Power saving when using aggregated packets
In a communications packet directed to multiple addresses and having a directory of the addresses in order of transmission, a device receiving the packet may use the directory to help determine when the last frame in which the device has an interest is received, and then enter a low power mode for the remainder of the packet reception. The device constructing the packet for transmission may arrange the frames in a manner that promotes overall power savings in the group of addressed devices.
1. An apparatus comprising a wireless communications device to construct a packet containing a directory structure followed by multiple addressed frames, the multiple addressed frames organized into groups containing like addresses, the directory structure containing a list of addresses in the addressed frames in an order the groups are to be transmitted;
wherein the addressed frames comprise a multicast section of frames containing multicast addresses and a unicast section of frames containing unicast addresses, the multicast section to be transmitted before the unicast section; and
wherein frames or groups of frames containing like addresses and having shorter lengths are to be transmitted before frames or groups of frames containing like addresses and having longer lengths in the multicast section of frames or the unicast section of frames, or combinations thereof.
2. An apparatus comprising a wireless communications device to construct a packet containing a directory structure followed by multiple addressed frames, the multiple addressed frames organized into groups containing like addresses, the directory structure containing a list of addresses in the addressed frames in an order the groups are to be transmitted;
wherein a multicast section comprises frame groups arranged in order of length of the frame groups; and
wherein frames or groups of frames containing like addresses and having shorter lengths are to be transmitted before frames or groups of frames containing like addresses and having longer lengths in the multicast section.
3. An apparatus comprising a wireless communications device to construct a packet containing a directory structure followed by multiple addressed frames, the multiple addressed frames organized into groups containing like addresses, the directory structure containing a list of addresses in the addressed frames in an order the groups are to be transmitted;
wherein a multicast section comprises frame groups arranged in order of value of a parameter derived by dividing each frame group length by a quantity of devices having an interest in the frame group; and
wherein frames or groups of frames containing like addresses and having shorter lengths are to be transmitted before frames or groups of frames containing like addresses and having longer lengths in the multicast section.
4. An apparatus comprising a wireless communications device to construct a packet containing a directory structure followed by multiple addressed frames, the multiple addressed frames organized into groups containing like addresses, the directory structure containing a list of addresses in the addressed frames in an order the groups are to be transmitted;
wherein a unicast section comprises frame groups arranged in order of length of the frame groups; and
wherein frames or groups of frames containing like addresses and having shorter lengths are to be transmitted before frames or groups of frames containing like addresses and having longer lengths in the unicast section.
5. A method for constructing a packet in a communication system, the method comprising:
constructing a packet containing a directory structure followed by multiple addressed frames, the directory structure containing a list of addresses in the addressed frames in an order the addressed frames are to be transmitted;
wherein the addressed frames comprise a multicast section of frames and a unicast section of frames, the multicast section to be transmitted before the unicast section;
wherein each address in the list of addresses appears only once in the directory structure, and addressed frames are organized into groups of adjacent frames with a same address; and
wherein frames or groups of frames containing like addresses and having shorter lengths are to be transmitted before frames or groups of frames containing like addresses and having longer lengths in the multicast section of frames or the unicast section of frames, or combinations thereof.
6. The method of claim 5 , wherein the groups of frames of the multicast section are arranged in order of length of the groups.
7. The method of claim 5 , wherein the addressed frames of the multicast section are arranged in order of a value of a parameter derived by dividing a length of each particular group by a quantity of devices that are expected to have an interest in the frames of the particular group.
8. The method of claim 5 , wherein the frame groups of the unicast section are arranged in order of length.
9. An article comprising
a machine-readable medium that provides instructions, which when executed by a computing platform, cause said computing platform to perform operations comprising:
constructing a packet containing as directory structure followed by multiple addressed frames, the multiple addressed frames organized into groups of frames having a like address, the directory structure containing a list of the like addresses in an order the groups of frames are to be transmitted;
wherein the addressed frames comprise a multicast section containing groups of frames with multicast addresses and a unicast section containing groups of frames with multicast addresses, the multicast section to be transmitted before the unicast section; and
wherein frames or groups of frames containing like addresses and having shorter lengths are to be transmitted before frames or groups of frames containing like addresses and having longer lengths in the multicast section of frames or the unicast section of frames, or combinations thereof.
10. An article comprising
a machine-readable medium that provides instructions, which when executed by a computing platform, cause said computing platform to perform operations comprising:
constructing a packet containing as directory structure followed by multiple addressed frames, the multiple addressed frames organized into groups of frames having a like address, the directory structure containing a list of the like addresses in an order the groups of frames are to be transmitted;
wherein the groups in a multicast section are arranged in order of length of the groups; and
wherein frames or groups of frames containing like addresses and having shorter lengths are to be transmitted before frames or groups of frames containing like addresses and having longer lengths in the multicast section.
11. An article comprising
a machine-readable medium that provides instructions, which when executed by a computing platform, cause said computing platform to perform operations comprising:
constructing a packet containing as directory structure followed by multiple addressed frames, the multiple addressed frames organized into groups of frames having a like address, the directory structure containing a list of the like addresses in an order the groups of frames are to be transmitted;
wherein the groups in a multicast section are arranged in order of a value of a parameter derived by dividing a length of each particular group by a quantity of devices that are expected to have an interest in frames in the particular group; and
wherein frames or groups of frames containing like addresses and having shorter lengths are to be transmitted before frames or groups of frames containing like addresses and having longer lengths in the multicast section.
12. An article comprising
a machine-readable medium that provides instructions, which when executed by a computing platform, cause said computing platform to perform operations comprising:
constructing a packet containing a directory structure followed by multiple addressed frames, the multiple addressed frames organized into groups of frames having a like address, the directory structure containing a list of the like addresses in an order the groups of frames are to be transmitted; and
wherein the groups in a unicast section are arranged in order of length of each group;
wherein frames or groups of frames containing like addresses and having shorter lengths are to be transmitted before frames or groups of frames containing like addresses and having longer lengths in the multicast section of frames or the unicast section of frames, or combinations thereof.