Quality of service based media access control for mobile ad hoc networks

A first node, comprising:

• a receiver configured to receive a request from a second node, the request including information indicating that the second node requires a QoS link to a third node;
• a processing device configured to:
• determine whether the QoS link from the second node to the third node can be supported,
• generate a polling cycle, and
• reserve a time slot for the second node in the polling cycle when the QoS link can be supported;
• and
• a transmitter configured to transmit an accept message to the second node when the QoS link can be supported;
• wherein when determining whether the QoS link from the second node to the third node can be supported, the processing device is configured to:
• generate a deny message when the QoS link cannot be supported by each node in a path from the second node to the third node, and
• the transmitter is configured to transmit the deny message to the second node.

A computer-readable medium having stored thereon a plurality of sequences of instructions which, when executed by a processor, cause said processor to:

• receive a request from a first node, the request including information indicating that the first node requires a QoS link to a second node;
• determine whether the QoS link from the first node to the second node can be supported;
• generate a polling cycle;
• reserve a time slot for the first node in the polling cycle when the QoS link can be supported;
• and
• transmit an accept message to the first node when the QoS link can be supported;
• wherein when determining whether the QoS link from the first node to the second node can be supported, the instructions cause the processor to:
• identify at least one other node based on the request, the other node being the second node or a next hop in a path to the second node,
• forward the request to the other node, and
• receive a response from the other node indicating whether the QoS link can be supported;
• wherein the polling cycle identifies a number of nodes based on requests for QoS links and determinations that the requests for QoS links can be supported, and wherein the instruction further cause the processor to:
• reserve a time slot in the polling cycle for each node that requests a QoS link that can be supported;
• and
• broadcast polling signals, each polling signal identifying a particular node based on the polling cycle.

A first node, comprising:

• processing logic configured to generate a request, the request indicating that the first node requires a QoS link to a second node;
• a transmitter configured to transmit the request to a third node, the third node representing a manager node for a number of nodes including the first node;
• and
• a receiver configured to receive at least one of an accept message and a deny message from the third node, the accept message indicating that the QoS link can be supported and the deny message indicating that the QoS link cannot be supported;
• wherein the receiver is further configured to:
• receive a polling signal from the third node, the polling signal identifying the first node, and wherein the transmitter is further configured to transmit data in response to the polling signal;
• a memory configured to store network configuration information, and
• wherein the processing logic is further configured to:
• access the memory to determine whether the second node is one hop away from the first node.

A computer-readable medium having stored thereon a plurality of sequences of instructions, said instructions which, when executed by a processor, cause said processor to:

• generate a request indicating that a first node requires a QoS link to a second node, the first node being associated with the processor;
• transmit the request to a third node, the third node representing a manager node for a number of nodes including the first node;
• and
• receive at least one of an accept message and a deny message from the third node, the accept message indicating that the QoS link can be supported and the deny message indicating that the QoS message cannot be supported;
• receive a polling signal from the third node;
• determine that the polling signal identifies the first node;
• and
• transmit data in response to the polling signal.

A system for controlling access to a communication channel in a wireless network, comprising:

• means for receiving requests from a plurality of nodes, each of the requests including information identifying a QoS link;
• means for determining whether the QoS link identified in each of the respective requests can be supported;
• means for generating a polling cycle identifying QoS links that can be supported;
• means for broadcast polling signals based on the polling cycle;
• and
• means for receiving data from a node identified in a polling signal in an interval immediately following the polling signal.

A method for accessing a shared communication medium comprising:

• broadcasting a message from a first node to a plurality of nodes via the shared communication medium, the message identifying a link that the first node wishes to establish with a second node and including a priority associated with the link;
• receiving the message at each of the plurality of nodes;
• and
• adjusting, by the first node, a contention window interval based on the priority included in the message;
• adjusting, by the second node, a contention window interval based on the priority included in the message;
• adjusting the contention window interval to decrease the duration of the contention window interval when the priority associated with the link is high.

A first node, comprising:

• a processing device configured to:
• generate a request that indicates that the first node wishes to establish a link over a shared communication medium with a second node, the request including a priority associated with the link, and
• adjust a contention window interval based on the priority included in the request;
• and
• a transmitter configured to broadcast the request to a number of nodes including the second node;
• wherein the contention window interval defines an interval of time during which the first node cannot contend for the shared communication medium after expiration of a predetermined interval and when adjusting the contention window interval, the processing device is configured to:
• increase the duration of the contention window interval when the priority associated with the link is low.

A computer-readable medium having stored thereon a plurality of sequences of instructions, said instructions which, when executed by a processor, cause said processor to:

• generate a request, the request indicating that a first node wishes to establish a link over a shared communication medium with a second node, the processor being associated with the first node and the request including a priority associated with the link;
• adjust a contention window interval based on the priority included in the request;
• and
• broadcast the request to a number of nodes including the second node;
• wherein when adjusting the contention window interval, the instructions cause the processor to:
• decrease the duration of the contention window interval when the priority associated with the link is high.

A first node, comprising:

• a receiver configured to receive a broadcast message from a second node;
• and
• a processing device configured to:
• determine that the broadcast message indicates that the second node wishes to establish a link over a shared communication medium,
• identify a priority associated with the link, and
• adjust a contention window interval based on the priority;
• wherein the receiver is further configured to receive a release message indicating that the link is no longer needed, and
• the processing device is further configured to adjust the contention window interval to a predetermined interval in response to the release message.

A computer-readable medium having stored thereon a plurality of sequences of instructions, said instructions which, when executed by a processor, cause said processor to:

• receive a broadcast message from a first node;
• determine that the broadcast message indicates that the first node wishes to establish a link with a second node over a shared communication medium, wherein the first and second nodes are not associated with the processor;
• identify a priority associated with the link;
• and
• adjust a contention window interval based on the priority;
• wherein the contention window interval defines an interval of time during which the processor cannot contend for the shared communication medium after expiration of a predetermined interval and when adjusting the contention window interval, the instructions cause the processor to:
• decrease the duration of the contention window interval when the priority associated with the link is low.

A method for accessing a shared communication medium by a number of nodes, a first group of nodes being neighbors with a manager node and a second group of nodes being neighbors with each other, the method comprising:

• generating a request at a first node in the first group of nodes, the request including information indicating that the first node requires a link to a second node;
• transmitting the request from the first node to the manager node;
• determining, by the manager node, whether the link from the first node to the second node can be supported;
• sending an accept message from the manager node to the first node when the link can be supported;
• broadcasting a message from a third node in the second group of nodes, the message identifying a link that the third node wishes to establish with another node in the second group of nodes and including a priority associated with the link;
• receiving the message at each of the nodes in the second group of nodes;
• and
• adjusting, by the third node, a contention window interval based on the priority included in the message.