Method and apparatus for medium access group assignment

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9743273-B2
Application number	US-201113977596-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 1, 2011
Priority date	Oct 1, 2011
Publication date	Aug 22, 2017
Grant date	Aug 22, 2017

Abstract

Systems and methods for implementing a medium access group assignment of stations (STAs) are disclosed. An access point (AP) device may be configured to allocate a chosen beacon interval to a medium access group (MAG). Further, the AP device may assign STAs to different MAGs. After assignment to a particular MAG, the STAs that are associated to the particular MAG may use the configured beacon interval during transmission and reception of messages.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method performed by an access point (AP) for organizing stations (STAs), the method comprising:
collaborating by the AP with one or more other APs to allocate a beacon interval that does not overlap with beacon intervals chosen by the one or more other APs;
configuring the allocated beacon interval to a plurality of medium access groups (MAGs);
receiving an association request frame from a STA to join the AP;
assigning of the STA to a particular MAG in the plurality of MAGs, the assigning includes initially associating the requesting STA to the particular MAG;
reorganizing the plurality of MAGs based on the initial association of the requesting STA to the particular MAG and current associations of other STAs to the particular MAG or to another MAG in the plurality of MAGs, wherein the reorganizing includes grouping equal number of STAs for each MAG in the plurality of MAGs;
sending an association response frame to the STA, the association response frame comprises a traffic indication map (TIM) element; and
trafficking buffer frames for the grouped STAs assigned to each MAG, wherein the trafficking comprises compressing the TIM element in the beacon interval by assigning the grouped STAs with contiguous association identifications (AIDs).

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the grouping equal number of STAs for each MAG includes a final destination of each STA to a corresponding MAG in the plurality of MAGs.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the association response frame includes an association identification (AID) for the STA.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the association response frame includes a MAG identification for the STA.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the association response frame includes a MAG schedule for the STA.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein the STA receives one TIM element for a designated beacon interval.

7. A wireless communications network comprising:
an access point (AP) device that receives an association request frame from a station (STA), wherein the AP device: initially associates the STA to a particular medium access group (MAG) in a plurality of MAGs; reorganizes the plurality of MAGs based on the initial association of the STA to the particular MAG and current associations of other STAs to the particular MAG or an other MAG in the plurality of MAGs, wherein the reorganizing includes grouping equal number of STAs for each MAG in the plurality of MAGs; and informs the STA of MAG assignment by sending an association response frame that includes a beacon interval configured by the AP device to the MAG, wherein a traffic indication map (TIM) element of the association response frame is compressed by assigning the grouped STAs with contiguous association identifications (AIDs); and
a STA, associated with the AP device, wherein the STA adopts association response frame during the transmission of messages by the STA.

8. The wireless communications network of claim 7 , wherein the MAG assignment includes a final destination of each STA to a corresponding MAG in the plurality of MAGs.

9. The wireless communications network of claim 7 , wherein the association response frame includes each association identification (AID) for the STA.

10. The wireless communications network of claim 7 , wherein the association response frame includes MAG identification for the STA.

11. The wireless communications network of claim 7 , wherein the association response frame includes a medium access schedule.

12. The wireless communications network of claim 7 , wherein the AP device traffics buffer frames for the STA that are assigned to the MAG.

13. The wireless communications network of claim 12 , wherein the STA receives one TIM element for a designated beacon interval.

14. An access point (AP) device comprising:
one or more processors configured to:
initially associate a requesting station (STA) to a particular medium access group (MAG) in a plurality of MAGs;
reorganize the plurality of MAGs based on the initial association of the requesting STA to the particular MAG and current associations of other STAs to the particular MAG or an other MAG in the plurality of MAGs, wherein the reorganizing includes grouping equal number of STAs for each MAG in the plurality of MAGs;
generate an association response frame that includes an association identification (AID), traffic indication map (TIM), MAG identification, and medium access schedule for the requesting STA, wherein the TIM is compressed by assigning the grouped STAs with contiguous association identifications (AIDs);

a memory configured to the one or more processors and configured to store beacon frames that include the association response frame; and
a transmitter to wirelessly transmit the beacon frames.

15. The AP device of claim 14 , wherein the AID includes contiguous AIDs for STAs that are associated in one MAG.

16. The AP device of claim 14 , wherein the medium access schedule is an information element that includes a start target beacon transmission time (Start TBTT).

17. The AP device of claim 16 , wherein the start TBTT defines starting point of a beacon interval operation for the STA.

18. The AP device of claim 16 , wherein the information element includes a beacon interval configured by the AP device to the MAG.

19. The AP device of claim 16 , wherein the information element includes an element identification (element ID) that identifies the medium access schedule included in the association response frame.

20. A method performed by an access point (AP) of a basic service set (BSS) comprising:
receiving an association request frame from a station (STA) to join the BSS;
assigning of the STA to a particular medium access group (MAG) in a plurality of MAGs in the BSS, the assigning includes initially associating the requesting STA to the particular MAG;
reorganizing the plurality of MAGs based on the initial association of the requesting STA to the particular MAG and current associations of other STAs to other MAGs in the plurality of MAGs, the reorganizing includes grouping equal number of STAs for each MAG in the plurality of MAGs;
sending an association response frame to the STA, the association response frame comprises a traffic indication map (TIM) element; and
indicating buffered traffic for the STA to transmit/receive in a current beacon interval, wherein the indicating buffered traffic comprises compressing the TIM element in the current beacon interval by assigning the grouped STAs with contiguous association identifications (AIDs).

21. The method of claim 20 , wherein the grouping equal number of STAs for each MAG includes a final destination of each STA to a corresponding MAG in the plurality of MAGs.

Assignees

• Gong Michelle X
• Stephens Adrian P
• Intel Corp

Inventors

• Gong Michelle X
• Stephens Adrian P

Classifications

• H04W8/26 Primary

  Network addressing or numbering for mobility support · CPC title

• H04W76/021

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H04W74/006 Primary

  in the downlink, i.e. towards the terminal · CPC title

• H04W76/11

  Allocation or use of connection identifiers · CPC title