Method, apparatus, and computer program product for efficient TIM compression and decoding

1. A method, comprising:

receiving by a wireless client device, a traffic indication map in a beacon frame from an access point, the traffic indication map comprising a page bitmap field, a page control field, and one or more block bitmap fields, indicating there is buffered data available in the access point device for one or more wireless client devices, wherein the page bitmap field indicates presence or absence of buffered data for blocks of a page, and wherein the page control field indicates a mode of encoding the traffic indication map for the blocks for which there is buffered data, wherein at least two of the following modes of encoding are supported: block bitmap, single association identifier, and inverse bitmap;

decoding by the wireless client device, the traffic indication map; and

determining by the wireless client device, that there is buffered data available in the access point device for the wireless client device.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the one or more block bitmap fields represents presence or absence of buffered data for one or more sub-blocks of the one or more wireless client devices and the page bitmap field indicates presence of buffered data for each of the one or more blocks.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the page control field indicates a mode of encoding a traffic indication map for buffered data in each of the one or more blocks of the one or more wireless client devices and the page control field includes zero or more padding bits to fill out at least one or more octet.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the traffic indication map further comprises one or more sub-block bitmap fields representing buffered data information for one or more sub-blocks in one block, a block bitmap field indicating presence of buffered data for the one or more sub-blocks, and the page bitmap field indicating presence of buffered data for each of the one or more blocks.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein the page control field indicates a mode of encoding a traffic indication map for buffered data in each of the one or more blocks for the one or more sub-blocks of one or more wireless client devices and the page control field includes zero or more padding bits to fill out at least one or more octet.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein decoding required for a client device to read buffered data in the traffic indication map, is minimized when the page bitmap field indicates that there is no buffered data in a block associated with the device.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein decoding required for a client device to read buffered data in the traffic indication map, is minimized because the page control field only contains control bits for those blocks identified by the page bitmap field as having buffered data waiting for the device.

8. A method, comprising:

generating in an access point device, a traffic indication map comprising a page bitmap field, a page control field, and one or more block bitmap fields, indicating wireless client devices having buffered data in the access point device available for them, wherein the page bitmap field indicates presence or absence of buffered data for blocks of a page, and wherein the page control field indicates a mode of encoding the traffic indication map for the blocks for which there is buffered data, wherein at least two of the following modes of encoding are supported: block bitmap, single association identifier, and inverse bitmap; and

periodically broadcasting the traffic indication map in a beacon frame to the wireless client devices.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein the traffic indication map further comprises one or more sub-block bitmap fields representing buffered data information for one or more sub-blocks in one block, a block bitmap field indicating presence of buffered data for the one or more sub-blocks, and the page bitmap field indicating presence of buffered data for each of the one or more blocks.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein the page control field indicates a mode of encoding a traffic indication map for buffered data in each of the one or more blocks of the one or more sub-blocks of one or more wireless client devices and the page control field includes zero or more padding bits to fill out at least one or more octet.

11. The method of claim 8 , wherein the one or more block bitmap fields represents buffered data information for one or more sub-blocks of the one or more wireless client devices and the page bitmap field indicates presence of buffered data for each of the one or more blocks.

12. The method of claim 11 , wherein the page control field indicates a mode of encoding a traffic indication map for buffered data in each of the one or more blocks of the one or more wireless client devices and the page control field includes zero or more padding bits to fill out at least one or more octet.

13. An apparatus, comprising:

at least one processor;

at least one memory including computer program code;

the at least one memory and the computer program code configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus at least to:

receive a traffic indication map in a beacon frame from an access point, the traffic indication map comprising a page bitmap field, a page control field, and one or more block bitmap fields, indicating there is buffered data available in the access point device for one or more wireless client devices, wherein the page bitmap field indicates presence or absence of buffered data for blocks of a page, and wherein the page control field indicates a mode of encoding the traffic indication map for the blocks for which there is buffered data, wherein at least two of the following modes of encoding are supported: block bitmap, single association identifier, and inverse bitmap;

decode the traffic indication map; and

determine that there is buffered data available in the access point device for the apparatus.

14. The apparatus of claim 13 , wherein the traffic indication map further comprises one or more sub-block bitmap fields representing buffered data information for one or more sub-blocks in one block, a block bitmap field indicating presence of buffered data for the one or more sub-blocks, and the page bitmap field indicating presence of buffered data for each of the one or more blocks.

15. The apparatus of claim 14 , wherein the page control field indicates a mode of encoding a traffic indication map for buffered data in each of the one or more blocks of the one or more sub-blocks of one or more wireless client devices and the page control field includes zero or more padding bits to fill out at least one or more octet.

16. The apparatus of claim 13 , wherein the one or more block bitmap fields represents presence or absence of buffered data for one or more sub-blocks of the one or more wireless client devices and the page bitmap field indicates presence of buffered data for each of the one or more blocks.

17. The apparatus of claim 16 , wherein the page control field indicates a mode of encoding a traffic indication map for buffered data in each of the one or more blocks of the one or more wireless client devices and the page control field includes zero or more padding bits to fill out at least one or more octet.

18. The apparatus of claim 13 , wherein decoding required for a client device to read buffered data in the traffic indication map, is minimized when the page bitmap field indicates that there is no buffered data in a block associated with the device.

19. The apparatus of claim 13 , wherein decoding required for a client device to read buffered data in the traffic indication map, is minimized because the page control field only contains control bits for those blocks identified by the page bitmap field as having buffered data waiting for the device.

20. An apparatus, comprising:

at least one processor;

at least one memory including computer program code;

the at least one memory and the computer program code configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus at least to:

generate a traffic indication map comprising a page bitmap field, a page control field, and one or more block bitmap fields, indicating wireless client devices having buffered data in the apparatus available for them, wherein the page bitmap field indicates presence or absence of buffered data for blocks of a page, and wherein the page control field indicates a mode of encoding the traffic indication map for the blocks for which there is buffered data, wherein at least two of the following modes of encoding are supported: block bitmap, single association identifier, and inverse bitmap; and

periodically broadcasting the traffic indication map in a beacon frame to the wireless client devices.

21. The apparatus of claim 20 , wherein the one or more block bitmap fields represents buffered data information for one or more sub-blocks of the one or more wireless client devices and the page bitmap field indicates presence of buffered data for each of the one or more blocks.

22. The apparatus of claim 21 , wherein the page control field indicates a mode of encoding a traffic indication map for buffered data in each of the one or more blocks of the one or more wireless client devices and the page control field includes zero or more padding bits to fill out at least one or more octet.

23. The apparatus of claim 20 , wherein the traffic indication map further comprises one or more sub-block bitmap fields representing buffered data information for one or more sub-blocks in one block, a block bitmap field indicating presence of buffered data for the one or more sub-blocks, and the page bitmap field indicating presence of buffered data for each of the one or more blocks.

24. The apparatus of claim 23 , wherein the page control field indicates a mode of encoding a traffic indication map for buffered data in each of the one or more blocks of the one or more sub-blocks of one or more wireless client devices and the page control field includes zero or more padding bits to fill out at least one or more octet.

25. A computer program product comprising computer executable program code recorded on a computer readable, non-transitory storage medium, the computer executable program code comprising:

code for receiving by a wireless client device, a traffic indication map in a beacon frame from an access point, the traffic indication map comprising a page bitmap field, a page control field, and one or more block bitmap fields, indicating there is buffered data available in the access point device for one or more wireless client devices, wherein the page bitmap field indicates presence or absence of buffered data for blocks of a page, and wherein the page control field indicates a mode of encoding the traffic indication map for the blocks for which there is buffered data, wherein at least two of the following modes of encoding are supported: block bitmap, single association identifier, and inverse bitmap;

code for decoding by the wireless client device, the traffic indication map; and

code for determining by the wireless client device, that there is buffered data available in the access point device for the wireless client device.

26. A computer program product comprising computer executable program code recorded on a computer readable, non-transitory storage medium, the computer executable program code comprising:

code for generating in an access point device, a traffic indication map comprising a page bitmap field, a page control field, and one or more block bitmap fields, indicating wireless client devices having buffered data in the access point device available for them, wherein the page bitmap field indicates presence or absence of buffered data for blocks of a page, and wherein the page control field indicates a mode of encoding the traffic indication map for the blocks for which there is buffered data, wherein at least two of the following modes of encoding are supported: block bitmap, single association identifier, and inverse bitmap; and

code for periodically broadcasting the traffic indication map in a beacon frame to the wireless client devices.