Dynamic use of rts and/or cts frames

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016127947-A1
Application number	US-201414528087-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Oct 30, 2014
Priority date	Oct 30, 2014
Publication date	May 5, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

A method is described for intelligently toggling request-to-send/clear-to-send (RTS/CTS) mechanisms on and off for a channel between an access point and a client device. In particular, the method may determine one or more characteristics related to the transmission of frames and toggle RTS/CTS based on these characteristics. The characteristics may describe (1) the airtime used to transmit frames, (2) the data rate used to transmit frames, (3) traffic measurements on the wireless channel between the access point and the client device, (4) overlapping basic service set traffic measurements, and (5) the number of data units included in frames to be transmitted. By toggling RTS/CTS on and off based on network/channel and frame conditions/characteristics, the method ensures that RTS/CTS is enabled when frame collisions are likely and/or channel capacity is low and disabled when frame collisions are unlikely and the overhead associated with RTS/CTS outweighs the potential benefits.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A non-transitory computer readable medium comprising instructions which, when executed by one or more hardware processors, cause performance of operations comprising:
obtaining characteristics related to transmission of a first set of data; dynamically determining whether to transmit a particular frame to set a Network Allocation Vector (NAV) prior to transmitting a second set of data based on whether the characteristics related to transmission of a first set of data meet a particular criteria; responsive to determining that the characteristics do not meet the particular criteria, transmitting the particular frame prior to transmitting the second set of data; responsive to determining that the characteristics meet the particular criteria, transmitting the second set of data without transmitting the particular frame prior to transmitting the second set of data.

2 . The medium of claim 1 , wherein the particular frame comprises: a Clear-To-Send (CTS) frame and/or a Request-To-Send (RTS) frame.

3 . The medium of claim 1 , wherein the characteristics, related to the transmission of the first set of data, comprise: airtime used for transmitting the first set of data.

4 . The medium of claim 1 , wherein the characteristics, related to the transmission of the first set of data, comprise: (a) airtime used for transmitting the first set of data and (b) a size of the first set of data.

5 . The medium of claim 1 , wherein the characteristics, related to the transmission of the first set of data, comprise: a fallback rate used for transmission of the first set of data.

6 . The medium of claim 1 , wherein the characteristics, related to the transmission of the first set of data, comprise: Overlapping Basic Service Set (OBSS) traffic measurements.

7 . The medium of claim 1 , wherein the dynamically determining whether to transmit the particular frame prior to transmitting a second set of data is further based on (a) a size of the second set of data and (b) an amount of time allocated for transmitting the second set of data.

8 . The medium of claim 1 , wherein the characteristics related to the transmission of the first set of data, comprise: a channel load value for a radio frequency channel used for transmission of the first set of data.

9 . The medium of claim 1 , wherein the characteristics, related to the transmission of the first set of data, comprise: an average airtime used for transmission of data units in the first set of data.

10 . The medium of claim 1 , wherein the characteristics, related to the transmission of the first set of data, comprise: a retry rate used for transmitting the first set of data.

11 . The medium of claim 1 , wherein transmitting the second set of data comprises re-transmitting the first set of data.

12 . A system comprising:
at least one device including a hardware processor; the system being configured to perform operations comprising: obtaining characteristics related to transmission of a first set of data; dynamically determining whether to transmit a particular frame to set a Network Allocation Vector (NAV) prior to transmitting a second set of data based on whether the characteristics related to transmission of a first set of data meet a particular criteria; responsive to determining that the characteristics do not meet the particular criteria, transmitting the particular frame prior to transmitting the second set of data; responsive to determining that the characteristics meet the particular criteria, transmitting the second set of data without transmitting the particular frame prior to transmitting the second set of data.

13 . The system of claim 12 , wherein the particular frame comprises: a Clear-To-Send (CTS) frame and/or a Request-To-Send (RTS) frame.

14 . The system of claim 12 , wherein the characteristics, related to the transmission of the first set of data, comprise: airtime used for transmitting the first set of data.

15 . The system of claim 12 , wherein the characteristics, related to the transmission of the first set of data, comprise: (a) airtime used for transmitting the first set of data and (b) a size of the first set of data.

16 . The system of claim 12 , wherein the characteristics, related to the transmission of the first set of data, comprise: a fallback rate used for transmission of the first set of data.

17 . The system of claim 12 , wherein the characteristics, related to the transmission of the first set of data, comprise: Overlapping Basic Service Set (OBSS) traffic measurements.

18 . The system of claim 12 , wherein the dynamically determining whether to transmit the particular frame prior to transmitting a second set of data is further based on (a) a size of the second set of data and (b) an amount of time allocated for transmitting the second set of data.

12 . The system of claim 12 , wherein the characteristics, related to the transmission of the first set of data, comprise: a channel load value for a radio frequency channel used for transmission of the first set of data.

20 . The system of claim 12 , wherein the characteristics, related to the transmission of the first set of data, comprise: an average airtime used for transmission of data units in the first set of data.

21 . The system of claim 12 , wherein the characteristics, related to the transmission of the first set of data, comprise: a retry rate used for transmitting the first set of data.

22 . The system of claim 12 , wherein transmitting the second set of data comprises re-transmitting the first set of data.

Assignees

• Aruba Networks Inc

Inventors

• Bhanage Gautam
• Gupta Manoj

Classifications

• H04W28/044 Primary

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H04W72/08

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H04L1/00

  Arrangements for detecting or preventing errors in the information received {(correcting synchronisation H04L7/00)} · CPC title

• H04W74/002 Primary

  Transmission of channel access control information · CPC title