Trigger frames adapted to packet-based policies in an 802.11 network

1. A wireless communication method performed in a wireless network comprising an access point, the wireless communication method comprising:

reserving, at the access point, at least one wireless communication channel to be used by designated nodes in the wireless network;

sending a trigger frame to the designated nodes, the trigger frame notifying the designated nodes of a splitting of the reserved at least one wireless communication channel in a frequency domain into a plurality of resource units which are available for use by the designated nodes,

wherein the trigger frame includes an indicator for each of one or more of the plurality of resource units, each indicator being associated with a respective resource unit and each indicator indicating a traffic type of data selected from the four access categories defined in the 802.11 standard.

2. The wireless communication method of claim 1 , wherein the selected traffic type of data indicated by the each indicator for its respective resource unit is one of the following: AC_BK for background data, AC_BE for best-effort data, AC_VI for video applications or AC_VO for voice applications.

3. The wireless communication method of claim 1 , further comprising determining a frequency of sending a trigger frame including an indicator indicating a traffic type of data, based on network statistics on one or more previous transmission opportunities.

4. The wireless communication method of claim 3 , wherein the network statistics include one or more of the following:

a number of nodes registered to the access point in the wireless network,

a number of collisions or a collision ratio occurring during the one or more previous transmission opportunities,

a distribution of packet sizes received by the access point, in particular a packet size distribution relative to a maximum packet size,

an amount of data transmitted by a plurality of nodes of the wireless network,

an amount of data transmitted by the plurality of nodes of the wireless network for each traffic type from among a plurality of predefined traffic types, and

a ratio of medium busyness.

5. The wireless communication method of claim 1 , further comprising determining the number of resource units resulting from the splitting of the reserved at least one wireless communication channel in a frequency domain, based on network statistics on one or more previous transmission opportunities.

6. The wireless communication method of claim 1 , wherein the trigger frame defines various selected traffic types of data for various respective resource units.

7. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing a program which, when executed by a microprocessor or computer system in a device of a wireless network, causes the device to perform the wireless communication method of claim 1 .

8. A wireless communication method performed in a wireless network comprising an access point, the wireless communication method comprising, at a node of a plurality of designated nodes in the wireless network:

receiving a trigger frame from the access point, the trigger frame notifying of a splitting of a reserved at least one wireless communication channel in a frequency domain into a plurality of resource units which are available for use by the node, the plurality of resource units also available for use by at least one other node of the designated nodes,

wherein the trigger frame includes an indicator for each of one or more of the plurality of resource units, each indicator being associated with a respective resource unit and each indicator indicating a traffic type of data selected from the four access categories defined in the 802.11 standard;

determining, from the trigger frame, an indicator associated with a resource unit of the plurality of resource units, the indicator indicating a traffic type of data selected from the four access categories defined in the 802.11 standard;

determining, from local transmitting memory, data having a traffic type corresponding to the determined indicated traffic type of data; and

transmitting the determined data to the access point on the associated resource unit.

9. The wireless communication method of claim 8 , wherein the determining, from local transmitting memory, data having a traffic type corresponding to the determined indicated traffic type of data includes selecting data in a transmitting queue storing data having the determined restricted indicated traffic type.

10. The wireless communication method of claim 8 , wherein the local transmitting memory of the node includes a plurality of transmitting queues, each being associated with a dynamic priority value and with a traffic type, and the wireless communication method further comprises:

successively considering the transmitting queue according to an highest-to-lowest priority value order, until data is sent on a resource unit, and

for each transmitting queue successively considered, determining whether a resource unit in the wireless communication channel has an associated selected traffic type that corresponds to the traffic type of the transmitting queue currently being considered, and in case of positive determination, transmitting data from the transmitting queue currently being considered on the determined resource unit.

11. A communication device acting as an access point in a wireless network, the communication device comprising at least one microprocessor configured for carrying out the steps of:

reserving at least one wireless communication channel to be used by designated nodes in the wireless network;

sending a trigger frame to the multiple designated nodes, the trigger frame notifying the designated nodes of a splitting of the reserved at least one wireless communication channel in a frequency domain into a plurality of resource units which are available for use by the designated nodes,

wherein the trigger frame includes an indicator for each of one or more of the plurality of resource units, each indicator being associated with a respective resource unit and each indicator indicating a traffic type of data selected from the four access categories defined in the 802.11 standard.

12. A communication device in a wireless network comprising an access point, the communication device being one of a plurality of designated nodes in the wireless network, and the communication device comprising at least one microprocessor configured for carrying out the steps of:

receiving a trigger frame from the access point, the trigger frame notifying of a splitting of a reserved at least one wireless communication channel in a frequency domain into a plurality of resource units which are available for use by the node, the plurality of resource units also available for use by at least one other node of the designated nodes,

wherein the trigger frame includes an indicator for each of one or more of the plurality of resource units, each indicator being associated with a respective resource unit and each indicator indicating a traffic type of data selected from the four access categories defined in the 802.11 standard;

determining, from the trigger frame, an indicator associated with a resource unit of the plurality of resource units, the indicator indicating a traffic type of data selected from the four access categories defined in the 802.11 standard;

determining, from local transmitting memory, data having a traffic type corresponding to the determined indicated traffic type of data; and

transmitting the determined data to the access point on the resource unit.