Systems and methods for parallel communication with legacy WLAN receivers

• US 8,897,209 B2
• Filed: 07/10/2009
• Issued: 11/25/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 07/15/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Inventors: Wentink, Maarten Menzo, van Nee, Didier Johannes Richard, Jones, Vincent K. IV
• Primary Examiner(s): Rinehart, Mark
• Assistant Examiner(s): HOPKINS, MATTHEW A
• Application Number:
  US12/501,059
• Publication Number:
  US 20100014448A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,964 Days
• Field of Search: 370/236, 370/322, 370/346
• US Class Current: 370/322
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/1614 using bitmaps
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/1685 the supervisory signal being transmitted in response to a specific request, e.g. to a polling signal

Abstract

A method for parallel communication with wireless local area network (WLAN) receivers is described. A parallel transmission is started. A first MAC protocol data unit (MPDU) is sent to a first WLAN receiver. An acknowledgment (ACK) request is sent to the first WLAN receiver. An ACK is received from the first WLAN receiver.

Claims

1. A method for parallel communication with wireless local area network (WLAN) receivers, the method being implemented by a wireless device, the method comprising:

sending a first medium access control (MAC) protocol data unit (MPDU) to a first WLAN receiver;

sending a second MPDU to a second WLAN receiver in parallel to the first MPDU; and

including, in a MAC header of the first MPDU, instructions to the first WLAN receiver that comprise an acknowledgement policy for the first WLAN receiver.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the parallel communication comprises spatial division multiple access (SDMA).

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the parallel communication comprises orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA).

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the MPDU includes instructions for the first WLAN receiver that comprise a Block ACK method, and wherein the method further comprises:

receiving an ACK from the first WLAN receiver.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the MPDU includes instructions for the first WLAN receiver that comprise a No ACK method.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the MPDU includes instructions for the first WLAN receiver that comprise a Broadcast Receiver Address (RA) policy.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the MPDU includes instructions for the first WLAN receiver that comprise a Power Save Multi-Poll (PSMP) policy.

8. The method of claim 4, wherein the ACK request sent to the first WLAN receiver is a Block Acknowledgment Request.

9. The method of claim 4, wherein the ACK request sent to the first WLAN receiver is a Block ACK Request (BAR) frame.

10. The method of claim 4, wherein the ACK received from the first WLAN receiver is a block ACK.

11. The method of claim 4, wherein the ACK received from the first WLAN receiver is a transmission control protocol (TCP) ACK.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising sending a MAC ACK upon receiving the TCP ACK from the first WLAN receiver.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the method is implemented in a wireless communication system that supports an Institute of Electronic and Electrical Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 standard that uses Very High Throughput (VHT).

14. The method of claim 1, wherein the first WLAN receiver comprises a legacy WLAN receiver.

15. A wireless device that is configured for parallel communication with wireless local area network (WLAN) receivers, comprising:

a processor; and

circuitry coupled to said processor configured to;

send a first medium access control (MAC) protocol data unit (MPDU) to a first WLAN receiver;

send a second MPDU to a second WLAN receiver in parallel to the first MPDU; and

include, in a MAC header of the first MPDU, instructions to the first WLAN receiver that comprise an acknowledgement policy for the first WLAN receiver.

16. The wireless device of claim 15, wherein the parallel communication comprises spatial division multiple access (SDMA).

17. The wireless device of claim 15, wherein the parallel communication comprises orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA).

18. The wireless device of claim 15, wherein the MPDU includes instructions for the first WLAN receiver that comprise a Block ACK method, and wherein the circuitry is further configured to:

receive an ACK from the first WLAN receiver.

19. The wireless device of claim 15, wherein the MPDU includes instructions for the first WLAN receiver that comprise a No ACK method.

20. The wireless device of claim 15, wherein the MPDU includes instructions for the first WLAN receiver that comprise a Broadcast Receiver Address (RA) policy.

21. The wireless device of claim 15, wherein the MPDU includes instructions for the first WLAN receiver that comprise a Power Save Multi-Poll (PSMP) policy.

22. The wireless device of claim 18, wherein the ACK request sent to the first WLAN receiver is a Block Acknowledgment Request.

23. The wireless device of claim 18, wherein the ACK request sent to the first WLAN receiver is a Block ACK Request (BAR) frame.

24. The wireless device of claim 18, wherein the ACK received from the first WLAN receiver is a block ACK.

25. The wireless device of claim 18, wherein the ACK received from the first WLAN receiver is a transmission control protocol (TCP) ACK.

26. The wireless device of claim 25, wherein the circuitry is further configured to send a MAC ACK upon receiving the TCP ACK from the first WLAN receiver.

27. The wireless device of claim 15, wherein the wireless device is configured to support an Institute of Electronic and Electrical Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 standard that uses Very High Throughput (VHT).

28. The wireless device of claim 15, wherein the first WLAN receiver comprises a legacy WLAN receiver.

29. An apparatus that is configured for spatial division multiple access (SDMA) communication with wireless local area network (WLAN) receivers, comprising:

means for sending a first medium access control (MAC) protocol data unit (MPDU) to a first WLAN receiver, wherein a MAC header of the MPDU comprises a method of acknowledgment for the first WLAN receiver;

means for sending a second MPDU to a second WLAN receiver in parallel to the first MPDU;

means for sending an acknowledgment (ACK) request to the first WLAN receiver; and

means for receiving an ACK from the first WLAN receiver.

30. A computer-program product for spatial division multiple access (SDMA) communication with wireless local area network (WLAN) receivers, the computer-program product comprising a non-transitory computer-readable medium having instructions thereon, the instructions comprising:

code for sending a first medium access control (MAC) protocol data unit (MPDU) to a first WLAN receiver, wherein a MAC header of the MPDU comprises a method of acknowledgment for the first WLAN receiver;

code for sending a second MPDU to a second WLAN receiver in parallel to the first MPDU;

code for sending an acknowledgment (ACK) request to the first WLAN receiver; and

code for receiving an ACK from the first WLAN receiver.

31. A method for parallel communication with wireless local area network (WLAN) receivers, the method comprising:

sending a Power Save Multi-Poll (PSMP) frame indicating a Power Save Multi-Poll Downlink Transmission Time (PSMP-DTT) and a Power Save Multi-Poll Uplink Transmission Time (PSMP-UTT);

sending a first MAC protocol data unit (MPDU) to a first WLAN receiver indicating a PSMP acknowledgement (ACK) policy, wherein the PMSP ACK policy is indicated in a MAC header of the MPDU;

sending a second MPDU to a second WLAN receiver in parallel to the first MPDU; and

receiving a Multicast Traffic Identifier Block ACK (MTBA) frame from the first WLAN receiver during the PSMP-UTT.