Method and apparatus for dormant mode support with paging
First Claim
1. A method for channel allocation for a WLAN, wherein the WLAN comprises a plurality of access points that are grouped into a plurality of access point group with at least one access point group having more than one access point, the method comprising:
- assigning a common dedicated paging channel to all access points in a same access point group, with each access point groups assigned a different common dedicated paging channel than the other access point groups in the WLAN,wherein the paging channel enables paging of a computing device that is capable of entering and exiting a dormant mode; and
associating a new access point group with the computing device when the computing device crosses a boundary between paging areas of the new access point group and a previous access point group,wherein the computing device searches for a new paging channel only when the computing device crosses the boundary between the paging areas of the new access point group and the previous access point group;
wherein each of the at least one access point groups has a root access point to perform assignment of the common dedicated paging channel in each access point group.
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Abstract
Apparatuses and methods are disclosed herein for implementing dormant mode with paging in a WLAN. Power savings in the computing device and reduction in traffic across the network are achieved by requiring a computing device to inform the WLAN of its location only when it crosses a paging area boundary or is to receive IP traffic. Dormant mode with paging is implemented in a protocol that supports dormant functionality and paging functionality but does not itself provide methods or standards for implementing such functionality, such as the IEEE 802.11. The methods and apparatuses disclosed herein provide the methods needed to implement dormant mode with paging in such a protocol. Generally, the methods and apparatuses for implementing dormant mode with paging basically include (1) establishing paging areas; (2) communicating access group information to a computing device; and (3) locating a computing device.
52 Citations
10 Claims
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1. A method for channel allocation for a WLAN, wherein the WLAN comprises a plurality of access points that are grouped into a plurality of access point group with at least one access point group having more than one access point, the method comprising:
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assigning a common dedicated paging channel to all access points in a same access point group, with each access point groups assigned a different common dedicated paging channel than the other access point groups in the WLAN, wherein the paging channel enables paging of a computing device that is capable of entering and exiting a dormant mode; and associating a new access point group with the computing device when the computing device crosses a boundary between paging areas of the new access point group and a previous access point group, wherein the computing device searches for a new paging channel only when the computing device crosses the boundary between the paging areas of the new access point group and the previous access point group; wherein each of the at least one access point groups has a root access point to perform assignment of the common dedicated paging channel in each access point group. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5)
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6. A system for channel allocation in a WLAN, comprising:
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a plurality of access points grouped into a plurality of access point groups where at least one access point group includes more than one access point; and a common dedicated paging channel assigned to all access points in a same access point group, with each access point group assigned a different paging channel than the other access point groups in the WLAN, wherein the paging channel enables paging of a computing device that is capable of entering and exiting a dormant mode, wherein a new access point group is associated with the computing device when the computing device crosses a boundary between paging areas of the new access point group and a previous access point group, the computing device to search for a new paging channel only when the computing device crosses the boundary between the paging areas of the new access point group and the previous access point group; wherein each of the at least one access point groups has a root access point to perform assignment of the common dedicated paging channel in each access point group. - View Dependent Claims (7, 8, 9, 10)
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Specification