Patent ID: 7941094
Filing Date: 2011-05-10
Classification: H04W,Y02D

Abstract:
1. A wireless station (STA) capable of operating in a wireless network and of communicating with an access point (AP) or another wireless station in the wireless network comprising: a wireless receiver capable of operating at a plurality of different active receive performance levels, capable of transitioning from a first performance level to a second performance level by independently enabling and disabling one or more receive chains of the receiver, wherein the first performance level is an enhanced receive capability level and the second performance level is a reduced receive capability level, wherein the transition from a first performance level to a second performance level occurs based on a timer in the STA that triggers the transition to the reduced receive capability, and the wireless receiver capable of operating with a plurality of different stay awake times; and a wireless transmitter to communicate a current one of the different active receive performance levels and a current one of the different stay awake times at which the wireless receiver is operating to a second STA in a request message for establishing a direct link protocol (DLP) communication session with the second STA, wherein the apparatus is capable of initiating the DLP session using a Timed Receive Mode Switching (TRMS) information element (IE) in a DLP request frame, the TRMS IE including a current one of the different active receive performance levels and a current one of the different stay awake times at which the wireless receiver is operating, wherein the AP or the second STA has a timer corresponding to the STA timer and a reception capability for frames transmitted by the STA thereby providing the capability to track the performance level of the STA, and wherein when operating in an Independent Basic Service Set (IBSS), the STA advertises its capability to support TRMS to the at least one additional wireless station by setting a TRMS Support bit in a capability field of the STA's beacons.