Tournament-Based Transmission Regulation in WLANs

Resolve Bottlenecks,
Find Innovative Solutions
Generate Solutions

Solution Overview

Problem

Existing wireless local area networks (WLANs) based on IEEE 802.11 standards face significant bandwidth loss due to high collision rates, especially under poor radio conditions, which affects the fairness and quality of service in priority data streams.

Innovation Solution

A transmission regulation method that uses a tournament-based approach to determine binary values for each selection round, allowing stations to transmit or not, and shares these values to ensure accurate index calculation for subsequent tournaments, ensuring fair access and reducing collisions.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Reliability

If the tournament method is used to regulate packet transmissions, then the collision rate is limited, but stations may still transmit simultaneously at the end of the tournament causing collisions

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvecollision rateVSAvoidbandwidth utilization
Core Design Contradiction:
ReliabilityVSProductivity

Solution Approach 1:

The patent applies preliminary action by having stations listen to selection rounds before actually transmitting data packets. During these selection rounds, stations determine their transmission authorization in advance, allowing them to adjust their behavior before the actual data transmission phase, thereby preventing collisions while maintaining efficient bandwidth utilization

Inventive Principle:
Principle #10Preliminary action

Solution Approach 2:

The patent implements feedback mechanisms where stations listen to the outcomes of selection rounds and use this information to adjust their transmission decisions. The winning station's transmission results are fed back to other stations, allowing them to update their index values and binary value sequences for subsequent tournaments, thereby reducing future collisions

Inventive Principle:
Principle #23Feedback

2Ease of operation

If stations use index values and binary value sequences to determine transmission authorization, then access fairness is improved, but accuracy of index calculation deteriorates under poor radio conditions

Engineering Contradiction:
Improveaccess fairnessVSAvoidindex value determination accuracy
Core Design Contradiction:
Ease of operationVSMeasurement precision

Solution Approach 1:

The patent applies beforehand cushioning by having stations listen to multiple selection rounds and accumulate binary value outcomes before making final transmission decisions. This preliminary information gathering cushiones against poor radio conditions during actual data transmission, as stations have already determined their authorization status through repeated listening attempts

Inventive Principle:
Principle #11Beforehand cushioning (Prior cushioning)

Solution Approach 2:

The patent uses copying by having the winning station transmit a copy of its binary value sequence to other stations. This allows receiving stations to obtain accurate index calculation data directly from the source, compensating for potential errors that might occur during normal data transmission under poor radio conditions

Inventive Principle:
Principle #26Copying

Data Source

PatentEP2901627B1Method and device for regulating transmission in a telecommunication network
Publication Date: 2017.04.26 ORANGE SA
  • EP2901627B1 patent drawingFigure 1~2
  • EP2901627B1 patent drawingFigure 3
  • EP2901627B1 patent drawing

AI summary

Method of regulating transmission implemented by a station, having at least one packet to be transmitted via a communication network, participating in at least one tournament composed of a succession of selection rounds, the method comprising, a step (G10) of obtaining by said station, for each selection round of a first tournament, a binary value assigned to said station, representative either of an authorization to transmit, or of a prohibition to transmit, a step (G100) of transmission, on completion of the first tournament, of at least one packet by said station when said station determines, as a function of at least one of the binary values assigned to said station for said selection rounds of the first tournament, that said station is authorized to transmit, said at least one packet transmitted by said station comprising data representative of the succession of binary values, assigned to said station for said selection rounds.