Communicating in a wireless network

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11412449-B2
Application number	US-201917282124-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 7, 2019
Priority date	Oct 11, 2018
Publication date	Aug 9, 2022
Grant date	Aug 9, 2022

Abstract

Systems for communicating with a target node, e.g. a particular device, of a wireless network. In particular, there is a concept of accurately identifying a timeout period during which the target node is expected to acknowledge the communication. There is a dynamic timeout period, the length of which is based upon one or more characteristics of at least one most recent or previous communication from the target node.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method of communicating with a target node of a wireless network, the method comprising:
receiving at least one first uplink message sent by the target node;
subsequently sending a downlink message to the target node;
calculating a minimum timeout period using at least one characteristic of the at least one first uplink message, the minimum timeout period representing a minimum length of time following the sending of the downlink message during which the target node is expected to respond with a response uplink message;
determining a timeout period based on the minimum timeout period; and
determining whether the target node has responded to the downlink message with a response uplink message within the timeout period following the sending of the downlink message.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein each at least one characteristic comprises timing information, a data size and/or a transmission time of a first uplink message.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the minimum timeout period is calculated further using timing information of the downlink message.

4. The method 1 , wherein the minimum timeout period is calculated further using a duty cycle restriction of the wireless network or target node.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein the at least one characteristic comprises timing information and a transmission time of each at least one first uplink message, and the step of calculating the minimum timeout period comprises:
calculating, based on the duty cycle restriction and the at least one characteristic of the at least one first uplink message, a length of time before the target node is able to send an uplink message; and
determining the minimum timeout period based on the calculated length of time before the target node is able to send a communication.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the step of calculating the minimum timeout period comprises:
determining a length of a recovery period, following a most recent first uplink message, during which the target node is not permitted to issue a subsequent uplink message in accordance with an operating practice; and
determining the minimum timeout period based on the length of the recovery period.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein the step of calculating the minimum timeout period comprises:
determining the length of an offset time period, being the length of time between the sending of the most recent uplink and the sending of the downlink message;
calculating the minimum timeout period based on the offset time period and the recovery period.

8. The method of claim 6 , wherein the step of determining a length of a recovery period comprises:
determining a data size of the most recent uplink message;
determining a data transmission rate of the wireless network;
determining a maximum allowable duty cycle of the wireless network or target device according to the operating practice; and
determining the length of the recovery period based on the data size of the most recent first uplink message, the data transmission rate of the wireless network and the maximum allowable duty cycle of the wireless network.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein the step of determining the length of the recovery period comprises:
determining the transmission time of the most recent first uplink message, being the length of time taken by the target node to send the most recent first uplink message, based on the size of the most recent first uplink message and the data transmission rate; and
calculating the length of the recovery period based on the transmission time and the maximum allowable duty cycle.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the minimum timeout period is further based on a minimum round-trip time representing a minimum length of time taken, subsequent to the sending of a downlink message, to receive a response uplink message.

11. The method of claim 1 , further comprising, in response to receiving a second uplink message, different to the response uplink message, from the target node after sending the downlink message and before receiving the response uplink message, recalculating the minimum timeout period using at least one characteristic of the second uplink message.

12. The method of claim 1 , further comprising, in response to the target node failing to respond to the downlink message with a response uplink message within the timeout period, resending the downlink message to the target node.

13. A non-transitory computer readable medium comprising code means for implementing the method of claim 1 when the code is executed by a computer.

14. A wireless network comprising:
the communication unit of claim 13 ; and
at least one target node adapted to:
send the first uplink message to the communication unit;
receive the downlink message from the communication unit;
send a response uplink message to the communication unit in response to the downlink message, wherein the timing of sending the response uplink message to the communication unit is based on at least one characteristic of the first uplink message.

15. A communication unit for communicating with a target node of a wireless network, the communication unit comprising:
a transceiver adapted to send signals to and receive signals from the target node;
a processor adapted to communicate with the transceiver in order to:
receive at least one first uplink message sent by the target node;
subsequently send a downlink message to the target node;
calculate a minimum timeout period using at least one characteristic of the at least one first uplink message, the minimum timeout period representing a minimum length of time following the sending of the downlink message during which the target node is expected to respond with a response uplink message;
determine a timeout period based on the minimum timeout period; and
determine whether the target node has responded to the downlink message with a response uplink message within the timeout period following the sending of the downlink message.

Assignees

• Signify Holding Bv

Inventors

• Feng Lei

Classifications

• H04W52/0254 Primary

  detecting a user operation or a tactile contact or a motion of the device · CPC title

• H04W52/0216 Primary

  using a pre-established activity schedule, e.g. traffic indication frame · CPC title

• H04W84/18

  Self-organising networks, e.g. ad-hoc networks or sensor networks · CPC title

• H04W4/70

  Services for machine-to-machine communication [M2M] or machine type communication [MTC] · CPC title