Wireless multicast communication

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9681418-B2
Application number	US-201314088898-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 25, 2013
Priority date	Sep 27, 2013
Publication date	Jun 13, 2017
Grant date	Jun 13, 2017

Abstract

This document describes multicast communication between wireless devices. A scheduling frame may be wirelessly transmitted by a wireless device. The scheduling frame may include a multicast address indicating a group of intended receiving devices for a payload frame. The scheduling frame may further include scheduling information indicating an order for the group of intended receiving devices to transmit acknowledgement information for the payload frame. A payload frame may also be wirelessly transmitted by the wireless device. The payload frame may include payload information intended for the group of intended receiving devices. Additionally, acknowledgement frames may be wirelessly received by the wireless device from at least a subset of the group of intended receiving devices. The acknowledgement frames may be received according to the order indicated in the scheduling information.

First claim

We claim:

1. A wireless device configured to perform multicast communication, comprising:
a radio, comprising an antenna configured for wireless communication;
a processing element operably coupled to the radio;
wherein the processing element and the radio are configured to:
transmit a scheduling frame via wireless communication, wherein the scheduling frame comprises a multicast address indicating a group of intended receiving devices for a payload frame, wherein the scheduling frame further comprises scheduling information indicating an order for the group of intended receiving devices to transmit acknowledgement information for the payload frame;
transmit the payload frame via wireless communication, wherein the payload frame comprises payload information configured for multicast communication to the group of intended receiving devices;
receive acknowledgement frames via wireless communication from at least a subset of the group intended receiving devices, wherein the acknowledgement frames are received according to the order indicated in the scheduling information.

2. The wireless device of claim 1 ,
wherein the wireless device is configured to perform wireless communication at any of a plurality of PHY rates,
wherein the scheduling frame is transmitted at a first PHY rate and the payload frame is transmitted at a second PHY rate, wherein the first PHY rate is more robust than the second PHY rate.

3. The wireless device of claim 2 ,
wherein the acknowledgement frames are communicated at the first PHY rate.

4. The wireless device of claim 1 ,
wherein the payload frame is an aggregate frame comprising a plurality of MAC protocol data units,
wherein each acknowledgement frame is a block acknowledgment comprising acknowledgment information for each of the plurality of MAC protocol data units comprised in the payload frame.

5. The wireless device of claim 1 ,
wherein the scheduling frame further comprises information indicating a duration of a multicast communication sequence, wherein the multicast communication sequence comprises the scheduling frame, the payload frame, and the acknowledgement frames, wherein indicating the duration of the multicast communication sequence provides network allocation vector (NAV) protection for the multicast communication sequence.

6. The wireless device of claim 5 ,
wherein the processing element and the radio are further configured to:
detect that no acknowledgement frame is being received at a time when an acknowledgement frame is scheduled;
transmit a filler frame for a remaining scheduled duration of the scheduled acknowledgement frame, wherein the filler frame maintains NAV protection for the multicast communication sequence.

7. The wireless device of claim 1 , wherein the processing element and the radio are further configured to:
transmit an acknowledgement request frame via wireless communication, wherein the acknowledgement request frame comprises a scheduling frame which indicates a payload frame length of zero; and
receive acknowledgement frames via wireless communication from at least a subset of the group intended receiving devices in response to the acknowledgement request frame, wherein the acknowledgement frames are received according to an order indicated in the acknowledgement request frame.

8. A method for a multicast sender to perform multicast communication with a group of multicast receivers, the method comprising
performing a plurality of multicast communication sequences with the group of multicast receivers, wherein performing each multicast communication sequence comprises:
transmitting a scheduling frame, wherein the scheduling frame comprises a multicast address indicating the group of multicast receivers;
transmitting a payload frame; and
receiving acknowledgement frames from at least a subset of the group of multicast receivers,
wherein the scheduling frame comprises information scheduling acknowledgement frame transmissions for the group of multicast receivers,
wherein the acknowledgement frames are received according to an order based on the scheduling frame.

9. The method of claim 8 ,
wherein the scheduling frame for each respective multicast communication sequence comprises duration information indicating a length of the respective multicast communication sequence.

10. The method of claim 8 ,
wherein the information scheduling acknowledgement frame transmissions for the group of multicast receivers comprises:
information indicating an order in which the group of multicast receivers are scheduled to transmit acknowledgement frames, and
information indicating a duration scheduled for each acknowledgement frame.

11. The method of claim 8 ,
wherein the payload frame for each multicast communication sequence is an aggregate frame comprising a plurality of subframes, wherein each acknowledgement frame in each multicast communication sequence comprises a bitmap indicating which payload subframes are correctly received.

12. The method of claim 8 ,
wherein the payload frame for each multicast communication sequence is an aggregate frame comprising a plurality of subframes, wherein performing each multicast communication sequence further comprises:
determining, based on one or more previous multicast communication sequences, the plurality of subframes comprised in the payload frame.

13. The method of claim 12 ,
wherein for at least one multicast communication sequence, the payload frame comprises a combination of at least one retry subframe and at least one new subframe.

14. A wireless device configured to perform multicast communication, comprising:
a radio, comprising an antenna configured for wireless communication;
a processing element operably coupled to the radio;
wherein the processing element and the radio are configured to:
receive a scheduling frame via wireless communication, wherein the scheduling frame comprises a multicast address indicating a group of intended receiving devices for a payload frame, wherein the wireless device is a member of the group of intended receiving devices, wherein the scheduling frame further comprises scheduling information indicating an order in which each member of the group of intended receiving devices is scheduled to transmit an acknowledgement frame for the payload frame;
receive the payload frame via wireless communication, wherein the payload frame comprises payload information configured for multicast communication to the group of intended receiving devices;
transmit an acknowledgement frame via wireless communication, wherein the acknowledgement frame is transmitted according to the order indicated in the scheduling information.

15. The wireless device of claim 14 ,
wherein the scheduling information further comprises:
information indicating a duration of the payload frame, and
information indicating a duration of each acknowledgement frame,
wherein the processing element and the radio are further configured to determine a time at which to transmit the acknowledgement frame based on the order in which each member of the group of intended receiving devices is scheduled to transmit an acknowledgement frame for the payload frame, the information indicating the duration of the payload frame, and the information indicating the duration of each acknowledgement frame.

16. The wireless device of claim 14 ,
wherein the scheduling information further comprises information indicating a duration of a multicast communication sequence, wherein the multicast communication sequence comprises the scheduling frame, the payload frame, and th

Assignees

• Apple Inc

Inventors

• Ramamurthy Harish
• Chhabra Kapil
• Semersky Matthew L
• Borges Daniel R
• Dominguez Charles F

Classifications

• H04L1/203

  Details of error rate determination, e.g. BER, FER or WER · CPC title

• H04W72/23

  in the downlink direction of a wireless link, i.e. towards a terminal · CPC title

• H04L1/1685

  the supervisory signal being transmitted in response to a specific request, e.g. to a polling signal · CPC title

• H04L1/1854

  Scheduling and prioritising arrangements · CPC title

• H04W72/30 Primary

  Resource management for broadcast services · CPC title