Traffic advertisement and scheduling in a neighbor aware network data link

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016014715-A1
Application number	US-201514794785-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Jul 8, 2015
Priority date	Jul 9, 2014
Publication date	Jan 14, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

A method includes monitoring, at a first electronic device of a data link, a first wireless network during a first paging window corresponding to an active operating mode of electronic devices of the data link. The method also includes receiving, at the first electronic device, a traffic announcement message from a second electronic device of the data link during the first paging window.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A method of communicating between electronic devices, the method comprising:
monitoring, at a first electronic device of a data link, a first wireless network during a first paging window corresponding to an active operating mode of electronic devices of the data link; and receiving, at the first electronic device, a traffic announcement message from a second electronic device of the data link during the first paging window.

2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the traffic announcement message includes a broadcast message.

3 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising determining, at the first electronic device, whether the traffic announcement message identifies the first electronic device as a recipient of data from the second electronic device during a first transmission window of the data link.

4 . The method of claim 3 , further comprising:
maintaining the first electronic device in the active operating mode during the first transmission window in response to determining the traffic announcement message identifies the first electronic device as the recipient; and receiving, at the first electronic device, the data from the second electronic device during the first transmission window.

5 . The method of claim 3 , further comprising:
transitioning the first electronic device from the active operating mode to a low-power operating mode during the first transmission window in response to determining the traffic announcement message does not identify the first electronic device as the recipient; and transitioning the first electronic device from the low-power operating mode to the active operating mode at a second start time of a second paging window.

6 . The method of claim 3 , further comprising, if the traffic announcement message identifies the first electronic device as the recipient of the data from the second electronic device, receiving the data from the second electronic device at the first electronic device via a wireless network corresponding to the data link.

7 . The method of claim 3 , wherein the traffic announcement message is received via the first wireless network, wherein the first wireless network is reserved for data transmissions associated with the data link, and further comprising, if the traffic announcement message indicates the first electronic device as the recipient, receiving the data from the second electronic device via the first wireless network.

8 . The method of claim 3 , wherein the traffic announcement message is received via the first wireless network, wherein the first wireless network corresponds to a neighbor aware network (NAN), and further comprising, if the traffic announcement message indicates the first electronic device as the recipient, receiving the data from the second electronic device at the first electronic device via a second wireless network corresponding to the data link.

9 . The method of claim 3 , further comprising determining whether a value of a particular bit of a traffic indication map identifies the first electronic device as the recipient, the particular bit corresponding to the first electronic device.

10 . The method of claim 9 , wherein a location of the particular bit in the traffic indication map is determined based on an association identification assigned by the second electronic device during an association process between the first electronic device and the second electronic device.

11 . The method of claim 9 , further comprising determining a particular data link via which to receive the data based on an association identification space corresponding to the particular bit.

12 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising transmitting an acknowledgement from the first electronic device to the second electronic device in response to receiving the traffic announcement message, wherein the acknowledgement serves as a power save poll (PS-POLL) message.

13 . The method of claim 12 , wherein the acknowledgement is transmitted during an acknowledgement window, wherein a transmission window includes the first paging window, the acknowledgement window, and a data transmission portion, and wherein the acknowledgement window occurs subsequent to the first paging window and prior to the data transmission portion.

14 . The method of claim 12 , further comprising:
determining a duration of a first time period that a first wireless network corresponding to the data link is idle, the first time period occurring subsequent to transmitting the acknowledgement; and transitioning the first electronic device from the active operating mode to a low-power operating mode in response to determining the duration of the first time period exceeds a first threshold value.

15 . The method of claim 12 , further comprising:
determining a duration of a second time period that a first wireless network corresponding to the data link is busy, the second time period occurring subsequent to transmitting the acknowledgement; and transitioning the first electronic device from the active operating mode to a low-power operating mode in response to determining the duration of the second time period exceeds a second threshold value.

16 . The method of claim 12 , further comprising:
after transmitting the acknowledgement, receiving at least one data frame at the first electronic device from the second electronic device; and after expiration of a threshold time period, transitioning the first electronic device from the active operating mode to a low-power operating mode in response to determining a first wireless network corresponding to the data link is idle.

17 . The method of claim 12 , further comprising:
after transmitting the acknowledgement, receiving at least one data frame at the first electronic device from the second electronic device; and maintaining the first electronic device in the active operating mode in response to determining one or more bits included in the at least one data frame indicates an additional upcoming data transmission.

18 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising transmitting a quality of service null (QoS_NULL) frame from the first electronic device to the second electronic device in response to receiving the traffic announcement message.

19 . The method of claim 18 , wherein the QoS_NULL frame includes a reverse direction grant (RDG) authorizing the second electronic device to transmit a response to the first electronic device within a short interframe space (SIFS) period.

20 . The method of claim 19 , further comprising:
receiving a data frame from the second electronic device responsive to the QoS_NULL frame; and maintaining the first electronic device in an active operating mode in response to determining one or more bits included in the data frame indicates an additional upcoming data transmission.

21 . The method of claim 1 , wherein a start time of the first paging window is determined based on an internal clock of the first electronic device, and wherein the internal clock is synchronized based on one or more synchronization beacons received at the first electronic device from one or more electronic devices of a neighbor aware network (NAN).

22 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the traffic announcement message identifies the second electronic device as a sender, identifies the first electronic device as a recipient, and identifies the data link as a delivery path for first data.

23 . The method of claim

Assignees

• Qualcomm Inc

Inventors

• Patil Abhishek Pramod
• Abraham Santosh Paul
• Raissinia Alireza
• Cherian George

Classifications

• H04W74/06

  using polling · CPC title

• H04W68/005 Primary

  Transmission of information for alerting of incoming communication · CPC title

• H04L1/1607

  Details of the supervisory signal · CPC title

• H04W8/005 Primary

  Discovery of network devices, e.g. terminals · CPC title

• Y02D30/70

  in wireless communication networks · CPC title