Communication protocol between access point and wireless station
AssigneeGainSpan Corporation
InventorStephen H. Grau
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An improved communication protocol between an access point and a wireless station is disclosed for ultra low-power wireless communications. The communication protocol is reduced from nine frames to seven frames by eliminating the last two packets in the sequence, allowing the wireless station to go to sleep (enter a low power state) when it sends the response rather than lingering before sleeping. The improved communication protocol allows the access point to enter its low power state following receipt of the acknowledgement from the wireless station.
Claims42
A wireless device comprising:
- a receiver to receive a receive signal from one or more other wireless devices;
- a transmitter to transmit a transmit signal to one or more other wireless devices;
- a data processing system to process a plurality of receive messages received from another wireless device on the receive signal and generate a plurality of transmit messages to transmit to another wireless device on the transmit signal, and wherein at least one of the plurality of transmit messages comprises an okay-to-sleep flag, wherein at least one of the plurality of receive messages comprises a response to the at least one of the plurality of transmit messages comprising the okay-to-sleep flag, wherein a header of the at least one of the plurality of receive messages is set to indicate the another wireless device is entering a power save mode.
A wireless device comprising:
- a receiver to receive a receive signal from another wireless device;
- a transmitter to transmit a transmit signal to the another wireless device;
- a data processing system to process a plurality of receive messages received from the another wireless device on the receive signal and generate a plurality of transmit messages to transmit to the another wireless devices on the transmit signal, and wherein at least one of the plurality of receive messages comprises an okay-to-sleep flag, and wherein at least one of the plurality of transmit messages comprises a response to the at least one of the plurality of receive messages comprising the okay-to-sleep flag, and wherein a header of the at least one of the plurality of transmit messages is set to indicate the wireless device is entering a power save mode.
A method comprising:
- causing a wireless station to wake up from a power save mode;
- receiving a request message at the wireless station from an access point, the request message comprising an okay-to-sleep flag;
- generating a response message, wherein generating the response message comprises setting a bit in the header of the response message to indicate the wireless station is entering a power save mode;
- transmitting the response message to the access point;
- and
- causing the wireless station to re-enter the power save mode.
A method comprising:
- causing an access point to wake up from a power save mode;
- generating a request message comprising a okay-to-sleep flag;
- transmitting the request message from the access point to the wireless station;
- receiving a response message at the access point from the wireless station, the response message indicating that the wireless station is entering a power save mode;
- and
- causing the access point to re-enter the power save mode.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.