KR200419293Y1 - Apparatus for transmitting concatenated frames in a wireless communication system - Google Patents

Abstract

A mesh point (MP) used in a wireless communication system is configured to transmit the connected frames. The mesh point includes a transmitter configured to transmit its linked frame to a plurality of mesh points, a receiver configured to receive the linked frame from a plurality of mesh points, a processor coupled to and communicating with both the transmitter and the receiver. Include. The processor is configured to control a transmitter that transmits its associated frame to a plurality of mesh points in a wireless communication system, the connected frame comprising one or more of a control frame and a data subframe identifying one or more other MPs in the wireless communication system. Include.

Mesh point, processor

Description

A device for transmitting connected frames in a wireless communication system {APPARATUS FOR TRANSMITTING CONCATENATED FRAMES IN A WIRELESS COMMUNICATION SYSTEM}

1 illustrates a wireless communication system constructed in accordance with the present invention.

2 is a prior art signal diagram for communicating data in a wireless communication system.

3 is a functional block diagram of a mesh point (MP) constructed in accordance with the present invention;

4 is a view showing a connected frame structure according to the present invention.

5 is a signal diagram of an MP communicating with each other using a unicast frame connection according to the present invention.

6 is a signal diagram in which MPs communicate with each other using a multicast control subframe connection according to the present invention;

7 is a signal diagram in which MPs communicate with each other using multicast control and data subframe connections according to the present invention.

※ Explanation of codes for main parts of drawing

110: mesh point 115: processor

116: receiver 117: transmitter

118: antenna 119: memory

The present invention relates to a wireless communication network. In particular, the present invention relates to a method and apparatus for connected frame transmission in a wireless communication system.

Wireless local area networks (WLANs) are becoming widespread and more advanced as wireless technologies, and variations of wireless networks may exist. For example, a conventional WLAN may be based on a structured infrastructure system that includes a base station in communication with wireless devices and routes traffic between the wireless devices. An additional type of wireless network is an ad-hoc network, where the wireless device communicates with one or more additional wireless devices by point-to-point technology that dynamically connects to or disconnects from the network. do.

As a combination of conventional system architecture and Ed-call network, a mesh network includes a user equipment, a terminal, an access point (AP), and a base station, all functioning as mesh points (MPs) in a wireless system. You may. Mesh networks are growing in standards organizations due to features such as small effort coverage extension to WLAN, self-deploying WLAN with low effort and low complexity, high tolerance to failures and redundancy. Gaining support.

In a WLAN mesh, two or more sets of MPs are interconnected via an IEEE 802.11 link. Each mesh point (MP) on the mesh network receives and transmits its own traffic while acting as a router or relay node for other devices.

In addition, the IEEE 802.11 (Wi-Fi) standard specifies support for multicasting as part of an asynchronous service. Multicast packets contain group addresses that carry the same packet to more than one destination. This is particularly useful if, for example, some particular type of data traffic (eg, streaming service) is intended to be received by some nodes in the network.

In a WLAN system, the definition of multicast is: "Media access control (MAC) address with group bit set. A multicast MAC service data unit (MSDU) is a unit with a multicast destination address. Multicast MAC protocol data unit ( MPDU) or control frame is a unit with a multicast receiver address. " Thus, an access point (AP) (in infrastructure mode) or a station (STA) or client (in ad-hoc mode) transmits a frame while waiting for a multicast destination address. The frame is decoded by receivers subscribed to this service and multicast address.

However, there is a need in a wireless communication system to transmit linked frames that are not limited by the prior art.

The present invention relates to an apparatus for transmitting connected frames in a wireless communication system having a plurality of mesh points (MP). In one embodiment, the mesh point is a transmitter configured to transmit its linked frame to a plurality of mesh points, a receiver configured to receive the linked frame from a plurality of mesh points, coupled to the transmitter and the receiver, both the transmitter and the receiver And a processor in communication with the. The processor is configured to control a transmitter that transmits its linked frame to a plurality of mesh points in a wireless communication system, the connected frame comprising one or more of a control frame and a data subframe identifying one or more other MPs in the wireless communication system. Include.

Hereinafter, the mesh point MP includes but is not limited to a user device, mobile station, fixed or mobile subscriber unit, pager or any other type of device capable of operating in a wireless environment. MP may also refer to a base station, including but not limited to a Node-B, a site controller, an access point, or any other type of interfacing device to a wireless environment.

Features of the present invention may be integrated into an integrated circuit (IC) or may consist of a circuit having a plurality of interconnecting components.

1 shows a wireless communication system 100 constructed in accordance with the present invention. The wireless communication system 100 includes a plurality of MPs 110 capable of wirelessly communicating with each other.

2 is a signal diagram of a prior art for transmitting data in a wireless communication system 200. The prior art signal diagram 200 shows MP1, MP2, MP3 that can communicate with each other. In particular, the first MP3 transmits data determined to be directed to MP1 or MP2. MP1 transmits a request to send (RTS) data signal to MP2 (220). MP2 transmits a clear to send (CTS) data signal to MP1 (230). MP1 then transmits the data (240), and MP2 acknowledges the data.

When the transmission is complete, MP2 transmits (260) an RTS data signal to MP1 to transmit 210 data from MP3. MP1 transmits the CTS data signal to MP2 (270). MP2 transmits the data received from MP3 to MP1 (280), and MP1 ACKs the data (290).

3 is a functional block diagram of an MP 110 constructed in accordance with the present invention.

In addition to the nominal components included in a conventional MP, MP 110 ′ is a processor 115 configured to transmit and receive unicast, multicast, or brocast concatenated signals, the processor ( A receiver 116 in communication with 115, a transmitter 117 in communication with its processor 115, a memory 119 in communication with its processor 115, and communication with both its receiver 116 and transmitter 117 And an antenna 118 that facilitates transmission of wireless data to the MP 110 'and reception of wireless data from the MP 110'.

4 shows a connected frame structure 400 according to the present invention. The linked frame structure 400 includes a frame control field 410, a duration / ID field 420, an address 1 field 430, an address 2 field 440, a frame descriptor field 450, and a payload 460. , And frame checksum (FCS). The payload 460 may further include a plurality of subframes.

The frame control field 410 includes linked frames. This concatenated frame contains information about a plurality of MPs, which may include control information, management information or data information such as RTS, CTS, and ACK signals. In addition, this concatenated frame may be encrypted. For example, single key encryption can be used to encrypt the entire frame. In this case, this encrypted frame may be decoded by either an addressed unicast MP (e.g., a paired key), or an entire MP (e.g., group key) in an addressed multicast group. Can be.

Alternatively, the header of this frame can be unencrypted. In this case, the individual concatenated frames must be encrypted using a unicast key (paired key) or a multicast or broadcast key (group key).

Duration / ID field 420 typically contains duration information as included in the IEEE 802.11 duration field. This duration is associated with the total duration of this linked frame.

The address 1 field 430 identifies the receiver address and may be unicast or multicast, but the address 2 field 440 identifies the transmitter address, which is a unicast address.

The frame descriptor field 450 includes information related to the payload 460. For example, the frame descriptor field 450 may enumerate a receiver that receives the length of the payload 460 and the location, duration, and type of the subframe in the particular frame 400.

FCS 470 verifies the integrity of the data. For example, if the information in subframes 1 through n can be decoded by any MP 110 in wireless communication system 100, FCS 470 is frame 400 in frame 400. It may be included only at the end of. Alternatively, for a subframe, the FCS may be used when the entire subframes 1 through n are not decoded by the entire MP 110 in the wireless communication system 100.

As described above, payload 460 may include a plurality of subframes, such as subframe one 461, subframe two 465, and subframe n 471. The subframes may be one of a data subframe, a control subframe or a management subframe according to the frame control type, and the position of each subframe is described by the frame descriptor field 470 as described above. For example, subframe one 461 is a control subframe including signaling information such as RTS, CTS or ACK guide information. More specifically, the control subframe includes an MP Id field 462, a frame control field 463 that is almost similar to the frame control field 410, and an FCS field 464 that is nearly similar to the FCS 470 described above. .

Subframe 2 465 includes MP ID field 466, sender address (SA) field 467 identifying the unicast address of the originating MP, length field 468, MAC service data unit (MSDU) field 469 , And concatenated data subframes that may include user traffic for the MP identified by FCS field 472 similar to FCS field 470.

Any combination of FCS fields may be used in the header or in subframes. In addition, the FCS field may not be used at all in another embodiment of the present invention.

The MP Id fields 462 and 466 identify the subframe receiver address, which may be the next hop address or the final destination address, and may be unicast or multicast. In addition, in multicast transmissions, each MP 110 may uniquely define a neighbor MP with an MP Id that requires less memory than a conventional identifier, such as a six-byte MAC address.

5 is a signal of a plurality of MP 110 (designated as MP 110 ', MP 110 " and MP 110' ") communicating with each other using a unicast frame connection, in accordance with the present invention. Diagram 500. MP 110 '' 'transmits data from traffic stream 2 (TS2) to MP 110' (510). Receiver 116 of MP 110 ′ receives TS2 data through antenna 118 and forwards this TS2 data to processor 115. The processor 115 may store TS2 data in the memory 119 for retransmission. The receiver 116 of the MP 110 ′ then receives 520 an RTS signal for traffic 1 (TS1) from the MP 110 ″ via the antenna 118, and processes the RTS signal for TS1 into a processor. Forward to 115.

The processor of the MP 110 'then identifies the MP 110 " with a TS1 RTS signal and compares that signal with the next hop address of TS2 data. Thus, MP 110 ′ identifies MP 110 ″ as the intended recipient for TS2 data. Since the TS2 data has been received by the MP 110 ', the processor 115 of the MP 110' may complete TS1 data transmission / reception in accordance with the time required to transmit the TS2 data in the connected frame at the end of the transmission. Update the CTS response to include the required time.

The processor 115 of the MP 110 ′ transmits the CTS signal for TS1 to the MP 110 ″ via the transmitter 117 and the antenna 118 (530). MP 110 ″ receives 530 the CTS for TS 1 and transmits this TS 1 data to MP 110 ′ (540). The receiver 116 receives TS1 data through the antenna 118 and forwards it to the processor 115.

Prior to transmitting the ACK for the TS1 data, the processor 115 associates the ACK control message according to the data subframe containing the data TS2 intended for the MP 110 ″. Processor 115 then transmits this connected frame via transmitter 117 and antenna 118. In the case where the data TS2 was previously stored in the memory 119 of the MP 110 ', the processor 115 extracts the data TS2 from the memory 119 before transmitting the data TS2 to the MP 110' '. do. Thus, the ACK signal and the data TS2 signal are coupled in a single data transmission from the MP 110 'and the MP 110 ". The MP 110 ″ allows the information of the control subframe and data subframe transmitted by the MP 110 'to detect the MP 110' Id (identification) in the MP Id fields 462 and 466, respectively. It is determined that (110 ') is intended.

6 illustrates a plurality of MPs 110 (designated as MPs 110 ', MPs 110 ", and MPs 110' ") communicating with each other using a multicast control subframe connection in accordance with the present invention. Signal diagram 600. MP 110 ″ transmits an RTS for TS 1 to MP 110 ′ (610). The receiver of the MP 110 ′ receives 610 the RTS for TS1 from the MP 110 ″ via the antenna 118 and forwards it to the processor 115.

Processor 115 of MP 110 ′ transmits the CTS signal for TS1 to MP 110 ″ via transmitter 117 and antenna 118 (620). The CTS includes the time required to complete the transmission / reception of TS1 data according to the time required to transmit TS2 data at the end of transmission of TS1 data within its duration.

MP 110 ″ receives 620 the CTS for TS 1 and transmits data TS 1 to MP 110 ′ (630). Receiver 116 of MP 110 ′ receives 630 the data TS1 transmitted via antenna 118 and forwards it to processor 115. The processor 115 may store the data TS1 in the memory 119 for retransmission.

Thereafter, the processor 115 transmits a multicast-connected frame to the MP 110 ″ and the MP 110 ′ ″ through the transmitter 117 and the antenna 118 (640). The multicast concatenated frame includes a control subframe that identifies the MP 110 '' in the MP Id field of the control subframe 461 and includes ACK TS1 for the MP 110 '', and the MP of the control subframe. And a control subframe that identifies the MP 110 '' 'in the Id field and includes the RTS TS1 to the MP 110' ''. MPs 110 " and 110 " 'respectively receive the transmitted multicast connection frames, and which control subframes are applicable to the MPs via the unique MP ID 462 of the MPs within the control subframe. Decode the frame body to determine. Thus, the control subframe for the MP 110 ″ and the control subframe for the MP 110 ″ may be combined into a single concatenated multicast frame from the MP 110 ′. The frame body of these linked frames may also include a cipher text that can be read by the entire MP 110 addressed by the transmitting MP 110 'in the multicast group.

7 illustrates a plurality of MPs 110 (MPs 110 ', MPs 110 " and MPs 110 ") that communicate with each other using multicast control and data subframe connections in accordance with the present invention. Specified) is a signal diagram 700. MP 110 ″ transmits data TS1 to MP 110 ′ (710). The receiver of the MP 110 ′ receives 710 data TS1 transmitted via the antenna. The processor 115 may store the data TS1 in the memory 119 for retransmission.

Thereafter, the processor 115 transmits the multicast-linked frame 720 to the MP 110 ″ and the MP 110 ′ ″ through the transmitter 117 and the antenna 118. This multicast concatenated frame 720 identifies the MP 110 '' in the MP Id field of the control subframe and includes the control subframe including ACK TS1 for the MP 110 '', and the MP Id of the data subframe. Field contains a data subframe that identifies the MP 110 '' 'and includes the data TS1 for the MP 110' ''.

MPs 110 " and 110 " 'respectively receive the transmitted multicast connection frames, and which subframes are unique MP Id 462 of the MPs in a control subframe or MP Id in the data subframe ( 466 decodes the frame body to determine if it is applicable to the MPs. Thus, the control subframe for the MP 110 ″ and the data subframe for the MP 110 ′ ″ may be combined into a single concatenated multicast frame from the MP 110 ′. The frame body of these linked frames may also include a cipher text that can be read by the entire MP 110 addressed by the transmitting MP 110 'in the multicast group.

The present invention may preferably be implemented in any type of wireless communication system. For example, the present invention may be implemented in any type of 802 type system, including 802.11, 802.15 or 802.16, or any other type of wireless communication system. In addition, the present invention provides an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a plurality of integrated circuits, logically programmable gate arrays (LPGAs), a plurality of LPGAs, separate components or integrated circuits, LPGAs, and combinations of separate components. Likewise, it may be implemented in an application operating on a processor or on an integrated circuit.

While features and elements of the present invention have been described in the preferred embodiments as specific combinations, each feature and element may be used alone (without other features and elements of the preferred embodiments) or with other features and elements of the present invention. It can be used with or without various combinations.

As described above, the present invention can provide an apparatus capable of transmitting a connected frame in a wireless communication system.

Claims (3)

A mesh point (MP) used in a wireless communication system having a plurality of mesh points (MP), wherein the mesh point (MP) is configured to transmit a connected frame, A transmitter configured to transmit the connected frame to the plurality of MPs; A receiver configured to receive the linked frame from the plurality of MPs; And A processor coupled to the transmitter and the receiver in communication with both the receiver and the transmitter, the processor configured to control a transmitter for transmitting the connected frame to the plurality of MPs in the wireless communication system, And wherein the concatenated frame includes one or more of a control subframe and a data subframe identifying one or more other MPs in the wireless communication system. The mesh point of claim 1, further comprising a memory coupled to and in communication with the processor. The mesh point of claim 1, further comprising an antenna coupled to the receiver and the transmitter in communication with the receiver and the transmitter.

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