Source: http://www.google.com/patents/US20080117919?ie=ISO-8859-1&dq=5,241,671
Timestamp: 2015-01-25 17:10:33
Document Index: 190903482

Matched Legal Cases: ['Application No. 60', 'Application No. 60', 'Application No. 60', 'Application No. 60', 'Application No. 60', 'Application No. 60', 'Application No. 60']

Patent US20080117919 - Systems and methods for aggregation of packets for transmission through a ... - Google PatentsSearch Images Maps Play YouTube News Gmail Drive More »Sign inAdvanced Patent SearchPatentsA system for transmitting packets over a home network of communication channels, typically coax cable, including a set of nodes, at least one having a packet aggregation functionality in which the node forms an aggregation frame by aggregating one or more packets which have accumulated at the node and...http://www.google.com/patents/US20080117919?utm_source=gb-gplus-sharePatent US20080117919 - Systems and methods for aggregation of packets for transmission through a communications networkAdvanced Patent SearchPublication numberUS20080117919 A1Publication typeApplicationApplication numberUS 11/924,214Publication dateMay 22, 2008Filing dateOct 25, 2007Priority dateNov 20, 2006Also published asUS7697522Publication number11924214, 924214, US 2008/0117919 A1, US 2008/117919 A1, US 20080117919 A1, US 20080117919A1, US 2008117919 A1, US 2008117919A1, US-A1-20080117919, US-A1-2008117919, US2008/0117919A1, US2008/117919A1, US20080117919 A1, US20080117919A1, US2008117919 A1, US2008117919A1InventorsAvi Kliger, Yitshak OhanaOriginal AssigneeBroadcom CorporationExport CitationBiBTeX, EndNote, RefManReferenced by (14), Classifications (9), Legal Events (2) External Links: USPTO, USPTO Assignment, EspacenetSystems and methods for aggregation of packets for transmission through a communications networkUS 20080117919 A1Abstract A system for transmitting packets over a home network of communication channels, typically coax cable, including a set of nodes, at least one having a packet aggregation functionality in which the node forms an aggregation frame by aggregating one or more packets which have accumulated at the node and transmits the frame. A network coordinator coordinates access of the nodes to the channels. At least one node is operative to inform the coordinator when it has formed an aggregation frame comprising a plurality of packets and to provide the coordinator with comparison information comparing different transmission possibilities for the frame. The coordinator, preferably responsively, determines whether, when, and which of, the aggregated packets can be transmitted.
a set of nodes comprising at least one node having a packet aggregation functionality in which the node forms an aggregation frame by aggregating a plurality of packets which have accumulated at the node, wherein, if at least one packet has accumulated at the node, each node is additionally operative to transmit at least one frame, each frame comprising at least one packet; and a network access coordinator operative to coordinate the access of the plurality of nodes to the network of channels, wherein at least one node is operative to inform the network access coordinator when it has formed an aggregation frame comprising a plurality of aggregated packets and to provide the network access coordinator with comparison information comparing different transmission possibilities for said aggregation frame; and wherein said network access coordinator is operative responsively to determine which portion, if any, of said aggregated packets can be transmitted including determining an integral number of aggregated packets to be transmitted from among said plurality of aggregated packets. 2. A system according to claim 1 wherein at least one node is operative to send a transmission request and wherein said network access coordinator, responsively, selectively grants or refrains from granting permission to transmit.
3. A system according to claim 1 wherein said network access coordinator is operative to repeatedly poll the set of nodes for transmission requests, by sending polling requests to said set of nodes, and to grant at least some of said transmission requests.
4. A system according to claim 1 wherein said network access coordinator is operative to grant at least one transmission request to transmit an aggregation of a first plurality of packets by allocating a second plurality of slots whose combined length suffices to transmit said first plurality of packets.
5. A system according to claim 1 wherein said comparison information comprises a comparison of the per-packet times required to transmit at least one of the aggregated packets in said aggregation frame using said different transmission possibilities.
6. A system according to claim 1 wherein said aggregation frame comprises at least some of the following information:
an indication that the frame is an aggregation frame; and an indication of the size of at least some of said packets. 7. A system according to claim 1 wherein information characterizing the aggregation frame is stored in the header of said aggregation frame.
8. A system according to claim 1 wherein at least one node transmits each packet with:
an accompanying header having CRC (Cyclic Redundancy Check) code for the header; and CRC code for the packet. 9. A system according to claim 1 wherein at least one node is operative, upon receiving an aggregation frame comprising a plurality of aggregated packets, to de-aggregate said aggregated packets.
10. A system according to claim 4 wherein said network access coordinator is operative to poll once per MAP (Media Access Plan) cycle.
11. A system according to claim 1 wherein said network access coordinator comprises a node.
12. A system according to claim 1 wherein at least one of said channels comprises a wired channel.
13. A system according to claim 12 wherein said wired channel comprise a cable.
14. A system according to claim 1 wherein at least one node comprises a modem having a CL (Convergence) layer, a MAC (Media Access Control) layer and a PHY (Physical) layer and wherein the packet aggregation functionality is performed at the CL layer.
15. A system according to claim 4 wherein at least one node, having accumulated at least one packet in at least one individual class of packets, is operative to respond positively to the first polling request with respect to said at least one class of packets which follows a predetermined time interval after receipt of said at least one packet.
16. A method for transmitting packets over a network of communication channels interconnecting a set of nodes, the method comprising:
using a network access coordinator to coordinate access of the set of nodes to the network of channels by granting permission to transmit to individual ones from among said set of nodes; forming an aggregation frame at least one node by aggregating a plurality of packets which have accumulated at the node, informing the network access coordinator accordingly, and providing the network access coordinator with comparison information comparing different transmission possibilities for said aggregation frame; and if at least one packet has accumulated at a node, transmitting at least one frame, each frame comprising at least one packet; wherein said using step comprises determining which portion, if any, of said aggregated packets can be transmitted including determining an integral number of aggregated packets to be transmitted from among said plurality of aggregated packets. 17. A system according to claim 14 wherein said packets comprise Ethernet packages and said CL (Convergence) layer comprises an ECL (Ethernet Convergence) layer.
18. A system according to claim 2 wherein at least one node is operative to aggregate packets which have accumulated at the node during each of a set of time intervals extending from each of the node's transmission requests vis a vis said packets, to the next of the node's transmission polling requests vis a vis said packets.
19. A system according to claim 1 wherein said plurality of packets comprises packets of different classes and at least one node is operative to aggregate packets accumulating at the node, as a function of the class to which the packets belong.
priority level; membership of the packet in different flows; and quality of service. 21. A system according to claim 20 wherein said node aggregates only packets belonging to classes included in predefined classes and refrains from aggregating packets belonging to classes other than said predefined classes.
22. A system according to claim 3 wherein at least one node, having accumulated at least one packet in at least one individual class of packets, is operative to respond positively to the next polling request vis a vis said at least one class of packets.
23. A system according to claim 1 wherein at least one node is operative to aggregate no more than a predetermined maximum number of packets into each frame.
24. A system according to claim 2 wherein at least one node is operative to send a transmission request periodically.
25. A system according to claim 24 wherein at least one node is operative, in addition to sending a transmission request periodically, to send a transmission request each time a set of packets having predetermined characteristics has accumulated thereat. Description
REFERENCE TO CO-PENDING APPLICATIONS This application claims priority to the following US Provisional Applications, all of which are hereby incorporated by reference herein in their respective entirety: U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/866,532, entitled, �A METHOD FOR PACKET AGGREGATION IN A COORDINATED HOME NETWORK�, filed on Nov. 20, 2006, U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/866,527, entitled, �RETRANSMISSION IN COORDINATED HOME NETWORK� filed on Nov. 20, 2006, U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/866,519, entitled, �IQ IMBALANCE CORRECTION USING 2-TONE SIGNAL IN MULTI-CARRIER RECEIVERS�, filed on Nov. 20, 2006, U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/907,111, �SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR AGGREGATION OF PACKETS FOR TRANSMISSION THROUGH A COMMUNICATIONS NETWORK� filed on Mar. 21, 2007, U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/907,126, entitled, �MAC TO PHY INTERFACE APPARATUS AND METHODS FOR TRANSMISSION OF PACKETS THROUGH A COMMUNICATIONS NETWORK�, filed on Mar. 22, 2007, U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/907,819, entitled �SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR RETRANSMITTING PACKETS OVER A NETWORK OF COMMUNICATION CHANNELS�, filed on Mar. 25, 2007, and U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/940,998, entitled �MOCA AGGREGATION�, filed on May 31, 2007.
FIELD OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates generally to information networks and specifically to transmitting information such as media information over communication lines such as coaxial cable (hereinafter �coax�), thereby to form a communications network.
Home network technologies having a packet aggregation functionality are known generally. The Multimedia over Coax Alliance (MOCA�), at its website mocalliance.org, provides an example of a suitable specification (MOCA 1.0) for networking of digital video and entertainment through existing coaxial cable in the home which has been distributed to an open membership. Packet aggregation functionality is not provided. MoCA 1.0 specification is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.
Home networking over coax taps into the vast amounts of unused bandwidth available on the in-home coax. More than 70% of homes in the United States have coax already installed into the home infrastructure. Many have existing coax in one or more primary entertainment consumption locations such as family rooms, media rooms and master bedrooms�ideal for deploying networks. Home networking technology allows homeowners to utilize this infrastructure as a networking system and to deliver other entertainment and information programming with high QoS (Quality of Service).
The MoCA technology is specifically designed to go backwards through splitters (insertion) and go from splitter output to output (isolation). All outlets in a house can be reached from each other by a single �: isolation jump� and a number of �insertion jumps�. Typically isolation jumps have an attenuation of 5 to 40 dB and each insertion jump attenuates approximately 3 dB. MoCA has a dynamic range in excess of 55 dB while supporting 200 Mbps throughput. Therefore MoCA can work effectively through a significant number of splitters.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION A system and/or method for aggregation of packets for transmission through a communications network, substantially as shown in and/or described in connection with at least one of the figures, as set forth more completely in the claims.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Preferred embodiments of the present invention are illustrated in the following drawings:
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS FIG. 1 is a simplified block diagram illustration of a home networking over coax system having a packet aggregation functionality and being constructed and operative in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention. The system of FIG. 1 is operative for transmitting packets over a network of communication channels within a home 15 (such as, for example, the channels indicated in FIG. 1 by reference numerals 10A and 10B, referred to collectively hereinafter as �channels 10�). The channels may be wired channels e.g. cables such as coax cables. Also installed in the home 15 at endpoints of the channels 10 is a set of nodes 20 of which five nodes 20A-20E are shown by way of example. At least some of the nodes (20A and 20E in the illustrated embodiment, nodes 20A-20E referred to collectively hereinafter as �nodes 20�) have a packet aggregation functionality in which the node forms an aggregation frame 30A, 30F by aggregating a plurality of packets 40 which have accumulated at the node. If at least one packet 40 has accumulated at the node, each node is operative, eventually, to transmit a frame including that packet and perhaps others, typically upon grant of solicited (as in the illustrated embodiment) or unsolicited permission to transmit.
Typically, each node comprises a modem having a CL (Convergence) layer, a MAC (Media Access Control) layer and a PHY (Physical) layer and the packet aggregation functionality is performed at the CL layer (at the ECL layer, if the packets are Ethernet packets, abbreviated �Epkts� in FIG. 1).
Packets 40 may comprise packets of different classes and at least one Tx node 20 may be operative to aggregate packets accumulating at the node, as a function of the class to which the packets belong. For example, in FIG. 1, node 30A accumulated two Class 2 packets, two Class 4 packets aggregated together, and another Class 4 packet not aggregated with the other two. Class 4 is a class of low priority level packets in the illustrated example. The packets in Class 2 may, for example, be characterized by having a common QoS, and/or a common priority level, and or common membership in a particular flow; and/or any other packet attribute or set of packet attributes. Aggregation �rules� observed by individual nodes may be dependent on class. For example, individual nodes 40 may be operative to aggregate only packets belonging to classes included in predefined classes and to refrain from aggregating packets belonging to classes other than those predefined classes.
Individual nodes 40 may be operative to aggregate all packets which have accumulated at the node between each of the node's transmission requests. This optional aggregation �rule� may refer to any transmission request or may be specific to transmission requests pertaining to a particular class of node.
The system of FIG. 1 may, for example, operate within or in conjunction with a Home Network modem in general and in particular a home network over coaxial cables such as, by way of example, the home network over Coaxial wires as described in the above-referenced MoCA specification. In the MoCA specification, a coordinated home network is described in which a Network Coordinator (also termed herein a �network access coordinator�) exists and coordinates the access to the medium. Only one node is allowed to transmit at a time, creating a non collision network. This facilitates the ability to carry video as well as voice and data signals over the same network, while retaining the requirements of video and voice streaming and Quality of Service.
2. The requesting node sends a reservation request per each one or per several of the MSDUs in the aggregated frame, handling the aggregated frame the same way as the requesting node handles MSDUs. The Coordinator is responsible for �deciding� on the aggregation as well as on the number of MSDUs to be aggregated, and sends a grant appropriately. A particular advantage of this method is more control and flexibility for the network coordinator.
It is appreciated that for simplicity, the present specification assumes that a node typically responds to polling requests, either positively or negatively. A positive response occurs when the node reports accumulation of nodes and requests permission to transmit. A negative response occurs when the node receives a polling request but refrains from requesting permission to transmit. It is appreciated that a single response may be positive with respect to certain classes of packets and negative with respect to other classes of packets�e.g., the node may request permission to transmit packets which have accumulated from flow A and may refrain from requesting permission to transmit packets which have accumulated from flow B.
The aggregation method is based on �Aggregation Quantum (AQ)�. The Aggregation Frame (AF) is composed of one or more �Aggregation Quantum� units which allow the NC to break the Aggregated Frame into multiple transmission grants. Each AQ has a predefined (by software configuration) nominal size (in ACMT symbols). The actual size of an AQ is determined by the Transmitting Node (TN) during the build up of the Aggregation Frame as described below in the portion of the specification corresponding to FIG. 17.
For the sake of clarity, the foregoing description, including specific examples of parameter values provided, is sometimes specific to certain protocols such as those identified with the name MoCA� and/or Ethernet protocols. However, this is not intended to be limiting and the invention may be suitably generalized to other protocols and/or other packet protocols. The use of terms that may be specific to a particular protocol such as that identified by the name MOCA� or Ethernet to describe a particular feature or embodiment is not intended to limit the scope of that feature or embodiment to that protocol specifically; instead the terms are used generally and are each intended to include parallel and similar terms defined under other protocols.
Referenced byCiting PatentFiling datePublication dateApplicantTitleUS8059683 *May 6, 2008Nov 15, 2011Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.Method for transmitting and receiving data in NFCUS8468200 *Jan 15, 2010Jun 18, 2013Entropic Communications, Inc.Retransmission admission mechanism in a managed shared network with quality of serviceUS8468223Nov 11, 2009Jun 18, 2013Cisco Technology, Inc.Cooperation for consumer and service provider MoCA networksUS8498280 *Mar 24, 2010Jul 30, 2013Qualcomm IncorporatedMethod and system for reducing header information in communication systemsUS8804516 *Nov 11, 2009Aug 12, 2014Cisco Technology, Inc.Opportunistic transmissions within MoCAUS8811411 *Dec 24, 2008Aug 19, 2014Entropic Communications, Inc.Packet aggregation and fragmentation at layer-2 over a managed networkUS20100142378 *Nov 11, 2009Jun 10, 2010Jack Thomas MatheneyOpportunistic transmissions within mocaUS20100185731 *Jan 15, 2010Jul 22, 2010Zong Liang WuRetransmission admission mechanism in a managed shared network with quality of serviceUS20100238790 *Mar 31, 2009Sep 23, 2010Entropic Communications, Inc.Method for quick map recovery in case of error in mocaUS20100246600 *Mar 24, 2010Sep 30, 2010Qualcomm IncorporatedMethod and system for reducing header information in communication systemsUS20120162348 *Dec 14, 2011Jun 28, 2012Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.Video phone call method having function of adjusting resolution quality and video phone call apparatus supporting the sameUS20130034053 *Jul 31, 2012Feb 7, 2013Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.Method and system for scalable information packetization and aggregation for information transmission in communication networksWO2011084844A1 *Dec 23, 2010Jul 14, 2011Entropic Communications, Inc.Method and apparatus for interface to layer 2 of an open systems interconnection (osi) communication protocolWO2014107353A1 *Dec 20, 2013Jul 10, 2014Qualcomm IncorporatedDynamic adaptive aggregation schemes for enhancing performance of communication systems* Cited by examinerClassifications U.S. Classification370/400International ClassificationH04L12/56Cooperative ClassificationH04L69/10, H04L69/28, H04L69/324, H04L69/03, H04L12/2838European ClassificationH04L29/06F, H04L29/08A2Legal EventsDateCodeEventDescriptionOct 15, 2013FPAYFee paymentYear of fee payment: 4Oct 25, 2007ASAssignmentOwner name: BROADCOM CORPORATION, CALIFORNIAFree format text: ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST;ASSIGNORS:KLIGER, AVI;OHANA, YITSHAK;REEL/FRAME:020016/0841Effective date: 20071025Owner name: BROADCOM CORPORATION,CALIFORNIAFree format text: ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST;ASSIGNORS:KLIGER, AVI;OHANA, YITSHAK;US-ASSIGNMENT DATABASE UPDATED:20100413;REEL/FRAME:20016/841RotateOriginal ImageGoogle Home - Sitemap - USPTO Bulk Downloads - Privacy Policy - Terms of Service - About Google Patents - Send FeedbackData provided by IFI CLAIMS Patent Services