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 A1 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 method for transmitting and receiving a data in Near Field Communication (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 an identifier of a frame type indicating whether the plurality of data packet units included in the aggregated frame is aggregated,   wherein the aggregated frame comprises a Destination Service Access Point (DSAP) field, a Source Service Access Point (SSAP) field, a control field including the identifier of the frame type, and a data information field including a data payload,   wherein, when the aggregated frame is an aggregated unnumbered information frame, the aggregated frame comprises the data payload including the plurality of aggregated data packet units without a plurality of sequence numbers associated with transmission of the plurality of data packets and reception thereof,   wherein the aggregating includes placing a length information field directly in front of a data packet unit in sequence for 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, and   wherein, when the aggregated frame is an aggregated information frame, the aggregated frame comprises a data payload including the plurality of data packet units, and a field for recording a plurality of sequence numbers associated with transmission of the plurality of data packet units and reception thereof.    
     
     
       22. The method of claim 21, further comprising transmitting and receiving configuration parameters regarding the aggregation of the data packet units in order to initiate the communication between the initiator and the target device.  
     
     
       23. The method of claim 21, further comprising setting a maximum value for the number of data packet units that can be aggregated in order to initiate the communication between the initiator and the target device via the NFC.  
     
     
       24. The method of claim 21, wherein the aggregated frame comprises a header including overheads of the data packet units included in the aggregated frame.  
     
     
       25. The method of claim 21, wherein the aggregation of the data packet units comprises aggregating data packet units for transmission from a same connection.  
     
     
       26. The method of claim 21, wherein the aggregation of the data packet units comprises aggregating data packet units for transmission from different connections.  
     
     
       27. The method of claim 21, further comprising:
 receiving an Information (I) frame from the initiator prior to the aggregation of the data packet units,   wherein the aggregated frame is a response frame responding to the I frame received, from one of the target device and the initiator.    
     
     
       28. The method of claim 24, wherein the header of the aggregated frame does not comprises a sequence field for recording a sequence number associated with transmission of the plurality of data packets and reception thereof.