INITIAL CONTROL FRAMES WITH BLOCK ACKNOWLEDGMENT REQUEST

Methods, apparatuses, and computer readable media for initial control frames with block acknowledgement request, where a STA comprises processing circuitry configured to: decode, from an access point (AP), an ultra-high reliability (UHR) buffer status report poll (BSRP) trigger frame, the BSRP trigger frame including a user information field, the user information field comprising an association identification (AID) field, the AID field indicating an AID of the STA, and the BSRP trigger frame including a common information field, the common information field comprising a field, the field indicating a format of a response from the STA, in response to the field indicating the format of the response from the STA is a non-HT duplicate PPDU, encode, for transmission to the AP, the non-HT duplicate PPDU, and in response to the field indicating the format of the response from the STA is a PPDU, encode, for transmission to the AP, the PPDU.

TECHNICAL FIELD

Embodiments relate to initial control frames (ICFs) with block acknowledgment request, which may begin a transmission opportunity (TxOP), in accordance with wireless local area networks (WLANs) and Wi-Fi networks including networks operating in accordance with different versions or generations of the IEEE 802.11 family of standards.

BACKGROUND

Efficient use of the resources of a wireless local-area network (WLAN) is important to provide bandwidth and acceptable response times to the users of the WLAN. However, often there are many devices trying to share the same resources and some devices may be limited by the communication protocol they use or by their hardware bandwidth. Moreover, wireless devices may need to operate with newer protocols and with legacy protocols on multiple bands and channels.

DESCRIPTION

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a radio architecture 100 in accordance with some embodiments. Radio architecture 100 may include radio front-end module (FEM) circuitry 104, radio IC circuitry 106 and baseband processing circuitry 108. Radio architecture 100 as shown includes both Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) functionality and Bluetooth® (BT) functionality although embodiments are not so limited. In this disclosure, “WLAN” and “Wi-Fi” are used interchangeably.

FEM circuitry 104 may include a WLAN or Wi-Fi FEM circuitry 104A and a Bluetooth® (BT) FEM circuitry 104B. The WLAN FEM circuitry 104A may include a receive signal path comprising circuitry configured to operate on WLAN RF signals received from one or more antennas 101, to amplify the received signals and to provide the amplified versions of the received signals to the WLAN radio IC circuitry 106A for further processing. The BT FEM circuitry 104B may include a receive signal path which may include circuitry configured to operate on BT RF signals received from one or more antennas 101, to amplify the received signals and to provide the amplified versions of the received signals to the BT radio IC circuitry 106B for further processing. FEM circuitry 104A may also include a transmit signal path which may include circuitry configured to amplify WLAN signals provided by the radio IC circuitry 106A for wireless transmission by one or more of the antennas 101. In addition, FEM circuitry 104B may also include a transmit signal path which may include circuitry configured to amplify BT signals provided by the radio IC circuitry 106B for wireless transmission by the one or more antennas. In the embodiment of FIG. 1, although FEM circuitry 104A and FEM circuitry 104B are shown as being distinct from one another, embodiments are not so limited, and include within their scope the use of an FEM (not shown) that includes a transmit path and/or a receive path for both WLAN and BT signals, or the use of one or more FEM circuitries where at least some of the FEM circuitries share transmit and/or receive signal paths for both WLAN and BT signals.

Radio IC circuitry 106 as shown may include WLAN radio IC circuitry 106A and BT radio IC circuitry 106B. The WLAN radio IC circuitry 106A may include a receive signal path which may include circuitry to down-convert WLAN RF signals received from the FEM circuitry 104A and provide baseband signals to WLAN baseband processing circuitry 108A. BT radio IC circuitry 106B may in turn include a receive signal path which may include circuitry to down-convert BT RF signals received from the FEM circuitry 104B and provide baseband signals to BT baseband processing circuitry 108B. WLAN radio IC circuitry 106A may also include a transmit signal path which may include circuitry to up-convert WLAN baseband signals provided by the WLAN baseband processing circuitry 108A and provide WLAN RF output signals to the FEM circuitry 104A for subsequent wireless transmission by the one or more antennas 101. BT radio IC circuitry 106B may also include a transmit signal path which may include circuitry to up-convert BT baseband signals provided by the BT baseband processing circuitry 108B and provide BT RF output signals to the FEM circuitry 104B for subsequent wireless transmission by the one or more antennas 101. In the embodiment of FIG. 1, although radio IC circuitries 106A and 106B are shown as being distinct from one another, embodiments are not so limited, and include within their scope the use of a radio IC circuitry (not shown) that includes a transmit signal path and/or a receive signal path for both WLAN and BT signals, or the use of one or more radio IC circuitries where at least some of the radio IC circuitries share transmit and/or receive signal paths for both WLAN and BT signals.

Baseband processing circuitry 108 may include a WLAN baseband processing circuitry 108A and a BT baseband processing circuitry 108B. The WLAN baseband processing circuitry 108A may include a memory, such as, for example, a set of RAM arrays in a Fast Fourier Transform or Inverse Fast Fourier Transform block (not shown) of the WLAN baseband processing circuitry 108A. Each of the WLAN baseband processing circuitry 108A and the BT baseband circuitry 108B may further include one or more processors and control logic to process the signals received from the corresponding WLAN or BT receive signal path of the radio IC circuitry 106, and to also generate corresponding WLAN or BT baseband signals for the transmit signal path of the radio IC circuitry 106. Each of the baseband processing circuitries 108A and 108B may further include physical layer (PHY) and medium access control layer (MAC) circuitry, and may further interface with application processor 111 for generation and processing of the baseband signals and for controlling operations of the radio IC circuitry 106.

Referring still to FIG. 1, according to the shown embodiment, WLAN-BT coexistence circuitry 113 may include logic providing an interface between the WLAN baseband processing circuitry 108A and the BT baseband circuitry 108B to enable use cases requiring WLAN and BT coexistence. In addition, a switch 103 may be provided between the WLAN FEM circuitry 104A and the BT FEM circuitry 104B to allow switching between the WLAN and BT radios according to application needs. In addition, although the antennas 101 are depicted as being respectively connected to the WLAN FEM circuitry 104A and the BT FEM circuitry 104B, embodiments include within their scope the sharing of one or more antennas as between the WLAN and BT FEMs, or the provision of more than one antenna connected to each of FEM circuitry 104A or FEM circuitry 104B.

In some embodiments, the front-end module circuitry 104, the radio IC circuitry 106, and baseband processing circuitry 108 may be provided on a single radio card, such as wireless radio card 102. In some other embodiments, the one or more antennas 101, the FEM circuitry 104 and the radio IC circuitry 106 may be provided on a single radio card. In some other embodiments, the radio IC circuitry 106 and the baseband processing circuitry 108 may be provided on a single chip or IC, such as IC 112.

In some of these multicarrier embodiments, radio architecture 100 may be part of a Wi-Fi communication station (STA) such as a wireless access point (AP), a base station or a mobile device including a Wi-Fi device. In some of these embodiments, radio architecture 100 may be configured to transmit and receive signals in accordance with specific communication standards and/or protocols, such as any of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) standards including, IEEE 802.11n-2009, IEEE 802.11-2012, IEEE 802.11-2016, IEEE 802.11ac, and/or IEEE 802.11ax standards and/or proposed specifications for WLANs, although the scope of embodiments is not limited in this respect. Radio architecture 100 may also be suitable to transmit and/or receive communications in accordance with other techniques and standards.

In some embodiments, the radio architecture 100 may be configured for high-efficiency (HE) Wi-Fi (HEW) communications in accordance with the IEEE 802.11ax standard. In these embodiments, the radio architecture 100 may be configured to communicate in accordance with an OFDMA technique, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect.

In some embodiments, as further shown in FIG. 1, the BT baseband circuitry 108B may be compliant with a Bluetooth® (BT) connectivity standard such as Bluetooth®, Bluetooth® 4.0 or Bluetooth® 5.0, or any other iteration of the Bluetooth® Standard. In embodiments that include BT functionality as shown for example in FIG. 1, the radio architecture 100 may be configured to establish a BT synchronous connection oriented (SCO) link and/or a BT low energy (BT LE) link. In some of the embodiments that include functionality, the radio architecture 100 may be configured to establish an extended SCO (eSCO) link for BT communications, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect. In some of these embodiments that include a BT functionality, the radio architecture may be configured to engage in a BT Asynchronous Connection-Less (ACL) communications, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect. In some embodiments, as shown in FIG. 1, the functions of a BT radio card and WLAN radio card may be combined on a single wireless radio card, such as single wireless radio card 102, although embodiments are not so limited, and include within their scope discrete WLAN and BT radio cards

In some embodiments, the radio architecture 100 may include other radio cards, such as a cellular radio card configured for cellular (e.g., 3GPP such as LTE, LTE-Advanced or 5G communications).

In some IEEE 802.11 embodiments, the radio architecture 100 may be configured for communication over various channel bandwidths including bandwidths having center frequencies of about nine hundred MHz, 2.4 GHZ, 5 GHZ, and bandwidths of about 1 MHZ, 2 MHz, 2.5 MHz, 4 MHZ, 5 MHz, 8 MHz, 10 MHz, 16 MHz, 20 MHz, 40 MHz, 80 MHz (with contiguous bandwidths) or 80+80 MHz (160 MHz) (with non-contiguous bandwidths). In some embodiments, a 320 MHz channel bandwidth may be used. The scope of the embodiments is not limited with respect to the above center frequencies however.

FIG. 2 illustrates FEM circuitry 200 in accordance with some embodiments. The FEM circuitry 200 is one example of circuitry that may be suitable for use as the WLAN and/or BT FEM circuitry 104A/104B (FIG. 1), although other circuitry configurations may also be suitable.

In some embodiments, the FEM circuitry 200 may include a TX/RX switch 202 to switch between transmit mode and receive mode operation. The FEM circuitry 200 may include a receive signal path and a transmit signal path. The receive signal path of the FEM circuitry 200 may include a low-noise amplifier (LNA) 206 to amplify received RF signals 203 and provide the amplified received RF signals 207 as an output (e.g., to the radio IC circuitry 106 (FIG. 1)). The transmit signal path of the circuitry 200 may include a power amplifier (PA) to amplify input RF signals 209 (e.g., provided by the radio IC circuitry 106), and one or more filters 212, such as band-pass filters (BPFs), low-pass filters (LPFs) or other types of filters, to generate RF signals 215 for subsequent transmission (e.g., by one or more of the antennas 101 (FIG. 1)).

In some dual-mode embodiments for Wi-Fi communication, the FEM circuitry 200 may be configured to operate in either the 2.4 GHz frequency spectrum or the 5 GHz frequency spectrum. In these embodiments, the receive signal path of the FEM circuitry 200 may include a receive signal path duplexer 204 to separate the signals from each spectrum as well as provide a separate LNA 206 for each spectrum as shown. In these embodiments, the transmit signal path of the FEM circuitry 200 may also include a power amplifier 210 and a filter 212, such as a BPF, a LPF or another type of filter for each frequency spectrum and a transmit signal path duplexer 214 to provide the signals of one of the different spectrums onto a single transmit path for subsequent transmission by the one or more of the antennas 101 (FIG. 1). In some embodiments, BT communications may utilize the 2.4 GHZ signal paths and may utilize the same FEM circuitry 200 as the one used for WLAN communications.

FIG. 3 illustrates radio integrated circuit (IC) circuitry 300 in accordance with some embodiments. The radio IC circuitry 300 is one example of circuitry that may be suitable for use as the WLAN or BT radio IC circuitry 106A/106B (FIG. 1), although other circuitry configurations may also be suitable.

In some embodiments, the radio IC circuitry 300 may include a receive signal path and a transmit signal path. The receive signal path of the radio IC circuitry 300 may include at least mixer circuitry 302, such as, for example, down-conversion mixer circuitry, amplifier circuitry 306 and filter circuitry 308. The transmit signal path of the radio IC circuitry 300 may include at least filter circuitry 312 and mixer circuitry 314, such as, for example, up-conversion mixer circuitry. Radio IC circuitry 300 may also include synthesizer circuitry 304 for synthesizing a frequency 305 for use by the mixer circuitry 302 and the mixer circuitry 314. The mixer circuitry 302 and/or 314 may each, according to some embodiments, be configured to provide direct conversion functionality. The latter type of circuitry presents a much simpler architecture as compared with standard super-heterodyne mixer circuitries, and any flicker noise brought about by the same may be alleviated for example through the use of OFDM modulation. FIG. 3 illustrates only a simplified version of a radio IC circuitry, and may include, although not shown, embodiments where each of the depicted circuitries may include more than one component. For instance, mixer circuitry 302 and/or 314 may each include one or more mixers, and filter circuitries 308 and/or 312 may each include one or more filters, such as one or more BPFs and/or LPFs according to application needs. For example, when mixer circuitries are of the direct-conversion type, they may each include two or more mixers.

In some embodiments, mixer circuitry 302 may be configured to down-convert RF signals 207 received from the FEM circuitry 104 (FIG. 1) based on the synthesized frequency 305 provided by synthesizer circuitry 304. The amplifier circuitry 306 may be configured to amplify the down-converted signals and the filter circuitry 308 may include a LPF configured to remove unwanted signals from the down-converted signals to generate output baseband signals 307. Output baseband signals 307 may be provided to the baseband processing circuitry 108 (FIG. 1) for further processing. In some embodiments, the output baseband signals 307 may be zero-frequency baseband signals, although this is not a requirement. In some embodiments, mixer circuitry 302 may comprise passive mixers, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect.

In some embodiments, the mixer circuitry 314 may be configured to up-convert input baseband signals 311 based on the synthesized frequency 305 provided by the synthesizer circuitry 304 to generate RF output signals 209 for the FEM circuitry 104. The baseband signals 311 may be provided by the baseband processing circuitry 108 and may be filtered by filter circuitry 312. The filter circuitry 312 may include a LPF or a BPF, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect.

In some embodiments, the mixer circuitry 302 and the mixer circuitry 314 may each include two or more mixers and may be arranged for quadrature down-conversion and/or up-conversion respectively with the help of synthesizer circuitry 304. In some embodiments, the mixer circuitry 302 and the mixer circuitry 314 may each include two or more mixers each configured for image rejection (e.g., Hartley image rejection). In some embodiments, the mixer circuitry 302 and the mixer circuitry 314 may be arranged for direct down-conversion and/or direct up-conversion, respectively. In some embodiments, the mixer circuitry 302 and the mixer circuitry 314 may be configured for super-heterodyne operation, although this is not a requirement.

Mixer circuitry 302 may comprise, according to one embodiment: quadrature passive mixers (e.g., for the in-phase (I) and quadrature phase (Q) paths). In such an embodiment, RF input signal 207 from FIG. 3 may be down-converted to provide I and Q baseband output signals to be sent to the baseband processor

In some embodiments, the LO signals may differ in duty cycle (the percentage of one period in which the LO signal is high) and/or offset (the difference between start points of the period). In some embodiments, the LO signals may have a 25% duty cycle and a 50% offset. In some embodiments, each branch of the mixer circuitry (e.g., the in-phase (I) and quadrature phase (Q) path) may operate at a 25% duty cycle, which may result in a significant reduction is power consumption.

The RF input signal 207 (FIG. 2) may comprise a balanced signal, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect. The I and Q baseband output signals may be provided to low-nose amplifier, such as amplifier circuitry 306 (FIG. 3) or to filter circuitry 308 (FIG. 3).

In some embodiments, the output baseband signals 307 and the input baseband signals 311 may be analog baseband signals, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect. In some alternate embodiments, the output baseband signals 307 and the input baseband signals 311 may be digital baseband signals. In these alternate embodiments, the radio IC circuitry may include analog-to-digital converter (ADC) and digital-to-analog converter (DAC) circuitry.

In some embodiments, the synthesizer circuitry 304 may be a fractional-N synthesizer or a fractional N/N+1 synthesizer, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect as other types of frequency synthesizers may be suitable. For example, synthesizer circuitry 304 may be a delta-sigma synthesizer, a frequency multiplier, or a synthesizer comprising a phase-locked loop with a frequency divider. According to some embodiments, the synthesizer circuitry 304 may include digital synthesizer circuitry. An advantage of using a digital synthesizer circuitry is that, although it may still include some analog components, its footprint may be scaled down much more than the footprint of an analog synthesizer circuitry. In some embodiments, frequency input into synthesizer circuitry 304 may be provided by a voltage controlled oscillator (VCO), although that is not a requirement. A divider control input may further be provided by either the baseband processing circuitry 108 (FIG. 1) or the application processor 111 (FIG. 1) depending on the desired output frequency 305. In some embodiments, a divider control input (e.g., N) may be determined from a look-up table (e.g., within a Wi-Fi card) based on a channel number and a channel center frequency as determined or indicated by the application processor 111.

In some embodiments, synthesizer circuitry 304 may be configured to generate a carrier frequency as the output frequency 305, while in other embodiments, the output frequency 305 may be a fraction of the carrier frequency (e.g., one-half the carrier frequency, one-third the carrier frequency). In some embodiments, the output frequency 305 may be a LO frequency (fLo).

FIG. 4 illustrates a functional block diagram of baseband processing circuitry 400 in accordance with some embodiments. The baseband processing circuitry 400 is one example of circuitry that may be suitable for use as the baseband processing circuitry 108 (FIG. 1), although other circuitry configurations may also be suitable. The baseband processing circuitry 400 may include a receive baseband processor (RX BBP 402) for processing receive baseband signals 309 provided by the radio IC circuitry 106 (FIG. 1) and a transmit baseband processor (TX BBP) 404 for generating transmit baseband signals 311 for the radio IC circuitry 106. The baseband processing circuitry 400 may also include control logic 406 for coordinating the operations of the baseband processing circuitry 400.

In some embodiments (e.g., when analog baseband signals are exchanged between the baseband processing circuitry 400 and the radio IC circuitry 106), the baseband processing circuitry 400 may include ADC 410 to convert analog baseband signals received from the radio IC circuitry 106 to digital baseband signals for processing by the RX BBP 402. In these embodiments, the baseband processing circuitry 400 may also include DAC 412 to convert digital baseband signals from the TX BBP 404 to analog baseband signals.

In some embodiments that communicate OFDM signals or OFDMA signals, such as through baseband processing circuitry 108A, the TX BBP 404 may be configured to generate OFDM or OFDMA signals as appropriate for transmission by performing an inverse fast Fourier transform (IFFT). The RX BBP 402 may be configured to process received OFDM signals or OFDMA signals by performing an FFT. In some embodiments, the RX BBP 402 may be configured to detect the presence of an OFDM signal or OFDMA signal by performing an autocorrelation, to detect a preamble, such as a short preamble, and by performing a cross-correlation, to detect a long preamble. The preambles may be part of a predetermined frame structure for Wi-Fi communication.

FIG. 5 illustrates a basic service set (BSS 500) in accordance with some embodiments. The BSS 500 may be part of wide area local area network (WLAN). The BSS 500 includes an access point (AP) AP 502, a plurality of stations (STAs) STAs 504, and a plurality of legacy devices 506. In some embodiments, the STAs 504 and/or AP 502 are configured to operate in accordance with IEEE 802.11be extremely high throughput (EHT), WiFi 8 IEEE 802.11 ultra-high throughput (UHT), high efficiency (HE) IEEE 802.11ax, IEEE 802.11bn next generation or ultra-high reliability (UHR), and/or another IEEE 802.11 wireless communication standard. In some embodiments, the STAs 504 and/or AP 502 are configured to operate in accordance with IEEE P802.11be, and/or IEEE P802.11-REVme™, both of which are hereby included by reference in their entirety, and to operate in accordance with one or more functions described herein. In some embodiments, one or more the legacy devices 506, STAs 504, and/or the AP 502 may be configured to operate in accordance with one or more Wi-Fi Alliance (WFA) communication standards.

The AP 502 may use other communications protocols as well as the IEEE 802.11 protocol. The terms here may be termed differently in accordance with some embodiments. The IEEE 802.11 protocol may include using orthogonal frequency division multiple-access (OFDMA), time division multiple access (TDMA), and/or code division multiple access (CDMA). The IEEE 802.11 protocol may include a multiple access technique. For example, the IEEE 802.11 protocol may include space-division multiple access (SDMA) and/or multiple-user multiple-input multiple-output (MU-MIMO). There may be more than one AP 502 that is part of an extended service set (ESS). A controller (not illustrated) may store information that is common to the more than one APs 502 and may control more than one BSS, e.g., assign primary channels, colors, etc. AP 502 may be connected to the internet.

The legacy devices 506 may operate in accordance with one or more of IEEE 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ad/af/ah/aj/ay/ax/uht, or another legacy wireless communication standard. The legacy devices 506 may be STAs or IEEE STAs. The STAs 504 may be wireless transmit and receive devices such as cellular telephone, portable electronic wireless communication devices, smart telephone, handheld wireless device, wireless glasses, wireless watch, wireless personal device, tablet, or another device that may be transmitting and receiving using the IEEE 802.11 protocol such as IEEE 802.11be or another wireless protocol.

The AP 502 may communicate with legacy devices 506 in accordance with legacy IEEE 802.11 communication techniques. In example embodiments, the AP 502 may also be configured to communicate with STAs 504 in accordance with legacy IEEE 802.11 communication techniques.

In some embodiments, a HE, EHT, UHT frames may be configurable to have the same bandwidth as a channel. The HE, EHT, UHT frame may be a physical Layer Convergence Procedure (PLCP) Protocol Data Unit (PPDU). In some embodiments, PPDU may be an abbreviation for physical layer protocol data unit (PPDU). In some embodiments, there may be different types of PPDUs that may have different fields and different physical layers and/or different media access control (MAC) layers. For example, a single user (SU) PPDU, downlink (DL) PPDU, multiple-user (MU) PPDU, extended-range (ER) SU PPDU, and/or trigger-based (TB) PPDU. In some embodiments EHT may be the same or similar as HE PPDUs.

The bandwidth of a channel may be 20 MHz, 40 MHz, or 80 MHZ, 80+80 MHz, 160 MHz, 160+160 MHz, 320 MHz, 320+320 MHz, 640 MHZ bandwidths. In some embodiments, the bandwidth of a channel less than 20 MHZ may be 1 MHz, 1.25 MHz, 2.03 MHz, 2.5 MHz, 4.06 MHz, 5 MHz and 10 MHz, or a combination thereof or another bandwidth that is less or equal to the available bandwidth may also be used. In some embodiments the bandwidth of the channels may be based on a number of active data subcarriers. In some embodiments the bandwidth of the channels is based on 26, 52, 106, 242, 484, 996, or 2×996 active data subcarriers or tones that are spaced by 20 MHz. In some embodiments the bandwidth of the channels is 256 tones spaced by 20 MHz. In some embodiments the channels are multiple of 26 tones or a multiple of 20 MHz. In some embodiments a 20 MHz channel may comprise 242 active data subcarriers or tones, which may determine the size of a Fast Fourier Transform (FFT). An allocation of a bandwidth or a number of tones or sub-carriers may be termed a resource unit (RU) allocation in accordance with some embodiments.

In some embodiments, the 26-subcarrier RU and 52-subcarrier RU are used in the 20 MHz, 40 MHZ, 80 MHz, 160 MHz and 80+80 MHz OFDMA HE PPDU formats. In some embodiments, the 106-subcarrier RU is used in the 20 MHz, 40 MHz, 80 MHz, 160 MHz and 80+80 MHz OFDMA and MU-MIMO HE PPDU formats. In some embodiments, the 242-subcarrier RU is used in the 40 MHz, 80 MHz, 160 MHz and 80+80 MHz OFDMA and MU-MIMO HE PPDU formats. In some embodiments, the 484-subcarrier RU is used in the 80 MHz, 160 MHz and 80+80 MHz OFDMA and MU-MIMO HE PPDU formats. In some embodiments, the 996-subcarrier RU is used in the 160 MHz and 80+80 MHZ OFDMA and MU-MIMO HE PPDU formats.

A HE, EHT, UHT, UHT, or UHR frame may be configured for transmitting a number of spatial streams, which may be in accordance with MU-MIMO and may be in accordance with OFDMA. In other embodiments, the AP 502, STA 504, and/or legacy device 506 may also implement different technologies such as code division multiple access (CDMA) 2000, CDMA 2000 1×, CDMA 2000 Evolution-Data Optimized (EV-DO), Interim Standard 2000 (IS-2000), Interim Standard 95 (IS-95), Interim Standard 856 (IS-856), Long Term Evolution (LTE), Global System for Mobile communications (GSM), Enhanced Data rates for GSM Evolution (EDGE), GSM EDGE (GERAN), IEEE 802.16 (i.e., Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX)), Bluetooth®, low-power Bluetooth®, or other technologies.

In accordance with some IEEE 802.11 embodiments, e.g., IEEE 802.11EHT/ax/be embodiments, a HE AP 502 may operate as a master station which may be arranged to contend for a wireless medium (e.g., during a contention period) to receive exclusive control of the medium for a transmission opportunity (TXOP). The AP 502 may transmit an EHT/HE trigger frame transmission, which may include a schedule for simultaneous UL/DL transmissions from STAs 504. The AP 502 may transmit a time duration of the TXOP and sub-channel information. During the TXOP, STAs 504 may communicate with the AP 502 in accordance with a non-contention based multiple access technique such as OFDMA or MU-MIMO. This is unlike conventional WLAN communications in which devices communicate in accordance with a contention-based communication technique, rather than a multiple access technique. During the HE, EHT, UHR control period, the AP 502 may communicate with STAs 504 using one or more HE or EHT frames. During the TXOP, the HE STAs 504 may operate on a sub-channel smaller than the operating range of the AP 502. During the TXOP, legacy stations refrain from communicating. The legacy stations may need to receive the communication from the HE AP 502 to defer from communicating.

In accordance with some embodiments, during the TXOP the STAs 504 may contend for the wireless medium with the legacy devices 506 being excluded from contending for the wireless medium during the master-sync transmission. In some embodiments the trigger frame may indicate an UL-MU-MIMO and/or UL OFDMA TXOP. In some embodiments, the trigger frame may include a DL UL-MU-MIMO and/or DL OFDMA with a schedule indicated in a preamble portion of trigger frame.

In some embodiments, the multiple-access technique used during the HE or EHT TXOP may be a scheduled OFDMA technique, although this is not a requirement. In some embodiments, the multiple access technique may be a time-division multiple access (TDMA) technique or a frequency division multiple access (FDMA) technique. In some embodiments, the multiple access technique may be a space-division multiple access (SDMA) technique. In some embodiments, the multiple access technique may be a Code division multiple access (CDMA).

The AP 502 may also communicate with legacy devices 506 and/or STAs 504 in accordance with legacy IEEE 802.11 communication techniques. In some embodiments, the AP 502 may also be configurable to communicate with STAs 504 outside the TXOP in accordance with legacy IEEE 802.11 or IEEE 802.11EHT/UHR communication techniques, although this is not a requirement.

In some embodiments the STA 504 may be a “group owner” (GO) for peer-to-peer modes of operation. A wireless device may be a STA 504 or a HE AP 502. The STA 504 may be termed a non-access point (AP) (non-AP) STA 504, in accordance with some embodiments.

In some embodiments, the STA 504 and/or AP 502 may be configured to operate in accordance with IEEE 802.11mc. In example embodiments, the radio architecture of FIG. 1 is configured to implement the STA 504 and/or the AP 502. In example embodiments, the front-end module circuitry of FIG. 2 is configured to implement the STA 504 and/or the AP 502. In example embodiments, the radio IC circuitry of FIG. 3 is configured to implement the HE STA 504 and/or the AP 502. In example embodiments, the base-band processing circuitry of FIG. 4 is configured to implement the STA 504 and/or the AP 502.

In example embodiments, the STAs 504, AP 502, an apparatus of the STA 504, and/or an apparatus of the AP 502 may include one or more of the following: the radio architecture of FIG. 1, the front-end module circuitry of FIG. 2, the radio IC circuitry of FIG. 3, and/or the base-band processing circuitry of FIG. 4.

In example embodiments, the radio architecture of FIG. 1, the front-end module circuitry of FIG. 2, the radio IC circuitry of FIG. 3, and/or the base-band processing circuitry of FIG. 4 may be configured to perform the methods and operations/functions herein described in conjunction with FIGS. 1-14.

In example embodiments, the STAs 504 and/or the AP 502 are configured to perform the methods and operations/functions described herein in conjunction with FIGS. 1-14. In example embodiments, an apparatus of the STA 504 and/or an apparatus of the AP 502 are configured to perform the methods and functions described herein in conjunction with FIGS. 1-14. The term Wi-Fi may refer to one or more of the IEEE 802.11 communication standards. AP and STA may refer to EHT/HE access point and/or EHT/HE station as well as legacy devices 506.

In some embodiments, a HE AP STA may refer to an AP 502 and/or STAs 504 that are operating as EHT APs 502. In some embodiments, when a STA 504 is not operating as an AP, it may be referred to as a non-AP STA or non-AP. In some embodiments, STA 504 may be referred to as either an AP STA or a non-AP. The AP 502 may be part of, or affiliated with, an AP MLD 808, e.g., AP1 830, AP2 832, or AP3 834. The STAs 504 may be part of, or affiliated with, a non-AP MLD 809, which may be termed a ML non-AP logical entity. The BSS may be part of an extended service set (ESS), which may include multiple APs, access to the internet, and may include one or more management devices.

FIG. 6 illustrates a block diagram of an example machine 600 upon which any one or more of the techniques (e.g., methodologies) discussed herein may perform. In alternative embodiments, the machine 600 may operate as a standalone device or may be connected (e.g., networked) to other machines. In a networked deployment, the machine 600 may operate in the capacity of a server machine, a client machine, or both in server-client network environments. In an example, the machine 600 may act as a peer machine in peer-to-peer (P2P) (or other distributed) network environment. The machine 600 may be a HE AP 502, EVT STA 504, personal computer (PC), a tablet PC, a set-top box (STB), a personal digital assistant (PDA), a portable communications device, a mobile telephone, a smart phone, a web appliance, a network router, switch or bridge, or any machine capable of executing instructions (sequential or otherwise) that specify actions to be taken by that machine. Further, while only a single machine is illustrated, the term “machine” shall also be taken to include any collection of machines that individually or jointly execute a set (or multiple sets) of instructions to perform any one or more of the methodologies discussed herein, such as cloud computing, software as a service (SaaS), other computer cluster configurations.

Machine (e.g., computer system) 600 may include a hardware processor 602 (e.g., a central processing unit (CPU), a graphics processing unit (GPU), a hardware processor core, or any combination thereof), a main memory 604 and a static memory 606, some or all of which may communicate with each other via an interlink (e.g., bus) 608.

Specific examples of main memory 604 include Random Access Memory (RAM), and semiconductor memory devices, which may include, in some embodiments, storage locations in semiconductors such as registers. Specific examples of static memory 606 include non-volatile memory, such as semiconductor memory devices (e.g., Electrically Programmable Read-Only Memory (EPROM), Electrically Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory (EEPROM)) and flash memory devices; magnetic disks, such as internal hard disks and removable disks; magneto-optical disks; RAM; and CD-ROM and DVD-ROM disks.

The machine 600 may further include a display device 610, an input device 612 (e.g., a keyboard), and a user interface (UI) navigation device 614 (e.g., a mouse). In an example, the display device 610, input device 612 and UI navigation device 614 may be a touch screen display. The machine 600 may additionally include a mass storage (e.g., drive unit) 616, a signal generation device 618 (e.g., a speaker), a network interface device 620, and one or more sensors 621, such as a global positioning system (GPS) sensor, compass, accelerometer, or other sensor. The machine 600 may include an output controller 628, such as a serial (e.g., universal serial bus (USB), parallel, or other wired or wireless (e.g., infrared (IR), near field communication (NFC), etc.) connection to communicate or control one or more peripheral devices (e.g., a printer, card reader, etc.). In some embodiments the processor 602 and/or instructions 624 may comprise processing circuitry and/or transceiver circuitry.

The mass storage 616 device may include a machine readable medium 622 on which is stored one or more sets of data structures or instructions 624 (e.g., software) embodying or utilized by any one or more of the techniques or functions described herein. The instructions 624 may also reside, completely or at least partially, within the main memory 604, within static memory 606, or within the hardware processor 602 during execution thereof by the machine 600. In an example, one or any combination of the hardware processor 602, the main memory 604, the static memory 606, or the mass storage 616 device may constitute machine readable media.

Specific examples of machine-readable media may include: non-volatile memory, such as semiconductor memory devices (e.g., EPROM or EEPROM) and flash memory devices; magnetic disks, such as internal hard disks and removable disks; magneto-optical disks; RAM; and CD-ROM and DVD-ROM disks.

An apparatus of the machine 600 may be one or more of a hardware processor 602 (e.g., a central processing unit (CPU), a graphics processing unit (GPU), a hardware processor core, or any combination thereof), a main memory 604 and a static memory 606, sensors 621, network interface device 620, antennas 660, a display device 610, an input device 612, a UI navigation device 614, a mass storage 616, instructions 624, a signal generation device 618, and an output controller 628. The apparatus may be configured to perform one or more of the methods and/or operations disclosed herein. The apparatus may be intended as a component of the machine 600 to perform one or more of the methods and/or operations disclosed herein, and/or to perform a portion of one or more of the methods and/or operations disclosed herein. In some embodiments, the apparatus may include a pin or other means to receive power. In some embodiments, the apparatus may include power conditioning hardware.

In an example, the network interface device 620 may include one or more physical jacks (e.g., Ethernet, coaxial, or phone jacks) or one or more antennas to connect to the communications network 626. In an example, the network interface device 620 may include one or more antennas 660 to wirelessly communicate using at least one of single-input multiple-output (SIMO), multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO), or multiple-input single-output (MISO) techniques. In some examples, the network interface device 620 may wirelessly communicate using Multiple User MIMO techniques. The term “transmission medium” shall be taken to include any intangible medium that is capable of storing, encoding or carrying instructions for execution by the machine 600, and includes digital or analog communications signals or other intangible medium to facilitate communication of such software.

FIG. 7 illustrates a block diagram of an example wireless device 700 upon which any one or more of the techniques (e.g., methodologies or operations) discussed herein may perform. The wireless device 700 may be a HE device or HE wireless device. The wireless device 700 may be a HE STA 504, HE AP 502, and/or a HE STA or HE AP. A HE STA 504, HE AP 502, and/or a HE AP or HE STA may include some or all of the components shown in FIGS. 1-7. The wireless device 700 may be an example machine 600 as disclosed in conjunction with FIG. 6.

The wireless device 700 may include processing circuitry 708. The processing circuitry 708 may include a transceiver 702, physical layer circuitry (PHY circuitry) 704, and MAC layer circuitry (MAC circuitry) 706, one or more of which may enable transmission and reception of signals to and from other wireless devices 700 (e.g., HE AP 502, HE STA 504, and/or legacy devices 506) using one or more antennas 712. As an example, the PHY circuitry 704 may perform various encoding and decoding functions that may include formation of baseband signals for transmission and decoding of received signals. As another example, the transceiver 702 may perform various transmission and reception functions such as conversion of signals between a baseband range and a Radio Frequency (RF) range.

Accordingly, the PHY circuitry 704 and the transceiver 702 may be separate components or may be part of a combined component, e.g., processing circuitry 708. In addition, some of the described functionality related to transmission and reception of signals may be performed by a combination that may include one, any or all of the PHY circuitry 704 the transceiver 702, MAC circuitry 706, memory 710, and other components or layers. The MAC circuitry 706 may control access to the wireless medium. The wireless device 700 may also include memory 710 arranged to perform the operations described herein, e.g., some of the operations described herein may be performed by instructions stored in the memory 710.

The antennas 712 (some embodiments may include only one antenna) may comprise one or more directional or omnidirectional antennas, including, for example, dipole antennas, monopole antennas, patch antennas, loop antennas, microstrip antennas or other types of antennas suitable for transmission of RF signals. In some multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) embodiments, the antennas 712 may be effectively separated to take advantage of spatial diversity and the different channel characteristics that may result.

One or more of the memory 710, the transceiver 702, the PHY circuitry 704, the MAC circuitry 706, the antennas 712, and/or the processing circuitry 708 may be coupled with one another. Moreover, although memory 710, the transceiver 702, the PHY circuitry 704, the MAC circuitry 706, the antennas 712 are illustrated as separate components, one or more of memory 710, the transceiver 702, the PHY circuitry 704, the MAC circuitry 706, the antennas 712 may be integrated in an electronic package or chip.

In some embodiments, the wireless device 700 may be a mobile device as described in conjunction with FIG. 6. In some embodiments the wireless device 700 may be configured to operate in accordance with one or more wireless communication standards as described herein (e.g., as described in conjunction with FIGS. 1-6, IEEE 802.11). In some embodiments, the wireless device 700 may include one or more of the components as described in conjunction with FIG. 6 (e.g., display device 610, input device 612, etc.) Although the wireless device 700 is illustrated as having several separate functional elements, one or more of the functional elements may be combined and may be implemented by combinations of software-configured elements, such as processing elements including digital signal processors (DSPs), and/or other hardware elements. For example, some elements may comprise one or more microprocessors, DSPs, field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), application specific integrated circuits (ASICs), radio-frequency integrated circuits (RFICs) and combinations of various hardware and logic circuitry for performing at least the functions described herein. In some embodiments, the functional elements may refer to one or more processes operating on one or more processing elements.

In some embodiments, an apparatus of or used by the wireless device 700 may include various components of the wireless device 700 as shown in FIG. 7 and/or components from FIGS. 1-6. Accordingly, techniques and operations described herein that refer to the wireless device 700 may be applicable to an apparatus for a wireless device 700 (e.g., HE AP 502 and/or HE STA 504), in some embodiments. In some embodiments, the wireless device 700 is configured to decode and/or encode signals, packets, and/or frames as described herein, e.g., PPDUs.

In some embodiments, the MAC circuitry 706 may be arranged to contend for a wireless medium during a contention period to receive control of the medium for a HE TXOP and encode or decode an HE PPDU. In some embodiments, the MAC circuitry 706 may be arranged to contend for the wireless medium based on channel contention settings, a transmitting power level, and a clear channel assessment level (e.g., an energy detect level).

The PHY circuitry 704 may be arranged to transmit signals in accordance with one or more communication standards described herein. For example, the PHY circuitry 704 may be configured to transmit a HE PPDU. The PHY circuitry 704 may include circuitry for modulation/demodulation, upconversion/downconversion, filtering, amplification, etc. In some embodiments, the processing circuitry 708 may include one or more processors. The processing circuitry 708 may be configured to perform functions based on instructions being stored in a RAM or ROM, or based on special purpose circuitry. The processing circuitry 708 may include a processor such as a general purpose processor or special purpose processor. The processing circuitry 708 may implement one or more functions associated with antennas 712, the transceiver 702, the PHY circuitry 704, the MAC circuitry 706, and/or the memory 710. In some embodiments, the processing circuitry 708 may be configured to perform one or more of the functions/operations and/or methods described herein.

In mmWave technology, communication between a station (e.g., the HE STAs 504 of FIG. 5 or wireless device 700) and an access point (e.g., the HE AP 502 of FIG. 5 or wireless device 700) may use associated effective wireless channels that are highly directionally dependent. To accommodate the directionality, beamforming techniques may be utilized to radiate energy in a certain direction with certain beamwidth to communicate between two devices. The directed propagation concentrates transmitted energy toward a target device in order to compensate for significant energy loss in the channel between the two communicating devices. Using directed transmission may extend the range of the millimeter-wave communication versus utilizing the same transmitted energy in omni-directional propagation.

The Links are different frequency bands such as 2.4 GHz band, 5 GHz band, 6 GHz band, and so forth. ML logical entity 2 807 includes STA2.1 816.1, STA2.2 816.2, and STA2.3 816.3 that operate in accordance with link 1 802.1, link 2 802.2, and link 3 802.3, respectively. In some embodiments ML logical entity 1 806 and ML logical entity 2 807 operate in accordance with a mesh network. Using three links enables the ML logical entity 1 806 and ML logical entity 2 807 to operate using a greater bandwidth and more reliably as they can switch to using a different link if there is interference or if one link is superior due to operating conditions.

The distribution system (DS) 810 indicates how communications are distributed and the DS medium (DSM 812) indicates the medium that is used for the DS 810, which in this case is the wireless spectrum.

AP MLD 808 includes AP1 830, AP2 832, and AP3 834 operating on link 1 804.1, link 2 804.2, and link 3 804.3, respectively. AP MLD 808 includes a MAC ADDR 854 that may be used by applications to transmit and receive data across one or more of AP1 830, AP2 832, and AP3 834. Each link may have an associated link ID. For example, as illustrated, link 3 804.3 has a link ID 870.

AP1 830, AP2 832, and AP3 834 includes a frequency band, which are 2.4 GHz band 836, 5 GHz band 838, and 6 GHz band 840, respectively. AP1 830, AP2 832, and AP3 834 includes different BSSIDs, which are BSSID 842, BSSID 844, and BSSID 846, respectively. AP1 830, AP2 832, and AP3 834 includes different media access control (MAC) address (addr), which are MAC adder 848, MAC addr 850, and MAC addr 852, respectively. The AP 502 is a AP MLD 808, in accordance with some embodiments. The STA 504 is a non-AP MLD 809, in accordance with some embodiments.

The non-AP MLD 809 includes non-AP STA1 818, non-AP STA2 820, and non-AP STA3 822. Each of the non-AP STAs may have MAC addresses and the non-AP MLD 809 may have a MAC address that is different and used by application programs where the data traffic is split up among non-AP STA1 818, non-AP STA2 820, and non-AP STA3 822.

A Multi-link device such as ML logical entity 1 806 or ML logical entity 2 807, is a logical entity that contains one or more STAs 814.1, 814.2, 814.3, 816.1, 816.2, and 816.3. The ML logical entity 1 806 and ML logical entity 2 807 each has one MAC data service interface and primitives to the logical link control (LLC) and a single address associated with the interface, which can be used to communicate on the DSM 812. Multi-link logical entity allows STAs 814, 816 within the multi-link logical entity to have the same MAC address. In some embodiments a same MAC address is used for application layers and a different MAC address is used per link.

ML AP device (AP MLD): is a ML logical entity, where each STA within the multi-link logical entity is an EHT AP 502, in accordance with some embodiments. ML non-AP device (non-AP MLD) A multi-link logical entity, where each STA within the multi-link logical entity is a non-AP EHT STA 504. AP1 830, AP2 832, and AP3 834 may be operating on different bands and there may be fewer or more APs. There may be fewer or more STAs as part of the non-AP MLD 809.

In some embodiments the AP MLD 808 is termed an AP MLD or MLD. In some embodiments non-AP MLD 809 is termed a MLD or a non-AP MLD. Each AP (e.g., AP1 830, AP2 832, and AP3 834) of the MLD sends a beacon frame that includes: a description of its capabilities, operation elements, a basic description of the other AP of the same MLD that are collocated, which may be a report in a Reduced Neighbor Report element or another element such as a basic multi-link element. AP1 830, AP2 832, and AP3 834 transmitting information about the other APs in beacons and probe response frames enables STAs of non-AP MLDs to discover the APs of the AP MLD.

A technical problem is APs 502 and/or STAs 504 need to communicate feedback and information with one another and acknowledge the communications. Additionally, the APs 502 and/or STAs need to gain access to the wireless medium and transmit one or more frames to initiate a transmission opportunity.

Some embodiments, address the technical problem by enabling an initial control frame to start a transmission opportunity to include data frame and/or to elicit a block acknowledgement of the data frames in an initial control response frame.

Some embodiments, address the technical problem by enabling an initial control frame to solicit buffer information from one or more stations. The initial control response frame then may include buffer information for the stations.

FIG. 9 illustrates a method 900 for initial control frames with block acknowledge request, in accordance with some embodiments. In some embodiments, an AP 502 transmits an ICF 910 at the start of a transmission opportunity (TXOP) TXOP 908.

The ICF 910 may include feedback information (FB) FB 911. The ICF 910 is a first frame in the TXOP 908. An example ICF 910 is a request-to-send (RTS) with FB 911.

The STAs 904, 906 and/or APs 502 respond with initial control response (ICR) frames, ICR 924, 926 frames. Example ICR 924, 926 frames are clear-to-send (CTS) frames with FB 913, 915. The FB 913, 915 may be a control response frame such as a block acknowledgement (BA).

In some embodiments, the ICF 910, FB 911, ICR 924, 926 frames, and/or FB 913, 915 are a multi-STA BlockAck frames, which may provide a BlockAck response to a PPDU containing data frames. In some embodiments, the ICF 910 and/or FB 911 is a BlockAck Request frame (BAR).

The ICF 910, FB 911, ICR 924, 926 frames, and/or FB 913, 915 may be in accordance with the communication standard IEEE 802.11 ultra-high reliability (UHR). The FB 911 of the ICF 910 may be for a single user and based on a BlockAck Request frame (BAR).

In some embodiments, the FB 911, which may be a BAR frame, may include additional feedback requests for feedback in the ICR 924, 926 frame sent in response to the FB 911, which may be a BAR frame. In some embodiments, the ICF 910 and/or ICR 924, 926, frames include an intermediate FCS field Security field for protection of the ICF 910 and/or ICR 924, 926 frames.

In some embodiments, the ICF 910 is a variant of a BAR frame, that is termed a ICF BAR frame. In some embodiments, the ICF 910 uses fields of BAR frames of a different type, which may be at the end of a BAR frame where the fields may be (M-TID BAR, . . . ).

In some embodiments, the ICF 910 is a new ICF bar variant. In some embodiments, a value in the BAR Type field described in Table 1 below is used to indicate a new variant type of BAR frame, which may be termed a ICF BAR frame or another name.

1
Extended Compressed

For example, one or more of bits 0, 4, 5, 7-9, or 11-15 are used to indicate the BAR frame is of type ICF bar frame. We propose that if the BAR Type field is set to ICF BAR variant value, then the following applies: the BAR Information field (which would be part of the FB 911) is of size variable and contains in the following order (or another order): (1) A field containing the length of the ICR 924, 926 frame that is solicited (or a NAVTimeout field); (2) one or more Feedback Info fields, each of variable size; (3) one Intermediate FCS field, of fixed size; (4) one Control Frame Protection Info field, of fixed size; and/or (5) One or more padding fields, of variable size.

In some embodiments, as Control Frame protection and padding may be added for other types of BAR frames, the BAR Type field is set to ICF BAR variant, and the first part of the BAR Info field includes one or more of fields (1), (2), and/or (3). In some embodiments, one or more of the reserved fields in the BAR Control field (fields that are reserved for all types of BARs that can be protected) indicate if fields 4 and 5 are present.

In some embodiments, the receiver of the ICF 910 (FB 911) can parse the different fields as follows in option 1 or option 2. In option 1, a reserved field or TID_INFO field in the BAR Control field of the BAR frame is used to indicate if there are Feedback Info field(s) present and how many. Such as if there is an Intermediate FCS field present or not (this may be not needed if the Intermediate FCS field is always present), such as if there is a control Frame Protection Info field present, and such as if there is Padding field present or not (this may be not needed if the Padding field is always present). Additionally, either the size of each field is known by the receiver (STAs 904, 906) or is indicated explicitly in each field.

In option 2, each additional field starts with a field type field that is set to 0 for feedbacks, 1 for Intermediate FCS, 2 for Control Frame Protection, and/or 3 for Padding. Or other values may be used.

The Feedback Info field may be a generic structure. Depending on the option above, there is or is not a Field Type field set to a value to indicate the type of Feedback Info field (one value for Feedbacks and Feedback Requests or one value for Feedbacks and one value for Feedback Requests may be used). The feedback info field may include a Feedback Type field that is set to the value corresponding to the feedback type or the feedback request type (example 0 for coex, 1 for link adaptation, 2 for link adaptation request, and so forth).

The feedback info field may include a Feedback Field that contains the fields for each type. For example, for coexistence, the fields may be a field termed (or another name) Target Start Time of Unavailability Period and a field termed Unavailability Period Duration field (or another name).

Because the size of all the Per Feedback fields that are included may not match all the time the size of the User Info field, the User Info field may include padding. In some embodiments, a Length field is included after the Feedback Type field where the Length field indicates the length of the feedback.

The Intermediate field may be configured as follows. Depending on the embodiment (which of option 1 or option 2), there is or not a Field Type field set to a value to indicate the Intermediate FCS field. The Intermediate field for the ICF BAR variant is an Intermediate field, that can be a 4 bytes field, which may be the same or similar as the final FCS field.

The Control frame Protection field may include depending on the embodiment (e.g., option 1 or option 2 above) a Field Type field set to a value to indicate a Control frame protection field. The Control frame Protection field includes at least 2 fields, one for a MIC and one for a PN value.

The Padding field includes depending on the embodiment (e.g., option 1 or option 2) a Field Type field set to a value to indicate a Padding field. In some embodiments, the first field is a length field that is set to a length of the padding field and the second field is a Padding field set to a random value or to all Is or all zeros.

In some embodiments, the UHR ICF 910 determines a NAV timeout. In some embodiments, STAs 504 that are not part of the TxOP 908 such as STAs 907 not associated with the AP 502 or STAs 907 termed 3rd-party STAs 907 or non-AP STAs that receive/decode RTSs (or ICF 910) or MU-RTSs but do not receive/decode the CTS (ICR 924, 926) response may ignore the NAV set by (MU)-RTS after a NAVTimeout duration.

A STA that used information from an RTS frame or MU-RTS Trigger frame as the most recent basis to update its NAV setting is permitted to reset its NAV if no PHY-RXEARLYSIG.indication or PHYRXSTART.indication primitive is received from the PHY during a NAVTimeout period starting when the MAC receives a PHY-RXEND.indication primitive corresponding to the detection of the RTS frame or MU-RTS Trigger frame.

The NAVTimeout period is equal to (2×aSIFSTime)+(CTS_Time)+aRxPHYStartDelay+ (2×aSlotTime).

In some embodiments, the NAVtimeout or the ICR duration is indicated to derive the NAV-timeout for the UHR STA 504, 904, 906, 907. In some embodiments, the ICF 910 frame includes a field in the list of fields for indicating the NAVtimeout or the ICR duration. STA 907 may not be associated with the AP 502. The ICR 924 is transmitted a short interframe space (SIFS) after the ICF 910, in accordance with some embodiments.

A STA 907 that used information from an UHR ICF 910 BAR frame as the most recent basis to update its NAV 909 setting is permitted to reset its NAV 909 if no PHY-RXEARLYSIG.indication or PHYRXSTART.indication primitive is received from the PHY during a NAVTimeout period starting when the MAC receives a PHY-RXEND.indication primitive corresponding to the detection of the UHR ICF BAR frame.

The NAVTimeout period is equal to (2×aSIFSTime)+(ICR_time)+aRxPHYStartDelay+ (2×aSlotTime), in accordance with some embodiments. The ICR_time correspond to the transmission time of the ICF 910 that is equal to or derived from the UL Length field included in the UHR ICF 910.

In some embodiments, the BAR information field includes additional new fields at the end for different types of BAR Variant. In some embodiments, one or more of the Reserved field in the BAR Control field (fields that are Reserved for all types that can be protected or used to indicate the ICF 910) in order to indicate if the following fields are present at the end of the BAR Information field (the first part of the BAR Information field is defined according the BAR Type field setting, and the new fields are added at the end of these fields).

One or more of the following fields may be added or be new fields. (1) A field containing the length of the ICR frame that is solicited (or a NAVTimeout field). (2) One or more Feedback Info fields, each of variable size.

(3) One Intermediate FCS field of fixed size. (4) One Control Frame Protection Info field of fixed size. (5) One Padding field of variable size.

The ICF 910 and/or ICR 924, 926 may be one or more of the following. (1) M-STA BA for ICR 924, 926, DL and UL, which is some embodiments is used when there is FB 911, 913, 915. (2) buffer status report poll (BSRP) Trigger frame as a UHR ICF 910 sent from an AP 502 for soliciting responses in a trigger-based (TB) PPDU format from one or more scheduled STAs 904, 906, and to allow a M-BA frame to be included in the TB PPDU sent by the UHR scheduled STAs 904, 906 in response, when carrying FB 913, 915, (e.g., unavailability) information or when the response is protected. The ICR 924, 926 is to be transmitted a SIFS 912 after the ICF 910, in accordance with some embodiments.

(3) A BSRP Trigger frame as a UHR ICF 910 sent from an AP 502 for soliciting responses in a non-high throughput (HT) duplicate a physical layer (PHY) protocol data unit (PPDU) (non-HT duplicate PPDU) format from a single STA 904, and to allow a M-BA frame to be included in the non-HT duplicate (dup) PPDU sent by the scheduled UHR STA 904 in response, when carrying FB 913 (e.g., unavailability) information or when the response is protected.

(4) The ICF 910 as a BSRP Trigger indicates whether the responding PPDU is non-HT duplicate PPDU if only one STA 904 is an ICF 910 TXOP 908 responder.

(5) The ICF 910 may be a BSRP Trigger transmitted by a non-AP STA 904 when soliciting the FB 911 (i.e. unavailability feedback) from its associated mobile AP 502.

(6) The ICF 910 may be at BSRP Trigger addressed to a mobile AP 502, which may solicit a non-HT duplicate PPDU from the responder.

FIG. 10 illustrates a BSRP trigger frame 1000, in accordance with some embodiments. FIG. 11 illustrates the UHR variant common information field 1100, in accordance with some embodiments. FIG. 12 illustrates a user info field format 1200, in accordance with some embodiments.

The BSRP trigger frame 1000 includes a frame control 1004 field, a duration 1006 field, a receiver address (RA), RA 1008 field, a transmitter address (TA), TA 1010 field, a common information (info), common info 1012 field, a user information (info) list, user info list 1014 field, a padding 1016 field, and an FCS 1018 field. The size of the fields is in octets 1002. The BSRP trigger frame 1000 may include one or more of: a number of UHR-long training field (LTF) symbols field, an AP transmit (Tx) power field, a pre-forward error correction (FEC) padding factor field, a packet extension (PE) disambiguity field, an uplink (UL) spatial reuse field, where the number of UHR-long training field (LTF) symbols field, an AP transmit (Tx) power field, a pre-forward error correction (FEC) padding factor field, a packet extension (PE) disambiguity field, and an uplink (UL) spatial reuse field are reserved when the field indicates the format of the response is non-HT duplicate PPDU, and wherein the number of UHR-long training field (LTF) symbols field, an AP transmit (Tx) power field, a pre-forward error correction (FEC) padding factor field, a packet extension (PE) disambiguity field, and an uplink (UL) spatial reuse field are reserved when the field indicates the format of the response is non-HT duplicate PPDU.

In some embodiments, the common information (info), common info 1012 field, is the same or similar as the UHR variant common information field 1100. In some embodiments, the AP 502 sets B22, B26, B53, and B63 to 0 and sets B61, and B62 to 1 in the UHR variant Common Info field 1100 to indicate that the common info is for the wireless communication standard IEEE 802.11 UHR.

In some embodiments, the user info list 1014 field of FIG. 10 is the same or similar as user info field format 1200 of FIG. 12. The user info field format 1200 includes AID12 1204 field, RU allocation 1206 field, UL FEC coding type 1208 field, UL HE-MSC 1210 field, UL DCM 1212 field, SS allocation/RA-RU information 1214 field, UL target receive power 1216 field, reserved 1218 field, and trigger dependent user info 1220 field. The size of the fields is indicated by the bits 1102, 1202. The association identification (AID) is generated by the AP 502 for the STA 504 during association.

In some embodiments, one or more fields, which may be a one-bit field, of the UHR variant common info field 1100 indicate that the solicited response shall be transmitted in a TB PPDU format or in non-HT Dup PPDU format. In some embodiments, the UHR variant common info field 1100 indicates that the solicited response shall be transmitted in a TB PPDU format or in non-HT Dup PPDU format in one or more different fields.

The GI And HE/UHR-LTF Type/TXS mode 1114 subfield may be a guard interval (GI) high-efficiency (HE)/ultra-high reliability (UHR) long training field (LTF) type/transmission opportunity sharing (TXS) mode field of the common information field. In some embodiments, a value of the GI And HE/UHR-LTF

Type/TXS mode 1114 subfield encoding indicates whether the responding PPDU format is non-HT (duplicate) PPDU format that contains a Multi-STA BlockAck.

In some embodiments, a reserved bit in a special User Info field defined in IEEE 802.11be is used. In some embodiments, another bit is used within the BSRP trigger frame 1000 to indicate a solicited PPDU format field and is set to 0 for TB PPDU format, and to 1 for non-HT Dup PPDU format.

The field is set to indicate a response in non-HT Dup PPDU format, some fields in the common info 1012 field (UHR variant common info field 1100) and in the user info list 1014 fields (user info field format 1200) are not used or needed.

In some embodiments, some fields are not needed for one or both response formats. The fields not needed and reserved may be the same fields indicated as reserved for a MU-RTS trigger frame. In some embodiments, TxOP sharing is used during the TxOP 908 of FIG. 9, which may be the same or similar to the TXoP sharing of MU-RTS.

If the Solicited PPDU Format field of a BSRP Trigger frame is set to 1 to indicates (e.g., a field is set to 1 as indicated herein) the response is to be in non-HT Dup PPDU. In FIG. 9, the ICF 910 is a BSRP trigger frame 1000 and only STA 904 is addressed by the BSRP trigger frame 1000, in accordance with some embodiments.

The non-HT Dup PPDU format, which may be indicated by ICR 924 (response) and ICF 910 (BSRP trigger frame 1000) in FIG. 9. The Trigger Dependent Common Info 1144 subfield and Trigger Dependent User Info 1120 subfield are not present in the BSRP Trigger frame 1000 when soliciting the response in the non-HT Dup PPDU format.

The UL BW 1112 subfield in the UHR variant Common Info field 1100 and the UL BW Extension subfield in the Special User Info field (if present) indicates the bandwidth of the PPDU carrying the MU-RTS Trigger frame and is defined in a Table for UL BW subfield encoding and a table for UL Bandwidth Extension subfield encoding). In some embodiments, the special user info field flag 1136 field indicates that the special user info field is present in the BSRP trigger frame 1000, which may be only when the response is non-HT dup PPDU.

The UL Length 1106 field, GI And HE/UHR-LTF Type/TXS mode 1114 field (which may be used to indicate the non-HT Dup PPDU format), MU-MIMO HE-LTF Mode field, Number Of HE/UHR-LTF Symbols 1118 field, which may be termed a Number Of UHR-LTF Symbols field, Midamble Periodicity field, UL STBC field, LDPC Extra Symbol Segment 1122 field, AP Tx Power 1124 field, Pre-FEC Padding Factor 1126 field, PE Disambiguity 1128 field, UL Spatial Reuse 1130 field, Doppler field, and the UL HE-SIG-A2 Reserved subfields are reserved, in accordance with some embodiments. In some embodiments, one or more of the fields are reserved when the BSRP trigger frame 1000 indicates the response is to be non-HT Dup PPDU format.

The UHR variant common info field 1100 includes CS required 1110 field, reserved 1116 field, reserved 1132 field, HE/UHR P160 1134 field, DRU/RRU allocation 1138 field, IFCS present flag 1140 field, UHR reserved 1142, reserved 1144 field, and trigger dependent common info 1146 field. The trigger dependent common info 1146 field may not be present when the response type is indicated as non-HT duplicate PPDU.

The UL HE-MCS 1210 field, UL FEC Coding Type 1208 field, UL DCM 1212 field, SS Allocation/RA-RU Information 1214, and UL Target Receive Power 1216 field, in the User Info field format 1200 are reserved, in accordance with some embodiments. The reserved 1218 field is reserved. The trigger dependent user info 1220 field is not present when the response is indicated as a non-HT duplicate PPDU, in accordance with some embodiments.

If a non-AP EHT STA is identified by the AID12 subfield of a User Info field in an MU-RTS Trigger frame from an EHT AP and any of the following conditions is met, the User Info field in the MU-RTS Trigger frame is an EHT variant User Info field. (1) The bandwidth of the EHT MU PPDU or non-HT duplicate PPDU carrying the MU-RTS Trigger frame is 320 MHz. Or (2) the EHT MU PPDU or non-HT duplicate PPDU carrying the MU-RTS Trigger frame is punctured. Otherwise, the User Info field might be an HE variant User Info field or an EHT variant User Info field.

In some embodiments, the special user info field flag 1136 is set, e.g., a value of 0, to indicate that a special user information field is present in UHR variant common info field 1100 of the BSRP trigger frame 1000. The BSRP trigger frame 1000 when the field is set to indicate is termed a non-trigger based (NTB) trigger frame.

Acknowledgment context in a Multi-STA BlockAck frame is as follows. A recipient of an A-MPDU sets the Ack Type subfield and TID subfield in the Per AID TID Info field of the Multi-STA BlockAck frame sent as a response depending on the acknowledgment context as follows. For TxOP Sharing: the functionalities of TxOP Sharing that are currently built on MU-RTS Trigger frame are changed so that the same behavior can be done with a BSRP Trigger frame with the field set to solicit response in non-HT Dup PPDU.

A field in the common info field of the BSRP Trigger frame 1000 is as follows where the response format field may be set to a response format of non-HT Dup PPDU. If a TXS Mode subfield in the Common Info field of an MU-RTS (or the ICF 910) frame transmitted by an EHT AP 502 is set to a nonzero value, the frame indicates a time allocation within an obtained TXOP to an associated non-AP EHT STA for transmitting one or more non-TB PPDUs sequentially, which may be termed triggered TXOP sharing (TXS) method. Otherwise, the TXS subfield is set to 0. The encoding of the TXS Mode subfield is defined in a Table for TXS Mode subfield encoding.

In some embodiments, the TxOP Sharing (TXS) method has a same behavior as when sending/receiving MU-RTS Trigger frames with the TXS Mode subfield set to 1 as when sending/receiving BSRP Trigger frame 1000 with the solicited PPDU Type field set to non-HT Dup PPDU and the TXS Mode subfield set to 1. The ICR 924 may include a response to the BSRP trigger frame 1000 indicating the status of the buffers for the STA 504.

FIG. 13 illustrates a method 1300 for initial control frames with block acknowledgement request, in accordance with some embodiments. The method 1300 begins at operation 1302 with decoding, from an AP, an UHR BSRP trigger frame, the BSRP trigger frame comprising a user information field, the user information field comprising an AID field, the AID field indicating an AID of the STA, and the BSRP trigger frame comprising a common information field, the common information field comprising a field, the field indicating a format of a response from the STA.

For example, STA 904 may decode ICF 910, which may be a BSRP trigger frame 1000 with AID12 1104 of FIG. 11 being an AID of the STA 904. The BSRP trigger frame includes the UHR variant common info field 1100 with a field GI and HE/UHR-LTF type/TXS mode 1114 field.

The method 1300 continues at operation 1304 with in response to the field indicating the format of the response from the STA is a non-HT duplicate PPDU, encode, for transmission to the AP, the non-HT duplicate PPDU. For example, the GI and HE/UHR-LTF type/TXS mode 1114 field may indicate that the format of the response is to be a non-HT duplicate PPDU as the ICR 924. The STA 504 may encode a multi-STA block acknowledge frame to be included with the non-HT duplicate PPDU to acknowledge any MPDUs included in the UHR BSRP trigger frame 1000 or other pending unacknowledged frames. In some embodiments, the BSRP trigger frame 1000 is called a BSRP non-trigger based (NTB) trigger frame when the response solicited from the STA is the non-HT duplicate PPDU.

The method 1300 continues at operation 1306 with in response to the field indicating the format of the response from the STA is a PPDU, encode, for transmission to the AP, the PPDU. For example, the STA 904 may encode a PPDU as the ICR 924 that indicates the status of the buffers of the STA 904.

The method 1300 may be performed by an apparatus of a non-AP STA or an apparatus of an AP. The method 1300 may be performed by an MLD. The method 1300 may include one or more additional instructions. The method 1300 may be performed in a different order. One or more of the operations of method 1300 may be optional.

FIG. 14 illustrates a method 1400 for initial control frames with block acknowledgement request, in accordance with some embodiments. The method 1400 begins at operation 1402 with encoding, for transmission to a STA, an UHR BSRP trigger frame, the BSRP trigger frame comprising a user information field, the user information field comprising an AID field, the AID field indicating an AID of the STA, and the BSRP trigger frame comprising a common information field, the common information field comprising a field, the field indicating a format of a response from the STA. For example, AP 502 of FIG. 9 may encode ICF 910, which may be a BSRP trigger frame 1000 with AID12 1104 of FIG. 11 being an AID of the STA 904. The BSRP trigger frame includes the UHR variant common info field 1100 with a field GI and HE/UHR-LTF type/TXS mode 1114 field.

The method 1400 continues at operation 1404 in response to the field indicating the format of the response from the STA is a non-HT duplicate PPDU, decode, from the STA, the non-HT duplicate PPDU. For example, the GI and HE/UHR-LTF type/TXS mode 1114 field may indicate that the format of the response is to be a non-HT duplicate PPDU as the ICR 924. The AP 502 may decode from the STA 904 a multi-STA block acknowledge frame to be included with the non-HT duplicate PPDU to acknowledge any MPDUs included in the UHR BSRP trigger frame 1000 or other pending unacknowledged frames. In some embodiments, the BSRP trigger frame 1000 is called a BSRP non-trigger based (NTB) trigger frame when the response solicited from the STA is the non-HT duplicate PPDU.

The method 1400 continues at operation 1406 with in response to the field indicating the format of the response from the STA is a PPDU, decode, from the STA, the PPDU. For example, the AP 502 may decode from the STA 904 a PPDU as the ICR 924 that indicates the status of the buffers of the STA 904.

The method 1400 may be performed by an apparatus of a non-AP STA or an apparatus of an AP. The method 1400 may be performed by an MLD. The method 1400 may include one or more additional instructions. The method 1400 may be performed in a different order. One or more of the operations of method 1400 may be optional.