Methods and apparatus for supporting broadcast communications in a peer to peer network
First Claim
1. A method, comprising operating a first device to perform the steps of:
- determining that broadcast data is to be transmitted;
identifying a broadcast transmission request resource in a recurring timing structure including transmission request intervals of a first type which support broadcast transmission requests and a second type which are limited to supporting unicast transmission requests;
transmitting a transmission request in said identified broadcast transmission request resource;
receiving a transmission request response in response to the transmission request, the transmission request having a first priority and the transmission request response having a second priority; and
determining to abstain from transmitting the broadcast data when the second priority is greater than the first priority.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
Methods and apparatus related to broadcasting data in a peer to peer wireless communications network are described. A timing structure is utilized employing slots of a first type which support broadcast traffic transmissions and unicast traffic transmissions and slots of a second type which support unicast traffic transmission but do not support broadcast traffic transmissions. In various embodiments, traffic air link resource scheduling is performed in a decentralized manner on a slot by slot basis. In some such embodiments, a wireless device prior to transmitting a broadcast data traffic signal, transmits a broadcast transmission request signal, sometimes alternatively referred to as a broadcast indicator signal; and a wireless device prior to transmitting a peer to peer unicast signal, transmits a peer to peer traffic transmission request signal. In various embodiments, for slots of the first type, broadcast transmission requests have priority over peer to peer unicast transmission requests.
-
Citations
29 Claims
-
1. A method, comprising operating a first device to perform the steps of:
-
determining that broadcast data is to be transmitted; identifying a broadcast transmission request resource in a recurring timing structure including transmission request intervals of a first type which support broadcast transmission requests and a second type which are limited to supporting unicast transmission requests; transmitting a transmission request in said identified broadcast transmission request resource; receiving a transmission request response in response to the transmission request, the transmission request having a first priority and the transmission request response having a second priority; and determining to abstain from transmitting the broadcast data when the second priority is greater than the first priority. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11)
-
-
12. A device comprising:
-
a broadcast determination module configured to determine if broadcast data is to be transmitted; a broadcast resource identification module configured to identify a broadcast transmission request resource in a recurring timing structure including transmission request intervals of a first type which support broadcast transmission requests and a second type which are limited to supporting unicast transmission requests; a broadcast transmission request signal generation module configured to generate a broadcast transmission request when said broadcast determination module determines that broadcast data is to be transmitted; a wireless transmitter module; a broadcast request control module configured to control the wireless transmitter module to transmit said generated broadcast transmission request in said identified broadcast transmission request resource; and a broadcast response module configured to receive a transmission request response in response to the transmission request, the transmission request having a first priority and the transmission request response having a second priority, and configured to determine to abstain from transmitting the broadcast data when the second priority is greater than the first priority. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21)
-
-
22. A device comprising:
-
broadcast determination means for determining if broadcast data is to be transmitted; broadcast resource identification means for identifying a broadcast transmission request resource in a recurring timing structure including transmission request intervals of a first type which support broadcast transmission requests and a second type which are limited to supporting unicast transmission requests; broadcast transmission request signal generation means for generating a broadcast transmission request when said broadcast determination means determines that broadcast data is to be transmitted; a wireless transmitter means; and broadcast request control means for controlling the wireless transmitter means to transmit said generated broadcast transmission request in said identified broadcast transmission request resource; broadcast response means for receiving a transmission request response in response to the transmission request, the transmission request having a first priority and the transmission request response having a second priority, and for determining to abstain from transmitting the broadcast data when the second priority is greater than the first priority. - View Dependent Claims (23, 24, 25, 26)
-
-
27. A computer program product, the computer program product comprising:
non-transitory computer readable medium comprising; code for causing a computer to determine that broadcast data is to be transmitted; code for causing a computer to identify a broadcast transmission request resource in a recurring timing structure including transmission request intervals of a first type which support broadcast transmission requests and a second type which are limited to supporting unicast transmission requests; code for causing a computer to control transmitting a transmission request in said identified broadcast transmission request resource; code for causing a computer to receive a transmission request response in response to the transmission request, the transmission request having a first priority and the transmission request response having a second priority; and code for causing a computer to determine to abstain from transmitting the broadcast data when the second priority is greater than the first priority. - View Dependent Claims (28, 29)
Specification