Quality of service management for a wireless local area network

Abstract

A method for managing quality of service (QoS) in a wireless local area network begins by receiving a traffic flow. The traffic flow is mapped to a traffic class (TC), based on QoS requirements of the traffic flow. A transmission budget of an access class (AC) is calculated, each AC including at least one TC. A determination is made whether the traffic flow can be admitted, by calculating whether the transmission budget can support the traffic flow. If the traffic flow is admitted, the parameters of the TC are adjusted and collisions in the TC between existing traffic flows and the newly admitted traffic flow are managed.

1 . A communication station (CS) comprising a quality manager component (QM) configured for managing quality of service (QoS) in a wireless local area network, including:
 the QM configured to receive a traffic flow;   the QM configured to map the traffic flow to a traffic class (TC), based on QoS requirements of the traffic flow;   the QM configured to calculate a transmission budget of an access class category (AC), each AC including at least one TC;   the QM configured to determine whether the traffic flow can be admitted, by calculating whether the transmission budget can support the traffic flow;   the QM configured to adjust parameters of the TC if the traffic flow is admitted; and   the QM configured to manage collisions in the TC between existing traffic flows and the newly determined admitted traffic flow.   
     
     
         2 . The CS of  claim 1 , wherein the transmission budget is equal to a maximum allowed transmission budget for an AC minus the transmission budget already used by the AC. 
     
     
         3 . The CS of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 the QM configured to determine a priority of the traffic flow.   
     
     
         4 . The CS of  claim 3 , comprising:
 the QM configured to discard the traffic flow if the traffic flow is not admitted and if its priority is low.   
     
     
         5 . The CS of  claim 3 , comprising:
 the QM configured to buffer the traffic flow if the traffic flow is not admitted and if its priority is high.