Invalidity dossier
US 7933293
Link margin notification using return frame
Current assignee: E2e Systems LLC
Added 10/31/2026, 4:01:10 AM
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Patent summary
Title, assignee, inventors, filing/issue dates, abstract, and a plain-language overview of the claims.
US 7,933,293 B2 — Patent Overview
Title: Link margin notification using return frame
Inventor: Menzo Wentink
Application: US 10/880,366, filed 2004-06-30; granted 2011-04-26
Priority date (as listed): 2002-06-12 (claimed from US 10/353,391)
Listed assignees: original assignee Xocyst Transfer AG LLC; current assignee (per source listing) E2e Systems LLC
Source: https://patents.google.com/patent/US7933293/en
Purpose. The patent addresses power management in wireless networks, particularly IEEE 802.11-type systems. Wireless devices typically transmit at maximum permissible power, which wastes battery power and can cause overheating and added energy cost. The stated aim is to let a transmitting device reduce its transmit power without impairing the receiver's ability to receive accurately.
Plain-language scope. A receiving wireless device determines its "link margin"—roughly, how much stronger the received signal is than the minimum it needs—and reports that margin back to the transmitting device in a return frame. The transmitter then lowers its power accordingly, at most by the reported margin. The disclosed embodiments frame this around acknowledgements (ACKs): a station sends data, the receiver's ACK carries the receiver's link-margin information, and the sender adjusts its next transmission based on it. The claims and summary also cover the reverse direction: reporting a link margin measured from signals received from another device, sending that indication over the network, and adjusting transmit power in response (including after retransmission/error, per the classification).
Systems and figures. The excerpt describes an infrastructure network with an access point and wireless stations, plus an optional direct link between stations, and references FIGS. 1–3 (system, device block diagram, flow diagram) and U.S. Provisional Application 60/515,701 for direct-link techniques.
What the excerpt does not establish. The supplied text is truncated and includes no actual claim language, no detailed description of the figures, and no specific link-margin calculation or encoding details. It does not establish claim scope with precision, the full list of embodiments, or the content of cited prior art. Legal status, ownership changes, and validity are outside this summary and were not researched.
Generated 10/31/2026, 4:01:38 AM
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Prior art
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