WPAN Delayed Acknowledgement Bitmap Reducing Overhead
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Solution Overview
Problem
In wireless personal area networks (WPANs) using the IEEE 802.15.3 standard, the current method of acknowledging received fragmented packets with immediate and delayed acknowledgement frames is inefficient, leading to increased communication overhead and reduced throughput due to the significant size of the acknowledgement frames, especially when multiple packets are fragmented.
Innovation Solution
Implementing a delayed acknowledgement frame that uses a bitmap field to acknowledge multiple fragmented packets, where each bitmap value indicates the receipt status of individual packets, reducing the frame size and communication overhead by eliminating the need for two bytes per packet acknowledgement.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If immediate and delayed acknowledgement frames are used to acknowledge each fragmented packet individually, then packet receipt reliability is improved, but communication overhead increases and throughput decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines multiple individual packet acknowledgements into a single consolidated delayed acknowledgement frame. Instead of sending separate ACK frames for each fragmented packet, the receiver sends one frame containing bitmap fields that indicate the receipt status of multiple packets simultaneously, thereby reducing communication overhead while maintaining reliability
Solution Approach 2:
The delayed acknowledgement frame is designed to serve multiple functions by incorporating multiple bitmap fields, each representing a different fragmented packet. This multi-functional design allows a single frame to acknowledge receipt status of multiple packets, replacing what would traditionally require multiple separate acknowledgement frames
2Loss of information
If individual packet acknowledgement frames are sent for each fragmented packet, then packet receipt status is accurately tracked, but bandwidth usage increases
Solution Approach 1:
Multiple packet receipt status indications are merged into a single delayed acknowledgement frame using bitmap fields. Each bitmap field corresponds to a fragmented packet and contains bit information indicating receipt status, allowing comprehensive tracking of multiple packets within one frame transmission, thereby reducing total bandwidth consumption
Solution Approach 2:
The patent uses bitmap fields as compact representations (copies) of packet receipt status information. Instead of transmitting full acknowledgement frames for each packet, the system transmits condensed bitmap data that conveys the same receipt status information more efficiently, reducing the amount of data transmitted over the wireless channel
Data Source
AI summary
A method and system for acknowledging the receipt of a transmitted data stream in a wireless personal area network (WPAN) are disclosed. In one embodiment, a plurality of medium access control (MAC) protocol data units (MPDUs) are transmitted from a transmitting party to a receiving party, and the receiving entity sends a delayed acknowledgment frame to the transmitting party using a bitmap field for each of the fragmented packets instead of using two bytes of an MPDU block for acknowledging each received MPDU. The bitmap field includes a plurality of bitmap values corresponding to the plurality of MPDUs, and each of the plurality of bitmap values is indicative of whether each of the MPDUs is received or not.