Power saving for multi-hop communications

• US 9,191,894 B2
• Filed: 12/03/2013
• Issued: 11/17/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 07/23/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Disney Enterprises Incorporated (The Walt Disney Company)
• Original Assignee: Disney Enterprises Incorporated (The Walt Disney Company)
• Inventors: Vukadinovic, Vladimir, Glaropoulos, Ioannis, Mangold, Stefan
• Primary Examiner(s): Liu, Jung-Jen
• Application Number:
  US14/095,889
• Publication Number:
  US 20150029916A1
• Time in Patent Office: 714 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/0216 using a pre-established activity schedule, e.g. traffic indication frame
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/70 in wireless communication networks

Abstract

There is provided a system and method for transmitting a data packet from a transmitting device to a destination device using an intermediary device. The transmitting device configured to determine an identity of the destination device, generate an announcement message that includes the identity of the destination device, transmit the announcement message to an intermediary device, receive an acknowledgement message from the intermediary device in response to transmitting the announcement message to the intermediary device, and transmit the data packet to the intermediary device for delivery to the destination device.

Claims

1. An intermediary device comprising:

a processor configured to;

receive a first announcement message from a transmitting device within a beacon interval;

transmit a first acknowledgement message to the transmitting device within the beacon interval, in response to receiving the first announcement message;

determine an identity of a destination device from the first announcement message within the beacon interval;

generate a second announcement message that includes the identity of the destination device within the beacon interval;

transmit the second announcement message to the destination device within the beacon interval;

receive a second acknowledgement message from the destination device within the beacon interval, in response to transmitting the second announcement message to the destination device;

receive a data packet from the transmitting device within the beacon interval after receiving the second acknowledgement; and

transmit the data packet to the destination device within the beacon interval.

2. The intermediary device of claim 1, wherein each of the first announcement message and the second announcement message includes an announcement traffic indication message (ATIM).

3. The intermediary device of claim 1, wherein the identity of the destination device includes a media access control (MAC) address.

4. The transmitting intermediary device of claim 1, wherein the transmitting device transmits the data packet to the destination device within the beacon interval.

5. The intermediary device of claim 1, wherein the transmitting device transmits the first announcement message to the intermediary device using Wi-Fi.

6. A system for transmitting a data packet across a plurality of devices, the system comprising:

a transmitting device;

an intermediary device; and

a destination device;

the intermediary device configured to;

receive a first announcement message from the transmitting device within a beacon interval;

transmit the first acknowledgement message to the transmitting device within the beacon interval, in response to receiving the first announcement message;

determine an identity of the destination device from the first announcement message within the beacon interval;

generate a second announcement message using that includes the identity of the destination device within the beacon interval; and

transmit the second announcement message to the destination device within the beacon interval;

receive the second acknowledgement message from the destination device within the beacon interval;

receive the data packet from the transmitting device within the beacon interval after receiving the second acknowledgement; and

transmit the data packet to the destination device within the beacon interval.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein the intermediary device includes a plurality of intermediary devices, and wherein each of the plurality of intermediary devices is configured to receive, generate, and transmit an announcement message using the identity of the destination device.

8. The system of claim 6, wherein the first announcement message and the second announcement message includes an ATIM.

9. The system of claim 6, wherein the identity of the destination device includes a MAC address.

10. The system of claim 6, wherein the intermediary device is further configured to transmit the first acknowledgement message to the transmitting device in response to receiving the first announcement message from the transmitting device within the beacon interval, and the destination device is further configured to transmit the second acknowledgement message to the intermediary device in response to receiving the second announcement message from the intermediary device within the beacon interval.

11. The system of claim 6, wherein the intermediary device is further configured to transmit the data packet to the destination device within the beacon interval.

12. The system of claim 6, wherein the transmitting device transmits the first announcement message to the intermediary device using Wi-Fi.

13. A method for transmitting a data packet from an intermediary device, the method comprising:

receiving a first announcement message from a transmitting device within a beacon interval;

transmitting a first acknowledgement message to the transmitting device within the beacon interval, in response to receiving the first announcement message;

determining an identity of a destination device from the first announcement within the beacon interval;

generating a second announcement message that includes the identity of the destination device within the beacon interval;

transmitting the second announcement message to the destination device within the beacon interval;

receiving a second acknowledgement message from the destination device within the beacon interval, in response to transmitting the second announcement message to the destination device;

receiving a data packet from the transmitting device within the beacon interval after receiving the second acknowledgement message; and

transmitting the data packet to the destination device within the beacon interval.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the first announcement message includes an ATIM.

15. The method of claim 13, wherein the identity of the destination device includes a MAC address.

16. The method of claim 13, wherein before the transmitting device transmits the data packet to the intermediary device, the intermediary device is configured to generate the second announcement message including the identity of the destination device and transmit the second announcement message to the destination device.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the transmitting device, the intermediary device, and the destination device remain in an awake state for the beacon interval.

18. The method of claim 13, wherein the transmitting device transmits the first announcement message to the intermediary device using Wi-Fi.