding to an exponential bin increment mode;

a transmitter coupled to the receiver and configured to transmit, via the wireless link, one or more data frames to the request node in response to the received measurement request message;

a monitor coupled to the receiver and configured to monitor the wireless link for one or more acknowledgement frames transmitted by the request node in response to the one or more data frames; and

a generator coupled to the monitor and configured to generate histogram information indicative of delay associated with the wireless link based on the one or more transmitted data frames and the one or more received acknowledgement frames by utilizing a plurality of bins having one or more bin increments corresponding to the bin increment,

wherein the one or more bin increments are derived from the following equations;

B₀;

Delay<

i₀, for i=0;

B_i;

i₀+(2<sup>i−

1</sup>*Δ

i)≦

Delay<

i₀+(2ⁱ*Δ

i), for 0<

i<

N−

1;

B_N-1;

i₀+(2<sup>i−

1</sup>*Δ

i)≦

Delay, for i=N−

1;

where i is a bin number, N is a number of bins, Δ

i is a bin duration, and i₀ is a bin offset.

15. An apparatus as defined in claim 14, wherein the monitor is configured to monitor the wireless link during one or more transmit time intervals, and wherein each of the one or more transmit time intervals is associated with one of the one or more data frame or one of the one or more acknowledgement frame.

16. An apparatus as defined in claim 14 wherein the measurement request comprises information indicative of one or more of a measurement duration, a traffic identifier, a bin offset, a bin duration, or a number of bins.

17. An apparatus as defined in claim 14, wherein the generator is further configured to associate each of a plurality of transmit time intervals of the duration to one of the plurality of bins, and wherein each of the plurality of bins is associated with a delay interval.

18. An apparatus as defined in claim 14, wherein the generator is further configured to generate information indicative of one of a maximum delay, a minimum delay, a mode delay, an average delay, or jitter associated with the wireless link.

19. An apparatus as defined in claim 14, wherein the apparatus comprises one or more of a laptop computer, a handheld computer, a tablet computer, a personal data assistant, a wireless telephone, a pager, an audio/video player, a game device, a navigation device, an access point, or a mesh point.

20. A system comprising:

a flash memory; and

a processor coupled to the flash memory and configured to;

receive a measurement request message via a wireless link from a request node, the measurement request message including a bin increment mode value corresponding to an exponential bin increment mode;

transmit via the wireless link one or more data frames to the request node in response to the received measurement request message;

monitor the wireless link for one or more acknowledgement frames transmitted by the request node in response to the one or more data frames; and

generate histogram information indicative of delay associated with the wireless link based on the one or more transmitted data frames and the one or more received acknowledgement frames by utilizing a plurality of bins having one or more bin increments corresponding to the bin increment mode,

wherein the one or more bin increments are derived from the following equations;

B₀;

Delay<

i₀, for i=0;

B_i;

i₀+(2<sup>i−

1</sup>*Δ

i)≦

Delay<

i₀+(2ⁱ*Δ

i), for 0<

i<

N−

1;

B_N-1;

i₀+(2<sup>i−

1</sup>*Δ

i)≦

Delay, for i=N−

1;

where i is a bin number, N is a number of bins, Δ

i is a bin duration, and i₀ is a bin offset.

21. A system as defined in claim 20, wherein said monitor the wireless link further comprises monitor during one or more transmit time intervals, and wherein each of the one or more transmit time intervals is associated with one of the one or more data frame or one of the one or more acknowledgement frame.

22. A system as defined in claim 20, wherein the measurement request further comprises information indicative of one or more of a measurement duration, a traffic identifier, a bin offset, a bin duration, or a number of bins.

23. A system as defined in claim 20, wherein the processor is further configured to associate each of a plurality of transmit time intervals of the duration to one of the plurality of bins, and wherein each of the plurality of bins is associated with a delay interval.

24. A system as defined in claim 20, wherein the processor is further configured to generate information indicative of one of a maximum delay, a minimum delay, a mode delay, an average delay, or jitter associated with the wireless link.