WO2014068467A2 - Procédé, appareil et programme informatique pour dispositif sans fil - Google Patents

Procédé, appareil et programme informatique pour dispositif sans fil Download PDF

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Publication number
WO2014068467A2
WO2014068467A2 PCT/IB2013/059707 IB2013059707W WO2014068467A2 WO 2014068467 A2 WO2014068467 A2 WO 2014068467A2 IB 2013059707 W IB2013059707 W IB 2013059707W WO 2014068467 A2 WO2014068467 A2 WO 2014068467A2
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WIPO (PCT)
Prior art keywords
wireless device
information relating
message
operational parameter
mode
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PCT/IB2013/059707
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English (en)
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WO2014068467A3 (fr
Inventor
Anna Pantelidou
Timo Kalevi Koskela
Juho Mikko Oskari Pirskanen
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Renesas Mobile Corporation
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Publication of WO2014068467A2 publication Critical patent/WO2014068467A2/fr
Publication of WO2014068467A3 publication Critical patent/WO2014068467A3/fr

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Classifications

    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04W—WIRELESS COMMUNICATION NETWORKS
    • H04W52/00—Power management, e.g. TPC [Transmission Power Control], power saving or power classes
    • H04W52/02—Power saving arrangements
    • H04W52/0209—Power saving arrangements in terminal devices
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04W—WIRELESS COMMUNICATION NETWORKS
    • H04W52/00—Power management, e.g. TPC [Transmission Power Control], power saving or power classes
    • H04W52/02—Power saving arrangements
    • H04W52/0209—Power saving arrangements in terminal devices
    • H04W52/0212—Power saving arrangements in terminal devices managed by the network, e.g. network or access point is master and terminal is slave
    • H04W52/0216—Power saving arrangements in terminal devices managed by the network, e.g. network or access point is master and terminal is slave using a pre-established activity schedule, e.g. traffic indication frame
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04W—WIRELESS COMMUNICATION NETWORKS
    • H04W52/00—Power management, e.g. TPC [Transmission Power Control], power saving or power classes
    • H04W52/02—Power saving arrangements
    • H04W52/0209—Power saving arrangements in terminal devices
    • H04W52/0225—Power saving arrangements in terminal devices using monitoring of external events, e.g. the presence of a signal
    • H04W52/0235—Power saving arrangements in terminal devices using monitoring of external events, e.g. the presence of a signal where the received signal is a power saving command
    • Y—GENERAL TAGGING OF NEW TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENTS; GENERAL TAGGING OF CROSS-SECTIONAL TECHNOLOGIES SPANNING OVER SEVERAL SECTIONS OF THE IPC; TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC CROSS-REFERENCE ART COLLECTIONS [XRACs] AND DIGESTS
    • Y02—TECHNOLOGIES OR APPLICATIONS FOR MITIGATION OR ADAPTATION AGAINST CLIMATE CHANGE
    • Y02D—CLIMATE CHANGE MITIGATION TECHNOLOGIES IN INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGIES [ICT], I.E. INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGIES AIMING AT THE REDUCTION OF THEIR OWN ENERGY USE
    • Y02D30/00—Reducing energy consumption in communication networks
    • Y02D30/70—Reducing energy consumption in communication networks in wireless communication networks

Definitions

  • the present invention relates to a method, apparatus and computer program for a wireless device.
  • Wireless networks are often arranged such that each of a plurality of wireless devices has a wireless connection to a central node.
  • the central node is often termed an access point or AP and often provides access or a gateway to another network, including for example the Internet (possibly via other devices or apparatus).
  • an AP is associated with one or more wireless devices known as stations or STAs.
  • stations or STAs In this terminology, a single access point or AP and its associated stations or STAs are termed a basic service set or BSS.
  • BSS Basic Service Set
  • IBSS Independent Basic Service Set
  • 802.1 Is specifies mesh networking where STAs may communicate with each other or with APs.
  • the network configuration may be according to the IEEE 802.11 family of standards, other network configurations may support the method, apparatus and computer program product of embodiments of the present invention, including those configured in accordance with Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (W-CDMATM), CDMA2000, Global System for Mobile Communications (GSMTM), General Packet Radio Service (GPRSTM), Long Term Evolution (LTE), Wireless Local Access Network (WLANTM) Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAXTM) protocols, and/or the like.
  • W-CDMATM Wideband Code Division Multiple Access
  • CDMA2000 Code Division Multiple Access 2000
  • GSMTM Global System for Mobile Communications
  • GPRSTM General Packet Radio Service
  • LTE Long Term Evolution
  • WLANTM Wireless Local Access Network
  • WiMAXTM Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access
  • IEEE 801.11 ah is an amendment on operation at frequencies below 1 GHz. It has several proposed use cases, one of which includes metering-to-pole and sensors, where the STAs may be located up to 1 km from the AP and thus may need to operate at very low rates. Under this particular use case, the sensors used for the smart metering or the like are typically low data rate sensors and are often battery powered or powered by a small solar panel or the like, and therefore energy efficiency is very important for the sensors or STAs. Furthermore, under this use case the network may comprise a large number of STAs, which may be 6000 or more. When a large number of STAs are associated with a single AP, hidden terminal problems become more pronounced.
  • AIDs Association Identifiers
  • Grouping of the STAs may ameliorate both of the problems above.
  • 802.11 ah it has been proposed that a STA will operate in one of two basic power-saving modes, depending particularly on the amount of uplink and downlink traffic that the STA is expected to require.
  • a STA may want to switch between the two basic power-saving modes, and/or adjust the operational parameters, for example because its data transmission and/or reception requirements change or because of more stringent power requirements (perhaps because the level of battery charge is running low for example).
  • a wireless device that is in wireless communication with a second wireless device, the method comprising:
  • the wireless device operating according to a first mode of operation
  • the wireless device switching or desiring to operate according to a second mode of operation
  • the wireless device transmitting for receipt by a said second wireless device information relating to at least one operational parameter that relates to the second mode of operation;
  • the wireless device transmits the information relating to the at least one operational parameter as part of a message that contains data if the wireless device has data to transmit, else the wireless device transmits the information relating to the at least one operational parameter in a separate message if the wireless device does not have data to transmit.
  • this allows an AP to make optimal management decisions for the STAs in the BSS, as the AP learns at least some of the operational parameters and/or the power-saving mode being used by the individual STAs.
  • this allows better coordination between the STAs.
  • the wireless device transmits the information relating to the at least one operational parameter as part of a message that contains data, the information relating to the at least one operational parameter is transmitted in a header of the message.
  • information relating to at least one of size and type of the message header is transmitted as part of a Frame Control field of the message header. In an embodiment, the information relating to at least one of size and type of the message header is transmitted using a Protocol Version subfield of the Frame Control field. In an embodiment, the information relating to the at least one operational parameter is transmitted in a Frame Control field of the message header. In an embodiment, an indication that the Frame Control field contains information relating to the at least one operational parameter is included in at least one of a Type subfield and a Subtype subfield of the Frame Control field.
  • the wireless device transmits the information relating to the at least one operational parameter as part of a message that contains data
  • the information relating to the at least one operational parameter is transmitted as part of the data payload of the message.
  • a wireless device that is in wireless communication with a second wireless device, the method comprising:
  • the wireless device operating according to a first mode of operation
  • the wireless device switching or desiring to operate according to a second mode of operation
  • the wireless device transmitting for receipt by a said second wireless device information relating to at least one operational parameter that relates to the second mode of operation; wherein wireless device transmits the information relating to the at least one operational parameter as part of a message header of a message that contains data or as part of a data payload of a message that contains data.
  • this allows an AP to make optimal management decisions for the STAs in the BSS, as the AP learns at least some of the operational parameters and/or the power-saving mode being used by the individual STAs.
  • this allows better coordination between the STAs.
  • the wireless device transmits the information relating to the at least one operational parameter as part of a message header of a message that contains data
  • information relating to at least one of size and type of the message header is transmitted as part of a Frame Control field of the message header.
  • the information relating to at least one of size and type of the message header is transmitted using a Protocol Version subfield of the Frame Control field.
  • the wireless device transmits the information relating to the at least one operational parameter as part of a message header of a message that contains data
  • the information relating to the at least one operational parameter is transmitted in a Frame Control field of the message header.
  • an indication that the Frame Control field contains information relating to the at least one operational parameter is included in at least one of a Type subfield and a Subtype subfield of the Frame Control field.
  • the at least one operational parameter may be at least one of:
  • said second wireless device is an access point.
  • this allows an AP to make optimal management decisions for the STAs in the BSS, as the AP learns at least some of the operational parameters and/or the power-saving mode being used by the individual STAs.
  • this allows better coordination between the STAs.
  • apparatus for a wireless device comprising a processing system constructed and arrange to cause the wireless device to carry out a method comprising:
  • the wireless device operating according to a first mode of operation
  • the wireless device switching or desiring to operate according to a second mode of operation
  • the wireless device transmitting for receipt by a second wireless device information relating to at least one operational parameter that relates to the second mode of operation;
  • the wireless device transmits the information relating to the at least one operational parameter as part of a message that contains data if the wireless device has data to transmit, else the wireless device transmits the information relating to the at least one operational parameter in a separate message if the wireless device does not have data to transmit.
  • apparatus for a wireless device comprising a processing system constructed and arrange to cause the wireless device to carry out a method comprising: the wireless device operating according to a first mode of operation;
  • the wireless device switching or desiring to operate according to a second mode of operation
  • the wireless device transmitting for receipt by a second wireless device information relating to at least one operational parameter that relates to the second mode of operation;
  • the wireless device transmits the information relating to the at least one operational parameter as part of a message header of a message that contains data or as part of a data payload of a message that contains data.
  • a computer program comprising a set of instructions for causing a wireless device, that is in wireless communication with a second wireless device, to carry out a method comprising: the wireless device operating according to a first mode of operation;
  • the wireless device switching or desiring to operate according to a second mode of operation
  • the wireless device transmitting for receipt by a said second wireless device information relating to at least one operational parameter that relates to the second mode of operation;
  • the wireless device transmits the information relating to the at least one operational parameter as part of a message that contains data if the wireless device has data to transmit, else the wireless device transmits the information relating to the at least one operational parameter in a separate message if the wireless device does not have data to transmit.
  • a computer program comprising a set of instructions for causing a wireless device, that is in wireless communication with a second wireless device, to carry out a method comprising:
  • the wireless device operating according to a first mode of operation; the wireless device switching or desiring to operate according to a second mode of operation;
  • the wireless device transmitting for receipt by a said second wireless device information relating to at least one operational parameter that relates to the second mode of operation;
  • the wireless device transmits the information relating to the at least one operational parameter as part of a message header of a message that contains data or as part of a data payload of a message that contains data.
  • the processing systems described above may comprise at least one processor and at least one memory storing a set of computer instructions.
  • Non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing a computer program as described above.
  • Figure 1 shows schematically an access point and plural wireless devices
  • Figure 2 shows schematically the structure of a MAC (medium access control) header
  • Figure 3 shows schematically the structure of a Frame Control field
  • Figure 4 shows schematically the structure of a Short ACK
  • Figure 5 shows schematically the structure of an example of a header according to an embodiment of the present invention
  • Figure 6 shows schematically an example of the sub-elements of the Listen Interval Parameters field
  • Figure 7 shows schematically an example of the sub-elements of the Group
  • Wireless devices include in general any device capable of connecting wirelessly to a network, and includes in particular mobile devices including mobile or cell phones (including so-called “smart phones”), personal digital assistants, pagers, tablet and laptop computers, content-consumption or generation devices (for music and/or video for example), data cards, USB dongles, etc., as well as fixed or more static devices, such as personal computers, game consoles and other generally static entertainment devices, various other domestic and non-domestic machines and devices, etc.
  • the term “user equipment” or UE is often used to refer to wireless devices in general, and particularly mobile wireless devices.
  • STA is used to refer to a wireless device.
  • FIG 1 shows schematically an access point or AP 1 and plural wireless devices or STAs 2 serviced by the AP 1. Only four STAs 2 are shown in the Figure, but in practice there may be just one STA 2 up to hundreds or thousands or more STAs 2 serviced by the AP 1.
  • Each STA 2 has the necessary radio module 3, processor(s) and memory/memories 4, antenna 5, etc. to enable wireless communication with the AP 1, which likewise has the necessary radio module 6, processor(s) and memory/memories 7, antenna 8, etc. to enable wireless communication with the STAs 2.
  • One or more, or indeed all, of the STAs 2 may be machine-type communication devices, including for example so-called smart meters or other sensors that relay readings and other information wirelessly to the AP 1.
  • the STAs 2 typically operate in one of two modes, synchronous and asynchronous. In synchronous mode, the STA 2 wakes up periodically to listen for beacons or
  • a beacon frame is a type of management frame that enables STAs 2 to establish and maintain communications in an orderly fashion.
  • a TIM frame is sent periodically by the AP 1 within a beacon to identify which STAs 2 using a power saving mode have data frames waiting for them in the buffer of the AP 1.
  • the TIM identifies a STA 2 by an association ID which the AP 1 assigned during the association process for that STA 2. If a STA 2 hears that data is waiting for it, then the STA 2 will awake more fully and send a PS-Poll (Power Save Poll) packet to the AP 1 to request the transmission of this waiting data.
  • PS-Poll Power Save Poll
  • the STA 2 does not need to listen for beacons or TIM frames and may sleep for long periods of time.
  • the STA 2 can asynchronously wake up and send a PS -Poll to the AP 1 asking whether there is downlink data for it.
  • PS -Poll a PS -Poll
  • when and how often this occurs depends on the STA 2 and its current operational requirements and, in many cases, its power-saving requirements. For example, it may depend on how often the STA 2 expects that the AP 1 has traffic for it. It may also depend on the energy efficiency requirements of the STA 2 and its remaining battery power. If for example the STA 2 has very little battery power left, it may decide to sleep more and wake up to request for downlink traffic from the AP 1 less often.
  • the wake up for downlink traffic is more regular and the STAs 2 are not on such a strict energy budget so they can decide to wake up every beacon say, as opposed to deciding to sleep more and asynchronously wake up to request this traffic.
  • a STA 2 will operate in one of two basic power-saving modes, or minor variations of those basic power-saving modes, depending particularly on the amount of uplink and downlink traffic that the STA 2 is expected to require as well as its energy efficiency requirements.
  • These power-saving modes in essence correspond to the synchronous and asynchronous modes discussed above.
  • the first power-saving mode involves STAs 2 that regularly have downlink traffic and thus operate in the synchronous mode discussed above to listen to the TIM in the beacon frames. Those STAs 2 can sleep, wake up at so-called Listen Intervals to listen to the TIMs and, if paged in the TIM to indicate that downlink data is available, send a PS-Poll message to request data from the AP 1.
  • the second power-saving mode is intended primarily for very low duty cycle STAs 2 that typically have only uplink traffic to transmit to the AP 1. Due to mostly their lack of downlink traffic, there is no need for such STAs 2 to read the Traffic Indication Map (TIM) or the beacon frames regularly or frequently, and therefore they operate asynchronously. Occasionally, such STAs 2 wake and send PS-Poll messages to the AP 1 to request downlink data in case there is any. The AP 1 either responds with an ACK or a DATA frame, or sends no response. If neither an ACK or a DATA frame is received by the STA 2, the STA 2 will attempt transmission of the PS-Poll again at a later time. Alternatively, if an ACK is received, then it becomes the responsibility of the AP 1 to deliver a downlink frame to the STA 2 at some point.
  • TIM Traffic Indication Map
  • asynchronous power-saving mode requires the AP 1 always to respond with either DATA or with an ACK. If it responds with an ACK, the AP 1 also indicates if it has a data packet available for the STA 2, in which case the STA 2 should stay awake waiting for the data, or the AP 1 indicates that it does not have a data packet available for the STA 2, in which case the STA 2 can go back to sleep until the next beacon. If an ACK is sent indicating that there is no downlink data and if the STA 2 does not have uplink traffic, then the STA 2 can sleep for the rest of the time.
  • a STA 2 changes its power-saving mode. For example, if the level of battery charge of the STA 2 is severely drained, the STA 2 may decide to switch from the first power-saving mode to the second power-saving mode. As another example, the STA 2 may switch to the first power-saving mode if its uplink and downlink traffic increases. Also, a STA 2 may want to switch to different Listen Intervals to save energy. For example, when the battery power is severely depleted, the STA 2 may wish to use a longer Listen Interval which allows it to sleep for longer periods of time.
  • the STAs associated with an AP may form groups. Those groups may be overlapping or not in the sense that any particular STA may be a member of any two groups or not.
  • the AP assigns a group number to each group. At any given time the AP may allow a single group or multiple groups to be active. Active here means that at least one STA within an active group has a non-zero probability to attempt contention and subsequent transmission of its data packet.
  • the AP has to communicate to the STAs grouping related parameters, which may include for example the number of groups in the network, the STAs associated with each group, the groups that can be active at any given time and the corresponding duration that they can be active.
  • grouping parameters need to be updated or amended from time to time.
  • Grouping parameters may need to change when for example the composition of the various groups changes and/or the requirements of a specific STA change. Also, this can be the case for example if the performance of a STA under an assigned group is not satisfactory, e.g. due to interference. Then the STA may send a message to the AP to suggest new group parameters.
  • the individual STAs 2 may also change other operational parameters in view of changing requirements or conditions for the STAs 2, particularly relating to transmission or reception requirements or battery charge conditions for the STA 2.
  • Examples of embodiments of the present invention provide for efficient relaying of information from the STAs 2 to the AP 1, or from one STA 2 to another in the case of for example an ad hoc or mesh network where for example STAs can be relays of each other's traffic, about changes in or the current values of at least one of the operational parameters being used by the individual STAs 2.
  • Such operational parameters include one or more of the power-saving mode being used by the STA 2 and values of particular operating parameters used in the power-saving mode, as well as other specific operational parameters. This allows the AP to make optimal management decisions for the STAs 2 in a BSS, and allows better coordination of transmissions and the like in the case of ad hoc or mesh networks or the like.
  • the MAC header is followed by the frame body which contains the data that is being transmitted and typically that is followed by some transmission error checking or error control arrangement, such as cyclic redundancy check or FCS.
  • some transmission error checking or error control arrangement such as cyclic redundancy check or FCS.
  • FCS cyclic redundancy check
  • MAC header shown schematically in Figure 2, as is well known per se, there are fields for frame control, duration/ID (which is used to indicate the remaining duration needed to receive the next frame transmission), addresses of various types as known per se (for example for the transmitter, receiver, BSS, etc.), sequence control, quality of service control and high throughput control.
  • the Frame Control field is shown in more detail in Figure 3, with the size of each subfield of the Frame Control field in bits being indicated.
  • the Protocol Version subfield provides the current version of the 802.11 protocol being used.
  • Type and Subtype determine the function of the frame. To DS and From DS indicate whether the frame is going to or exiting from the "distributed system" (DS), and is only used in data type frames of STAs 2 associated with an AP 1. More Fragments indicates whether more fragments of the frame, either data or management type, are to follow. Retry indicates whether or not the frame is being retransmitted. Power Management indicates whether the sending STA 2 is in active mode or power-save mode. More Data indicates to a STA 2 in power-save mode that the AP 1 has more frames to send.
  • Protected Frame indicates whether encryption has been used for the data. Order indicates that all received data frames must be processed in order.
  • a short form has been proposed particularly for smart sensor/machine-type communications to reduce the amount of data traffic and prolong battery life, particularly in the context of IEEE 802.11 ah networks.
  • the short beacon format see 11-1 l-1503-02-00ah "Short Beacon" available in the IEEE802. i l document server) was agreed to save the transmission time of Beacons, as those frames are sent frequently.
  • the short Beacon frame is created from the long Beacon frame, by removing fields that are not necessary.
  • short frame formats were agreed for the NDP Probe Request frame (see for example 11-12- 0830-00-OOah "ndp Probing"), the Beamforming Report Poll frame (see for example l l-12-0842-02-00ah “Short Beamforming Report Poll Frame”), the Short Probe Response frame (see for example 11-12-0869-00-OOah "Active Scanning For l lah”), the ACK (see for example 1 l-12-0324-02-00ah “Short Ack”), the Block ACK (see for example 11-12-0859-00-OOah "Short BA”), the CTS (see for example 11-12-0643-00- OOah "Short CTS”), and the NDP PS-Poll (see for example 11-12-0848-00-OOah "ndp Type ps Poll Frame), all available in the IEEE802.11 document server.
  • Short Ack An example of a Short ACK as discussed in 1 l-12-0324-02-00ah “Short Ack” is shown schematically in Figure 4, where a short ACK frame only contains an STF field, an LTF field and special SIG with all the necessary information for acknowledging a frame.
  • MCS modulation and coding scheme
  • MCS modulation and coding scheme
  • MCS modulation and coding scheme
  • the ACK ID field cannot fit the whole receiver address (RA) it was agreed to use a partial address or AID and use the remaining bits to indicate an ACK ID.
  • a message header is used for transmission by a STA 2 to the AP 1 (or more generally any other STA 2) that includes information regarding the mode of operation being used by the STA 2.
  • This header may include one or more of the following "operation mode information" elements or parameters:
  • An indication whether the STA 2 decodes the TIM or the STA 2 does not decode the TIM indicates whether the STA 2 is operating in synchronous mode or asynchronous mode respectively, as discussed in more detail above.
  • This information can be indicated for example by 1 bit, where for example a zero (0) could indicate asynchronous mode while a one (1) could indicate synchronous mode operation.
  • more bits can be used to indicate the energy operation mode. For instance, 2 bits can be used giving two additional values to indicate the various enhancements and variations, some of which are mentioned earlier, of the asynchronous and asynchronous modes.
  • An indication of the degree of the need for energy saving may indicate relatively simplistically whether for example the battery charge is almost full or almost empty. Alternatively or additionally, this indication may be a quantised value, relating more directly to the actual level of battery charge. As an example, 2 bits can be reserved for that with a value 11 indicating for instance a battery that is almost full and 00 a battery that is almost empty. Values 10 and 01 may indicate battery levels that lie in between those extremes.
  • LI Listen Interval parameters. These may include for example the actual value of the Listen Interval and the units of the Listen Interval currently being used by the STA 2. If the units of Listen Interval and that of the BSS max idle period and WNM-Sleep interval are unified, then the common unit is preferably indicated.
  • NVM-Sleep (where "WNM” is wireless network management) enables a STA 2 to signal to an AP 1 that it will be sleeping for a specified length of time.)
  • 2 octets are used to determine the listen interval.
  • 2 bits (or 1 byte) can be used to indicate the units that would map the number of intervals to time according to different scaling options. For instance, the tuple "00" can mean that the units are in seconds, "01” that they are multiplied by 10 seconds, “10” that they are multiplied by 100 seconds, and "11” that they are multiplied by 1000 seconds.
  • the 2 octets used for the Listen Interval can be split into two (2) parts, one to indicate the scaling and one to indicate to the AP how often a STA in power save mode wakes up to listen to Beacon management frames, as shown schematically by way of example in Figure 6.
  • group information for the group to which the STA currently belongs may be or include for example the group number and the above mentioned grouping parameters. Alternatively or additionally, this group information may be or include the Sector ID on which the STA 2 hears transmissions by the AP 1.
  • An example of the sub-elements of the Group Parameters field is shown schematically in Figure 7. In this field a STA 2 may indicate to the AP 1 (or more generally any other STA 2) its current group number (or the Sector ID) and an indicator of the interference that it receives on that group or sector. Optionally the STA may indicate or suggest a new group number or Sector ID that it would like to join.
  • the fields of this message header may be in combination with the fields of a conventional MAC header, and that the order of the fields, within the header itself and/or when in combination with a conventional MAC header, is not important.
  • the addition of information regarding the mode of operation being used by the STA 2 to the MAC header will in one example increase the size of the message header by a certain number of bytes or octets.
  • the size and type of the message header that is used by the STA 2 can be indicated within the Frame Control field of the message header.
  • the conventional Frame Control field is discussed above with reference to Figure 3.
  • the Protocol Version subfield of the Frame Control field has two bits. This enables a maximum of four different types of header to be indicated using the Protocol Version bits. As just one example, this may be used as follows, it being understood that other variations and allocations for the bits may be used:
  • the type of header as well as the operational mode indication can be indicated through these fields.
  • the rest of the bits B8 to B15 may be used to indicate one or more of the operational mode parameters discussed more fully above under items (1) to (4).
  • the operation mode information can be piggybacked with the data payload that the STA 2 sends to the AP 1. Again, this operation mode information may be one or more of the operational mode parameters discussed more fully above under items (1) to (4).
  • An advantage of this example is that no new packet is sent, though typically the packet size, and in particular the size of the data payload of the packet, increases according to the operation mode information that is being transmitted.
  • the STA 2 always piggybacks the operation mode information to the packet that contains the data, which may be as part of the header or the Frame Control field of the header or part of the data payload in the examples above.
  • This data may be "user" data, including for example sensor readings and the like, or control data.
  • the operation mode information may be piggybacked on other messages, such as RTS (request to send) for example.
  • RTS request to send
  • the STA 2 may send a separate packet containing the operation mode information. This can be a new message, which may for example be termed "Mode Operation Indication” or the like, that contains all the operation mode information relevant to for example the power-saving mode and grouping mode of the STA 2.
  • the STA 2 may send along with the operation mode information a mode switching pattern, indicating that the STA 2 will be switching among different modes according to that pattern.
  • the new pattern can be selected by the STA in a deterministic manner from a set of available patterns. For example, as time progresses and the STA's battery power is depleted, the next pattern can be deterministically obtained by the STA based on the remaining battery power. The STA 2 only needs to indicate when the next pattern will be selected. As an alternative, a new pattern can be selected at random, and the STA 2 indicates to the AP 1 which is the new pattern and when it will select/activate it.
  • a STA 2 provides an indication of the degree of the need for energy saving by the STA 2, as mentioned this may for example be related to the level of charge of a battery that powers the STA 2.
  • two bits may be reserved for this, giving a maximum of 4 possible battery level states. (It will be appreciated that further states may be indicated, though this will require a larger number of bits.)
  • the indication may be as follows:
  • the AP 1 may respond with an ACK that can have an indication to "accept” or “reject” the mode change.
  • the ACK can be for example a "normal” 802.11 ACK or a "short” ACK.
  • the ACK from the AP 1 has an indication to "accept” or "reject” the mode change
  • this can be achieved using a bit in the ACK message.
  • this may be interpreted as follows:
  • this accept/reject indication bit from the AP 1 can be indicated through the Type and Subtype subfields of the Frame Control field.
  • the reserved bits of the Type and Subtype subfields of the Frame Control field four combinations can be used to indicate that it is a message of type:
  • the Type/Subtype bits of the Frame Control field can be used.
  • the values 0000-111 1 of the Subtype bits B7 B6 B5 B4 are reserved and can be used to indicate a Short ACK with Accept/Reject operation mode configuration, similarly to above for the normal ACKs.
  • the reserved values of the protocol version bits can be used to indicate that a new message type is present. Currently version 00 is used and all other values are free for use for this purpose.
  • a Short ACK without any indication may also be a valid response.
  • the reserved values of the Type/Subtype fields can be used to indicate the Short ACK.
  • the reserved values of the protocol version bits can be used.
  • fewer than four combinations for the ACK may be sufficient in some cases, for example in the case that not both Short and Normal ACKs need to be supported, or in the case that the AP 1 has for example always to accept the response. Examples of embodiments of the present invention provide an efficient way of communicating the operation mode or operational parameters of the STAs 2 to the AP 1 and/or to other STAs 2. In certain examples, the overhead associated with having to send extra message transmissions is avoided when possible, such as when the information about the operation mode information is sent along with data that the STA 2 already had to send.
  • embodiments of the present invention may be used when for example a STA 2 sends a request to change the operational parameters and/or mode of operation to the AP 1 and the AP 1 either accepts or rejects the change, i.e. the AP 1 effectively controls the operational parameters and mode of operation of the STA 2.
  • Embodiments of the present invention may also be used when a STA 2 effectively autonomously changes its operational parameters and/or mode of operation, and simply wishes to inform an AP, and/or other STAs 2, of the change(s).
  • the program may be in the form of non-transitory source code, object code, a code intermediate source and object code such as in partially compiled form, or in any other non-transitory form suitable for use in the implementation of processes according to the invention.
  • the carrier may be any entity or device capable of carrying the program.
  • the carrier may comprise a storage medium, such as a solid-state drive (SSD) or other semiconductor-based RAM; a ROM, for example a CD ROM or a semiconductor ROM; a magnetic recording medium, for example a floppy disk or hard disk; optical memory devices in general; etc.
  • processor or processing system or circuitry referred to herein may in practice be provided by a single chip or integrated circuit or plural chips or integrated circuits, optionally provided as a chipset, an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), field-programmable gate array (FPGA), digital signal processor (DSP), etc.
  • the chip or chips may comprise circuitry (as well as possibly firmware) for embodying at least one or more of a data processor or processors, a digital signal processor or processors, baseband circuitry and radio frequency circuitry, which are configurable so as to operate in accordance with the exemplary embodiments.
  • the exemplary embodiments may be implemented at least in part by computer software stored in (non-transitory) memory and executable by the processor, or by hardware, or by a combination of tangibly stored software and hardware (and tangibly stored firmware).
  • the above embodiments are to be understood as illustrative examples of the invention. Further embodiments of the invention are envisaged. It is to be understood that any feature described in relation to any one embodiment may be used alone, or in combination with other features described, and may also be used in combination with one or more features of any other of the embodiments, or any combination of any other of the embodiments. Furthermore, equivalents and modifications not described above may also be employed without departing from the scope of the invention, which is defined in the accompanying claims.

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  • Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
  • Computer Networks & Wireless Communication (AREA)
  • Signal Processing (AREA)
  • Mobile Radio Communication Systems (AREA)

Abstract

Selon l'invention, un dispositif sans fil (2) fonctionne selon un premier mode de fonctionnement. Le dispositif sans fil (2) bascule vers un second mode de fonctionnement ou souhaite fonctionner selon ce second mode de fonctionnement. Le dispositif sans fil (2) transmet, en vue d'une réception par un second dispositif sans fil (1; 2), des informations concernant au moins un paramètre opérationnel qui est en rapport avec le second mode de fonctionnement. Selon un mode de réalisation, le dispositif sans fil (2) transmet les informations sous la forme d'une partie d'un message qui contient des données si le dispositif sans fil (2) a des données à transmettre, sinon le dispositif sans fil (2) transmet les informations dans un message séparé si le dispositif sans fil (2) n'a pas de données à transmettre. Selon un autre mode de réalisation, le dispositif sans fil (2) transmet les informations sous la forme d'une partie d'un en-tête de message d'un message qui contient des données ou sous la forme d'une partie de données utiles d'un message qui contient des données.
PCT/IB2013/059707 2012-10-29 2013-10-28 Procédé, appareil et programme informatique pour dispositif sans fil WO2014068467A2 (fr)

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GB1219399.1A GB2507344B (en) 2012-10-29 2012-10-29 Method, apparatus and computer program for a wireless device communicating information relating to operational parameters
GB1219399.1 2012-10-29

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GB2507344B (en) 2015-06-03
GB2507344A (en) 2014-04-30
GB201219399D0 (en) 2012-12-12

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