Patent Description:
In wireless communications such as communications in a WLAN according to the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) <NUM>. 11ax/be specifications, a non-access point (non-AP) station (STA) may not respond to a trigger frame if a channel sensing (CS) required field is set to <NUM> and a medium containing an allocated resource unit (RU) is busy as observed from the side of the trigger STA. In practical applications, a non-idle medium may be partially busy, rather than entirely busy, in a RU or a multi-RU (MRU, which is an aggregation of multiple RUs). To improve spectral efficiency of uplink (UL) TB PPDU transmissions, a downsized RU/MRU or partial bandwidth (BW) transmission scheme was proposed. Under that scheme, for an example, one STA may be triggered for UL orthogonal frequency-divisional multiple access (OFDMA) with assigned <NUM>-tone RU (or RU996) for BW greater than or equal to <NUM>. However, if one of the <NUM> subchannels within the RU996 is busy for clear channel assessment (CCA), then the STA would not participate in an UL OFDMA transmission. To improve or otherwise enhance spectral efficiency, the STA may transmit an MRU of <NUM>+<NUM> tones, a <NUM>-tone RU or a <NUM>-tone RU in a downsized RU/MRU transmission (and hence such a STA is interchangeably referred to as a "downsized-transmission STA"). Nevertheless, with respect to partial BW (or downsized RU) UL TB PPDU transmission, certain aspects such as encoding process and transmit power control, for example, have yet to be defined. Therefore, there is a need for a solution for encoding and transmit power control for downsized TB PPDU transmissions in next-generation WLAN systems. <CIT> discloses a method according to the preamble portion of claim <NUM>. <CIT> discloses a method for communicating over a wireless communication network, wherein a segment parser is segmenting a <NUM> or <NUM> total channel bandwidth into a plurality of segments of equal or unequal sub-band bandwidths or number of data tones. <CIT> discloses a method for receiving UL data in a wireless LAN system. <CIT> discloses a methods for wireless communication, wherein an access point may configure one or more trigger frames, which may include a number of random access resource units.

The following summary is illustrative only and is not intended to be limiting in any way. That is, the following summary is provided to introduce concepts, highlights, benefits and advantages of the novel and non-obvious techniques described herein. Select implementations are further described below in the detailed description. Thus, the following summary is not intended to identify essential features of the claimed subject matter, nor is it intended for use in determining the scope of the claimed subject matter.

An objective of the present disclosure is to provide schemes, concepts, designs, techniques, methods and apparatuses pertaining to encoding and transmit power control for downsized TB PPDU transmissions in next-generation WLAN systems. It is believed that the implementation of one or more of the various schemes proposed herein may address, avoid or otherwise alleviate issue(s) mentioned herein. A method and an apparatus according to the invention are defined in the independent claims. The dependent claims define preferred embodiments thereof.

In one aspect, a method may involve receiving a trigger frame indicating an allocated RU of a first size. The method may also involve performing channel sensing responsive to receiving the trigger frame. In response to detecting at least one subchannel being busy from the channel sensing, the method may further involve performing a downsized TB transmission with a downsized RU or MRU of a second size smaller than the first size by utilizing downsized RU or MRU allocation information while maintaining a value of each of one or more parameters unchanged in an encoding process to perform the downsized TB transmission.

In another aspect, an apparatus may include a transceiver configured to communicate wirelessly and a processor coupled to the transceiver. The processor may receive, via the transceiver, a trigger frame indicating an allocated RU of a first size. The processor may also perform, via the transceiver, channel sensing responsive to receiving the trigger frame. In response to detecting at least one subchannel being busy from the channel sensing, the processor may perform, via the transceiver, a downsized TB transmission with a downsized RU or MRU of a second size smaller than the first size by utilizing downsized RU or MRU allocation information while maintaining a value of each of one or more parameters unchanged in an encoding process to perform the downsized TB transmission.

It is noteworthy that, although description provided herein may be in the context of certain radio access technologies, networks and network topologies such as, Wi-Fi, the proposed concepts, schemes and any variation(s)/derivative(s) thereof may be implemented in, for and by other types of radio access technologies, networks and network topologies such as, for example and without limitation, Bluetooth, ZigBee, <NUM>th Generation (<NUM>)/New Radio (NR), Long-Term Evolution (LTE), LTE-Advanced, LTE-Advanced Pro, Internet-of-Things (IoT), Industrial IoT (IIoT) and narrowband IoT (NB-IoT). Thus, the scope of the present disclosure is not limited to the examples described herein.

Implementations in accordance with the present disclosure relate to various techniques, methods, schemes and/or solutions pertaining to encoding and transmit power control for downsized TB PPDU transmissions in next-generation WLAN systems. According to the present disclosure, a number of possible solutions may be implemented separately or jointly. That is, although these possible solutions may be described below separately, two or more of these possible solutions may be implemented in one combination or another.

It is noteworthy that, in the present disclosure, a <NUM>-tone regular RU may be interchangeably denoted as RU26, a <NUM>-tone regular RU may be interchangeably denoted as RU52, a <NUM>-tone regular RU may be interchangeably denoted as RU106, a <NUM>-tone regular RU may be interchangeably denoted as RU242, and so on. Moreover, an aggregate (<NUM>+<NUM>)-tone regular MRU may be interchangeably denoted as MRU78 or MRU(<NUM>+<NUM>), an aggregate (<NUM>+<NUM>)-tone regular MRU may be interchangeably denoted as MRU132 or MRU(<NUM>+<NUM>), an aggregate (<NUM>+<NUM>)-tone regular MRU may be interchangeably denoted as MRU726 or MRU(<NUM>+<NUM>), and so on. Since the above examples are merely illustrative examples and not an exhaustive listing of all possibilities, the same applies to regular RUs and MRUs of different sizes (or different number of tones). It is also noteworthy that, in the present disclosure, a bandwidth of <NUM> may be interchangeably denoted as BW20, a bandwidth of <NUM> may be interchangeably denoted as BW40, a bandwidth of <NUM> may be interchangeably denoted as BW80, a bandwidth of <NUM> may be interchangeably denoted as BW160, a bandwidth of <NUM> may be interchangeably denoted as BW240, and a bandwidth of <NUM> may be interchangeably denoted as BW320.

Referring to <FIG>, network environment <NUM> may involve a communication entity <NUM> and a communication entity <NUM> communicating wirelessly (e.g., in a WLAN in accordance with one or more IEEE <NUM> standards). For instance, communication entity <NUM> may be a first STA and communication entity <NUM> may be a second STA, with each of the first STA and second STA functioning an access point (AP) STA or a non-AP STA. Under various proposed schemes in accordance with the present disclosure, communication entity <NUM> and communication entity <NUM> may be configured to communicate wirelessly with encoding and transmit power control for downsized TB PPDU transmissions in next-generation WLAN systems, as described herein.

Under a proposed scheme in accordance with the present disclosure with respect to data field encoding for downsized TB PPDU transmissions, all triggered STAs including downsized-transmission STAs may align to a same number of symbols (Nsym) and packet extension (PE). Downsized-transmission STAs may use or keep the same modulation coding scheme (MCS), number of spatial streams, per-forward error correction (FEC) padding factor, FEC coding type, and so on as signaled in a common field or user-specific field of a trigger frame (TF) in the encoding process. Additionally, the downsized-transmission STAs may replace the "RU Allocation" information in a user field with the STA's self-determined "Downsized RU/MRU Allocation" information in the encoding process. Under the proposed scheme, the encoding process may be applied for both downsized UL OFDMA transmissions and downsized UL multi-user multiple-input-multiple-output (MU-MIMO) transmissions.

<FIG> illustrates an example scenario <NUM> in accordance with an implementation of the present disclosure. Referring to part (A) of scenario <NUM>, an AP may trigger a first STA (or STA1) for an UL transmission on a first RU996 and may also trigger a second STA (or STA2) for another UL transmission on a second RU996. Referring to part (B) of scenario <NUM>, based on a per-<NUM> subchannel CCA performed by STA1 and STA2 regarding the first RU996 and the second RU996, respectively, each of the four <NUM>-MHz subchannels in the first RU996 may be deemed idle while, except for one busy <NUM>-MHz subchannel, the other three of the four <NUM>-MHz subchannels in the second RU996 may be deemed idle. Referring to part (C) of scenario <NUM>, STA1 may perform its UL transmission on the first RU996. Moreover, instead of performing no transmission, STA2 may perform a downsized UL transmission on an MRU242+<NUM> corresponding to the three idle <NUM>-MHz subchannels. That is, the UL transmission by STA2 may be downsized from a RU996 to an MRU(<NUM>+<NUM>). Accordingly, STA2 may need to signal or otherwise indicate information on the downsized RU/MRU to the AP.

<FIG> illustrates an example design <NUM> under a proposed scheme in accordance with an implementation of the present disclosure. Under the proposed scheme, all downsized TB PPDUs may align to the same Nsym and PE, as common values for all STAs, which may be calculated from the trigger frame (e.g., based on information in TF Common Fields). For instance, a downsized-transmission STA may utilize the same parameters carried in a common field in the TF to calculate Nsym and PE.

<FIG> illustrates an example design <NUM> under a proposed scheme in accordance with an implementation of the present disclosure. Under the proposed scheme, a downsized-transmission STAs may replace the "RU Allocation" information in a user field with the STA's self-determined "Downsized RU/MRU Allocation" information in the data field encoding process. Overall encoding process may be transparent to the downsized RU. Referring to <FIG>, design <NUM> shows an example of calculation of a length of a Physical Layer Convergence Protocol (PLCP) service data unit (PSDU).

<FIG> illustrates an example design <NUM> under a proposed scheme in accordance with an implementation of the present disclosure. Under the proposed scheme, pre-FEC padding, post-FEC padding, and binary convolutional codes (BCC)/low-density parity-check (LDPC) encoding may be transparent by simply replacing the "RU Allocation" information with "Downsized RU/MRU Allocation" information in the encoding process. All the equations and formulas may be reused. Referring to <FIG>, design <NUM> shows an example of LDPC encoding for a downsized RU/MRU transmission. In design <NUM>, all of the number of data bits per OFDM symbol (NDBPS) and the number of coded bits per OFDM symbol (NCBPS) may be based on the "Downsized RU/MRU Allocation" information instead of "RU Allocation" information in the user field of the trigger frame.

<FIG> and <FIG> together illustrate an example design <NUM> under a proposed scheme in accordance with an implementation of the present disclosure. Under the proposed scheme, for a downsized UL TB PPDU, the length of an aggregate medium access control (MAC) protocol data unit (A-MPDU) pre-end of frame (EOF) padding may be replaced with the PSDU length calculated in design <NUM>. Moreover, all of the number of data subcarriers (NSD) and a parameter NSD,short (the number of data subcarriers for downsized RU/MRU used in a pre-FEC padding process), the number of data bits per OFDM symbol (NDBPS) and a parameter NDBPS,short, (the number of data bits per OFDM symbol for downsized RU/MRU used in the pre-FEC padding process) as well as the number of coded bits per OFDM symbol (NRBPS) and a parameter NCBPS,short (the number of coded bits per OFDM symbol for downsized RU/MRU used in the pre-FEC padding process) may be based on the "Downsized RU/MRU Allocation" information instead of "RU Allocation" information in the user field of the trigger frame. Referring to <FIG>, in design <NUM>, the value of NSD,short may be based on a second size of RU/MRU (e.g., downsized RU/MRU), instead of a first size of RU/MRU (e.g., original RU/MRU before downsizing), and corresponding to a respective MCS for the RU/MRU size. Referring to <FIG>, design <NUM> shows an example of pre-FEC padding in encoding for a downsized TB transmission. As shown in <FIG>, the value of NCBPS,short may be determined based on NSD,short, and the value of NDBPS,short may be determined based on NCBPS,short.

<FIG> illustrates an example scenario <NUM> under a proposed scheme in accordance with an implementation of the present disclosure. In IEEE <NUM>. 11ax/be, each STA with UL TB PPDU transmission is required to perform power pre-correction based on the following formula regarding downlink (DL) path loss (PLDL): <MAT>. That is, the DL path loss may be determined or otherwise calculated by subtracting a value of a DL received signal strength indicator (DLRSSI) from a level of transmit power specified or otherwise indicated in the trigger frame (e.g., TXAPpwr) received from an AP. Under the proposed scheme, for a downsized UL TB PPDU transmission, by assuming to keep the same MCS and number of spatial streams (NSS) as signaled in the trigger frame, in performing power pre-correction (or power control) for the downsized TB PPDU transmission, a STA may maintain the power spectral density (PSD) as specified in the trigger frame by adjusting or otherwise scaling the STA's transmit power accordingly based on the ratio of the triggered RU/MRU versus the downsized RU/MRU. More specifically, while the trigger frame may assign a value for RSSI for use in calculating the DL path loss, the actual transmit power in performing a downsized TB transmission may be based on the size of the downsized RU/MRU used in the downsized TB transmission. Thus, the STA may scale the transmit power according to a ratio of the downsized RU/MRU to the allocated RU as indicated in the trigger frame, while keeping PSD level the same as originally triggered (or first size RU/MRU) transmission. Referring to <FIG>, scenario <NUM> shows an illustrative example of a triggered RU/MRU being a RU996 with a downsized RU/MRU being RU(<NUM>+<NUM>), while the same PSD level as triggered is maintained for the downsized TB PPDU.

<FIG> illustrates an example design <NUM> under a proposed scheme in accordance with an implementation of the present disclosure. Under the proposed scheme, a downsize ratio (Rdownsize) may be defined as a ratio between a downsized total number of subcarriers in a RU/MRU (Nst_downsize) to a triggered total number of subcarriers in a RU/MRU (Nst_trigger), including both data tones and pilot tones. Referring to <FIG>, scenario <NUM> shows an example design <NUM> for power control of the transmit power of a downsized-transmission STA. Specifically, calculation of the power pre-correction for a downsized UL TB PPDU transmission may be extended by <NUM> * log<NUM>(Rdownsize).

<FIG> illustrates an example system <NUM> having at least an example apparatus <NUM> and an example apparatus <NUM> in accordance with an implementation of the present disclosure. Each of apparatus <NUM> and apparatus <NUM> may perform various functions to implement schemes, techniques, processes and methods described herein pertaining to encoding and transmit power control for downsized TB PPDU transmissions in next-generation WLAN systems, including the various schemes described above with respect to various proposed designs, concepts, schemes, systems and methods described above as well as processes described below. For instance, apparatus <NUM> may be an example implementation of communication entity <NUM>, and apparatus <NUM> may be an example implementation of communication entity <NUM>.

Each of apparatus <NUM> and apparatus <NUM> may be a part of an electronic apparatus, which may be a STA or an AP, such as a portable or mobile apparatus, a wearable apparatus, a wireless communication apparatus or a computing apparatus. For instance, each of apparatus <NUM> and apparatus <NUM> may be implemented in a smartphone, a smart watch, a personal digital assistant, a digital camera, or a computing equipment such as a tablet computer, a laptop computer or a notebook computer. Each of apparatus <NUM> and apparatus <NUM> may also be a part of a machine type apparatus, which may be an IoT apparatus such as an immobile or a stationary apparatus, a home apparatus, a wire communication apparatus or a computing apparatus. For instance, each of apparatus <NUM> and apparatus <NUM> may be implemented in a smart thermostat, a smart fridge, a smart door lock, a wireless speaker or a home control center. When implemented in or as a network apparatus, apparatus <NUM> and/or apparatus <NUM> may be implemented in a network node, such as an AP in a WLAN.

In some implementations, each of apparatus <NUM> and apparatus <NUM> may be implemented in the form of one or more integrated-circuit (IC) chips such as, for example and without limitation, one or more single-core processors, one or more multi-core processors, one or more reduced-instruction set computing (RISC) processors, or one or more complex-instruction-set-computing (CISC) processors. In the various schemes described above, each of apparatus <NUM> and apparatus <NUM> may be implemented in or as a STA or an AP. Each of apparatus <NUM> and apparatus <NUM> may include at least some of those components shown in <FIG> such as a processor <NUM> and a processor <NUM>, respectively, for example. Each of apparatus <NUM> and apparatus <NUM> may further include one or more other components not pertinent to the proposed scheme of the present disclosure (e.g., internal power supply, display device and/or user interface device), and, thus, such component(s) of apparatus <NUM> and apparatus <NUM> are neither shown in <FIG> nor described below in the interest of simplicity and brevity.

In one aspect, each of processor <NUM> and processor <NUM> may be implemented in the form of one or more single-core processors, one or more multi-core processors, one or more RISC processors or one or more CISC processors. That is, even though a singular term "a processor" is used herein to refer to processor <NUM> and processor <NUM>, each of processor <NUM> and processor <NUM> may include multiple processors in some implementations and a single processor in other implementations in accordance with the present disclosure. In another aspect, each of processor <NUM> and processor <NUM> may be implemented in the form of hardware (and, optionally, firmware) with electronic components including, for example and without limitation, one or more transistors, one or more diodes, one or more capacitors, one or more resistors, one or more inductors, one or more memristors and/or one or more varactors that are configured and arranged to achieve specific purposes in accordance with the present disclosure. In other words, in at least some implementations, each of processor <NUM> and processor <NUM> is a special-purpose machine specifically designed, arranged and configured to perform specific tasks including those pertaining to encoding and transmit power control for downsized TB PPDU transmissions in next-generation WLAN systems in accordance with various implementations of the present disclosure. For instance, each of processor <NUM> and processor <NUM> may be configured with hardware components, or circuitry, implementing one, some or all of the examples described and illustrated herein.

In some implementations, apparatus <NUM> may also include a transceiver <NUM> coupled to processor <NUM>. Transceiver <NUM> may be capable of wirelessly transmitting and receiving data. In some implementations, apparatus <NUM> may also include a transceiver <NUM> coupled to processor <NUM>. Transceiver <NUM> may include a transceiver capable of wirelessly transmitting and receiving data.

Each of apparatus <NUM> and apparatus <NUM> may be a communication entity capable of communicating with each other using various proposed schemes in accordance with the present disclosure. For illustrative purposes and without limitation, a description of capabilities of apparatus <NUM>, as communication entity <NUM> (e.g., a non-AP STA), and apparatus <NUM>, as communication entity <NUM> (e.g., an AP STA), is provided below. It is noteworthy that, although the example implementations described below are provided in the context of WLAN, the same may be implemented in other types of networks.

Under a proposed scheme in accordance with the present disclosure with respect to encoding and transmit power control for downsized TB PPDU transmissions in next-generation WLAN systems, processor <NUM> of apparatus <NUM> may receive, via transceiver <NUM>, a trigger frame indicating an allocated RU of a first size. Additionally, processor <NUM> may perform, via transceiver <NUM>, channel sensing responsive to receiving the trigger frame. Moreover, in response to detecting at least one subchannel being busy from the channel sensing, processor <NUM> may perform, via transceiver <NUM>, a downsized TB transmission with a downsized RU or MRU of a second size smaller than the first size by utilizing downsized RU or MRU allocation information while maintaining a value of each of one or more parameters unchanged in an encoding process to perform the downsized TB transmission (e.g., as with performing a TB transmission with the allocated RU without downsizing).

In some implementations, in utilizing the downsized RU or MRU allocation information, processor <NUM> may calculate a packet size of the downsized TB transmission based on the second size of the downsized RU or MRU instead of using RU allocation information in a user field of the trigger frame.

In some implementations, in utilizing the downsized RU or MRU allocation information, processor <NUM> may calculate a number of data bits per OFDMA symbol (NDBPS) and a number of coded bits per OFDM symbol (NCBPS) in performing LDPC encoding in the encoding process based on the second size of the downsized RU or MRU instead of using RU allocation information in a user field of the trigger frame.

In some implementations, in utilizing the downsized RU or MRU allocation information, processor <NUM> may calculate a number of data subcarriers (NSD) and a number of data subcarriers for the downsized RU or MRU (NSD,short) used in a pre-FEC padding process, a number of data bits per OFDM symbol (NDBPS) and a number of data bits per OFDM symbol for the downsized RU or MRU (NDBPS,short) used in the pre-FEC padding process, a number of coded bits per OFDM symbol (NCBPS) and a number of coded bits per OFDM symbol for the downsized RU or MRU (NCBPS,short) used in the pre-FEC padding process in performing pre-FEC padding in the encoding process based on the second size of the downsized RU or MRU instead of using RU allocation information in a user field of the trigger frame.

In some implementations, in maintaining the value of each of one or more parameters unchanged, processor <NUM> may maintain a number of symbols (Nsym) and a packet extension unchanged in the encoding process.

In some implementations, in maintaining the value of each of one or more parameters unchanged, processor <NUM> may maintain a MCS, a number of spatial streams (NSS), a pre-FEC padding factor, a FEC coding type as signaled in a common field or a user-specific field of the trigger frame in the encoding process.

In some implementations, the downsized TB transmission may include a downsized UL OFDMA transmission. Alternatively, the downsized TB transmission may include a downsized UL MU-MIMO transmission.

In some implementations, in performing the downsized TB transmission, processor <NUM> may perform certain operations. For instance, processor <NUM> may maintain a PSD unchanged in performing the downsized TB transmission as indicated in the trigger frame. Additionally, processor <NUM> may adjust a transmit power in performing the downsized TB transmission based on the second size of the downsized RU or MRU instead of using RU allocation information in a user field of the trigger frame.

In some implementations, in adjusting the transmit power, processor <NUM> may perform certain operations. For instance, processor <NUM> may calculate a value of a downsize ratio (Rdownsize) as a ratio of a total number of subcarriers in the downsized RU or MRU to a total number of subcarriers in the allocated RU in the trigger frame. Moreover, processor <NUM> may calculate the transmit power based on a DL path loss (PLDL), a target received signal strength indicator (TargetRSSI) and a log-based value of the downsize ratio (e.g., <NUM> * log<NUM>Rdownsize).

<FIG> illustrates an example process <NUM> in accordance with an implementation of the present disclosure. Process <NUM> may represent an aspect of implementing various proposed designs, concepts, schemes, systems and methods described above. More specifically, process <NUM> may represent an aspect of the proposed concepts and schemes pertaining to encoding and transmit power control for downsized TB PPDU transmissions in next-generation WLAN systems in accordance with the present disclosure. Process <NUM> may include one or more operations, actions, or functions as illustrated by one or more of blocks <NUM>, <NUM> and <NUM>. Although illustrated as discrete blocks, various blocks of process <NUM> may be divided into additional blocks, combined into fewer blocks, or eliminated, depending on the desired implementation. Moreover, the blocks/sub-blocks of process <NUM> may be executed in the order shown in <FIG> or, alternatively in a different order. Furthermore, one or more of the blocks/sub-blocks of process <NUM> may be executed repeatedly or iteratively. Process <NUM> may be implemented by or in apparatus <NUM> and apparatus <NUM> as well as any variations thereof. Solely for illustrative purposes and without limiting the scope, process <NUM> is described below in the context of apparatus <NUM> as communication entity <NUM> (e.g., a non-AP STA) and apparatus <NUM> as communication entity <NUM> (e.g., an AP STA) of a wireless network such as a WLAN in accordance with one or more of IEEE <NUM> standards. Process <NUM> may begin at block <NUM>.

At <NUM>, process <NUM> may involve processor <NUM> of apparatus <NUM> receiving, via transceiver <NUM>, a trigger frame indicating an allocated RU of a first size. Process <NUM> may proceed from <NUM> to <NUM>.

At <NUM>, process <NUM> may involve processor <NUM> performing, via transceiver <NUM>, channel sensing responsive to receiving the trigger frame. Process <NUM> may proceed from <NUM> to <NUM>.

At <NUM>, process <NUM> may involve processor <NUM>, in response to detecting at least one subchannel being busy from the channel sensing, performing, via transceiver <NUM>, a downsized TB transmission with a downsized RU or MRU of a second size smaller than the first size by utilizing downsized RU or MRU allocation information while maintaining a value of each of one or more parameters unchanged in an encoding process to perform the downsized TB transmission (e.g., as with performing a TB transmission with the allocated RU without downsizing).

In some implementations, in utilizing the downsized RU or MRU allocation information, process <NUM> may involve processor <NUM> calculating a packet size of the downsized TB transmission based on the second size of the downsized RU or MRU instead of using RU allocation information in a user field of the trigger frame.

In some implementations, in utilizing the downsized RU or MRU allocation information, process <NUM> may involve processor <NUM> calculating a number of data bits per OFDMA symbol (NDBPS) and a number of coded bits per OFDM symbol (NCBPS) in performing LDPC encoding in the encoding process based on the second size of the downsized RU or MRU instead of using RU allocation information in a user field of the trigger frame.

In some implementations, in utilizing the downsized RU or MRU allocation information, process <NUM> may involve processor <NUM> calculating a number of data subcarriers (NSD) and a number of data subcarriers for the downsized RU or MRU (NSD,short) used in a pre-FEC padding process, a number of data bits per OFDM symbol (NDBPS) and a number of data bits per OFDM symbol for the downsized RU or MRU (NDBPS,short) used in the pre-FEC padding process, a number of coded bits per OFDM symbol (NCBPS) and a number of coded bits per OFDM symbol for the downsized RU or MRU (NCBPS,short) used in the pre-FEC padding process in performing pre-FEC padding in the encoding process based on the second size of the downsized RU or MRU instead of using RU allocation information in a user field of the trigger frame.

In some implementations, in maintaining the value of each of one or more parameters unchanged, process <NUM> may involve processor <NUM> maintaining a number of symbols (Nsym) and a packet extension unchanged in the encoding process.

In some implementations, in maintaining the value of each of one or more parameters unchanged, process <NUM> may involve processor <NUM> maintaining a MCS, a number of spatial streams (NSS), a pre-FEC padding factor, a FEC coding type as signaled in a common field or a user-specific field of the trigger frame in the encoding process.

In some implementations, in performing the downsized TB transmission, process <NUM> may involve processor <NUM> performing certain operations. For instance, process <NUM> may involve processor <NUM> maintaining a PSD unchanged in performing the downsized TB transmission as indicated in the trigger frame. Additionally, process <NUM> may involve processor <NUM> adjusting a transmit power in performing the downsized TB transmission based on the second size of the downsized RU or MRU instead of using RU allocation information in a user field of the trigger frame.

In some implementations, in adjusting the transmit power, process <NUM> may involve processor <NUM> performing certain operations. For instance, process <NUM> may involve processor <NUM> calculating a value of a downsize ratio (Rdownsize) as a ratio of a total number of subcarriers in the downsized RU or MRU to a total number of subcarriers in the allocated RU in the trigger frame. Moreover, process <NUM> may involve processor <NUM> calculating the transmit power based on a DL path loss (PLDL), a target received signal strength indicator (TargetRSSI) and a log-based value of the downsize ratio (e.g., <NUM> * log<NUM>Rdownsize).

Claim 1:
A method, comprising:
receiving a trigger frame indicating an allocated resource unit, in the following also referred to as RU, of a first size (<NUM>); and
performing channel sensing responsive to receiving the trigger frame (<NUM>); characterized by
performing a trigger-based, in the following also referred to as TB, transmission with a downsized RU or multi-RU, in the following also referred to as MRU, of a second size smaller than the first size responsive to detecting at least one subchannel being busy from the channel sensing,
wherein the performing of the TB transmission comprises: utilizing information of the downsized RU or MRU instead of RU allocation information indicated in the trigger frame in an encoding process to perform the TB transmission while maintaining a value of each of one or more parameters indicated in a common field or a user-specific field of the trigger frame unchanged in the encoding process (<NUM>), and wherein the utilizing of the information of the downsized RU or MRU comprises calculating a packet size of the TB transmission based on the second size of the downsized RU or MRU instead of using RU allocation information in a user field of the trigger frame, and the maintaining of the value of each of one or more parameters unchanged comprises maintaining a number of symbols (Nsym) and a packet extension unchanged in the encoding process.