WLAN systems complying with the IEEE 802.11 (WiFi™) standard are used by a wide array of devices for multimedia and gaming applications. The WiFi standard and a host of other standards such as Bluetooth™ use channels in the 2.4 GHz industrial, scientific and medical (ISM) frequency band. Even when a device is dual-band capable, such as a mobile device that is capable of working in both the 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz bands, the device may choose to operate in the crowded 2.4 GHz band over the 5 GHz band based on higher received signal strength indicator (RSSI) or easier discoverability due to better signal propagation characteristics of 2.4 GHz signals compared to 5 GHz signals when the device associates with a dual-band access point (AP). To reduce the congestion in the 2.4 GHz band, an amendment of the IEEE 802.11z standard provides the facility for mobile devices, also referred to as stations or STAs, that are dual-band capable and connected to a traditional WiFi network in the 2.4 GHz band, to establish a direct link with other peer STAs in the 5 GHz band using tunneled direct link setup (TDLS). The dual-band capable STA may communicate with its associated AP over the 2.4 GHz band, also referred to as the base-channel, while using the 5 GHz band, also referred as the off-channel, for TDLS direct links with one or more peer STAs. Conventionally, the STA working in such virtual simultaneous dual band (VSDB) configuration with the TDLS direct links toggles between the off-channel and the base-channel. For example, the STA operating with the TDLS direct link may periodically put the off-channel in the power saving mode and may switch from the off-channel to the base-channel to receive beacons and communicate with legacy STAs via the AP over the base-channel. After operating in the base-channel, the STA may put the base-channel in the power saving mode and may switch back to the off-channel to transfer data over the TDLS direct links with other peer STAs. However, switching between the off-channel and base channel introduces latency in the TDLS direct links, making the VSDB configuration with TDLS direct links less than ideal for supporting gaming and multimedia applications that require low latency and seamless data transfer.
USPTO Backgrounds
USPTO Backgrounds