Method and apparatus for transmitting uplink frame in wireless LAN

• US 9,854,605 B2
• Filed: 11/20/2014
• Issued: 12/26/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 01/02/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: LG Electronics, Inc. (LG Corporation)
• Original Assignee: LG Electronics, Inc. (LG Corporation)
• Inventors: Kim, Jeongki, Ryu, Kiseon, Park, Giwon, Cho, Hangyu, Kim, Suhwook
• Primary Examiner(s): Huynh, Dung B
• Application Number:
  US15/109,565
• Publication Number:
  US 20160330764A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,132 Days
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0033 each allocating device acting autonomously, i.e. without negotiation with other allocating devices
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 74/004 in the uplink, i.e. towards network
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 74/02 Hybrid access
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 74/0816 with collision avoidance
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/12 WLAN [Wireless Local Area Networks]

Abstract

Disclosed are a method and an apparatus for transmitting an uplink frame in a wireless LAN. The method for transmitting an uplink frame in a wireless LAN may comprise: a step in which an STA receives a downlink PPDU from an AP through a downlink dedicated channel; a step in which the STA performs a first channel switching from the downlink dedicated channel to a general channel on the basis of information about TXOP duration for transmitting the downlink PPDU if STA indication information included in the received downlink PPDU does not indicate the STA and a pending uplink frame is present in the STA; a step in which the STA performs a channel access for transmitting the uplink frame via the general channel on a time resource corresponding to the TXOP duration; and a step in which the STA performs a second channel switching from the general channel to the downlink dedicated channel on the basis of the information about TXOP duration.

Claims

1. A method for transmitting an uplink frame in wireless local network (WLAN), comprising:

receiving, by a station (STA), a downlink physical layer protocol data unit (PPDU) from an access point (AP) through a downlink oriented channel;

performing, by the STA, a first channel switching from the downlink oriented channel to a normal channel based on information on a transmission opportunity (TXOP) duration for transmitting the downlink PPDU, when indication information of a reception STA of the downlink PPDU does not indicate the STA and there is an uplink frame which is pending on the STA;

performing, by the STA, a channel access for transmitting the uplink frame through the normal channel on a time resource that corresponds to the TXOP duration; and

performing, by the STA, a second channel switching from the normal channel to the downlink oriented channel based on the information on the TXOP duration,

wherein the downlink oriented channel is used for a transmission of the downlink PPDU based on non-contention by the AP and a transmission of a response frame in response to the downlink PPDU by the STA,

wherein the downlink oriented channel is not used for a transmission of an independent uplink frame by the STA, and

wherein the independent frame is an uplink frame which is not the response frame among uplink frames transmitted from the STA to the AP.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the first channel switching is performed when the TXOP duration is longer than a threshold switching time, and

wherein the threshold switching time is determined based on a time resource which is required for transmitting the uplink frame.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the uplink frame is transmitted to the AP based on the channel access, when the channel access is successful until a threshold access time, and

wherein the threshold access time is determined based on a time resource which is required for transmitting the uplink frame within a time resource that correspond to the TXOP duration.

4. The method of claim 1, when the STA receives a TXOP END frame during the channel access from the AP, wherein the STA stops the channel access, and performs a channel switching from the normal channel to the downlink oriented channel before a time of performing the second channel switching.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the TXOP duration is determined based on a duration field of a request to send (RTS) frame which is transmitted by the AP.

6. A station (STA) for transmitting an uplink frame in wireless local network (WLAN), comprising:

a radio frequency (RF) unit configured to transmit or receive a radio signal; and

a processor operatively connected to the RF unit,

wherein the processor is configured to perform;

receiving a downlink physical layer protocol data unit (PPDU) from an access point (AP) through a downlink oriented channel;

performing a first channel switching from the downlink oriented channel to a normal channel based on information on a transmission opportunity (TXOP) duration for transmitting the downlink PPDU, when indication information of a reception STA of the downlink PPDU does not indicate the STA and there is an uplink frame which is pending on the STA;

performing a channel access for transmitting the uplink frame through the normal channel on a time resource that corresponds to the TXOP duration; and

performing a second channel switching from the normal channel to the downlink oriented channel based on the information on the TXOP duration,

wherein the downlink oriented channel is used for a transmission of the downlink PPDU based on non-contention by the AP and a transmission of a response frame in response to the downlink PPDU by the STA,

wherein the downlink oriented channel is not used for a transmission of an independent uplink frame by the STA, and

wherein the independent frame is an uplink frame which is not the response frame among uplink frames transmitted from the STA to the AP.

7. The STA of claim 6, wherein the first channel switching is performed when the TXOP duration is longer than a threshold switching time, and

wherein the threshold switching time is determined based on a time resource which is required for transmitting the uplink frame.

8. The STA of claim 6, wherein the uplink frame is transmitted to the AP based on the channel access, when the channel access is successful until a threshold access time, and

wherein the threshold access time is determined based on a time resource which is required for transmitting the uplink frame within a time resource that correspond to the TXOP duration.

9. The STA of claim 6, when the RF unit receives a TXOP END frame during the channel access from the AP, wherein the processor stops the channel access, and performs a channel switching from the normal channel to the downlink oriented channel before a time of performing the second channel switching.

10. The STA of claim 6, wherein the TXOP duration is determined based on a duration field of a request to send (RTS) frame which is transmitted by the AP.