Immediate retransmission scheme for real time applications

An apparatus for wireless communication in a network, the apparatus comprising:

• (a) a wireless communication circuit configured for wirelessly communicating with at least one other wireless local area network (WLAN) station in its reception area;
• (b) a processor coupled to said wireless communication circuit within a station configured for operating on the WLAN;
• and
• (c) a non-transitory memory storing instructions executable by the processor;
• (d) wherein said instructions, when executed by the processor, perform one or more steps comprising:
• (i) operating said wireless communication circuit as a WLAN station configured to support communicating real-time application (RTA) packets that are sensitive to communication delays as well as non-real time packets;
• (ii) transmitting a packet to a receiver and receiving notifications back from the receiver on packet success or packet error;
• (iii) distinguishing real-time application (RTA) packets from non-real-time application (non-RTA) packets by prior negotiation, or packet header information, or a combination of prior negotiation and packet header information;
• (iv) performing retransmissions for non-real time application (non-RTA) packets using carrier sense multiple access/collision avoidance (CSMA/CA);
• (v) performing retransmissions for at least a portion of real time application (RTA) packets in response to bypassing a process of contending for channel access, and/or without waiting for notifications back from a receiver before channel access;
• and
• (vi) terminating retransmissions of a real-time application (RTA) packet when the packet lifetime has expired.

A method of performing wireless communication, comprising:

• (a) operating a wireless communication circuit as a WLAN station configured to support communicating real-time application (RTA) packets that are sensitive to communication delays as well as non-real time packets;
• (b) distinguishing real-time application (RTA) packets from non-real-time application (non-RTA) packets by prior negotiation, or packet header information, or a combination of prior negotiation and packet header information;
• (c) performing retransmissions for non-real time application (non-RTA) packets using carrier sense multiple access/collision avoidance (CSMA/CA);
• and
• (d) performing retransmissions for at least a portion of real time application (RTA) packets in response to bypassing a process of contending for channel access, and/or without waiting for notifications back from a receiver before channel access.