Multi-link wireless communication network for high priority / low latency services

Abstract

This document discloses methods, systems, and devices related to digital wireless communications, and more specifically, technologies related to utilizing a multi-link channel assessment mechanism and multi-link channel access to reduce access delays, improve transmission reliability, and increase transmission throughput. In one exemplary aspect, a method for wireless communications includes identifying, by a radio node, a first priority indicator associated with a data packet. The method also includes: in response to identifying the first priority indicator associated with the data packet, transmitting, by the radio node, the data packet on a first available link detected via a multi-link interference-free channel assessment, the transmission of the data packet occurring preferentially before the transmission of another data packet that does not include the first priority indicator.

Description

[0001] CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

[0002] This patent document claims the benefit of Paris Convention priority under 35 USC §119(a) to International Patent Application No. PCT / CN2019 / 095428, filed on July 10, 2019. Some of the contents of the above patent application are incorporated herein by reference. Technical Field

[0003] This patent document relates generally to wireless communications. Background Art

[0004] Wireless communication technology is driving the world towards an increasingly networked society. In many use cases and deployment scenarios like factory automation, gaming, artificial intelligence (AI), virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), etc., it may require the rapid growth of wireless communication to provide low-latency connectivity for such application services.

[0005] A wireless communication system may include a network of one or more access points (APs) communicating with one or more wireless stations (STAs). The AP may transmit a radio signal carrying management information, control information, or user data to one or more STAs. The STA may transmit a radio signal to the AP using a technique such as time division duplex (TDD) in the same frequency channel or using a technique such as frequency division duplex (FDD) in a different frequency.

[0006] The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 specifies the specifications for wireless local area networks (WLANs) over radio channels in unlicensed frequency bands. The basic unit of a WLAN is a basic service set (BSS). An infrastructure BSS may include a BSS with stations that are associated with an access point (AP) to connect to a wired network or the Internet. In an infrastructure BSS, access points and stations can share the same frequency channel for multiple access and data transmission via the use of carrier sense multiple access with collision avoidance (CSMA / CA) technology (a TDD mechanism). Summary of the invention

[0007] This document discloses methods, systems, and devices related to digital wireless communications, and more specifically, techniques related to utilizing a multi-link channel assessment mechanism and multi-link channel access to reduce access delay, improve transmission reliability, and increase transmission throughput.

[0008] In one exemplary aspect, a method for wireless communication includes identifying, by a radio node, a first priority indicator associated with a data packet. The method further includes: in response to identifying the first priority indicator associated with the data packet, transmitting, by the radio node, the data packet on a first available link detected via a multi-link interference-free channel assessment, the transmission of the data packet occurring before the transmission of another data packet that does not include the first priority indicator.

[0009] In another exemplary aspect, a wireless communication device including a processor is disclosed. The processor is configured to implement the methods described herein.

[0010] In yet another exemplary aspect, the various techniques described herein may be embodied as processor-executable code and stored on a computer-readable program medium.

[0011] Some embodiments may preferably implement the following solution written in a clause format.

[0012] 1. A solution for wireless communication, comprising: identifying, by a radio node, a first priority indicator associated with a data packet; and in response to identifying the first priority indicator associated with the data packet, transmitting, by the radio node, the data packet on a first available link detected via a multi-link interference-free channel assessment, the transmission of the data packet occurring preferentially before the transmission of another data packet that does not include the first priority indicator.

[0013] 2. A solution according to clause 1, wherein the multi-link interference-free channel assessment includes: checking, by the radio node, a multi-link network allocation vector (ML-NAV) value for each link in the plurality of links to determine whether a first available link is available for transmission of a data packet; and in response to determining that the first available link is available for transmission of the data packet, initiating, by the radio node, a back-off counter for the first available link, wherein the data packet is transmitted in response to determining that the back-off counter has expired.

[0014] 3. A solution according to clause 1, wherein the first priority indicator is associated with a user priority associated with the first priority service.

[0015] 4. A solution as described in clause 3, wherein the first priority service allows the radio node to virtually utilize any access category with earliest availability via multi-link evaluation, wherein the data packet includes a data frame including a high priority and low latency medium access control (MAC) protocol data unit (MPDU).

[0016] 5. A solution according to clause 4, wherein the user priority associated with the first priority service comprises a user priority value of 12.

[0017] 6. A solution as described in clause 4, wherein the user priority associated with the first priority service comprises a user priority value of 3, which corresponds to a virtual access category related to any channel access or high priority channel access.

[0018] 7. A solution according to any of clauses 3, 4 and 6, further comprising: mapping, by the radio node, a user priority level associated with the first priority service to a corresponding first access category for multi-link channel access.

[0019] 8. The solution of clause 1, further comprising: obtaining, by the radio node, an Extremely High Throughput (EHT) message including a first priority indicator, wherein the first priority indicator is included within a common signal portion of the EHT message.

[0020] 9. The solution according to any one of clauses 1 and 3 further includes: for each link of the multiple links of the radio node, the radio node determines that a first link is in an idle state; in response to determining that the first link is in an idle state, the radio node starts a back-off counter associated with an access category related to the first priority indicator; and in response to determining that the back-off counter has expired, the radio node transmits a data packet through the first link, the data packet including a MAC protocol data unit (MPDU) having a user priority associated with the first priority service.

[0021] 10. A solution according to clause 9, wherein determining that the first link is in an idle state comprises performing a clear channel assessment for a plurality of links of the radio node.

[0022] 11. The solution according to clause 1 also includes: receiving, by the radio node, a first message including a first priority indicator at a first time; determining, by the radio node, at a second time, that the first link and the second link are in an idle state; in response to determining that each of the first link and the second link is in an idle state, starting, by the radio node, an independent backoff counter for each of the first link and the second link; and in response to expiration of each independent backoff counter, transmitting, by the radio node, at least a portion of a data packet through each of the first link and the second link.

[0023] 12. The solution according to clause 1 also includes: receiving, by the radio node, a first message including a first priority indicator at a first time; determining, by the radio node, at a second time, that the first link and the second link are in an idle state; in response to determining that each of the first link and the second link is in an idle state, starting, by the radio node, a backoff counter common to each of the first link and the second link; and in response to determining that the backoff counter has expired, transmitting, by the radio node, at least a portion of a data packet through each of the first link and the second link.

[0024] 13. The solution according to clause 1 also includes: receiving, by the radio node, a first message including a first priority indicator at a first time; determining, by the radio node, whether each of the multiple links includes a signal strength measurement value less than an overlapping basic service set preamble detection threshold; in response to determining that each of the first link and the second link of the multiple links includes a signal strength measurement value less than the overlapping basic service set preamble detection threshold, starting, by the radio node, a backoff counter common to each of the first link and the second link; and in response to determining that the backoff counter has expired, transmitting, by the radio node, at least a portion of a data packet through each of the first link and the second link, wherein any other communication through the first link and the second link is preempted by the data packet.

[0025] 14. A solution according to clause 13, wherein the at least a portion of the data packets transmitted through each of the first link and the second link includes data packets having a transmission signal strength greater than a transmission signal strength of overlapping basic service set (OBSS) data transmitted on the first link and the second link.

[0026] 15. The solution according to clause 1 also includes: receiving, by the radio node, a first message including a first priority indicator at a first time; determining, by the radio node, at a second time, that all links of the multiple links are in an idle state, wherein interference-free channel assessment is not performed on the multiple links until it is determined at the second time that all links of the multiple links are in an idle state; starting, by the radio node, a separate backoff counter for each of the first link and the second link; and in response to determining at a third time that the separate backoff counter has expired, transmitting, by the radio node, at least a portion of the data packet through each of the first link and the second link.

[0027] 16. The solution according to clause 1 also includes: receiving, by the radio node, a first message including a first priority indicator at a first time; determining, by the radio node, at a second time, that the first link is in an idle state; starting, by the radio node, a first backoff counter for the first link; determining, by the radio node at a third time, that the first link is still in an idle state; starting, by the radio node, a second backoff counter for the second link; and in response to the expiration of the first backoff counter and the second backoff counter and determining, at a fourth time, that all links are in an idle state, transmitting, by the radio node, at least a portion of the data packet through each of the first link and the second link.

[0028] 17. The solution according to clause 1 also includes: receiving a first message including a first priority indicator by the radio node at a first time; determining by the radio node that the first link is in an idle state at a second time; starting a first backoff counter for the first link by the radio node; and transmitting a data packet by the radio node through the first link, wherein the transmission of the data packet through the first link preempts the transmission through the second link.

[0029] 18. The solution according to clause 1 also includes: receiving, by the radio node, a first message including a first priority indicator at a first time; determining, by the radio node, that a first link among the multiple links includes a signal strength measurement value less than an overlapping basic service set preamble detection threshold, and a third link includes a signal strength measurement value greater than an overlapping basic service set preamble detection threshold; determining, by the radio node, that the second link includes data traffic that does not include any high priority low latency indicators; starting, by the radio node, a first backoff counter for the first link and a second backoff counter for the second link; and in response to determining that the first and second backoff counters have expired, transmitting, by the radio node, at least a portion of a data packet through each of the first link and the second link.

[0030] 19. A solution according to clause 18, wherein the transmitting of at least a portion of the data packets over each of the first link and the second link comprises transmitting data packets having a signal strength greater than a signal strength of the OBSS data transmitted over the first link and the second link.

[0031] 20. An apparatus for wireless communication, comprising a processor configured to perform the solution according to any of clauses 1 to 20.

[0032] 21. A non-transitory computer-readable medium having stored thereon code which, when executed by a processor, causes the processor to implement the solution according to any one of clauses 1 to 19.

[0033] The details of one or more embodiments are set forth in the accompanying appendices, drawings, and description below. Other features will be apparent from the description and drawings, and from the clauses. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0034] Figure 1 An exemplary multi-link access network is shown.

[0035] Figure 2A An exemplary reference architecture of a multi-link station and a multi-link access point according to the first embodiment is shown.

[0036] Figure 2B An exemplary reference architecture of a multi-link station and a multi-link access point according to the second embodiment is shown.

[0037] Figure 3A A corresponding mapping table of exemplary user priorities of MSDUs and access categories of MPDUs according to the first embodiment is shown.

[0038] Figure 3B A corresponding mapping table of exemplary user priorities of MSDUs and access categories of MPDUs according to the second embodiment is shown.

[0039] Figure 3C A corresponding mapping table of exemplary user priorities of MSDUs and access categories of MPDUs according to the third embodiment is shown.

[0040] Figure 3D A corresponding mapping table of exemplary user priorities of MSDUs and access categories of MPDUs according to the fourth embodiment is shown.

[0041] Figure 4 An exemplary EHT frame format is shown with an indication of high priority / low latency for data packets carried by the frame.

[0042] Figure 5 An exemplary signaling process for supporting low-latency transmission by utilizing multi-link operation is shown.

[0043] Fig. 6A An exemplary signaling process of multi-link non-interference channel assessment and multi-link channel access using independent and joint multi-link channel assessment for simultaneously transmitting and receiving multi-link devices according to the first embodiment is shown.

[0044] Figure 6B An exemplary signaling process of multi-link non-interference channel assessment and multi-link channel access using independent and joint multi-link channel assessment for simultaneously transmitting and receiving multi-link devices according to the second embodiment is shown.

[0045] Figure 6C An exemplary signaling process of multi-link non-interference channel assessment and multi-link channel access using independent and joint multi-link channel assessment for simultaneously transmitting and receiving multi-link devices according to the third embodiment is shown.

[0046] Fig. 7A An exemplary signaling process of multi-link non-interference channel assessment and multi-link channel access using independent and joint multi-link channel assessment for non-simultaneous transmitting and receiving multi-link devices according to the first embodiment is shown.

[0047] Figure 7B An exemplary signaling process of multi-link non-interference channel assessment and multi-link channel access using independent and joint multi-link channel assessment for non-simultaneous transmitting and receiving multi-link devices according to the second embodiment is shown.

[0048] Figure 7C An exemplary signaling process of multi-link non-interference channel assessment and multi-link channel access using independent and joint multi-link channel assessment for non-simultaneous transmitting and receiving multi-link devices according to the third embodiment is shown.

[0049] Fig.7D An exemplary signaling process of multi-link non-interference channel assessment and multi-link channel access using independent and joint multi-link channel assessment for non-simultaneous transmitting and receiving multi-link devices according to the fourth embodiment is shown.

[0050] Figure 8 An exemplary method of utilizing a multi-link channel assessment mechanism and multi-link channel access to reduce access delay, improve transmission reliability, and increase transmission throughput is shown.

[0051] Fig. 9 A block diagram representation of a portion of a hardware platform. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0052] The section headings used in this document are only for ease of understanding and do not limit the scope of the embodiments to the section in which they are described. In addition, although the embodiments are described with reference to a wireless local access network (WLAN) example, the disclosed technology can be applied to wireless systems using protocols other than WLAN or IEEE 802.11 protocols.

[0053] Wireless local area communications are rapidly becoming a popular mechanism to communicate with each other directly or via a network such as the Internet. Multiple wireless devices (e.g., smartphones, tablets, etc.) may attempt to send and receive data on a shared communication spectrum in an environment (e.g., airports, homes, buildings, stadiums, etc.). In addition, wireless devices (e.g., sensors, cameras, control units, etc.) are increasingly being used in networks for a variety of applications (e.g., factory automation, vehicle communications, etc.).

[0054] In some cases, the transmission of data is based on an air interface specified by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), 802.11 series of standards. In this specification, devices can share a wireless medium that includes a specific set of rules. In IEEE802.11, a basic service set (BSS) is a building block of a wireless local area network (WLAN). Associated wireless stations (also called stations) within a radio coverage area can establish a BSS and provide basic services of a WLAN.

[0055] IEEE 802.11 specifies a wireless access protocol for operating on unlicensed and / or shared spectrum. A wireless station can operate on channels in unlicensed bands (e.g., 2.4 GHz or 5 GHz) or in bands shared with other services (e.g., 6 GHz).

[0056] When operating on an unlicensed or shared spectrum, transmission and reception of wireless messages may be unreliable due to interference from other stations located within the same coverage area, such as hidden node transmissions or "visible" nodes attempting to utilize the same shared communications medium for transmissions.

[0057] Devices operating on unlicensed bands can utilize the carrier sense multiple access with collision avoidance (CSMA / CA) mechanism to control multiple medium access based on the IEEE802.11 specification. Each station can implement CSMA / CA functionality. Before accessing the wireless medium, the station can use CSMA / CA to sense the medium occupancy. If the station determines that the medium is busy, it can wait and retry to sense the medium later. If the station senses that the medium is idle, the station can wait for a certain inter-frame space (IFS) and then enter the contention window (CW). In order to support multiple stations accessing the medium, each station can back off a random time before transmitting through the medium to reduce conflicts and evenly distribute medium access. The back-off time can be defined as:

[0058] Backoff time = Random() x aSlotTime Equation (1)

[0059] Where Random() = a pseudo-random integer uniformly distributed in the interval [0, CW], and CW is an integer:

[0060] aCWmin≤CW≤aCWmax Equation (2)

[0061] The current CSMA / CA mechanism specified in the IEEE 802.11 standard can generate significant channel access delays in each transmission and cause problems with medium utilization efficiency. When a large number of stations share the same medium and transmit simultaneously, the CSMA / CA mechanism suffers from unreliable transmission (e.g., more transmission packet losses, longer access delays, and greater jitter in unstable radio environments). This unreliable transmission can degrade the user experience and limit the performance of applications that require low latency and high reliability on IEEE802.11 wireless access networks.

[0062] In some cases, the IEEE 802.11 standard allows a station to associate with an access point via a wireless link. This can cause the station to have difficulty receiving reliable transmissions when the associated wireless link is congested or interfered with on the station side or the access point side. In other cases, this constraint in the IEEE 802.11 standard limits wireless communication between a station and an access point if the associated wireless link is busy.

[0063] This embodiment may relate to a technology of using a multi-link (ML) interference-free channel assessment (CCA) mechanism to reduce channel access delay, improve transmission reliability, and increase transmission throughput in a WLAN.

[0064] Figure 1 An exemplary WLAN with an infrastructure BSS configuration is shown. The infrastructure BSS WLAN may include multiple ML stations (i.e., ML-STAs or non-AP ML devices), for example, ML-STA1 110 and ML-STA2 112. The stations may be in the coverage of a first ML access point (i.e., ML-AP or AP ML device) (i.e., ML-AP1 120) and / or a second ML access point (i.e., ML-AP or AP ML device) (i.e., ML-AP2 122). ML-AP1 120 may form an infrastructure ML-BSS1 and ML-AP2 122 may form an infrastructure ML-BSS2. ML-AP1 120 and ML-AP2 122 may be interconnected via a switch through a distribution system (DS) to form an ML-BSS 100. ML-AP1 120 and ML-AP2 122 may be coordinated via an ML-BSS controller 150 for ML operations across multiple access points.

[0065] In some embodiments, a ML-STA (e.g., ML-STA1 110) having multiple radios may establish and operate multiple channels (or OFDMA sub-channels) in the same frequency band or in different frequency bands to communicate with a ML-AP (e.g., ML-AP1 122). The ML-STA may associate with one or more ML-APs within the coverage of the ML-BSS to establish ML communications.

[0066] In some embodiments, ML-AP 122 and ML-STA 110 may utilize ML operation for simultaneous transmission and reception (STR), joint or selective transmission over one or more radio frequency channels to reduce access delay, improve transmission reliability, and / or increase transmission throughput under the coordination of ML-MBSS controller 150. ML communication may include bidirectional transmission between ML-STA and ML-AP over some or all ML links.

[0067] Joint ML communication may refer to an operation in which one or more ML devices (non-AP ML devices or AP ML devices) simultaneously send the same data packet or simultaneously receive the same data packet via ML. The ML devices may combine received signals in the baseband to improve the signal-to-noise ratio (SINR) of the received signals for increasing transmission reliability or selecting the best signal from multiple received signals at the MAC layer.

[0068] Selective ML communication may refer to the operation of an ML device (non-AP ML device or AP ML device) selectively transmitting a data packet through one or more MLs. It may be used by an ML-STA or ML-AP to reduce access delay by selecting the first available link in the ML.

[0069] Simplex (ie, non-simultaneous transmission and reception) ML communication may refer to an operation in which a ML device (non-AP ML device or AP ML device) can simultaneously transmit data packets via ML, or simultaneously receive data packets via ML, but cannot simultaneously transmit and receive data packets.

[0070] Duplex (ie, simultaneous transmission and reception) ML communication may refer to an operation in which a ML device (non-AP ML device or AP ML device) may simultaneously transmit and receive data packets via ML.

[0071] Figure 2A-2B FIG. 1 shows an exemplary ML system architecture of an ML station (ie, non-AP ML device) and an ML access point (ie, AP ML device). Figure 2A In the first illustrated embodiment, the ML system 200 a may include an ML-STA 210 and an ML-AP 220 .

[0072] like Figure 2A As shown, the ML-STA 210 may include ML radios 211, 212, and 213. Each radio in the ML-STA 210 may include an 802.11 PHY and a partial MAC (i.e., a lower MAC (MAC-L)). The ML radio 211 may operate on a wireless channel (CH1) to establish a radio link 251 to the ML-AP 220. Similarly, the ML radios 212 and 213 may be operated on a wireless channel (CH3) to establish a radio link 2 252 and a link 3 253 to the ML-AP 220, respectively. The ML-STA 210 may include an ML radio controller 241, which may be composed of a common 802.11 MAC (i.e., an upper layer MAC (MAC-U)) and a management entity that manages the ML operation of the ML-STA 210.

[0073] The ML-AP 220 may include ML radios 221, 222, and 223. Each radio in the ML-AP 220 may include an 802.11 PHY and a partial MAC (i.e., MAC-L). The radio 221 of the ML-AP 220 may be operated on a wireless channel (CH1) to establish a radio link 251 to the ML-STA 210. Similarly, the ML radios 222 and 223 of the ML-AP may be operated on wireless channels (CH2 and CH3) to establish a radio link 2 252 and a link 3 253 to the ML-STA 210, respectively. The ML-AP 220 may have an ML radio controller 241, which may be composed of a common 802.11 MAC (i.e., MAC-U) and a management entity for managing ML operations of the ML-AP 220.

[0074] exist Figure 2B In the second illustrated embodiment, the ML system 200 b may include an ML-STA 210 , an ML-AP 220 , and an ML-BSS controller 230 .

[0075] like Figure 2B As shown, the ML-STA 210 may include ML radios 211, 212, and 213. Each radio in the ML-STA 210 may include an 802.11 PHY and a partial MAC (i.e., MAC-L). The radio 211 may be operated on a wireless channel (CH1) to establish a radio link 1 231 to the ML-AP 220. Similarly, the ML radios 212 and 213 may be operated on wireless channels (CH2 and CH3) to establish a radio link 2 252 and a link 3 253 to the ML-AP 220, respectively. The ML-STA 210 may have an ML radio controller 241, which may be composed of a common 802.11 MAC (MAC-U) and a management entity for managing the ML operations of the ML-STA 210.

[0076] ML-AP 220 may include ML radios 221, 222, and 223. Each radio in ML-AP 220 may include an 802.11 PHY and a portion of a MAC, namely, MAC-L. ML radio 221 may be operated on a wireless channel (CH1) to establish a radio link 251 to ML-STA 210. Similarly, ML radios 222 and 223 may be operated on wireless channels (CH2 and CH3) to establish radio link 2 252 and link 3 253 to ML-SYA 210, respectively.

[0077] The ML-BSS controller 230 may be integrated with the ML-AP 220 or located separately as a separate network entity, and the ML-BSS controller 230 may coordinate one or more ML radio controllers 242 for ML operations.

[0078] ML251, 252 and 253 may include wireless protocol links that may operate on radio channels in the same frequency band or in different frequency bands, such as in the 2.4 GHz, 5 GHz, 6 GHz bands, etc. The links may have the same channel bandwidth, such as 20 MHz, 40 MHz, 80 MHz, 160 MHz, etc. Alternatively, the links may allow different channel bandwidth combinations, such as 160 MHz+160 MHz+20 MHz, or 160 MHz+80 MHz+20 MHz, etc.

[0079] The ML-STA may associate with the ML-AP through any link to establish ML communication between them. During the ML association process, the ML-STA and the ML-AP may exchange ML capability information and determine supported ML operations.

[0080] The ML-STA may turn on the radio to listen for transmissions in the unlicensed band and search for beacon frames. The ML-STA may turn on multiple ML radios for rapid searches through multiple channels simultaneously to reduce search time. If the ML-STA acquires an ML beacon frame, the ML-STA may need to determine whether it can associate with the ML-AP.

[0081] The ML device (ML-STA or ML-AP) can set the user priority of the traffic class in the MSDU during traffic flow establishment. For example, when a high priority application needs to transmit a data packet, it can specify its traffic type to the QoS in the network layer through DSCP. When the ML-STA is called by the network layer, the network layer service can convert the QoS into a user priority (UP) value and set it in the user priority field of the add traffic flow (ADDTS) request message. The user priority can then be mapped to one or more access categories of the MPDU for channel access and scheduling transmission. In this way, high priority applications can be mapped to QoS packets in the network layer and further mapped to air user priority (i.e., access category) frames.

[0082] Figures 3A-3D Exemplary tables 300a-d are shown that depict user priorities for traffic classes of high priority and low latency MSDUs and access categories mapped to MPDUs.

[0083] In such Figure 3AIn the illustrated embodiment, a new user priority level (UP 12) may be introduced for high priority / low latency (HP / LL) services, which may allow any AC that first appears in the ML-CCA to use and transmit data frames carrying HP / LL MPDUs.

[0084] In such Figure 3B In the illustrated embodiment, a virtual access category (AC), AC_ANY, is introduced. AC_ANY may indicate that it may be mapped to or use any AC, AC_BK, AC_BE, AC_VI, or AC_VO, for ML channel access. Therefore, it may allow the use of the AC with the earliest backoff counter reaching "0" in the ML-CCA.

[0085] In such Figure 3C In the illustrated embodiment, the existing user priority level UP-3 may be redefined and mapped to a virtual access category AC_ANY, ie, the AC whose earliest backoff counter reaches "0" in ML-CCA and ML channel access is allowed to be used.

[0086] In such Figure 3D In the illustrated embodiment, the existing user priority UP-3 may be redefined and mapped to a new access category AC_HP / LL for ML channel access. Thus, the new access category AC_HP / LL may include a new access category for MPDUs with the highest priority. ML devices may use an AC_HP / LL queue independent of other ACs. The scheduler of the ML device may schedule channel access for AC_HP / LL before other ACs.

[0087] Figure 4 An exemplary EHT frame format 400 is shown. An EHT frame may contain a legacy preamble portion, namely L-STF, L-LFT, L-SIG and RL-SIG with an EHT portion, namely Universal Signal (U-SIG) 410, EHT-SIG 420, EHT-LTF 430, MPDU and FCS.

[0088] The conventional preamble may be used by a receiving station to detect a frame transmitted over the air interface. To improve the reliability of the received signal, a repeated L-SIG (i.e., RL-SIG) may be added after the L-SIG in the transmitted frame so that the receiving station may combine the L-SIG with the RL-SIG to improve the reliability of the received signal.

[0089] The U-SIG field 410 may contain a DL / UL indication field 411. This field may indicate whether the frame is a DL or UL transmission.

[0090] The U-SIG field 410 may include a CC field 412. This field may include a color code for the BSS. If the frame is for DL ​​transmission, the ML-AP may set this field of the frame to the color code it associates with the link. If the frame is for UL transmission, the ML-STA may set this field of the frame to the color code of the link assigned by the ML-AP.

[0091] The U-SIG field 410 may include a HP / LL field 413. This field may indicate that the frame carries a high priority / low latency MPDU. If the data frame carries an HP / LL MPDU, the ML transmitting device may set this field of the frame to "1". Otherwise, this field may be set to "0". Other ML devices that receive the frame but are not addressed by the frame may save the HP / LL field 413 associated with the NAV and use its value to decide whether the frame is preemptible during ML CCA and ML channel access if they need to transmit an HP / LL MPDU.

[0092] ML-CCA may include detecting any one of L-STF, L-LTF, L-SIG, RL-SIG, and U-SIG.

[0093] In addition to carrying the HL / LL indication in the U-SIG, another way to indicate the HP / LL MPDU may be to carry the indication in the EHT-SIG or MAC header (eg, in the ETH control field, the EHT variant field, etc.).

[0094] ML devices can use ML virtual carrier sensing and ML physical carrier sensing mechanisms to assess channel availability.

[0095] ML virtual carrier sensing can rely on the ML network allocation vector (NAV) to evaluate channel availability. When the ML device detects the preamble and finds that the transmission belongs to the OBSS, it can set the ML-NAV associated with the channel to occupied, with a period indicated by the duration field of the received packet. The channel occupancy time can decrease over time. Once the ML-NAV value becomes "0", the channel can be used for physical CCA and channel access.

[0096] When an ML device detects an OBSS transmission carrying an EHT MPDU on the channel, it may mark HP / LL or non-HP / LL frames in its corresponding ML-NAV based on the indication in the U-SIG.

[0097] When a non-STR ML device transmits a frame on one channel, it may be marked in the ML-NAV of other channels as being occupied for the period indicated by the Duration field of the transmitted packet.

[0098] ML-CCA may include a set of interference-free channel assessments, each of which may perform physical carrier sensing on a corresponding channel. CCA may be used to assess channel availability by detecting signals transmitted on that channel. Once the CCA of an ML device detects that the preamble signal strength exceeds the preamble detection threshold (PDT) or the received signal strength exceeds OBSS_PD, it may mark in ML-NAV the channels occupied by the In-BSS or Out-BSS for the period specified by the duration field of the received packet. Otherwise, the CCA of an ML device may indicate that the channel is idle and trigger the EDCA fallback procedure.

[0099] ML-CCA can support various backoff procedures. For example, the backoff procedure can be used for standalone ML-CCA. In a standalone ML CCA, each link can have its own CCA for channel availability assessment and its own set of backoff counters. Each backoff counter can correspond to an access category, such as background (AC_BK), best effort (Best Effort) (AC_BE), video (AC_VI), or voice (AC_VO).

[0100] As another example, the backoff procedure can be used for joint ML-CCA. In joint ML CCA, each link can have its own CCA for channel availability assessment, but share a set of backoff counters. Each backoff counter can correspond to an access category, such as background (AC_BK), best effort (AC_BE), video (AC_VI), or voice (AC_VO).

[0101] Based on the fallback procedure, the ML device may choose independent ML-CCA or joint ML-CCA for channel assessment and access.

[0102] Figure 5 An exemplary signaling process utilizing an ML radio to support high priority / low latency transmissions over a wireless interface is shown.

[0103] In such Figure 5In the illustrated embodiment, it can show an example of supporting high priority / low latency transmission via ML. When the ML device (ML-STA or ML-AP) is indicated by the application via the HP / LL setting UP, it can be mapped to the ANY AC of the traffic category for transmitting high priority / low latency MPDU. The ML device can perform virtual carrier sensing via checking the ML-NAV on link 1 551 (CH1), link 2 552 (CH2), and link 3 553 (CH3). If at least one of these channels is not set by ML-NAV, the ML device can perform physical ML-CCA sensing on those channels that are not set by ML-NAV at the same time to find the earliest available channel for high priority / low latency transmission. In this example, if its ML backoff counter corresponding to the access category reaches 0 first and ML-CCA is still able to detect CH3 in idle, the ML device can find that CH3 is the earliest available channel in ML. Then, the ML device can transmit the MPDU with HP / LL UP through CH3.

[0104] Figures 6A-6C An exemplary process for an STR-capable ML device using independent ML-CCA on each link and joint ML-CCA to support high priority and low latency transmissions is shown. Figures 6A-6C In an embodiment, a ML device (non-AP MLD or AP MLD) with STR capability may include three radio devices, which operate on radio channel 1 (CH1), radio channel 2 (CH2) and radio channel 3 (CH3) to establish corresponding communication link 1 651, link 2 652 and link 3 653.

[0105] In such Fig. 6A In the first embodiment shown, a ML device with STR capability can have multiple independent CCAs, each CCA associated with a link and having its own set of CCA back-off counters to the corresponding AC. All CCA back-off counter sets for all links can use the same set of EDCA parameters of the ML device, such as CW, CWmin, CWmax, etc. However, each radio of the ML device can use its own set of CCA back-off counters, one for each AC, to independently calculate idle slots on its link. This can allow each radio device of the ML device to sense its operating channel and perform channel access independently.

[0106] In this example, the ML device with STR capability may receive a pending HP / LLMPDU in its queue at time T0. Since all channels (i.e., CH1, CH2, and CH3) are busy at T0 according to their ML-NAV values, the ML device may postpone its physical CCA until at least one ML-NAV becomes "0" at T1. If the radio of the ML device performing the CCA detects an idle channel (e.g., CH2 or CH3), then Figure 3B The link corresponding to the CCA backoff counter of the AC is shown to be reduced by "1". If none of the backoff counters reaches "0", the radio device of the ML device can continue the CCA process on its link (e.g., CH2 or CH3) until at least one CCA backoff counter reaches "0" or the link becomes busy. If one CCA backoff counter reaches "0" and the link is still sensed as idle (e.g., CH2 or CH3), the ML device can start acquiring TXOP frames on the link (e.g., CH2 or CH3) via transmitting a control frame (e.g., ML-RTS, trigger frame, etc.) or a data frame carrying a HP / LL MPDU. The ML device can transmit the same MPDU or different MPDUs over CH2 and CH3 depending on the transmission requirements (such as reliability or throughput).

[0107] In such Figure 6B In the second embodiment shown, the ML device with STR capability may include multiple independent CCA sensors, each of which may be associated with a link. However, the CCA sensors may share a set of joint ML CCA backoff counters, each corresponding to an AC, such as Figure 3B As described. If any radio device of the ML device performing CCA detects that its channel is idle, the joint ML-CCA backoff counter corresponding to AC can be reduced by "1". If multiple channels (e.g., "N" channels) are sensed to be idle, the joint ML-CCA backoff counter corresponding to AC can be reduced by "N". Therefore, the joint ML-CCA can significantly reduce the waiting time on the idle channel and speed up the ML device to access the earliest available channel to meet high priority / low latency requirements.

[0108] In this example, a ML device with STR capability may obtain a pending HP / LLMPDU in its queue at T0. Since all channels (i.e., CH1, CH2, and CH3) are busy at T0 according to their ML-NAV values, the ML device may postpone its physical CCA until at least one ML-NAV of the corresponding link becomes "0" at T1. If any applicable radio device of the ML device performing CCA detects idle channels (e.g., CH2 and CH3), the joint ML-CCA backoff counter corresponding to the AC may be reduced by "1".

[0109] In this example, since CH2 and CH3 are sensed to be idle, the joint ML-CCA backoff counter of each AC can be reduced by "2". Therefore, as more channels are sensed as idle at the same time, the joint ML-CCA backoff counter of each AC can have more reductions. If none of the joint ML-CCA backoff counters reaches "0", any radio device with ML-NAV=0 of the ML device can continue CCA on its link (e.g., CH2 and CH3) until at least one joint ML-CCA backoff counter reaches "0" or all links become busy. If at least one of the joint ML-CCA backoff counters reaches "0" and at least one link is still sensed as idle (e.g., CH2 and CH3), the ML device can start acquiring TXOP on the idle links (e.g., CH2 and CH3) via directly transmitting a control frame (such as ML-RTS) or a data frame carrying an HP / LL MPDU.

[0110] The ML device may transmit the same MPDU or different MPDUs through CH2 and CH3 according to transmission requirements, such as reliability or throughput.

[0111] In such Figure 6C In the third embodiment shown, it may be shown the process of combining ML-CCA and preemption of channel access with current OBSS transmission.

[0112] ML devices with STR capabilities can use federated ML-CCA, which has multiple independent CCA sensors. Each CCA in a federated ML-CCA can be associated with a link, but share a set of backoff counters for the AC.

[0113] like Figure 6CAs shown, a ML device with STR capability may obtain a pending HP / LL MPDU in its AC queue at T0. At that time, all channels (i.e., CH1, CH2, and CH3) may be busy according to their ML-NAV values. CH1 may be occupied by OBSS traffic and the signal strength measurement may exceed the energy detection (ED) threshold. CH2 may be occupied by other OBSS traffic, but the signal strength measurement may be less than the OBSS preamble detection (OBSS_PD) threshold. CH3 may be occupied by different OBSS traffic indicating HP / LL="1" in the frame header.

[0114] If OBSS traffic is detected as non-HP / LL traffic, the ML device may mark a preemptible indication (PRE_IND = "1") in the ML-NAV for the channel. If the signal strength measurement value of the OBSS traffic is less than the OBSS_PD threshold, the ML device may also mark PRE_IND = "1" in the ML-NAV for the channel.

[0115] The ML device may perform ML-CCA on links marked with PRE_IND = "1" in ML-NAV. When the ML device detects PRE_IND during the ML-NAV check, it may ignore the ML-NAV set on those channels, and may then immediately perform ML-CCA at T1 with a higher ML-CCA detection threshold (e.g., the detection threshold for HP / LL transmission). If any applicable radio device of the ML device performing ML-CCA detects an idle channel (e.g., CH2 and CH3), the joint ML-CCA backoff counter corresponding to the AC may be reduced by "1". In this example, the joint ML-CCA backoff counter of each AC may be reduced by "2" because CH2 and CH3 are sensed as idle. If none of the joint ML-CCA backoff counters reaches "0", any radio device on the channel with PRE_IND = "0" in ML-NAV may continue the CCA process on its link (e.g., CH2 and CH3) until at least one joint ML-CCA backoff counter reaches "0" or all links become busy. If at least one of the joint ML-CCA backoff counters reaches "0" and at least one link is still sensed as idle (e.g., CH2 and CH3), the ML device may start acquiring a TXOP on an idle channel (e.g., CH2 and CH3) via transmitting a control frame (such as ML-RTS, a trigger frame, etc.) or a data frame carrying a HP / LL MPDU.

[0116] The ML device may transmit the same MPDU or different MPDUs through CH2 and CH3 according to transmission requirements such as reliability or throughput.

[0117] Figures 7A-7D An exemplary process for a non-STR capable ML device using independent ML-CCA on each link and joint ML-CCA to support high priority / low latency transmission is shown. Figures 7A-7C In an embodiment, the ML device with STR capability may include three radio devices, which operate on radio channel 1 (CH1), radio channel 2 (CH2) and radio channel 3 (CH3) to establish corresponding communication link 1 751, link 2 752, and link 3 753.

[0118] In the first embodiment, if Fig. 7A As shown, it can be shown that: when a non-STR capable ML device is transmitting a frame, the ML-CCA and channel access process does not interfere with the current communication. A non-STR capable ML device (ML-STA or ML-AP) can include multiple independent ML-CCA sensors, each of which can be associated with a link and have its own set of back-off counters for AC, but all ML CCAs can use the same set of EDCA parameters corresponding to AC (such as CW, CWmin, CWmax, etc.).

[0119] ML devices without STR capability can use a joint ML-CCA mechanism that includes multiple independent CCAs, each of which can be associated with a link, but share a set of back-off counters for the AC of the ML device.

[0120] As shown in the example, a non-STR ML device may receive a HP / LLMSDU pending in a queue from an application at time T0. Since all channels (i.e., CH1, CH2, and CH3) are busy at time T0 according to their ML-NAV values, the ML device may postpone its physical CCA until at least one ML-NAV is equal to "0" (e.g., link 3 753). However, due to self-interference from transmissions over link 1 751, ML devices that are not STR-capable may still be unable to perform ML-CCA sensing on idle links (e.g., link 3 753). Therefore, ML-CCA may stop any link and back off counting, even if link 2 752 or link 3 753 is idle after T0. When the non-STR ML device completes its transmission on link 1 751 at time T1, it may resume ML-CCA and back off counting on other links (e.g., link 2 752 and link 3 753).

[0121] If the radio of the ML device performing ML-CCA detects that its channel is in an idle state (e.g., CH2 or CH3), the CCA backoff counter corresponding to AC may be reduced by "1" for an independent ML-CCA mechanism, or, for example, if CH2 and CH3 are detected to be idle, the CCA backoff counter corresponding to AC may be reduced by "2" for a joint ML-CCA mechanism. If none of the backoff counters reaches "0" after the ML-CCA, the ML device may continue the ML-CCA process on the corresponding links (e.g., CH2 and / or CH3) until at least one of the ML-CCA backoff counters reaches "0" or all links become busy. If one ML-CCA backoff counter reaches "0" and the link is still sensed to be idle (e.g., CH2 and CH3), the ML device may start acquiring TXOPs on these links (e.g., CH2 and CH3) via transmitting a control frame (such as ML-RTS, a trigger frame, etc.) or a data frame carrying an HP / LL MPDU.

[0122] The ML device may transmit the same MPDU or different MPDUs through CH2 and CH3 according to transmission requirements such as reliability or throughput.

[0123] In the second embodiment, if Figure 7B As shown, it can illustrate the ML CCA and channel access process when a ML device without STR capability is receiving a frame without interfering with the current communication.

[0124] ML devices without STR capabilities may include multiple independent CCA sensors, each of which may be associated with a link and have its own set of back-off counters for the AC, but all CCAs may use the same set of EDCA parameters (CW, CWmin, CWmax, etc.) corresponding to the AC.

[0125] ML devices without STR capability can use a joint ML-CCA mechanism, which contains multiple independent CCAs, each of which can be associated with a link. In the joint ML-CCA mechanism, all CCAs share a set of backoff counters for AC.

[0126] As shown in the example, a non-STR ML device may receive a HP / LL MSDU pending in its queue from an application at time T0. Since all channels (i.e., CH1, CH2, and CH3) are busy at time T0 according to their ML-NAV values, the ML device may postpone its physical CCA until at least one of the ML-NAVs is equal to "0" (e.g., link 3753) at time T1.

[0127] When one of the ML-NAV values ​​becomes "0", the ML device without STR capability can perform ML-CCA (independent ML-CCA or joint ML-CCA mechanism) on this unoccupied link (e.g., link 2 752 or link 3 753) during reception of frames on other links (e.g., link 1 651). However, after the backoff counter of the independent ML-CCA or the joint ML-CCA reaches "0", the non-STR ML device may not be able to perform channel access on the unoccupied link because the transmission signal of the channel access will interfere with the ongoing communication on other links (e.g., link 1 751). Instead, the non-STR ML device can maintain channel access until the reception (e.g., on link 1 751) is completed. Once the reception on link 1 751 is completed, the non-STR ML device can access the medium immediately after SIFS at T2. Fig. 7A This can reduce the channel access delay compared to the ML CCA and channel access mechanisms in .

[0128] The ML device may transmit the same MPDU or different MPDUs through CH2 and CH3 according to transmission requirements such as reliability or throughput.

[0129] In such Figure 7C In the third embodiment shown, it may be shown that the channel access process and ML-CCA in the case of preempting the current non-HP / LL communication with a ML device that does not have STR capability.

[0130] ML devices without STR capability can use an independent ML-CCA mechanism with multiple independent CCAs, each of which can be associated with a link and have its own separate set of back-off counters for the AC, but all CCAs can use the same set of EDCA parameters (CW, CWmin, CWmax, etc.) corresponding to the AC.

[0131] ML devices without STR capability can use a joint ML-CCA mechanism that contains multiple independent CCAs, each of which can be associated with a link, but share a set of backoff counters for the AC.

[0132] As shown in the example, a non-STR ML device may receive a HP / LL MSDU pending in its queue from an application at time T0. Since all channels (i.e., CH1, CH2, and CH3) are busy at time T0 according to their NAV values ​​(>0), the ML device may postpone its physical CCA until at least one of the ML-NAVs is equal to "0" (e.g., link 3653) at time T1.

[0133] After one of the ML-NAV values ​​becomes "0", the ML device without STR capability can initiate ML-CCA (independent ML-CCA or joint ML-CCA mechanism) on the unoccupied link (e.g., link 3 753) at T1 during reception of a non-HP / LL MPDU on another link (e.g., link 1 751). After the backoff counter of the independent ML-CCA or joint ML-CCA reaches "0", the non-STR ML device can perform channel access on the unoccupied channel (e.g., CH3) at T2 and preempt its current non-HP / LL communication on another link (e.g., link 1 751 on CH1).

[0134] In such Fig.7D In the fourth embodiment shown, it can be shown that the channel access process and ML-CCA preempt the current non-HP / LLOBSS communication for HP / LL transmission.

[0135] ML devices without STR capability can use an independent ML-CCA mechanism with multiple independent CCAs, each of which can be associated with a link and have its own separate set of back-off counters for the AC, but all CCAs can use the same set of EDCA parameters (CW, CWmin, CWmax, etc.) corresponding to the AC.

[0136] ML devices without STR capability can use a joint ML-CCA mechanism that contains multiple independent CCAs, each of which can be associated with a link, but share a set of backoff counters for the AC.

[0137] As shown in the example, a non-STR ML device may receive a HP / LL MSDU pending in its queue from an application at time T0. All channels (i.e., CH1, CH2, and CH3) are busy at time T0 according to their ML-NAV values ​​(>0), but some channels may carry non-HP / LL OBSS traffic (e.g., link 3 753) or carry OBSS frames with a signal strength measurement value less than OBSS_PD (e.g., link 1 751). The ML device may perform ML CCA with a detection threshold for HP / LL transmission on a channel (e.g., CH3) carrying a non-HL-LL OBSS MPDU or an OBSS frame with a signal strength measurement value less than OBSS_PD (e.g., link 1 751) at time T1. After the backoff counter of the independent ML-CCA or the joint ML-CCA reaches "0", the non-STR ML device may perform channel access on the links (e.g., link 1 751 and / or link 3 753) at time T2 that may preempt current OBSS communications on these links. Non-STR ML devices may transmit the same MPDU or different MPDUs over CH1 and CH3 depending on transmission requirements such as reliability or throughput.

[0138] If the ML transmission is successful, the ML device may reduce the CW size and reset the backoff counter to CW. If the ML transmission fails, the ML device may double the CW size, reset the backoff counter to CW, and then perform the same ML-CCA for channel access to retransmit the failed MPDU with the same sequence number.

[0139] In some embodiments, this embodiment may involve identifying high priority / low latency packets so that the multi-link device can schedule their transmission in a prioritized manner.

[0140] In some embodiments, this embodiment may involve identifying high priority / low latency packets, including mapping them to any access categories of traffic classes, so that the high priority / low latency packets can be scheduled for transmission over other access category traffic.

[0141] In some embodiments, this embodiment may involve performing multi-link clear channel assessment to detect the earliest available channel for transmitting high priority / low latency packets.

[0142] In some embodiments, the present embodiments may involve performing multi-link assessment, including utilizing a joint multi-link clear channel assessment mechanism to significantly speed up the assessment process over multiple links compared to existing clear channel assessment over one link.

[0143] In some embodiments, this embodiment may involve performing multi-link interference-free channel assessment over a channel carrying preemptible communications and transmitting high priority / low latency packets on that channel.

[0144] Figure 8 An exemplary method 800 is shown for utilizing a multi-link channel assessment mechanism and multi-link channel access to reduce access delay, improve transmission reliability, and increase transmission throughput.

[0145] In an exemplary embodiment, a method for wireless communication may include identifying, by a radio node, a first priority indicator associated with a data packet (block 802). The radio node may include a multi-link station as described herein (e.g., ML-STA 1 110). The first priority indicator may include an indicator indicating a high priority and low latency service as described herein.

[0146] The method may also include, in response to identifying a first priority indicator associated with the data packet, transmitting, by the radio node, the data packet on a first available link detected via a multi-link interference-free channel assessment, the transmission of the data packet occurring prior to the transmission of another data packet that does not include the first priority indicator (block 804).

[0147] In some embodiments, the multi-link interference-free channel assessment includes checking, by the radio node, a multi-link network allocation vector (ML-NAV) value for each link in a plurality of links to determine whether a first available link is available for transmission of a data packet, and in response to determining that the first available link is available for transmission of the data packet, initiating, by the radio node, a backoff counter for the first available link, wherein the data packet is transmitted in response to determining that the backoff counter has expired.

[0148] In some embodiments, the first priority indicator is associated with a user priority associated with a first priority service.The first priority service may include the high priority and low latency services described herein.

[0149] In some embodiments, the first priority service allows the radio node to utilize virtually any access category with earliest availability via multi-link evaluation, wherein the data packet includes a data frame including a high priority and low latency medium access control (MAC) protocol data unit (MPDU).

[0150] In some embodiments, the user priority associated with the first priority service includes a user priority value of twelve.

[0151] In some embodiments, the user priority level associated with the first priority service comprises a user priority value of 3, which corresponds to a virtual access category involving any channel access or high priority channel access.

[0152] In some embodiments, the method comprises mapping, by the radio node, a user priority level associated with the first priority service to a corresponding first access category for multi-link channel access.

[0153] In some embodiments, the method includes obtaining, by the radio node, an Extremely High Throughput (EHT) message including a first priority indicator, wherein the first priority indicator is included within a common signal portion of the EHT message.

[0154] In some embodiments, the method includes, for each link of a plurality of links of the radio node, determining, by the radio node, that a first link is in an idle state, in response to determining that the first link is in an idle state, starting, by the radio node, a backoff counter associated with an access category associated with a first priority indicator, and in response to determining that the backoff counter has expired, transmitting, by the radio node, over the first link a data packet, the data packet including a MAC protocol data unit (MPDU) having a user priority associated with the first priority service.

[0155] In some embodiments, determining that the first link is in an idle state comprises performing a clear channel assessment on a plurality of links of the radio node.

[0156] In some embodiments, the method includes receiving, by the radio node, a first message including a first priority indicator at a first time, determining, by the radio node, at a second time, that the first link and the second link are in an idle state, in response to determining that each of the first link and the second link is in an idle state, starting, by the radio node, an independent backoff counter for each of the first link and the second link, and in response to expiration of each independent backoff counter, transmitting, by the radio node, at least a portion of a data packet over each of the first link and the second link. Starting an independent backoff counter for each of the first link and the second link may include any of initializing a backoff counter or restoring an existing backoff counter.

[0157] In some embodiments, the method includes receiving, by a radio node, a first message including a first priority indicator at a first time, determining, by the radio node, that the first link and the second link are in an idle state, in response to determining that each of the first link and the second link is in an idle state, starting, by the radio node, a backoff counter common to each of the first link and the second link, and in response to determining that the backoff counter has expired, transmitting, by the radio node, at least a portion of a data packet through each of the first link and the second link.

[0158] In some embodiments, the method includes receiving, by a radio node, a first message including a first priority indicator at a first time, determining, by the radio node, whether each of a plurality of links includes a signal strength measurement value less than an overlapping basic service set preamble detection threshold, in response to determining that a first link and a second link of the plurality of links include a signal strength measurement value less than an overlapping basic service set preamble detection threshold, starting, by the radio node, a backoff counter common to each of the first link and the second link, and in response to determining that the backoff counter has expired, transmitting, by the radio node, at least a portion of a data packet through each of the first link and the second link, wherein any other communication through the first link and the second link is preempted by the data packet.

[0159] In some embodiments, transmitting at least a portion of the data packet over each of the first link and the second link includes transmitting the data packet having a signal strength greater than a signal strength of overlapping basic service set (OBSS) data transmitted over the first link and the second link.

[0160] In some embodiments, the method includes receiving, by a radio node, a first message including a first priority indicator at a first time, determining, by the radio node, at a second time, that all of the multiple links are in an idle state, wherein a clear channel assessment is not performed on the multiple links until all of the multiple links are determined to be in an idle state at the second time, starting, by the radio node, a separate backoff counter for each of the first link and the second link, and in response to determining at a third time that the respective backoff counter has expired, transmitting, by the radio node, at least a portion of a data packet through each of the first link and the second link.

[0161] In some embodiments, the method includes receiving, by the radio node, a first message including a first priority indicator at a first time, determining, by the radio node, at a second time, that the first link is in an idle state, starting, by the radio node, a first backoff counter for the first link, determining, by the radio node at a third time, that the first link is still in an idle state, starting, by the radio node, a second backoff counter for the second link, and in response to expiration of the first backoff counter and the second backoff counter and determining, at a fourth time, that all links are in an idle state, transmitting, by the radio node, at least a portion of a data packet over each of the first link and the second link.

[0162] In some embodiments, the method includes receiving, by a radio node, a first message including a first priority indicator at a first time, determining, by the radio node, at a second time, that the first link is in an idle state, starting, by the radio node, a first backoff counter for the first link, and transmitting, by the radio node, a data packet via the first link, wherein transmission of the data packet via the first link preempts transmission via the second link.

[0163] In some embodiments, the method includes receiving, by a radio node, a first message including a first priority indicator at a first time, determining, by the radio node, that a first link among a plurality of links includes a signal strength measurement value less than an overlapping basic service set preamble detection threshold and a third link includes a signal strength measurement value greater than an overlapping basic service set preamble detection threshold, determining, by the radio node, that a second link includes data traffic that does not include any high priority low latency indicators, starting, by the radio node, a first backoff counter for the first link and a second backoff counter for the second link, and in response to determining that the first and second backoff counters have expired, transmitting, by the radio node, at least a portion of a data packet over each of the first link and the second link.

[0164] In some embodiments, transmitting at least a portion of the data packet over each of the first link and the second link includes transmitting the data packet with a signal strength greater than a signal strength of the OBSS data transmitted over the first link and the second link.

[0165] Exemplary Wireless Systems

[0166] Fig. 9 A block diagram representation of a portion of a hardware platform. A hardware platform 905, such as a network device or base station or wireless device (or UE), may include a processor electronic device 910, such as a microprocessor, that implements one or more of the techniques presented in this document. The hardware platform 905 may include a transceiver electronic device 915 to send and / or receive wired or wireless signals through one or more communication interfaces such as an antenna 920 or a wired interface. The hardware platform 905 may implement other communication interfaces with defined protocols for sending and receiving data. The hardware platform 905 may include one or more memories (not explicitly shown) configured to store information such as data and / or instructions. In some embodiments, the processor electronic device 910 may include at least a portion of the transceiver electronic device 915. In some embodiments, at least some of the disclosed techniques, modules, or functions are implemented using the hardware platform 905.

[0167] Summarize

[0168] It can be understood from the above that for the purpose of illustration, specific embodiments of the presently disclosed technology have been described herein, but various modifications may be made without departing from the scope of the invention. Therefore, the presently disclosed technology is not to be limited except as set forth in the appended claims.

[0169] The disclosed and other embodiments, modules and functional operations described in this document may be implemented in digital electronic circuits or computer software, firmware or hardware (including the structures disclosed in this document and their equivalents) or a combination of one or more thereof. The disclosed and other embodiments may be implemented as one or more computer program products, i.e., one or more modules of computer program instructions encoded on a computer-readable medium for execution by a data processing device or for controlling the operation of the data processing device. The computer-readable medium may be a machine-readable storage device, a machine-readable storage substrate, a memory device, a material composition that affects a machine-readable propagation signal, or a combination of one or more thereof. The term "data processing device" encompasses all devices, equipment and machines for processing data, including, for example, a programmable processor, a computer or multiple processors or computers. In addition to hardware, the device may also include code that creates an execution environment for the computer program in question, such as code that constitutes processor firmware, a protocol stack, a database management system, an operating system, or a combination of one or more thereof. A propagated signal is an artificially generated signal, such as a machine-generated electrical, optical or electromagnetic signal, which is generated to encode information for transmission to a suitable receiver device.

[0170] A computer program (also referred to as a program, software, software application, script, or code) may be written in any form of programming language (including compiled or interpreted languages) and may be deployed in any form, including as a stand-alone program or as a module, component, subroutine, or other unit suitable for use in a computing environment. A computer program does not necessarily correspond to a file in a file system. A program may be stored in a portion of a file that holds other programs or data (e.g., one or more scripts stored in a markup language document), in a single file dedicated to the program in question, or in multiple coordinated files (e.g., files storing one or more modules, subroutines, or portions of code). A computer program may be deployed to execute on one computer or on multiple computers located at one site or distributed over multiple sites and interconnected by a communications network.

[0171] The processes and logic flows described in this document may be performed by one or more programmable processors executing one or more computer programs to perform functions by operating on input data and generating output. The processes and logic flows may also be performed by, and apparatus may also be implemented as, special purpose logic circuits such as FPGAs (field programmable gate arrays) or ASICs (application specific integrated circuits).

[0172] Processors suitable for executing computer programs include, for example, both general-purpose and special-purpose microprocessors and any one or more processors of any kind of digital computer. Typically, the processor will receive instructions and data from a read-only memory or a random access memory or both. The basic elements of a computer are a processor for executing instructions and one or more memory devices for storing instructions and data. Typically, a computer will also include one or more mass storage devices for storing data, such as magnetic disks, magneto-optical disks, or optical disks, or be operatively coupled to receive data from or transfer data to or both of mass storage devices. However, a computer need not have such devices. Computer-readable media suitable for storing computer program instructions and data include all forms of non-volatile memory, media, and memory devices, including, for example, semiconductor memory devices, such as EPROM, EEPROM, and flash memory devices; magnetic disks, such as internal hard disks or removable disks; magneto-optical disks; and CD ROM and DVD-ROM disks. The processor and memory may be supplemented by or incorporated into a dedicated logic circuit.

[0173] Although this patent document contains many details, these details should not be interpreted as limitations on the scope of any invention or inventions that may be claimed, but rather as descriptions of features that may be specific to a particular embodiment of a particular invention. Certain features described in this patent document in the context of separate embodiments may also be implemented in combination in a single embodiment. On the contrary, the various features described in the context of a single embodiment may also be implemented in multiple embodiments or in any suitable sub-combination, respectively. Moreover, although the features may be described above as working in certain combinations and even initially claimed as such, one or more features in the claimed combination may be cut out of the combination in some cases, and the claimed combination may be directed to a sub-combination or a variation of the sub-combination.

[0174] Similarly, although operations are depicted in a particular order in the drawings, this should not be understood as requiring that such operations be performed in the particular order shown or in a sequential order, or that all illustrated operations be performed to achieve the desired results. Furthermore, the separation of various system components in the embodiments described in this patent document should not be understood as requiring such separation in all embodiments.

[0175] Only a few implementations and examples are described, and other implementations, enhancements, and variations may be made based on what is described and shown in this patent document.

Claims

1. A method for wireless communication, comprising: identifying, by the radio node, a first priority indicator associated with the data packet; in response to identifying the first priority indicator associated with the data packet, transmitting, by the radio node, the data packet on a first available link detected via a multi-link interference-free channel assessment, wherein transmission of the data packet occurs preferentially before transmission of another data packet that does not include the first priority indicator; receiving, by the radio node at a first time, a first message including the first priority indicator; determining, by the radio node, whether each link of the plurality of links includes a signal strength measurement value that is less than an overlapping basic service set preamble detection threshold; In response to determining that each of a first link and a second link of the plurality of links includes a signal strength measurement value less than the overlapping basic service set preamble detection threshold, initiating, by the radio node, a backoff counter common to each of the first link and the second link; and In response to determining that the backoff counter has expired, transmitting, by the radio node, at least a portion of the data packet over each of the first link and the second link, wherein any other communications over the first link and the second link are preempted by the data packet.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein: The first priority indicator is associated with a user priority associated with a first priority service.

3. The method according to claim 2, wherein: The first priority service allows the radio node to utilize virtually any access category with earliest availability via multi-link evaluation, wherein the data packet comprises a data frame including a high priority and a low delay medium access control MAC protocol data unit MPDU.

4. The method according to claim 1, further comprising: An extremely high throughput EHT message including the first priority indicator is obtained by the radio node, wherein the first priority indicator is included within a common signal portion of the EHT message.

5. The method according to claim 1 or 2, further comprising: determining, by the radio node, that a link from a plurality of links from the radio node is in an idle state; In response to determining that the link is in an idle state, starting, by the radio node, a backoff counter associated with an access category related to the first priority indicator; as well as In response to determining that the backoff counter has expired, transmitting, by the radio node, over the link, the data packet including a MAC protocol data unit (MPDU) having a user priority associated with a first priority service.

6. The method according to claim 5, wherein: Determining that the first link is in an idle state includes performing a multi-link clear channel assessment on a plurality of links of the radio node.

7. The method according to claim 1, further comprising: determining, by the radio node at a second time, that the first link and the second link are in an idle state; in response to determining that each of the first link and the second link is in the idle state, starting, by the radio node, an independent backoff counter for each of the first link and the second link; as well as In response to expiration of each independent backoff counter, transmitting, by the radio node, at least a portion of the data packet over each of the first link and the second link.

8. The method according to claim 1, wherein: The transmitting at least a portion of the data packet over each of the first link and the second link includes sending the data packet with a signal strength greater than a signal strength of overlapping basic service set (OBSS) data sent over the first link and the second link.

9. The method according to claim 1, further comprising: determining, by the radio node, that a first link of the plurality of links includes a signal strength measurement value less than the overlapping basic service set preamble detection threshold and a third link includes a signal strength measurement value greater than the overlapping basic service set preamble detection threshold; determining, by the radio node, that the second link includes data traffic that does not include any high priority low latency indicator; starting, by the radio node, a first backoff counter for the first link and a second backoff counter for the second link; as well as In response to determining that the first backoff counter and the second backoff counter have expired, transmitting, by the radio node, at least a portion of the data packet over each of the first link and the second link.

10. The method according to claim 9, wherein: The transmitting at least a portion of the data packet over each of the first link and the second link includes transmitting the data packet with a signal strength greater than a signal strength of OBSS data transmitted over the first link and the second link.

11. An apparatus for wireless communication, comprising a processor and a memory, wherein the processor is configured to read instructions from the memory to execute the method according to any one of claims 1 to 10.

12. A non-transitory computer readable medium having stored thereon codes which, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to implement the method according to any one of claims 1 to 10.

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