Claims
- 1. A device for controlling transmission and reception of frames of information by a communication device that is a member of at least one communication network, comprising:
a processor that organizes information to be transmitted into frames and that reassembles information in frames that have been received according to an arrangement of a plurality of frame descriptors, the frame descriptors being arranged in time according to a predetermined schedule and being selected according to an iterative pointer, wherein each frame descriptor includes a network descriptor, a use parameter, an active member address corresponding to another communication device, a parameter for selecting one of a plurality of transmit, receive, and voice descriptors, and a parameter for selecting a receive descriptor for broadcast frames; and a memory for storing information to be transmitted, information that has been received, and at least one arrangement of frame descriptors, wherein the memory is responsive to the processor; whereby the plurality of frame descriptors are organized as a succession of superframes that each include a number of frame descriptors determined by a selectable parameter.
- 2. The device of claim 1, wherein a frame descriptor includes a parameter that indicates a transmit power for the respective frame of information.
- 3. The device of claim 1, wherein each network descriptor includes a parameter that indicates whether the communication device is a master or a slave, a parameter that indicates signal timing in the communication network, and a frame-start-timing parameter that defines a frame offset, with respect to the communication network, for a slave in another communication network that is unsynchronized with the communication network.
- 4. The device of claim 3, wherein each network descriptor further includes a correlation-window-size parameter for synchronizing the communication network and compensating for timing drift.
- 5. The device of claim 3, wherein each transmit descriptor defines properties of a frame to be transmitted on an asynchronous connection-less (“ACL”) communication link and includes a packet-type parameter that indicates a type of frame to send; a payload-header-content parameter that indicates a content of a payload header; a data pointer that points to at least one location in the memory where information to be transmitted in the frame is stored; a bytes-remaining parameter that indicates a number of bytes of information that remain to be transmitted; and a start command;
each receive descriptor defines properties of a frame received on an ACL communication link and includes at least one data pointer that points to a respective location in the memory for storing received information; and each voice descriptor defines properties of a synchronous connection-oriented (“SCO”) communication link that are significant for transmission and reception of voice data and includes parameters that indicate voice packet type, voice interface type, air interface encoding, voice data buffer pointer, and voice data length.
- 6. The device of claim 5, wherein a frame descriptor further includes a PCM descriptor that defines properties of a pulse-code-modulation (“PCM”) interface associated with a voice descriptor in the frame descriptor.
- 7. The device of claim 5, wherein information to be transmitted and information that has been received comprises voice information, and the voice information is stored in at least one circular buffer in the memory.
- 8. A method of controlling transmission and reception of frames of information by a communication device that is a member of at least one communication network, comprising the steps of:
organizing information to be transmitted into frames and re-assembling information in frames that have been received according to an arrangement of a plurality of frame descriptors, the frame descriptors being arranged in time according to a predetermined schedule; selecting each frame in an arrangement in succession; and storing information to be transmitted, information that has been received, and at least one arrangement of frame descriptors in a memory; wherein each frame descriptor includes a network descriptor, a use parameter, an active member address corresponding to another communication device, a parameter for selecting one of a plurality of transmit, receive, and voice descriptors, and a parameter for selecting a receive descriptor for broadcast frames; whereby the plurality of frame descriptors are organized as a succession of superframes that each include a number of frame descriptors determined by a selectable parameter.
- 9. The method of claim 8, wherein a frame descriptor includes a parameter that indicates a transmit power for the respective frame of information.
- 10. The method of claim 8, wherein each network descriptor includes a parameter that indicates whether the communication device is a master or a slave, a parameter that indicates signal timing in the communication network, and a frame-start-timing parameter that defines a frame offset, with respect to the communication network, for a slave in another communication network that is unsynchronized with the communication network.
- 11. The method of claim 10, wherein each network descriptor further includes a correlation-window-size parameter for synchronizing the communication network and compensating for timing drift.
- 12. The method of claim 10, wherein each transmit descriptor defines properties of a frame to be transmitted on an asynchronous connection-less (“ACL”) communication link and includes a packet-type parameter that indicates a type of frame to send; a payload-header-content parameter that indicates a content of a payload header; a data pointer that points to at least one location in the memory where information to be transmitted in the frame is stored; a bytes-remaining parameter that indicates a number of bytes of information that remain to be transmitted; and a start command;
each receive descriptor defines properties of a frame received on an ACL communication link and includes at least one data pointer that points to a respective location in the memory for storing received information; and each voice descriptor defines properties of a synchronous connection-oriented (“SCO”) communication link that are significant for transmission and reception of voice data and includes parameters that indicate voice packet type, voice interface type, air interface encoding, voice data buffer pointer, and voice data length.
- 13. The method of claim 12, wherein a frame descriptor further includes a PCM descriptor that defines properties of a pulse-code-modulation (“PCM”) interface associated with a voice descriptor in the frame descriptor.
- 14. The method of claim 12, wherein information to be transmitted and information that has been received comprises voice information, and the voice information is stored in at least one circular buffer in the memory.
RELATED APPLICATION
[0001] This application is related to, and claims priority from, U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 60/311,273 entitled “Flexible Frame Scheduler for TDMA-Systems” filed on Aug. 9, 2001, the disclosure of which is expressly incorporated herein by reference.
Provisional Applications (1)
|
Number |
Date |
Country |
|
60311273 |
Aug 2001 |
US |