Method and apparatus for determining and managing congestion in a wireless communications system

Abstract

A method and apparatus may be used for network management via MAC measurements. The measurements may include WTRU uplink traffic loading measurement, and an AP service loading measurement. The measurements may be applicable to at least to layers 1 and 2 as applied to, for example, 802.11k in the context of OFDM and CDMA 2000 systems, but may be applicable to other scenarios as well. A method for determining and transmitting congestion information may be provided for a Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) system. The method and apparatus may be used for managing congestion when congestion is detected. The method and apparatus may be used in wireless systems that use a Carrier Sense Multiple Access/Collision Avoidance (CSMA/CA) mechanism. The methods may be implemented in wireless transmit/receive units (WTRU)s and access points (AP)s of various forms.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method for use in an IEEE 802.11 station (STA), the method comprising:
 receiving a first frame from a first access point (AP), the first frame including first access delay information for each of a plurality of IEEE 802.11 access categories;   determining whether to associate with the first AP based at least on the first access delay information; and   on a condition that the determination to associate with the first AP was positive, associating with the first AP.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the first frame is a beacon frame or a probe response frame. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the access delay information includes a plurality of fields that are 8 bits in length and represent an average access delay associated with the AP for each of the plurality of IEEE 802.11 access categories, wherein the average access delay is a measurement of time between when a packet is ready for transmission and an actual packet transmission start time. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 receiving a second frame from a second AP, the second frame including access delay information for each of a plurality of IEEE 802.11 access categories;   determining whether to associate with the first AP or the second AP based at least on the first access delay information and the second access delay information.   
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein associating with the first AP includes transmitting an association request frame. 
     
     
         6 . An IEEE 802.11 station (STA) comprising:
 a wireless receiver configured to receive a first frame from a first access point (AP), the first frame including first access delay information for each of a plurality of IEEE 802.11 access categories;   a baseband processor configured to determine whether to associate with the first AP based at least on the first access delay information; and   a wireless transmitter configured, on a condition that the determination to associate with the first AP was positive, to associate with the first AP.   
     
     
         7 . The STA of  claim 6 , wherein the first frame is a beacon frame or a probe response frame. 
     
     
         8 . The STA of  claim 6 , wherein the access delay information includes a plurality of fields that are 8 bits in length and represent an average access delay associated with the AP for each of the plurality of IEEE 802.11 access categories, wherein the average access delay is a measurement of time between when a packet is ready for transmission and an actual packet transmission start time. 
     
     
         9 . The STA of  claim 6 , wherein the wireless receiver is further configured to receive a second frame from a second AP, the second frame including access delay information for each of a plurality of IEEE 802.11 access categories, and the baseband processor is further configured to determine whether to associate with the first AP or the second AP based at least on the first access delay information and the second access delay information. 
     
     
         10 . The STA of  claim 6 , wherein the wireless transmitter is configured to transmit an association request frame to associate with the first AP.