Scrambled Partial ID for Wireless Packet Transmission
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Solution Overview
Problem
The IEEE 802.11ah protocol faces inefficiencies due to excessive addressing overhead and collisions caused by the use of 6-byte MAC addresses, particularly when partial IDs are used to indicate multiple stations, leading to packet collisions and retransmission issues.
Innovation Solution
The method involves scrambling a partial identifier with a synchronized timestamp to create a unique scrambled identifier for packet transmission, allowing for efficient channel use and reducing collision probability by ensuring only synchronized stations recognize and acknowledge intended packets.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If a 6-byte MAC address is used for addressing, then addressing coverage is sufficient, but addressing overhead increases and channel efficiency decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts only the necessary portion of the MAC address (partial ID) for addressing, removing the redundant bytes. This allows using a shorter address field in packets while still maintaining the ability to uniquely identify stations in the network, thereby reducing overhead and improving channel efficiency.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the addressing parameter from a fixed 6-byte MAC address to a variable-length partial ID that is sufficient for the specific network scale. This parameter change optimizes the address length to match the actual addressing needs, reducing unnecessary overhead.
2Productivity
If a partial identifier is used to reduce overhead, then addressing overhead decreases, but packet collision probability increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies preliminary scrambling to the partial ID using a time-dependent function before transmission. This preliminary action ensures that even if multiple stations have the same partial ID, their scrambled representations will differ at different times, preventing collisions and maintaining transmission reliability.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces dynamics into the addressing scheme by making the scrambled ID time-dependent. The scrambled ID changes over time based on a synchronization mechanism, allowing the same partial ID to represent different scrambled values at different moments, thus avoiding collisions.
3Reliability
If packet retransmission is performed after collision, then packet delivery reliability improves, but consecutive collisions occur and energy consumption increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies preliminary anti-action by scrambling the partial ID with a time-dependent function before transmission. This prevents collisions from occurring in the first place, eliminating the need for retransmission and the associated energy consumption. The scrambling acts as a preventive measure against the harmful effect of collisions.
Data Source
AI summary
System and method embodiments are provided for transmitting a packet to a wireless device using a partial identifier. The embodiments enable communication using partial addresses with reduced risk of collision between two devices that share the same partial identifier. In an embodiment, a method includes determining at the first wireless station a scrambled identifier for a second wireless station according to a synchronized time and a partial identifier corresponding to one of the first wireless station and the second wireless station, wherein the synchronized time is synchronized with a time in the second wireless station, and wherein the partial identifier comprises a portion of a device identifier for at least one of the first wireless station and the second wireless station, and transmitting a packet to the second wireless station, wherein the packet comprises a payload and a header, and wherein the header comprises the scrambled identifier.