Data link layer extensions to a high latency wireless MAC protocol

(54) DATA LINK LAYER EXTENSIONS TO A HIGH LATENCY WIRELESS MAC PROTOCOL

(75) Inventors: Danny N. McKay, Toronto (CA);

Murray C. Baker, North York (CA);
Rupam Sinha, Scarborough (CA);
Nelson Jean, Thornhill (CA); Daniel Y.
Wong, Scarborough (CA)

(73) Assignee: International Business Machines
Corporation, Armonk, NY (US)

( * ) Notice: Subject to any disclaimer, the term ol this patent is extended or adjusted under 35 U.S.C. 154(b) by 0 days.

(21) Appl. No.: 09/115,435

(22) Filed: Jul. 14, 1998

(51) Int. CI.7 H04L 12/56

(52) U.S. CI 370/392; 370/394; 370/432;

370/437; 370/461; 370/462; 370/494; 714/750

(58) Field of Search 370/443, 453,

370/465, 329, 348, 331, 447, 445, 431,

436, 235, 315, 346, 396, 232, 401, 389, 229, 392, 451, 228, 420, 461, 462, 494,

437, 449; 371/32, 33, 34; 375/272, 257; 709/222, 235, 253, 232, 228, 217, 260, 322, 347, 328, 337, 394, 432; 455/517;

714/701, 776, 750

(56) References Cited

U.S. PATENT DOCUMENTS

4,422,171 A * 12/1983 Wortley et al 371/32

4^454^601 A * 6/1984 Helms et al 371/34

4,498,186 A 2/1985 Hwang et al 375/7

5,222,061 A * 6/1993 Doshi et al.

5,231,634 A * 7/1993 Giles et al 370/95.1

5,260,933 A * 11/1993 Rouse 370/14

5,297,144 A 3/1994 Gilbert et al 370/95.2

5,319,648 A * 6/1994 Bux et al 714/748

5,402,422 A * 3/1995 Liu et al 370/85.5

5,528,605 A 6/1996 Ywoskus et al 371/33

5 530 693 A 6/1996 Averbuch et al 370/60

5,588,009 A * 12/1996 Will 371/33

5,631,906 A * 5/1997 Liu 370/455

5,745,685 A 4/1998 Kirchner et al 395/200.14

5 754 947 A * 5/1998 Tanabe et al 455/434

5^818^826 A * 10/1998 Gfeller et al 370/342

5,844,905 A * 12/1998 McKay et al 370/443

5,884,171 A * 3/1999 Tanabe et al 455/434

5,940,401 A * 8/1999 Frazier, Jr. et al 370/445

6,292,470 Bl * 9/2001 Uota

FOREIGN PATENT DOCUMENTS

EP 570220 A2 5/1993 H04L/1/18

EP 818905 A2 6/1997 H04L/29/02

GB 2301752 12/1996

WO 9631077 10/1996 H04Q/7/38

* cited by examiner

Primary Examiner—Seema S. Rao

Assistant Examiner—Inder Pal Mehra

(74) Attorney, Agent, or Firm—Douglas W. Cameron; Anne

Vachon Dougherty

(57) ABSTRACT

The invention provides a method for communication between a plurality ol stations in a communication network using media access protocol, in which medium access is granted to stations obtaining a successM reservation ol the medium and in which data transmission verification is performed by the protocol within the reservation. In the method a station sends a request message on the communication medium for a reservation ol the medium to a recipient station in the network. The recipient station sends a reservation confirmation message back to the sending station which receives it and responds to the reservation confirmation message by sending an ordered sequence ol data frames to the recipient station. Alter sending the ordered sequence ol data frames the sending station sends an end ol transmission message to the recipient station, which replies by sending back an end ol transmission confirmation identilying the number ol frames received in their original sequence. II the number is not correct remedial action can be taken by the sending station to resend missing data. Address conflict resolution is also provided by another aspect ol the invention. The invention has embodiments which handle unicast and groupcasting transmissions.

23 Claims, 4 Drawing Sheets