Network assisted power management

• US 8,488,501 B2
• Filed: 01/30/2009
• Issued: 07/16/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 01/30/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Navda, Vishnu, Ramjee, Ramachandran, Padmanabhan, Venkata N., Rayanchu, Shravan
• Primary Examiner(s): Moore, Ian N
• Assistant Examiner(s): Le, Brian T
• Application Number:
  US12/363,450
• Publication Number:
  US 20100195548A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,628 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 370/311
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0876 Network utilisation, e.g. volume of load or congestion level
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/0229 where the received signal is a wanted signal
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/70 in wireless communication networks

Abstract

Embodiments of the claimed subject matter provide an approach to managing the power state of wireless network devices in a wireless network. Embodiments include a process for modifying the scheduling of data distribution device by referencing the data buffer in an access point for data intended for a wireless network client operating under a power-saving mode, and re-arranging the distribution queue of the access point to be granted priority for a time which coincides with the delivery of a polling beacon to the power-saving wireless client. Other embodiments include a method to create virtual access points for a particular usage, and to leverage access points in a wireless network for particular usages of devices in range.

Claims

1. A method for scheduling data transmissions in a network to manage a power state of a power-saving wireless network device, comprising:

determining a presence of data intended for a power-saving wireless network client in a buffer of data, the buffer of data comprising a queue of data to be distributed to a plurality of wireless network clients;

enqueuinq data in the buffer of data into a queue of data in an order the data is received;

determining a first position in the queue of data corresponding to data intended for the power-saving wireless network client;

re-arranging the queue of data to be synchronized with a power-state of the power-saving wireless network client such that data intended for the power-saving wireless network client is re-positioned in the queue of data to coincide with a delivery of a polling beacon with a traffic indication map (TIM) field to the power-saving wireless network client;

sending a polling beacon with a traffic indication map (TIM) field to the power-saving wireless network client according to the queue of data;

receiving a poll message from the power-saving wireless network client; and

delivering the data intended for the power-saving wireless network client once the poll message from the power-saving wireless network client is received,

wherein a repositioning of the data intended for the power-saving wireless network client in the queue of data to coincide with a delivery of a polling beacon with a TIM field queue is not delayed beyond a next scheduled polling beacon for the power-saving wireless network client.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the data intended for the power-saving wireless network client is awarded priority in the data queue to coincide with sending a polling beacon to the power-saving wireless network client according to the queue of data is performed.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the method is performed in an access point.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the method is performed in a proxy network client.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the proxy network client is a server.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the polling beacon sent to a power-saving wireless network client is a periodic polling beacon.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein re-arranging the data in the buffer of data into a queue of data comprises:

determining whether the data intended for the power-saving wireless network client is synchronized with a power-state of the power-saving wireless network client; and

re-arranging the data comprising the queue of data to be synchronized with the power-state of the power-saving wireless network client such that data intended for the power-saving wireless network client is scheduled to coincide with a delivery of a polling beacon with a traffic indication map (TIM) field to the power-saving wireless network client if the data intended for the power-saving wireless network client is not synchronized with the power-state of the power-saving wireless network client.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein re-arranging the data in the buffer of data into a queue of data further comprises:

estimating a drain time for the first position, the drain time for the first position comprising an estimated time until the first position is at front of the data queue;

estimating a time a next polling beacon is delivered;

determining whether the drain time for the first position corresponds to the time the next polling beacon is delivered;

modifying the data queue such that the data intended for the power-saving wireless network client will be prioritized in the data queue when the next polling beacon is estimated to be delivered if the drain time for the first position does not correspond to the time the next polling bacon is delivered; and

sending a TIM beacon to the power-saving wireless network according to the data queue.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the next polling beacon is a next earliest polling beacon that is sent to the power-saving wireless network client.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein estimating a drain time for a first position comprises:

calculating a current size of the data queue;

estimating a drain time for a plurality of data packets in the data queue, the drain time comprising expected transmission times for the plurality of data packets to be distributed to each intended recipient; and

aggregating the drain time for the data queue to be distributed for each intended recipient until the first position.

11. A system for managing power states of a plurality of wireless network devices, comprising:

a plurality of access points customized for a plurality of usages and comprising wireless nodes in a network; and

a plurality of wireless network devices operable to communicate to wireless nodes in the network,

wherein a wireless network device engaging in a particular usage communicates with an access point customized for the particular usage,

further wherein an access point is customized for a usage by adjusting a position of data packets in a data queue in the access point to correspond to a schedule of polling beacons to be delivered to wireless network devices using the access point to transfer data such that data intended for a power-saving wireless network device of the plurality of wireless network devices is re-positioned in the data queue to coincide with a delivery of a polling beacon with a traffic indication map (TIM) field to the power-saving wireless network device,

wherein a repositioning of the data intended for the power-saving wireless network device in the data queue to coincide with a delivery of a polling beacon with a TIM field queue is not delayed beyond a next scheduled polling beacon for the power-saving wireless network device.

12. The system according to claim 11, wherein a usage comprises a plurality of activities requiring an approximate rate of power consumption to perform.

13. The system according to claim 11, wherein a usage comprises a transfer of data according to a Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP).

14. The system according to claim 11, wherein a usage comprises web-browsing.

15. The system according to claim 11, wherein the access point delivers the data intended for the power-saving wireless network device once a poll message from the power-saving wireless network client is received.