METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR RELIABLE MULTICAST COMMUNICATION OVER WIRELESS NETWORK

• US 20140098735A1
• Filed: 12/12/2013
• Published: 04/10/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 01/25/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Original Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Inventors: Metzler, Benjamin T., Qi, Emily H., Maciocco, Christian
• Granted Patent: US 9,635,519 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/312
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/1607 Details of the supervisory signal
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/1829 Arrangements specially adapted for the receiver end
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1868 Measures taken after transmission, e.g. acknowledgments
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2001/0093 Point-to-multipoint
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/10 Flow control; Congestion control
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/15 in relation to multipoint traffic arrangements for broadcast or multicast in data networks H04L12/18
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/2433 Allocation of priorities to traffic types
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/2441 relying on flow classification, e.g. using integrated services [IntServ]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/0205 at the air interface dynamic wireless traffic scheduling H04W72/12
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/06 Selective distribution of broadcast services, e.g. multimedia broadcast multicast service [MBMS]; Services to user groups; One-way selective calling services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/569 of the traffic information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/04 Registration at HLR or HSS [Home Subscriber Server]

Abstract

Method and apparatus for reliable multicast communication over wireless network are provided. According to embodiments of the invention, the method includes determining a priority category for a multicast communication to be transmitted. The method includes designating, for the multicast communication, one of the multicast communication recipients as a leader based on the priority category and multicast diagnostics information received from the multicast communication recipients. The leader is assigned to transmit to the multicast communication source an acknowledgment frame indicating receipt of a multicast communication frame received from the source.

Claims

1. A wireless communication access point comprising:

a wireless communication device to selectively request two or more stations of a group of stations, which includes a plurality of stations, to acknowledge group transmissions transmitted from said access point to said group of stations.

2. The wireless communication access point of claim 1, wherein at last one station of the group of stations is not included in the two or more stations, which are to be requested to acknowledge said group transmissions.

3. The wireless communication access point of claim 1, wherein said wireless communication device is to transmit a first wireless group transmission addressed to the group of stations, to request a first station of the group of stations to acknowledge receipt of the first group transmission, and to receive an acknowledgement from said first station to acknowledge said first group transmission,

and wherein said wireless communication device is to transmit a second wireless group transmission addressed to the group of stations, to request a second station of the group of stations to acknowledge receipt of the second group transmission, and to receive an acknowledgement from said second station to acknowledge said second group transmission.

4. The wireless communication access point of claim 1, wherein said wireless communication device is to select the two or more stations of the group of stations based on a predefined selection metric.

5. The wireless communication access point of claim 4, wherein the selection metric is based on a type of traffic of said group transmissions.

6. The wireless communication access point of claim 4, wherein the selection metric is based on network conditions for communicating said group transmissions.

7. The wireless communication access point of claim 1, wherein said wireless communication device is to apply a protection mechanism to protect communications with said group of stations.

8. The wireless communication access point of claim 7, wherein said protection mechanism comprises a Request to Send (RTS)/Clear to Send (CTS) mechanism.

9. The wireless communication access point of claim 1, wherein said access point and said group of stations are part of a Basic Service Set (BSS).

10. A product including a non-transitory storage medium having stored thereon instructions that, when executed by a machine, result in:

transmitting group transmissions from an access point to a group of stations, which includes a plurality of stations; and

selectively requesting two or more stations of the group of stations to acknowledge receipt of said group transmissions.

11. The product of claim 10, wherein at last one station of the group of stations is not included in the two or more stations, which are requested to acknowledge said group transmissions.

12. The product of claim 10, wherein said instructions result in:

transmitting a first wireless group transmission addressed to the group of stations, requesting a first station of the group of stations to acknowledge receipt of the first group transmission, and receiving an acknowledgement from said first station to acknowledge said first group transmission; and

transmitting a second wireless group transmission addressed to the group of stations, requesting a second station of the group of stations to acknowledge receipt of the second group transmission, and receiving an acknowledgement from said second station to acknowledge said second group transmission.

13. The product of claim 10, wherein said instructions result in selecting the one or more stations of the group of stations based on a predefined selection metric.

14. The product of claim 13, wherein the selection metric is based on a type of traffic of said group transmissions.

15. The product of claim 13, wherein the selection metric is based on network conditions for communicating said group transmissions.

16. The product of claim 10, wherein said instructions result in using a protection mechanism to protect communications with said group of stations.

17. The product of claim 16, wherein said protection mechanism comprises a Request to Send (RTS)/Clear to Send (CTS) mechanism.

18. The product of claim 10, wherein said access point and said group of stations are part of a Basic Service Set (BSS).

19. A method of wireless communication, the method comprising:

transmitting group transmissions from an access point to a group of stations, which includes a plurality of stations; and

selectively requesting two or more stations of the group of stations to acknowledge receipt of said group transmissions.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein at last one station of the group of stations is not included in the two or more stations, which are requested to acknowledge said group transmissions.

21. The method of claim 19 comprising:

transmitting a first wireless group transmission addressed to the group of stations, requesting a first station of the group of stations to acknowledge receipt of the first group transmission, and receiving an acknowledgement from said first station to acknowledge said first group transmission; and

transmitting a second wireless group transmission addressed to the group of stations, requesting a second station of the group of stations to acknowledge receipt of the second group transmission, and receiving an acknowledgement from said second station to acknowledge said second group transmission.

22. The method of claim 19 comprising selecting the one or more stations of the group of stations based on a predefined selection metric.

23. The method of claim 19 comprising using a protection mechanism to protect communications with said group of stations.

24. The method of claim 23, wherein said protection mechanism comprises a Request to Send (RTS)/Clear to Send (CTS) mechanism.