Abstract:
Embodiments of apparatuses, articles, methods, and systems for negotiating quality of service resources in wireless networks are generally described herein. Other embodiments may be described and claimed.

Description:
RELATED APPLICATION 
       [0001]    The present application is a continuation of and claims priority to U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/011,821, filed Jan. 21, 2011, entitled, “Quality Of Service Resource Negotiation,” which is a continuation of and claims priority to U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/462,657, filed Aug. 4, 2006, entitled “Quality of Service Resource Negotiation,” which in turn claims priority to U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 60/799,092, filed May 10, 2006, entitled “A System, Apparatus, Methods and Associated Protocols for Service Resource Negotiation in a Wireless Communications Network,” the entire contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference. 
     
    
     FIELD 
       [0002]    Embodiments of the present invention relate generally to the field of wireless networks, and more particularly to negotiating for quality of service resources in said wireless networks. 
       BACKGROUND 
       [0003]    A communication session in a wireless network typically involves a local station communicating with a remote station via a communication link. The communication link may include a wireless connection between the local station and a wireless router. For various reasons, the quality of the wireless connection between the wireless router and the local station may deteriorate. This may be due to overloading of the wireless router, mobility of the station, interference, etc. In order to preserve the established communication link, the local station may re-associate the wireless connection portion of the communication link with another wireless router. When the communication session involves delay intolerant transmissions, e.g., voice or video, various quality of resource (QoS) challenges are presented for a successful and efficient re-association of the wireless connection. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0004]    Embodiments of the invention are illustrated by way of example and not by way of limitation in the figures of the accompanying drawings, in which like references indicate similar elements and in which: 
           [0005]      FIG. 1  illustrates a network providing for fast transitioning in accordance with an embodiment of this invention; 
           [0006]      FIG. 2  illustrates quality of service resource in accordance with an embodiment of this invention; 
           [0007]      FIG. 3  illustrates a fast transition procedure in accordance with an embodiment of this invention; 
           [0008]      FIG. 4  illustrates a 4-message transition procedure in accordance with an embodiment of this invention; 
           [0009]      FIG. 5  illustrates a resource request in accordance with an embodiment of this invention; 
           [0010]      FIG. 6  illustrates a resource response in accordance with an embodiment of this invention; 
           [0011]      FIG. 7  illustrates a resource response in accordance with an embodiment of this invention; 
           [0012]      FIG. 8  illustrates a resource request for two streams in accordance with an embodiment of this invention; 
           [0013]      FIG. 9  illustrates a resource response in accordance with an embodiment of this invention; 
           [0014]      FIG. 10  illustrates a resource response in accordance with an embodiment of this invention; 
           [0015]      FIG. 11  illustrates a 6-message transition procedure in accordance with an embodiment of this invention; and 
           [0016]      FIG. 12  illustrates a computing device in accordance with an embodiment of this invention. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
       [0017]    Embodiments of the present invention may provide a method, article of manufacture, apparatus, and system for negotiating quality of service (QoS) resources in wireless networks. 
         [0018]    Various aspects of the illustrative embodiments will be described using terms commonly employed by those skilled in the art to convey the substance of their work to others skilled in the art. However, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that alternate embodiments may be practiced with only some of the described aspects. For purposes of explanation, specific devices and configurations are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the illustrative embodiments. However, it will be apparent to one skilled in the art that alternate embodiments may be practiced without the specific details. In other instances, well-known features are omitted or simplified in order not to obscure the illustrative embodiments. 
         [0019]    Further, various operations will be described as multiple discrete operations, in turn, in a manner that is most helpful in understanding the present invention; however, the order of description should not be construed as to imply that these operations are necessarily order dependent. In particular, these operations need not be performed in the order of presentation. 
         [0020]    The phrase “in one embodiment” is used repeatedly. The phrase generally does not refer to the same embodiment; however, it may. The terms “comprising,” “having,” and “including” are synonymous, unless the context dictates otherwise. 
         [0021]    In providing some clarifying context to language that may be used in connection with various embodiments, the phrase “NB” means “A or B.” The phrase “A and/or B” means “(A), (B), or (A and B).” The phrase “A, B, and/or C” means “(A), (B), (C), (A and B), (A and C), (B and C) or (A, B and C).” 
         [0022]    A software component, as used herein, may refer to programming logic employed to obtain a desired outcome. The term “software component” may be synonymous with “module” or “agent” and may refer to programming logic that may be embodied in hardware or firmware, or in a collection of software instructions, possibly having entry and exit points, written in a programming language, such as, for example, C++. A software component may be compiled and linked into an executable program, or installed in a dynamic link library, or may be written in an interpretive language such as BASIC. It will be appreciated that software components may be callable from other components or from themselves, and/or may be invoked in response to detected events or interrupts. In some embodiments, the components described herein are implemented as software modules, but nonetheless may be represented in hardware or firmware. 
         [0023]    It will be further appreciated that hardware components may be comprised of connected logic units, such as gates and flip-flops, and/or may be comprised of programmable units, such as programmable gate arrays or processors. Although only a given number of discrete software/hardware components may be illustrated and/or described, such components may nonetheless be represented by additional components or fewer components without departing from the spirit and scope of embodiments of the invention. 
         [0024]      FIG. 1  illustrates a network  100  supporting fast transitioning (FT) of mobile wireless devices with QoS resource negotiation in accordance with an embodiment of this invention. In this embodiment, a station  104  may be communicating with a remote network entity  108  via an established communication link. In various embodiments, the communication session between the station  104  and the remote network entity  108  may include delay and/or jitter sensitive network traffic such as, but not limited to, streaming multimedia, Internet protocol (IP) telephony (e.g., voice-over IP (VoIP)), video teleconferencing, etc. 
         [0025]    The communication link may include a wireless connection  112  between the station  104  and, at least initially, a wireless router  116 . The station  104  and wireless router  116  may be entities of a wireless network  118  such as, but not limited to, a wireless local area network (WLAN), a wireless metropolitan access network (WMAN), etc. The wireless network  118  may be a subset of network  100 . In an embodiment, the wireless network  118  may be an infrastructure network and the wireless router  116  (and other wireless routers) may be access points. In another embodiment, the wireless network  118  may be an ad hoc network and the wireless router  116  (and other wireless routers) may be stations. 
         [0026]    In an embodiment, the wireless network  118  may comply with one or more of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) wireless LAN/WLAN standards, e.g., any of the 802.11 standards. 
         [0027]    The wireless router  116  may be communicatively coupled to other network devices  120  to relay communications between the station  104  and the remote network entity  108 . The remote network entity  108  may be communicatively coupled to the other network devices  120  through a wireless connection or a wired connection. 
         [0028]    In an embodiment, the station  104  may experience/anticipate deterioration in a quality of the wireless connection  112  with the wireless router  116 . In this embodiment, the station  104  may initiate a fast transitioning procedure in order to re-associate the wireless connection  112  with another wireless router, e.g., target wireless router  124 . “Fast transitioning” may also be referred to as “fast roaming.” 
         [0029]    Network entities capable of performing fast transitioning procedures as described herein, e.g., station  104  and wireless router  124 , may be generically referred to as FT platforms. In some embodiments FT platforms may be mobile network client devices such as, but not limited to, a personal computing device, a laptop computing device, a phone, etc. or network infrastructure devices, e.g., a server, an access point, etc. 
         [0030]    The station  104  and the wireless router  124  may include various hardware and/or software components directed toward fast transitioning operations in accordance with embodiments of this invention. Some of these components will now be briefly introduced and discussed further in embodiments to follow. 
         [0031]    The station  104  may include a wireless network interface card (WNIC)  128  to facilitate wireless communication with other components of the wireless network  118 . The WNIC  128  may include firmware to facilitate processing of messages to and/or from components of a host  132 . The WNIC  128  may cooperate with an antenna structure  130  to provide access to other entities of the wireless network  118 . 
         [0032]    In various embodiments, the antenna structure  130  may include one or more directional antennas, which radiate or receive primarily in one direction (e.g., for 120 degrees), cooperatively coupled to one another to provide substantially omnidirectional coverage; or one or more omnidirectional antennas, which radiate or receive equally well in all directions. 
         [0033]    In various embodiments, the host  132  may include a driver, e.g., wireless local area network (WLAN) driver  136 , to drive the WNIC  128  for other components of the host  132  such as a transitioning manager  140  and a supplicant  144 . The transitioning manager  140  may control QoS operations such as the resource negotiations discussed in embodiments of this invention. The supplicant  144  may act as a security software component, e.g., for performing message integrity calculations. 
         [0034]    The wireless router  124  may include a WNIC  148  and antenna structure  150  to facilitate wireless communication with a number of stations in the wireless network  118 . The wireless router  124  may include a host  152  having a driver  156  to drive the WNIC  148  for other components of the host  152  such as a QoS scheduler  160  and an authenticator  164 . The QoS scheduler  160  may process and manage resource requests for a number of different stations of the wireless network  118 . The authenticator  164  may act as a security software component, e.g., for performing message integrity calculations. 
         [0035]    During a re-association procedure, the transitioning manager  140  of the station  104  may generate and transmit, via the WLAN driver  136  and the WNIC  128 , a resource request to the target wireless router  124  requesting a resource to maintain a QoS level for transmissions within the session.  FIG. 2  illustrates an example of a QoS resource  200  in accordance with an embodiment of this invention. In this embodiment, the QoS resource  200  includes a traffic specification information element (TSPEC IE) to describe the traffic pattern for which service is being requested including, e.g., data rate, packet size, delay, and service interval; a traffic classification (TCLAS) IE to specify certain parameters to identify a packet as belonging to the communication session; and a TCLAS processing IE to provide information on processing of packets. These information elements may be similar to like-name elements described in IEEE 802.11(e) (published Nov. 11, 2005), along with any updates, revisions, and/or amendments to such. 
         [0036]    The QoS scheduler  160  of the wireless router  124  may process the resource request and determine whether it can allocate one of the requested resources to the station  104 . In the event that the wireless router  124  is unable to allocate any of the requested resources, it may communicate this nonallocation to the station  104 . In various embodiments of this invention, a nonallocation of a requested resource may not cause a fast transitioning procedure to fail. That is, the station  104  may still have the option to re-associate the wireless connection  112  with the wireless router  124  even if it will be at a level of service less than that which was requested. This flexibility may allow for the transitioning manager  140  to decide to continue transference of the wireless connection  112  or to start a new negotiation, depending on the needs of the station  104  at that time. This elasticity may facilitate preservation of the established communication link, even if it is done so at a decreased level of service. 
         [0037]    In various embodiments, the QoS scheduler  160  may support varying levels of fast transitioning procedures and the transitioning manager  140  may adjust its fast transitioning operations accordingly.  FIG. 3  illustrates a fast transitioning procedure in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. In this embodiment, the station  104  may begin the fast transitioning procedure at an event such as, e.g., detection of signal deterioration in the wireless connection  112  with the wireless router  116 , block  304 . The station  104  may identify one or more wireless routers that are within range as target wireless routers, e.g., wireless router  124 , block  308 . Identification of target wireless routers may include various identification and/or authentication operations. Some of these operations may occur through the use of active scanning, passive scanning, and/or through the use of wireless neighbor reports. 
         [0038]    Identification of target wireless routers may include the station  104  receiving policy advertisements broadcast from various wireless routers that indicate the QoS capabilities of the particular wireless routers. The policy advertisement may inform the station  104  that the wireless router  124  has an administrative policy that calls for the station  104  to execute a resource negotiation before the re-association request (Policy A); or provides the station  104  with an option of executing the QoS resource negotiation contemporaneously with the re-association request or prior to the re-association request (Policy B). These administrative policies may be communicated by, e.g., the setting of a protocol policy bit to 0 or 1. In various embodiments, other policies may be additionally/alternatively implemented. 
         [0039]    Negotiating for QoS resources prior to the re-association request may hereinafter be referred to as a 6-message procedure, while negotiating for QoS resources contemporaneously with re-association negotiation may hereinafter be referred to as a 4-message procedure. In various embodiments, other number of messages may be used for either of these procedures. 
         [0040]    The 6-message procedure may introduce latency into the infrastructure to provide a wireless router additional time to process QoS calculations by having them done prior to the re-association request. The 4-message procedure, on the other hand, may conserve a station&#39;s resources by providing reduced transmissions compared to the 6-message procedure. 
         [0041]    In an embodiment, the station  104  may use the policy advertisement to make a policy determination, block  312 . If the station  104  determines that the target wireless router  124  has Policy A set, it may proceed with the 6-message procedure for QoS resource and re-association negotiation, block  316 . If, however, the station  104  determines that the target wireless router  124  has Policy B set, it may make a procedure determination, block  320 , and decide to use the 4-message procedure, block  324 , or the 6-message procedure, block  316 . The flexibility provided to the station  104  through Policy B may be useful if, e.g., the station  104  decides that router processing of the TSPECs in 4-message procedure is taking too much time in which case the station  104  may wish to revert to the 6-message procedure. In another example, if the station  104  senses wireless congestion, it may wish to reserve TSPEC resources at multiple wireless routers, using the first 4 messages of the 6-message procedure with multiple wireless routers, and finally send the last 2 messages to one of those wireless routers, described in further detail below. 
         [0042]    If the 4- or 6-message procedure is successful, the station may then transition the wireless connection  112  from the wireless router  116  to the target wireless router  124 , block  328 . 
         [0043]      FIG. 4  illustrates a 4-message procedure in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. In this embodiment, the station  104  may have the wireless connection  112  with the wireless router  116 . At initiation of a fast transitioning procedure, the station  104  may transmit an FT Authentication Request  404  to the wireless router  124 . The FT Authentication Request  404  may include a station nonce (Snonce), e.g., a randomly (or pseudo-randomly) generated number, to protect against replay attacks. The FT Authentication Request  404  may also include a mobility domain identifier (MDID) to identify the wireless fast transitioning mobility domain. A station may execute a fast transitioning procedure to any wireless router within the same mobility domain. 
         [0044]    The wireless router  124  may use the attributes provided in the FT Authentication Request  404  to derive a secret session key. The wireless router  124  may return an FT Authentication Response  408 . The FT Authentication Response  408  may include a wireless router nonce (ANONCE), an MDID, and a fast transitioning information element (FTIE), which may contain identifiers for the network entities that are eligible to hold secret keys within the mobility domain. The station  104  may use the parameters provided in the FT Authentication Response  408  to derive the secret session key. 
         [0045]    In various embodiments, the FT Authentication Request  404  and Response  408  may be done either over the air (e.g., directly with wireless router  124 ) or via the wireless connection  112  with wireless router  116 ; while the messages to follow may be done over the air. 
         [0046]    After a successful authentication, the station  104  may construct and transmit a resource request contemporaneously with a Re-Association Request  412 . This may be done by including the resource request in the Re-Association Request  412 . 
         [0047]    In addition to the resource request, the Re-Association Request  412  may include management fields such as one or more IEs that carry protocol specific information to assist in fast transitioning, e.g., security information, key lifetimes, MDID, FTIE, unique session identifiers, etc. The Re-Association Request  412  may also include a message integrity code (MIC) generated using a key confirmation key (KCK) to authenticate and maintain the integrity of the communications. 
         [0048]      FIG. 5  illustrates a resource request  500  that may be transmitted in the Re-Association Request  412 . The resource request  500  may include a stream identification element (stream-ID) followed by a number of QoS resources, e.g., Resource-1, Resource-2, and Resource-3. Resources 1-3 may be QoS resource alternatives, which may be listed in the order of preference. That is, Resource-1 is the first choice of the station  104 , Resource-2 is the second, and so forth. 
         [0049]    The wireless router  124  may process the Re-Association Request  412  and determine whether any of the requested resources may be allocated to the station  104 . The wireless router  124  may then generate a Re-Association Response  416  including, for example, management fields, a resource response, and MIC-KCK. 
         [0050]    In various embodiments, the resource response may indicate an allocated resource; no resource allocated but one or more alternative resources suggested; or no resource allocated or suggested.  FIG. 6  illustrates a resource response  600  indicating an allocated resource in accordance with an embodiment of this invention. In particular, the resource response  600  indicates that the second requested resource, e.g., Resource-2, was allocated to the station  104 . The station  104  may then re-associate the wireless connection  112  with the wireless router  124  with Resource-2. 
         [0051]    As shown above, transmission of the resource requests and responses may be conducted in a secure integrity-protected session so that resources cannot be modified by an attacker. While the above embodiments discuss specific security mechanisms, other embodiments may use other mechanisms 
         [0052]      FIG. 7  illustrates a resource response  700  indicating that no resource was allocated but alternative resources are suggested in accordance with an embodiment of this invention. In particular, the resource response  700  suggests Resource-4 and Resource-5 as alternative resources. At this point, neither of these suggested resources may have been allocated. At this point, the station  104  may re-associate the wireless connection  112  with the wireless router  124  and, if desired, request allocation of one of the suggested resources through an add data traffic stream (ADDTS) message  420 . At that time, the wireless router  124  may allocate one of the requested resources. 
         [0053]    An embodiment indicating that no resources were allocated or suggested may simply include a stream ID without any resources listed. 
         [0054]    As discussed above, the Re-Association Request  412  may not fail if none of the requested resources can be allocated. However, the Re-Association Request  412  may fail for other reasons, e.g., a badly formed message, MIC failure, keys not derived properly, etc. The station  104  may perform these other checks prior to transitioning the wireless connection  112 . 
         [0055]    While the above resource requests and responses illustrate one data stream, other embodiments may have more than one data stream (hereinafter simply stream).  FIG. 8  illustrates a resource request  800  having a first stream with a stream ID=1 and a second stream with a stream ID=2. In various embodiments, the different streams may indicate a different type of network traffic. For example, stream 1 may include video, while stream 2 includes voice. 
         [0056]    In this embodiment, the resource request  800  indicates two resource options for the first stream, e.g., Resource-1 and Resource-2; and two resource options for the second stream, e.g., Resource-3 and Resource-4. In response to this request, the wireless router  124  may transmit a resource response  900  illustrated in  FIG. 9 , in accordance with an embodiment of this invention. The resource response  900  indicates that Resource-2 was allocated for the first stream and no resource was allocated for the second stream. 
         [0057]      FIG. 10  illustrates an alternative resource response  1000  that may be transmitted by the wireless router  124  in accordance with an embodiment of this invention. The resource response  1000  indicates that no resources were allocated or suggested for stream 1; no resources were allocated for stream 2; and Resource-5 and Resource-6 are suggested as alternatives for stream 2. 
         [0058]    In various embodiments, the content of the responses may vary according to resource availability and the capabilities of the QoS scheduler  160  to suggest feasible alternative resources. 
         [0059]      FIG. 11  illustrates a 6-message procedure in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. In this embodiment, the station  104  may initiate fast transitioning procedure through an FT Authentication Request  1104  and FT Authentication Response  1108 , similar to like-named messages discussed in relation to the 4-message procedure. The station  104  may then transmit an FT Authentication Confirm  1112  message that includes a resource request. Similar to above embodiment, the FT Authentication Confirm  1112  will not fail if the wireless router  124  is unable to allocate any of the requested resources; however, it may fail for a badly formed message, MIC failure, keys not properly derived, etc. The wireless router  124  may return an FT Authentication Acknowledge  1116  including a resource response. 
         [0060]    The station  104  may process the FT Authentication Acknowledge  1116  and may proceed to re-associate the wireless connection  112  with the wireless router  124 , go to another wireless router, or restart the 6-message procedure with new resources with the wireless router  124 . 
         [0061]    If the station  104  proceeds to re-associate the wireless connection  112  with the wireless router  124 , it may transmit a Re-Association Request  1120  to the wireless router  124  including management fields and a MIC-KCK. The Re-Association Request  1120  may not include the resource request, as this was already transmitted. The wireless router  124  may process the Re-Association Request  1120  by accessing memory to determine whether any resources were reserved for this station  104 . If a resource was allocated, the wireless router  124  may proceed by associating the allocated resource with the station  104 . The wireless router  124  may generate and transmit a Re-Association Response  1124  to the station  104  including management fields and an MIC-KCK. 
         [0062]    The station  104  may process the Re-Association Response  1124  and if it is successful, may proceed to transfer the wireless connection  112  to the wireless router  124 . 
         [0063]    In an embodiment, the Re-Association Request  1120  and the Re-Association Response  1124  may be done over the air, while the previous messages may be done over the air or through the wireless connection  112  with the wireless router  116 . 
         [0064]    If necessary, the station  104  may use an ADDTS message  1128 , after re-associating with wireless router  124 , to request allocation of one of the alternative resources suggested in resource response transmitted in FT Authentication Acknowledge  1116 . 
         [0065]    In some embodiments, the station  104  may execute the first four messages of the 6-message procedure, e.g., the FT Authentication Request, Response, Confirm, and Acknowledge, with multiple wireless routers. This may allow the station  104  to receive an indication prior to re-association on which wireless routers can accept its resource request. The next two messages of the 6-message procedure, e.g., the Re-Association Request and Response, may then be done with a selected wireless router, e.g., wireless router  124 , in order to effectuate the re-association. 
         [0066]      FIG. 12  illustrates a computing device  1200  capable of implementing an FT platform in accordance with various embodiments. As illustrated, for the embodiments, computing device  1200  includes processor  1204 , memory  1208 , and bus  1212 , coupled to each other as shown. Additionally, computing device  1200  includes storage  1216 , and communication interfaces  1220 , e.g., a WNIC, coupled to each other, and the earlier described elements as shown. 
         [0067]    Memory  1208  and storage  1216  may include in particular, temporal and persistent copies of QoS logic  1224 , respectively. The QoS logic  1224  may include instructions that when accessed by the processor  1204  result in the computing device  1200  performing operations or executions described in conjunction with the FT platforms in accordance with embodiments of this invention. In particular, the accessing of the QoS logic  1224  by the processor  1204  may facilitate transition managing and scheduling operations of the FT platforms as described above in connection with various embodiments. 
         [0068]    In various embodiments, the memory  1208  may include RAM, dynamic RAM (DRAM), static RAM (SRAM), synchronous DRAM (SDRAM), dual-data rate RAM (DDRRAM), etc. 
         [0069]    In various embodiments, the processor  1204  may include one or more single-core processors, multiple-core processors, controllers, application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs), etc. 
         [0070]    In various embodiments, storage  1216  may include integrated and/or peripheral storage devices, such as, but not limited to, disks and associated drives (e.g., magnetic, optical), universal serial bus (USB) storage devices and associated ports, flash memory, read-only memory (ROM), non-volatile semiconductor devices, etc. 
         [0071]    In various embodiments, storage  1216  may be a storage resource physically part of the computing device  1200  or it may be accessible by, but not necessarily a part of, the computing device  1200 . For example, the storage  1216  may be accessed by the computing device  1200  over a network. 
         [0072]    In various embodiments, computing device  1200  may have more or less elements, and/or different architectures. In various embodiments, computing device  1200  may be a station, an access point, or some other wireless communication device. 
         [0073]    Although the present invention has been described in terms of the above-illustrated embodiments, it will be appreciated by those of ordinary skill in the art that a wide variety of alternate and/or equivalent implementations calculated to achieve the same purposes may be substituted for the specific embodiments shown and described without departing from the scope of the present invention. Those with skill in the art will readily appreciate that the present invention may be implemented in a very wide variety of embodiments. This description is intended to be regarded as illustrative instead of restrictive on embodiments of the present invention.