KR20130125291A - Short probe rosponse - Google Patents

Abstract

The purpose of the present invention is to provide an effective scanning method providing speed faster than the passive scanning by performing active scanning using a short probe response frame including minimum information required for association in a radio local area network, and to reduce overhead in the active scanning.

Description

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The present invention provides an efficient scanning method that provides faster speed than passive scanning in a WLAN environment and reduces overhead during active scanning.

There are two scanning methods in 802.11 wireless LANs: passive scanning and active scanning. In passive scanning, the STA listens to each channel of the wireless medium one by one and waits for a beacon frame to get information about the AP from the beacon. Long delay for

In active scanning, the STA sends a probe request frame to each channel, and the time required to discover a desired AP is faster than passive scanning, but there is an overhead of transmitting many probe response frames during scanning. In particular, in case of 802.11ah, the overhead due to transmission of probe response in active scanning becomes more problematic because data transmission speed is slow.

An object of the present invention is to provide an efficient scanning method that provides a faster speed than passive scanning in the WLAN environment and reduces the overhead of active scanning.

In active scanning, the STA sends a probe request frame to each channel, and the time required to discover a desired AP is faster than passive scanning, but there is an overhead of transmitting many probe response frames during scanning. In particular, in case of 802.11h, since data transmission speed is slow, overhead due to transmission of probe response in active scanning becomes more problematic.

An object of the present invention is to provide a faster speed than passive scanning by performing active scanning using a short probe response frame containing only the minimum information necessary for association in a wireless LAN environment, efficient scanning reducing the overhead during active scanning It's about how.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, an efficient scanning method using a short probe response is provided.

In active scanning, the STA sends a probe request frame to each channel, and the time required to discover a desired AP is faster than passive scanning, but there is an overhead of transmitting many probe response frames during scanning. In particular, in case of 802.11h, since data transmission speed is slow, overhead due to transmission of probe response in active scanning becomes more problematic.

The present invention provides a faster speed than passive scanning by performing active scanning using a short probe response frame including only the minimum information necessary for association in such a WLAN environment, and reduces the overhead of active scanning. To provide. In addition, it is possible to acquire specific information of the relevant BSS as a short probe request / response without listening to the full beacon in the BSS where the full beacon is not used or do not fly frequently, or to associate the new BSS with active scanning without listening to the full beacon.

An object of the present invention is to provide a faster speed than passive scanning by performing active scanning using a short probe response frame containing only the minimum information necessary for association in a wireless LAN environment, efficient scanning reducing the overhead during active scanning It's about how.

There are two scanning methods in 802.11 wireless LANs: passive scanning and active scanning. In passive scanning, the STA listens to each channel of the wireless medium one by one and waits for a beacon frame to get information about the AP from the beacon. Long delay for

In active scanning, the STA sends a probe request frame to each channel, and the time required to discover a desired AP is faster than passive scanning, but there is an overhead of transmitting many probe response frames during scanning. In particular, in case of 802.11h, since data transmission speed is slow, overhead due to transmission of probe response in active scanning becomes more problematic.

11ah introduces short beacons that reduce the size of existing WLAN beacons, while short beacons use a compressed SSID that reduces the SSID length of existing beacons.Full SSIDs that contain the same information (including full SSIDs) as existing beacons are frequently used. It is not sent, and short beacons are usually sent periodically.

(Figure 0) shows 11ah's Short Beacon format.

Figure 0. Short beacon format of 802.11ah

 Compressed SSID is the full SSID CRC value, beacon size is reduced by including only the CRC, but the information in the short beacon is not enough to perform the association. In other words, in order for STA to associate with AP, only information in short beacon is insufficient and additional information about BSS including Full SSID is required, so it must wait until full beacon comes. The time for association is long. If the STA already has advance information (full SSID, etc.) about the BSS, the AP can know the full SSID of the AP even with the compressed SSID. In this case, the association can be performed even with the short beacon. When entering the BSS for the first time, it is necessary to wait until the full beacon because the information about the AP such as the full SSID is not known.

 Figure 1 shows the problem of passive scanning method using short beacon in 11ah.

[Figure 1] Passive scanning using short beacon at 11ah

After the STA starts passive scanning, only the short beacon is reported, and thus the association cannot be performed immediately due to lack of information such as a full SSID, and waits until the full beacon to receive additional information to perform the association.

Figure 2 shows the active scanning method in 802.11, including 802.11ah.

[Figure 2] Active scanning method in 802.11

The STA transmits a probe request frame when active scanning starts, and receives a probe response frame from each AP. Probe response is received right after Probe Request, and includes all information about AP, so it is possible to associate with AP based on this information, so scanning time is short. However, because many APs that receive probe requests send probe response frames, there is a problem of probe response flooding, which is more serious in 11ah, which has a slower transmission rate because of the size of the probe response frame.

(Figure 3) shows an active scanning method using a short probe response frame proposed in the present invention.

[Figure 3] Active scanning method using Short Probe Response proposed in the present invention

In the existing probe response frame (hereinafter, referred to as probe response frame or full response frame), a probe response frame optimized to include only the minimum information necessary for the STA to associate with the AP is used.

When the STA transmits a probe request frame while starting active scanning, each AP immediately transmits a short probe response frame including only minimum information necessary for the STA to associate. The STA can immediately associate with the AP.

In other words, the method using the existing short beacon can be associated immediately after the next full beacon in the figure, and in the existing active scanning method, the probe response frame can be immediately received after association with the probe request frame, but the probe response size is large. There was overhead.

However, the present invention can perform faster and less overhead scanning by using active scanning using short probe response frame that is faster than passive scanning using short beacon and smaller than conventional active scanning.

The STA may display information necessary for itself when sending a probe request to the probe request, and the AP may send a short probe response frame including information necessary for the association selected by the STA. That is, the AP may not know the information required by the STA, and the STA indicates the necessary information to the Probe Request and notifies the AP, so that the AP includes a short probe response including only the minimum information required by the STA. The frame may be sent, and the STA may perform association based on the information required by the STA in the short probe response frame.

The AP may transmit a short probe response including a duration until the next full beacon, and the STA may know when the next full beacon comes.

In general, the STA can perform association even if only this information is included in the short probe response frame, but if additional information is needed in the BSS, the duration until the next full beacon included in the short probe response is required. Information can be used to receive additional information the next full beacon. At this time, because it knows exactly when the next full beacon is transmitted, it may enter the power save state while waiting for the next full beacon to reduce power consumption.

Also, in BSS composed of special nodes such as sensor BSS composed of sensor nodes, full beacon may be transmitted very occasionally or not at all to reduce beacon transmission overhead, and short probe response frame may be received as short beacon in such environment. It can also be used to obtain additional BSS information that is missing.

In other words, if the association cannot be performed because there is not enough information with only the short beacon, the STA may request the necessary information while receiving a probe request and receive it as a short probe response, and even after association, the information in the BSS changes. If it is, the short beacon only informs that the BSS information has changed, and the changed information indicates that the STA sends a probe request by specifying the information required for the probe request, and a short probe response frame including only necessary BSS information such as changed information from the AP. In the environment where full beacon is rarely used, BSS can be obtained with minimal traffic without using full probe response.

In addition, since the optional fields or the optional IE fields of the short probe response frame proposed by the present invention can include all optional information included in the existing full probe response frame, the existing full response frame is also the short probe response frame format proposed by the present invention. By using the same information may be included, therefore, the short probe response frame proposed in the present invention may include all the functions of the existing full response frame. In addition, when the existing full probe response is expressed using the short probe response format proposed by the present invention, the same information can be expressed in a shorter length.

I. Short Probe Response Format

The Short Probe Response frame is either one of the Frame Control Field, Source address, Destination address, Timestamp, abbreviated SSID (Compressed SSI) or existing full SSID and optionally duration to the next full beacon, and other existing probe response. You can enter optional information such as Capability information, Beacon Interval, Supported rates, Country element, Power Constraint, RSN IE, Interworking element, Roaming Consortium element, Mesh related information, etc. The Other optional field and Optional IE of the Short Probe Response frame may selectively include all information that can be included in the existing full probe response. If all information that can be included in the existing full probe response is included in the optional field and the optional IE field of the short probe response, the short probe response can provide all the information provided by the existing full response frame.

[Figure 4] shows an example of the format of the short probe response proposed in the present invention. The order of each field in the format suggested by the present invention may be changed, and the length, detailed configuration, and name of each field are given as an example to explain the contents of the present invention. In addition, the detail field may be added or omitted depending on the application method of the present invention.

[Figure 4] Format configuration example of short probe response (broadcast transmission)

[Figure 4-1] Short Probe Response format Another configuration example: DA addition (unicast transmission)

[Figure 4-2] Another example of Short Probe Response format: Adding SSID Length

[Figure 4-3] Another example of Short Probe Response format: Adding Beacon Interval, Capability, and Supported rates

[Figure 4-4] Format of Short Probe Response Another configuration example: Added additional information such as full SSID in the same format as Short Beacon

In Figure 4, FC is a Frame Control Field, which shows information about each field in Short Probe Response frame, whether each field is present, whether full SSID or compressed SSID is used, and other BSS Bandwidth, optional It indicates the existence of field.

One embodiment of the FC format is shown in [Figure 5]. The order of each field may be changed, and detailed field names, lengths, and the like are provided as examples for explaining the contents of the present invention. In addition, the detail field may be added or omitted depending on the application method of the present invention.

[Figure 5] Frame Control Field configuration example of Short Probe Response

[Figure 5-1] Another example of Frame Control Field of Short Probe Response

The Frame Control field contains the MAC protocol version, frame type information (Type, Subtype, etc.), whether the duration information until the next full beacon is included in the short probe response, and the compressed SSID is included in the short probe response. Whether or not it is optional, whether optional AP capability information is included in the short probe response, the bandwidth of the BSS, and whether security is applied. The compressed SSID is a short SSID short form. For example, a CRC or a hash value of the full SSID may be used. The STA may distinguish whether the received frame is a short probe response or an existing full probe response based on the type / subtype information.

Other information may be added as needed, and the order of each field may be changed or some fields may be omitted according to various configurations of the present invention.

Whether the duration information until the next full beacon is included in the short probe response, whether the short probe response contains the full SSID or the compressed SSID, etc. It is included for easy decoding. If the Short Probe Response includes the corresponding field, it indicates whether the field value exists and makes it easy for the STA to know whether the full SSID or the Short SSID is used. Used to

Reserved bit can contain additional information in the future. For example, the STA may be used to indicate whether the receiving STA is unicast / broadcast so that the receiving STA may know beforehand whether the short probe response is unicast or broadcast.

 (E.g. broadcast if broadcast bit = 1, or unicast probe response)

Alternatively, the retry bit may be used to explicitly indicate whether the short probe response frame is a duplicated frame when the short probe response is transmitted in unicast.

Or, it may indicate whether the corresponding short probe response frame is a short probe response including information selectively according to a user's request, or a full response using a short probe response frame format containing all information of the full response frame.

Alternatively, the reserved field may indicate whether interworking information is included in a short probe response.

The short probe response format of [Figure 4] also shows an example of the configuration of the short probe response format, and other information can be added as needed. Also, the order of each field is changed or partially according to various configurations of the present invention. The field may be missing.

The difference between [Figure 4] and [Figure 4-1] is the presence or absence of DA. [Figure 4] shows the case where the DA field is missing, and when the Short Probe Response is sent in broadcast form, it is sent without the DA field as shown. In the case of [Figure 4-1], the DA field is entered. When sending a short probe response in unicast format, the receiver's address is transmitted in the DA field.

The DA's recipient address can use the recipient's MAC address, or a shorter format identifier to reduce the frame size. For example, you can specify the recipient by creating an identifier shorter than the MAC address by combining the FCS, scrambler seed, or other information of the probe request frame that caused the probe response response.

When sending Short Probe Response in broadcast form, as shown in [Figure 4], there is no need to receive ACK from the receiving STA.In addition to the STA that has transmitted the Probe Request, STAs around it also receive and use Short Probe Response information. If there is enough information needed by the user, network traffic can be reduced because there is no need to make a probe request. In this case, however, the probe response transmission speed is slower than that of unicast transmission, and transmission reliability is low because it does not receive ack. As shown in [Figure 4-1], only certain STAs can receive Probe Response when transmitting by unicast, and the reliability is high because the Probe Response transmission speed is fast and ack is transmitted.

When the AP has a lot of traffic in consideration of network conditions and a large number of STAs attempting scanning, the AP sends a short probe response to broadcast so that multiple STAs can jointly receive a single short probe response so that it can be efficiently short even in a heavy traffic situation. You can send a probe response.

The short probe response frame may include a frame control field, a source address, a timestamp indicating a time when a short probe response is transmitted, a compressed SSID or a full SSID, a duration until the next beacon, other option information, or an optional information element.

If a timestamp is included, the STA may use timestamp information for time synchronization. The SSID may include either an existing full SSID or a compressed SSID. The STA may indicate in the Probe Request frame whether to receive a Full SSID or a Compressed SSID when sending a Probe Request. The compressed SSID is a short SSID short form. For example, a CRC or a hash value of the full SSID may be used. If the STA has prior information on the corresponding BSS and knows the full SSID in advance, since the association is possible even with only the compressed SSID, the STA may indicate to the probe request to transmit the compressed SSID to further reduce the size of the short probe response frame. If the STA does not have prior information, request the full SSID.

The AP may transmit the short probe response including the duration until the next full beacon. This information may be included in the AP only when the STA explicitly requests to be included in the short probe response. As another example, the AP may include this information in the short probe response by default. The STA can know the time when the next full beacon comes by looking at the duration information until the next full beacon.

In general, the STA can perform association even if only this information is included in the short probe response frame, but if additional information is needed in the BSS, the duration until the next full beacon included in the short probe response is required. Information can be used to receive additional information the next full beacon. At this time, because it knows exactly when the next full beacon is transmitted, it may enter the power save state while waiting for the next full beacon to reduce power consumption.

Also, in BSS composed of special nodes such as sensor BSS composed of sensor nodes, full beacon may be transmitted very occasionally or not at all to reduce beacon transmission overhead, and short probe response frame may be received as short beacon in such environment. It can also be used to obtain additional BSS information that is missing.

In other words, if the association cannot be performed because there is not enough information with only the short beacon, the STA may request the necessary information while receiving a probe request and receive it as a short probe response, and even after association, the information in the BSS changes. If it is, the short beacon only informs that the BSS information has changed, and the changed information indicates that the STA sends a probe request by specifying the information required for the probe request, and a short probe response frame including only necessary BSS information such as changed information from the AP. In the environment where full beacon is rarely used, BSS can be obtained with minimal traffic without using full probe response.

In addition, additional information may be included in the form of an optional sub field or an optional information element of a short probe response. For example, the Beacon Interval, Supported rates, Capability Information field indicating the capabilities of the AP, Country IE, including power and regulation information, RSN IE representing security-related information, roaming and interworking with external networks. Interworking IE including Roaming Consortium IE, Mesh IE including Mesh related information, Channel Switch Announcement element to inform BSS information, Quiet element, Extended supported rate, EDCA Parameter Set, AP Channel Report and other 11ah related capabilities You can include an IE that indicates. In addition, when the STA requests to include various fields and information elements defined in 802.11, the AP may selectively include them in the probe response.

Whether or not to include these information in the Probe Response is basically determined when the STA requests it in the Probe Request. According to another method of the present invention, if it is deemed necessary to the STA to determine the AP among these information, the AP may be included in the probe response even if the STA does not explicitly request it. For example, even if the STA does not explicitly request information (BSS Load, BSS Average access delay, BSS AC access delay, etc.) for notifying the operation status of the AP, it may be sent in a probe response. In another method of the present invention, all information included in the short probe response may be included only when the STA requests. In this case, there is an effect of minimizing the frame size by minimizing the information included in the probe response frame.If additional information on the BSS is needed after the STA receives the short beacon frame or after association, only the necessary additional information is selectively selected. It is efficient to request and receive from.

[Figure 4-2] is an example of adding SSID Length as another configuration example of short probe response format. Since the full SSID is rarely used as much as the maximum length, the SSID length field is added to indicate the SSID length, and the SSID field can be used to reduce the frame length by using only the actual SSID length. If a compressed SSID is used, fill in the reserved value.

In this way, the short probe response frame format is similar to the short beacon frame format, which facilitates implementation.

This is also applicable to both broadcast and unicast depending on whether or not the DA field is inserted.

[Figure 4-3] shows another configuration example of short probe response format: Beacon Interval, Capability, and Supported rates. Beacon Interval, Capability, and Supported rates should always be included in the Probe Response. Bits indicating their presence may be omitted from the FC, and requests for these information may be omitted from the probe request. Alternatively, some of this information may be included in the probe response as an option. A bit indicating their presence may be indicated to the FC, and a request for this information may be specified in the probe request.

In the above Short Probe Response example, the Short Probe Response may include Access Network Options in the form of a Short Beacon frame, and may have an interworking bit indicating its presence to the FC.

[Figure 4-4] is another configuration example of short probe response. In this example, additional information such as full SSID is added to the same format as short beacon.

The change sequence is the same information included in the short beacon, which informs the BSS that the information has changed. The Access Network Option is the same as the information in the Short Beacon. When the frame is composed in this way, from the beginning of the frame to the Access Network Options, it is the same form as the short beacon, so it is easy to implement.

Add additional Full SSID lenth and Full SSID later.

When requesting only the Compressed SSID using Probe Requests, the Full SSID length and Full SSID are omitted. When the Full SSID is requested, the Compressed SSID field is omitted and the Full SSID length and Full SSID are entered. If the full SSID is not held as long as the maximum length but the full SSID is used, and the length is specified in the full SSID length, the frame size is reduced.

Beacon Interval, Capability, and Supported rates should always be included in the Probe Response. Bits indicating their presence may be omitted from the FC, and requests for these information may be omitted from the probe request. Alternatively, some of this information may be included in the probe response as an option. A bit indicating their presence may be indicated to the FC, and a request for this information may be specified in the probe request. Or, instead of including these information in the form of fields, you can define 11ah capabilities Information Elements that represent the capabilities of other 11ah, and include these fields with these new capabilities Information Element to add to the Optional IE portion of the short probe response.

If you use the method shown in [Figure 4-4], you can configure the FC as shown in [Figure 5-1] Frame Control Field of Short Probe Response.

If the beacon interval or capability is always included in the probe response, there is no need to indicate whether they exist in the frame control (FC), but if one of these is included as an option in the probe response, the last field, presence of other You can use optional fields to indicate whether the field exists in the probe response.

[Figure 4-5] Format of Short Probe Response Another configuration example: Full SSID, Beacon Interval, Capability, Supported rates, etc. are included in IE format

[Figure 4-5] shows another configuration example of short probe response format, including full SSID, Beacon Interval, Capability, and Supported rates in IE format.

II. How the STA specifies information to be included in the short probe response

The STA may explicitly inform the AP through a probe request of information to be included in the short probe response. To this end, the STA transmits information on the probe response option in the probe request. [Figure 5] shows an example of how the STA includes the probe response option in the probe request.

[Figure 5] Probe Response option included in Probe Request and delivered to AP

The Probe Response Option field can be included in the Probe Request by adding the Element ID and Length fields as shown in [Figure 6] without inserting the Probe Response Option field into the Probe Request. In this case, decoding of the corresponding field is easy and the probe request frame can be easily extended.

[Figure 6] How to define Probe Response option Field as Information Element and include it in Probe Request

The STA specifies information required by the STA in the Probe Response option field. The AP includes the information requested in the Probe Response option field transmitted through the Probe Request in the Short Probe Response and transmits it to the STA.

The STA shall determine whether to use the full SSID or the compressed SSID in the Probe Response Option field, whether to include the Beacon Interval, Supported Rates, etc., whether to include the Capability Information indicating the AP's capabilities, power and regulation. Whether to include Country IE, Power Constraint IE, etc. that contain information, RSN IE, which indicates security-related information, etc., Interworking IE, Roaming Consortium IE, which contains information necessary for roaming and interworking with external networks. Whether to include a mesh IE, including mesh-related information, whether to include an IE indicating 11ah-related capability, a channel switch announcement element, a quiet element, and an extended supported rate related to BSS information. , EDCA Parameter Set, AP Channel Report, etc. can be included. (In addition, all information included in the existing probe response frame can be selectively included.) In addition, when the STA requests the STA to include various fields and information elements defined in 802.11 through the probe response option field, the AP can include them in the probe response. have.

In the existing 802.11 standard, when specifying optional information to be included in probe response, all the element IDs of the corresponding element are listed, which makes the frame size longer. (Each element ID occupies 1 octet). In the present invention, 1 bit is allocated to each piece of information in a bitmap manner to minimize the increase in probe request size when selecting information included in the probe response element.

In addition, the Probe Response Option field can also indicate whether or not the duration until the next full beacon is included in the Probe Response.

[Figure 7] shows an example of the configuration of the probe response option field according to the present invention.

The order of configuration of each field may be changed, or detailed fields may be added or omitted as necessary. The length of each subfield and the length of the entire field can also be increased or shortened as necessary.

[Figure 7] Configuration example of Probe Response Option field (option 1)

As an example of a method of notifying the AP whether to use a short probe response or a full response, the following method may be used.

. How to put 1 bit indicating Use Short Probe Response in the Probe Response Option field: Notify the use of Full Probe Response or Short Probe Response as the value is set to 0 or 1-> In this case, Use Short Probe Response is set to 1. If a Short Probe Response response is requested, but all other option request fields are 0, the AP includes a short probe response including only minimum information such as FC, SA, Timestamp, Compressed SSID, Duration to Next Full Beacon (hereinafter referred to as Default Probe Response). Answered If the Use Short Probe Response bit is 1 and there is one of the other option request fields (i.e. when a specific option is required), a short probe response containing the corresponding option information is transmitted.

In this case, when the Use Short Probe Response bit is explicitly 0, an existing full probe response frame may be sent, or a short probe response type full probe response including all information entered in the full probe response may be transmitted. Can transmit In addition to the Use Probe Response bit, one additional bit may be used to explicitly distinguish these two full probe responses, or if the Probe Request does not include the Probe Response Option field, the existing full probe response frame is sent. If a field is included and the Use Short Probe Response bit is 0, a short probe response format including a short probe response format but all information included in the full probe response may be transmitted.

. Another embodiment: if the above Probe Response Option field is included in the Probe Request, respond with Short Probe Response; if not included, respond with Full Probe Response-> In this case, the Probe Response Option field is also included in the Probe Request If a short probe response response is requested, but all other option request fields are 0, the AP responds with a short probe response (hereinafter referred to as a default probe response). If the Probe Response Option field is included in the Probe Request and one of the other option request fields is present (that is, if a specific option is requested), a short probe response containing the option information is transmitted. If there is no probe response option field, the existing full probe response can be sent or a short probe response format including a short probe response format but all information included in the full probe response can be transmitted. In order to distinguish the two full probe respoons, it may be indicated by assigning 1 bit to the probe response option field.

. In another embodiment, if the bit indicating Use Short Probe Response indicates a full probe response, the content of the full response is sent in a short probe response frame format. There is also a method of full probe response in the existing probe response format.

(Figure 7 is the second case and the Use Short Probe Response field is not shown.)

An explanation of the field configuration example shown in the figure is as follows.

Request full SSID: If 1, the Short Probe Response will include the full SSID; if 0, the compressed SSID will be included.

Request Duration to Next Full Beacon: If 1, Short Probe Response includes Duration to Next Full Beacon; if 0, not included

Request Capability Info: If 1, the Capability Information field is included in the Short Probe Response. 0 is not included

-Request country: If 1, country IE is included in Short Probe Response. 0 is not included

-Request Power Constraint: If 1, Power Constraint IE is included in Short Probe Response. 0 is not included

-Request RSN: If 1, RSN IE is included in Short Probe Response. 0 is not included

-Request Interworking: If 1, Interworking IE is included in Short Probe Response. 0 is not included

Request roaming consortium: If 1, short probe response includes roaming consortium IE. 0 is not included

-Request mesh info: If 1, Short Probe Response includes a list of Mesh-related IEs such as Mesh ID, Mesh configuration, MCCAOP Advertisement Overview, and MCCAOP Advertisement. 0 is not included

-Request 11ah Capability Info: If 1, IE that indicates 11ah Capability is included in Short Probe Response. 0 is not included

The Reserved field may be used to include additional optional information in the future.

In addition, a bitmap for request beacon interval, request supported rates, request BSS Load element, etc. may also be added to selectively request information to be included in the probe response. (All optional fields / optional elements can be included in the existing probe response frame.)

As another configuration method, the fields indicating each individual information request may be related to each other, and may be included in the Probe Response Option field.

[Figure 8] shows another configuration example of the probe response option field according to the present invention.

The order of configuration of each field may be changed, or detailed fields may be added or omitted as necessary. The length of each subfield and the length of the entire field can also be increased or shortened as necessary.

[Figure 8] Another configuration example of Probe Response Option field (option 2)

In this configuration example, the relevant individual information in Option 1 is grouped and displayed as 0/1 to indicate whether the corresponding information is included in the probe response. (Red area marked with grouping-Request mesh info is grouped in option 1)

This configuration has the advantage of reducing the length of the Probe Request Option field, but it is not possible to indicate whether the individual information in the group is included or not included in detail.

An example configuration of each group is as follows.

-Request Regulation info: If 1, short-probe response includes regulation-related IEs such as country IE, power constraint IE, TPC report IE. IE details to be included are determined by the AP

-Request 11u info: If 1, 11u-related IEs such as Interworking IE, Advertisement protocol IE, Roaming consortium IE are included in Short Probe Response. IE details to be included are determined by the AP

Request mesh info: same as option 1

The Reserved field may be used to include additional optional information in the future.

In addition, by adding a bitmap for request beacon interval, request supported rates, request BSS Load element, etc., information to be included in the probe response can be selectively requested. (All optional fields / optional elements can be included in the existing probe response frame.)

In addition, you can define additional groups and put them in the Option field.

As another configuration method, there is a method of informing the device type of the STA so that information necessary for the corresponding device type is included in the probe response.

When the STA indicates its device type or service type in the Option field as sensor only type or off loading type or mixed mode type or VoIP STA, Note book, etc., the AP explicitly indicates the STA in the Probe Response option field. In addition to this, there may be a method of delivering information necessary for the corresponding device type in a probe response.

As another method, when the STA transmits only basic information such as device type, request full SSID, request duration to next full beacon to the AP by sending it to the Probe Option field, the AP includes information required for the STA type in the short probe response. There may be a way to transmit. In this case, the size of the probe request frame is reduced.

[Figure 9-1] and [Figure 9-2] are diagrams showing another configuration example (3-1, 3-2) of the probe response option field according to the present invention.

The order of configuration of each field may be changed, or detailed fields may be added or omitted as necessary. The length of each subfield and the length of the entire field can also be increased or shortened as necessary.

[Figure 9-1] Another Configuration Example of Probe Response Option Field (Option 3-1: Added Device type field to Option 1)

[Figure 9-2] Another Configuration Example of Probe Response Option Field (Option 3-2: Added Device type field to Option 2)

In the above configuration example, the AP may view the device type information and may include, in addition to the information explicitly requested by the STA, additional information required for the corresponding device in the short probe response.

[Figure 9-3] Another configuration example of Probe Response Option field (option 3-3: Device type field and basic option only)

Alternatively, as shown in the configuration example of [Figure 9-3], when the STA requests a short probe response, only basic selection information such as device type, request full SSID, request duration to next full beacon, and other options are not specified separately. If not, the AP may determine the optional information to be included in the short probe response based on the device type.

For example, if the device type is off loading device, the AP can send a short probe response including information to help offloading such as roaming consortium element and interworking element even if the requesting STA does not explicitly request roaming related information.

As another configuration example of the probe response option field, there is a method of requesting only a recently changed portion of information of the corresponding BSS. That is, when the information of the BSS is changed, the short beacon is increased by 1 whenever the value of the change sequence having a length of 1 octet is changed to inform that the BSS information is changed. The STA may include the change sequence value received from the short beacon in the probe request in the probe request to include only the recently changed part in the short probe response.

Figure 9-4 is an example. The other subfields are the fields in the previous description of the Probe Response option, and the Request Changed Network Info field is added when only the information about the changed part is requested. If the value of this field is 1, only the changed BSS information is included in the probe response and sent. In this case, the STA includes a change sequence value of 1 octet in the probe response option field. At this time, the values of subfields other than Request Changed Network Info and Change Sequence may be set to 0 if you do not want to receive additional information other than changed BSS information. The Change Sequence subfield exists only when Request Changed Network Info is 1. do.

When the Request Changed Network Info is set to 1, the AP transmits the changed BSS information later in the short probe response when sending a value corresponding to the Change Sequence field.

This option is especially useful when the STA wants to know only the changed information of the BSS since it was associated with the BSS.

[Figure 9-4] Another Configuration Example of Probe Response Option Field (Request only changed BSS information by including Change Sequence)

[Figure 9-5] Another Configuration Example of Probe Response Option Field

[Figure 9-5] is another configuration example of probe response option field. This is an example of selecting the items to be included in the detailed probe response by specifying various elements.

<Another configuration example of Probe Response option: Use Probe Resonse Group bitmap>

Figure 9-6] Another Configuration Example of Probe Response Option IE

In this case, the information to be included in the probe response group is defined as a group, which of the bitmap groups is included in the probe response group bitmap (for example, 1000..00 if only group 0 is included), and information to be included in the probe response is included. It is a way to reduce the probe response option size by listing the bitmap group in the probe response option so that only the bitmap with the request of the probe response option is included in the probe response option.

This will be described with an example as follows.

For example, suppose that the information to be included in the probe response is defined as the following bitmap. (The length of each bitmap, the information it contains can be changed, and are just examples here to illustrate the invention.)

[Figure 9-7] Bitmap Group Configuration for Probe Response Option

When requesting the information in the probe response, set the bit of the information to 1.

Only the bitmap group with bit set to 1 is included in Probe Response option IE. At this time, it indicates whether the bitmap group included in the probe response group bitmap is included.

E.g,

When requesting a full SSID belonging to bitmap group 0, Duration to Next Full Beacon, Access Network Option, Request Capability Information, Request supported rates, and Request Interworking element and Request Roaming consortium element belonging to bitmap group 1:

=> Set Probe Response Group bitmap to 11000000 (notice that group 0 and group 1 are included-set the bit corresponding to the containing group to 1)

In this case, two Probe Response Option bitmaps are included. (Group 0, Group 1)

. Probe Response Option bitmap 1 is 11111000

. Probe Response Option bitmap 2 is 11000000

Is set to. (The information requested by each group is set to 1)

[Figure 9-8] Example of Probe Response Option IE

In this case, Length 3 is set to 3 because the Probe Response Group bitmap, Probe Response Option bitmap 1, and bitmap 2 are included.

If you want to put more information in one bitmap group, increase the bitamp group size. If you increase the number of bitmap groups, increase the Probe Response Group bitmap length.

The most frequently included bitmap group (for example, group 0) is designated as a default group, and when only this default group bitmap is requested, the Probe Response Group bitmap may be omitted and only one corresponding default group bitmap may be included.

[Figure 9-9] Probe Response Option IE Example-Including Only One Default Group Bitmap

For example, when requesting only full SSID, Duration to Next Full Beacon, Access Network Option, Request Capability Information, and Request supported rates, the Probe Response Group bitmap is omitted and one Probe Response Option bitmap is included. (Bitmap for the default group) may be included.

For example, in this case, only one Probe Response Option bitmap (11111000) is included in the Probe Response Option IE. At this time, Length = 1 can reduce the size of the Probe Response option.

[Figure 9-6-A] Another Configuration Example of Probe Response Option IE (More Probe Response Option Bitamp Available)

[Figure 9-6-A] is another example of Probe Response Option IE. It is an example to enable more Probe Response Option bitamp.

The method of [Figure 9-6] can use up to 8 Probe Response Option bitmap groups using 1 octet of group bitmap. However, in this embodiment, more Probe Response Option bitmaps are provided by setting more than 1 Probe Response Group bitmap. This is the case if you have two groups so that more options are displayed.

In this case, the Probe Response Option bitmaps are option bitmap belonging to the bitmap group set to 1 in the Probe Response Group bitmap-> option bitamp belonging to the bitmap group set to 1 in the Probe Response Group bitmap 2. Can be included in Probe Response Option IE in order.

[Figure 9-6-B] Another Configuration Example of Probe Response Option IE (Example 2 with More Probe Response Option Bitamp Available)

[Figure 9-6-B] is another configuration example of Probe Response Option IE. Another example of enabling more Probe Response option bitamp is available.

In the case of [Figure 9-6-A], the Probe Response Group bitmap is expanded in octet unit, but in this case, it is extended in bit unit.

That is, in this example, the Probe Response Group bitmap is set to 11 bits, for example, and the 5 bits later are frequently used (for example, full SSID, Duration to Next Full Beacon, Access Network Option, Request Capability Information). , Request supported rates, etc.)

In this case, the Probe Response Group bitmap length + frequently used option bitmap are dropped in octet units. (2 octet in the example above)

Probe Response Group bitmap + Frequent if only bitmaps for frequently used options are requested as options (full SSID, Duration to Next Full Beacon, Access Network Option, Request Capability Information, Request supported rates, etc.). Only the option bitmap (4 octets in the above example) should be included in the short probe response. In this case, many bitmap groups can be displayed, but in the case of the example described above, This has the advantage of reducing the length of the probe response frame.

[Figure 9-6-C] Another Configuration Example of Probe Response Option IE (When using Example 3-page where more Probe Response option bitamp is available)

[Figure 9-6-C] is another configuration example of Probe Response Option IE. In this embodiment, more Probe Response option bitamps are available. This is an example of using additionally.

In this embodiment, a plurality of probe response option bitmaps are defined as one page.

For example, bitmap groups 0 through 7 may be defined as page 0, bitmap groups 8 through 15 as page 1, and bitmap groups 16 through 23 as page 2.

The relationship between Probe Response Page Bitmap, Probe Response Group Bitmap, and Probe Response Option bitmap is shown in [Figure 9-6-X].

[Figure 9-6-X] Relationship between Probe Response Page Bitmap, Probe Response Group Bitmap, and Probe Response Option Bitmap

If the previous embodiments are a two-level tree structure of the Probe Response Group bitmap and the Probe Response option bitmap, this embodiment has a three-level structure by adding one level called a page bitmap thereon.

If any one of the Probe Response option bitmaps is set to 1 as in the previous embodiments, the Probe Response option bitmap is included in the Probe Response option, and the Probe Response Group bitmap indicating whether the corresponding Probe Response option bitmap is present is Probe Response. option Included in IE.

In the present embodiment, a plurality of Probe Response Group bitmaps are used, and only Probe Response Group bitmaps having a Probe Response Group bitmap set to 1 are included in the Probe Response option IE. That is, the Probe Response Group bitmap, in which none of the Probe Response Group bitmaps are set to 1, is not included in the Probe Response option IE, thereby reducing the length of the short probe response frame.

In particular, when the number of Probe Response Group bitmaps is large, only the Probe Response Group bitmap with a bit set to 1 may be included in the short Probe Response, thereby reducing the short probe response length more than the previous embodiment.

The Probe Response Option page bitmap indicates whether a Probe Response Group bitmap exists for the page. If the Probe Response Group bitmap for the page is included in the Probe Response option IE, set the corresponding bit to 1.

For example, if Probe Response Group bitmaps 0 and 2 are included in the Probe Response option IE (ie, when Probe Response option bitmaps belonging to pages 0 and 2 are used), the page bitmap is set to 101. Probe Response Group bitmap and Probe Response Option bitmap corresponding to the remaining pages are not included in Probe Response IE.

Probe response page bitmap can be assigned to 1 page to represent 8 pages, and a smaller number of pages, for example, 3 bits are allocated to show only 3 pages, and the remaining 5 bits are frequently used as in the previous embodiment. It can also be used to indicate the presence or absence of an option to be used (eg, full SSID, Duration to Next Full Beacon, Access Network Option, Request Capability Information, Request supported rates, etc.). In this case, the frequently used options included here are not included in other Probe Response Option bitmaps and do not belong to a specific page.

[Figure 9-6-Y] Example using Page bitmap

Figure 9-6-Y shows an example of using this page bitmap. In this example, all probe response option bitmaps belong to one of page 0, 1, and 2.

When Probe Response Option is requested to include Probe Response Option bitmap 0, 1 belonging to Page 0 and Probe Response Option bitamp 7 belonging to Page 2 in the short probe response.

Similar to the previous embodiment, the option that always requires indication (for example, full SSID, Duration to Next Full Beacon, Access Network Option, Request Capability Information, Request supported rates, etc.) is represented as a bitmap. Probe Response option bitmaps belonging to 0 and 2 are shown in the Probe Response Option IE (101: page 0, page 2 is used and page 1 is not used)

Next, the Probe Response Group bitmaps for the Probe Response Option bitmap belonging to the page were sequentially listed. (Include only group bitmap with page bitmap 1 = 1-only group bitmap 0, 2 in this example)

Then, Probe Response Option bitmaps corresponding to the bit set to 1 in the Probe Response Group bitmap were sequentially included in the Probe Response Option IE.

In this example, the first and second Probe Response Option bitmaps on page 0 are used (so the value of Probe Response Group bitmap 0 is 11000000) and the seventh Probe Response option bitmap on page 2 is used (so the value of Probe Response Group bitmap 2 is used). 00000001) Three Probe Response Option bitmaps are included in Probe Response Option IE.

As in the previous embodiment, in this case, only the options that require indication (for example, full SSID, Duration to Next Full Beacon, Access Network Option, Request Capability Information, Request supported rates, etc.) should be included in the short probe response. On request, the Element ID, Length, and bitmap (for example: 11000) and page bitmap for options that always require an indication (the page bitmap is 000 because this example contains only the options that always require an indication. If only the most frequently used options are requested because they are not included in other Probe Response Option bitmaps and do not belong to a specific page, the page bitmap is 000 and the Probe Response Group bitmap and Probe Response Option bitmap are not included in the Probe Response Option IE.) Only until Probe Response Option IE is included. In other words, in this example, only 3 octets are used, which can greatly reduce the size of the probe response option IE.

Rather than explicitly specifying the contents to be included in the probe response in the probe request, information such as the capability of the STA included in the probe request may be implicitly determined.

The Probe Request may include elements such as HT Capabiliies and Extended Capabilities. If these elements are included, it means that the corresponding STA is an STA that supports HT. Therefore, the Probe Request explicitly requests HT-related information from the Probe request option. If not, the AP may include HT-related information in the probe response.

Similarly, if the Probe Request includes VHt related parameters such as VHT Capabilities, the AP may include VHT related information in the probe response even if the AP does not explicitly request the Probe request option.

In addition, when an interworking element is included in the probe request, the corresponding STA means that the STA supports interworking. Therefore, even if the AP does not explicitly request the probe request option, the AP may include interworking related information in the probe response.

If the STA includes the mesh ID in the probe request, the STA means the mesh STA. Therefore, even if the AP does not explicitly request the probe request option, the AP does not need to explicitly request the mesh information in the probe response (Mesh configuration, MCCAOP Advertisement, etc.). It may include.

If there is information that can infer the capability of the STA among other information of the probe request, the AP may include the relevant information in the probe response even if the AP does not explicitly request the probe request option.

In this embodiment, it is possible to inform whether to use the Short Probe Response or the Full Response in a similar manner as described above. Examples of such a method are as follows.

. Probe Response Option In IE, one bit of the most used bitmap (for example, basic bitmap in the above example) is used as a bit indicating Use Short Probe Response.The value is set to 0 or 1. Notify Full Probe Response and Short Probe Response as set-> In this case, Use Short Probe Response is set to 1 and a Short Probe Response response has been requested, but if all other option request fields are 0, the AP displays the FC, SA, Timestamp. Respond with Short Probe Response (hereinafter referred to as Default Probe Response) that contains only minimal information, such as Compressed SSID, Duration to Next Full Beacon. If the Use Short Probe Response bit is 1 and there is one of the other option request fields (bitmaps) (i.e. when a specific option is requested), a short probe response containing the corresponding option information is transmitted.

In this case, when the Use Short Probe Response bit is explicitly 0, an existing full probe response frame may be sent, or a short probe response type full probe response including all information entered in the full probe response may be transmitted. Can transmit In addition to the Use Probe Response bit, one more bit can be assigned to the bitmap to explicitly distinguish between these two full probe responses, or if the Probe Request does not include the Probe Response Option IE, send an existing full probe response frame, If the Probe Response Option IE is included and the Use Short Probe Response bit is 0, a short probe response format including all information entered in the full probe response may be transmitted.

. If the above Probe Response Option IE is included in Probe Request, respond with Short Probe Response. If not included, Probe Response Option IE is included in Probe Request. If a response is requested, but all other option request fields are 0 or the group bitmap is not included, the AP responds with a short probe response (hereinafter referred to as a default probe response). Probe Response If the Option IE is included in the Probe Request and one of the other option request fields (bitmap) is present (ie, a specific option is requested), a short probe response containing the option information is sent. If there is no Probe Response option IE, the existing full probe response can be sent or a short probe response format including a short probe response format but all the information contained in the full probe response can be transmitted.

In order to distinguish the two full probe respoons, 1 bit may be allocated to the Probe Response option bitmap of the Probe Response option IE to express it explicitly. (In this case, even if a full probe response is requested, the probe response option IE is included.) Or, if there is no probe response option IE, the existing full probe response is sent. There is a probe response option IE and the group bitmap is not included. If not, send a default short probe response, and if there is a probe response option IE and the group bitmap is included but the value is all set to 0, then a full probe response in the form of a short probe response but in the form of a short probe response containing all the information that goes into the full probe response. It can also be sent.

. As another example, if the bit representing the Use Short Probe Response indicates a full probe response, the full response is sent in the short probe response frame format. If there is no bit indicating the Use Short Probe Response and the relevant option field does not exist, the existing method is used. You can also think of a full probe response in the existing probe response format.

The short probe response frame as described above may be used only when both the STA and the AP support the short probe response. In addition, transmitting a full probe response in a short probe response format that includes all information included in the short probe response format but full probe response is available only when both the STA and the AP support it. Otherwise, the existing full probe response frame is transmitted.

If the Probe Request including the Probe Response Option IE is received and the Probe Response Option IE has the information requested by the requesting STA, the responding STA or the AP requests the requested information within the range that the responding STA or the AP can provide. Must be included in the short probe response. If there is information that the dual response STA or AP cannot provide, (1) only the information requested can be included in the short probe response, or (2) no probe response is sent at all (in this case, Since the AP cannot provide a function requested by the STA, the STA does not send a response since it is highly likely that the STA will not attempt association with the AP.) (3) A default probe resonse may be sent.

If there is an option that cannot be expressed in the Probe Resonse option field or IE, an element ID of desired information is included in the Probe Request and transmitted using the request element used in the existing 802.11, and the responding STA includes the information in the short probe response. You can also

III. Short Probe Request frame

In the short probe response embodiment of the present invention, the probe request sent from the STA to the AP may also use the compressed SSID instead of the full SSID to reduce the size.

That is, if the STA knows in advance the full SSID for the AP that you want to associate, you can use the compressed SSID when the probe request for the AP.

After receiving the Probe Request, the AP sends a Probe response if the included compressed SSID is the same as its compressed SSID. If two or more APs with the same Compressed SSID send a Probe Response, the STA already has advance information (including full SSID, BSSID, or Beer Station) about the AP to which it wants to connect. You can select the desired AP by comparing it with the MAC address of the desired AP. In association, you can use the full SSID that you already know. When scanning, the compressed SSID can be specified as a list to simultaneously scan multiple APs.

In order to reduce the size of the Probe Request frame, the compressed SSID is used as described above, and additionally, the short probe request frame can be used by including only the fields necessary for association in the probe request.

If the association cannot be performed because there is not enough information with only the short beacon, the STA may request the necessary information and receive it as a short probe response while making a probe request. In the short beacon, only the BSS information is changed, and the changed information indicates that the STA specifies the information required for the probe request and transmits the probe request, and receives the short probe response frame including only the necessary BSS information such as the changed information from the AP. In an environment where beacons are rarely used, BSS can be obtained with minimal traffic without using full probe response. In such an embodiment, if the STA has already received a short beacon or has been associated with the AP, since the STA already knows the full SSID, the short probe request frame using the compressed SSID may be used.

-Short Probe Response frame request method using NDP Type Probe Request frame

When using an NDP type very short Probe Request frame including only STF, LTF1, and SIG fields, include the Probe Response option field described in the preceding section of the present invention in the SIG field to include only the desired information from the AP in the short Probe Response frame. The request / response method is the same as described above, except that the overhead of the probe request itself is reduced by using the probe request frame as an NDP type frame.

IV. Active scanning procedure using short probe response

[Figure 10] Active scanning procedure using Short Probe Response

The active scanning procedure using Short Probe Response is shown in [Figure 10].

When the STA displays the information required by the STA in the Probe Response Option field of the Probe Request and sends it to the AP, the AP sends a short probe response including information selected by the STA to the STA.

If the STA correctly selects the information necessary for the association and receives the short probe response frame including the same from the AP, the STA may request the association immediately after receiving the probe response frame.

If the STA does not have enough information included in the short probe response, additionally necessary information may be additionally selected to make a probe request, receive a short probe response, and receive the remaining necessary information. Or, it may be included in the short probe response and wait for the full beacon to utilize the full beacon information. This option is available when the full beacon transmission time is very close. At this time, you can save power until the full beacon comes. (This does not happen if the STA has properly selected the options required for the first Probe Request.)

If the time to send the next full beacon is very close to the time when the Probe request is received from the STA, the AP does not include the selected option item of the probe request sent by the STA, such as FC, SA, Timestamp, Duration to Next Full Beacon. Short Probe Response (unicast or broadcast transmission can be selected by the AP, including only the basic field, and if there are a large number of STAs, sending a short probe response through broadcast can help prevent probe response flooding). Because the full beacon to be transmitted immediately includes all the necessary information, there is no need to send the full probe response or the short probe response including the detailed items, and instead, the short probe response including the duration information to the full beacon is transmitted instead. The STA may look at the duration until the next full beacon of the short probe response, wait for this time, and use information of the full beacon instead of the probe response.

Probe Response frame (including short probe response and all existing probe responses) may be transmitted by broadcast. In this case, another STA may receive the probe response and use the corresponding information. In other words, Probe Response can be used like another beacon. This overcomes the shortcomings of the 11ah short beacon. That is, the probability of waiting for the full beacon and obtaining information on additional BSS required by the STA increases. When the AP has a lot of traffic in consideration of network conditions and many STAs attempting scanning, the AP sends a short probe response to broadcast so that multiple STAs can jointly receive a single short probe response to efficiently short the traffic even in high traffic conditions. You can send a probe response.

V. Selective BSS Information Acquisition Using Short Probe Response

Short Probe Response may be used for active scanning, but if a short beacon has already been received or already associated with the AP, but additional information about the BSS is needed, it may be used to obtain it.

In the present specification, when an AP sends a short probe response, there are two cases in which the AP includes additional information explicitly requested by the STA. In addition to the information explicitly requested by the STA, the AP includes additional information.

If the BSS information is drastically changed, the method of (2) can be used. However, since the BSS information is changed little by little, only the specific fields explicitly requested by the STA of (1) are transmitted to reduce the overhead of Probe Request / Response. The method is mainly used.

In BSS composed of special nodes such as sensor BSS composed of sensor nodes, full beacon may be transmitted very occasionally or not at all to reduce beacon transmission overhead, and short probe response frame cannot be received as short beacon in such environment. Can also be used to obtain additional BSS information. Also in this case, when there is a lot of traffic, the AP may send a short probe response by broadcast and neighboring STAs may share BSS information without sending a probe request.

In such an embodiment, if the STA has already received a short beacon or after being associated with the AP, since the STA already knows the full SSID, the short probe request frame using the compressed SSID may be used.

When the change sequence value received from the short beacon is included in the probe request described in the previous part of the present invention and the corresponding change sequence value is sent, the AP may include only the changed BSS information in the short probe response and transmit it. .

If the short probe response of the present invention is used, it is possible to omit the full beacon transmission at all.

Claims (1)

Efficient scanning method using Short Probe Response.