HARDWARE CONTROL INTERFACE FOR IEEE STANDARD 802.11 INCLUDING TRANSMISSION CONTROL INTERFACE COMPONENT

• US 20100218198A1
• Filed: 04/02/2010
• Published: 08/26/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 04/26/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Kuehnel, Thomas W., Ruan, Jiandong
• Granted Patent: US 8,819,294 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 719/327
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 13/387 for adaptation of different data processing systems to different peripheral devices, e.g. protocol converters for incompatible systems, open system
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/18 Negotiating wireless communication parameters
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/22 Negotiating communication rate
• 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

A standardized 802.11 hardware control interface may be provided such that a driver may communicate with any one or more of a variety of network adapters.

Claims

1-16. -16. (canceled)

17. A method of developing a driver, the method comprising:

(A) analyzing a hardware control interface developed by a first developer entity that is independent of second developer entity which is developing the driver module, the hardware control interface being configured to provide transmission control information to a network adapter to control the network adapter to engage in IEEE 802.11 communication, wherein the transmission control information comprises;

a first field comprising at least one flag, each one of the at least one flag representing transmission-related information;

a second field comprising transmission rate information;

a third field comprising arbitration inter-frame space number information; and

a fourth field comprising contention window information; and

(B) designing a driver to at least partially control the network adapter via the hardware control interface to engage in communication in accordance with IEEE standard 802.11.

18. The method of claim 17, further comprising:

(C) designing a network adapter to exchange information via the hardware control interface.

19. The method of claim 17, wherein the transmission control information further comprises:

a fifth field comprising table index information.

20. The method of claim 17, wherein the transmission control information further comprises:

a sixth field comprising information related to a time at which transmission occurs.

21. The computer of claim 17, wherein a first one of the at least one flag indicates whether acknowledgement of a wireless transmission is required.

22. The method of claim 17, wherein a second one of the at least one flag indicates whether the packet should be encrypted by the network adapter.

23. The method of claim 17, wherein the contention window information comprises a maximum contention window size and a minimum contention window size.

24. The method of claim 17, wherein the transmission control information is provided such that the first field precedes the second field, the second field precedes the third field, and the third field precedes the fourth field.

25. The method of claim 17, wherein the at least one flag comprises at least seven flags.

26. The method of claim 17, wherein the hardware control interface is being further configured to provide reception control information to the network adapter to control the network adapter to engage in IEEE 802.11 communication, wherein the reception control information comprises:

a first field comprising at least one flag that indicates a reception of data by the network adapter;

a second field comprising information relating to a rate at which the received data is received by the network adapter;

a third field comprising information about a strength of a signal carrying the received data; and

a fourth field comprising information about noise in a medium carrying the IEEE 802.11 communication.

27. The method of claim 26, wherein the reception control information further comprises a fifth field comprising information indicating a channel on which each packet from the received data is received.

28. The method of claim 26, wherein the at least one flag that indicates the reception of data by the network adapter comprises at least one flag that indicates at least one of whether a reception buffer has overflowed, whether a reception error has occurred, whether an address has been matched, whether a key is available, whether decryption of a received packet from the received data has failed, and whether the received packet is a probe response.

29. In a computer system comprising a computer-readable storage medium having computer-executable instructions, which, when executed by a processor, perform a method of developing a driver, the method comprising:

analyzing a hardware control interface developed by a first developer entity that is independent of second developer entity which is developing the driver module, the hardware control interface being configured to provide transmission control information to a network adapter to control the network adapter to engage in IEEE 802.11 communication, wherein the transmission control information comprises;

a first field comprising at least one flag, each one of the at least one flag representing transmission-related information;

a second field comprising transmission rate information;

a third field comprising arbitration inter-frame space number information; and

a fourth field comprising contention window information; and

designing a driver to at least partially control the network adapter via the hardware control interface to engage in communication in accordance with IEEE standard 802.11.

30. The method of claim 29, further comprising designing a network adapter to exchange information via the hardware control interface.

31. The method of claim 29, wherein the transmission control information further comprises a fifth field comprising table index information.

32. The method of claim 29, wherein the transmission control information further comprises a sixth field comprising information related to a time at which transmission occurs.

33. The method of claim 29, wherein the hardware control interface is being further configured to provide reception control information to the network adapter to control the network adapter to engage in IEEE 802.11 communication, wherein the reception control information comprises:

a first field comprising at least one flag that indicates a reception of data by the network adapter;

a second field comprising information relating to a rate at which the received data is received by the network adapter;

a third field comprising information about a strength of a signal carrying the received data; and

a fourth field comprising information about noise in a medium carrying the IEEE 802.11 communication.

34. The method of claim 33, wherein the reception control information further comprises a fifth field comprising information indicating a channel on which each packet from the received data is received.

35. The method of claim 33, wherein the at least one flag that indicates the reception of data by the network adapter comprises at least one of a flag that indicates at least one of whether a reception buffer has overflowed, whether a reception error has occurred, whether an address has been matched, whether a key is available, whether decryption of a received packet from the received data has failed, and whether the received packet is a probe response.