Method for transmitting and receiving data in NFC

Abstract

A data transmission/reception method in Near Field Communications (NFC) for enhancing data throughput between at least an initiator device and a target device. The data transmission/reception method typically includes initiating a communication between an initiator and a target that perform NFC, aggregating a plurality of data packet units to be transmitted in order to form an aggregated frame, and transmitting the aggregated frame to a counterpart NFC device.

What is claimed is: 
     
       1. A data transmission/reception method in Near Field Communications (NFC), the method comprising:
 (a) initiating a communication between an initiator and a target that perform NFC;   (b) aggregating a plurality of data packet units for transmission to form an aggregated frame; and   (c) transmitting the aggregated frame to one of the target and the initiator,   wherein the aggregated frame comprises an identifier of a frame type indicating whether a data frame included in the aggregated frame comprises an Aggregated Information (AI) frame or an Aggregated Unnumbered Information (AUI) frame,   wherein the AI frame comprises a data information field that includes a plurality of sequence numbers associated with transmission of the plurality of data packets and reception thereof and the plurality of aggregated data packets, and the AUI frame comprises a data information field that includes the plurality of aggregated data packets without the plurality of sequence numbers associated with transmission of the plurality of data packets and reception thereof.   
     
     
       2. The data transmission/reception method of  claim 1 , wherein the initiation of a communication comprises transmitting and receiving configuration parameters regarding the aggregation of the data packet units. 
     
     
       3. The data transmission/reception method of  claim 1 , wherein the initiation of a communication in (a) comprises setting a maximum value for the number of data packet units that can be aggregated. 
     
     
       4. The data transmission/reception method of  claim 3 , wherein said maximum value for the number of data packets is set by the initiator. 
     
     
       5. The data transmission/reception method of  claim 3 , wherein said maximum value for the number of data packets is set by the target. 
     
     
       6. The data transmission/reception method of  claim 3 , wherein said maximum value for the number of data packets is set one of the initiator and the target having the lowest capacity for transceiving data packets. 
     
     
       7. The data transmission/reception method of  claim 1 , wherein the aggregated frame includes a Cyclic Redundancy Check (CRC) field having a CRC value calculated for all the data packet units included in the aggregated frame. 
     
     
       8. The data transmission/reception method of  claim 1 , wherein the aggregated frame comprises an aggregated header including overheads of the data packet units included in the aggregated frame. 
     
     
       9. The data transmission/reception method of  claim 1 , wherein the aggregation of the data packet units and the transmission of the aggregated frame are performed by the initiator that initiates NFC. 
     
     
       10. The data transmission/reception method of  claim 9 , wherein the aggregation of the data packet units comprises aggregating data packet units for transmission from a same connection. 
     
     
       11. The data transmission/reception method of  claim 9 , wherein the aggregation of the data packet units comprises aggregating data packet units for transmission from different connections. 
     
     
       12. The data transmission/reception method of  claim 1 , wherein the aggregation of the data packet units and the transmission of the aggregated frame are performed by the target operating by a Radio Frequency (RF) field generated by the initiator as a power source. 
     
     
       13. The data transmission/reception method of  claim 12 , wherein the aggregation of the data packet units comprises aggregating data packet units for transmission from the same connection. 
     
     
       14. The data transmission/reception method of  claim 12 , wherein the aggregation of the data packet units comprises aggregating data packet units for transmission from different connections. 
     
     
       15. The data transmission/reception method of  claim 12 , further comprising receiving an Information (I) frame from the initiator prior to the aggregation of the data packet units,
 wherein the aggregated frame is transmitted as a response frame responding to the I frame received from the initiator.   
     
     
       16. The data transmission/reception method of  claim 1 , wherein each of the AI frame and the AUI frame comprises a Destination Service Access Point (DSAP) field, a Source Service Access Point (SSAP) field, a control field, and a data information field. 
     
     
       17. The data transmission/reception method of  claim 16 , wherein the data information field of the AI frame comprises a transmission sequence number of a first inserted data packet unit. 
     
     
       18. The data transmission/reception method of  claim 17 , wherein the data information field of the Al frame further comprises a value indicating a response sequence number corresponding to a transmission sequence number of a last inserted data packet unit. 
     
     
       19. The data transmission/reception method of  claim 16 , wherein each of the AI frame and the AUI frame from the same logical connection comprises plural aggregated data packet units and comprises a length information field indicating a length of each data packet unit in front of each data packet unit. 
     
     
       20. The data transmission/reception method of  claim 16 , wherein each of the AI frame and the AUI frame from different logical connections comprises a Logical Link Control Protocol (LLCP) data frame from a corresponding logical connection and comprises a length information field indicating a length of each LLCP data frame in front of each LLCP data frame. 
     
     
       21. A data transmission/reception method in Near Field Communications (NFC), the method comprising:
 initiating a communication between an initiator and a target device via the NFC;   aggregating a plurality of data packet units for transmission to form an aggregated frame; and   transmitting the aggregated frame to the target device or the initiator without relying on a connection setup procedure,   wherein the aggregated frame comprises a frame type identifier indicating that the plurality of data packet units included in the aggregated frame are aggregated,   wherein the aggregated frame is an aggregated unnumbered information (AUI) frame, and the AUI frame comprises a data payload that includes the plurality of aggregated data packet units without a plurality of sequence numbers associated with transmission of the plurality of data packet units and reception thereof, and   wherein the aggregating includes placing each of a plurality of length information fields respectively in front of each of the plurality of data packet units, the number of length information fields is the same as the number of data packet units, and each of the length information fields alternates with each of the packet data units.   
     
     
       22. The data transmission/reception method of claim 21, wherein said initiating of the communication comprises transmitting or receiving configuration parameters regarding the aggregation of the plurality of data packet units. 
     
     
       23. The data transmission/reception method of claim 21, wherein said initiating of the communication comprises configuring a maximum value for a number of data packet units that can be aggregated. 
     
     
       24. The data transmission/reception method of claim 23, wherein said maximum value for the number of data packet units is configured by the initiator. 
     
     
       25. The data transmission/reception method of claim 23, wherein said maximum value for the number of data packet units is configured by the target device. 
     
     
       26. The data transmission/reception method of claim 23, wherein said maximum value for the number of data packet units is configured by the initiator or the target device having the lowest capacity for transceiving data packet units. 
     
     
       27. The data transmission/reception method of claim 21, wherein the AUI frame comprises an aggregated header including overheads of the data packet units included in the AUI frame. 
     
     
       28. The data transmission/reception method of claim 21, wherein the aggregation of the data packet units and the transmission of the AUI frame are performed by the initiator that initiates the communication. 
     
     
       29. The data transmission/reception method of claim 28, wherein said aggregating of the data packet units comprises aggregating data packet units for transmission from a same service. 
     
     
       30. The data transmission/reception method of claim 28, wherein said aggregating of the data packet units comprises aggregating data packet units for transmission from different services. 
     
     
       31. The data transmission/reception method of claim 21, wherein the aggregation of the data packet units and the transmission of the AUI frame are performed by the target operating by a Radio Frequency (RF) field generated by the initiator as a power source. 
     
     
       32. The data transmission/reception method of claim 31, wherein said aggregating of the data packet units comprises aggregating data packet units for transmission from the same service. 
     
     
       33. The data transmission/reception method of claim 31, wherein said aggregating of the data packet units comprises aggregating data packet units for transmission from different services. 
     
     
       34. The data transmission/reception method of claim 31, further comprising receiving an Information (I) frame prior to the aggregation of the data packet units,
 wherein the AUI frame is transmitted as a response frame responding to the I frame received from the initiator.   
     
     
       35. The data transmission/reception method of claim 21, wherein the AUI frame comprises a Destination Service Access Point (DSAP) field, a Source Service Access Point (SSAP) field, a control field including the frame type identifier, and a data information field including the data payload. 
     
     
       36. The data transmission/reception method of claim 35, wherein the data information field of the AUI frame does not comprise a transmission sequence number of a first inserted data packet unit. 
     
     
       37. The data transmission/reception method of claim 21, wherein the AUI frame from the same logical connection comprises plural aggregated data packet units and each length information field indicates a length of a corresponding data packet unit in front of each of the data packet units. 
     
     
       38. The data transmission/reception method of claim 21, wherein the AUI frame from different logical connections comprises a Logical Link Control Protocol (LLCP) data frame from a corresponding logical connection and a length information field in front of the LLCP data frame indicates a length of the LLCP data frame.