KR20180040459A - MAC Frame Format Definition methods and device - Google Patents

Abstract

Disclosed is an efficient wireless communication system, and more particularly, to a neighbor awareness networking (NAN) terminal and an operation method thereof.

Description

Technical Field [0001] The present invention relates to a MAC frame format definition method and apparatus,

The following description relates to a wireless communication system, and more particularly, to a method and apparatus for defining a MAC frame format of a NAN (Neighbor Awareness Networking) terminal.

In telecommunication systems, a communication network is used to exchange messages between spatially separated devices. The network may be classified according to geographical ranges such as an urban area, a local area, or a personal area. The network may be designated as a wide area network (WAN), an area area network (MAN), a LAN (LAN), a WLAN (WLAN), or a personal area network (PAN), respectively. In addition, the network may include a variety of network nodes and devices (e.g., circuit switched to packet switched), the type of physical medium used for transmission (e.g., wireline to wireless) , Internet Protocol Suite, SONET (Synchronous Optical Networking), Ethernet, etc.). If the network element is mobile or the network structure is formed as an ad-hoc topology rather than a fixed network, it may be desirable to use a wireless network. This is because wireless networks are easy for user movement and high-speed field deployment.

As the spread of mobile devices has widened in recent years, a wireless LAN (Wireless LAN) among the wireless networks capable of providing fast wireless Internet services to mobile devices is attracting attention. However, as the number of mobile devices increases and the amount of data transmitted by mobile devices increases, wireless LAN technology more efficient than existing wireless LAN technology is required.

TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to an efficient operation of a wireless communication system, and more specifically, a method and apparatus for defining a MAC frame format of a NAN terminal in a wireless communication system.

It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description and the following detailed description are exemplary and explanatory and are not restrictive of the invention, unless further departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims. It will be possible.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, an apparatus, system, and method of operating a NAN terminal for a NAN terminal can be provided.

The present invention provides an efficient wireless communication system. Specifically, the present invention can provide an operation method of a NAN terminal and a NAN terminal that operate efficiently.

The effects obtained by the present invention are not limited to the effects mentioned above, and other effects not mentioned can be clearly understood by those skilled in the art from the following description .

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The accompanying drawings, which are included to provide a further understanding of the invention, illustrate various embodiments of the invention and, together with the description, serve to explain the principles of the invention.
1 is a diagram illustrating a wireless LAN system according to an embodiment of the present invention;
2 is a diagram illustrating a wireless LAN system according to another embodiment of the present invention.
Figures 3 through 4 illustrate NAN clusters according to an embodiment of the present invention.
5 is a diagram illustrating a structure of a NAN terminal according to an embodiment of the present invention.
Figures 6-7 illustrate the relationship of NAN components in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.
8 is a diagram illustrating a state transition of a NAN terminal according to an embodiment of the present invention;
9 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a wireless device according to an embodiment of the present invention.
10 is a diagram illustrating a data path and a data link relationship of a NAN terminal according to an embodiment of the present invention;
11 is a diagram illustrating a data link and a data cluster relationship of a NAN terminal according to an embodiment of the present invention;
12 is a diagram illustrating a MAC frame format used by a NAN terminal according to an embodiment of the present invention.
13 is a diagram illustrating a management frame format of a MAC frame format used by a NAN terminal according to an embodiment of the present invention.
14 is a diagram illustrating a data frame format of a MAC frame format used by a NAN terminal according to an embodiment of the present invention;
FIG. 15 is a diagram showing a part of a management frame format of a MAC frame format used by a NAN terminal according to an embodiment of the present invention.
16 is a diagram illustrating a data frame format for an NDP of a MAC frame format used by a NAN terminal according to an embodiment of the present invention.
17 is a diagram illustrating a data frame format for an NMSG in a MAC frame format used by a NAN terminal according to an embodiment of the present invention.

As used herein, terms used in the present invention are selected from general terms that are widely used in the present invention while taking into account the functions of the present invention. However, these terms may vary depending on the intention of a person skilled in the art, custom or the emergence of new technology. Also, in certain cases, there may be a term arbitrarily selected by the applicant, and in this case, the meaning thereof will be described in the description of the corresponding invention. Therefore, it is intended that the terminology used herein should be interpreted relative to the actual meaning of the term, rather than the nomenclature, and its content throughout the specification.

Throughout the specification, when a configuration is referred to as being "connected" to another configuration, it is not limited to the case where it is "directly connected," but also includes "electrically connected" do. Also, when an element is referred to as " including " a specific element, it is meant to include other elements, rather than excluding other elements, unless the context clearly dictates otherwise. In addition, the limitations of " above " or " below ", respectively, based on a specific threshold value may be appropriately replaced with "

Embodiments of the present invention may be supported by standard documents disclosed in at least one of IEEE 802 systems, 3GPP, 3GPP LTE and LTE-Advanced (LTE-Advanced) systems, and 3GPP2, standards related to wireless communications. Specifically, steps or configurations not described in the embodiments of the present invention for clarifying the technical idea of the present invention can be supported by the document. In addition, all terms disclosed in this document may be described by the standard document.

The embodiments described in the present invention can be used with various communication technologies. In particular, embodiments of the present invention may be implemented in a wireless communication system such as Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA), Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA), Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA), Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDMA), Single Carrier Frequency Division Multiple Access), and the like. At this time, the CDMA can be implemented with a radio technology such as Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (UTRA) or CDMA2000. The TDMA may be implemented in a wireless technology such as Global System for Mobile communications (GSM) / General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) / Enhanced Data Rates for GSM Evolution (EDGE). OFDMA may be implemented in wireless technologies such as IEEE 802.11 (Wi-Fi), IEEE 802.16 (WiMAX), IEEE 802-20, and Evolved UTRA (E-UTRA). For clarity, the following description will focus on the IEEE 802.11 system, but the technical idea of the present invention is not limited thereto.

1 illustrates a wireless LAN system according to an embodiment of the present invention. A WLAN system includes one or more Basic Service Sets (BSSs), which represent a collection of devices that can successfully communicate and communicate with one another. In general, a BSS can be divided into an infrastructure BSS (infrastructure BSS) and an independent BSS (IBSS). FIG. 1 shows the infrastructure BSS.

1, an infrastructure BSS (BSS1, BSS2) includes one or more stations (STA-1, STA-2, STA-3, STA-4, STA-5) and a distribution service A distribution system (DS) for connecting access points (PCP / AP-1, PCP / AP-2) and a plurality of access points (PCP / AP-1 and PCP / AP- .

A station (STA) is an arbitrary device including a medium access control (MAC) conforming to the IEEE 802.11 standard and a physical layer interface for a wireless medium, and is broadly referred to as a non-access point Non-AP) station as well as an access point (AP). In this specification, the term " terminal " may be used as a concept including both a station and a wireless LAN communication device such as an AP. The station for wireless communication includes a processor and a transceiver, and may further include a user interface unit, a display unit, and the like according to an embodiment. The processor may perform various processes for generating frames to be transmitted over the wireless network, processing frames received through the wireless network, and controlling other stations. The transceiver is functionally connected to the processor and transmits and receives frames over the wireless network for the station.

An access point (AP) is an entity that provides a connection to a distribution system (DS) via a wireless medium for its associated station. In the infrastructure BSS, communication between non-AP stations is performed via an AP. However, when a direct link is established, direct communication is possible between non-AP stations. In the present invention, the AP is used as a concept including a PCP (Personal BSS Coordination Point), and broadly includes a central controller, a base station (BS), a node-B, a base transceiver system (BTS) Controller, and the like.

A plurality of infrastructure BSSs may be interconnected via a distribution system (DS). At this time, a plurality of BSSs connected through a distribution system is called an extended service set (ESS).

2 illustrates an independent BSS that is a wireless LAN system according to another embodiment of the present invention. In the embodiment of FIG. 2, the same or corresponding parts as those of the embodiment of FIG. 1 are not described.

Since the BSS-3 shown in FIG. 2 is an independent BSS and does not include an AP, all the stations STA-6 and STA-7 are not connected to the AP. An independent BSS is not allowed to connect to the distribution system and forms a self-contained network. In the independent BSS, each of the stations STA-6 and STA-7 can be directly connected to each other.

As such, the stations may be configured to communicate in various manners to coordinate transmission and reception of messages to prevent interference and achieve various tasks. In a specific embodiment, the network of Fig. 2 may be configured as "Neighbor Awareness Networking" (NAN), such as a social-Wi-Fi network. Specifically, a Social-Wi-Fi network may be referred to as a network for communication between nearby stations. STAs operating in a social-Wi-Fi network may belong to different network architectures (e.g., different assumptions or stations of buildings as part of independent LANs with different external network connections)

The operation of the STA operating in the wireless LAN system can be described in terms of the layer structure. In terms of device configuration, the hierarchy can be implemented by a processor. The STA may have a plurality of hierarchical structures. For example, the hierarchical structure covered in the 802.11 standard document is mainly a MAC sublayer and a physical (PHY) layer on a DLL (Data Link Layer). The PHY may include a Physical Layer Convergence Procedure (PLCP) entity, a PMD (Physical Medium Dependent) entity, and the like. The MAC sublayer and the PHY conceptually include management entities called a MAC sublayer management entity (MLME) and a physical layer management entity (PLME), respectively. These entities provide a layer management service interface in which a layer management function operates .

3 to 4 show a NAN cluster according to an embodiment of the present invention.

The NAN network may consist of NAN terminals that use the same set of NAN parameters (e.g., a time interval between consecutive discovery windows, a duration of a discovery window, a beacon interval, or a NAN channel, etc.). NAN terminals can form a NAN cluster. In this case, the NAN cluster means a set of NAN terminals that use the same set of NAN parameters and are synchronized with the same discovery window schedule. The NAN terminal in the NAN cluster can directly transmit the multicast / unicast NAN service discovery frame to another NAN terminal within the scope of the discovery window.

5 illustrates a structure of a NAN terminal according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 4, the NAN terminal can operate based on the physical layer of 802.11. In addition, the NAN terminal can include NAN APIs as a main component to a NAN Discovery Engine, a NAN MAC (Medium Access Control), and applications (Application 1, Application 2, ..., Application N).

Figures 6-7 illustrate the relationship of NAN components in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. The NAN Discovery Engine handles service requests and responses. The NAN MAC handles NAN beacon frames and NAN service discovery frames.

FIG. 8 shows a state transition of the NAN terminal according to an embodiment of the present invention. The NAN terminal may perform a master role. Also, the role of the NAN terminal can be changed. Specifically, the NAN terminal can perform various roles and states, and FIG. 7 shows an example thereof. The role and state that the NAN terminal can have are a master role and a master non-master sync, a non-master non-master non- Sync). Depending on the role and state, the transmission availability of the discovery beacon frame and / or the synchronous beacon frame may be determined. Specifically, the transmission availability of the discovery beacon frame and / or the synchronous beacon frame may be as illustrated in Table 1 below.

[Table 1]

NAN terminals participating in the same NAN cluster can be synchronized to a common clock. The TSF of the NAN cluster can be implemented by a distributed algorithm that must be performed in all NAN terminals. Each NAN terminal participating in the NAN cluster can transmit NAN Sync Beacon frames according to the above algorithm. The device can synchronize its clock during the Discovery Window (DW). The length of the DW is 16 TUs. During the DW, one or more NAN terminals may transmit Synchronization Beacon frames to help all NAN terminals in the NAN cluster synchronize their clocks. As noted above, the NAN terminal may be a non- - Transition between states such as sink, non-master sync, master state, etc. The state transition can be performed according to the result of the comparison of the RSSI, AMR, hop counter, etc. of the synchronous beacon frame.

9 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a wireless device according to an embodiment of the present invention. A wireless device 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention may include a processor 110, a transceiver 120, a user interface 140, a display unit 150, and a memory 160.

First, the transceiver unit 120 transmits and receives a wireless signal such as a WLAN physical layer frame, and may be embedded in the wireless device 100 or externally. According to the embodiment, the transceiver 120 may include at least one transceiver module using different frequency bands. For example, the transceiver 120 may include transmit and receive modules of different frequency bands such as 2.4 GHz, 5 GHz, and 60 GHz. According to one embodiment, the station 100 may include a transmission / reception module using a frequency band of 6 GHz or more and a transmission / reception module using a frequency band of 6 GHz or less. Each of the transmission / reception modules can perform communication with another wireless device according to a wireless LAN standard of a frequency band supported by the transmission / reception module. The transceiver unit 120 may operate only one transceiver module at a time or may operate a plurality of transceiver modules at the same time according to the performance and requirements of the station 100. [ When the station 100 includes a plurality of transmission / reception modules, each of the transmission / reception modules may be provided in an independent form, or a plurality of modules may be integrated into one chip.

The user interface unit 140 includes various types of input / output means provided in the wireless device 100. That is, the user interface unit 140 can receive user input using various input means, and the processor 110 can control the wireless device 100 based on the received user input. Also, the user interface unit 140 may perform output based on the instruction of the processor 110 using various output means.

The display unit 150 outputs an image on the display screen. The display unit 150 may output various display objects such as a content executed by the processor 110 or a user interface based on a control command of the processor 110. [

The memory 160 also stores a control program used in the wireless device 100 and various types of data. Such a control program may include an access program required for the wireless device 100 to make a connection with another wireless device.

The processor 110 may execute various instructions or programs and may process data within the wireless device 100. In addition, the processor 110 controls each unit of the wireless device 100 described above, and can control data transmission / reception between the units. According to an embodiment of the present invention, the processor 110 may execute a program for accessing another wireless device stored in the memory 160, and may receive a communication setup message transmitted by another wireless device. Specifically, the processor 110 may be configured to perform one or more operations of an application, a service, an ASP layer according to various embodiments of the present invention described above. In addition, processor 110 may be configured to perform operations related to devices operating as APs / stations. The processor 110 also reads the information on the preference condition of the wireless device 100 included in the communication setup message and requests the connection to the other wireless device based on the information on the preference condition of the wireless device 100 . The processor 110 of the present invention may refer to a main control unit of the wireless device 100 and may be configured to control some components of the wireless device 100 such as the control unit for individually controlling the transceiver 120, You can also point to a unit. That is, the processor 110 may be a modulator and / or a demodulator for modulating a radio signal transmitted / received from the transceiver 120. The processor 110 controls various operations of wireless signal transmission and reception of the wireless device 100 according to the embodiment of the present invention. Specific embodiments thereof will be described later.

The wireless device 100 shown in FIG. 9 is a block diagram according to an embodiment of the present invention, in which the blocks that are separately displayed are logically distinguished from the elements of the device. Thus, the elements of the device described above can be mounted as one chip or as a plurality of chips depending on the design of the device. For example, the processor 110 and the transceiver 120 may be integrated into one chip or may be implemented as a separate chip. In some embodiments of the present invention, some components of the station 100, such as the user interface 140 and the display unit 150, may be optionally provided in the station 100.

FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating a data path and a data link relationship of a NAN terminal according to an embodiment of the present invention. A terminal pair formed with a data link may constitute a plurality of NAN data paths.

FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating a data link and a data cluster relationship of a NAN terminal according to an embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 11, there is a common basic scheduling interval when connection links are formed between terminals formed with data links. It is used for NDC management and information notification in this resource section.

FIG. 12 is a diagram illustrating a MAC frame format used by the NAN terminal according to an embodiment of the present invention, and is a MAC frame format used basically in IEEE802.11.

FIG. 13 is a diagram illustrating a management frame format of a MAC frame format used by a NAN terminal according to an embodiment of the present invention, and is a management frame format of a MAC frame format used basically in IEEE802.11.

14 is a diagram illustrating a data frame format of a MAC frame format used by a NAN terminal according to an embodiment of the present invention, and is a data frame format of a MAC frame format used basically in IEEE802.11.

FIG. 15 is a diagram showing a portion of a management frame format of a MAC frame format used by a NAN terminal according to an embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 15, the management frame format is changed and applied according to the information structure of a corresponding field according to the NAN embodiment.

FIG. 16 is a diagram illustrating a data frame format for an NDP of a MAC frame format used by a NAN terminal according to an embodiment of the present invention, and is changed according to the information configuration of a corresponding field according to the NAN embodiment.

FIG. 17 is a diagram illustrating a data frame format for an NMSG of a MAC frame format used by a NAN terminal according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, and is changed according to the information structure of a corresponding field according to the NAN embodiment.

Hereinafter, a method of transmitting and receiving signals of a NAN apparatus according to various embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the above description.

Description of invention

The MAC frame format for transmitting / receiving a frame for NAN operation can be used by redefining the format of the frame according to the information configuration of the corresponding field.

[Table 2]

Table 2 above shows the definition of the address field for NAN frames.

Add the condition of NMI of receiver to A1 of NAN Action Frame. This supports the transmission of the frame by unicast. In case of NAN Action Frame / Data frame for an NMSG, NMSG ID (8 bytes) can be substituted for A3.

12 shows a MAC frame format defined in IEEE802.11REVmc_D8.0. Address 1 corresponds to A1 in Table 2, Address 2 corresponds to A2 in Table 2, and Address corresponds to A3 in Table 2 above. Addresses 1, 2, 3, and 4 in FIG. 12 use 6 bytes of MAC address (1 byte is 8 bits) of the terminal of the same size. In addition, management frame, data frame, and control frame can be distinguished by a combination of subfields in the frame control field.

13 shows a management frame format. It is possible to use the public action frame based on the frame format, the protected dual action frame, and the vendor specific action frame depending on the preset value. The NAN Action Frame (the third line from the bottom) defined in Table 2 has 16 bytes for Multicast Address of NMSG (interpreted as NMSG) in the A1 field or NMI of receiver Management Interface address of the receiver, it can be 6 bytes. The A2 field is 6 bytes since it is the NMI of the sender and A3 is 128 bytes (16 bytes) with a unicast (link local) IPv6 address as the NDI of the originator of the NMSG (NAN Multicast Service Group) . Therefore, the management frame format of FIG. 13 can not be used. A new NAN management frame format definition is needed. 15 is a newly defined NAN Management frame format according to the contents of Table 2 above.

14 shows a data frame format. The data frame format can use up to 4 address fields. In the same context as the Management frame format, A1 is the NDI of Receiver, which means the IPv6 unicast (link local) address of the receiver. It is 16 bytes, A2 is the NDI of Sender, and IPv6 unicast link local address) and 16 bytes for A3, and 6 bytes for NAN cluster ID. A new data frame format considering this needs to be defined. FIG. 16 can use a new data frame format for NDP (NAN Data Path) that reflects this. In the same way as in the case of NDP described above, A1 is a multicast address of NMSG, 16 bytes of IPv6 multicast data address, and A2 is an IPv6 unicast (link local) address of NDI of Sender. Byte, and A3 is an NDI of originator of the NMSG, which is 16 bytes since it is the IPv6 unicast (link local) address of the originator of the NMSG. A new data frame format definition is needed. Figure 16 becomes a new data frame format for the NMSG reflecting these considerations.

In the newly defined data frame format based on FIG. 15 and FIG. 16, NDP ID and NMSG ID can be applied to A4. It is an embodiment of the following two examples.

For example, if the NDP ID is used, the NDP ID can be applied to A4 in FIG. Alternatively, you can apply the NDP ID to A3 and apply the Cluster ID to A4.

Next, in case of applying the NMSG ID, the NMSG ID can be applied instead of the existing set value (NDI of originator of the NMSG) in A3 of FIG. Alternatively, you can use A1, A2, A3 as defined and apply the NMSG ID to A4. Alternatively, you can use the NMSG ID in A3 and the NDI of originator of the NMSG defined in A3 in A4. Alternatively, you can use A1, A2, A3 as is, and use Cluster ID for A4. Alternatively, A1 and A2 can be used as they are, and NMSG ID can be applied to A3 and Cluster ID can be applied to A4. Alternatively, you can use the cluster ID for A3 and the NMSG ID for A4. Alternatively, a cluster ID may be applied to A3 and an NDI of originator of the NMSG may be applied to A4.

As another embodiment of the invention, the following method can be applied. Table 2 defines newly defined A1, A2, and A3 from the bottom of the base to the first, second, and third lines of the department. Table 3 below shows these changed information.

[Table 3]

When the method of Table 3 is used, the previously defined MAC frame format (FIG. 13-Management Frame format, FIG. 14-Data Frame format) can be used without change. In summary, the field information of A1, A2, and A3 of the NAN Action frame for an NMSG, a data frame for an NDP, and a data frame for an NMSG can be applied as a combination of the contents defined in Table 3. You are using the following information:

IPv6 Ethernet Multicast Address, NMI of something, NAN Cluster ID: 6 bytes. However, when NDI of originator of the NMSG is used in A3, A3 becomes 16 bytes and can use only this part. In addition, when the NMSG ID is used in A3, the information amount becomes 8 bytes, and the field size can be adjusted and applied.

Also, A4 address can be used in NDP and NMSG based on Table 3 above. In the data frame format for NDP, A1 is NMI of receiver, A2 is NMI of Sender, A3 is NAN Cluster ID, and A4 is NDP ID. Alternatively, A1 and A2 can be used as defined, but NDP ID for A3 and NAN Cluster ID for A4. In the data frame format for the NMSG, a combination of information can be applied as shown in Table 4 below.

[Table 4]

The same definition as in Example 1, Step 6 described in Table 4 above can be applied in a wider range. And A3 information and A4 information of each embodiment are exchanged and applied. For example, in the case of Embodiment 1, A1 and A2 are used as defined, and N3G ID information defined in A4 is applied instead of NMSG ID information in A3, and NMSG ID is used in A4 in A3.

In the case of applying the NMSG ID mentioned in the embodiment of the present invention, the size of the information amount is 8 bytes and can be changed in all cases mentioned above. Accordingly, the corresponding field size of the frame format can be applied. The NDP ID can also be applied from the same viewpoint.

In order to apply Table 2, Table 3, and Table 4, NAN Service Discovery Engine / NAN Engine / NAN Data Engine / NAN Ranging Engine can inform the above information by return value when calling method. Or the value selected by the service / application so that the engine knows. Or the engine can select and use the predetermined value among the values using the predetermined value. If you know only the engine, let the service / application know some or all of this information. You can use events defined in the NAN, or you can define and declare dedicated events. For example, the predefined DataResponse () method:

DataResponse (type, status, ndp_id or mc_id, initiator_data_address, multicast_address, qos_requirements, security, service_specific_info)

The return value of the multicast service type is nmsg_id (identifier for NAN Multicast Service Group). However, since the IPv6 Ethernet multicast address, IPv6 multicast address, and IPv6 unicast address information necessary for the above-mentioned Table 2, Table 3, and Table 4 are required, all three pieces of information should be returned. Or return only a part of it. Some or all of this information should be included in the Data Response Frame to inform the data service requestor. The requestor uses the information to monitor and filter the frame of the multicast group to which it belongs. Or when calling the Publish () method. The same concept can be applied when calling the unsolicited DataRespose () method at the implicit NMSG enrollment.

While the present invention has been described by taking the wireless LAN communication as an example, the present invention is not limited thereto and can be applied to other communication systems such as cellular communication. Also, while the method, apparatus, and system of the present invention have been described in connection with specific embodiments thereof, some or all of the elements, acts or operations of the present invention may be implemented using a computer system having a general purpose hardware architecture.

It will be understood by those skilled in the art that the foregoing description of the present invention is for illustrative purposes only and that those of ordinary skill in the art can readily understand that various changes and modifications may be made without departing from the spirit or essential characteristics of the present invention. will be. Therefore, the above-described embodiments are to be interpreted in all aspects as illustrative and not restrictive. For example, each component described as a single entity may be distributed and implemented, and components described as being distributed may also be implemented in a combined form.

The scope of the present invention is defined by the appended claims rather than the detailed description and all changes or modifications derived from the meaning and scope of the claims and their equivalents are to be construed as being included within the scope of the present invention do.

Claims (1)

NAN (Neighbor Awareness Networking) device in a wireless communication system.

Images