Method and system for acknowledgement and retransmission of multicast data in wireless local area networks
View Patent ↗A method and apparatus are described including multicasting a plurality of data units and multicasting a request for acknowledging receipt of the plurality of data units, receiving signals responsive to the request. Also described are a method and apparatus including receiving a multicast request to acknowledge receipt of data, determining if a response to the request is required, determining status of the data, preparing the response based on the determining acts and transmitting the response.
1. A method, said method comprising:
multicasting a plurality of data units;
initializing a request counter;
multicasting a request for acknowledging receipt of said plurality of data units;
incrementing said request counter;
initializing a timer;
receiving signals responsive to said request;
first determining if said timer has expired prior to receiving said signals from all receivers;
second determining if said signals responsive to said request have been received from all receivers of said request;
third determining whether said request counter has exceeded a retry limit;
updating said request for acknowledgment of said plurality of data units responsive to said third determination;
fourth determining reception status of said plurality of data units based on said received signals;
removing any identification of responding receivers from which said signals responsive to said request for acknowledgment have been received; and
re-multicasting said request for acknowledgement.
2. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising:
determining if a lifetime of said data units has been expired; and
re-multicasting said data units responsive to said determination.
3. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising receiving an acknowledgment for each multicast request.
4. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising transmitting an acknowledgment for each signal received.
5. The method according to claim 1 , wherein said signals are delayed.
6. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising receiving uplink data from said receivers.
7. The method according to claim 1 , wherein said identification is one of an association identifier, a media access control address, an internet protocol address and contained within a bitmap arrangement.
8. An apparatus, comprising:
means for multicasting a plurality of data units;
means for initializing a request counter;
means for multicasting a request for acknowledging receipt of said plurality of data units;
means for incrementing said request counter;
means for initializing a timer;
means for receiving signals responsive to said request;
means for first determining if said timer has expired prior to receiving said signals from all receivers;
means for second determining if said signals responsive to said request have been received from all receivers of said request;
means for third determining whether said request counter has exceeded a retry limit;
means for updating said request for acknowledgment of said plurality of data units responsive to said third determination;
means for fourth determining reception status of said plurality of data units based on said received signals;
means for removing any identification of responding receivers from which said signals responsive to said request for acknowledgment have been received; and
means for re-multicasting said request for acknowledgement.
9. The apparatus according to claim 8 , further comprising:
means for fifth determining if a lifetime of said data units has been expired; and
means for re-multicasting said data units responsive to said determination.
10. The apparatus according to claim 8 , further comprising means for receiving an acknowledgment for each multicast request.
11. The apparatus according to claim 8 , further comprising means for transmitting an acknowledgment for each signal received.
12. The apparatus according to claim 8 , wherein said signals are delayed.
13. The apparatus according to claim 8 , further comprising means for receiving uplink data from said receivers.
14. The apparatus according to claim 8 , wherein said identification is one of an association identifier, a media access control address, an internet protocol address and contained within a bitmap arrangement.