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  • Medium Access Protocol For Wireless Local Area Network (US Patent 5422887)

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    U.S. patent 5422887: Medium access protocol for wireless local area network. Granted to Diepstraten et. al. (2 total) on 1995-06-06 (filed 1994-06-09) and assigned to NCR Corporation. Currently involved in at least 1 patent litigation: MOSAID Technologies Incorporated v. Dell, Inc. et. al. (Texas). See http://news.priorsmart.com for more info.

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    Medium access protocol for wireless local area network (US patent 5422887)

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    U.S. patent 5422887: Medium access protocol for wireless local area network. Granted to Diepstraten et. al. (2 total) on 1995-06-06 (filed 1994-06-09) and assigned to NCR Corporation. Currently involved in at least 1 patent litigation: MOSAID Technologies Incorporated v. Dell, Inc. et. al. (Texas). See http://news.priorsmart.com for more info.

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    Public Domain
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    519 views14 pages

    Medium Access Protocol For Wireless Local Area Network (US Patent 5422887)

    Uploaded by

    PriorSmart
    U.S. patent 5422887: Medium access protocol for wireless local area network. Granted to Diepstraten et. al. (2 total) on 1995-06-06 (filed 1994-06-09) and assigned to NCR Corporation. Currently involved in at least 1 patent litigation: MOSAID Technologies Incorporated v. Dell, Inc. et. al. (Texas). See http://news.priorsmart.com for more info.

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    United States Patent 19 CA A (1) Patent Number: 5,422,887 [45] Date of Patent: Jun. 6, 1995 MEDIUM ACCESS PROTOCOL FOR WIRELESS LOCAL Withelmus J. M, Diepstraten, VL Diessen; Hendrik van Bokhorst, MB [Nijkerk, both of Netherlands NCR Corporation, Dayton, Ohio Related US. Application Data Continuation of Se. No. 798,576, Nov. 27, 1991, aban- soned. [6] References Cited U.S. PATENT DOCUMENTS 4,411,007 10/1983, 4 53164942. 11/1992 Primary Examiner—Douglas W. Olms Assistant Examiner—Dang Ton Attorney, Agent, or Firm—Paul J. Maginot 7 ABSTRACT A station which broadcasts @ frame of information over ‘a wireless local area network, waits a predetermined ‘time calculated to allow other stations to gain access to the network, and thereafter broadcasts another frame of information. A method is provided which improves access fairness while reducing the collision probability, thereby increasing data throughput in the network. 15 Claims, 7 Drawing Sheets U.S. Patent June 6, 1995 Sheet 1 of 7 5,422,887 FIG. 1 Sheet 2 of 7 5,422,887 Tune 6, 1995 US. Patent frat wo = a 9 D z = ec - @S1Lu g SIGNAL, sean — gSlo LAN CONTROLLER US. Patent Tune 6, 1995 Sheet 3 of 7 5,422,887 FIG. 3A T 2. 22 BIB888e Sheet 4 of 7 5,422,887 June 6, 1995 U.S. Patent 3B FIG. RTSB 136 US, Patent June 6, 1995 Sheet 5 of 7 5,422,887 FIG. 4A crs ___J | Irs— WD RTSA RTSB CTSA CTSB CDT FIG. 4B CRS RTSA___ LE RTSB sO CTSA oy ctsB__ SJ coT Sheet 6 of 7 5,422,887 Tune 6, 1995 U.S. Patent FIG. 4C CRS WD RTSA RTSB CTSA CTSB U.S. Patent Tune 6, 1995 Sheet 7 of 7 5,422,887 5,422,887 1 MEDIUM ACCESS PROTOCOL FOR WIRELESS LOCAL AREA NETWORK ‘This is a continuation of application Ser. No. 5 07/799,516, filed on Nov. 27, 1991, now abandoned, CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED ‘APPLICATIONS. ‘The present invention relates to a wireless local area 10 network (LAN). More particularly, it relates to a proto- col for transferring data within a wireless LAN. “Local Area Network Having A Wireless Transmis- sion Line” U.S. application Ser. No. 633,691, filed Dec. 24, 1990, invented by Ad Kamerman and H. Van Bok: horst. 15, BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION ‘A local area network (LAN) isa grouping of individ- ual stations or personal computers in a relatively small area such as an office building. The stations are inter- ‘connected or linked to facilitate the transfer of data and the sharing of peripherals. A conventional LAN is “hardwired”, ie, the stations are inked by high perfor- mance cables. A’ recent improvement in LANS is the development of a wireless LAN in which stations are linked by radio signals. The wireless LAN is cheaper to install than a conventional wired LAN and is more flexible in the movement and placement of stations. In general, a specific protocol must be followed in order for a station to gain access to the medium (net- work). In a particular class of wired LANs, referred to as Ethernet, a random access protocol is employed, ‘An issue common to both conventional and wireless LANS is collision avoidance. A collision occurs when more than one station transmits at the same time. One widely used method of collision avoidance for conven- tional LANs is known as CSMA/CD (carrier sense rultiple access with collision detection). According to this known method, a station wishing to transmit a mes- sage listens until the link or transmission channel is idle before commencing to transmit an information packet ‘The station continues to listen to the channel during its ‘transmission, and if'a collision is detected, terminates its transmission and transmits a jam pattern to notify other stations of the collision. Data is transferred in frames which are separated by a fixed minimum time referred to asthe interframe spac- ing (IFS). According to the typical CSMA/CD proto- col, each station is free to attempt to broadcast a data frame at the end of the IFS period. A collision results ‘when two stations start to transfer data at the same time ‘or within the time needed to detect a carrier signal on the medium. When a collision is detected the stations are pushed into a random backoff period. The random backoff period prevents further attempts to transmit data until after the period expires. As the backoff period is random, the chances of two stations again attempting to access the network at the same time is reduced. The transfer of dats, including the backoff algorithm, is handled by a so-called Medium Access Controller chip (MAO) on each station. ‘The CSMA/CD protocol is the subject of an interna- tional (ISO) siandard and corresponding IEEE Stan- dard Number 802.3, and is a generally used random access protocol for wired LANs. Consequently, SMA/CD controller chips are widely available. For 25 30 35 35 6s 2 ‘example, the Intel 82586 LAN coprocessor chip avail- able from Intel Corporation of Santa Clara, Calif. Collision detection on a wireless LAN is difficult to implement because a transmiting sation cannot gener- ally receives much lower level signal on the medium while its transmitting a much higher level signal. U.S. patent application Ser. No. 633,691, Kamerman et al, now US. Pat. No. 5,369,639, referred to above, de- soribes a novel station which is adapted to use a stan- dard CSMA/CD controller chip in a wireless LAN ‘environment. In Kamerman etal. each station that ‘wants to transmit immediately after the IFS period is pushed into the random backoff period at the end of the TFS period, even though there has been no colision. This greatly reduces the number of collisions which occur. ‘Am issue not addressed by Kamerman etal. is that of equitable access to the network by the various stations (on the LAN. For example, the random backoff period is ‘only applied to those stations not presently broadeast- ing data. In other words, the broadcasting station need conly wait until the end of the IFS period before broad- casting another data frame. For certain network operat= ing systems, such as Novell's Netware v 2.18, client ‘workstations which transmit a data frame must wait until receiving an acknowledgment before transmitting 2 second frame. Thus, no client workstation can un- fainly dominate the network. However, a server fre- quently has a number of data frames ready for transmis- sion. Therefore, the serveris likely to tie up the network for multiple data frame transfers. This reduces data throughput and the efficiency of the system. OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION Its therefore an object of the present invention 10 provide a new and improved station for a wireless LAN. It is another object of the present invention to pro- vide a new and improved method for transferring data in a wireless LAN. It is a further object of the present invention to pro- vide a protocol which increases data throughput in a wireless LAN. It is yet another object of the present invention 10 provide a protocol which improves the efficiency of a wireless LAN. Itis yet a further object of the present invention to provide a wireless LAN which equitably controls ac- cess by server and client workstations. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION ‘One form of the present invention is a station which broadcasts a first frame of information over a wireless local area network, waits a predetermined time calcu- lated to allow other stations to gain access to the net- work, and thereafter broadcasts a second frame of infor- mation. ‘Another form of the present invention is a method of improving data throughput performance in a wireless network having a server and a plurality of workstations. A first of a series of data frames is transmitted from the server. Fach attempt to transmit a data frame from a ‘workstation is delayed for a random time after comple- tion of the transmission. The transmission attempt of the second of the series of data frames from the server is then delayed for a time greater than the random time. 5,422,887 3 BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a diagram of a wireless LAN. FIG. 2s block diagram ofa typical station utilized in the LAN shown in FIG. 1 FIGS. 3A and 3B taken together show the signal generator in FIG. 2. FIGS, 4A to 4C are waveform diagrams helpful in understanding the operation of the LAN station shown in FIG. 2. FIGS. 5A and SB are waveform diagrams helpful in understanding the operation of the present invention. DESCRIPTION OF A PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Lan 10 FIG. 1 shows a wireless local area network (LAN) 10, including a plurality N of stations 12, shown individu- ally as 12-1 to 12-N. Each station has an antenna 14, shown individually as 14-1 to 14-N. Although only a single antenna is shown for each station, it will be um- derstood that each station may have two antennas to provide a diversity feature for alleviating. multipath fading which may arise in most environments. In a preferred embodiment, station 12-1 is server (referred to herein as server S) and stations 12-2 to 12-N are client workstations. However, more than a single server can bbe designated in the network. ‘Communication among the stations 12 takes place ‘over a wireless link, on a single wireless channel. The ‘communication preferably uses spread spectrum com- ‘munication technology, but is not limited thereto. Station 12 FIG. 2 shows a block diagram of the components of ‘typical station 12. The station 12 includes a transceiver 20,2 LAN controller 22, a central processor unit (CPU) 24, and a memory 26. A local bus 28 is connected to the LAN controller 22 by & bus 30, to the CPU 24 by a bus 32, and to the memory 26 by a bus 34. The LAN con- troller 22 is a commercially available LAN controller device, suitable for the CSMA/CD (cartier sense mult- ple access with collision detection) protocol. In the preferred embodiment, the LAN controller 22 is an Intel 2586 LAN coprocessor chip, available from Tntel Corporation of Santa Clara, Calif, US.A. “The transceiver 20 and LAN controller 22 are inter- connected by a bus 36 which carries data and control signals. Also included inthe station 12 isa signal genera- tor circuit 40 which is interposed between the trans- ceiver 20 and the LAN controller 22. The signal gener- or circuit 40 receives transmit clock pulses TXCLK from the transceiver 20 over line 42 and a request-io- send signal RTSA from the LAN controller 22 over a Tine 44 ‘The signal generator circuit 40 also receives a cartier sense signal CRS and a clear-to-send signal CTSA from the wansceiver 20 over lines 46, 48 respectively. The ‘TXCLK pulses on the line 42 and the CRS signal on the line 46 are also applied directly to the LAN controller 2. The signal generator circuit 40 provides an output request-to-send signal RTSB over aline 50 connected 0 the transceiver 20, an output clear-to-send signal CTSB over a line 52 connected to the LAN controller 22, and ‘an output simulated collision detect signal CDT over a line 54 also connected to the LAN controller 22. The functions of the various signals applied to, and provided 5 1s 38 ey 45 8 « 4 by, the signal generator circuit 40 will be explained in detail hereinafter. ‘The LAN controller 22 is connected to the CPU 24 over signal lines 60 and 62, whereby control signals (uch as interrupts) may be passed between the CPU 24 and the LAN controller 22. Operation of LAN Controller 22 It should be understood that the LAN controller 22 operates according to the CSMA/CD protocol, as set forth for example inthe IEEE 802.3 standard. As previ- ously mentioned, the LAN controller 22 isa commer- cially available LAN controller device. The operation of such a controller in accordance with usage in a CSMA/CD system will now be briefly deseribed by way of background information. Thus, where used in a wired LAN utilizing the CSMA/CD protocol, the con- troller constantly monitors link activity. Whenever it senses a cari signal onthe link, the controller will not pass a data frame by deferring any pending transais- sion. After the carrier signal goes inactive, the control- ler continues to defer for an interframe spacing time configurable to a certain number of clock eyeles. I, at the end of that time, it has a frame waiting to be trans- mitted, transmission is initiated independently of the sensed carrier. After transmission has been started, the controller attempts to transmit the entre frame. In the normal case, frame transmission is completed, and the host processor is notified. However, transmission may be terminated prematurely. This occurs, for example, ‘When the collision detect input to the controller i atic ‘ated, as will now be described. ‘When the controller has finished deferring and has started transmission, itis still possible to experience link contention. This situation is called a collision, and it is generally detected by the transceiver, which then acti- Yates the collision detect input to the controler. The controller informs the other stations of a collision by transmitting a jam pattern, which is detected by the other stations in the LAN. The dynamics of collision handling are largely deter- mined by a so-alled “slot time”. The slot time is con- figurable and normally based on the maximum end to end round trip delay time of the network plus jam time. The slot time is also an integral numberof clock cycles. Slot time is important because itis the worst case time to detect a collision. After 2 collision, the controller attempts to retransmit the frame after a so-called back- off time, unless the number of retransmission attempts has exceeded the maximum allowed. The controller calculates the backoff ime according tothe IEEE 802.3 standard: backoff is an integral number of slot times. It isa random number, from 0 to a maximum value. The ‘maximum value is 281, where R is the minimum be- ‘tween 10 and the number of retransmission attempts. This range can be given an offset using an “accelerated contention resolution” mechanism. The application of this capability gives a range from 0 to a maximum value of 28K 1, where K is the retry counter offset and RK has a maximum value of 10. It should be under- stood thatthe controller includes a retry counter which js incremented after each retransmission attempt. If retransmission is successful, the user is notified. Ifthe umber of retries exceeds the maximum, an error is reported. Returning to the single-channel wireless LAN 10, FIG. 1, difficulties arise in an attempt to apply a 5,422,887 5 CSMAY/CD protocol since a station 12 which is trans- ‘mitting cannot receive a much lower level signal, thereby rendering the detection of a collision difficult or impossible. However, it would be feasible to apply a CSMA technique without collision detection if the risk of collisions were small. This requires that any carrier activity has to be detected very quickly to minimize the probability that different stations start transmitting ‘multaneously or at times very closely spaced. The car- rier detect time can be regarded as a period during which collisions can occur, and it should be small com- pared to the message duration. In a wireless LAN, the carrier detect time has several contributions, namely transceiver delay (transmitter and receiver) and through-the-air delay. The main part of the carrier de- tect time (of about 23 microseconds) is contributed by the receiver, resulting from functions such as automatic gain control, correlator filter, and carrier-signal detec- tion. The through-the-air delay at indoor distances below 300 meters is small (less than 1 microsecond). ‘This carrier detect time is relatively long compared with a typical carrier detect of about 1 to 6 microsec- onds for a wired LAN. Thus, the application of a straightforward CSMA technique for a wireless LAN has disadvantages. Signal Generator Circuit 40 ‘The signal generator circuit 40 (FIG. 2)is effective to simulate a collision, thereby providing a CDT (collision detect) signal on the line $4 when a data frame transmis- sion has been deferred, even though no actual collision has occurred. Thus, transmission or broadcast of the deferred data frame is initiated only after the lapse of a random backoff time. In this manner, the risk of colli- sions resulting from stations 12 commencing to transmit at simultaneous or closely spaced times is considerably reduced. ‘With the above in mind, the signal generator circuit 40 will now be described with reference to FIGS. 3A and 3B. The input line 42, which carries the TXCLK pulses is connected to an inverter 70, the output of which is connected to the count input of 4-bit counter ‘72 having its QD output connected over a line 74 to a 4-bit counter 76, the QB output of which is connected over a line 78 t0 the D input of a D-type flip-flop 90. ‘The input line 46, which provides the carrier sense signal CRS, is connected over lines 84 and 86 to reset inputs of the counters 72 and 76, respectively. It should bbe understood that the devices 70, 72, and 76 together form a timer, indicated generally as 88, such that an active signal appears at the QB output of the counter 76 after a time corresponding to 32 TXCLK periods from the falling edge of the CRS signal The Q output of the flip-flop 90 is connected to the cclock input of a D-type flip-flop 92. The clock input of 55 the flip-flop 90 is connected over a line 94 to the input line 42. The D input of the flip-flop 92 is connected to ‘a supply voltage Vzc. The input line 46 is connected to aan inverter 98, the output of which is connected to the reset inputs of the flip-flops 90 and 92, over lines 100 ‘and 102, respectively. With this arrangement, the Q ‘output of the flip-flop 92 provides a window start signal WS on an output line 104. ‘The line 104 is connected to the reset input of an 8-bit shift register 106 (FIG. 3), the clock input of which receives the TXCLK pulses over a line 108 connected to the input line 42. The outputs of the shift register 106 are connected to respective inputs of a header 109, 0 1s, 20 2 0 4 6 6 having its outputs commonly connected to a line 110, whereby a desired one ofthe shift register outputs may be selected to apply a corresponding delayed signal to the output line 110. The line 110 is connected to an inverter 112 whose output on the line 114 provides an active low window end signal WE/. The WS and WE/ signals on the lines 104 and 114 are applied to an AND. gate 116 (FIG. 3B), the outpat of which provides a ‘Window signal WD on line 118. ‘The window signal WD on the line 118 is applied to an OR gate 120, the output of which is connected to the D input of a D-type flip-flop 122, the Q output of which is connected to the output line $4 to provide the simu- lated collision detect signal CDT. The clock input of the flipslop 122 is connected over a line 124 to receive the TXCLK pulses from the input line 42. The reset input ofthe flip-flop 122 is connected over a ine 126 to the input line 44 which caries the request-to-send signal RISA. The Q output of the Mip-lop 122 (FIG. 3B) is also connected via a ine 128 0 an input of the OR gate 120 and to an input of an OR gate 130. Another input of the OR gate 130s connected to the ovtput of an AND gate 132 which has inputs connected, respectively, to the ‘output of the inverter 98 and to the output of the in- verter 112. ‘The input line 44 (FIG. 3A) is also connected to an inverter 134, the output of which is connected to an input of a NOR gate 136 (FIG. 3B), a second input of which is connected to the output of the OR gate 130. The output of the NOR gate 136 is connected to the output line 50 to provide the request-tosend signal RISB. ‘The input line 48 is connected to an inverter 138 FIG. 34) the output of which is connected to an input ofa NAND gate 140 (FIG. 3B) a second input of which is coupled to the Q/output of the fip-fop 122. The ‘output of the NAND gate 140 is connected to the out- put line 52 to provide the clear-t-send signal CTSB. Operation of Signal Generator Circuit 40 ‘The operation of signal generator circuit 40 (FIGS. 3A and 3B) will now be briefly described. When the carrer sense signal CRS on the line 46 drops, the timer 88 provides an active output signal on the line 78 after 32 TXCLK pulse periods, corresponding to the inter- frame spacing (IFS) time. The output of the timer 88 is synchronized by the Nip-lop 90 to eliminate any possi- ble voltage spikes. The CRS/ signal at the output of the inverter 98 ensures that the flip-flops 90 and 92 are ‘enabled when the signal CRS drops. The output of the flipflop 92 provides the window start signal WS at a time 32 TXCLK pulse periods after the CRS signal

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