Medium access control protocol for centralized wireless network communication management

#This invention pertains generally to Medium Access Control protocol implementations. More particularly, the invention is a Medium Access Control protocol and method for use in a centrally managed network system at the Medium Access Control layer, which improves the throughput of protocol messages, reduces the latency of data transmissions and provides a set of failure management methods.

#Presently, there are numerous ways to provide communication algorithms between devices participating in a network offering various levels of reliability and effectiveness. Likewise, various protocol schemes have been developed to provide various networking services to such network devices.

#In an effort to standardize protocols in network communication, the International Standards Organization (ISO) developed the Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) reference model. The OSI reference model deals with connecting systems that are open for communication with other systems and includes seven layers of network services including the Application or “highest” layer, the Presentation layer below the Application layer, the Session layer below the Application layer, the Transport layer below the Session layer, the Network layer below the Transport layer, the Data Link layer below the Network layer, and the Physical or “lowest” layer below the Data Link layer.

#The present invention will be more fully understood by reference to the following drawings, which are for illustrative purposes only.

#FIG. 1 is a prior art block diagram of the Open Systems Interconnection Reference Model.

#FIG. 2 is a block diagram of the software architecture of present invention.

#Referring more specifically to the drawings, for illustrative purposes, the present invention is embodied in the apparatus shown FIG. 1 through FIG. 6 and the method outlined in FIG. 7 through FIG. 11. It will be appreciated that the apparatus may vary as to configuration and as to details of the parts, and that the method may vary as to details and the order of the steps, without departing from the basic concepts as disclosed herein. The invention is disclosed generally in terms of a Medium Access Control (MAC) protocol, although numerous other uses for the invention will suggest themselves to persons of ordinary skill in the art.

#Referring first to FIG. 1, there is shown generally a block diagram of the Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) reference model 10, which is based on a proposal developed by the International Standards Organization (ISO) as a first step toward international standardization of the protocols used in the various layers of network service. The OSI model includes seven layers, wherein each layer provides a different level of abstraction. The seven layers of the OSI model include the Physical layer 12, which is also the “lowest” layer, the Data Link layer 14, the Network layer 16, the Transport layer 18, the Session layer 20, the Presentation layer 22, and the Application layer 24 which is also the “highest” layer. Below the Physical layer 12 is the physical medium of communication through which actual communication occurs.

#The purpose of each layer is to offer certain services to the higher layers, shielding those layers from the details of how the offered services are actually implemented. The main task of the Data Link layer 14 is to provide an interface between the Network layer with its packet-level data to and from the Physical layer with its bit-stream-level data. The MAC protocol of the present invention provides services to the MAC sublayer of the Data Link layer. As noted above, the Logical Link Control (LLC) sublayer comprises the other and upper portion of the Data Link layer. The present MAC protocol provides these facilities as well as other tasks by providing, among other things, management functions at the MAC level, which includes flow control protocols and failure management functions through a managing or master device, as described in more detail below.