System and method for broadcasting application-specific information in wireless local area networks

A system and method for a novel broadcasting scheme (NBS) in a wireless local area network are described, which can operate with or without a network connection. The system permits transmission of application-specific data through a specific field in a beacon frame, the Service Set Identity (SSID). By implementing a NBS Processor in an AP and a NBS Parser in stations, the AP can broadcast application-specific data while the stations can automatically act upon the receipt of the broadcast.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a system and method for a broadcasting scheme in wireless local area networks.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

In an IEEE 802.11 wireless local area network (WLAN) standard, an access point (AP) controls network management of all stations. When a station moves in the coverage zone of an AP, it will first perform a number of network establishment procedures to join the network controlled by the AP. The network establishment procedures include scanning, synchronization, authentication and association. Then the communication or data transfer between the station and the network can start. In other words, for an AP to broadcast any application data to a station, the station needs to establish a network connection first. See, for example, ISO/IEC 8802-11 ANSI/IEEE Standard 802.11 Specification, 2003, the content of which is hereby expressly incorporated by reference herein.

Management frames are exchanged between an AP and a station for implementing network establishment procedures. One management frame type in the IEEE 802.11 standard (802.11) is the beacon frame that is transmitted periodically by an AP to allow stations to locate and identify an 802.11 WLAN. The beacon frame includes parameters that are related to the lower protocol layers (medium access control layer and physical layer). However, there is no defined field in the beacon frame for upper protocol layers to broadcast information or transmit application-specific data that trigger applications in stations.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In one embodiment, the invention is a method for transmitting application data in a wireless network. The method includes: placing the application data in a buffer; placing the application data from the buffer in a beacon frame of the wireless network data communication format; and broadcasting the beacon frame including the application data.

In one embodiment, the invention is a method for data communication in a wireless network. The method includes: placing an application data to be transmitted in a beacon frame of the wireless network data communication format; broadcasting the beacon frame including the application data through the wireless network; receiving the broadcast beacon frame; validating the frame as a beacon frame; and extracting the application data from the beacon frame.

In one embodiment, the invention is a system for data communication in a wireless network including: a processor for placing an application data to be transmitted in a beacon frame of the wireless network data communication format; a frame generator for assembling and broadcasting the beacon frame including the application data through the wireless network; a receiver for receiving the broadcast beacon frame; and a parser for extracting the application data from the beacon frame.

In one embodiment, the wireless network is an IEEE 802.11 wireless local area network and the application data is transmitted in a Service Set Identity (SSID) field of the beacon frame.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In one embodiment the present invention is a system and method for a novel broadcasting scheme (NBS) in an IEEE 802.11 wireless local area network. The system permits transmission of application-specific data through a specific field in a beacon frame, the Service Set Identity (SSID). By implementing a NBS Processor in an AP and a NBS Parser in stations, the AP can broadcast application-specific data while the stations can automatically act upon the receipt of the broadcast.

A protocol stack of an IEEE 802.11 wireless local area network is shown inFIG. 1. The IEEE 802.11 standard covers the lower layers: medium access (MAC) layer104and physical (PHY) layer102. The corresponding management entities are MAC layer management entity (MLME)106and PHY layer management entity (PLME)108. The system management entity (SME)110is the interface to management functions outside IEEE 802.11. The exemplary upper layers are shown in the dashed boxes, which contains data link layer112, network layer114and application layer116. As also shown inFIG. 1, the protocol stack includes two vertical planes. A data plane handles user data transfer while a management plane handles network management functions. Network access management has to be completed before any user data transfer through the data plane.

The IEEE 802.11 standard includes management capabilities in its MAC layer. One management frame type defined in the standard is the beacon frame. The beacon frame is transmitted periodically by an AP to allow client stations to locate and identify an 802.11 WLAN. It includes several mandatory fields, one of which is the Service Set Identity (SSID) field, which is used to identify a specific wireless LAN. The format of the SSID element is shown inFIG. 2. The Element ID field202identifies the element as the SSID, and the Length field204indicates the length of the SSID data. As indicated inFIG. 2, the SSID field206may be up to 32 octets (256 bits). There is no restriction on the format of the content of the SSID field. It may be a null-terminated string of ASCII characters or a multi-byte binary string.

FIG. 3is a process flow of network access and data transfer in IEEE 802.11. As shown in block302, upon power up or moving into a coverage zone of an 802.11 WLAN, the first task of a station is to perform scanning to determine whether an acceptable WLAN is available. Two options are possible: passive and active. In a passive scanning, the station tunes to a channel and listens for beacon transmission. In an active scanning, the station tunes to a channel and transmits a probe request frame, which should trigger a response if a WLAN is present. In either case, the station may check multiple channels, with positive or negative results experienced before moving to the next step.

If the station has no success in locating a WLAN, it continues to scan. Upon the receipt of the message from the network (beacon frame or probe response frame), the station has sufficient information such as SSID and timing to synchronize (block304) to the network. To join the network, the next two steps are authentication306and association308, each involved with a few management frame exchanges. After associating with the network, the station may send or receive data frames as shown in block310.

In various scenarios, it is desirable to automatically launch or execute an application, either with or without a network connection. As one example, an AP requires a station to automatically run a specific web page after network connection establishment. As another example, an AP installed in a particular shop broadcasts its commercial message; any pass-by station can receive it without establishing a network connection.

The beacon in an 802.11 WLAN plays an important role in network management. An AP periodically broadcasts the beacon to announce its presence. A beacon is typically the first message received by a station from an 802.11 WLAN. The SSID element of a beacon is used to indicate the identity of a WLAN. A SSID string is typically short, though the SSID field may be up to 32 octets as shown inFIG. 2. In one embodiment, the invention utilizes the unused space in the SSID field to store application-specific data while the normal operations of any existing 802.11 WLAN are maintained uninterruptedly.

An exemplary new format of the SSID field is shown inFIG. 4. The first subfield402is the SSID string, the second subfield404indicates the end of the SSID string, and the third subfield406is the application-specific data string. All three subfields can be in the form of either character or binary. For example, the SSID string is an ASCII character string, the SSID End sign is the NULL character and the application-specific data string is an encrypted character string. The manner in which an application utilizes the extra data in the third subfield406is independent of the system described herein.

To enable the novel broadcasting scheme (NBS) in an 802.11 WLAN, a NBS Processor is added to the AP or the transmission station; and a NBS Parser is added to the client station or the reception station. A NBS system in an 802.11 WLAN is shown inFIG. 5. As shown, there are one transmission station500and multiple reception stations510,520and530.

The transmission station500includes three main components: an application (module)502, a NBS processor504and a beacon frame generator506. The application module502is responsible for interfacing with end users and transfers user data to the NBS processor. The NBS processor504takes the data, prepares it accordingly as the application-specific data string in the SSID field. The SSID is then transferred to the beacon frame generator. The beacon frame generator506assembles the beacon frame and broadcasts it periodically.

Each reception station also includes three main components: an application execution (module)512, a NBS parser514and a beacon frame receiver516. Once the beacon frame receiver516receives a frame, it first validates the frame. If the frame is validated as a beacon frame, the beacon frame receiver passes the content of SSID field to the NBS parser514. The NBS parser then interprets (extracts) the application-specific data string in the SSID field accordingly. The interpreted data is transferred to the application execution module512. The application execution module may be displaying the data string, or automatically launching a specific application based on the data string.

FIG. 6is an exemplary process flow for a NBS processor in a transmission station, according to one embodiment of the present invention. The NBS processing begins in block600where the NBS Processor (504inFIG. 5) inputs the application data to a data buffer. In block610, the NBS processor determines whether a data compression algorithm is needed to be applied to the data. If no data compression is needed, the process goes to block620. If data compression is needed, the process goes to block614and the data is compressed accordingly. In block620, the NBS processor determines whether an encoding algorithm is needed to be applied to the data. If not, the process moves to block630. If encoding is needed, the process goes to block624and the data is encoded accordingly. In block630, the NBS processor determines whether an encryption algorithm is needed to be applied to the data. If not, the process moves to block640. If encryption is needed, the process goes to block634and the data is encrypted accordingly. Finally, the NBS processor places the prepared data as the application-specific data string in the SSID field of the beacon frame to be broadcast, in block640.

FIG. 7is an exemplary state machine for a NBS processor in a transmission station, according to one embodiment of the present invention. As shown, the START state700is for waiting for application data to be ready. If the data is ready, the state machine changes state to state710. At state710, the application data is placed in a data buffer. The next COMPRESS DATA state712is an optional state. In this state, the data is compressed and the output is stored back to the data buffer. The state machine returns to state710after data compression.

The ENCODE DATA state714is also optional. In this state714, the data is encoded and the output is stored back to the data buffer. The state machine returns to state710after data encoding. The ENCRYPT DATA state716is optional as well. In state716, the data is encrypted and the output is stored back to the data buffer. The state machine returns to state710after data encryption.

The next state is PACK DATA state720. In this state, the prepared data in the data buffer is placed as the application-specific data string in the SSID field. The next state, SSID READY state730indicates that the SSID is ready to be sent to the beacon frame generator506to be broadcast.

FIG. 8is an exemplary process flow for a NBS processor in a reception station, according to one embodiment of the present invention. The beacon frame receiver (516inFIG. 5) sends the application-specific data string in the SSID field to the NBS parser (514inFIG. 5). The NBS parsing begins in block800where the NBS Parser places the application-specific data string in a data buffer. In block810, the NBS parser determines whether the data is encrypted. If not, the process goes to block820; if yes, the process goes to block814and the data is decrypted accordingly. In block820, the NBS parser determines whether the data is encoded. If not, the process moves to block830; if yes, the process goes to block824and the data is decoded accordingly. In block830, the NBS parser determines whether the data is compressed. If not, the process will move to block840; if yes, the process goes to block834and the data is decompressed accordingly. Finally, the NBS Parser sends the interpreted data to the application in block840.

FIG. 9is an exemplary state machine for a NBS processor in a reception station, according to one embodiment of the present invention. As depicted, a START state900is for waiting for the received SSID to be ready. If the SSID is ready, the state machine goes to state910. In state910, the application-specific data string is separated from the SSID field and the state machine goes to state920. In state920, the application-specific data string is placed in a data buffer. The next state DECRYPT DATA state922is optional. In this state, the data is decrypted and the output is stored back to the data buffer. The state machine then returns to state920after data decryption.

A DECODE DATA state924is also optional. In state924, the data is decoded and the output is stored back to the data buffer. The state machine then returns to state920after data decoding. The DECOMPRESS DATA state926is optional as well. In this state, the data is decompressed and the output is stored back to the data buffer. The state machine returns to state920after data decompression. The next state, DATA READY state930indicates that the data is ready to be sent to the application execution (512inFIG. 5) for execution.

Two categories of applications could apply this method. The first category requires establishing network connection. The second category requires no network connection.

An example of the first category is shown inFIG. 10. An exemplary SSID string is “TRAFFIC”, which use a total of eight octets representing this null-terminated string. The specified URL string is “traffic.gov/ca/1225687”. Both strings are packed in the SSID field. An AP connected to the traffic light #1225687 in California broadcasts this message through the SSID element of beacons. Any station in the coverage zone of this AP is able to establish the network connection with the WLAN “TRAFFIC” when receiving the corresponding beacon frame. After the network connection is established, the NBS parser of the station launches the web browser, utilizes the established network connection and loads the real-time traffic signal from URL “traffic.gov/ca/1225687”.

An example of the second category is shown inFIG. 11. An exemplary SSID string is “POLICE”, which uses a total of seven octets representing this null-terminated string. The application data string is “left two lanes closed”. Both strings are packed in the SSID field. An AP with the NBS processor, installed where left two lanes are closed, broadcasts the message through the SSID element of beacons. Any vehicle with a station including a NBS parser is notified right after receiving one single beacon from the AP, without network connection with the AP.

In the above two examples, the AP broadcasts location based information. In the first example, a pass-by station retrieves the status of the traffic signal co-located with the AP. In the second example, a pass-by station receives the road condition near the location of the AP.

A non-location based exemplary application is shown inFIG. 12. An exemplary SSID string is “GAP™”, which uses a total of four octets representing this null-terminated string. The application data string is “spring sale 40% off”. Both strings are packed in the SSID field. All Access Points from the commercial operator (e.g. a retail store chain) equipped with NBS Processor broadcast the message through the SSID element of the beacons. When a person with a cell phone equipped with a NBS parser walks into the coverage of this AP, the cell phone picks up the beacon frame, the NBS parser unpacks the “male pique polo sale $12.99” message and displays it on the screen of the cell phone as a real-time advertisement. No network connection establishment is required in this example.