USPatentGranted
B2Managing contention-free time allocations in a network
Granted 13 Jul 2010 · 2 office actions
Current assignee: Sigma Designs Inc. · originally Coppergate Communications
Law firm: Law firm · Log in to unlock
Attorney: Attorney · Log in to unlock
Inventors: Deepak Ayyagari, Srinivas Katar, Wai Chung Chan, George M. Peponides +4 · Examiner: Tri H Phan · AU 2471 · TC 2400
Application
11/337,963
filed 23 Jan 2006
Publication
US 20070025383
published 1 Feb 2007
Patent· this page
US 7,756,152
granted 13 Jul 2010
30
Claims
2 independent
105
File wrapper
transactions
2026
20-year term
term adjustment not held
none
Litigation
checked
10
Classifications
H04Q1/30, H04L12/43
251
Citations
251 cites · 0 cited by
Life of the patent
14 dated events⤢ drag to zoom
ProsecutionTerm & feeshover for detail · click to open
Abstract
A method and corresponding system for communicating between stations in a network are presented. The method includes providing repeated beacon transmissions from a coordinator station for coordinating transmissions among a plurality of the stations; transmitting from a first station to a second station during a time slot assigned to the first station by at least one of the beacon transmissions; and transmitting from the first station information that grants permission to the second station to transmit during at least a portion of a time slot assigned to the first station.
Claims
30 · 2 independent · depth 430 granted claims
›1.independentA method for communicating between stations in a network, the method comprising:nproviding repeated beacon transmissions from a coordinator station fo…+28
›2.↳ 1The method of claim 1, wherein the time slot assigned to the first station includes time during which the second station is able to transmit acknowled…d2+3
›3.↳ 2The method of claim 2, wherein the portion of the time slot during which the second station has received permission to transmit is larger than the tim…d3
›4.↳ 2The method of claim 2, wherein the first station provides permission for the second station to transmit during at least a portion of a time slot assig…d3
›5.↳ 2The method of claim 2, wherein the acknowledgement information includes information designating which of multiple segments of information were success…d3
›6.↳ 1The method of claim 1, wherein information transmitted from the second station in the portion of the time slot is information other than acknowledgeme…d2
›7.↳ 1The method of claim 1, wherein the time slot assigned to the first station is determined from a time reference contained in a beacon transmission.d2+2
›8.↳ 7The method of claim 7, wherein the time reference comprises a time at which a predetermined portion of the beacon transmission is received.d3
›9.↳ 7The method of claim 7, wherein determining the time slot from the time reference comprises determining starting and ending times for the time slot mea…d3
›10.↳ 1The method of claim 1, wherein the first station transmits grant information to the second station specifying a portion of the time slot during which …d2+5
›11.↳ 10The method of claim 10, wherein the portion of the time slot comprises a portion of the same time slot during which the grant information was received…d3
›12.↳ 10The method of claim 10, wherein the portion of the time slot comprises a portion of a time slot subsequent to the time slot during which the grant inf…d3
›13.↳ 10The method of claim 10, wherein the first station is assigned a plurality of non-contiguous time slots between successive beacon transmissions for tra…d3+1
›14.↳ 13The method of claim 13, wherein the portion of the time slot comprises a portion of a time slot subsequent to the time slot during which the grant inf…d4
›15.↳ 10The method of claim 10, wherein the grant information in included in header information of a transmission from the first station to the second station…d3
›16.↳ 1The method of claim 1, wherein the first station provides permission for the second station to transmit during at least a portion of a time slot assig…d2+1
›17.↳ 16The method of claim 16, wherein the first station provides permission for the second station to transmit during at least a portion of a time slot assi…d3
›18.↳ 1The method of claim 1, wherein the first station provides permission for the second station to transmit during at least a portion of a time slot assig…d2+2
›19.↳ 18The method of claim 18, wherein the first station indicates an amount of time granted to the second station.d3+1
›20.↳ 19The method of claim 19, wherein the second station relinquishes an unused portion of the time granted back to the first station.d4
›21.↳ 1The method of claim 1, wherein information transmitted from the second station to the first station during the portion of the time slot assigned to th…d2+3
›22.↳ 21The method of claim 21, wherein information transmitted from the second station to the first station during the portion of the time slot assigned to t…d3+1
›23.↳ 22The method of claim 22, wherein the adaptation information comprises a map that designates a type of modulation that is to be used, respectively, on e…d4
›24.↳ 21The method of claim 21, wherein information transmitted from the second station to the first station during the portion of the time slot assigned to t…d3
›25.↳ 1The method of claim 1, further comprising, in response to not receiving permission from the first station for the second station to transmit during a …d2
›26.↳ 1The method of claim 1, wherein transmitting from a first station to a second station during a time slot determined based on at least one of the beacon…d2
›27.↳ 1The method of claim 1 wherein the coordinator station coordinates a plurality of transmissions among the plurality of stations to occur in an interval…d2
›28.↳ 1The method of claim 1 wherein a beacon transmission allocates a plurality of time slots to the plurality of stations.d2
›29.↳ 1The method of claim 1 wherein the information that grants permission to the second station to transmit is included in a transmission from the first st…d2
›30.independentA system for communicating between stations, the system comprising:na coordinator station configured to provide repeated beacon transmissions for coor…
Classifications
10 codesIPC · International Patent Classification
Section H — Electricity
- H04Q1/30
- H04L12/43
- H04M9/00
- H04B7/212
- H04L12/413
USPC · US Patent Classification
370/442370/461370/447340/538455/402
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Pendency
4.5 y
1,632 days filing → grant
Office actions
1
non-final + final
Responses
1
3 RCE
Interviews
1
examiner interview summaries
Examiner
Tri H Phan
art unit 2471 · TC 2400
Law firm
Citations: 251 back · 0 forward
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2 priority documentsPriority
27 Jul 2005
earliest claimed
›Priority documents — 2
| Type | Document | Date |
|---|---|---|
| provisional | US 60702717 00 | 27 Jul 2005 |
| related publication | US 20070025383 A1 | 1 Feb 2007 |
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