Hardware-based beacon processing
First Claim
1. A battery-powered Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) communication device comprising:
- an activity sensor operable to identify a packet available to be received at the WLAN communication device;
a physical layer (PHY) module to be awakened to begin receiving the packet, the PHY module operable to decode a full MAC address from a media access control portion of a header of the packet;
a MAC address parser coupled to the PHY module to receive the MAC address and to determine whether the packet is to be received at the WLAN communication device by comparing the full MAC address to a MAC address of the WLAN communication device, the MAC address parser operable to be awakened for performing the comparing and to be shut down after the comparing, wherein packets to be received include beacon packets; and
a hardware centric Medium Access Controller (MAC) separate from the MAC address parser and comprising a beacon processor capable of being awakened from a shutdown state to process a beacon packet, wherein the PHY module, the MAC address parser, and the beacon processor module are operable to be awakened and shutdown independently of each other and of a microprocessor.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A battery-powered WLAN communication device has an activity sensor operable to identify an available packet. A PHY module is awakened to begin receiving the packet. The PHY module decodes a full MAC address from a MAC portion of a header of the packet. A MAC address parser receives the MAC address and determines whether the packet is to be received by comparing the full MAC address to a MAC address of the WLAN communication device. The MAC address parser is awakened to perform the comparing and shutdown after. Packets to be received include beacon packets. A hardware centric MAC separate from the MAC address parser has a beacon processor capable of being awakened from a shutdown state to process a beacon packet. The PHY module, the MAC address parser, and the beacon processor module are operable to be awakened and shutdown independently of each other and of a microprocessor.
63 Citations
7 Claims
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1. A battery-powered Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) communication device comprising:
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an activity sensor operable to identify a packet available to be received at the WLAN communication device; a physical layer (PHY) module to be awakened to begin receiving the packet, the PHY module operable to decode a full MAC address from a media access control portion of a header of the packet; a MAC address parser coupled to the PHY module to receive the MAC address and to determine whether the packet is to be received at the WLAN communication device by comparing the full MAC address to a MAC address of the WLAN communication device, the MAC address parser operable to be awakened for performing the comparing and to be shut down after the comparing, wherein packets to be received include beacon packets; and a hardware centric Medium Access Controller (MAC) separate from the MAC address parser and comprising a beacon processor capable of being awakened from a shutdown state to process a beacon packet, wherein the PHY module, the MAC address parser, and the beacon processor module are operable to be awakened and shutdown independently of each other and of a microprocessor. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3)
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4. An apparatus for receiving and transmitting packets of voice traffic over a wireless communication medium, comprising:
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a microprocessor; a memory communicatively coupled to said microprocessor; a physical layer (PHY) module for decoding at least a header portion of a packet; a MAC address parser coupled to the PHY module and operable to receive a full MAC address decoded from the packet by the PHY module and to determine whether the packet is to be further processed; a hardware-centric medium access control (MAC) module communicatively coupled to the PHY module, and to be awakened by the MAC address parser, after determining that the packet is to be further processed, the hardware-centric MAC device comprising; a packet receiver configured for receiving the packet, and a beacon processing module configured to perform beacon processing without requiring use of the microprocessor, and activatable to process the packet if the packet is a beacon packet, the beacon processing module otherwise shutdown. - View Dependent Claims (5, 6, 7)
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Specification