text:
|Publication number
|Publication type
|Application number
|Publication date
|Jan 17, 2006
|Filing date
|Aug 4, 2000
|Priority date
|Aug 4, 2000
|Fee status
|Also published as
|Publication number
|Lawrence W. Yonge, III
|Original Assignee
|Intellon Corporation
|Export Citation
|BiBTeX, EndNote, RefMan
|Patent Citations (106), Non-Patent Citations (32), Referenced by (122), Classifications (9), Legal Events (8)
|External Links: USPTO, USPTO Assignment, Espacenet
The invention relates to networks and, more particularly, Medium Access Control (MAC) protocols.
In some types of networks, such as power line and wireless networks, station-to-station communications may be adversely affected by distances between stations and/or channel conditions. For example, data transmissions may be particularly vulnerable to interference, noise and jamming signals. Under poor conditions, data transfer rates for a connection between two stations may be less than optimal. Worse still, data transmissions may be so unreliable that communication cannot effectively occur in one or both directions for that connection.
In one aspect of the invention, frame forwarding for use in a network of stations connected to a shared medium includes preparing by a first station as a first frame a frame intended for a second station to be sent to an intermediate station for forwarding to the second station in a second frame, the frame including a delimiter and the delimiter including control information to be heard by other stations in the network for controlling the timing of the frame forwarding, and
Embodiments of the invention may include one or more of the following features.
The first frame can include as a destination address an address of the second station and an intermediate address field specifying an address for the intermediate station. The first frame can further include a forwarding indication that the frame is to be forwarded to the destination address by the intermediate address.
The first frame can further include an indication that a response is expected from the intermediate station. The expected response can be received from the intermediate station.
The second frame can include an indication that a response is expected from the second station. The second frame can include an indication that two responses are to follow the second frame, a first one of the two responses to be sent by the second station in response to the second frame and a second one of the two responses to be sent by the intermediate station in response to the first response. The first frame can include a delimiter and the delimiter can include a priority and a contention-control indicator for indicating to the intermediate station that the second frame can occur in a next contention period unless other frames having priorities that are higher than the priority are awaiting transmission. The first frame can include a delimiter and the delimiter can include a highest priority and a contention-control indicator for indicating contention-free access so that no other stations can interrupt the frame forwarding prior to the transmission of the second frame by the intermediate station. An actual priority of the frame being forwarded can be included in a segment control field in the payload of the first frame. The frame lengths of the first and second frames can be limited to reduce latency of the frame forwarding when the priority of the delimiter is the highest and the actual priority in the segment control field in the payload of the first frame is not the highest.
The first and second frames can have the same fields, with the second frame being a modified version of first frame.
Each of the first and second frames can include a start delimiter followed by a payload, the start delimiter including a contention control field, the contention control field in the first frame having a value for indicating contention-free status for a next contention period following the first frame, the payload having a priority field that is set to a priority associated with the frame to be forwarded and the payload further including the forwarding indication as a two-bit value, the two-bit value in the first frame having a first bit set to indicate that frame forwarding is to occur and a second bit corresponding to a contention control value of the frame to be forwarded when the first bit is set.
The first and second frames can further include an end delimiter having a contention control field and a priority field, the contention control field in the end delimiter in the first frame including a copy of the contention control value of the start delimiter in the first frame and the priority field in the end delimiter of the first frame including a priority associated with the first frame.
The contention control field in the start delimiter of the second frame can include a copy of the contention control value specified by the forwarding indication in the first frame, and the forwarding indication in the second frame can include a cleared first bit and a set second bit to indicate that a frame is being forwarded to a final destination and the priority field in the payload of the second frame includes a copy of the priority in the priority field of the payload of the first frame.
The end delimiter can further include a response with response expected field for indicating whether two responses are to follow. The start and end delimiters each can include a delimiter type field for indicating whether or not a response is expected. A response can be received from the intermediate station if the delimiter type field in the first frame so indicates. The response can include a priority field having a priority that is the same as that of the priority field in the end delimiter in the first frame and a contention control field having a contention control value that is the same as that of the contention control field in the start delimiter in the first frame. A response can be received from the second station. The response from the second station can include a priority field having a priority that is the same as that of the priority field in the payload of the first frame and a contention control field having a contention control value that is the same as that of the contention control field in the forwarding indication in the payload of the first frame. A second response can be received from the intermediate station. The second response from the intermediate station can include a priority field having a priority that is the same as that of the priority field in the payload of the first frame and a contention control field having a contention control value that is the same as that of the contention control field in the forwarding indication in the payload of the first frame.
The start delimiter further can include a response with response expected field to indicate whether or not two responses are expected to follow and a field for indicating the presence of an end delimiter following the payload. The start delimiter in the first frame further can include a length field for indicating the length of the first frame and the end delimiter in the first frame further can include a second length field for indicating the length of the second frame to follow.
the start delimiter can include a priority field, the priority field in the start delimiter of the first frame including a priority associated with the first frame and the response including a priority field having a priority that is the same as that of the priority field in the start delimiter in the first frame and a contention control field having a contention control value that is the same as that of the contention control field in the start delimiter in the first frame.
The second frame can be transmitted immediately or discarded.
The start and end delimiters may be intended to be observed by all of the stations in the network.
The frame forwarding can further include selecting the intermediate station for frame forwarding from among the stations that can communicate with the second station using connection information based on characteristics of a respective first channel connection between each station and the second station and a second channel connection between each station and the first station. Selecting can include requesting the connection information for the first channel connection from the stations. The selection of a station as the intermediate station can be based on combined characteristics of the first and second connections for a station as the intermediate station that give a highest data rate. Alternatively, the selection of a station as the intermediate station can be based on combined characteristics of the first and second connections for a station as the intermediate station that give a most reliable transmission. Selecting can include receiving from the intermediate station for the first channel connection between the second station and the intermediate station a channel map specifying a maximum frame capacity.
The frame forwarding can further include selecting a maximum frame size based on the smaller of the maximum frame capacity for the second channel connection to the intermediate station and the maximum frame capacity specified by the channel map for the first channel connection between the second station and the intermediate station.
The frame forwarding can further include determining that data throughput over the shared medium can be increased by having the frame forwarded to the second station by the intermediate station instead of being transmitted to the second station by the first station directly, or determining that the first station is unable to communication with the second station.
Among the advantages of the present invention are the following. The frame forwarding mechanism recognizes that, due to adverse channel conditions, stations on the same network data link may be unable to communicate with each other and provides for frame forwarding to allow such stations to communicate through an intermediate, forwarding station. The frame forwarding mechanism requires no additional intermediate station resources (e.g., buffers) or additional contention for channel access. Also, minimal processing of the frame is required of the intermediate station (thus minimizing the turn-around time to retransmit).
Other features and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following detailed description and from the claims.
Referring to
Generally, the LLC, MAC and PHY units conform to the Open System Interconnect (OSI) Model. More particularly, the LLC and MAC units conform to the OSI Model's data link layer and PHY layer unit to the OSI Model's physical layer. The MAC unit 18 performs data encapsulation/decapsulation, as well as media access management for transmit (TX) and receive (RX) functions. Preferably, the MAC unit 18 employs a collision avoidance medium access control scheme like carrier sense multiple access with collision avoidance (CSMA/CA) as described by the IEEE 802.11 standard, although other suitable MAC protocols of the collision avoidance type or other MAC protocol types may be used. For example, Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) schemes may be used. The MAC unit 18 also provides Automatic Repeat request (ARQ) protocol support. The PHY unit 22 performs transmit encoding and receive decoding, among other functions, as described more fully below. The AFE unit 26 provides for attachment to the transmission medium 14. The AFE unit 26 may be implemented in any manner and therefore will be discussed no further herein.
The unit of communication exchanged between stations is in the form of a frame or packet. As used herein, the terms "frame" and "packet" both refer to a PHY layer protocol data unit (PDU). A frame may include data (i.e., payload) in conjunction with a delimiter, or a delimiter by itself, as will be discussed. The delimiter is a combination of preamble and frame control information. The data and frame control information are received from the MAC unit 18, but are handled differently by the PHY unit 22, as will be described below with reference to
Referring to
During a data transmit process, data and control information are received at the PHY-to-MAC interface (MAC interface) 74 over the PHY-to-MAC bus 24. The MAC interface provides the data to the scrambler 32, which ensures that the data as presented to the input of the data FEC encoder 34 are substantially random in pattern. The data FEC encoder 34 encodes the scrambled data pattern in a forward error correction code and subsequently interleaves the encoded data. Any forward error correction code, for example, a Reed-Solomon, or both a Reed-Solomon code and a convolution code, can be used for this purpose. The modulator 36 reads the FEC encoded data and FEC encoded control information from the frame control FEC encoder 38, and modulates the encoded data and control information onto carriers in OFDM symbols in accordance with conventional OFDM modulation techniques. Those modulation techniques may be coherent or differential. The modulation mode or type may be Binary Phase Shift Keying with □ rate coding (□□BPSK□), Quadrature Phase Shift Keying with □ rate coding (□□QPSK□), QPSK with � rate coding (□� QPSK□), among others. The IFFT unit 42 receives input from the modulator 36, the frame control FEC encoder 38 and synchronization signal generator 40, and provides processed data to post IFFT functional units (not shown), which further process the contents of the frame before transferring it to the AFE unit 26 (from
The TX configuration unit 52 receives the control information from the PHY-to-MAC I/F 74. This control information includes information about the channel over which data is to be transmitted from the MAC interface 74. The TX configuration unit 52 uses this information to select an appropriate channel (or tone) map from the TX channel maps memory 78 a. The selected channel map specifies a transmission mode, as well as a modulation type (including an associated coding rate) for all carriers (or, alternatively, for each of the carriers) and set of carriers to be used for the transmission of the data, and therefore specifies OFDM symbol block sizes (both fixed and variable) associated with the data transmission. An OFDM symbol block includes a plurality of symbols and may correspond to a frame or a portion thereof. The TX configuration unit 52 generates TX configuration information from the channel map data. The TX configuration information includes transmission mode, modulation type (including an associated FEC coding rate) for the set of carriers or each carrier, number of symbols and number of bits per symbol. The TX configuration unit 52 provides the TX configuration information to the PHY controller 76, which uses the information to control the configuration of the data FEC encoder 34. In addition to configuration control signals, the controller 76 also provides other conventional control signals to the data FEC encoder 34, as well as the scrambler 32, the modulator 36, the frame control FEC encoder 38, the synchronization signal generator 40 and the IFFT unit 42.
The frame control FEC encoder 38 receives from the MAC via the PHY-to-MAC Interface unit 74 frame control information to be included in the delimiter, such as delimiter type, e.g., start (start-of-frame or "SOF"), end (end-of-frame or "EOF"), and other information appropriate to the type. For example, if the delimiter is a start delimiter, a channel map index for conveying the transmission mode and other information, and the number of OFDM symbols (to be transmitted) in a frame are provided for use by the receiving station 12 b.
During a data receive process, OFDM frames transmitted over the channel to the receiving network node 12 b by the transmitting network node 12 a are received at the PHY unit 22 from the AFE unit 26 by the AGC unit 54. The output of the AGC unit 54 is processed by the FFT unit 58. The output of the FFT unit 58 is provided to the channel estimation unit 60, the synchronization unit 62, the frame control FEC decoder 64 and the demodulator 66. More specifically, phase and amplitude values of the processed receive data are provided to the channel estimation unit 60, which produces a new channel map that may be sent over the channel to the transmitting network station 12 a. The channel map is then used by both stations for subsequent communications with each other in the same transmissions direction (that is, when station 12 a is transmitting packet information to station 12 b and station 12 b is receiving packet information transmitted by station 12 a). The RX configuration unit 72 receives the channel map index and the number of OFDM symbols from the frame control FEC decoder 64, retrieves from the RX channel map 78 b the channel map specified by the channel map index provided by the frame control FEC decoder 64, and provides RX configuration information (derived from the channel map parameters) to the controller 76. The RX configuration information is used to configure the data FEC decoder 68 and thus includes block size and other information necessary for decoding the frame. The synchronization unit 62 provides a start-of-frame signal to the controller 76. In response to these inputs, the controller 76 provides configuration and control signals to the data FEC decoder and to the demodulator 66. For example, it conveys the modulation type associated with the received data to the demodulator 66.
The demodulator 66 demodulates the OFDM symbols in the processed data received from the FFT unit 58 and converts phase angles of the data in each carrier of each symbol to metric values, which are used by the data FEC decoder for decoding purposes. The data FEC decoder 68 corrects bit errors occurring during transmission from the data FEC encoder 34 (of a transmitting node) to the data FEC decoder 68, and forwards the decoded data to the de-scrambler 70, which performs an operation that is the reverse of that which did the scrambler 32 perform. The output of the de-scrambler 70 is then provided to the MAC interface unit 74 for transfer to the MAC unit 18.
The frame control FEC decoder 64 receives coded frame control information from the FFT 58 and control signals from the controller 76. The frame control FEC decoder 64 uses these inputs to decode and demodulate the frame control information in the frame delimiter. Once decoded and demodulated, the frame control information is passed to the MAC interface unit 74 for transfer to the MAC unit 18. The MAC unit 18 determines from the information if the delimiter indicates a start-of-frame. If a start-of-frame is indicated, the RX configuration unit receives from the MAC unit 18 frame control information (channel map index and length) to indicate that further decoding is necessary and the RX configuration unit uses the frame control information to direct the controller to configure the receiver units for further decoding.
For purposes of simplification and clarity, other details of the PHY unit□s transmitter/receiver functional units (which are known to those skilled in the art and not pertinent to the invention) have been largely omitted herein.
Referring to
Still referring to
With continuing reference to
The body 86 includes a frame body 112 and a pad field 114. Collectively, fields 108, 110 and 112 represent a segment of or an entire MAC Service Data Unit (MSDU) 116. The MSDU thus refers to any information that the MAC layer has been tasked to transport by upper OSI layers (those OSI layers to which the MAC layer provides services), along with any MAC management information provided by the MAC layer. The last segment of a frame may require padding to ensure that the segment fills an entire OFDM block. Thus, the pad field 114 provides zeros between the Segment data bits and the FCS 88 at the end of the segment. The FCS 88 is a 16-bit CRC computed as a function of the contents of all fields starting with the first bit of the Segment Control field 106 through the last bit of the pad field 114. Alternatively, the pad field 114 may be located after the FCS 88, in which case the pad field 114 is excluded from the FCS computation.
The payload 82 has a maximum length in time (for latency considerations) and a varying byte capacity determined by length and channel conditions. Therefore, the payload 82 may have the capacity to contain an entire MSDU or only a segment of the MSDU. A "long" frame includes the delimiters 92, 94, as well the payload 82. Both the header 84 and the FCS 88 are transmitted in cleartext (i.e., unencrypted), while a portion of the body 86 may be encrypted as an option. The payload fields are presented to the PHY unit 22 most significant byte first, most significant bit (MSB) first (bit number 7 being the MSB of a byte). The long frame, with a start delimiter, payload and end delimiter, is used to convey MSDU information in the form of unicast or multicast transmissions.
Other exemplary delimiters may be associated with other types of "short" frames used to gain access to the channel, for example, "request-to-send" (RTS) frames, which may be used to reduce overhead caused by collisions occurring during heavy traffic conditions and thus improve network efficiency. The delimiter may be of a type that includes the kind of management information required by other media access mechanisms, such as TDMA (commonly used for isochronous traffic), and thus need not be contention-oriented. For example, a TDMA network transmission could include a beacon type of delimiter (beacon delimiter) to maintain network synchronization and manage when each node should transmit and receive frames.
The first frame control field 98, the second frame control field 102 and the third frame control field 124 are produced by the frame control FEC encoder 38 in conjunction with the modulator 36 based on control information received from the MAC unit 18. Generally, the frame control fields 98, 102 and 124 include information used by all stations in the network for channel access, and, in the case of frame control field 98, information used by the destination for receiver demodulation. Because the frame control fields 98, 102 and 124 are intended to be heard by all stations, it is desirable for the frame control fields 98, 102 and 124 to have a robust form of physical layer encoding and modulation. Preferably, they are protected from transmission errors by a block code enhanced with time and frequency domain interleaving, as well as redundancy, in accordance with techniques described in a co-pending U.S. application Ser. No. 09/574,959, entitled "Frame Control Encoder/Decoder for Robust OFDM Frame Transmissions," in the name of Lawrence W. Yonge III, incorporated herein by reference, although other techniques may be used.
Generally, the MAC unit 18 supports standard MAC functions, such as framing. It also ensures Quality of Service through a number of different mechanisms. The CSMA/CA protocol is optimized for a multi-level priority scheme that controls delay for data types requiring better than best effort delivery. Four contention-based access priority levels are supported. Each transmission wishing to contend need only contend with other transmissions of equal priority. Although only four levels are described, the priority scheme could be extended to include additional priority levels. Additionally, the MAC unit 18 provides for contention-free access, enabling a station to maintain or direct control of medium access, relinquishing ownership only to higher priorities. Segmentation is used to limit the amount of time that the channel is unavailable to higher priority traffic and thus bound delay for higher priority traffic.
In addition, the MAC unit 18 enables station frame forwarding so that a station that wishes to communicate with another station on the network can do so indirectly (via another, intermediate station), as well as bridging between the network 10 and other networks.
The MAC unit 18 further provides for reliable frame delivery. It supports rate adaptive PHY characteristics and channel estimation control between each transmitter/receiver to establish PHY modulation parameters that are optimized for channel conditions in each direction. Also, ARQ is used to ensure delivery for unicast transmissions. The receipt of certain frame types requires acknowledgment by the receiver and ARQ uses different types of acknowledgments. The acknowledgment can be positive or negative depending on the status of the received frame. A correctly addressed frame with a valid PHY frame Check Sequence causes the receiver to transmit a positive acknowledgment (or "ACK") response to the originator. Transmitting stations attempt error recovery by retransmitting frames that are known or are inferred to have failed. Failures occur due to collisions or bad channel conditions, or lack of sufficient resources at the receiver. Transmissions are known to have failed if a "NACK" (in the case of bad channel conditions) or "FAIL" (in the case of insufficient resources) response is received. Transmissions are inferred to have failed for some other reason (for example, due to collisions) if no response is received when one is expected.
In addition to the unicast ARQ, a "partial ARQ" is used for increased reliability of multicast and broadcast transmissions at the MAC level. The "partial ARQ" allows a transmitter to know that at least one station received the frame.
The MAC unit 18 also provides privacy on a shared medium through encryption, as will be described.
These and other features are supported by the frame structure detailed in
Referring to
Referring again to
Referring to
Frame response with positive acknowledgment (ACK) indicating
the frame was received without FCS or FEC errors (ACK=0b1);
Frame response with negative acknowledgment (NACK) indicating
the frame passed the address filter but contained one or more un-
correctable FEC errors or the received FCS did not match the cal-
culated (expected) FCS (ACK=0b0, FTYPE=0b0); Frame
response with fail acknowledgment (FAIL) indicating that the
frame was received (with or without errors) but receive resources
were not available to process it (ACK=0b0, FTYPE=0b1).
Frame response with ACK/NACK/FAIL (same as above) to be
followed by another response ("Response With Response Ex-
pected" (RWR)).
Reserved on transmit, discard on receive.
Reserved on transmit, discard on receive.
With reference to
Referring to
Referring to
The Encryption Control field 180 includes an Encryption Key Select (EKS) subfield 192 and an Initialization Vector (IV) subfield 194. The 1-octet EKS field 192 selects either a default encryption/decryption key (EKS=0x00) or one of 255 network keys. The 8-octet IV field 194 is used with the selected key to encrypt/decrypt the frame data. Data to be encrypted or decrypted start with the first byte following the IV field 194 and end with (and include) the ICV 190. A setting of the IV field 194 to all zeros causes the transmitter to bypass encryption and the receiver to bypass decryption (that is, the transmission/reception is cleartext).
The type 184 and frame data 186 are present in all frames that carry an MSDU. The amount of required padding (that is, number of bits to be added to the frame body 112), which is determined from the segment length 168 of the SC field 106, is implementation-dependent. In the described embodiment, because the encryption processes data presented in blocks divisible by 64 bits, the pad field 188 adds zeros to the frame body 112 to make the number of bits in the frame an integer multiple of 64 bits. The ICV 190 is a 32-bit cyclic redundancy check calculated over the bytes beginning with the first byte following the IV and ending with the PAD field 188 (if the PAD field 188 is present). The polynomial used to calculate the ICV 190 is the 32-bit CRC-CCITT polynomial used in IEEE Standard 802.11; however, other CRCs, e.g., CRCs based on other polynomials, may be used. In an alternative implementation, the encrypted information may not include the ICV 190.
The ICV field 190 is used by a receiver for frame filtering (that is, to prevent a decrypted frame from being passed to the LLC) when the frame has been decrypted in error. For example, a frame could be decrypted with the wrong network key if the EKS is not unique but in fact shared by two or more network keys. This common key select issue could occur if different logical networks choose the same EKS for different network keys.
The frame body 112 may contain the MAC management information 182. If this field is present in the Frame Body 112, its format and content are as follows.
Referring to
Referring to
Referring to
Local Use
mit for
MTYPE Value
Transmit for
Remote Use
0 0000
Request Channel
0 0001
Channel Estimation
0 0010
Set Local Parameters
0 0011
Replace Bridge Address
0 0100
Set Network Encryption
0 0101
Multicast With Response
0 0110
Set Connection
0 0111
Use Connection
0 1000
Request Parameters and
0 1001
Parameters and Statistics
0 1010
Request Connection
0 1011
Connection Information
0 1100
Dummy Frame
0 1101
−1 1111
Reserved MTYPE on
transmit, discard entire
layer management frame
on receive
Table 2 also indicates, in columns 3–5, if the entry is received by a station's MAC from a higher layer for local use by that MAC (col. 3), is prepended to a data frame, (that is, an MSDU or MSDU segment) for transmission over the medium (col. 4) or is transmitted over the medium without a data frame (col. 5).
Referring to
Referring to
Still referring to
In the network 10, the channel or connection between any two of the stations 12 can be unique with respect to the viability of tones (carriers) and the acceptability of various modulation types. Therefore, the MAC unit 18 provides a channel estimation control function to discover the attributes of the channel. The channel estimation function develops and maintains a point-to-point transmitter-receiver connection for achieving a maximum transmission data rate. Multicast transmissions are made in the ROBO mode, which has no dependency on the channel characteristics between transmitter and receiver. Unicast transmissions to a specific destination address for which a valid Channel Map does not exist are also made in the ROBO mode.
If the connection is new (the transmitter has not communicated with the receiver or, equivalently, no valid channel map exists for the DA), the transmitter includes the Channel Estimation Request MAC Entry 210A (
If the connection is not new (i.e., a previous channel estimation cycle was executed), the Channel Map may have become stale, e.g., after some estimation timeout, or, alternatively, no longer represents the optimum data rate (as determined by the receiver). After the estimation timeout, any subsequent transmission on this connection causes a new channel estimation cycle to occur, thus ensuring that the connection is maintained at an optimum state. If the receiver determines that channel conditions have improved or deteriorated (by detecting a decrease in the number of errors or an increase in the number of errors, respectively), it may recommend to the transmitter that a new channel estimation occur. The receiver makes this recommendation by setting the CE flag 167 in the Segment Control 106 (
Referring to
Referring to
Referring to
Referring to
Referring to
Referring to
Although not shown, entries corresponding to MTYPE values specifying Request Parameters and Statistics as well as Response Parameters and Statistics (described in Table 2 above) are used to gather station-specific parameters and network performance statistics that are useful for diagnostic purposes.
It is possible to define and employ other MAC management entry types as well.
Referring back to Table 2, entries corresponding to the MTYPE values for Set Connection and Use Connection, as well as Dummy Frame, are used to support sessions of contention-free intervals for QoS in a CSMA network. The Dummy Frame entry indicates to the receiver that the frame payload of the frame in which this entry is contained is to be discarded. The format of the Set and Use connection entries and the operation of the contention-free access mechanism that uses these entries (as well as the Dummy Frame entry) are described in detail later with reference to
In a distributed medium access scheme such as that employed by the MAC unit 18, the transmitting station 12 a senses the transmission medium 14 via a carrier sense mechanism to determine if other stations are transmitting. Carrier sense is a fundamental part of the distributed access procedure. Physical carrier sense is provided by the PHY through the detection of the Preamble and tracking of OFDM symbols through the packet body. In addition to the physical carrier sense signaling provided to the MAC by the PHY, the MAC also employs a virtual carrier sense (VCS) mechanism for greater timing accuracy. The VCS mechanism uses a timer (for maintaining a VCS timeout value) and a flag to track the expected duration of channel occupancy based in information represented in the Frame Control Fields. Therefore, the medium is considered busy if either the physical or virtual carrier sense so indicates. The medium is also considered busy when the station is transmitting.
Referring to
Channel Access Priority
P0 State
P1 State
The current version of IEEE 802.1 standard describes the use of user priorities and access priorities in a bridged network environment. User priorities are priorities that a user of application requests be associated with its traffic. Access priorities are the number of differentiated traffic classes that a MAC provides. The subclause 7.7.3, 802.1D provides a mapping of user priorities to traffic classes. The five differentiated traffic classes discussed herein, i.e., those corresponding to the four channel access priorities (CA0 through CA3), and the contention free access, correspond, one to one, to traffic classes 0 through 4.
Still referring to
Otherwise, and referring back to
Referring to
The above-mentioned Extended Interframe Space (EIFS) is calculated by adding the PRP, the CIFS and the RIFS to the maximum frame time (i.e., the maximum allowed frame length and delimiter(s)) in symbols, times the symbol time) and the response time (response length in symbols times the symbol time). The EIFS is used by a station when a contention free access cannot be interrupted (as discussed above). It is also used when the station does not have complete knowledge of the state of the medium. This condition may occur when the station hears only one side of a frame exchange between two other stations, when the station initially attaches to the network, or when errors in the received frames make them impossible to decode unambiguously. The EIFS is significantly longer than the other interframe spaces, providing protection from collision for an ongoing frame transmission or segment burst when any of these conditions occur. If the medium has been idle for the minimum EIFS, no channel access contention is necessary and the frame may be transmitted immediately.
Referring back to
BackoffTime=Random( )*SlotTime (1)
The MAC unit 18 maintains a number of timers, counters, control flags and other control information to control channel access. The BackoffTime value is maintained by a Backoff counter or count (BC), which decrements by one for each SlotTime that both the physical and virtual carrier sense determines to be idle. The BC is suspended for any slot in which the carrier sense is active. Transmission occurs when the BC decrements to zero. The VCS value is maintained by a VCS timer and interpreted by a Virtual Carrier Sense Pointer Flag (VPF). The VCS timer value is updated whenever valid frame control information is received or transmitted, even when no frame is pending. The VPF is set to a 1 whenever valid frame control information is received, unless conditions dictate that VCS be set to EIFS. If VCS is set to EIFS, then VPF is set to a 0. If VPF is set to a 1, then the VCS value points to the next contention. If VPF is set to a 0, the VCS value points to network idle time. The settings of VCS and VPF are described more fully later with reference to Table 4.
All stations also maintain a Transmit Counter (TC), a Deferral Counter (DC), a Backoff Procedure Counter (BPC), a NACK response (NACKcount) counter and a "No Response" Counter (NRC). All are initially set to zero. TC is incremented every time a frame is transmitted. The BPC is incremented each time the backoff procedure is invoked. The NRC is incremented each time no response is received when a response is expected. The MAC unit also maintains a frame timer ("FrmTimer"), which is set with a maximum frame lifetime value. A packet to be transmitted (or re-transmitted) is dropped when the FrmTimer expires (reaches zero) except while transmitting (including the response interval).
CW takes an initial value of seven and takes the next value in the binary exponential series every unsuccessful transmission or when DC is zero. CW and BPC are reset after a successful transmission and when the transmission is aborted (due to TC reaching its maximum allowed threshold value or the frame exceeding the maximum lifetime of FrmTimer). TC is reset to zero after any transmission for which an ACK is received when an ACK is expected, or transmission completes for unacknowledged service. The truncated binary exponential series for CW is defined as 2n−1, where n ranges from 3 to 6. CW and DC are set based on the value of BPC according to these rules: for an initial transmission (BPC=0), CW=7 and DC=0; for a first retransmission (BPC=1), CW=15 and DC=1; for a second retransmission (BPC=2), CW=31 and DC=3; and for third and subsequent retransmissions (BPC>2), CW=63 and DC=15.
In addition to the VPF, the MAC unit 18 also stores and maintains a Contention Control (CC) flag corresponding to the CC bit in the like-named fields in the frame control fields 98, 102 and 124. The CC flag is set or cleared based on the frame control information in each received delimiter and is also cleared when the VCS value reaches 0 and VPF is 0. A value of zero indicates normal contention. A value of 1 indicates no contention (i.e., contention-free access) unless a higher priority frame is pending.
Referring to
After transmitting a frame that requires a response, the transmitter waits a response interval before determining that the frame transmission has failed. If frame reception has not started by the end of the response interval, the transmitter invokes its backoff procedure. If frame reception has started, the station waits for the frame end to determine whether the frame transmission was successful. Reception of a valid ACK is used to deem the frame transmission successful and to commence with the next segment or report successful transmission. Reception of a valid NACK causes the transmitter to invoke its backoff procedure for retransmission of the frame and reset BPC to zero. If the transmitter receives a valid FAIL, the transmitters delays for a predetermined period before resetting BPC and invoking the backoff procedure. The reception of any other valid or invalid frame is interpreted as a failed transmission. The station invokes the backoff procedure at the end of reception and processes the received frame.
Transmitting stations continue retransmission until the frame exchange is successful or the appropriate TC limit is reached, or the transmit lifetime (FrmTimer) is exceeded. Stations maintain the transmit count for each frame transmitted. The TC is incremented with every transmission of the frame. The transmit count is reset to zero when the frame is successfully transmitted, or when the frame is discarded because either the retransmission limit or transmit lifetime has been exceeded.
As indicated above, the VCS Timer is maintained by all stations to improve reliability of channel access. The VCS timer is set based on information contained in the Frame Control field of the frame delimiters. Stations use this information to compute the expected busy condition of the medium and store this information in the VCS timer. The VCS timer is updated with the information from every correctly received Frame Control field. Receiving stations follow the rules defined in Table 4 based upon the reception of the specified Delimiter types, where Frame length is measured in number of symbols.
Received Frame Control
New VPF
Delimiter Type
New VCS Timer Value
Start of frame with no re-
Frame Length � SymbolTime +
sponse expected
EFG + DelimiterTime + CIFS
Start of frame with re-
Frame Length � SymbolTime +
sponse expected
EFG + DelimiterTime + RIFS +
DelimiterTime + CIFS
End of frame with no re-
sponse expected
End of frame with response
RIFS + DelimiterTime + CIFS
Frame response of any type
Priority Resolution Symbol
greater than the frame
queued for transmission
Reserved frame type for
frame with bad CRC
Frame control with bad
Start of frame length field
a reserved value
The VCS timer is also updated at the end of a PRP when the station determines that it cannot contend for access.
As mentioned above, the MAC unit 18 supports segmentation/reassembly. The process of partitioning MSDUs from the host into smaller MAC frames is referred to as segmentation. The reverse process is called reassembly. Segmentation improves chances of frame delivery over harsh channels and contributes to better latency characteristics for stations of higher priority. All forms of addressed delivery (unicast, multicast, broadcast) may be subject to segmentation.
An MSDU arriving at the MAC unit 18 is placed in one or more segments depending on the size of the MSDU and the data rate the link will sustain. Every effort is made to transmit all of the segments of a single MSDU in a single, continuous burst of MAC frames. Acknowledgments and retransmissions occur independently for each segment.
When an MSDU is segmented into a number of segments, the segments are sent in a single burst, if possible, to minimize the demands on the receiver resources and maximize the throughput of the network, while still taking into account latency response and jitter performance. Segment bursting is accomplished by using the Contention Control and Channel Access Priority fields in the Frame Control, as discussed earlier with reference to
When sending a segment burst, a station contends for the medium in the normal fashion, that is, in the manner described above. Once the station has control of the medium, it sets the Contention Control bit to 0b1, inserts the priority of the MSDU (to which the segment belongs) into the Channel Access Priority field of the Frame Control and transmits the segments in a burst without further contending for the medium with stations having transmissions of the same or lower priority. The station defers to transmissions having a higher priority that are indicated in the priority resolution period following the transmission of every segment. In the last segment of the MSDU, the station clears the Contention Control Bit to 0b0 in the Frame Control before transmitting the segment to allow normal contention by all stations in the PRP following the conclusion of the transmission.
If a station receives a transmission request for a frame of a higher priority than the priority of the segment burst that is occupying the medium, it contends for the medium in the PRP immediately following the transmission of the current segment. If the segment burst is pre-empted by a higher priority pending frame, the station that had been performing the segment bursting contends for the medium to resume the segment burst. The station resumes the segment burst when it has regained control of the medium.
Thus, segment bursting provides a single station control of the medium at a given priority level. By assuming the highest priority level (CA3), a station may preclude any other station from accessing the medium for the duration of the segment burst and the segment burst can proceed uninterrupted. Because bursting at the CA3 priority level blocks higher priority traffic (i.e., contention-free traffic) and thus impacts QoS, however, it is desirable to place restrictions on the use of the CA3 priority level. For example, the CA3 level could be restricted to contention-free transmissions only. Alternatively, segment bursting could be restricted to priority levels CA0 through CA2, as well as CA3 (for contention-free traffic only).
Like priority, latency plays a critical role in frame delivery performance for QoS. Moreover, poor latency characteristics can have an adverse impact on frame delivery performance at a specified priority level. One way to limit this impact is to bound latency in some manner. In the described embodiment, the length of frames is limited to ensure that any transmission occupies the medium for no longer than a predetermined time threshold, e.g., 2 ms. Preferably, for maximum performance at the highest priority level, the highest priority level traffic is excluded from the frame length restriction or subject to a more relaxed limit. Alternatively, however, for ease of implementation, all levels could be subject to the frame length limit restriction. Another way to bound latency and thus improve delivery performance is to limit segment bursts under certain conditions (for example, in the manner discussed above, so that a segment burst can be interrupted by a higher priority class of traffic).
Referring to
The MAC Data Service provides transport of a MSDU from one MD-SAP 313 to one or more such MAC data service access points, allowing the selection of encryption, priority, retry strategy and direct acknowledgment services for each MSDU transmitted, as well as an indication of the priority and encryption services for each MSDU received. The MAC data service includes the following primitives: MD—DATA.Req; MD—DATA.Conf; and MD—DATA.Ind 320. The MD—DATA.Req primitive requests a transfer of an MSDU from a local LLC sublayer to a single peer LLC sublayer entity, or multiple peer LLC sublayer entities (in the case of group addresses). This primitive is formatted to include the following: frame length; MAC sublayer destination address or addresses; MAC sublayer source address of the transmitting station; requested priority (values 0 through 3 or "contention-free") for the frame to be sent; lifetime of frame (amount of time before frame is to be discarded); retry control to indicate the desired retransmission strategy to be used if necessary; encryption key select, an integer value from 0 through 255 that indicates the network encryption key to be used to encrypt the frame prior to transmission; encryption enable to enable or disable encryption; response requested to indicate that a response to this frame is desired from the destination; type to indicate the upper layer protocol type; and data, or more specifically, the upper layer data that is to be transported to the peer MAC sublayer entity at the specified destination address or addresses. The MD—DATA.Conf primitive confirms the receipt of the MD—DATA.Req by the MAC and indicates the result of the requested transmission in the form of a status indicating the success or failure of that transmission. The MD—DATA.Ind primitive indicates a transfer of an MSDU to the LLC sublayer entity from a single peer LLC sublayer entity. It includes the frame length, the DA, the SA of the station that transmitted the frame, the priority at which the frame was received, the encryption key select indicating the encryption key that was used to encrypt the frame; encryption enable; type (again, upper layer protocol) and the data that was transported from the peer MAC sublayer entity at the source address.
The PHY provides services to the MAC through a set of data service primitives 324 and management service primitives 326. The PD—DATA.Req primitive requests that the PHY begin transmission of information onto the medium. In response, the PHY sends the start delimiter, the MAC Protocol Data Unit (MPDU) and the end delimiter. The request includes a TX channel map index value to be used to configure the PHY transmit units, along with the 25 bits of SOF delimiter, payload and the 25 bits of EOF delimiter. The PD—DATA.Conf primitive confirms the transmission requested by the PD—DATA—Req primitive. It indicates the status of the transmission as either a success or failure. The PD—DATA.Ind primitive indicates to the MAC that a transmission has been received by the PHY. It includes channel characteristics, channel access priority, segment length, MPDU and an FEC Error Flag. The channel characteristics include a list of information to be used for channel estimation. The channel access priority is the value of the priority information received in the end delimiter. The MPDU is the information transmitted by the peer MAC entity. The FEC error flag is a value that indicates that the FEC determined that there was an uncorrectable error in the received information. The PD—Data.Rsp primitive causes the PHY to transmit a requested response delimiter and specifies the information to be carried in the response delimiter. It specifies a status (that is, the requested response type to be transmitted, e.g., ACK, NACK or FAIL), the contention control value and channel access priority. The PD—RX—FR—CRTL.Ind primitive provides an indication to the MAC entity of the information received in the start and end delimiters. The PD—RX—FR—CTRL.Rsp primitive is used by the MAC entity to provide control information to the PHY. It includes a receive state to indicate that the PHY should be scanning for delimiters or that the PHY should be in the active receive state. The PD—RX—FR—CTRL.Rsp primitive further specifies a frame length corresponding to the number of symbols that the PHY is expected to receive and the RX channel map listing the tones that are to be used for reception. The PD—PRS—Listen.Req primitive is used by the MAC entity to request that the PHY listen during the PRP slots and the PD—PRS.Ind primitive is used by the PHY to indicate to the MAC entity that a priority resolution symbol was received. The PD—PRS.Req is used by the MAC entity to request that the PHY transmit a priority resolution symbol. The PHY Management Services primitives 326 include the following: PM—SET—TONE—MASK.Req, which requests that the PHY set the mask of tones not to be used for transmission or reception, and PM—SET—TONE—MASK.Conf to indicate the success or failure of that requested operation.
Referring to
The TX MAC Frame Processing process 330 operates on data requests and management set/get requests (as earlier described). It receives as inputs the following: MD—Data.Req data primitive from the MD—SAP 313; a Network key from Encryption keys 344; a Tone Mask from Tone Mask 340; station address from the device address unit 338; TX channel map validity and TX frame status; and set/get request management primitives from MM—SAP 314. In response to these inputs, it provides the following: the MD—Data.Conf data primitive; Retry Control; network key and key select; tone mask; new station address; PM—SET—TONE—MASK.Req management primitive; a TX channel map index for the DA; and TX cleartxt frame (TCF), based on the MD—Data.Req. Whether the process 330 inserts in the TCF any MAC management information field subfields depends on the content of the input management primitives, in particular, MM—SET—RMT—PARAMS.req, and other inputs.
The Encryption Process 332 receives as inputs the TX cleartext frame (TCF) and the selected network key. The encryption process 332 determines if encryption is enabled, and if so, obtains the random 8-bytes IV value, appends an Integrity Check Value and encrypts the TEF, the selected network encryption key and the IV to form a TX encrypted frame (TEF). The Encryption Process 332 provides the TEF to the Segmentation Process 334.
The Segmentation Process 334 produces segments based on a maximum frame length. The Segmentation Process 334 segments MSDUs by partitioning the frame body into segments based on a maximum segment (or frame) size until the last segment; however, the partitioning can be suitably adjusted to meet other performance parameters as well. For example, it may be desirable to make the first segment have a minimum length to shorten the amount of time before a hidden node hears the response transmission. Once transmission is attempted for a segment, the content and length shall not change for that segment until the segment is successfully delivered to the destination or a change in modulation is required.
The PHY Frame Transmit Process 336 initiates a transmission or transmission attempt using Channel Contention with priority as discussed above. The PHY Frame Transmit Process 336 is shown in
Referring to
If the transmitter does not detect a higher priority (step 418), it proceeds to contend for channel access (step 419). If the contention is successful, the process transmits the segment and increments the TC (at step 406). If the contention is unsuccessful (that is, another station is currently transmitting), it determines if the frame control field of the current transmission is valid (step 421). If the frame control field is valid, the transmitter sets VPF to one and updates VCS based on that frame control information (step 422), and returns to step 404 to wait for an idle channel. If the frame control field is invalid (as might be the case for a false synch or weak signal), the transmitter returns to step 414 (setting VCS equal to EIFS and VPF=0).
Referring back to step 409, if the frame arrives after the PRS interval but is determined to have arrived during the Contention Window (step 423), the transmitter determines if the previous frame transmission was contention-free (step 424). If contention-free access is not indicated, the transmitter proceeds to step 418 (for determining if a higher priority has been detected). If contention-free access is indicated, the transmitter determines if it can interrupt the transmission (step 426). If the transmitter cannot interrupt, it updates the VCS and VPF at step 414, and returns to step 404 to wait for the next idle channel. If it is determined that the transmitter can interrupt at step 426, the transmitter proceeds to step 418. If the frame is determined to have arrived after the Contention Window at step 423, the transmitter transmits the frame segment and increments the TC by one at step 406.
After a frame segment is transmitted at step 406, the transmitter determines if a response or acknowledgment is expected (step 428). If an acknowledgment is expected and received (step 430), or an acknowledgement is not expected, the transmitter determines if any additional segments are to be transmitted as part of a data transmission stream or burst (step 432). If so, the transmitter resets BPC, TC, NACKcount and NRC to zero (step 433). The transmitter then determines if the frame should be dropped by determining if the FrmTimer is equal to zero or TC exceeds the transmit limit (step 436). If either condition is true, the transmitter reports that the frame has been discarded (step 438) and the process terminates (step 440). If the frame is not to be discarded but instead re-transmitted, the transmitter returns to step 403. If there are no more segments to be transmitted at step 432, the transmitter reports a successful transmission (step 442), and terminates the process at step 440. If an acknowledgment is expected and not received at step 430, the process further resolves the response (step 444) and proceeds to the frame discarding determination at step 436.
Referring to
Referring to
Referring to
The PHY Frame Receive process 490 receives RX (optionally) encrypted segments (RES). That is, it parses frame control fields of any incoming segments, as well as receives the body of any incoming segments. It stores the channel characteristics and makes available the RES to the reassembly process 494.
Referring to
If VCS is not equal to 0 and VPF not equal to 1 (at step 524), the process determines if a synchronization signal has been detected (step 536). If the process determines that a synchronization signal has not been detected, the process returns to step 522. If the process determines that a synchronization signal has been detected (at step 536), the process receives and parses the frame control field in the delimiter of the incoming segment (step 538). The process determines if frame control is valid (based on the FCCS field) (step 540). If the frame control is invalid, the process proceeds to step 534. If the frame control is valid, the process determines if the frame control indicates a start-of-frame (step 542). If not a start-of-frame, the process updates the VCS and VPF, as well as notes the priority indicated by the frame control (step 544) and returns to step 522. If the frame control indicates a start-of-frame, that is, the frame control is in the start delimiter (and thus includes an index to the RX channel maps, a length, whether or not a response expected and contention control flag), the process receives the segment body and end delimiter (if an end delimiter was included in the frame)(step 546). The process determines if the DA is valid (step 548). If the DA is valid, the process determines if an RX buffer is available (step 550). If buffer space is available, the process determines if the segment is received in error by checking the FEC error flag and determining if a calculated CRC is not equal to the FCS (step 552) and, if valid and a response is requested, the process prepares and directs the transmission of an ACK response (using PD—DATA.Rsp with status=ACK), as well as stores the RES and the channel characteristics (step 554). The process determines if additional segments are to be received as part of a segmented frame (step 556). If no more segments are to be received, the process indicates successful frame reception (to the other RX processes 494, 496 and 498, shown in
Still referring to
Referring again to
The process 494 begins by receiving the RES and determines if the SC is equal to zero. If SC=0 and the last segment flag is set, the RES is the only segment in the MSDU and the process provides the RES as a received encrypted frame (REF) to the decryption process 496. If the SC is not equal to zero, the process uses the segment control information to accumulate all of the segments in order until it sees the last segment flag set and reassembles the MSDU (or REF) from the accumulated segments. It then passes the REF to the decryption process 496.
The Decryption Process 496 generates cleartext from the REF. The decryption process 496 receives the encrypted, reassembled frame from the reassembler 494 and retrieves the NEK identified by the EKS in the EKS field 192 of the Encryption Control field 112 (from
The RX MAC Frame Processing process 498 parses and processes the cleartext frame body. It determines the type of frame body from the type value specified in the first occurring type field. If the frame does not include the MAC management information field 182, then the type is that specified in the type field 184 indicating that the frame data to follow is MSDU data in the frame data field 186 (
In an alternative depiction of the transmit/receive processes,
As indicated above, a number of MAC functions are made available through the use of the MAC Management Information field 182 (
Referring back to
All stations in a given logical network share a network key as a common key. That network key is the key that is assigned to the logical network. In addition to the network key, each station has a unique default key, typically pre-programmed by a manufacturer. A station's user generates the default key from a password (also provided by the manufacturer). The default key is used to allow secure communication between the station and one or more other stations that are members of logical networks, in order for the station to securely receive network keys for those logical networks. An exemplary mechanism for generating the default key from the password is the PBKDF1 function, as described in the PKCS #5 v2.0 standard, Password-based Cryptography Standard, using MD4 as the underlying hash algorithm. Thus, every station enters a logical network for the first time through the use of its password-derived default key.
Referring to
The master station may use the channel estimation function and channel estimation MAC management entries (
Referring to
The value of the Encryption Key Select 604 is placed in the EKS field 192 of the frames in all transmissions between members of the logical network for which the Network Encryption Key 602 is applicable (as indicated in the figure by the arrows 1, 2 and 3), and the Network Encryption Key 602 is used to encrypt/decrypt all frames for those members.
Thus, logical networking to ensure privacy is provided through encryption. Each logical network has its own default and network keys, providing separation of the information of one logical network from another. Because this mechanism uses the encryption capability incorporated in each station, every station has the ability to participate in any number of logical networks, limited only by the required storage of each logical network's default and network keys, and a mapping of the members of each logical network's set of member stations. For example, station 12 a could also be a member station of the second logical network 582, or station 12 d could be a member of a third logical network (not shown) as well as the second logical network 582. Consequently, a station may in fact store more than one Encryption Key Select and Network Encryption Key pair, that is, one for each logical network to which it belongs.
The partial ARQ scheme allows one member of a multicast group to acknowledge a transmission (directed to the multicast group) as a proxy for the rest of the group. Partial ARQ does not guarantee delivery to a multicast group, but does provide an indication that the message was received by at least one multicast group member. MAC-level acknowledgments occur immediately following the frame to which they are responding without relinquishing the channel to new transmissions.
One of the stations returning an updated channel map (in the Channel Estimation response during a Channel Estimation process) is selected to act as the multicast proxy. The selection may be random, but, preferably, it is based on channel map information (contained in the channel maps of the responses) that allows the transmitting station to identify the weakest path in the multicast transmission. By identifying a station that is the least likely to receive the transmission and selecting that station as the proxy, the partial ARQ mechanism is made all the more reliable. In one exemplary selection mechanism, the proxy may be selected by determining which responder station's channel map supports the lowest data rate, indicative of worst-case channel characteristics. Such selection can be made in various ways, for example, by comparing the actual data rates to determine the lowest data rate or, alternatively, by determining which channel map indicates the least number of bytes in a block (also indicative of the lowest date rate).
The transmitter prepares a multicast frame by setting the DA field to the selected proxy station's address. It stores a multicast address representing the group of multicast addresses intended to receive the multicast frame or, alternatively, the individual addresses in the multicast group in the Multicast With Response MAC Management Entry 210H, described above with reference to
The proxy station specified by the DA field provides an appropriate response type on behalf of the multicast group whenever it receives a frame with a DT requiring a response. Transmission of the Response begins after an RIFS period regardless of the busy state of the medium, as discussed above.
Although the partial ARQ mechanism is described above as using an intended recipient of the multicast frame as the selected proxy, it need not be so limited. The proxy may be any device connected to the same medium as the intended recipients of the multicast frame, e.g., any station or a bridge connected to the medium.
As earlier mentioned, the MAC protocol supports a bridging mechanism for use by a subnetwork (such as the power line network 10, from
Referring to
Each such source-aware MAC has the capability to allow the bridge (or device acting as a bridge) to serve as a proxy for the destination. By acting as a proxy for a destination address, the bridge accepts responsibility for forwarding packets to that destination and participates in the ARQ scheme directly as an individual address (when necessary).
The stations U1, U2 (as well as bridges B1 and B2) are made aware of the need to use a bridge proxy through the same channel estimation process that is required for all stations to acquire Channel Map indexes. If the Channel Estimation Response MAC Management entry 210B (
Subsequent transmission through the bridge proxy to a DA in the BPDAlist, once established, is accomplished by sending a frame having MAC Management Information field entry of the Replace Bridge Address type. An MSDU addressed to a Destination Address for which a Bridge Proxy is active is transmitted with the Frame Header Destination Address 108 (
The network 620 in a configured state is shown in
Additionally, the stations 640 a and 640 b each maintain learned or received BPDA information in a respective Bridge Proxy DA list (BPDAlist) 666. Since two bridges are connected to the subnetwork 626, each of those bridges (bridges 628 and 630) must also maintain a bridge proxy list for the destination addresses reached through the other bridge. Consequently, bridges 628 and 630 maintain BPDAlists 668 a and 668 b, respectively. They receive this list over the channel in a MAC management entry—i.e., a channel estimation response MAC management entry from a bridge—or from the host (local MAC management entry). The list can be a list of pairs of addresses including a destination address (DA) and the bridge proxy's DA (BPDA) associated with the DA, or, alternatively, a list of DA's associated with each BPDA. The BPDAlist can be learned when bridged frames are received from a particular SA where the SA and the OSA do not match. They are stored by a RecordBPDA(OSA,SA) function that stores the OSA,SA address pair in the BPDAlist as DA and BPDA, respectively. Local MAC management get/set primitives are used to support the LLC (and upper layers) in storing and providing the station with the BPDAlist.
Referring to
If, at step 706, it is determined that the DA in the frame is not equal to the MAC local address (as is normally the case for a frame that is to be transmitted), the process determines if the DA is known to be bridged (step 716), that is, associated with a bridge (through which it is accessed) in the station's BPDA list from a previous RecordBPDA function (as discussed above and described in greater detail with reference to
If the DA is not known to be bridged at step 716, and in fact is known not to be bridged at step 722, the process directs the frame to transmission preparation (step 720) without the bridge address processing. If the DA is not known (at step 722), the SubstituteBPDA function is executed with the DA set to the broadcast address (step 724), and the process proceeds to step 720.
Referring back to step 704, if the frame's SA does not equal the station's address (MyAddr), the device performing the process is a bridge and the processing continues as follows. The process determines if the DA is known to be bridged (by a previous RecordBPDA function, channel map response, or local management 'set' primitive) (step 726). If the DA is known to be bridged, the process performs the SubstituteBPDA function, performs the IAP(SA) function (as earlier described), and replaces the SA with MyAddr (step 728) prior to preparing the frame for transmission at step 720. Otherwise, and if the DA is known not to be bridged (i.e., a channel map exists for the DA or other indication) (step 730), the process performs the SubstituteBPDA function without changing DA, performs the IAP(SA) function and replaces SA with MyAddr (step 732) before preparing the frame for transmission at step 720.
If the DA is not known (from the determination at step 730), the process performs the SubstituteBPDA function with DA set to the broadcast address and performs the IAP(SA) function, as well as replaces SA with MyAddr (step 734) before preparing the frame for transmission at step 720.
Referring to
Referring to
As shown in
Although the bridges B1, B2 use a learning bridge function with IAP awareness, other embodiments are contemplated. For example, the bridges B1, B2 may be implemented with a standard, commercially-available bridge chip (typically having built-in Ethernet MACs 648 for each port) and an external source-aware MAC 532 connected to at least one port so that the use of the source-aware bridging on that at least one port is hidden from the learning bridge process. In such an implementation, although the bridge is not IAP aware and is therefore unequipped to pass IAP list information to the source-aware MAC, the source-aware MAC supports other mechanisms that can be used to generate and maintain the IAPlist, e.g., MAC management entries or other source-aware MAC learning mechanisms, as discussed earlier.
Referring again to
A connection between the master 702 and any one or more of slaves 704 a, 704 b that wish to participate in a session of contention-free intervals is established and maintained through an exchange of Connection Control messages 714 between master and slave hosts (that is, host 708 a and host 708 b, and 708 a and 708 c, if both slaves are to be members of the session) using normal contention-based access prior to the contention-free session. Stations are added to and removed from the session using the same mechanism, that is, using the Connection Control messages 714, which are delivered outside of the contention-free intervals during the session for these purposes. The host 708 communicates the details of the connection (once established or as subsequently modified) by sending Set Connection and Use Connection messages 716 to that station's MAC 710.
The Connection Control messages 14 involving master/slave communications include the following primitives: MASTER—SLAVE—CONNECTION.Request (Req)/Confirm (Conf); SLAVE—MASTER—CONNECTION.Req/Conf; MASTER—SLAVE—RECONFIGURE.Req/Conf; and SLAVE—MASTER—RECONFIGURE.Req/Conf. Each of these primitives includes the following parameters: Period; Frame Length; Minimum Frame Time; Maximum Frame Time; Start Time; Connection Duration; Connection Number; and Last Contention-Free Frame (CFF). The Period defines the time from the start of one contention interval to the start of the next contention-free interval. The Frame Length defines (in number of bytes) the average frame length to be transmitted during each interval. The Minimum Frame Time and the Maximum Frame Time define the minimum and maximum durations of a frame (plus associated response), respectively. The Start Time specifies the approximate first time participation in (or start of) the contention-free interval. The Connection Duration specifies the duration of the connection (in seconds). A value of 0 indicates that the connection is cancelled, while a MaxValue indicates that the connection is good until canceled). The Connection Number is the connection number assigned to a particular station-to-station (that is, master-to-slave) connection. The Last CFF indicates that the slave station (receiving this parameter) is to transmit the last frame in the next contention-free interval and should set the CC field in that frame to a zero value (and thus signal the end of that particular contention-free interval to all stations in the network). The master controls the setting of the Connection Control message parameters, so a slave making a request (.req message) sends requested values to the master. The confirm response from the slave simply confirms the values returned by the master if those values are acceptable.
An exemplary connection control message exchange between a master and slave is as follows. A handset station (slave) initiating a telephone call sends a message to a base station (master) requesting a call setup (Connection Request). The master responds with a message that indicates timing and other information required for the connection to be established and maintained.
In addition to the connection control message parameters discussed, any requests or responses concerning channel maps for a new connection are delivered prior to the start of the first contention-free interval (in which the connection is to participate) using contention-based access. All other messages pertaining to the maintenance of or changes to the connection are also exchanged outside of the contention-free intervals.
Still referring to
Referring to
Still referring to
Still referring to
The contention free interval 722 is terminated by setting CC=0 in the last frame. A station has knowledge that a particular frame is the last from the Last CFF field in the Connection Control information exchanged (between hosts) during setup and maintenance of the connection.
Thus, it can be seen from
Each station's MAC layer is set up to transmit frames at the appropriate time by the Connection Control messages 714 exchanged by hosts and the Set Connection MAC management messages 716 (
Still referring to
Also included in the Set Connection MAC management entry 740 are a Control field 758 and a FrameLife field 760. The Control field 758 indicates to the station the passing of Master Control to another station (if the station is Master) or from another station (if the station is a Slave) for the connection identified by the connection number. The FrameLife field 760 specifies the frame timer value (FrmTimer, described earlier). When this timer value expires, a queued frame awaiting transmission is discarded.
Referring to
Although not shown in
If stations have different Network Encryption Keys, set-up and control-passing communications between hosts occurs with encryption disabled for the set-up and control messages (frames). No other information is included in these frames as encryption is disabled.
Although the Connection Control messages have been described as including a Start Time, it will be appreciated that the Start Time could be eliminated as a Connection Control message parameter. The start time could be implied based on the assumption that the master and slave stations begin the first contention-free interval immediately upon agreement of connection parameters (via the exchange of Connection Control messages for connection set-up) and the use of the Transmit Timer and FrmTimer would allow the two stations to become fully synchronized thereafter.
Although the Connection Control messages are exchanged between contention-free intervals (with CC=0), it is desirable to send the messages at the highest priority (CAP=3) so that they do no compete with the data traffic of other stations.
Frame forwarding (or relaying) can increase overall network coverage, reliability and throughput for a noisy (wireless or wired) network. Thus, the MAC protocol of MAC unit 18 (
Prior to communication with station B, station A learns how best to communicate with station B. This task is accomplished through a learning process whereby station A transmits to each station in the network a frame that includes the Connection Information Request MAC management entry 210C (from
Because these channel information requests and responses do not contain sensitive information (that is, information that cannot be overheard by the other stations), they may be transmitted in cleartext to eliminate the need to exhange network encryption keys (if the keys are not already available) or reduce processing time.
Preferably, the station A receives updates of the channel information for the I-to-B connection whenever the station B sends to the station I a new channel map that changes the Bytes value (i.e., bytes per 40 symbol block). The station A can manage the receipt of such updates or, as an option, the station I may be given the responsibility of updating the station A with new Connection Information Response. Station I is capable of handling this task if it made aware that it is forwarding traffic from the station A to the station B based on observation of the frame-forwarding traffic.
Referring to
The station B receives the second frame 806 from the station I and recognizes from the value of FW (FW=0b01) that the frame 806 has been forwarded. Since SOF2 814 indicates that a response is expected, the station B returns a response 808 indicating that another response is expected to follow (RWR type, DT=101). The response 808 includes the value of CC received in the SOF2 814 and the value of the CAP 144, along with the RFCS 148 based on the FCS received in the frame 806. The station I processes the response 808 and generates the third response 810 to the station A. The response 810 is of the same type (ACK, NACK or FAIL, except DT=0b100 instead of 0b101) and uses the values of CC, CAP and FCS (if the response is an ACK) received in frame from station A.
The frame payload in each transmission is identical except for the FW field in Segment Control and the FCS. This minimizes the processing required by the MAC to prepare the frame for retransmission.
With respect to
Referring to
Frequent interruptions may occur during periods of heavy, higher-priority traffic. To prevent other traffic from interrupting during frame forwarding, station A can indicate CAP=3 in the EOF1 820 of the frame 802 to station I, which then uses that CAP value in its response, the response 804. Contention by station A for the medium is based on the actual CAP and CC of the first frame 802 (including signaling in the PRP 284 and decision to interrupt other transmissions). Station I contends based on CAP=3 and CC=1 (which always wins since contention-free was indicated in the first frame). The actual CAP of the frame from station I is restored in EOF2 and the following responses since the original value is sent in Segment Control of both frames. When this technique is used, that is, if the frame has a CAP less than 3 or CC=0, the originating station selects the maximum segment size (in bytes) to ensure that the total time for all frames in the forwarding transmission is less than the maximum allowed frame length (in time) to control latency for higher priority traffic. This can be determined from the information contained in the TX channel map (station A to I) and the Connection Information Response received from station I.
Other embodiments of the frame forwarding mechanism are contemplated. For example, and with reference to
In this reduced-overhead scheme, and referring to
Referring to
Still using the reduced-overhead frame format and referring to
In yet another alternative embodiment, in which the EOF delimiter is used, and referring to
The normal backoff procedure is executed by station A in the case where station A does not receive (or infer) an ACK after the first frame 802 and/or the second frame 806. A particular access attempt is completed early when a NACK, FAIL, or no response is received (i.e. ACK is not received or inferred) after the first frame.
Intermediate station resources (i.e., a receive buffer) must be available for a station to receive any frame that may be intended for it. In the case of an intermediate station acting as a relay, no additional receive buffer is required since the receive buffer is immediately emptied (frame retransmitted) and made available before any other traffic can arrive at the station (since the medium will be busy for the duration of the frame to and from the intermediate station). If the frame to be relayed cannot be retransmitted immediately, it will be dropped. A frame may not be able to be transmitted immediately (and is therefore dropped) if the forwarding frame is interrupted by a higher priority, or if the frame is too long to fit in a single segment because of the frame length and current channel map. In the latter case, the station returns a FAIL to the originating station. The reserved bits in FAIL could be used for a REASON field to return a fail reason code (i.e. indicate frame too long to forward) if there is more than one reason to return a FAIL.
It is to be understood that while the invention has been described in conjunction with the detailed description thereof, the foregoing description is intended to illustrate and not limit the scope of the invention, which is defined by the scope of the appended claims. Other embodiments are within the scope of the following claims.
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|U.S. Classification
|370/401, 370/445
|International Classification
|Cooperative Classification
|European Classification
|Nov 20, 2000
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