Patent ID: 6404772
Filing Date: 2002-06-11
Classification: H04L,H04W

Abstract:
An access point for use in a mixed traffic wireless local area network that includes a plurality of remote terminals that are associated with the access point with at least one of the remote terminals being voice-capable, where the access point and the remote terminals communicate by transmitting and receiving variable-size communications data packets and voice packets on a half-duplex communications medium that is shared between the access point and the remote terminals, said access point being configured to:determine which remote terminals are voice-capable remote terminals; receive a plurality of variable size packets including voice packets and data packets from the half-duplex communications medium and from another communications medium with the packets each being addressed to a particular one of the remote terminals; distribute the received packets by transmitting one packet at a time on the half-duplex communications medium when the half-duplex communications medium is available; determine which one of the remote terminals to transmit to next based on maintaining fair packet distribution among the remote terminals where fairness is determined by the number of packets that have been transmitted to each remote terminal; and determine which packet to transmit next from the received packets that are addressed to the remote terminal to which the access point is to transmit next based on: for packets that are addressed to voice-capable terminals, giving priority to voice packets by transmitting received voice packets that are addressed to a particular voice-capable terminal before transmitting data packets that are addressed to that particular voice-capable terminal, and an order of reception of the packets that are addressed to the remote terminal to which the access point is to transmit to next, so that the access point treats all the remote terminals fairly while giving priority to voice packets that are for the voice-capable ones of the remote terminals.