Method of controlling channel access

• US 9,060,349 B2
• Filed: 07/21/2009
• Issued: 06/16/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 02/18/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: LG Electronics, Inc. (LG Corporation)
• Original Assignee: LG Electronics, Inc. (LG Corporation)
• Inventors: Seok, Yong Ho
• Primary Examiner(s): Lai, Andrew
• Assistant Examiner(s): HENSON, JAMAAL R
• Application Number:
  US13/201,979
• Publication Number:
  US 20110305216A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,156 Days
• Field of Search: 370/329, 370/338, 370/447, 370/328, 370/349, 370/445, 370/392, 370/347, 455/517, 455/41.2
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 74/006 in the downlink, i.e. towards the terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 74/08 Non-scheduled access, e.g. ALOHA hybrid access H04W74/02
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/12 WLAN [Wireless Local Area Networks]

Abstract

An embodiment of the present invention provides a method of controlling channel access in a WLAN system, comprising receiving, from an access point, a first channel access control message sent to stations located in some area through a directional antenna of the access point, and attempting to access a channel according to the first channel access control message. The method enables coexistence of several users and improves scalability of a wireless system.

Claims

1. A method of controlling a channel access in a wireless local area network (WLAN) system, the method comprising:

receiving, by the accessing station, a channel access control mode from an access point, the channel access control mode indicating that a station whose association identifier (AID) bit in a traffic indication map (TIM) element is equal to one is only allowed to start contending for a channel access for uplink transmission;

receiving, by the accessing station, the TIM element from the access point, the TIM element including a bitmap, each bit in the bitmap corresponding to an AID of a station,

wherein, if the channel access control mode indicates that a station whose AID bit in the TIM element is equal to one is only allowed to start contending for a channel access for uplink transmission, each bit in the bitmap being set to one when a corresponding station is allowed to access a wireless medium at one of a plurality of access periods, the plurality of access periods being defined within one beacon interval;

determining, by the accessing station, an allowed access period from the plurality of access periods when a bit in the bitmap corresponding to the accessing station'"'"'s AID is set to one; and

contending, by the accessing station, the channel access for uplink transmission only during the determined allowed access period.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the TIM element further includes a Delivery Traffic Indication Message (DTIM) count field and a DTIM period field, the DTIM count field indicating how many beacon frames appear before a next DTIM, the DTIM period field indicating a number of beacon intervals between successive DTIMs.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the bitmap has 251 octets.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein each bit in the bitmap is set to zero when a corresponding station is not allowed to access the wireless medium at any one of the plurality of access periods.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the allowed access period from the plurality of access periods is determined based on a position of the bit in the bitmap corresponding to the AID of the receiving station.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein, if the channel access control mode indicates that a station whose AID bit in the TIM element is equal to one is not allowed to start contending for a channel access for uplink transmission, each bit in the bitmap is set to one when the AP has buffered data for a corresponding station.

7. A device for wireless local area network system, the device comprising:

a processor; and

a memory operatively coupled with the processor and configured to store instructions that, when executed by the processor, causes to the device to;

receive a channel access control mode from an access point, the channel access control mode indicating that a station whose association identifier (AID) bit in a traffic indication map (TIM) element is equal to one is only allowed to start contending for a channel access for uplink transmission;

receive the TIM element from the access point, the TIM element including a bitmap, each bit in the bitmap corresponding to an AID of a station,

wherein, if the channel access control mode indicates that a station whose AID bit in the TIM element is equal to one is only allowed to start contending for a channel access for uplink transmission, each bit in the bitmap being set to one when a corresponding station is allowed to access a wireless medium at one of a plurality of access periods, the plurality of access periods being defined within one beacon interval;

determine an allowed access period from the plurality of access periods when a bit in the bitmap corresponding to the device'"'"'s AID is set to one; and

contend the channel access for uplink transmission only during the determined allowed access period.

8. The device of claim 7, wherein the TIM element further includes a Delivery Traffic Indication Message (DTIM) count field and a DTIM period field, the DTIM count field indicating how many beacon frames appear before a next DTIM, the DTIM period field indicating a number of beacon intervals between successive DTIMs.

9. The device of claim 7, wherein the bitmap has 251 octets.

10. The device of claim 7, wherein each bit in the bitmap is set to zero when there is no buffered traffic for the corresponding station and the corresponding station is not allowed to access the wireless medium at any one of the plurality of access periods.

11. The device of claim 7, wherein the allowed access period from the plurality of access periods is determined based on a position of the bit in the bitmap corresponding to the AID of the receiving station.

12. The device of claim 7, wherein, if the channel access control mode indicates that a station whose AID bit in the TIM element is equal to one is not allowed to start contending for a channel access for uplink transmission, each bit in the bitmap is set to one when the AP has buffered data for a corresponding station.