Abstract: This disclosure provides systems, methods and apparatuses for allocating bandwidth resources to wireless network devices. In some implementations, an access point (AP) may allocate uplink resource units (RUs) to a given device (STA) based on the amount of UL data the STA has queued for transmission to the AP and a priority level of the UL data. Each STA associated with the AP may transmit a buffer status report (BSR) indicating an amount of queued UL data buffered in the respective STA and one or more access categories or traffic identifiers (TIDs) to which the queued data belongs. The AP may generate an RU allocation scheme based on the BSRs received from each of its associated STAs. The RU allocation scheme may indicate the size and number of RUs to be allocated to each STA for UL transmissions. The AP may receive UL data from a STA via the RUs allocated to that STA.

Abstract: Methods, systems, and devices for wireless communication are described. An access point (AP) may use a combination of broadcast, multicast, and unicast target wake time (TWT) procedures to coordinate communications with multiple stations (STAs) within a basic service set (BSS) based, for example, on the presence of data for particular STAs. Following a beacon frame broadcast, the AP may indicate TWT service periods (SPs) for communication with a subset of the STAs within a BSS, where the signal may include a trigger for the subset of STAs. The AP may also identify a presence of data for an STA during one TWT SP, and the AP may trigger the STA to operate during a subsequent TWT SP based on identifying the presence of data for the STA.

Abstract: Various example embodiments are disclosed relating to the establishment of reliable multicast/broadcast sessions in a wireless network. According to an example embodiment, an apparatus may be configured to receive, from a wireless recipient station, a request to establish a reliable multicast/broadcast session with the recipient station. The apparatus may be further configured to transmit, to the recipient station, a response to the request to establish the reliable multicast/broadcast session. The response may include one or more retransmission fields describing a retransmission of data for the requested reliable multicast/broadcast session. For example, the request may include a retransmission multicast address to be used for retransmission of data for the multicast/broadcast session.

Abstract: Various example embodiments are disclosed relating to the establishment of reliable multicast/broadcast sessions in a wireless network. According to an example embodiment, an apparatus may be configured to receive, from a wireless recipient station, a request to establish a reliable multicast/broadcast session with the recipient station. The apparatus may be further configured to transmit, to the recipient station, a response to the request to establish the reliable multicast /broadcast session. The response may include one or more retransmission fields describing a retransmission of data for the requested reliable multicast/broadcast session. For example, the request may include a retransmission multicast address to be used for retransmission of data for the multicast/broadcast session.

Abstract: The present invention relates generally to wireless networking, and more particularly to methods and apparatuses for increasing throughput of wireless devices and systems in a wireless network. The invention includes transmitting one or more signaling frames from one wireless device in the wireless network to other wireless devices (STAs) in the wireless network. The one or more signaling frames contain information concerning channel allocation for the transmission and requirement for the acknowledgement frames between the transmitting wireless device and the receiving wireless devices. This invention allows wireless devices not allocated the transmission medium to sleep during a transmission burst and different wireless devices allocated the transmission medium to be scheduled in different data transmission bursts.

Abstract: The present invention relates generally to managing acknowledgements for multicast data in a wireless network. According to certain aspects, embodiments of the invention allow for adopting appropriate acknowledgement mechanisms to address the particular need of different applications, for example in terms of throughput, latency and delay. According to certain other aspects, embodiments of the invention can, depending on link conditions, vary the frequency of the acknowledgements to sinks, vary the application packet size and/or remove sink devices from the multicast group and reach them instead via unicast transmission or via an access point.

Abstract: The present invention relates generally to wireless networking, and more particularly to methods and apparatuses for providing increased system throughput of next generation WLAN devices without impacting the throughput of legacy devices. According to certain aspects of the invention, some embodiments allow a controller to set the energy level for an STA to use to determine whether the medium is busy or not. According to certain other aspects of the invention, some embodiments allow an STA to set the energy level individually of the controller but considering the received energy levels from neighbor AP's in the network. According to further other aspects of the invention, some embodiments allow an STA to set the energy level individually by taking into consideration of the load and percentage of legacy devices in the BSS and OBSSs of the network.

Abstract: Methods for improving communication channel use in a WLAN network are disclosed. According to certain aspects of the invention, a first wireless station in the WLAN network transmits over a communication channel a first data unit to a second wireless station in the WLAN network. The first data unit contains information identifying a wireless station in the WLAN network. Based on the received identifying information, the identified wireless station can transmit data to the first wireless station using the same communication channel without processing delay on a unit by unit basis. According to certain other aspects, embodiments of the invention include methods that allow an identified wireless station to send consecutive data units to the first wireless station with minimal latency.

Abstract: The present invention relates generally to managing acknowledgments for multicast data in a wireless network. According to certain aspects, embodiments of the invention allow for adopting appropriate acknowledgement mechanisms to address the particular need of different applications, for example in terms of throughput, latency and delay. According to certain other aspects, embodiments of the invention can, depending on link conditions, vary the frequency of the acknowledgements to sinks, vary the application packet size and/or remove sink devices from the multicast group and reach them instead via unicast transmission or via an access point.

Abstract: The present invention provides methods and apparatuses for managing multicast addresses and connectivity arrangements for transporting multicast data in a wireless network. According to certain aspects, embodiments of the invention enable allocation of multicast addresses to facilitate reliable multicast/groupcast transmissions by any device in a wireless network, and not just an access point, as well as in wireless networks where there is no support for 802.11aa. According to certain other aspects, embodiments of the invention allow for multicast transmission to sinks in a wireless network that are not reachable to the source device even in presence of an access point that does not support IEEE 802.11aa.

Abstract: The present invention relates generally to wireless networking, and more particularly to methods and apparatuses for providing flexible WiFi docking with minimal overhead. According to certain aspects, embodiments of the invention include methods and apparatuses that allow a WD to select peripherals in a configuration that is useful for the WD from a Topology point of view. According to certain other aspects, embodiments of the invention include methods and apparatuses that allow peripherals to be used as part of the Docking Session, but does not require using all the peripherals all the time. According to certain additional aspects, embodiments of the invention include methods and apparatuses that allow for dynamically switching the use of peripherals with minimal overhead. According to still further additional aspects, embodiments of the invention include methods and apparatuses for signaling user authentication functionality for certain peripherals to be used in a docking session.

Abstract: A source device which is a distributed device and which is not a wireless network access point advertises a multicast data stream; receives from a destination device a message indicating that the destination device wants to receive the multicast data stream; and adds the destination device to a list of destination devices for the multicast data stream, in which the list is stored in a computer readable memory. In various exemplary embodiments the advertising comprises broadcasting in a protocol adaptation layer an advertisement comprising a multicast medium access control (MAC) address and an address for the source device; or sending to a centralized controller a first message comprising the MAC address which triggers the centralized controller to broadcast an advertisement for the multicast data stream to destination devices. Prior to advertising the source device may create a multicast MAC address and check for uniqueness of the created address via signaling.

Abstract: To determine a location of a client device in a wireless network having at least first and second network devices, with known locations, one of the network devices transmits a message to the other network device and the other network device responds with an acknowledgement message. A client device receives the message and the acknowledgement message as well as respective times indicating actual times at which the message and the acknowledgement message were processed by one of the first and second network devices. The client device determines its location based on the times at which it received the message and the acknowledgement message and the difference between the actual processing times. This location may be refined by determining an angle between the client device and at least one of the network devices having multiple antennas and being configured for steered beam communications.

Abstract: Method, apparatus, and computer program product embodiments are disclosed to setup data path transfer between concurrently operating frequency bands of multiband wireless LAN (WLAN) devices. The embodiments provide an enhancement to the Fast Session Transfer (FST) by introducing a new Information Element (IE) in the Fast Session Transfer (FST) frames to enable negotiating the parameters to be established as a result of switching of at least a portion of the existing data/traffic streams to another frequency band. The new Information Element (IE) includes at least the number of streams being switched and for each stream being switched the stream ID. The new Information Element enables the transmitting and receiving devices to negotiate the connection setup parameters associated with a requested transfer of the operating frequency band.

Abstract: An apparatus, method and computer program product for facilitating one or more stations' (STAs) requests to an access point (AP) to be allowed an exemption regarding scanning of channels in a basic service set and allowing the AP to disallow STAs having visibility of certain channels to be exempt from scanning, although the traffic on a respective channel that the STAs are operating on is below a predetermined threshold, are provided. The apparatus may include a processor configured to receive requests for exemption from scanning adjacent channels to identify devices in a basic service set operating in the channels. The processor may also be configured to determine if a request(s) is received from a device(s) which determines that one of the channels is unavailable for use and when the determination reveals that a channel is unavailable for use, the processor is configured to disallow the device exemption.

Abstract: A method for saving power, at a mobile terminal, includes receiving a call, at a network entity, wherein the call contains information relating to transmission of the call from the network entity to the mobile terminal. The mobile terminal operates in first and second communications networks, which are different. The mobile terminal detects coverage of the first communications network and activates a first interface corresponding to the first communications network. The mobile terminal can also deactivate the first interface and activate a second interface corresponding to the second communications network while the mobile terminal is located in both the first and second communications networks. The mobile terminal can then enter a low power consumption mode supported by the second communications network.

Abstract: In the preferred embodiments, it is first determined whether or not a TCP connection from a sending device to a receiving device in the wireless communications network is in a slow start phase. If the TCP connection is in a slow start phase, then the data to be sent in the TCP connection that is allocated a priority that is higher than the priority allocated to other data to be sent by the sending device. The sending device may be a mobile terminal, a Serving GPRS Support Node (SGSN), a device in a WiMAX environment or other network device, and the method of the preferred embodiments may be implemented by software installed and executed on the network device.

Abstract: A system and method for including aggregation control information in an aggregate frame that facilitates enhanced power efficiency is provided. Aggregation control information may include lengths of frames addressed to different stations and/or transmission opportunities to different stations. A receiving station is then able to calculate an offset within the aggregate frame that identifies the position of frames addressed to the receiving station and/or offset when it can use the medium to transmit it's data. The receiving station may then enter a sleep mode and awaken at a proper time for using the medium to either receive, or transmit data on the medium. Additionally, aggregation control information may include rate information to facilitate aggregation of multi-rate data in an aggregate frame.

Abstract: A station of a wireless local area network, the station includes a joining unit configured to join one of a plurality of cliques or to create a new clique, wherein each of the plurality of cliques includes at least one station and wherein each station in a clique can hear all other stations within the clique. The station also includes a communication unit configured to communicate with a server that assigns a unique value to each station in the clique when the station joins the network, wherein the value is used to determine a rank associated with each station within the clique. The server is configured to maintain a system map that defines information associated with each of the plurality of cliques and all of the stations in the network. The station also includes a listening unit configured to listen for a predefined signal such that upon receipt of the predefined signal each station in the clique is configured to begin transmission based on an order determined by a ranking of the stations in the clique.

Abstract: A source device which is a distributed device and which is not a wireless network access point advertises a multicast data stream; receives from a destination device a message indicating that the destination device wants to receive the multicast data stream; and adds the destination device to a list of destination devices for the multicast data stream, in which the list is stored in a computer readable memory. In various exemplary embodiments the advertising comprises broadcasting in a protocol adaptation layer an advertisement comprising a multicast medium access control (MAC) address and an address for the source device; or sending to a centralized controller a first message comprising the MAC address which triggers the centralized controller to broadcast an advertisement for the multicast data stream to destination devices. Prior to advertising the source device may create a multicast MAC address and check for uniqueness of the created address via signaling.