Enhanced channel access mechanisms for QoS-driven wireless lans

A system for providing quality of service (QoS)-driven channel access within a basic service set (BSS) in a wireless network, the system comprising:

• a) a point coordinator (PC) station within the BSS sending a contention control (CC) frame in a contention-free period (CFP) of a superframe that also includes a contention period (CP), the CC frame containing:
• a1) information relating to a number of available centralized contention opportunities (CCOs) for receiving a reservation request (RR) non-data frame in a centralized contention interval (CCI) following the CC frame, and
• a2) information identifying stations from which an RR non-data frame was successfully received by the PC station in a preceding CCI, and
• b) at least one non-PC station in the BSS receiving the CC frame and sending an RR non-data frame in a selected one of the available CCOs in the CCI in response to the received CC frame, each RR non-data frame being sent when the corresponding non-PC station has a burst of data frames to send, each RR non-data frame indicating an amount of bandwidth requested by the non-PC station sending the RR non-data frame for transmitting the burst of data frames,
• wherein the PC station receives the RR frame at the PC-station in one of the CCOs of the CCI, and
• wherein the PC station sends a multipoll frame containing information relating to at least two transmission opportunities (TOs) assigned to at least one non-PC station in the BSS for data transmission.

A method for providing quality of service (QoS)-driven channel access within a basic service set (BSS) in a wireless network, the method comprising:

• a) in a contention-free period (CFP) of a superframe that also includes a contention period (CP), sending a contention control (CC) frame from a point coordinator (PC) station of the BSS, the CC frame containing:
• a1) information relating to a number of available centralized contention opportunities (CCOs) for receiving a reservation request (RR) non-data frame in a centralized contention interval (CCI) following the CC frame, and
• a2) information identifying stations from which an RR was successfully received by the PC station in a preceding CCI,
• b) receiving an RR non-data frame at the PC station in one of the CCOs of the CCI, the RR non-data frame being sent in a selected one of the available CCOs in the CCI in response to the received CC frame, the RR non-data frame being sent from the non-PC station when the non-PC station has a burst of data frames to send, and the RR non-data frame indicating an amount of bandwidth requested by the non-PC station sending the RR non-data frame for transmitting the burst of data frames;
• and
• c) sending a multipoll frame from the PC station containing information relating to at least two transmission opportunities (TOs) assigned to at least one non-PC station in the BSS for data transmission.

A method for providing quality of service (QoS)-driven channel access within a basic service set (BSS) in a wireless network, the method comprising:

• a) receiving a contention control (CC) frame at a non-PC station in the BSS, the CC frame being sent from a point coordinator (PC) station of the BSS in a contention-free period (CFP) of a superframe that also includes a contention period (CP), the CC frame containing:
• a1) information relating to a number of available centralized contention opportunities (CCOs) for receiving a reservation request (RR) non-data frame in a centralized contention interval (CCI) following the CC frame, and
• a2) information identifying stations from which an RR non-data frame was successfully received by the PC station in a preceding CCI, the CC frame being sent by the PC station during a contention-free period (CFP) of a superframe, and
• b) sending an RR non-data frame in a selected one of the available CCOs in the CCI in response to the received CC frame, the RR non-data frame being sent from the non-PC station when the non-PC station has a burst of data frames to send, the RR non-data frame indicating an amount of bandwidth requested by the non-PC station sending the RR non-data frame for transmitting the burst of data frames;
• c) receiving a multipoll frame at at least one non-PC station in the BSS, the multipoll frame being sent from the PC station and containing information relating to at least two transmission opportunities (TOs) assigned to at least one-PC station in the BSS for data transmission;
• and
• d) sending at least one data frame in respective TOs from each non-PC station that is identified in the multipoll frame is response to the received multipoll frame.