Communication between devices of a neighbor aware network

• US 9,763,221 B2
• Filed: 10/14/2015
• Issued: 09/12/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 10/16/2014
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Inventors: Patil, Abhishek Pramod, Abraham, Santosh Paul, Cherian, George, Raissinia, Alireza, Cho, James, Frederiks, Guido
• Primary Examiner(s): Aminzay, Shaima Q
• Application Number:
  US14/883,518
• Publication Number:
  US 20160112984A1
• Time in Patent Office: 699 Days
• Field of Search: 455515, 455 412, 4554321, 455458, 455466, 370235, 370252, 370254, 370324, 370329, 370336, 370338
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 48/16 Discovering, processing access restriction or access information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/0216 using a pre-established activity schedule, e.g. traffic indication frame
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 68/005 Transmission of information for alerting of incoming communication
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/12 WLAN [Wireless Local Area Networks]
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/70 in wireless communication networks

Abstract

A method includes generating, at a first device, a paging message. The method includes, during a first transmission window of a data link group of a neighbor aware network (NAN), sending the paging message from the first device to one or more devices of the data link group. The method further includes, during a second transmission window of the data link group and prior to a data window of the second transmission window, sending data traffic to a particular device of the one or more devices without sending a traffic announcement to the particular device during a second paging window of the second transmission window.

Claims

1. A method of communication comprising:

generating, at a first device of a data link group associated with a neighbor aware network (NAN), a paging message indicating that first data is to be sent to at least a second device of the data link group, wherein the first data is associated with a service provided by the first device to devices of the data link group;

during a first transmission window associated with the data link group, sending the paging message from the first device via a wireless network to one or more devices of the data link group; and

during a second transmission window associated with the data link group and that includes a second paging window portion and a second data window portion, sending, prior to the second data window portion, at least a portion of the first data via the wireless network to the second device without sending a traffic announcement to the second device during the second paging window portion.

2. The method of claim 1, further receiving an acknowledgement from the second device, wherein the at least a portion of the first data is sent without sending the traffic announcement in response to receiving the acknowledgement.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

in response to determining that an acknowledgment has not been received from a third device of the one or more devices;

generating, at the first device, a second paging message; and

sending the second paging message from the first device to the third device during the second paging window portion.

4. The method of claim 1, comprising determining, at the first device, whether a corresponding acknowledgement associated with the paging message has been received from each of the one or more devices of the data link group, wherein data traffic is sent from the first device to the one or more devices prior to a beginning of the second data window portion of the second transmission window based on the corresponding acknowledgement being received from each of the one or more devices.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

prior to generating the paging message, initiating a first counter during a paging window portion of the first transmission window based on a first contention parameter; and

initiating a second counter during the paging window portion based on a second contention parameter, wherein the second contention parameter corresponds to a longer time period than the first contention parameter.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

sending the paging message to the one or more devices in response to the first counter having a first particular value; and

sending the first data in response to the second counter having a second particular value.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the paging message includes a first traffic category field, and wherein a data frame of the first data includes a second traffic category field.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein a value of the first traffic category field corresponds to a higher priority than a value of the second traffic category field.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein the first traffic category field and the second traffic category field comprise quality of service (QoS) category fields.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving a trigger frame from the second device during a trigger window portion of the first transmission window, wherein the trigger window portion is subsequent to a paging window portion of the first transmission window, wherein the paging message is sent during the paging window portion, and wherein at least a portion of the first data is sent to the second device during the trigger window portion in response to receiving the trigger frame.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein at least a portion of the first data is sent to the second device during the second paging window portion.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising synchronizing a clock at the first device based on a synchronization operation associated with a second wireless network corresponding to the NAN, wherein timing of the first transmission window and the second transmission window is determined based on the synchronized clock.

13. The method of claim 1, further comprising sending, via the wireless network, a first portion of the first data to the second device during a first data window portion of the first transmission window, wherein the paging message is sent during a first paging window portion of the first transmission window.

14. An apparatus comprising:

a processor; and

a memory coupled to the processor, wherein the memory stores instructions that are executable by the processor to perform operations comprising;

generating, at a first device of a data link group associated with a neighbor aware network (NAN), a paging message indicating that first data is to be sent to at least a second device of the data link group, wherein the first data is associated with a service provided by the first device to devices of the data link group;

during a first transmission window associated with the data link group, sending the paging message from the first device via a wireless network to one or more devices of the data link group; and

during a second transmission window associated with the data link group and that includes a second paging window portion and a second data window portion, sending, prior to the second data window portion, at least a portion of the first data via the wireless network to the second device without sending a traffic announcement to the second device during the second paging window portion.

15. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the paging message is sent from the first device to the one or more devices during a paging window portion of a first transmission window corresponding to a first logical channel referenced by an index of logical channels corresponding to the data link group, and wherein a particular time period including the second transmission window corresponds to multiple logical channels.

16. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the first logical channel corresponds to a basic communication channel.

17. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the first logical channel corresponds to a supplemental communication channel of a plurality of supplemental communication channels referenced by the index of logical channels.

18. A method of communication comprising:

monitoring, during a first time period at a second device of a data link group associated with a neighbor aware network (NAN), a particular communication channel corresponding to the data link group;

receiving, at the second device via the particular communication channel and during the first time period, a paging message from a first device of the data link group, the paging message corresponding to a particular service offered by the first device and indicating that the second device is to receive first data associated with the particular service from the first device;

sending an acknowledgment from the second device to the first device;

monitoring, at the second device, a first logical channel identified by an index of logical channels corresponding to the data link group; and

receiving at least a portion of the first data at the second device prior to a beginning of a data window corresponding to the first logical channel.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the paging message includes an indication of availability for a number of logical channels.

20. The method of claim 18, wherein the paging message includes a first traffic category field, and wherein a data frame of the first data includes a second traffic category field.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein a value of the first traffic category field corresponds to a higher priority than a value of the second traffic category field.

22. The method of claim 20, wherein the first traffic category field and the second traffic category field comprise quality of service (QoS) category fields.

23. The method of claim 18, further comprising:

monitoring, at the second device, the particular communication channel during a second time period;

receiving, at the second device, a second paging message from a third device during a paging window portion of a transmission window corresponding to the second time period, wherein the second paging message corresponds to a second service offered by the third device;

sending a trigger frame from the second device to the third device during a trigger window portion of the transmission window, wherein the trigger window portion is subsequent to the paging window portion;

receiving, at the second device, a first portion of second data from the third device during the trigger window portion; and

receiving, at the second device, a second portion of the second data from the third device during a data traffic portion of the transmission window, wherein the data traffic portion is subsequent to the trigger window portion.

24. The method of claim 18, wherein at least a portion of the first data is received during a paging window, wherein a transmission window includes the paging window and the data window, and wherein the data window is subsequent to the paging window.

25. The method of claim 18, wherein at least a portion of the first data is received during a trigger window, wherein a transmission window includes a paging window, the trigger window, and the data window, wherein the trigger window is subsequent to the paging window, and wherein the data window is subsequent to the trigger window.

26. The method of claim 18, further comprising synchronizing a clock at the second device based on a synchronization operation associated with a second particular communication channel corresponding to the NAN, wherein timing of the first time period is determined based on the synchronized clock.

27. The method of claim 26, wherein the particular communication channel is designated for communications that include data communications corresponding to the data link group, and wherein the second particular communication channel is designated for NAN discovery and synchronization operations.

28. The method of claim 18, wherein the first logical channel corresponds to a paging window and to the data window, and wherein the paging window precedes the data window.

29. An apparatus comprising:

a processor; and

a memory coupled to the processor, wherein the memory stores instructions that are executable by the processor to perform operations comprising;

monitoring, during a first time period at a second device of a data link group associated with a neighbor aware network (NAN), a particular communication channel corresponding to the data link group;

receiving, at the second device via the particular communication channel and during the first time period, a paging message from a first device of the data link group, the paging message corresponding to a particular service offered by the first device and indicating that the second device is to receive first data associated with the particular service from the first device;

sending an acknowledgment from the second device to the first device;

monitoring, at the second device, a first logical channel identified by an index of logical channels corresponding to the data link group; and

receiving at least a portion of the first data at the second device prior to a beginning of a data window corresponding to the first logical channel.

30. The apparatus of claim 29, wherein the paging message is received during a paging window portion of a transmission window corresponding to a second logical channel referenced by the index of logical channels corresponding to the data link group, wherein the second logical channel corresponds to a basic communication channel, wherein the first logical channel represents a supplemental communication channel, and wherein an indication of the supplemental communication channel follows an indication of the basic communication channel in the index of logical channels.