Collision reduction in wireless medium access
A process for reducing contentions and/or packet collisions during downlink and/or uplink communications in a multipoint environment that uses time slice scheduling to overcome the technical deficiencies of CBAP and rasterized-based scheduling is described herein. For example, an access point (AP) controller configured to communicate with one or more APs obtains interference data from one or more APs and/or stations (STAs) and/or traffic load data, and uses this information to divide a time period into one or more time slices and to assign each AP to one or more of the time slices. The AP controller uses this information to determine a number of time slices in which to divide the time period and a length of each time slice. Once the number and length of the time slices is determined, the AP controller assigns one or more APs to each time slice.
1 . A method of scheduling wireless communication based on time slices, the method comprising:
obtaining interference data from one or more access points;
obtaining traffic load data for one or more data packets to be transmitted by the one or more access points;
determining a number of time slices within a downlink transmission period based on a number of the one or more access points;
determining at least one of a length of the time slices or an assignment of the one or more access points to the time slices based on at least one of the interference data or the traffic load data; and
transmitting, to each of the one or more access points, a scheduling message indicating a time slice within the time slices assigned to the respective access point, wherein the scheduling message transmitted to a first access point in the one or more access points causes the first access point to transmit a first data packet in the one or more data packets to an assigned station during the time slice indicated in the scheduling message.
2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein a first access point in the one or more access points is assigned to two or more of the time slices.
3 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the downlink transmission period comprises one of a contention-based access period or a schedule period, and wherein the schedule period is rasterized.
4 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the scheduling message transmitted to the first access point in the one or more access points further indicates a start time of the time slice assigned to the first access point and one of a duration or an end time of the time slice assigned to the first access point.
5 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the scheduling message transmitted to the first access point in the one or more access points further indicates the assigned station to which the first access point is configured to transmit during the time slice assigned to the first access point.
6 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the scheduling message transmitted to the first access point in the one or more access points further indicates at least one of a spatial beam or a modulation and coding size of the first access point that the first access point is configured to use to transmit to the assigned station during the time slice assigned to the first access point.
7 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the determination of the number of time slices within the downlink transmission period is one of a static determination or a dynamic determination.
8 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising determining a second number of second time slices within a second downlink transmission period that follows the downlink transmission period.
9 . The method of claim 8 , further comprising determining at least one of a second length of the second time slices or a second assignment of the one or more access points to the second time slices for the second downlink transmission period.
10 . The method of claim 1 , wherein each time slice in the time slices has a same length.
11 . The method of claim 1 , wherein one or more of the time slices in the time slices has a different length.
12 . The method of claim 1 , wherein a uniform number of access points in the one or more access points is assigned to each of the time slices.
13 . The method of claim 1 , wherein a non-uniform number of access points in the one or more access points is assigned to each of the time slices.
14 . The method of claim 1 , wherein a first time slice in the time slices is reserved for one or more outgoing access points in the one or more access points, and wherein a second time slice in the time slices is reserved for one or more incoming access points in the one or more access points.
15 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the first access point in the one or more access points is a serving access point for the assigned station, and wherein a second access point in the one or more access points is a backup serving access point for the assigned station.
16 . The method of claim 15 , wherein the first access point and the second access point are assigned to different time slices in the time slices.
17 . Non-transitory, computer-readable storage comprising computer-executable instructions, wherein the computer-executable instructions, when executed by an access point controller, cause the access point controller to:
obtain interference data from one or more access points;
obtain traffic load data for one or more data packets to be transmitted by the one or more access points;
determine a number of time slices within a downlink transmission period based on a number of the one or more access points;
determine at least one of a length of the time slices or an assignment of the one or more access points to the time slices based on at least one of the interference data or the traffic load data; and
transmit, to each of the one or more access points, a scheduling message indicating a time slice within the time slices assigned to the respective access point, wherein the scheduling message transmitted to a first access point in the one or more access points causes the first access point to transmit a first data packet in the one or more data packets to an assigned station during the time slice indicated in the scheduling message.
18 . The non-transitory, computer-readable storage of claim 17 , wherein the scheduling message transmitted to the first access point further indicates a start time of the time slice assigned to the first access point and one of a duration or an end time of the time slice assigned to the first access point.
19 . A network system for wireless communication, the network system comprising:
an access point; and
an access point controller comprising at least one processor and storing instructions, wherein the instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the access point to perform operations, the operations comprising:
obtaining interference data from the access point and one or more other access points;
obtaining traffic load data for one or more data packets to be transmitted by the access point and the one or more other access points;
determining a number of time slices within a downlink transmission period based on a number of the access point and the one or more other access points;
determining at least one of a length of the time slices or an assignment of the access point and one or more other access points to the time slices based on at least one of the interference data or the traffic load data; and
transmitting, to each of the access point and the one or more other access points, a scheduling message indicating a time slice within the time slices assigned to the respective access point, wherein the scheduling message transmitted to a first access point in the one or more access points causes the first access point to transmit a first data packet in the one or more data packets to an assigned station during the time slice indicated in the scheduling message.
20 . The network system of claim 19 , wherein the scheduling message transmitted to the first access point further indicates a start time of the time slice assigned to the first access point and one of a duration or an end time of the time slice assigned to the first access point.