Quality of service resource negotiation

• US 8,331,293 B2
• Filed: 12/19/2011
• Issued: 12/11/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 05/10/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Inventors: Sood, Kapil
• Primary Examiner(s): WANG-HURST, KATHY W
• Application Number:
  US13/330,612
• Publication Number:
  US 20120087344A1
• Time in Patent Office: 358 Days
• Field of Search: 455/452.2, 455/453, 455/455, 370/328, 370/329, 370331-333, 370/338
• US Class Current: 370/328
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/00 Routing or path finding of packets in data switching networks routing or path finding in wireless networks H04W40/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/22 Alternate routing
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/247 using M:N active or standby paths
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/15 in relation to multipoint traffic arrangements for broadcast or multicast in data networks H04L12/18
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/20 Traffic policing
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/70 Admission control; Resource allocation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/767 after changing the attachment point, e.g. after hand-off
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/786 Mapping reservation between domains
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/805 QOS or priority aware
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/824 Applicable to portable or mobile terminals
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/24 Negotiating SLA [Service Level Agreement]; Negotiating QoS [Quality of Service]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/12 Reselecting a serving backbone network switching or routing node

Abstract

Embodiments of apparatuses, articles, methods, and systems for negotiating quality of service resources in wireless networks are generally described herein. Other embodiments may be described and claimed.

Claims

1. A mobile station comprising:

a wireless network interface to facilitate wireless communication;

storage having instructions stored therein;

one or more processors to execute the instructions to;

establish a wireless session with a first access point (AP);

receive a policy advertisement from a second AP to indicate that the mobile station has an option of using a first transitioning policy or a second transitioning policy to transition the wireless session to the second AP, wherein the first transitioning policy provides that a resource request is to be sent to the second AP prior to a re-association request and the second transitioning policy provides that a resource request is to be sent to the second AP with a re-association request; and

transition, based on the policy advertisement, the wireless session to the second AP according to the first or the second transitioning policy.

2. The mobile station of claim 1, wherein the one or more processors are to execute the instructions to:

send, over the air directly to the second AP, an authentication request to initiate the transition; and

receive, over the air directly from the second AP, an authentication response.

3. The mobile station of claim 1, wherein the one or more processors are to execute the instructions to:

send, to the second AP through the first AP, a fast transitioning (FT) request to initiate the transition; and

receive, from the second AP through the first AP, a FT response.

4. The mobile station of claim 1, wherein the one or more processors are to execute the instructions to:

transmit a resource request element including a number of requested resources listed in an order of preference.

5. The mobile station of claim 1, wherein the one or more processors are to execute the instructions to:

transmit a resource request element including a requested resource in a confirmation message; and

transmit a re-association request after transmission of the confirmation message.

6. The mobile station of claim 1, wherein the one or more processors are to execute the instructions to:

transmit a resource request element including a requested resource in a re-association request.

7. The mobile station of claim 1, wherein the one or more processors are to execute the instructions to:

receive a beacon or a probe response from the second AP including a mobility domain identifier (MDID);

determine the second AP is in common mobility domain with the first AP based on the MDID; and

select the second AP as a target for the transition of the wireless session based on said determination that the second AP is in common mobility domain with the first AP.

8. The mobile station of claim 7, wherein the policy advertisement is in the beacon or probe response.

9. The mobile station of claim 1, wherein the one or more processors are to execute the instructions to:

transmit, to the second AP, a re-association request and receive, from the second AP, a re-association response in a secure session.

10. The mobile station of claim 1, wherein the one or more processors are to execute the instructions to:

transmit a resource request element that includes one or more requested resources; and

receive a resource response element that indicates a non-allocation of the one or more requested resources.

11. The mobile station of claim 10, wherein the resource response element further indicates at least one suggested resource as an alternative to the one or more requested resources.

12. The mobile station of claim 1, wherein the one or more processors are to execute the instructions to:

receive the policy advertisement in a beacon or a probe response from the second AP.

13. An apparatus comprising:

a supplicant to be operated by one or more processors of a mobile station to secure a wireless session between the mobile station and a first access point (AP); and

a transitioning manager to be operated by one or more processors of the mobile station to;

receive a policy advertisement from a second AP to indicate that the mobile station has an option of using a first transitioning policy or a second transitioning policy to transition the wireless session to the second AP, wherein the first transitioning policy provides that a resource request is to be sent to the second AP prior to a re-association request and the second transitioning policy provides that a resource request is to be sent to the second AP with a re-association request; and

transmit a resource request that includes one or more requested resources and a re-association request to the second AP based on the policy advertisement.

14. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the transitioning manager is further configured to transmit the resource request in an authentication confirmation prior to transmission of the re-association request.

15. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the transitioning manager is further configured to transmit the resource request in the re-association request.

16. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein transitioning manager is further configured to

transmit a resource request element including a number of requested resources listed in an order of preference.

17. An access point comprising:

a wireless network interface configured to facilitate wireless communication;

storage having instructions stored therein; and

one or more processors to execute the instructions to;

transmit, in a probe response or a beacon, a policy advertisement to indicate support of a first transitioning policy and a second transitioning policy, wherein the first transitioning policy provides that a quality of service (QoS) resource is to be requested prior to a re-association request and the second transitioning policy provides that a QoS resource is to be requested with a re-association request;

receive a resource request that includes one or more requested QoS resources and a re-association request from a mobile station in accordance with either the first transitioning policy or the second transitioning policy; and

transmit, to the mobile station, a resource response to indicate allocation or non-allocation of the one or more requested QoS resources.

18. The access point of claim 17, wherein the one or more processors are to execute the instructions to:

transmit the resource response to indicate a non-allocation of the one or more requested QoS resources and to further indicate availability of at least one other QoS resource.

19. The access point of claim 17, wherein the one or more processors are to execute the instructions to:

receive the resource request in an authentication confirmation prior to receiving the re-association request.

20. The access point of claim 17, wherein the one or more processors are to execute the instructions to:

receive, over the air directly from the mobile station, an authentication request to initiate a transition of a wireless connection from another access point to the access point; and

transmit, over the air directly to the mobile station, an authentication response.

21. One or more non-transitory computer readable media having instructions stored thereon that, when executed, cause an access point to:

transmit a policy advertisement that indicates whether a mobile station has an option of using a first transitioning policy or a second transitioning policy to transition a wireless session to the access point, wherein the first transitioning policy provides that a resource request is to be sent to the access point prior to a re-association request and the second transitioning policy provides that a resource request is to be sent to the access point with a re-association request;

receive an authentication request from a mobile station and authenticate the mobile station based on the authentication request;

receive a resource request that includes one or more requested quality of service (QoS) resources and a re-association request from a mobile station according to the first or second transitioning policy; and

transmit, to the mobile station, a resource response to indicate allocation or non-allocation of the one or more requested QoS resources.

22. The one or more computer readable media of claim 21, wherein the instructions, when executed, further cause the access point to:

transmit the resource response to indicate a non-allocation of the one or more requested QoS resources and to further indicate availability of at least one other QoS resource.

23. The one or more computer readable media of claim 21, wherein the instructions, when executed, further cause the access point to:

receive the authentication request from another access point to initiate a transition of a wireless session from the other access point to the access point.