Dynamic bandwidth allocation in TDMA communication systems

摘要

Techniques are presented herein for use in a Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) communication system in which devices send transmissions to each other in time slots during a time frame. A plurality of time slots is allocated for a first device to send traffic to a second device. The first device includes in a transmission during at least one of the plurality of time slots an indicator configured to indicate whether a next time slot in the plurality of time slots is used for traffic from the first device to the second device. Thus, the actual usage of a next time slot in a sequence of a plurality of time slots may be dynamically determined by the transmitting device so that the receiving device(s) need not be in the idle listening mode for the next time slot, thereby saving power.

主权项

1. A method comprising:
in a time division multiple access communication system in which devices send transmissions to each other in time slots during a time frame, allocating a plurality of time slots for a first device to send traffic to a second device; and the first device including in a transmission during at least one of the plurality of time slots a data field for traffic intended for the second device followed by an indicator field aligned to an end of the time slot and the indicator field containing an indicator to indicate whether a next time slot in the plurality of time slots is used for a continuation of the traffic from the first device to the second device, wherein the first device sends traffic to a group of a plurality of devices that includes the second device, and wherein the including comprises including in the transmission during at least one of the plurality of time slots a plurality of indicators each to indicate whether a corresponding one of the plurality of devices is intended for traffic during the next time slot.