System and method for radio frequency repeating
In one embodiment, a method includes determining whether a station is a power constrained device and setting an indicator in a header of a frame in accordance with whether the station is a power constrained device. The method also includes transmitting, by the station to a first device, the frame.
1. A method comprising:
setting, by a non-access point (non-AP) station, an indicator in a header of a frame in accordance with whether the non-AP station is a power constrained device; and
transmitting, by the non-AP station in an uplink to an access point or repeater, the frame including the indicator.
2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the header is a physical layer (PHY) header.
3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the header is a media access control (MAC) header.
4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the indicator in the header of the frame is a forward indicator bit.
5. The method of claim 4 , wherein setting the indicator comprises setting the forward indicator bit to 1 when the frame is to be relayed by the access point or repeater or setting the forward indicator bit to 0 when the frame is not to be relayed by the access point or repeater.
6. The method of claim 4 , wherein setting the indicator comprises setting the forward indicator bit to 0 when the frame is to be relayed by the access point or repeater or setting the forward indicator bit to 1 when the frame is not to be relayed by the access point or repeater.
7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the indicator in the header of the frame is more than one bit.
8. The method of claim 1 , further comprising determining, by the station, that the station is a power constrained device in accordance with the station being a sensor, or determining, by the station, that the station is not a power constrained device in accordance with the station being an offloading device.
9. The method of claim 1 , wherein setting the indicator comprises:
setting the indicator in the header of the frame to a first value when a signal strength of the station is below a first threshold or setting the indicator in the header of the frame to a second value when the signal strength of the station is greater than or equal to the first threshold.
10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the access point or repeater is the access point.
11. The method of claim 1 , wherein the access point or repeater is the repeater.
12. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
determining, by the station, whether the station supports repeater functionality; and
transmitting, by the station to a second device, a message indicating whether the station supports repeater functionality.
13. The method of claim 12 , further comprising receiving, by the station from the second device, a designate repeater request.
14. The method of claim 13 , wherein the designate repeater request comprises a category, an action, and a designate repeater identifier (ID).
15. The method of claim 14 , wherein the designate repeater ID is a media access control (MAC) address or an association identifier (AID).
16. The method of claim 13 , further comprising transmitting, by the station to the second device, a designate repeater response frame.
17. The method of claim 16 , wherein the designate repeater response frame comprises a category, an action, a designate repeater ID, and a status.
18. A non-access point (non-AP) station comprising:
a processor; and
a non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing programming for execution by the processor, the programming including instructions to:
set, by the processor, an indicator in a header of a frame in accordance with whether the non-AP station is a power constrained device, and
transmit, from the non-AP station in an uplink to an access point or repeater, the frame including the indicator.
19. The station of claim 18 , wherein the indicator in the header of the frame is a forward indicator bit.
20. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing programming for execution by a processor of a non-access point (non-AP) station, the programming including instructions for:
setting, by the processor, an indicator in a header of a frame in accordance with whether the non-AP station is a power constrained device; and
transmitting, by the non-AP station in an uplink to an access point or repeater, the frame including the indicator.