WO2017057988A1

WO2017057988A1 - Method by which nan terminal merges into nan cluster in wireless communication system, and device

Info

Publication number: WO2017057988A1
Application number: PCT/KR2016/011054
Authority: WO
Inventors: 김동철; 박기원; 이병주; 조영준; 임태성
Original assignee: 엘지전자 주식회사
Priority date: 2015-10-02
Filing date: 2016-10-04
Publication date: 2017-04-06

Abstract

The present specification relates to a method by which a NAN terminal merges into a NAN cluster in a wireless communication system, the method comprising the steps of: receiving a beacon frame of a second NAN cluster by a first NAN terminal included in a first NAN cluster; acquiring cluster grade information of the second NAN cluster on the basis of the beacon frame; and merging into the second NAN cluster when a cluster grade of the second NAN cluster is higher than a cluster grade of the first NAN cluster, wherein the first NAN terminal is included in a NAN data cluster in the first NAN cluster, and the first NAN terminal transmits a notification frame to other NAN terminals in the NAN data cluster, when merged into the second NAN cluster.

Description

Method and apparatus for merging a NAN terminal into a NAN cluster in a wireless communication system

The present specification relates to a wireless communication system, and more particularly, to a method and apparatus for merging a neighbor awareness networking (NAN) terminal to another NAN cluster in a wireless communication system.

Wireless communication systems are widely deployed to provide various kinds of communication services such as voice and data. In general, a wireless communication system is a multiple access system capable of supporting communication with multiple users by sharing available system resources (bandwidth, transmission power, etc.). Examples of multiple access systems include code division multiple access (CDMA) systems, frequency division multiple access (FDMA) systems, time division multiple access (TDMA) systems, orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) systems, and single carrier frequency (SC-FDMA). division multiple access (MCD) systems and multi-carrier frequency division multiple access (MC-FDMA) systems.

In addition, with the development of information and communication technology, various wireless communication technologies have been developed. Among these, WLAN is based on radio frequency technology, and can be used in homes, businesses, or businesses by using portable terminals such as personal digital assistants (PDAs), laptop computers, and portable multimedia players (PMPs). It is a technology that allows wireless access to the Internet in a specific service area.

An object of the present specification is to provide a method and apparatus for merging a NAN terminal into another NAN cluster in a wireless communication system.

In this specification, when a NAN terminal merges with another NAN terminal in a wireless communication system, an object of the present disclosure is to provide a method for controlling schedule information between NAN terminals.

An object of the present disclosure is to provide a method for controlling the operation of NAN terminals when a NAN terminal merges with another NAN terminal in a wireless communication system.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, a method for merging a NAN terminal into a NAN cluster in a wireless communication system may be provided. In this case, the method of merging to the NAN cluster, the first NAN terminal included in the first NAN cluster receiving a beacon frame of the second NAN cluster, obtaining cluster grade information of the second NAN cluster based on the beacon frame And merging the second NAN cluster when the cluster grade of the second NAN cluster is larger than the cluster grade of the first NAN cluster. In this case, when the first NAN terminal is a NAN terminal included in the NAN data cluster in the first NAN cluster, and merges into the second NAN cluster, the first NAN terminal may transmit a notification frame to other NAN terminals in the NAN data cluster. have.

Further, according to an embodiment of the present invention, in a NAN terminal merging to a NAN cluster in a wireless communication system, a receiving module for receiving information from an external device, a transmitting module for transmitting information to an external device, a receiving module, and a transmitting module It may include a processor for controlling the. At this time, the processor receives the beacon frame of the first NAN cluster using the receiving module, obtains the cluster class information of the first NAN cluster based on the received beacon frame, and the cluster class of the first NAN cluster is the second NAN If greater than the cluster grade of the cluster, merge into a first NAN cluster, the first NAN terminal is included in the second NAN cluster, the first NAN terminal is included in the NAN data cluster in the second NAN cluster, the first NAN cluster When merged into the first NAN terminal may transmit a notification frame to other NAN terminals in the NAN data cluster.

In addition, the following may be commonly applied to a method and apparatus for merging a NAN terminal into a NAN cluster in a wireless communication system.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the notification frame may be transmitted in the NDC schedule interval.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the notification frame includes ID information of the second NAN cluster, time synchronization information of the second NAN cluster, anchor master rank information of the second NAN cluster, and time information moving to the second NAN cluster. Can be.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, if the first NAN terminal does not receive a notification frame from other NAN terminals after receiving the beacon frame, data beacon hop count information is included in the notification frame transmitted by the first NAN terminal. It may be further included.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, after the first NAN terminal is merged into the second NAN cluster, the first NAN terminal may transmit a data beacon frame to the NAN terminals included in the NAN data cluster.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the data beacon frame may be transmitted in the NDC schedule period.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the first NAN terminal transmits a data beacon frame based on a backoff counter value, but the backoff counter may be determined based on dHC information.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, when the first NAN terminal is merged into the second NAN cluster, the first NAN terminal may be set to a non-master and non-sink state.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the beacon frame may be any one of a NAN synchronization beacon frame and a NAN discovery beacon frame.

The present disclosure may provide a method and apparatus for merging a NAN terminal into another NAN cluster in a wireless communication system.

The present specification may provide a method of controlling schedule information between NAN terminals when the NAN terminal merges with another NAN terminal in a wireless communication system.

Herein, when a NAN terminal merges with another NAN terminal in a wireless communication system, it may provide a method of controlling operations of the NAN terminals.

In addition, the effects obtainable herein are not limited to the effects mentioned above, and other effects not mentioned above will be clearly understood by those skilled in the art from the following description. Could be.

1 is a diagram illustrating an exemplary structure of an IEEE 802.11 system.

2 to 3 are diagrams illustrating a NAN cluster.

4 illustrates a structure of a NAN terminal.

5 to 6 show the relationship of the NAN components.

7 is a diagram illustrating a state transition of a NAN terminal.

8 is a diagram illustrating a discovery window and the like.

9 illustrates a discovery window.

10 is a diagram illustrating a method of forming a NAN data cluster.

11 illustrates a method of forming a NAN data path.

12 is a diagram illustrating a method of setting an NDL schedule.

13 is a diagram illustrating a method for operating a NAN terminal based on an NDL and an NDC.

14 is a diagram illustrating a method for operating a NAN terminal based on an NDL and an NDC.

15 is a diagram illustrating a method of operating a NAN terminal when the NAN terminal is merged with another NAN cluster.

16 is a flowchart illustrating a method in which a NAN terminal is merged into another NAN cluster.

17 is a flowchart illustrating a method in which a NAN terminal is merged into another NAN cluster.

18 is a block diagram of a terminal device.

Hereinafter, exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. The detailed description, which will be given below with reference to the accompanying drawings, is intended to explain exemplary embodiments of the present invention and is not intended to represent the only embodiments in which the present invention may be practiced. The following detailed description includes specific details in order to provide a thorough understanding of the present invention. However, one of ordinary skill in the art appreciates that the present invention may be practiced without these specific details.

The following embodiments combine the components and features of the present invention in a predetermined form. Each component or feature may be considered to be optional unless otherwise stated. Each component or feature may be embodied in a form that is not combined with other components or features. In addition, some components and / or features may be combined to form an embodiment of the present invention. The order of the operations described in the embodiments of the present invention may be changed. Some components or features of one embodiment may be included in another embodiment or may be replaced with corresponding components or features of another embodiment.

Specific terms used in the following description are provided to help the understanding of the present invention, and the use of such specific terms may be changed to other forms without departing from the technical spirit of the present invention.

In some instances, well-known structures and devices are omitted or shown in block diagram form, centering on the core functions of each structure and device, in order to avoid obscuring the concepts of the present invention. In addition, the same components will be described with the same reference numerals throughout the present specification.

Embodiments of the present invention are provided by standard documents disclosed in at least one of the wireless access systems IEEE 802 system, 3GPP system, 3GPP LTE and LTE-Advanced (LTE-A) system, 3GPP2 system, Wi-Fi system and NAN system Can be supported. That is, steps or parts which are not described to clearly reveal the technical spirit of the present invention among the embodiments of the present invention may be supported by the above documents. In addition, all terms disclosed in the present document can be described by the above standard document.

The following techniques include 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 (SC-FDMA), and the like. It can be used in various radio access systems. CDMA may be implemented with a radio technology such as Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (UTRA) or CDMA2000. TDMA may be implemented with wireless technologies such as Global System for Mobile communications (GSM) / General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) / Enhanced Data Rates for GSM Evolution (EDGE).

In addition, terms such as first and / or second may be used herein to describe various components, but the components should not be limited by the terms. The terms are only for the purpose of distinguishing one component from another component, for example, without departing from the scope of rights in accordance with the concepts herein, the first component may be called a second component, and similarly The second component may also be referred to as a first component.

In addition, throughout the specification, when a part is said to "include" a certain component, it means that it can further include other components, except to exclude other components unless otherwise stated. And “…” described in the specification. unit", "… “Unit” refers to a unit that processes at least one function or operation, which may be implemented in a combination of hardware and / or software.

Hereinafter, for the sake of clarity, the following description focuses on the IEEE 802.11 system, but the technical spirit of the present invention is not limited thereto.

WLAN 시스템의 구조Structure of WLAN System

1 is a diagram showing an exemplary structure of an IEEE 802.11 system to which the present invention can be applied.

The IEEE 802.11 architecture may be composed of a plurality of components, and by their interaction, a WLAN may be provided that supports transparent STA mobility for higher layers. The Basic Service Set (BSS) may correspond to a basic building block in an IEEE 802.11 WLAN. FIG. 1 exemplarily shows that two BSSs (BSS1 and BSS2) exist and include two STAs as members of each BSS (STA1 and STA2 are included in BSS1 and STA3 and STA4 are included in BSS2). do. In FIG. 1, an ellipse representing a BSS may be understood to represent a coverage area where STAs included in the BSS maintain communication. This area may be referred to as a basic service area (BSA). When the STA moves out of the BSA, the STA cannot directly communicate with other STAs in the BSA.

The most basic type of BSS in an IEEE 802.11 WLAN is an independent BSS (IBSS). For example, the IBSS may have a minimal form consisting of only two STAs. In addition, the BSS (BSS1 or BSS2) of FIG. 1, which is the simplest form and other components are omitted, may correspond to a representative example of the IBSS. This configuration is possible when STAs can communicate directly. In addition, this type of WLAN is not configured in advance, but may be configured when a WLAN is required, and may be referred to as an ad-hoc network.

The membership of the STA in the BSS may be dynamically changed by turning the STA on or off, the STA entering or exiting the BSS region, and the like. In order to become a member of the BSS, the STA may join the BSS using a synchronization process. In order to access all services of the BSS infrastructure, the STA must be associated with the BSS. This association may be set up dynamically and may include the use of a Distribution System Service (DSS).

In addition, FIG. 1 illustrates components of a distribution system (DS), a distribution system medium (DSM), an access point (AP), and the like.

The station-to-station distance directly in the WLAN may be limited by PHY performance. In some cases, this distance limit may be sufficient, but in some cases, communication between more distant stations may be necessary. The distribution system DS may be configured to support extended coverage.

DS refers to a structure in which BSSs are interconnected. Specifically, instead of the BSS independently as shown in FIG. 1, the BSS may exist as an extended type component of a network composed of a plurality of BSSs.

DS is a logical concept and can be specified by the nature of the distribution system medium (DSM). In this regard, the IEEE 802.11 standard logically distinguishes between wireless medium (WM) and distribution system media (DSM). Each logical medium is used for a different purpose and is used by different components. The definition of the IEEE 802.11 standard does not limit these media to the same or to different ones. In this way the plurality of media are logically different, the flexibility of the IEEE 802.11 WLAN structure (DS structure or other network structure) can be described. That is, the IEEE 802.11 WLAN structure can be implemented in various ways, the corresponding WLAN structure can be specified independently by the physical characteristics of each implementation.

The DS may support the mobile device by providing seamless integration of multiple BSSs and providing logical services for handling addresses to destinations.

An AP refers to an entity that enables access to a DS through WM for associated STAs and has STA functionality. Data movement between the BSS and the DS may be performed through the AP. For example, STA2 and STA3 shown in FIG. 1 have the functionality of a STA, and provide a function to allow associated STAs STA1 and STA4 to access the DS. In addition, since all APs basically correspond to STAs, all APs are addressable entities. The address used by the AP for communication on the WM and the address used by the AP for communication on the DSM need not necessarily be the same.

Data transmitted from one of the STAs associated with an AP to the STA address of that AP may always be received at an uncontrolled port and processed by an IEEE 802.1X port access entity. In addition, when a controlled port is authenticated, transmission data (or frame) may be transmitted to the DS.

계층 구조Hierarchy

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

In order to provide correct MAC operation, a Station Management Entity (SME) is present in each STA. An SME is a layer-independent entity that can appear to be in a separate management plane or appear to be off to the side. While the exact features of the SME are not described in detail in this document, they generally do not include the ability to collect layer-dependent states from various Layer Management Entities (LMEs), and to set similar values for layer-specific parameters. You may seem to be in charge. SMEs can generally perform these functions on behalf of general system management entities and implement standard management protocols.

The aforementioned entities interact in a variety of ways. For example, entities can interact by exchanging GET / SET primitives. A primitive means a set of elements or parameters related to a particular purpose. The XX-GET.request primitive is used to request the value of a given MIB attribute (management information based attribute information). The XX-GET.confirm primitive is used to return the appropriate MIB attribute information value if the Status is "Success", otherwise it is used to return an error indication in the Status field. The XX-SET.request primitive is used to request that the indicated MIB attribute be set to a given value. If the MIB attribute means a specific operation, this is to request that the operation be performed. And, the XX-SET.confirm primitive confirms that the indicated MIB attribute is set to the requested value when status is "success", otherwise it is used to return an error condition in the status field. If the MIB attribute means a specific operation, this confirms that the operation has been performed.

In addition, the MLME and SME may exchange various MLME_GET / SET primitives through a MLME_SAP (Service Access Point). In addition, various PLME_GET / SET primitives may be exchanged between PLME and SME through PLME_SAP and may be exchanged between MLME and PLME through MLME-PLME_SAP.

NAN (Neighbor Awareness Networking) NAN (Neighbor Awareness Networking) 토폴로지Topology

The NAN network may consist of NAN terminals using the same set of NAN parameters (eg, time interval between successive discovery windows, interval of discovery window, beacon interval or NAN channel, etc.). The NAN terminals may configure a NAN cluster, where the NAN cluster uses the same set of NAN parameters and means a set of NAN terminals synchronized to the same discovery window schedule. 2 shows an example of a NAN cluster. A NAN terminal belonging to a NAN cluster may directly transmit a multicast / unicast NAN service discovery frame to another NAN terminal within a range of a discovery window. As shown in FIG. 3, one or more NAN masters may exist in the NAN cluster, and the NAN master may be changed. In addition, the NAN master may transmit both a sync beacon frame, a discovery beacon frame, and a NAN service discovery frame.

NAN Device ArchitectureNAN Device Architecture

4 shows a structure of a NAN terminal. As shown in FIG. 4, the NAN terminal is based on a physical layer of 802.11, and includes a NAN discovery engine, a NAN medium access control (MAC), and applications (Application 1, Application 2, ..., Application N). NAN APIs are the main component.

5 to 6 show the relationship of the NAN components. The service request and response are processed through the NAN discovery engine, and the NAN MAC processes the NAN Beacon frames and the NAN Service Discovery frame. The NAN discovery engine can provide the functionality of subscribe, publish, and follow-up. The publish / subscribe function operates from the service / application through the service interface. When the publish / subscribe command is executed, an instance of the publish / subscribe function is created. Each instance runs independently, and depending on the implementation, several instances can run simultaneously. The follow-up function is a means for a service / application to send and receive service specific information.

NAN 단말의 역할 및 상태Role and state of NAN terminal

The NAN terminal may perform a master role and this may be changed. That is, the NAN terminal may transition various roles and states, and an example thereof is illustrated in FIG. 7. The role and state that a NAN terminal may have include a master (hereinafter, master is a master role and sync.State), a non-master sync, a non-master non-sync Sync) and the like. Each role and state may determine whether to transmit a discovery beacon frame and / or a sync beacon frame, which may be illustrated in Table 1 below.

TABLE 1

The state of the NAN terminal may be determined through a master rank. The master rank indicates the will of the NAN terminal to operate as a NAN master. In other words, a large value indicates a large preference for the NAN master. NAN MR may be determined by the following equation (1) by the Master Preference, Random Factor, Device MAC address.

[Equation 1]

The Master Preference, Random Factor, and Device MAC address may be indicated through a master indication attribute included in a NAN Beacon frame. The master indication attorney may be as illustrated in Table 2 below.

TABLE 2

In relation to the MR, the NAN terminal that activates the NAN service and starts the NAN cluster sets both the Master Preference and the Random Factor to 0, and resets the NANWarmUp. Until the NANWarmUp expires, the NAN terminal should set the Master Preference field value in the master indication attribute to a value greater than 0 and set the Random Factor value in the master indication attribute to a new value. A NAN terminal joining a NAN cluster having an anchor master's Master Preference set to a value greater than 0 may set the Master Preference to a value greater than 0 and set a Random Factor to a new value regardless of whether NANWarmUp expires. .

Subsequently, the NAN terminal may be an anchor master of the NAN cluster according to the MR value. That is, all NAN terminals have the capability to operate as an anchor master. The anchor master means a device having the largest MR in the NAN cluster, having a HC (Hop count to the Anchor Master) value of 0 and having the smallest Anchor Master Beacon Transmit Time (AMBTT) value. Two anchor masters may exist temporarily in a NAN cluster, but one anchor master is a principle. The NAN terminal which becomes the anchor master in the already existing NAN cluster uses the time synchronization function (TSF) used in the existing NAN cluster as it is.

The NAN terminal may be an anchor master in the following case. When a new NAN cluster is started, when a master rank is changed (when the MR value of another NAN terminal is changed or when the anchor master's own MR is changed), or when the beacon frame of the current anchor master is no longer received, the NAN The terminal may be an anchor master. In addition, when the MR value of another NAN terminal is changed or the MR of the anchor master itself is changed, the NAN terminal may lose the status of the anchor master. The anchor master may be determined by an anchor master selection algorithm as described below. That is, the anchor master selection is an algorithm for determining which NAN terminal is the anchor master of the NAN cluster, and each NAN terminal drives the anchor master selection algorithm when participating in the NAN cluster.

When the NAN terminal starts a new NAN cluster, the NAN terminal becomes an anchor master of the new NAN cluster. NAN sync beacon frames with hop counters exceeding the threshold are not used by the NAN terminal. Otherwise NAN sync beacon frame is used to determine the anchor master of the NAN cluster.

Upon receiving a NAN sync beacon frame having a hop counter that does not exceed the threshold, the NAN terminal compares the stored anchor master rank value with the anchor master rank value in the beacon frame. If the stored anchor master rank value is larger than the anchor master value in the beacon frame, the NAN terminal discards the anchor master value in the beacon frame. If the stored anchor master rank value is smaller than the anchor master value in the beacon frame, the NAN terminal stores a new value increased by 1 in the anchor master rank and the hop counter included in the beacon frame and the AMBTT value in the beacon frame. Also, if the stored anchor master rank value is equal to the anchor master value in the beacon frame, the hop counter is compared. If the hop counter value of the beacon frame is larger than the stored value, the NAN terminal ignores the received beacon frame. When the hop counter value of the beacon frame is equal to (stored value-1) and the AMBTT value is larger than the stored value, the NAN terminal newly stores the AMBTT value of the beacon frame. If the hop counter value of the beacon frame is less than (stored value-1), the NAN terminal increments the hop counter value of the beacon frame by one. The stored AMBTT value is updated according to the following rules. If the received beacon frame is transmitted by the anchor master, the AMBTT value is set to the lowest 4 octet value of the time stamp included in the beacon. If the received beacon frame is received from a device other than the NAN master or master sink, the AMBTT value is set to a value included in the NAN cluster attribute of the received beacon.

On the other hand, if the TSF timer of the NAN terminal exceeds the stored AMBTT value by more than 16 * 512 TUs (TU Units), (for example, 16 DW periods) or more, the NAN terminal assumes itself as an anchor master and sets an anchor master record. You can update it. In addition, if there is a change in any one of the elements included in the MR (Master Preference, Random Factor, MAC Address), the NAN terminal other than the anchor master compares the changed MR with the stored value. If the changed MR value of the NAN terminal is larger than the stored value, the NAN terminal may assume itself as an anchor master and update the anchor master record.

Also, the NAN terminal sets the anchor master field of the cluster attribute in the NAN sync and discovery beacon frame to the value in the anchor master record, except when the anchor master sets the AMBTT value to the TSF value of the corresponding beacon transmission. Can be. The NAN terminal transmitting the NAN sync or discovery beacon frame may ensure that the TSF of the beacon frame will be derived from the same anchor master included in the cluster attribute.

In addition, the NAN terminal i) when the NAN beacon indicates an anchor master rank of a value larger than the anchor master record of the NAN terminal, ii) the NAN beacon indicates an anchor master rank of the same value as the anchor master record of the NAN terminal, When the hop counter value and the AMBTT value of the NAN beacon frame indicate a value larger than the anchor master record, the TSF timer value in the NAN beacon received with the same cluster ID may be applied.

NAN 동기 (NAN synchronization)NAN synchronization

NAN terminals participating in the same NAN cluster may be synchronized to a common clock. TSF of the NAN cluster may be implemented by a distributed algorithm that must be performed in all NAN terminals. Each NAN terminal participating in the NAN cluster may transmit NAN Sync. Beacon frames according to the algorithm. The device may synchronize its clock during the discovery window DW. The length of the discovery window is 16 TUs. During the discovery window, one or more NAN terminals may transmit synchronization beacon frames to help all NAN terminals in the NAN cluster synchronize their clocks.

NAN Beacon transmission is distributed. The transmission time of the NAN Beacon frame is a discovery window interval existing every 512 TUs. All NAN terminals may participate in NAN beacon generation and transmission according to the role and state of the device. Each NAN terminal must maintain its own TSF timer used for NAN beacon cycle timing. The NAN sync beacon period may be established by the NAN terminal generating the NAN cluster. A series of TBTTs are defined such that the discovery window interval that can transmit a sync beacon frame is exactly 512 TU apart. A time of zero is defined as the first TBTT, and the discovery window starts at each TBTT.

Each NAN terminal serving as a master transmits a NAN discovery beacon frame outside the NAN discovery window. On average, the NAN terminal in the master role transmits the NAN discovery beacon every 100 TUs. The time between successive NAN discovery beacons transmitted from the same NAN terminal is 200 TUs or less. When the scheduled transmission time overlaps with the NAN discovery window of the NAN cluster in which the NAN terminal participates, the NAN terminal in the master role may omit transmission of the NAN discovery beacon. In order to minimize power for transmitting the NAN discovery beacon frame, the NAN terminal in the master role may use a WMM Access Category-Voice (AC_VO) contention setting. 8 illustrates a relationship between the transmission of the NAN discovery beacon frame, the NAN sync / discovery beacon frame, and the discovery window. FIG. 8 (a) shows transmission of a NAN discovery beacon and a sync beacon frame of a NAN terminal operating in a 2.4 GHz band, and FIG. 8 (b) shows a NAN discovery beacon and synchronization of a NAN terminal operating in a 2.4 GHz and a 5 GHz band. Indicates transmission of a beacon frame.

9 illustrates a discovery window. As described above, each NAN terminal serving as a master may transmit a synchronization beacon frame in the discovery window and may transmit a discovery beacon frame outside the discovery window. In this case, as described above, the discovery window may be repeated every 512 TUs. In this case, the duration of the discovery window may be 16 TU. In other words, the discovery window may last for 16 TUs. In this case, as an example, all NAN terminals in the NAN cluster are awakened for each discovery window to receive a synchronization beacon frame from the master NAN terminal, thereby maintaining the NAN cluster. In this case, when all NAN terminals are fixedly awake for each discovery window, power consumption of the terminal may be severe. Therefore, there may be a need for a method of reducing power consumption by dynamically controlling the duration of the discovery window while maintaining synchronization in one NAN cluster.

In addition, as an example, as described above, the NAN terminal may operate in the 2.4 GHz band or the 5 GHz band. As another example, the NAN terminal may operate in the Sub 1 GHz band. For example, the NAN terminal may be configured to support IEEE 802.11ah supporting the Sub 1 GHz band. For example, when the NAN terminal supports 900MHz, the NAN terminal may have a different link quality and physical model from 2.4GHz or 5GHz.

For example, when the NAN terminal supports 900MHz, the NAN terminal may transmit a signal farther, and may perform communication in a wide range. In this case, data communication between NAN terminals may be performed, and data may be exchanged between NAN terminals. In this case, the method of efficiently operating power in the NAN terminal may be a problem because it is based on data communication. For this, a method of setting a discovery window section may be differently set. 9 is a basic structure in which a synchronization beacon frame is transmitted within a discovery window and a discovery beacon frame is transmitted outside the discovery window, and may be similarly applied to a NAN terminal supporting a 900 MHz band.

10 is a diagram illustrating a method of forming a NAN data cluster.

As described above, data exchange between NAN terminals may be performed. At this time, in communication between NAN terminals, service discovery and data on a corresponding service in a state in which there is no NAN terminal serving as an existing access point (AP) or group owner (GO). Communication was supported. That is, it did not play a role of transmitting beacon frames at regular intervals, such as AP or GO. At this time, the AP or GO may inform the client terminal of its existence by transmitting a beacon frame, and may perform parameter update for data / system based on the presence or absence of traffic. Therefore, there is a need for a terminal for controlling parameter updates based on traffic even in communication between NAN terminals. In addition, as an example, in communication between NAN terminals, it may be necessary to control a scheduling method, a time synchronization acquisition method, a paging message transmission method, and the like for data exchange between NAN terminals, which will be described later.

For example, NAN terminals may perform a setup process and data communication for data communication between a discovery window (DW). In this case, the NAN data path may be a path through which NAN terminals perform data exchange between discovery windows.

In more detail, two NAN terminals may form a NAN Data Link (NDL). In this case, two NAN terminals may perform data exchange in the NAN data path based on the NAN data link. For example, a separate NDL schedule (NDL Schedule) for NAN data link of two NAN terminals may be formed, which will be described later.

In addition, the NAN terminals may form a NAN data cluster (NDC). In this case, the NAN data cluster may be a set of NAN terminals having at least one NAN data link. In this case, NAN terminals in the NAN data cluster may have a common NDC schedule. In this case, the NDL schedule may be a superset of the NDC schedule. That is, the plurality of NAN terminals forming the NAN data link may have an NDC schedule as a common schedule. In addition, as an example, when the NAN data cluster operates based on the same service, a service provider NAN terminal may exist in the NAN data cluster. In addition, there may be a scheduler NAN terminal that performs a role for schedule management in the NAN data cluster. In this case, as an example, the scheduler NAN terminal may play a role similar to the above-described AP or GO, which will be described later.

For example, referring to FIG. 10, a plurality of NAN terminals may exist in a NAN cluster. In this case, the first NAN terminal 1010 and A and the second NAN terminal 1020 and B may have a NAN data link. Also, the second NAN terminal 1020 and the third NAN terminal 1030 and C may have a NAN data link. In this case, the first NAN terminal 1010, the second NAN terminal 1020, and the third NAN terminal 1030 may have one NAN data cluster. The NDL schedules of the first NAN terminal 1010 and the second NAN terminal 1020 and the NDL schedules of the second NAN terminal 1020 and the third NAN terminal 1030 may include the NDC schedule in common. That is, the first NAN terminal 1010, the second NAN terminal 1020, and the third terminal 1030 included in the same NAN data cluster may have a common NDC schedule. In addition, other NAN data clusters may be formed within the NAN cluster. In addition, the NAN terminals may be included in a plurality of NAN data links and a plurality of NAN data clusters. As an example, the third NAN terminal 1030 may be included in a plurality of NAN data clusters, and is not limited to the above-described embodiment.

11 illustrates a method of forming a NAN data path.

As described above, two NAN terminals may establish a NAN data path based on the NAN data link. In this case, as an example, one of the two NAN terminals may be an NDP responder NAN terminal (NDP Responder) 1110 and one may be an NDP initiator NAN terminal (NDP Initiator, 1120). That is, the NAN terminal to start data path formation among two NAN terminals may be an NDP initiator NAN terminal, and the responding terminal may be an NDP responder NAN terminal.

In this case, as an example, the service / application terminal of the NDP initiator NAN terminal 1120 may call a data request (DataRequest ()) method with the NAN DE and MAC terminals. When the data request method is called, the NDP initiator NAN terminal 1120 may transmit an NDP request to the NDP responder NAN terminal 1110. In this case, the NAN DE and NAN MAC terminals of the NDP responder NAN terminal 1110 may call a data indication (DataIndication ()) event to the service / application terminal. Thereafter, the service / application terminal of the NDP responder NAN terminal 1110 may call a data response (DataResponse ()) method to the NAN DE and NAN MAC terminals. In this case, the NDP responder NAN terminal 1110 may transmit an NDP response to the NDP initiator NAN terminal 1120. Thereafter, the NDP responder NAN terminal 1110 and the NDP initiator NAN terminal 1120 may perform NDL setup.

For example, the NDL setting may be set through an NDL schedule. Thereafter, the NDP responder NAN terminal 1110 and the NDP initiator NAN terminal 1120 may call a DataConfirm () event. Thereafter, the NDP responder NAN terminal 1110 and the NDP initiator NAN terminal 1120 may perform data communication. Through this, two NAN terminals in the NAN cluster may perform data exchange with each other, and are not limited to the above-described embodiment.

12 is a diagram illustrating a method of setting an NDL schedule.

As described above, two NAN terminals may exchange messages for establishing a NAN data path. In this case, as an example, one of the two NAN terminals may be an NDL Schedule Initiator NAN terminal 1220, and the other may be an NDL Schedule Responder NAN terminal 1210. For example, the above-described NDP initiator NAN terminal may be an NDL schedule initiator terminal, and an NDP responder NAN terminal may be an NDL schedule responder terminal.

In this case, the NDL schedule starter NAN terminal 1220 may select an NDC schedule for an NDL schedule. For example, the NDL schedule initiator NAN terminal 1220 may form a new NAN data cluster to select an NDC schedule. In this case, a new NAN cluster may be formed by the NDL schedule initiator NAN terminal 1220. Also, as an example, the NDL schedule initiator NAN terminal 1220 may select any one of NDC schedules of a participating NAN data cluster. When the NDC schedule is selected, the NDL schedule initiator NAN terminal 1220 may transmit an NDL schedule request to the NDL schedule responder NAN terminal 1210. Thereafter, the NDL schedule responder NAN terminal 1210 may transmit an NDL schedule response to the NDL schedule initiator NAN terminal 1220. Through this, the NDL schedule initiator NAN terminal 1210 and the NDL schedule responder NAN terminal 1220 may set an NDL schedule.

As described above, NAN terminals may have a NAN data link and a NAN data cluster. In this case, NAN terminals may exchange information for data exchange through an NDL schedule, which is a schedule for a NAN data link. In addition, NAN terminals in the NAN data cluster may exchange information on the NAN data cluster and information on data exchange through an NDC schedule, which is a schedule for the NAN data cluster. In this case, the NDL schedule may be a superset of the NDC schedule, as described above.

Specifically, referring to FIG. 13, NAN terminals may operate at 2.4 GHz and / or 5 GHz. At this time, the NAN terminals may perform synchronization or exchange frames in the discovery window, as described above. In this case, NAN terminals may transmit data between discovery windows. That is, a resource block for data communication may be set between the discovery windows. In this case, the NAN terminals may have an NDL schedule and an NDC schedule in a resource block set between discovery windows. In addition, NAN terminals may perform data communication in resource blocks set between discovery windows.

For example, the NDL schedule may have one or more time blocks between discovery windows. In this case, the time block may be set as a bundle of a plurality of consecutive slots in units of 16 TUs. In this case, the two NAN terminals forming the NDL may share information on when and through which channel through NDL schedule negotiation. That is, information necessary for data communication between two NAN terminals forming an NDL in an NDL schedule may be exchanged. Accordingly, for the NAN data path and the NAN data link, two NAN terminals may operate by updating their existence and related parameter information through the NDL schedule. In this case, when only one NAN terminal transmits a message, if a message is idle after performing a clear channel assessment (CCA) without contention, the message may be transmitted. However, when a plurality of NAN terminals transmit a message, a contention window (CW) value may be preset and transmitted.

As an example, a scheduler NAN terminal and a non-scheduler NAN terminal for an NDL schedule may be determined. Two NAN terminals may determine a scheduler NAN terminal and a non-scheduler NAN terminal based on the above-described NDL schedule request and NDL schedule response. That is, two NAN terminals may determine a scheduler NAN terminal and a non-scheduler NAN terminal through negotiation, and are not limited to the above-described embodiment.

As described above, NAN terminals may perform data exchange between discovery windows. In this case, referring to FIG. 14, a time window from 0 TU to 16TU may correspond to a discovery window period. In this case, as an example, the discovery window from 0TU to 16TU may be a discovery window related to operation at 2.4 GHz. Thereafter, from 128TU to 144TU may also be a discovery window. As an example, the discovery window from 128 TU to 144 TU may be a discovery window associated with operation at 5 GHz. Thereafter, one cycle to 512 TU is completed and the next discovery window interval may arrive. In this case, time blocks 1410, 1420, and 1430 may be set between the discovery windows.

In this case, an NDL schedule may be set in the above-described

time blocks

1410, 1420, and 1430. That is, the above-described

time blocks

1410, 1420, and 1430 may be time blocks for an NDL schedule. In this case, data exchange may be performed between NAN terminals in another section between discovery windows, as described above. For example, two NAN terminals may perform data exchange after a time block corresponding to an NDL schedule. That is, the NDL schedule may be set to exchange necessary information before two NAN terminals perform data exchange. In addition, any one of the time blocks 1410, 1420, and 1430 may be set as a time block for an NDC schedule. In this case, information commonly applied to the NAN data cluster may be exchanged in the NDC schedule. In this case, as an example, the NAN terminal may transmit a paging message for each NAN data link in the NDC schedule interval. In this case, the NAN data link is formed between two NAN terminals, and the paging message may include only one NDL ID. For example, when the NAN data link is formed to use one service, each NAN The terminals may have one common NDL ID. In this case, the service provider or scheduler NAN terminal may provide the NDL ID to the counterpart NAN terminal through a paging message. At this time, the counterpart NAN terminal and the service provider or scheduler NAN terminal are always awake in the sink mode NAN data link (S-NDL) interval based on the paging message. That is, in the case of a service based on one purpose, such as a chat or broadcast service, it may be set to awake on a specific NAN data link based on a paging message, and is not limited to the above-described embodiment.

In addition, as an example, the NAN terminal lists in the NAN data cluster may be shared with all NAN terminals in the NAN data cluster through an NDC schedule.

As another example, the scheduler NAN terminal in the NAN data cluster may obtain information about all NAN terminals in the NAN data cluster. In this case, when the scheduler NAN terminal receives the updated information, the scheduler NAN terminal may share the update information to all NAN terminals of the NAN data cluster. In this case, as an example, the information of the NAN terminal may include at least one of address information (NAN MAC address, data address, IP address), role and status information of the NAN terminal, and NAN data link / NAN data cluster information. It is not limited to one embodiment.

As described above, two NAN terminals may form a NAN data link to perform data exchange. In addition, the NAN terminal may be included in the NAN data cluster. In this case, NAN terminals included in the same NAN data cluster may have a common NDC schedule, as described above. In this case, a NAN terminal having one or more active NAN data links (active NDLs) may be merged into another NAN cluster.

More specifically, it can be seen that the above-described NAN terminal (NAN terminal having one or more activated NAN data link) discovers another NAN cluster and is located within the range of the NAN cluster. In this case, the above-described NAN terminal may check the cluster grade (CG) of the NAN cluster that includes the NAN terminal, and may determine the cluster grade of the found NAN cluster. In this case, the cluster grade may be calculated based on Equation 2 below.

[Equation 2]

At this time, A1 may be a Master Preference value of the anchor master in the NAN cluster. In addition, A2 may be an 8 octet TSF value of the NAN cluster. That is, the cluster grade of the NAN cluster may be determined based on the anchor master rank in the NAN cluster.

The NAN terminal may receive a NAN Synchronization Beacon frame or a NAN Discovery Beacon frame for another NAN cluster. Through this, the NAN terminal may acquire cluster grade information of another NAN cluster. In this case, when the cluster grade of another NAN cluster is larger than the cluster grade of its own NAN cluster, the NAN terminal may be merged into the discovered NAN cluster. In this case, the NAN terminal may adjust the current TSF timer with a timing clock or clock offset value of the new NAN cluster.

As an example, the NAN terminal may be a NAN terminal forming one or more NAN data links as described above. In addition, the NAN terminal may be a terminal forming a NAN data cluster. In this case, when the NAN terminal included in the NAN data cluster is merged into a new NAN cluster as described above, an announcement frame may be transmitted to other NAN terminals in the NAN data cluster in the NDC schedule of the NAN data cluster. . For example, the information included in the notification frame may be as shown in Table 3 below.

More specifically, the notification frame includes new NAN cluster ID information, TSF offset information for the new NAN cluster compared to the current NAN cluster, anchor master rank information of the new NAN cluster, and time information for moving the NAN terminal to the new NAN cluster. May be included. In this case, as an example, cluster grade information of the new NAN cluster may be included in the notification frame instead of anchor master rank information of the new NAN cluster. Alternatively, for example, information on the master preference and the 8 octet TSF value of the anchor master of the new NAN cluster may be included instead of the anchor master rank information of the new NAN cluster. That is, cluster grade information for the new NAN cluster may be included in the notification frame and transmitted, but is not limited to the above-described embodiment.

In addition, as an example, additional capability information of the UE may be selectively included in the notification frame as compared with the TSF of the new NAN cluster. In addition, as an example, hop count information with an anchor master of a new NAN cluster may be selectively included in a notification frame.

That is, the notification frame may include information on the merged new NAN cluster, which is not limited to the above-described embodiment.

In addition, the above-described notification frame may be broadcast in the NDC schedule. Accordingly, each NAN terminal included in the NAN data cluster may receive information about a new NAN cluster. In this case, each NAN terminal may transmit the above-described notification frame to merge each NAN data link into a new NAN cluster. In this case, the notification frame may include information as shown in Table 3 below, but is not limited to the above-described embodiment.

In consideration of the above-described situation, NAN terminals may receive a plurality of notification frames. In this case, the NAN terminals may transmit a notification frame for merging based on information on a notification frame having a cluster grade or a master preference and an 8 octet TSF value from information included in the notification frame. In addition, when the cluster grade or the Master Preference and the 8 octet TSF value are the same, a notification frame for merging may be transmitted based on the notification frame information with a fast switching time.

TABLE 3

As another example, when the NAN terminal forms one or two or more NAN data links, the NAN terminal may not allow merging to a new NAN cluster. In this case, as an example, when the NAN terminal forms the NDL, the NAN terminal may indicate whether merging is allowed to the counterpart NAN terminal using an indicator on whether the merging is allowed. At this time, the indicator may be indicated as "NON-MERGING". In addition, when the counterpart NAN terminal does not want to merge with the new NAN cluster, it may indicate information about the merging impossible through the indicator.

As another example, when a NAN terminal forming one or more NAN data links or a NAN terminal included in a NAN data cluster joins a new NAN cluster, the role and state of the NAN terminal are described in the above-described non-master non- It can be fixed as a sink (Non-Master Non-Sync, NMNS). However, as described above, when the NAN terminal wakes up only in a specific discovery window in the NMNS state, it may be difficult to synchronize time and synchronization when joined to a new NAN cluster. Therefore, if the NAN terminal joins the new NAN data cluster, even if the NAN terminal changes to the NMNS state, the NAN terminal may be awakened in the discovery window that comes first after joining the new NAN data cluster. Alternatively, the NAN terminal may be configured to be awake for several discovery windows after the first discovery window. This allows time and synchronization when joining a new NAN cluster.

For example, referring to FIG. 15, the first NAN terminals 1510 and C may be NAN terminals included in the first NAN data cluster. In addition, the first NAN terminal 1510 may be a NAN terminal included in the first NAN cluster. In this case, the first NAN data cluster and the first NAN cluster may have different concepts, as described above.

In this case, as an example, the NAN terminals included in the first NAN data cluster may be NAN terminals having a capability for cluster merging. That is, NAN terminals included in the first NAN data cluster may be merged into another NAN cluster other than the first NAN cluster.

For example, the first NAN terminal 1510 may receive a NAN synchronization beacon or a NAN discovery beacon frame of the second NAN cluster. In this case, the first NAN terminal 1510 may calculate a cluster grade for the second NAN cluster based on information included in the NAN synchronization beacon or the NAN discovery frame. In this case, the cluster grade of the second NAN cluster may be greater than the cluster grade of the first NAN cluster. In this case, as described above, the first NAN terminal 1510 may transmit a notification frame to the NAN terminals in the first NAN data cluster in the NDC schedule period. In this case, the information on the notification frame may be as described in Table 3 above.

In addition, as an example, the first NAN terminal 1510 receives a NAN beacon frame (NAN synchronization beacon frame or NAN discovery beacon frame), but may not receive any notification frame in the NDC schedule interval. That is, the first NAN terminal 1510 may be the first NAN terminal attempting merging to the second NAN cluster. In this case, when the first NAN terminal 1510 does not receive any notification frame, the first NAN terminal 1510 may include a new parameter in the notification frame and transmit the notification frame. For example, the new parameter may be a hop count for data beacons (dHC). However, the new parameter may be a hop count newly defined for the data beacon, and is not limited to the aforementioned name. In the following description, it is described as dHC for convenience of description.

As another example, when the first NAN terminal 1510 does not receive any notification frame, the first NAN terminal 1510 may include its hop count for the second NAN cluster in the notification frame and transmit the notification frame. That is, the first NAN terminal 1510 may transmit hop count information for identification as a first NAN terminal to be merged in a notification frame and is not limited to the above-described embodiment.

Thereafter, the second NAN terminal 1520 and B and the third NAN terminal 1530 and Z may receive a notification frame transmitted by the first NAN terminal 1510. In this case, the notification frame may include dHC. In this case, the second NAN terminal 1520 and the third NAN terminal 1530 may transmit a new notification frame in a broadcast manner based on the received notification frame after receiving the notification frame. In this case, the dHC value may be increased by one in the notification frame transmitted by the second NAN terminal 1520 and the third NAN terminal 1530.

Thereafter, the fourth NAN terminal 1540 and A may receive a notification frame transmitted by the second NAN terminal 1520 and the third NAN terminal 1530. Thereafter, the fourth NAN terminal 1540 may transmit a new notification frame in a broadcast manner based on the received notification frame. In this case, the dHC of the notification frame transmitted by the fourth NAN terminal 1540 may be a value increased by one from the dHC value of the notification frame transmitted by the second NAN terminal 1520 and the third NAN terminal 1530. That is, hop count information of NAN terminals included in the first NAN data cluster may be included in the notification frame and transmitted. Thereafter, the first NAN terminal 1510, the second NAN terminal 1520, the third NAN terminal 1530, and the fourth NAN terminal 1540 merge with the second NAN cluster based on the received notification frame information. Can be. In this case, as described above, when the first NAN terminal 1510, the second NAN terminal 1520, the third NAN terminal 1530, and the fourth NAN terminal 1540 merge with the second NAN cluster, The role and state of the

terminals

1510, 1520, 1530, and 1540 may be NMNS.

At this time, for example, in the NMNS state, the NAN terminals are awakened only in a specific discovery window, so it may be difficult to synchronize. Accordingly, a data beacon frame may be transmitted in an NDC schedule for the first NAN data cluster, and synchronization may be performed through this. In this case, as an example, the data beacon frame may be as shown in Table 4 below. In this case, the data beacon frame may include time stamp information. In addition, the data beacon frame may include role and status information of the NAN terminal. In addition, the data beacon frame may include NAN cluster ID, anchor master rank, hop count information and beacon transmission time information of the anchor master as the cluster information, but is not limited to the above-described embodiment.

In this case, when the NAN terminals included in the first NAN data cluster receive the above information, the NAN terminals update the TSF timer and the anchor master record. However, the NAN terminals may operate only to update the above-described information and not directly become an anchor master as a result of anchor master selection. That is, the NAN terminals included in the NAN data cluster may be configured not to directly become anchor masters in consideration of the NAN data cluster. In addition, as an example, NAN terminals in the same NAN data cluster may prevent the master rank value from being changed when receiving a notification frame or receiving a NAN beacon frame and merging to another NAN cluster. That is, the master preference, random factor, and NAN interface address constituting the master rank may not be changed. In addition, as an example, only the value of the Master preference of the above-described configuration of the master rank may be changed. Through this, it is possible to prevent the case where the master rank value is changed and becomes larger than the anchor master value of the new cluster, thereby preventing the update of the AMBTT / TSF timer.

TABLE 4

Also, as an example, the data beacon frame needs to be sequentially transmitted from the first NAN terminal 1510 toward the second NAN terminal 1520 and the third NAN terminal 1530. Therefore, it may be necessary to set the backoff value for sequentially transmitting the data beacon frame. In this case, as an example, when transmitting a synchronization beacon frame in the existing discovery window period, the backoff counter was randomly used based on Table 5 below. That is, in consideration of Table 5 below, a synchronization beacon frame was transmitted using randomly distributed values uniformly distributed in the [0, CW_RS] interval. In this case, the backoff count value may be set by dividing the case where the hop count is 0 and the case where the hop count is greater than 0, and is not limited to the above-described embodiment.

TABLE 5

NAN data cluster is also performing data communication, there is a need to match the time synchronization of the NAN terminals in the NAN data cluster. That is, in the above-described first NAN data cluster, the first NAN terminal 1510 transmits the data beacon frame first, and the second NAN terminal 1520 and the third NAN terminal 1530 transmit the data beacon frame first. The fourth NAN terminal 1540 needs to operate to transmit the data beacon frame.

In this case, as an example, the backoff count value may be set based on the hop counter of the notification frame transmitted by each NAN terminal. For example, each NAN terminal may set a backoff count value based on a hop count value for the anchor master of the new NAN cluster. In this case, as an example, the backoff count may be set as a hop count value.

Also, as an example, the backoff count may be set based on Equation 3 below. That is, the backoff count may be set based on the hop count integer multiple value.

[Equation 3]

Also, for example, the backoff count values may be set not to overlap in consideration of the difference between the hop count values. In addition, as an example, some overlap may be set, and the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment.

As another example, the hop count may be set based on the above-described method based on a value obtained by subtracting a hop count value of the NAN terminal that initially sent the data beacon. That is, the backoff count value may be set in consideration of the hop count value sequentially increasing based on the hop count value of the first NAN terminal 1510.

As another example, the backoff value for data beacon frame transmission may be set using the dHC value of the above-described notification frame. In this case, as an example, based on the dHC value, as in the synchronization beacon frame shown in Table 5, the hop count may be distinguished from the case where the hop count is 0 and the non-zero case.

In addition, as an example, the backoff count may be differentially set so as not to overlap according to the dHC value. As another example, when the dHC value is large, the backoff count value may be large. Through this, the NAN terminal having a small dHC value may be configured to transmit the data beacon frame first. In addition, as an example, the NAN terminal may transmit the data beacon frame at the same time by overlapping the backoff count value, it is not limited to the above-described embodiment.

The first NAN terminal included in the first NAN cluster may receive the beacon frame of the second NAN cluster (S1610). As described above with reference to FIGS. 10 to 15, the NAN data cluster is formed in the NAN cluster. Can be. In this case, the first NAN terminal may be a NAN terminal included in a NAN data cluster in the first NAN cluster. In this case, the first NAN terminal may receive a beacon frame from the second NAN cluster which is another NAN cluster. In this case, the beacon frame may be any one of a NAN synchronization beacon frame and a NAN discovery beacon frame.

Next, the first NAN terminal may obtain cluster grade information of the second NAN cluster based on the received beacon frame (S1620). At this time, as described above with reference to FIGS. It may be determined based on the Master Preference and an 8 octet TSF value. That is, the cluster grade may be determined based on the master rank for the anchor masters in the cluster.

Next, the first NAN terminal may be merged into the second NAN cluster (S1630). At this time, as described above with reference to FIGS. 10 to 13, the cluster grade of the second NAN cluster is higher than the cluster grade of the first NAN cluster. In a large case, the first NAN terminal may be merged into the second NAN cluster.

Next, the first NAN terminal may transmit a notification frame to other NAN terminals in the NAN data cluster. (S1640) In this case, as described above with reference to FIGS. 10 to 13, the first NAN terminal is located in the first NAN cluster. It may be a NAN terminal included in a NAN data cluster. In this case, the first NAN terminal may provide information for merging to the second NAN cluster to other NAN terminals in the NAN data cluster through a notification frame. Through this, other NAN terminals in the NAN data cluster may also be merged into the second NAN cluster. In addition, as an example, the notification frame may be transmitted in the NDC schedule interval, as described above.

The first NAN terminal may obtain cluster grade information of the second NAN cluster based on the beacon frame of the second NAN cluster. In this case, as described above with reference to FIGS. 10 through 16, the cluster grade may be determined based on the rank of the anchor master in the cluster, as described above.

In this case, when the cluster grade of the second NAN cluster is smaller than the cluster grade of the first NAN cluster, the first NAN terminal may be included in the first NAN cluster without merging into the second NAN cluster (S1720).

In addition, when the cluster grade of the second NAN cluster is greater than the cluster grade of the first NAN cluster (S1720), the first NAN terminal may be merged into the second NAN cluster and may transmit a notification frame to other NAN terminals in the NAN data cluster. In this case, as described above with reference to FIGS. 10 through 16, the NAN terminals included in the first NAN terminal and the NAN data cluster may be NAN terminals that are allowed to merge to other NAN clusters. In addition, the first NAN terminal may provide information on merging to other NAN terminals in the NAN data cluster through a notification frame, as described above. In addition, as an example, the notification frame may include hop count information for the data beacon. In this case, the backoff counter may be determined based on hop count information for the data beacon. The backoff counter may be used when the first NAN terminal transmits another NAN data beacon in the NAN data cluster, as described above.

18 is a block diagram of a terminal device.

The terminal device may be a NAN terminal. In this case, the terminal device 100 includes a transmitting module 110 for transmitting a wireless signal, a receiving module 130 for receiving a wireless signal, and a processor 120 for controlling the transmitting module 110 and the receiving module 130. can do. In this case, the terminal 100 may communicate with an external device by using the transmitting module 110 and the receiving module 130. In this case, the external device may be another terminal device. In addition, the external device may be a base station. That is, the external device may be a device capable of communicating with the terminal device 100 and is not limited to the above-described embodiment. The terminal device 100 may transmit and receive digital data such as content using the transmission module 110 and the reception module 130. In addition, the terminal device 100 may exchange a beacon frame, a service discovery frame, etc. using the transmitting module 110 and the receiving module 130, but is not limited to the above-described embodiment. That is, the terminal device 100 may exchange information with an external device by performing communication by using the transmitting module 110 and the receiving module 130.

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the processor 120 of the terminal device 100 may receive a beacon frame of the first NAN cluster by using the receiving module 130. In this case, the first NAN cluster may be a NAN cluster different from the NAN cluster currently containing the terminal device (or NAN terminal). Thereafter, the processor 120 may obtain cluster grade information of the first NAN cluster based on the received beacon frame. In addition, when the cluster grade of the first NAN cluster is greater than the cluster grade of the second NAN cluster, the processor 120 may merge into the first NAN cluster. In this case, the second NAN cluster may be a NAN cluster in which a terminal device (or a NAN terminal) is currently included. In addition, the terminal device may be included in the NAN data cluster in the second NAN cluster. In this case, the NAN data cluster may have a common NDC schedule, as described above. In addition, when merged into the first NAN cluster, the processor 120 may transmit a notification frame to other NAN terminals in the NAN data cluster. In this way, the terminal device can provide information for merging to the first cluster to other NAN terminals in the NAN data cluster.

Embodiments of the present invention described above may be implemented through various means. For example, embodiments of the present invention may be implemented by hardware, firmware, software, or a combination thereof.

For implementation in hardware, a method according to embodiments of the present invention may include one or more Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs), Digital Signal Processors (DSPs), Digital Signal Processing Devices (DSPDs), and Programmable Logic Devices (PLDs). It may be implemented by field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), processors, controllers, microcontrollers, microprocessors, and the like.

In the case of an implementation by firmware or software, the method according to the embodiments of the present invention may be implemented in the form of a module, a procedure, or a function that performs the functions or operations described above. The software code may be stored in a memory unit and driven by a processor. The memory unit may be located inside or outside the processor, and may exchange data with the processor by various known means.

The detailed description of the preferred embodiments of the invention disclosed as described above is provided to enable any person skilled in the art to make and practice the invention. Although the above has been described with reference to the preferred embodiments of the present invention, those skilled in the art will variously modify and change the present invention without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as set forth in the claims below. I can understand that you can. Thus, the present invention is not intended to be limited to the embodiments shown herein but is to be accorded the widest scope consistent with the principles and novel features disclosed herein. In addition, while the preferred embodiments of the present specification have been shown and described, the present specification is not limited to the specific embodiments described above, and the technical field to which the present invention belongs without departing from the gist of the present specification claimed in the claims. Of course, various modifications can be made by those skilled in the art, and these modifications should not be individually understood from the technical spirit or prospect of the present specification.

In the present specification, both the object invention and the method invention are described, and the description of both inventions may be supplementarily applied as necessary.

The present invention as described above has been described assuming that it is applied to the NAN wireless communication system, but need not be limited thereto. The present invention can be applied to various wireless systems in the same manner.

Claims

In a method for merging a NAN (Neighbor Awareness Networking) terminal in a wireless communication system in a NAN cluster,

Receiving, by a first NAN terminal included in a first NAN cluster, a beacon frame of a second NAN cluster;

Acquiring cluster grade information of the second NAN cluster based on the beacon frame; And

If the cluster grade of the second NAN cluster is greater than the cluster grade of the first NAN cluster, merging into the second NAN cluster;

The first NAN terminal is a NAN terminal included in a NAN data cluster in the first NAN cluster,

When the first NAN terminal merges with the second NAN cluster, the first NAN terminal transmits an announcement frame to other NAN terminals in the NAN data cluster.
The method of claim 1,

The notification frame is transmitted in the NDC data (NAN Data Cluster Schedule) interval, the method of merging the NAN terminal in the NAN cluster.
The method of claim 1,

The notification frame includes ID information of the second NAN cluster, time synchronization information of the second NAN cluster, anchor master rank information of the second NAN cluster, and time information moving to the second NAN cluster. How to merge into this NAN cluster.
The method of claim 3, wherein

If the first NAN terminal does not receive a notification frame from other NAN terminals after receiving the beacon frame, a data beacon hop count (dHC) is included in the notification frame transmitted by the first NAN terminal. ) The method further comprises, the NAN terminal merges into the NAN cluster.
The method of claim 4, wherein

And after the first NAN terminal is merged into the second NAN cluster, the first NAN terminal transmits a data beacon frame to the NAN terminals included in the NAN data cluster.
The method of claim 5,

The data beacon frame is transmitted in the NDC schedule interval, a method of merging the NAN terminal in the NAN cluster.
The method of claim 5,

The first NAN terminal transmits the data beacon frame based on a back-off counter value,

And the backoff counter is determined based on the dHC information.
The method of claim 1,

When the first NAN terminal is merged into the second NAN cluster, the first NAN terminal is set to a non-master and non-master non-sink (NMNS) state. Way.
The method of claim 1,

The beacon frame is any one of a NAN synchronization beacon frame and a NAN discovery beacon frame, a method of merging in a NAN cluster by a NAN terminal.
A NAN terminal merging to a NAN cluster in a wireless communication system,

A receiving module for receiving information from an external device;

A sending module for sending information to an external device; And

A processor for controlling the receiving module and the transmitting module,

The processor,

Receive a beacon frame of the first NAN cluster using the receiving module,

Obtain cluster grade information of the first NAN cluster based on the received beacon frame,

If the cluster grade of the first NAN cluster is greater than the cluster grade of the second NAN cluster, merge into the first NAN cluster,

The first NAN terminal is included in the second NAN cluster,

The first NAN terminal is included in a NAN data cluster in the second NAN cluster.

When merged into the first NAN cluster, the first NAN terminal transmits an announcement frame to other NAN terminals in the NAN data cluster.
The method of claim 10,

The notification frame is transmitted to the NAN schedule (NAN Data Cluster Schedule) interval, NAN terminal to merge in the NAN cluster.
The method of claim 10,

The notification frame includes ID information of the first NAN cluster, time synchronization information of the first NAN cluster, anchor master rank information of the first NAN cluster, and time information moving to the first NAN cluster. NAN terminal merging to.
The method of claim 10,

If the first NAN terminal does not receive a notification frame from other NAN terminals after receiving the beacon frame, a data beacon hop count (dHC) is included in the notification frame transmitted by the first NAN terminal. ) NAN terminal further merging to the NAN cluster.
The method of claim 13,

And after the first NAN terminal is merged into the first NAN cluster, the first NAN terminal transmits a data beacon frame to the NAN terminals included in the NAN data cluster.
The method of claim 14,

The first NAN terminal transmits the data beacon frame based on a back-off counter value,

And the backoff counter is determined based on the dHC information.