Deterministic Back-Off Scheduling for Wireless Terminals
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Solution Overview
Problem
In wireless network environments, contention-based data transmission methods like DCF suffer from collisions, leading to increased latency, reduced throughput, and inefficient energy use due to the random nature of back-off values, which can result in significant response delays and inefficiencies, especially in high-density networks.
Innovation Solution
A method and apparatus that allow terminals to autonomously schedule data transmission by determining a deterministic back-off value based on a calculated contention window size, transmitted through an extended ACK frame, ensuring collision-free data transmission and adapting to changes in the number of connected terminals and energy states.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If non-contention-based data transmission with AP scheduling is used, then collision-free data transmission is achieved, but device complexity and cost increase due to increased overhead for scheduling all terminals
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies local quality by making each terminal independently determine its back-off value based on local information (number of connected terminals) rather than requiring centralized AP scheduling for each terminal. This distributes the intelligence and reduces AP overhead while maintaining collision-free transmission.
Solution Approach 2:
Terminals autonomously determine their transmission timing by calculating back-off values based on the number of connected terminals, without requiring AP intervention for each scheduling decision. This self-service mechanism reduces AP complexity and overhead while achieving collision-free transmission.
2Device complexity
If contention-based data transmission with random back-off values is used, then device complexity remains low, but collisions occur leading to increased latency and reduced throughput
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the back-off parameter from a purely random value to a deterministic value calculated based on the number of connected terminals. This parameter change eliminates collisions while maintaining low device complexity, as terminals simply calculate and use the determined back-off value without complex scheduling protocols.
3Device complexity
If random back-off contention is used, then device complexity remains low, but response delay varies significantly due to random-based back-off
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the back-off parameter from random to deterministic based on terminal count, which eliminates the variability in response delay. Terminals calculate a specific back-off value rather than using random values, ensuring consistent and predictable transmission timing.
Data Source
AI summary
Provided are an apparatus and a method for scheduling contention-based data transmission in a network system including an access point (AP) and a plurality of terminals. The method includes determining a contention window (CW) size based on the number of terminals connected to the access point, and transmitting information about the contention window size to any one of the plurality of terminals. The apparatus includes a processor and an RF unit. Here, the processor is configured to determine a contention window (CW) size based on the number of terminals connected to the access point, and transmit information on the contention window size to any one of the plurality of terminals through the RF unit.