Method and apparatus for controlling wireless medium congestion by adjusting contention window size and disassociating selected mobile stations

In a wireless communication system including an access point (AP) and a plurality of wireless transmit/receive units (WTRUs) associated with the AP, a method of alleviating congestion comprising:

• (a) determining whether congestion exists on a wireless medium used by the AP and the WTRUs;
• (b) decreasing a packet transmission delay associated with low priority traffic streams when congestion is determined not to exist on the wireless medium;
• and
• (c) increasing the packet transmission delay associated with the low priority traffic streams when congestion is determined to exist on the wireless medium.

In a wireless communication system including an access point (AP) and a plurality of wireless transmit/receive units (WTRUs) associated with the AP, a method of alleviating congestion comprising:

• (a) determining whether congestion exists on a wireless medium used by the AP and the WTRUs;
• (b) if congestion is determined to exist on the wireless medium, determining whether there are any low priority traffic streams established between the AP and at least one of the WTRUs;
• and
• (c) if there are no low priority traffic streams established between the AP and at least one of the WTRUs, disassociating selected ones of the associated WTRUs based on a specific traffic stream access category.

An access point (AP) for alleviating congestion in a wireless medium used by the AP to communicate with a plurality of wireless transmit/receive units (WTRUs), the AP comprising:

• (a) a receiver for receiving packets transmitted by the WTRUs over the wireless medium;
• (b) a transmitter for transmitting packets to the WTRUs over the wireless medium;
• (c) a processor in communication with the receiver and the transmitter for determining whether congestion exists on the wireless medium;
• and
• (d) a WTRU database in communication with the processor, wherein if congestion is determined by the processor to exist on the wireless medium, the processor determines whether there are any low priority traffic streams established between the AP and at least one of the WTRUs and, if there are no low priority traffic streams established between the AP and at least one of the WTRUs, the processor disassociates selected ones of the associated WTRUs listed in the WTRU database based on the amount of time spent by the WTRUs trying to transmit and retransmit unacknowledged packets.

An access point (AP) for alleviating congestion in a wireless medium used by the AP to communicate with a plurality of wireless transmit/receive units (WTRUs), the AP comprising:

• (a) a receiver for receiving packets transmitted by the WTRUs over the wireless medium;
• (b) a transmitter for transmitting packets to the WTRUs over the wireless medium;
• and
• (c) a processor in communication with the receiver and the transmitter for determining whether congestion exists on the wireless medium, decreasing a packet transmission delay associated with low priority traffic streams when congestion is determined not to exist on the wireless medium, and increasing the packet transmission delay associated with the low priority traffic streams when congestion is determined to exist on the wireless medium.

An access point (AP) for alleviating congestion in a wireless medium used by the AP to communicate with a plurality of wireless transmit/receive units (WTRUs), the AP comprising:

• (a) a receiver for receiving packets transmitted by the WTRUs over the wireless medium;
• (b) a transmitter for transmitting packets to the WTRUs over the wireless medium;
• (c) a processor in communication with the receiver and the transmitter for determining whether congestion exists on the wireless medium;
• and
• (d) a WTRU database in communication with the processor, wherein if congestion is determined by the processor to exist on the wireless medium, the processor determines whether there are any low priority traffic streams established between the AP and at least one of the WTRUs and, if there are no low priority traffic streams established between the AP and at least one of the WTRUs, the processor disassociates selected ones of the associated WTRUs listed in the WTRU database based on based on a specific traffic stream access category.

In an access point (AP) for alleviating congestion in a wireless medium used by the AP to communicate with a plurality of wireless transmit/receive units (WTRUs), an integrated circuit (IC) comprising:

• (a) a receiver for receiving packets transmitted by the WTRUs over the wireless medium;
• (b) a transmitter for transmitting packets to the WTRUs over the wireless medium;
• (c) a processor in communication with the receiver and the transmitter for determining whether congestion exists on the wireless medium;
• and
• (d) a WTRU database in communication with the processor, wherein if congestion is determined by the processor to exist on the wireless medium, the processor determines whether there are any low priority traffic streams established between the AP and at least one of the WTRUs and, if there are no low priority traffic streams established between the AP and at least one of the WTRUs, the processor disassociates selected ones of the associated WTRUs listed in the WTRU database based on the amount of time spent by the WTRUs trying to transmit and retransmit unacknowledged packets.

In an access point (AP) for alleviating congestion in a wireless medium used by the AP to communicate with a plurality of wireless transmit/receive units (WTRUs), an integrated circuit (IC) comprising:

• (a) a receiver for receiving packets transmitted by the WTRUs over the wireless medium;
• (b) a transmitter for transmitting packets to the WTRUs over the wireless medium;
• and
• (c) a processor in communication with the receiver and the transmitter for determining whether congestion exists on the wireless medium, decreasing a packet transmission delay associated with low priority traffic streams when congestion is determined not to exist on the wireless medium, and increasing the packet transmission delay associated with the low priority traffic streams when congestion is determined to exist on the wireless medium.

In an access point (AP) for alleviating congestion in a wireless medium used by the AP to communicate with a plurality of wireless transmit/receive units (WTRUs), an integrated circuit (IC) comprising:

• (a) a receiver for receiving packets transmitted by the WTRUs over the wireless medium;
• (b) a transmitter for transmitting packets to the WTRUs over the wireless medium;
• (c) a processor in communication with the receiver and the transmitter for determining whether congestion exists on the wireless medium;
• and
• (d) a WTRU database in communication with the processor, wherein if congestion is determined by the processor to exist on the wireless medium, the processor determines whether there are any low priority traffic streams established between the AP and at least one of the WTRUs and, if there are no low priority traffic streams established between the AP and at least one of the WTRUs, the processor disassociates selected ones of the associated WTRUs listed in the WTRU database based on based on a specific traffic stream access category.

In a wireless communication system including an access point (AP) and a plurality of wireless transmit/receive units (WTRUs) associated with the AP, a method of alleviating congestion comprising:

• (a) determining whether congestion exists on a wireless medium used by the AP and the WTRUs;
• (b) decreasing the size of an arbitration inter-frame space (AIFS) associated with low priority traffic streams when congestion is determined not to exist on the wireless medium;
• and
• (c) increasing the size of the AIFS associated with the low priority traffic streams when congestion is determined to exist on the wireless medium.

An access point (AP) for alleviating congestion in a wireless medium used by the AP to communicate with a plurality ofwireless transmit/receive units (WTRUs), the AP comprising:

• (a) a receiver for receiving packets transmitted by the WTRUs over the wireless medium;
• (b) a transmitter for transmitting packets to the WTRUs over the wireless medium;
• and
• (c) a processor in communication with the receiver and the transmitter for determining whether congestion exists on the wireless medium, decreasing the size of an arbitration inter-frame space (AIFS) associated with low priority traffic streams when congestion is determined not to exist on the wireless medium, and increasing the size of the AIFS associated with the low priority traffic streams when congestion is determined to exist on the wireless medium.

In an access point (AP) for alleviating congestion in a wireless medium used by the AP to communicate with a plurality of wireless transmit/receive units (WTRUs), an integrated circuit (IC) comprising:

• (a) a receiver for receiving packets transmitted by the WTRUs over the wireless medium;
• (b) a transmitter for transmitting packets to the WTRUs over the wireless medium;
• and
• (c) a processor in communication with the receiver and the transmitter for determining whether congestion exists on the wireless medium, decreasing the size of an arbitration inter-frame space (AIFS) associated with low priority traffic streams when congestion is determined not to exist on the wireless medium, and increasing the size of the AIFS associated with the low priority traffic streams when congestion is determined to exist on the wireless medium.