Reservation based MAC protocol

• US 8,320,244 B2
• Filed: 03/13/2007
• Issued: 11/27/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 06/30/2006
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Inventors: Muqattash, Alaa, Rajeswaran, Arjunan, Dharmaraju, Dinesh, Nandagopalan, Saishankar, Krishnan, Ranganathan
• Primary Examiner(s): Thier, Michael
• Assistant Examiner(s): RIYAMI, ABDULLAH A
• Application Number:
  US11/685,687
• Publication Number:
  US 20090052319A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,086 Days
• Field of Search: 370/230, 370/235, 370/310, 370/310.2, 370/329, 370/328, 370/341, 370/348, 370/338, 370/443, 370/335, 370/342, 370/351, 455/450, 455/509
• US Class Current: 370/230
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2012/6448 Medium Access Control [MAC]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/302 Route determination based on requested QoS
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/70 Admission control; Resource allocation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/83 based on usage prediction
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 74/0833 Random access procedures, e.g. with 4-step access
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/04 Registration at HLR or HSS [Home Subscriber Server]

Abstract

Embodiments describe scheduling communication in an ad hoc multihop network. Included is a reservation based Medium Access Control (MAC) protocol that has resources scheduled along the path from source to destination. Admission control is performed on a per-hop basis and a decision is made, in a distributed manner, if enough resources exist along the multihop path to admit a new communication.

Claims

1. A method for scheduling communications in an ad hoc communications network from at least a first wireless device to a destination device via an intermediate device, the method comprising:

receiving an RTR control packet at the intermediate device from the at least a first wireless device;

determining a schedule from the at least a first wireless device to the intermediate device;

choosing at the intermediate device an earliest schedule from among a plurality of schedules for communication between the at least a first wireless device and the intermediate device based on an admission control policy;

sending an RTR packet to the destination device;

receiving an RC packet from the destination device in response to the RTR packet; and

transmitting the RC packet to the at least a first wireless device, the RC packet including a communication schedule.

2. The method of claim 1, after receiving an RTR control packet from the at least a first wireless device, further comprising appending the RTR packet with a first reservation table for the intermediate device and a second reservation table for the at least a first wireless device.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the method is performed by the intermediate device.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the admission control policy condition includes at least one of a data rate, a data delay, a Quality of Service, and a scheduled transmission.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein after choosing an earliest schedule for communication between the at least a first wireless device and the intermediate device, further comprising:

updating a reservation table of the intermediate device; and

appending the RTR packet with the reservation table of the intermediate device.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising using a common code to send the RTR packet and to transmit the RC packet.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the received RTR control packet comprises a reservation table that includes at least one of an active node schedule, an interference margin, a power of transmission, and a path loss between nodes.

8. An apparatus that schedules communications in an ad hoc communications network from at least a source node to a destination node via the apparatus, comprising:

a receiver that receives an RTR control packet from the source node;

a scheduler that analyzes available schedules and chooses an earliest schedule from among a plurality of schedules for communication between the source node and the apparatus, based on an admission control policy;

a transmitter that transmits an RTR packet to the destination node, the RTR packet includes the earliest communication schedule

wherein the receiver is configured to receive an RC packet from the destination device and wherein the transmitter is configured to transmit the RC packet to the source node.

9. The apparatus of claim 8, the receiver further receives a first RC packet in response to the transmitted RTR packet and the transmitter sends a second RC packet to the source node.

10. The apparatus of claim 9, further comprising a configurer that appends the second RC packet to include the communication schedule.

11. The apparatus of claim 8, further comprising a reservation table that includes information about active neighboring devices, wherein the reservation table is updated with the communication schedule.

12. The apparatus of claim 8, further comprising a control policy processor that determines whether the chosen schedule is feasible.

13. The apparatus of claim 8, the transmitter uses a common code to transmit the RTR packet and the second RC packet.

14. An apparatus that schedules communications in an ad hoc communications network from a source device to a destination device via the apparatus, comprising:

means for receiving an RTR control packet via a path from the source device to the apparatus;

means for analyzing available schedules for the path;

means for choosing an earliest schedule from among a plurality of schedules based on an admission control policy;

means for conveying an RTR packet to the destination device, the RTR packet including the earliest schedule;

means for receiving an RC packet from the destination device; and

means for transmitting the RC packet to the source node.

15. The apparatus of claim 14, further comprising means for appending the RTR packet with a first reservation table for the apparatus and a second reservation table for the source device.

16. The apparatus of claim 14, further comprising:

means for receiving a first RC packet that includes a communication schedule from the destination device; and

means for sending a second RC packet that includes the communication schedule to the source device.

17. A non-transitory computer-readable medium embodying a method for scheduling communications in an ad hoc communications network from a source device to a destination device via an intermediate device, the method comprising:

receiving an RTR control packet via a path from a source device to the intermediate device;

analyzing available schedules for the path;

choosing an earliest schedule from among a plurality of schedules based on an admission control policy;

conveying an RTR packet to the destination device, the RTR packet including the earliest schedule;

receiving an RC packet from the destination device; and

transmitting the RC packet to the source node.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 17, the method further comprising appending the RTR packet with a first reservation table for the intermediate device and a second reservation table for the source device.

19. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 17, the method further comprising:

receiving a first RC packet that includes a communication schedule from the destination device; and

sending a second RC packet that includes the communication schedule to the source device.

20. An article of manufacture for scheduling communications in an ad hoc communications network from at least a first wireless device to a destination device via an intermediate device, the article of manufacture comprising a processor and a memory, the processor and the memory being coupled together, and the processor being configured to:

receive an RTR control packet at the intermediate device from the at least a first wireless device;

determine a schedule from the at least a first wireless device to the intermediate device, based on an admission control policy;

choose an earliest schedule from among a plurality of schedules for communication between the at least a first wireless device and the intermediate device;

send an RTR packet to the destination device;

receive an RC packet from the destination device in response to the RTR packet; and

transmit the RC packet to the at least a first wireless device, the RC packet including a communication schedule.

21. The processor of claim 20, further configured to append the RTR packet with a first reservation table for the intermediate device and a second reservation table for the at least a first wireless device.

22. The processor of claim 20, wherein the intermediate device comprises the processor.