Poll scheduling for periodic traffic sources
AssigneeAvaya Inc.
InventorMathilde Benveniste
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An apparatus and method for polling stations that transmit periodic traffic streams are disclosed. The illustrative embodiment polls the station in accordance with a polling schedule that is generated to reduce the delay between (i) when the station queues a frame, and (ii) when the station transmits the frame. This reduces the waiting time of the frame in the station, and is, therefore, especially advantageous for latency-sensitive applications such as voice and video telecommunications. In accordance with the illustrative embodiment, a station that expects to periodically queue a frame for transmission sends a polling request to the polling coordinator, which request enables the polling coordinator to generate an advantageous polling schedule.
Claims12
A method performed by an Access Point comprising:
- receiving a polling request that specifies a first temporal period and a first temporal offset for a plurality of expected future transmissions from a first station;
- establishing a polling schedule based on said polling request;
- receiving a plurality of frames for forwarding to said first station;
- determining whether the arrival times of said frames are substantially periodic as described by a second temporal period and a second temporal offset;
- and
- establishing, when the arrival times of said frames are substantially periodic, a transmission schedule for transmitting each of said frames to said first station;
- wherein said transmission schedule is based on said second temporal period and said second temporal offset;
- wherein said transmission schedule is also based on said polling schedule;
- and
- transmitting each of said frames to said first station in accordance with said transmission schedule, wherein said transmitting and said receiving said plurality of frames are via a shared-communications channel.
An apparatus comprising:
- a receiver for receiving a polling request that specifies a first temporal period and a first temporal offset for a plurality of expected future transmissions from a first station;
- a processor for establishing a polling schedule based on said polling request;
- wherein said receiver is also for receiving a plurality of frames for forwarding to said first station;
- and
- wherein said processor is also for:
- (i) determining whether the arrival times of said frames are substantially periodic as described by a second temporal period and a second temporal offset;
- (ii) establishing, when the arrival times of said frames are substantially periodic, a transmission schedule for transmitting each of said frames to said first station, wherein said transmission schedule is based on said second temporal offset and said second temporal period;
- and
- wherein said processor is also for combining said polling schedule and said transmission schedule into a composite schedule.
An apparatus comprising:
- a transmitter for transmitting a polling request that specifies a temporal period and a temporal offset for a plurality of expected future transmissions;
- a receiver for receiving a poll in response to said polling request;
- and
- a processor for queuing a frame in accordance with said temporal period and on said temporal offset;
- wherein said receiver is also for receiving a plurality of frames for forwarding to said first station;
- and
- wherein said processor is also for:
- (i) determining whether the arrival times of said frames are substantially periodic as described by a second temporal period and a second temporal offset;
- (ii) establishing, when the arrival times of said frames are substantially periodic, a transmission schedule for transmitting each of said frames to said first station, wherein said transmission schedule is based on said second temporal offset and said second temporal period;
- and
- wherein said processor is also for combining said polling schedule and said transmission schedule into a composite schedule.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.