Method and apparatus for adaptive time division multiplexing on a multi-channel wireline medium with colocated transceivers
First Claim
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1. A method comprising:
- operating a first access point among a plurality of access points, wherein the access points communicate over a wireline medium using a respective plurality of frequency channels, wherein each of the access points communicates over the wireline medium with a respective set of one or more stations using the respective frequency channel and using a wireless protocol, wherein a first of the access points includes a transmitter and a receiver both compliant to the wireless protocol, wherein said operating the first access point includes;
the first access point sending a beacon and a schedule over said wireline medium to the respective set of one or more stations, wherein the schedule specifies an uplink phase followed by a downlink phase;
the first access point receiving uplink information over the wireline medium from at least one of the one or more stations of the respective set during the uplink phase;
the first access point moving ahead a start time of the downlink phase in response to (a) determining that the one or more stations of the respective set are done with sending uplink information to the first access point and (b) receiving signals from one or more other ones of the access points that their respective sets of stations are done with sending uplink information;
the first access point moving ahead a time of transmission of a next beacon in response to (c) determining that there is no more downlink information to be sent from the first access point to the respective set of one or more stations and (d) receiving signals from the one or more other ones of the access points that they are done with sending downlink information to their respective sets of one or more stations.
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Abstract
A wireline communications circuit using transceivers compatible with a wireless communications protocol is disclosed using access points and stations in an adaptive Time Division Multiple Access scheme for a multi-channel medium with colocated transceivers. Methods of operating an access point and a station, their implementations as chips and the implementation of a chip for either the access point or station are further disclosed.
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Citations
24 Claims
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1. A method comprising:
operating a first access point among a plurality of access points, wherein the access points communicate over a wireline medium using a respective plurality of frequency channels, wherein each of the access points communicates over the wireline medium with a respective set of one or more stations using the respective frequency channel and using a wireless protocol, wherein a first of the access points includes a transmitter and a receiver both compliant to the wireless protocol, wherein said operating the first access point includes; the first access point sending a beacon and a schedule over said wireline medium to the respective set of one or more stations, wherein the schedule specifies an uplink phase followed by a downlink phase; the first access point receiving uplink information over the wireline medium from at least one of the one or more stations of the respective set during the uplink phase; the first access point moving ahead a start time of the downlink phase in response to (a) determining that the one or more stations of the respective set are done with sending uplink information to the first access point and (b) receiving signals from one or more other ones of the access points that their respective sets of stations are done with sending uplink information; the first access point moving ahead a time of transmission of a next beacon in response to (c) determining that there is no more downlink information to be sent from the first access point to the respective set of one or more stations and (d) receiving signals from the one or more other ones of the access points that they are done with sending downlink information to their respective sets of one or more stations. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
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7. A method for communicating over a wireline medium, wherein the communication involves an access point and a plurality of stations, the method comprising:
operating a first of the stations in order to communicate over the wireless medium using a wireless protocol and a first frequency channel, wherein the first station includes a transmitter and a receiver both compliant to the wireless protocol, wherein said operating includes; the first station receiving a beacon and a schedule from the access point over the wireless medium, wherein the schedule specifies an uplink phase followed by a downlink phase, wherein the schedule also specifies a sequence of time frames within the uplink phase and an allocation of the time frames to respective ones of the stations; the first station receiving a first relinquish message from a second of the stations over the wireless medium, wherein the first relinquish message indicates that the second station relinquishes a first of the time frames that has been allocated to it by the schedule; the first station updating said allocation to move ahead a subset of the stations with respect to the sequence of time frames, wherein the subset of the stations are those two or more stations that were originally allocated time frames after the first time frame, wherein the first station is a member of the subset of stations; the first station transmitting uplink information over the wireless medium during the first time frame; the first station transmitting a second relinquish message over the wireless medium in response to determining that it has no additional uplink information to transmit. - View Dependent Claims (8, 9, 10, 11)
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12. A chip for operating a first access point among a plurality of access points, the chip comprising:
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a transmitter and a receiver both compliant to a wireless protocol; a processor; and a memory storing program instructions, wherein the program instructions, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to operate the first access point, wherein the access points communicate over a wireline medium using a respective plurality of frequency channels, wherein each of the access points communicates over the wireline medium with a respective set of one or more stations using the respective frequency channel and using the wireless protocol, wherein said operating the first access point includes; sending a beacon and a schedule over said wireline medium to the respective set of one or more stations, wherein the schedule specifies an uplink phase followed by a downlink phase; receiving uplink information over the wireline medium from at least one of the one or more stations of the respective set during the uplink phase; moving ahead a start time of the downlink phase in response to (a) determining that the one or more stations of the respective set are done with sending uplink information to the first access point and (b) receiving signals from one or more other ones of the access points that their respective sets of stations are done with sending uplink information; moving ahead a time of transmission of a next beacon in response to (c) determining that there is no more downlink information to be sent from the first access point to the respective set of one or more stations and (d) receiving signals from the one or more other ones of the access points that they are done with sending downlink information to their respective sets of one or more stations. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18)
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19. A chip for operating a first station among a plurality of stations in order to facilitate communication between the first station and an access point, the chip comprising:
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a transmitter and a receiver both compliant to a wireless protocol; a processor; and a memory storing program instructions, wherein the program instructions, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to operate the first station in order to communicate over the wireless medium using the wireless protocol and a first frequency channel, wherein said operating the first station includes; receiving a beacon and a schedule from the access point over the wireless medium, wherein the schedule specifies an uplink phase followed by a downlink phase, wherein the schedule also specifies a sequence of time frames within the uplink phase and an allocation of the time frames to respective ones of the stations; receiving a first relinquish message from a second of the stations over the wireless medium, wherein the first relinquish message indicates that the second station relinquishes a first of the time frames that has been allocated to it by the schedule; updating said allocation to move ahead a subset of the stations with respect to the sequence of time frames, wherein the subset of the stations are those two or more stations that were originally allocated time frames following the first time frame, wherein the first station is a member of the subset of stations; transmitting uplink information over the wireless medium during the first time frame; transmitting a second relinquish message over the wireless medium in response to determining that the first access point has no additional uplink information to transmit. - View Dependent Claims (20, 21, 22, 23, 24)
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Specification