Method for informing the availability of reception of traffics and a method for determination of active or inactive state in wireless communication networks using contention based distributed MAC

1. A method for informing a reception mode of a prioritized contention access (PCA) traffic of a wireless device of a wireless network, the method comprising:

the wireless device determining between one of a first reception mode and a second reception mode, in the first reception mode the wireless device being available or unavailable to receive the PCA traffic depending on a priority information received by the wireless device during a beacon period, in the second reception mode the wireless device being available to receive the PCA traffic regardless of the priority information received during the beacon period; and

the wireless device broadcasting a reception mode information about the determined one of the first reception mode and the second reception mode over the network.

2. The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein in the first reception mode, the wireless device is available to receive the PCA traffic if the priority information includes an information indicating that ‘another wireless device of the wireless network has a PCA traffic to transmit to the wireless device’.

3. The method as claimed in claim 2 , wherein the priority information received by the wireless device during the beacon period includes a traffic indication map information element (TIM IE), and the information indicating that ‘another wireless device has a PCA traffic to transmit to the wireless device’ is recorded to the TIM IE.

4. The method as claimed in claim 3 , wherein the priority information indicating that ‘another wireless device has a PCA traffic to transmit to the wireless device’ includes an address information about another wireless device which is a transmitter of the PCA traffic and an address information about the wireless device which is a receiver of the PCA traffic.

5. The method as claimed in claim 4 , wherein in the second reception mode, the wireless device is available to receive the PCA traffic regardless of the content recorded to the TIM IE.

6. The method as claimed in claim 2 , wherein in the first reception mode, if the priority information received by the wireless device during the beacon period includes the information indicating that ‘another wireless device has a PCA traffic to transmit to the wireless device’, the wireless device maintains an active state during a PCA slot in which another device is to transmit the PCA traffic, to be available to receive the PCA traffic, and if the priority information received by the wireless device during the beacon period does not include the information indicating that ‘another wireless device has a PCA traffic to transmit to the wireless device’, the wireless device maintains an inactive state during the PCA slot.

7. The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the broadcasting step comprises:

the wireless device recording the reception mode information to a PCA availability IE that indicates a medium access slot (MAS) during which the wireless devices of the wireless network are available to receive the PCA traffic; and

the wireless device broadcasting the PCA availability IE including the reception mode information over the network.

8. The method as claimed in claim 7 , wherein the reception mode information is recorded to an interpretation field provided in the PCA availability IE.

9. The method as claimed in claim 8 , wherein the interpretation field is 1 byte long, and the reception mode information is recorded to a TIM IE required bit provided in the interpretation field.

10. The method as claimed in claim 9 , wherein if the TIM IE required bit is ‘1’, the wireless device is in the first reception mode, and if the TIM IE required bit is ‘0’, the wireless device is in the second reception mode.

11. The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the determining step determines one of the first reception mode and the second reception mode based on at least one of a power level usable by the wireless device, an amount of traffic to be transmitted, an amount of traffic to be received, a transmission frequency and a reception frequency.

12. The method as claimed in claim 1 , further comprising:

another wireless device receiving the reception mode information of the wireless device broadcasted by the wireless device; and

if the received state information indicates the first reception mode and another wireless device has a PCA traffic to transmit to the wireless device, another wireless device broadcasting the information indicating that ‘another wireless device has a PCA traffic to transmit to the wireless device’ before transmitting the PCA traffic.

13. A method for informing a reception mode of a prioritized contention access (PCA) traffic of a wireless device of a wireless network, the method comprising: the wireless device broadcasting a reception mode information indicating whether the wireless device is in a first reception mode or in a second reception mode, in the first reception mode the wireless device being available or unavailable to receive the PCA traffic depending on a priority information received by the wireless device during a beacon period, in the second reception mode, the wireless device being available to receive the PCA traffic regardless of the priority information received.

14. A method for informing an availability of reception of prioritized contention access (PCA) traffic of a wireless device which configures a wireless network using a contention based distributed medium access control, the method comprising:

the wireless device determining between one of a first reception mode and a second reception mode, in the first reception mode the wireless device being available or unavailable to receive the PCA traffic depending on a priority information received by the wireless device during a beacon period, in the second reception mode the wireless device being available to receive the PCA traffic regardless of the priority information received during the beacon period; and

the wireless device broadcasting a reception mode information about a determined one of the first reception mode and the second reception mode.

15. The method as claimed in claim 14 , further comprising the wireless device referring to at least one of the determined reception mode and the priority information received by the wireless device during the beacon period, and maintaining one of an active state and an inactive state during specific slots.

16. A method for informing an availability of reception of prioritized contention access (PCA) traffic of a wireless device which configures a wireless network, the method comprising:

the wireless device broadcasting a reception mode information indicating whether the wireless device is in a first reception mode or in a second reception mode over the network, in the first reception mode the wireless device being available or unavailable to receive the PCA traffic depending on priority information received by the wireless device during a beacon period, in the second reception mode, the wireless device being available to receive the PCA traffic regardless of the priority information received during the beacon period.

17. The method as claimed in claim 16 , wherein the wireless network uses a contention based distributed medium access control.