Response scheduling for multiple receivers

Abstract

A base station may poll multiple mobile devices with the same multicast poll, and the polled mobile stations may respond separately at different times based on an assigned delay period for each mobile station that was specified in the poll message.

1 - 25 . (canceled) 
     
     
         26 . An apparatus, comprising:
 a first electronic device adapted to wirelessly transmit a poll comprising:
 a first address of a second electronic device and a first time duration indicator indicating a transmission time for the second electronic device to transmit a first response to the poll; and 
 a second address of a third electronic device and a second time duration indicator indicating a transmission time for the third electronic device to transmit a second response to the poll. 
   
     
     
         27 . The apparatus of  claim 26 , wherein the poll further comprises a first time delay indicator indicating a first time delay corresponding to an amount of time for the second device to wait before transmitting the first response and a second time delay indicator indicating a second time delay corresponding to an amount of time for the third electronic device to wait before transmitting the second response. 
     
     
         28 . The apparatus of  claim 27 , wherein a difference between the first time delay and the second time delay is at least as great as a time for the second electronic device to transmit the first response. 
     
     
         29 . The apparatus of  claim 27 , wherein the first time delay is based at least in part upon a determination of the time taken by the second electronic device to prepare for transmission. 
     
     
         30 . The apparatus of  claim 27 , wherein the first time delay is based at least in part upon the time taken by the first electronic device to switch to a receive mode after completing transmission of the poll. 
     
     
         31 . The apparatus of  claim 27 , wherein the second time delay is based at least in part upon the time taken by the first electronic device to switch from receiving data from the second electronic device to receiving data from the third electronic device. 
     
     
         32 . The apparatus of  claim 27 , wherein the poll comprises a first block of data containing the first address and the first time delay indicator, and further comprises a second block of data containing the second address and the second time delay indicator. 
     
     
         33 . The apparatus of  claim 32 , wherein the first and second blocks of data are each formatted in accordance with a medium access control protocol. 
     
     
         34 . The apparatus of  claim 26 , wherein the first electronic device is further adapted to create a poll group by assigning the first and second addresses to the poll group. 
     
     
         35 . The apparatus of  claim 26 , further comprising multiple antennas, wherein the apparatus is adapted to transmit the poll from at least one of the antennas. 
     
     
         36 . The apparatus of  claim 26 , wherein the apparatus comprises a base station. 
     
     
         37 . The apparatus of  claim 26 , wherein the poll further comprises a delay between an end of the poll and a beginning of the first response. 
     
     
         38 . An apparatus comprising:
 an electronic device adapted to:
 receive a poll with multiple addresses including a particular address associated with the electronic device, the poll further including a first time duration indicator indicating a transmission time for the electronic device to transmit a response to the poll; and 
 wirelessly transmit the response to the poll. 
   
     
     
         39 . The apparatus of  claim 38 , wherein the poll comprises multiple blocks of data, with each block containing a different one of the multiple addresses. 
     
     
         40 . The apparatus of  claim 39 , wherein each of the multiple blocks of data is formatted in accordance with a medium access control protocol. 
     
     
         41 . The apparatus of  claim 38 , wherein the apparatus is a mobile wireless device. 
     
     
         42 . The apparatus of  claim 38 , further comprising at least one antenna to transmit the response. 
     
     
         43 . The apparatus of  claim 38 , further comprising at least one antenna to receive the poll. 
     
     
         44 . An article comprising:
 a machine-readable medium that provides instructions, which when executed by a processing platform, cause the processing platform to perform operations comprising:
 transmitting a multicast poll addressed to multiple electronic devices, the multicast poll containing a respective time duration indicator indicating a transmission time for each of the multiple addresses to transmit a respective response to the poll; and 
 receiving the respective response from each of the multiple electronic devices. 
   
     
     
         45 . The article of  claim 44 , wherein the multicast poll comprises a different time delay indicator for each of the multiple addresses, and further comprises multiple blocks of data, each block comprising one of the addresses and a corresponding time delay indicator.