Partitioned MAC Architecture Using Shared Bus for Wireless Terminals
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Solution Overview
Problem
The bifurcation of medium access control into upper and lower controls in wireless networks increases costs and complexity due to the need for additional communication interfaces and software layers for data transfer and coordination between these components.
Innovation Solution
The implementation of a partitioned medium access control architecture that utilizes an existing shared bus for data transfer between upper and lower medium access controls, allowing them to communicate without additional interfaces and reducing software requirements through memory-mapped data passing.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If medium access control is bifurcated into upper and lower controls, then functional modularity and independence are improved, but device complexity and cost increase due to additional communication interfaces and software layers
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges the upper medium access control with the host processor's integrated circuit, eliminating the need for separate communication interfaces. The upper MAC functions are integrated into the host processor's existing hardware architecture, allowing data transfer through the existing bus without additional interfaces or software coordination layers.
Solution Approach 2:
The existing bus infrastructure is made universal by using it for both traditional host-peripheral communication and for transferring data between upper and lower medium access controls. This multi-functional use of the existing bus eliminates the need for dedicated communication interfaces between MAC layers.
2Productivity
If additional communication interfaces are added for data transfer between upper and lower medium access controls, then data transfer capability is improved, but manufacturing cost increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines the data transfer function between upper and lower MAC layers with the existing bus infrastructure already present in the wireless station. By merging these functions, no additional communication interfaces are added, and manufacturing cost is avoided while data transfer capability is maintained.
Solution Approach 2:
The existing bus serves itself by handling both traditional host-peripheral communication and the new upper-lower MAC data transfer function. The system uses its existing infrastructure to serve additional purposes without requiring separate dedicated components.
3Ease of operation
If additional software layers are added for coordinating data transfer between upper and lower medium access controls, then coordination capability is improved, but device complexity and maintenance difficulty increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges the coordination function into the existing bus memory-mapped I/O mechanism, eliminating the need for additional software layers. The upper and lower MAC layers communicate directly through memory-mapped addresses, using the existing bus protocol without requiring new coordination software.
Solution Approach 2:
The bus acts as an intermediary that provides memory-mapped access between upper and lower MAC layers. This intermediary mechanism uses the existing bus infrastructure to enable direct memory access, eliminating the need for additional coordination software layers.
Data Source
AI summary
A novel implementation of a partitioned medium access control (MAC) is disclosed. The illustrative embodiment employs a shared bus that typically is already present in a wireless terminal for communication between an upper MAC and a lower MAC. The partitioned MAC implementation therefore does not require any additional communication means between the upper MAC and lower MAC, resulting in a lower-cost system. In addition, the upper MAC and lower MAC pass native data structures by reference over the shared bus, thereby eliminating the need for drivers to coordinate communication via interrupts, handshaking, etc. The partitioned MAC implementation results in a cost-effective distributed architecture in which the upper MAC resides in the terminal's host processor, and the lower MAC resides in the terminal's wireless station.