Conditional inheritance in management frames for multi-link aggregation

Abstract

The present disclosure provides systems, methods, and devices for implementing multi-link aggregation and conditional inheritance in a first basic service set (BSS), including a computer program encoded on a computer storage medium. In one aspect, a device may establish a first communication link with a first station (STA) of the first BSS using a first frequency band. The device may determine a first link profile of a second communication link by customizing one or more management elements of management information associated with the first communication link. The device may configure a first non-inherited element of the first link profile associated with the second communication link to indicate that the use of at least one management element in the management information by the second communication link is prohibited. The device may generate a management frame including at least the first link profile; and may output the management frame for transmission.

Description

[0001] This application is a divisional application of a Chinese patent application with an application date of February 28, 2019, application number 201980015522.X, and invention name “Conditional inheritance in management frames for multi-link aggregation”. Technical Field

[0002] The present disclosure relates generally to the field of communication systems, and more particularly to wireless local area networks (WLANs). Background Art

[0003] An access point (AP) of a wireless local area network (WLAN) can enable wireless network access for client devices (also referred to as stations or STAs). The AP can provide a wireless coverage area for one or more STAs to access the WLAN. A basic service set (BSS) can be defined as an AP, a wireless channel configuration, and a set of STAs wirelessly associated with the AP. The wireless channel configuration can utilize a portion of a frequency band (e.g., a 2.4 GHz band, a 5 GHz band, etc.). Within each frequency band, there may be different channels that the AP can utilize as part of the wireless channel configuration. In addition, the AP can utilize more than one antenna. For example, multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) communications can use multiple antennas operated by the AP to communicate using the wireless channel configuration.

[0004] Multiple APs can be used in the same geographic area to support more STAs or to separate traffic between STA groups. In the past, a single WLAN device may have operated only one AP. Recently, a single WLAN device can be configured to operate multiple virtual APs (for multiple BSSs) from the same WLAN device. Each virtual AP can be associated with a different BSS identifier (BSSID). Summary of the invention

[0005] The systems, methods and devices of the present disclosure each have several innovative aspects, no single one of which is solely responsible for the desirable attributes disclosed herein.

[0006] An innovative aspect of the inventive subject matter described in the present disclosure may be implemented by a device that may be configured to provide the functionality of at least a first access point (AP) corresponding to a first basic service set (BSS) for multi-link aggregation. The device may establish a first communication link with a first STA of the first BSS using a first frequency band. The device may determine a first link profile for a second communication link that may be used for the first STA by customizing one or more management elements of management information associated with the first communication link. The first link profile may include one or more customized management elements used by the second communication link. The second communication link may be associated with a second frequency band. The device may configure a first non-inherited element of the first link profile associated with the second communication link to indicate that the use of at least one management element in the management information by the second communication link is prohibited. The device may generate a management frame including the first link profile; and the management frame may be output for transmission to the first STA.

[0007] In some implementations, the first communication link may be an anchor communication link used to establish a wireless association with the first STA, and the second communication link may be a candidate communication link used by the first STA to implement the multi-link aggregation.

[0008] In some implementations, the apparatus may determine to establish the second communication link in response to receiving a communication from the first STA indicating that the first STA supports establishing the second communication link based at least in part on the first link profile.

[0009] In some implementations, the second communication link may be dynamically enabled or disabled by the device or the first STA based at least in part on active traffic between the device and the first STA.

[0010] In some implementations, the second communication link may be established without performing a separate wireless association process between the apparatus and the first STA for the second communication link.

[0011] In some implementations, the apparatus may determine a second link profile for a third communication link that may be used for the first STA by customizing one or more management elements of the management information associated with the first communication link. The second link profile may include the one or more customized management elements used by the third communication link. The third communication link may be associated with a third frequency band, and the management frame may also include the second link profile.

[0012] In some implementations, the apparatus may configure a second non-inherited element of a second link profile associated with a third communication link to indicate that use of at least one management element in the management information by the third communication link is prohibited. The management frame may also include the second link profile.

[0013] In some implementations, the management elements of the management information associated with the first communication link that are not customized for the second communication link in the first link profile and are not included in the first non-inherited elements are inherited by the second communication link for use by the second communication link.

[0014] In some implementations, the management frame may be a beacon frame, a probe response frame, an association response frame, or a reassociation response frame, and the management information may include at least one member of the group consisting of a management element, a field, a feature, and a capability.

[0015] Another innovative aspect of the inventive subject matter described in the present disclosure can be implemented by a first device. The first device can receive a management frame from a second device via a first communication link, and the second device can be configured to provide the functionality of at least a first AP associated with a first BSS. The first device can determine a link profile associated with the second communication link, and the first device can use the link profile for multi-link aggregation. The link profile can be included in the management frame and can have one or more customized management elements of the management information associated with the first communication link. The one or more customized management elements can be used by the second communication link. The first device can determine that a non-inherited element of the link profile indicates that the use of at least one management element in the management information by the second communication link is prohibited. The first device can determine whether to establish the second communication link between the first device and the second device for multi-link aggregation based at least in part on the link profile associated with the second communication link.

[0016] In some implementations, the first device may determine to support the one or more customized management elements and the non-inherited elements included in the link profile associated with the second communication link. In response to determining that the first device supports the one or more customized management elements and the non-inherited elements, the first device may establish the second communication link.

[0017] In some implementations, in response to determining that the first apparatus supports the one or more customized management elements and the non-inherited elements, the first apparatus may communicate with the second apparatus to indicate that the first apparatus supports establishing the second communication link.

[0018] In some implementations, the first device may determine that the first device does not support the one or more customized management elements and the non-inherited elements included in the link profile associated with the second communication link. The first device may determine not to establish the second communication link in response to determining that the first device does not support the one or more customized management elements and the non-inherited elements.

[0019] In some implementations, the first device may dynamically enable or disable the second communication link based at least in part on the amount of active traffic between the first device and the second device.

[0020] In some implementations, the second communication link may be established without performing a separate wireless association process between the first apparatus and the second apparatus for the second communication link.

[0021] Another innovative aspect of the inventive subject matter described in the present disclosure can be implemented by an apparatus for wireless communication. The apparatus can be configured to provide the functionality of a first AP corresponding to a first BSS for multi-link aggregation. The apparatus may include a processor; and a memory coupled to the processor and having instructions stored therein, which, when executed by the processor, cause the apparatus to: establish a first communication link with a first STA of the first BSS using a first frequency band; and determine a first link profile of a second communication link that can be used for the first STA by customizing one or more management elements of management information associated with the first communication link. The first link profile may include one or more customized management elements used by the second communication link. The second communication link may be associated with a second frequency band. When the instructions are executed by the processor, the apparatus may also configure a first non-inherited element of the first link profile associated with the second communication link to indicate that the second communication link is prohibited from using at least one management element in the management information; generate a management frame including the first link profile; and output the management frame for transmission to the first STA.

[0022] Another innovative aspect of the inventive subject matter described in the present disclosure may be implemented by an apparatus for wireless communication. The apparatus may be configured to provide the functionality of a first AP corresponding to a first BSS for multi-link aggregation. The apparatus may include: a unit for establishing a first communication link with a first STA of the first BSS using a first frequency band; and a unit for determining a first link profile of a second communication link that can be used for the first STA by customizing one or more management elements of management information associated with the first communication link. The first link profile may include one or more customized management elements used by the second communication link. The second communication link may be associated with a second frequency band. The apparatus may also include: a unit for configuring a first non-inherited element of the first link profile associated with the second communication link to indicate that the use of at least one management element in the management information by the second communication link is prohibited; a unit for generating a management frame including the first link profile; and a unit for outputting the management frame for transmission to the first STA.

[0023] Details of one or more implementations of the subject matter described in the present disclosure are set forth in the accompanying drawings and the following description. Other features, aspects, and advantages will become apparent from the description, drawings, and claims. It should be noted that the relative sizes of the following figures may not be drawn to scale. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0024] Figure 1 Depicted is a system diagram of an example wireless local area network (WLAN) device operating multiple basic service sets.

[0025] Figure 2 A conceptual diagram of an example multiple BSS identifier (BSSID) management frame including global inheritance settings is depicted.

[0026] Figure 3 A conceptual diagram of an example multi-BSSID management frame including BSS-based inheritance settings is depicted.

[0027] Figure 4 A conceptual diagram of an example multi-BSSID management frame including a BSS-based profile advertisement is depicted.

[0028] Figure 5 Depicted is an example non-inherited element that provides a list of management elements for a multi-BSSID management frame that are disabled for a BSS associated with a virtual access point (VAP).

[0029] Figure 6 Depicted is a conceptual diagram of an example multi-BSSID management frame including global inheritance settings, BSS-based inheritance settings, and BSS-based profile advertisements and configurations.

[0030] Figure 7 Depicted is a system diagram of an example WLAN device operating at least two co-located VAPs associated with at least two BSSs.

[0031] Figure 8 Depicted are example neighbor report elements for advertising the presence and inheritance information of co-located VAPs or neighbor APs.

[0032] Fig. 9 An example flow diagram of an apparatus implementing one or more conditional inheritance techniques is shown.

[0033] Fig.10 An example flow diagram of an apparatus receiving a multi-BSSID management frame implementing one or more conditional inheritance techniques is shown.

[0034] Fig.11 Depicted is a system diagram of an example WLAN device configured to implement multi-link aggregation and conditional inheritance of a BSS.

[0035] Fig.12 Depicted are example multi-link elements included in a management frame associated with a first communication link for advertising inheritance information for a second communication link.

[0036] Fig.13 An example flow chart of an apparatus implementing conditional inheritance for multi-link aggregation is shown.

[0037] Fig.14 An example flow chart of a first device receiving a management frame having conditional inheritance information for multi-link aggregation is shown.

[0038] Fig.15 Depicted is a block diagram of an example electronic device for implementing some aspects of the present disclosure.

[0039] Like reference numbers and designations in the various drawings indicate like elements. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0040] A station (STA) in a wireless local area network (WLAN) can establish a wireless association (also known as a wireless link, wireless connection, etc.) with an access point (AP) to access a broadband network via a gateway device. The AP, the wireless channel configuration, and the set of STAs wirelessly associated with the AP are called a basic service set (BSS). Typically, the AP will send a management frame (e.g., a beacon frame or a probe response frame) to provide information about the BSS to any STA near the AP.

[0041] The WLAN device can operate a virtual AP (VAP), and each VAP can be associated with a different BSS. Each BSS is associated with a different BSS identifier (BSSID). Multi-BSSID capability may refer to the ability of the WLAN device to use a single management frame (e.g., a beacon frame or a probe response frame) instead of using multiple beacons or probe response frames (each beacon or probe response frame corresponds to a single BSSID) to announce the information of multiple BSSIDs. The benefit of doing so is that network overhead is reduced while enabling multiple BSSs to perform service separation. For example, the WLAN device may use a single service indication map (TIM) element in a single management frame to indicate buffered frames for these multiple BSSIDs. In some implementations, a first VAP (for a first BSS among multiple BSSs) may be designated as the primary source of management frames that announce information for multiple BSSs including one or more other BSSs operating at the WLAN device.

[0042] WLAN devices that support and implement the protocols defined in the IEEE 802.11ax standard can implement multi-BSSID capabilities. In a multi-BSSID set, the BSSID of one VAP is called a "transmitted BSSID" (or TxBSSID), and the BSSIDs of the remaining VAPs are called "non-transmitted BSSIDs" (or NonTxBSSIDs). The BSSID of a VAP that sends management frames for all VAPs in a multi-BSSID set is called a TxBSSID. The BSSID of a VAP that does not send management frames is called a NonTxBSSID. The VAP corresponding to the NonTxBSSID (also referred to as a "NonTx VAP") announces its management information in a management frame sent by the VAP corresponding to the TxBSSID (also referred to as a "TxVAP"). The management information announced in the management frame (also referred to as an information element) may include elements, fields, capabilities, features, and other information associated with one or more BSSs.

[0043] In the IEEE 802.11ax system, some management information associated with a Tx VAP is inherited by each NonTx VAP, and inheritance for some management information (e.g., high efficiency (HE) capabilities, HE operations, and other elements) is mandatory. In some cases, a NonTx VAP may not want to inherit certain management information from a Tx VAP, but may need to customize the value or configuration of the management information for the NonTx VAP. In other cases, a Tx VAP may not want each NonTx VAP to inherit some of these management information, because some management information may depend on the configuration of each NonTx VAP and its corresponding BSS. If the 802.11ax specification does not specify mandatory inheritance, some of the management information that can be inherited can be overwritten by the NonTx VAP using its BSS profile. However, in this case, the default rule in the 802.11ax specification is that if the NonTx VAP does not override the inheritance using its BSS profile, the inheritance will apply to the BSS associated with the NonTx VAP. The current version of the 802.11ax specification does not provide an option to override the inheritance of management information (e.g., management elements or features) and disable the management elements or features of the BSS. In addition, as the IEEE 802.11 standard continues to evolve, other management information will be added and the inheritance associated with the other management information will need to be resolved.

[0044] In some implementations, the WLAN device may implement conditional inheritance for multiple BSSID sets. Conditional inheritance may allow inheritance at a global level using a global inheritance setting that applies inheritance to all BSSs associated with a NonTx VAP. Conditional inheritance may also allow each BSS level to inherit using a BSS-based inheritance setting. For example, a BSS-based inheritance setting may result in different inheritance settings or configurations for different NonTx VAPs. If there is a conflict between two inheritance settings, the BSS-based inheritance setting may override the global inheritance setting. Similarly, conditional inheritance may allow a NonTx VAP to customize any relevant management information in its BSS profile and override any BSS-based inheritance setting or global inheritance setting using a BSS-based profile announcement or configuration. In addition, conditional inheritance may allow a NonTx VAP to override inheritance of management information (e.g., management elements or features) and disable management elements or features for a BSS with a BSS-based profile configuration (e.g., configuration of a length field). Management elements may also be referred to as elements or information elements. In some implementations, a WLAN device implementing conditional inheritance may implement a hybrid approach in which the WLAN device applies various combinations of the following: (1) global level inheritance by configuring global inheritance settings in management frames; (2) BSS level inheritance by configuring BSS-based inheritance settings in management frames, (3) BSS-based profile announcements or configurations for customizing BSS profiles and overriding inheritance settings; and (4) BSS-based profile configurations for disabling management information and overriding inheritance settings.

[0045] Specific implementations of the inventive subject matter described in this disclosure may be implemented to achieve one or more of the following potential advantages. Conditional inheritance may allow for greater customization for various NonTx VAPs (and their corresponding BSSs) with different configurations, capabilities, and requirements, while still sending a single management frame for multiple BSSID sets. In addition, conditional inheritance continues to use inheritance to reduce the size of management frames and includes additional options for inheritance using BSS-based inheritance settings as well as global inheritance settings. In addition, conditional inheritance may address other management information that will be added to the IEEE 802.11 standard in the future.

[0046] Figure 1A system diagram of an example WLAN device operating multiple BSSs is depicted. System diagram 100 includes a WLAN device 150 communicatively coupled to a broadband network 160. WLAN device 150 may be communicatively coupled (or co-located) with a gateway device (not shown). A gateway device (e.g., a modem or router) may provide access to broadband network 160. For example, the gateway device may be coupled to the broadband network via a cable, optical fiber, power line, or DSL network connection. WLAN device 150 may operate multiple VAPs, such as a first VAP 151 (or VAP1) associated with a first BSS, a second VAP 152 (or VAP2) associated with a second BSS, a third VAP 153 (or VAP3) associated with a third BSS, and a fourth VAP 154 (or VAP4) associated with a fourth BSS. First VAP 151 may provide a first coverage area 141. Similarly, the second VAP 152 may provide a second coverage area 142, the third VAP 153 may provide a third coverage area 143, and the fourth VAP 154 may provide a fourth coverage area 144. For illustrative purposes, the first coverage area 141, the second coverage area 142, the third coverage area 143, and the fourth coverage area 144 are shown in the figure as ellipses of different sizes. However, the sizes of the coverage areas may be similar to each other, and the shapes of the coverage areas may vary due to environmental obstacles or interference. The WLAN device 150 may have one or more antennas 158. In some implementations, the VAPs 151, 152, 153, and 154 may share the same one or more antennas 158. In some implementations, the WLAN device 150 may be an AP that implements the VAPs 151, 152, 153, and 154.

[0047] In some implementations, the WLAN device 150 may include a conditional inheritance unit 155 and a multi-BSSID management unit 156. The conditional inheritance unit 155 may determine the capabilities, characteristics, and requirements of multiple VAPs of the WLAN device, and implement various conditional inheritance settings, such as BSS-based profile announcements or configurations, BSS-based inheritance settings, and global inheritance settings, as will be further described below. The multi-BSSID management unit 156 may manage the multi-BSSID capabilities of the WLAN device 150, including operating multiple VAPs of the WLAN device 150, obtaining conditional inheritance settings determined by the conditional inheritance unit 155, and generating management frames for multiple BSSIDs based on the conditional inheritance settings. In some implementations, the VAPs 151-154, the conditional inheritance unit 155, and the multi-BSSID management unit 156 may be included in a communication module (not shown) of the WLAN device 150, and may be implemented by one or more processors of the communication module. The communication module may include other components related to the network interface, such as one or more modems, an analog front end (AFE), and one or more antennas 158.

[0048] exist Figure 1 , each of VAPs 151, 152, 153, and 154 is associated with a different BSSID and is part of a multi-BSSID set. In some implementations, the multi-BSSID set and the associated VAPs may be specific to a frequency band, such as a 2.4 GHz band, a 5 GHz band, etc. Each BSS may have a different wireless association with a client station (also referred to as a station (STA)). A STA may establish a wireless association (also referred to as a wireless link, a wireless connection, etc.) with a VAP to access a broadband network 160 via a WLAN device 150. Figure 1 , a first STA 110 has a first wireless association 112 with a first BSSID (corresponding to a first VAP 151). A second STA 120 has a second wireless association 122 with a second BSSID (corresponding to a second VAP 152). A third STA 130 has a third wireless association 132 with a third BSSID (corresponding to a third VAP 153).

[0049] The fourth STA 140 may enter the vicinity of the WLAN device 150. The fourth STA 140 may observe management frames (e.g., beacon frames or probe response frames) to determine the BSSIDs available from the WLAN device 150. For example, the first VAP 151 (TxBSSID) may periodically broadcast beacon frames. In some implementations, the fourth STA 140 may send a probe request frame to the WLAN device 150 to request a probe response frame. The management frame (whether a beacon frame, a probe response frame, or some other management frame) may indicate the TxBSSID of the first VAP 151. In addition, the management frame may indicate some or all of the NonTxBSSIDs of other BSSs (corresponding to VAPs 152, 153, and 154) operating at the WLAN device 150. According to the present disclosure, when generating management frames for multiple BSSID sets, the WLAN device 150 may include conditional inheritance settings.

[0050] In some implementations, the conditional inheritance unit 155 may determine BSS-related information and configuration for each BSS associated with the VAPs 152, 153, and 154 (i.e., NonTx VAPs). The conditional inheritance unit 155 may use the BSS-related information to determine the management information inherited or configured for each BSS associated with the NonTx VAP, which may be referred to as an inheritance configuration of the management information. For example, the BSS-related information may include capabilities, configurations, requirements, and limitations of each BSS associated with the VAPs 152, 153, and 154 (i.e., NonTx VAPs). The conditional inheritance unit 155 may determine whether to apply a new global inheritance setting or configuration, or to modify an existing global inheritance setting or configuration based on the BSS-related information, as will be described in Figure 2 The conditional inheritance unit 155 may override some global inheritance settings by determining and applying BSS-based inheritance settings for one or more BSSs associated with the NonTxVAP based on information related to the BSS, rather than determining new global inheritance settings or modifying existing global inheritance settings, as will be described in Figure 3 In addition, the conditional inheritance unit 155 may determine to customize the management information in one or more BSS profiles and override any conflicting BSS-based inheritance settings or global inheritance settings using BSS-based profile announcements or configurations based on information related to the BSS, as will be described in Figure 4. Further described in . Moreover, the conditional inheritance unit 155 may use the BSS-based profile configuration to determine the management elements to disable the management information associated with one or more BSS profiles of one or more NonTx VAPs. For example, a field (e.g., a length field) of a management element of a BSS profile in the BSS profile may be configured to disable the management element (and also override any BSS-based inheritance setting or global inheritance setting for the management element). In another example, each BSS profile may include a non-inheritance element, and the non-inheritance element may be configured for each BSS profile to indicate one or more management elements that will be disabled for the corresponding BSS (which also overrides any BSS-based inheritance setting or global inheritance setting for the one or more management elements). The non-inheritance element of the BSS profile may list one or more management elements that will be disabled for the NonTxBSSID associated with the BSS profile and will not inherit the BSS-based inheritance setting or global inheritance setting, such as Figure 4 The term management element is used in various examples in this disclosure, but a management element may also be referred to as an element or an information element.

[0051] In some implementations, the conditional inheritance unit 155 of the WLAN device 150 may implement conditional inheritance using a hybrid approach, wherein the conditional inheritance unit 155 applies various combinations of the following: (1) global-level inheritance by configuring global inheritance settings in management frames; (2) BSS-level inheritance by configuring BSS-based inheritance settings in management frames; (3) BSS-based profile announcements or configurations for customizing BSS profiles and overriding inheritance settings; and (4) BSS-based profile configurations for disabling management information and overriding inheritance settings.

[0052] In some implementations, the multi-BSSID management unit 156 may work in conjunction with the conditional inheritance unit 155 to generate and send a management frame including a conditional inheritance setting. The multi-BSSID management unit 156 may determine the conditional inheritance setting from the conditional inheritance unit 155, configure the conditional inheritance setting in the management frame, and generate and send the management frame to the WLAN 100. The first STA 110, the second STA 120, and the third STA 130 may receive the management frame and communicate with the corresponding VAP of the WLAN device 150. The fourth STA 140 may also receive the management frame and determine whether to establish a wireless association with one of the VAPs of the WLAN device 150 based on the management frame.

[0053] In some implementations, each of the STAs 110, 120, 130, and 140 may include a conditional inheritance unit to process management frames received from the WLAN device 150. For example, Figure 1As shown, the second STA 120 may include a conditional inheritance unit 125. STAs 110, 130, and 140 may also include conditional inheritance units, respectively; however, for simplicity, Figure 1 These conditional inheritance units are not shown in FIG. 1 . In some implementations, for example, after receiving the management frame, the conditional inheritance unit 125 of the second STA 120 may process the management frame to determine which management information elements are inherited and which are not inherited. The conditional inheritance unit 125 may parse and process some elements related to the inheritance of the NonTxBSSID associated with the VAP 152, such as the BSS-based inheritance settings and the global inheritance settings associated with the VAP 152. The conditional inheritance unit 125 may also access the BSS profile associated with the VAP 152 to determine the management information elements customized or configured for the VAP 152. After processing the management frame, the second STA 120 may communicate with the VAP 152 of the WLAN device 150.

[0054] Figure 2 A conceptual diagram of an example multi-BSSID management frame including global inheritance settings is depicted. Multi-BSSID management frame 200 may be a beacon frame, a probe response frame, an association response frame, a reassociation response frame, or other type of management frame. Multi-BSSID management frame 200 may include a header 210, an element / field 220, and a multi-BSSID element 230.

[0055] Elements / fields 220 may include elements, fields, features, capabilities, and other management information from a Tx VAP (e.g., VAP 151) that may be inherited by NonTx VAPs (e.g., VAPs 152, 153, and 154). For example, element 222 of multi-BSSID management frame 200 to be broadcast by VAP 151 may be inherited by VAPs 152, 153, and 154, such as Figure 2240). The multi-BSSID element 230 may include a global inheritance setting 201 (as indicated by the dotted box in the multi-BSSID element 230 and the legend 240), and a NonTxBSSID profile element 272, a NonTxBSSID profile element 274, and a NonTxBSSID profile element 276 (as indicated by the striped box in the multi-BSSID element 230 and the legend 240). The NonTxBSSID profile elements 272, 274, and 276 include management information of the VAPs 152, 153, and 154, respectively, which is not inherited from the VAP 151 or overrides the inheritance setting from the VAP 151. As described above, the global inheritance setting 201 may be configured for each management information that may be inherited by the VAPs 152, 153, and 154 to control whether inheritance is enabled or disabled, which may be referred to as a global inheritance configuration. The global inheritance setting 201 may be included in one of the elements or sub-elements of the multi-BSSID element 230. Figure 2 , the global inheritance setting 201 may be configured to enable or disable inheritance of element 222 for all VAPs 152, 153, and 154, as indicated by inheritance enable / disable arrows 244 (see legend 240). Similar to element 222, the global inheritance setting 201 may be configured to enable or disable inheritance of element 225 for all VAPs 152, 153, and 154. For example, the global inheritance setting 201 may enable inheritance of element 222 for all VAPs 102, 104, and 108, and the global inheritance setting 201 may disable inheritance of element 225 for all VAPs 152, 153, and 154. Elements 222 and 225 are merely two examples of management information that may be included in the element / field 220 from a Tx VAP (e.g., VAP 151) that may be inherited by NonTx VAPs (e.g., VAPs 152, 153, and 154). For example, a partial list of some management information (also referred to as management information elements) that can be inherited by a NonTx VAP is as follows: Timestamp, Beacon Interval, DSSS Parameter Set, IBSS Parameter Set, Country Information, Channel Switch Announcement, Extended Channel Switch Announcement, Wideband Channel Switch, Transmit Power Envelope, Supported Operation Category, IBSS DFS, ERP Information, HT Capability, HT Operation, VHT Capability, VHT Operation, HE Capability, HE Operation, BSS Color Change Announcement, Spatial Reuse Parameter Set, UORA Parameter Set, and Broadcast TWT Parameters. However, it should be noted that the management information may include additional management information that may be specified by the IEEE 802.11 specification, such as the current version or future version of the IEEE 802.11ax specification.

[0056] In some implementations, global inheritance settings 201 may be implemented as a bitmap in an existing element or sub-element of multi-BSSID element 230 , or as a bitmap in a new element or sub-element of multi-BSSID element 230 . Figure 2 The example diagram of global inheritance settings 201 shown includes a global settings bitmap 260, an element or sub-element ID 261, and a length field 263. In some implementations, the global settings bitmap 260 includes one bit for each of the elements, fields, features, capabilities, and other management information available to the VAPs 152, 153, and 154. For example, if there are 100 different management information elements, the global settings bitmap 260 may include 100 different bits in a predefined order, where the order or position in the bitmap determines which management information element the bit is associated with. In some implementations, the predefined order of management information elements may be specified by an IEEE 802.11 specification, such as a current version or a future version of the IEEE 802.11ax specification. In Figure 2 In the example shown, the first bit in global settings bitmap 260 is associated with element 222, and the seventh bit in global settings bitmap 260 is associated with element 225. Each bit of global settings bitmap 260 indicates whether corresponding management information should be inherited by each of VAPs 152, 153, and 154. For example, the bit associated with element 222 may indicate whether VAPs 152, 153, and 154 should inherit element 222 from VAP 151. Also, the bit associated with element 225 may indicate whether VAPs 152, 153, and 154 should inherit element 225 from VAP 151.

[0057] In some implementations, the global inheritance setting 201 can be implemented as an element ID bitmap with an element ID for each management information element, rather than a bitmap with bits sorted in a predetermined order. For example, if there are 100 different management information elements, the element ID bitmap can include 100 different element IDs associated with the corresponding 100 different management information elements. Moreover, the order or bit position of the bits in the bitmap can correspond to the element ID. For example, bit position 15 can correspond to a management information element with an element ID of 15. For management information elements with element ID extensions (according to the IEEE 802.11 specification) with element IDs exceeding 255, in addition to the element ID, the element ID extension can also be used. For example, a management information element with an element ID extension of 10 can correspond to bit position 265, and so on. In another example, the IEEE 802.11 specification may specify a predetermined order for management information elements carried in a particular management frame (e.g., an order of elements in a beacon frame), and the bitmap may correspond to the predetermined order such that a management information element at sequence position 15 may be represented by bit number 15. In some implementations, inheritance may apply to a particular management information element if the particular management information element is being advertised by a multi-BSSID management frame. If the management information element is not being advertised by a multi-BSSID management frame, the element and the corresponding entry or bit in the bitmap may be ignored. In some implementations, the element ID and element ID extension associated with the corresponding management information element may be specified by an IEEE 802.11 specification, such as a current or future version of the IEEE 802.11ax specification.

[0058] In some embodiments, Figure 2 As shown, the global inheritance setting may be included in one of the elements or sub-elements or fields of element / field 220 (as shown in 203), or the global inheritance setting may be included in a new element or new sub-element or new field of element / field 220 (as shown in 202) instead of being included in one of the elements or sub-elements of multi-BSSID element 230. Figure 2 As shown, the multiple-BSSID element 230 can include the optional element 204. In some implementations, the global inheritance setting can be included in the optional element or a child element of the optional element 204.

[0059] Figure 3 A conceptual diagram of an example multi-BSSID management frame 300 including BSS-based inheritance settings is depicted. The multi-BSSID management frame 300 may be a beacon frame, a probe response frame, an association response frame, a reassociation response frame, or other type of management frame. The multi-BSSID management frame 300 may include a header 310, an element / field 320, and a multi-BSSID element 330.

[0060] Elements / fields 320 may include elements, fields, features, capabilities, and other management information from a Tx VAP (e.g., VAP 151) that may be inherited by NonTx VAPs (e.g., VAPs 152, 153, and 154). For example, element 222 of a multi-BSSID management frame 300 to be broadcast by VAP 151 may be inherited by VAPs 152, 153, and 154, such as Figure 3 340). The multi-BSSID element 330 may include BSS-based inheritance settings 382, ​​384, and 386 (as shown by the striped boxes in the multi-BSSID element 330 and the legend 340). The BSS-based inheritance settings 382 may be used to configure and apply BSS-level inheritance for each management information that may be inherited by a BSS associated with VAP 152 to control whether the inheritance is enabled or disabled. The BSS-based inheritance settings 384 may be used to configure and apply BSS-level inheritance for each management information that may be inherited by a BSS associated with VAP 153 to control whether the inheritance is enabled or disabled. The BSS-based inheritance settings 386 may be used to configure and apply BSS-level inheritance for each management information that may be inherited by a BSS associated with VAP 154 to control whether the inheritance is enabled or disabled.

[0061] exist Figure 2 , a BSS-based inheritance setting 382 may be configured to enable or disable inheritance of element 222 for VAP 152, a BSS-based inheritance setting 384 may be configured to enable or disable inheritance of element 222 for VAP 153, and a BSS-based inheritance setting 386 may be configured to enable or disable inheritance of element 222 for VAP 154, as indicated by inheritance enable / disable arrows 344 (see legend 340). Similar to element 222, BSS-based inheritance settings 382, ​​384, and 386 may be independently configured to enable or disable inheritance of element 225 for each of all VAPs 152, 153, and 154, respectively. For example, BSS-based inheritance settings 382 and 384 may enable inheritance of element 222 for VAPs 152 and 153, respectively, and BSS-based inheritance setting 386 may disable inheritance of element 225 for VAP 154. As described above, the BSS-based inheritance settings 382, ​​384, and 386 may also override the global inheritance settings (eg, the global inheritance settings 201) if there is a conflict between the BSS-based inheritance settings and the global inheritance settings.

[0062] In some implementations, the BSS-based inheritance settings 382 , 384 , and 386 may be implemented as a bitmap in an existing element or sub-element of the multi-BSSID element 330 , or as a bitmap in a new element or sub-element of the multi-BSSID element 230 . Figure 3 The example diagram of BSS-based inherited settings 382, ​​384, and 386 shown includes a BSS-based settings bitmap 360, an element or sub-element ID 361, and a length field 363. Figure 2 Similar to the description of the global settings bitmap 260 of , in some implementations, the BSS-based settings bitmap 360 includes one bit for each of the elements, fields, features, capabilities, and other management information available to the VAPs 152, 153, and 154. The different bits of the bitmap are arranged in a predefined order, where the order or position within the bitmap determines which management information element the bit is associated with. In some implementations, the predefined order of the management information elements may be specified by an IEEE 802.11 specification, such as a current version or a future version of the IEEE 802.11ax specification. Figure 3 In the example shown, the first bit in the BSS-based settings bitmap 360 is associated with element 222, and the seventh bit in the BSS-based settings bitmap 360 is associated with element 225. Each bit of the BSS-based settings bitmap 360 indicates whether corresponding management information should be inherited by the corresponding VAP. For example, for the BSS-based inheritance settings 382 associated with VAP 152, the bit associated with element 222 may indicate whether VAP 152 should inherit element 222 from VAP 151. Also, the bit associated with element 225 may indicate whether VAP 152 should inherit element 225 from VAP 151.

[0063] With the above Figure 2 Similar to the description of , in some implementations, Figure 3Each of the BSS-based inheritance settings 382, ​​384, and 386 shown can be implemented as an element ID bitmap with an element ID for each management information element, rather than a bitmap with bits sorted in a predetermined order. For example, if there are 100 different management information elements, the element ID bitmap can include 100 different element IDs associated with the corresponding 100 different management information elements. Moreover, the order or bit position of the bits in the bitmap can correspond to the element ID. For example, bit position 15 can correspond to a management information element with an element ID of 15. For management information elements with element ID extensions (according to the IEEE 802.11 specification) with element IDs exceeding 255, element ID extensions can also be used in addition to element IDs. For example, a management information element with an element ID extension of 10 can correspond to bit position 265, and so on. In another example, the IEEE 802.11 specification may specify a predetermined order for management information elements carried in a particular management frame (e.g., an order of elements in a beacon frame), and the bitmap may correspond to the predetermined order such that a management information element at sequence position 15 may be represented by bit number 15. In some implementations, inheritance may apply to a particular management information element if the particular management information element is being advertised by a multi-BSSID management frame. If the management information element is not being advertised by a multi-BSSID management frame, the element and the corresponding entry or bit in the bitmap may be ignored. In some implementations, the element ID and element ID extension associated with the corresponding management information element may be specified by an IEEE 802.11 specification, such as a current or future version of the IEEE 802.11ax specification.

[0064] In some implementations, such as Figure 3As shown in FIG. 3 , BSS-based inheritance settings 382, ​​384, and 386 may be included in an existing or new element or sub-element or field of the multi-BSSID element 330. Additionally, because the BSS-based inheritance setting 382 is associated with the VAP 152, a bit or other signal or indication may be stored in a NonTxBSSIDProfile element (or sub-element or field) associated with the VAP 152 to indicate that the VAP 152 has the BSS-based inheritance setting 382. A bit or other signal or indication may also be stored in a NonTxBSSIDProfile element (or sub-element or field) associated with the VAP 152 to indicate that the VAP 152 has the BSS-based inheritance setting 384. And a bit or other signal or indication may be stored in a NonTxBSSIDProfile element (or sub-element or field) associated with the VAP 154 to indicate that the VAP 154 has the BSS-based inheritance setting 386. It should be noted that various other signals or indications may be used; for example, one or more existing or reserved bits or fields in the NonTxBSSID Profile element may be repurposed to serve as a signal or indication that the corresponding VAP has a BSS-based inherited setting.

[0065] Figure 4 A conceptual diagram of an example multi-BSSID management frame 400 including a BSS-based profile announcement is depicted. The multi-BSSID management frame 400 may be a beacon frame, a probe response frame, an association response frame, a reassociation response frame, or other type of management frame. The multi-BSSID management frame 400 may include a header 410, an element / field 420, and a multi-BSSID element 430.

[0066] Elements / fields 420 may include elements, fields, features, capabilities, and other management information from a Tx VAP (e.g., VAP 151) that may be inherited by NonTx VAPs (e.g., VAPs 152, 153, and 154). For example, elements 222 and 225 of multi-BSSID management frame 400 to be broadcast by VAP 151 may be inherited by VAPs 152, 153, and 154, as described above. Figure 2 and Figure 3As described in . Multi-BSSID element 430 may include BSS profile 492, BSS profile 494, and BSS profile 496. As described above, BSS profiles 492, 494, and 496 may specify management information customized or configured for the corresponding NonTxBSSID, and the management information may also override any BSS-based inheritance settings or global inheritance settings associated with a Tx VAP (e.g., VAP 151). BSS profile 492 may specify management information customized or configured for a NonTxBSSID associated with VAP 152, BSS profile 494 may specify management information customized or configured for a NonTxBSSID associated with VAP 153, and BSS profile 496 may specify management information customized or configured for a NonTxBSSID associated with VAP 154. For example, the BSS profile 492 may customize or configure one or more management information elements to enable specific configuration of one or more management information elements for the NonTxBSSID associated with the VAP 152 (and override any BSS-based inherited settings or global inherited settings), and may customize or configure one or more management information elements to disable one or more management information elements for the NonTxBSSID associated with the VAP 152 (and override any BSS-based inherited settings or global inherited settings). The BSS profile 494 may customize or configure one or more management information elements to enable specific configuration of one or more management information elements for the NonTxBSSID associated with the VAP 153 (and override any BSS-based inherited settings or global inherited settings), and may customize or configure one or more management information elements to disable one or more management information elements for the NonTxBSSID associated with the VAP 153 (and override any BSS-based inherited settings or global inherited settings). The BSS profile 496 may customize or configure one or more management information elements to enable specific configuration of one or more management information elements for the NonTxBSSID associated with the VAP 154 (and override any BSS-based inheritance settings or global inheritance settings), and may customize or configure one or more management information elements to disable one or more management information elements for the NonTxBSSID associated with the VAP 154 (and override any BSS-based inheritance settings or global inheritance settings).

[0067] In some implementations, a BSS-based profile announcement may be used to customize management information in a BSS profile (e.g., any of BSS profiles 492, 494, and 496), which may also be referred to as a BSS-based profile configuration. A BSS-based profile announcement may customize the values, features, fields, or other configurations of a particular management information element of a particular BSS profile. For example, Figure 4 As shown, a BSS-based profile advertisement (indicated by arrow 445 of legend 440) may customize management information elements in BSS profile 492 for VAP 152, a BSS-based profile advertisement may customize management information elements in BSS profile 494 for VAP 153, and a BSS-based profile advertisement may customize management information elements in BSS profile 496 for VAP 154. When a particular management information element is customized in a BSS profile, the configuration of the particular management information element in the particular BSS profile overrides any BSS-based inherited setting or global inherited setting for the particular management information element for the corresponding Non-TxBSSID. For example, the following is a partial list of some management information (or management information elements) that may be included or customized in the BSS profile of the NonTxBSSID associated with the VAP: Timestamp, Beacon Interval, DSSS Parameter Set, IBSS Parameter Set, Country Information, Channel Switch Announcement, Extended Channel Switch Announcement, Wideband Channel Switch, Transmit Power Envelope, Supported Operation Category, IBSSDFS, ERP Information, HT Capability, HT Operation, VHT Capability, VHT Operation, HE Capability, HE Operation, BSS Color Change Announcement, Spatial Reuse Parameter Set, UORA Parameter Set, and Broadcast TWT Parameters. However, it should be noted that the management information may include additional management information that may be specified by the IEEE 802.11 specification, such as the current or future versions of the IEEE 802.11ax specification.

[0068] In some implementations, the management information elements of the BSS profile associated with the NonTxBSSID may also be customized (e.g., using BSS-based profile configuration) to override the inheritance of management information elements and disable management information elements for that particular NonTxBSSID. A VAP associated with a NonTxBSSID may decide to disable management information elements for that particular NonTxBSSID for various reasons, such as the NonTxBSSID does not support or does not want to enable a particular management information element that the TxBSSID supports, or the feature associated with the particular management information element is not used by the device (e.g., STA) associated with the TxBSSID. For example, the NonTxBSSID may determine that it does not want to enable the broadcast TWT parameter because the number of STAs associated with that particular NonTxBSSID is small and can be managed without enabling the broadcast TWT parameter.

[0069] In some implementations, the BSS-based profile configuration may include, for example, an empty element associated with a management information element to indicate that the management information element is disabled for the BSS and any inherited settings for the management information element are overwritten. An empty element may be defined as an element that does not have any information or content. For example, it does not have any information or content in an element ID field, a length field, or an element ID extension field (if present). The BSS-based profile configuration may include, for example, configuring the length field of the management information element in the corresponding BSS profile to indicate that the management information element is disabled for the BSS and any inherited settings for the management information element are overwritten. For example, when the element ID (defined by the IEEE 802.11 specification) is less than 255, configuring the management information element with a length field set to zero (i.e., 0) indicates that the management information element will be disabled for the corresponding BSS, and the management information element will not be inherited by the BSS (i.e., the configuration also overwrites the inherited settings). In addition, when the element ID is set to 255 and the element ID extension field (defined by the IEEE 802.11 specification) carries a non-zero value, configuring a management information element with a length field set to one (i.e., 1) indicates that the management information element will be disabled for the corresponding BSS and the management information element will not be inherited by the BSS (i.e., this configuration also overrides the inheritance setting).

[0070] In some implementations, a non-inherited element may be included in a BSS profile associated with a NonTxBSSID to indicate which management elements (supported by a TxBSSID) for the NonTxBSSID are disabled and not inherited, and therefore indicate which features associated with these management elements are not enabled or supported by a device (e.g., a STA) associated with the NonTxBSSID. A non-inherited element may be configured for a BSS profile associated with a NonTxBSSID to indicate one or more management elements to be disabled for the corresponding BSS. Disabling one or more management elements for a NonTxBSSID also overrides any BSS-based inheritance settings or global inheritance settings associated with the TxBSSID for the one or more management elements. A non-inherited element of a BSS profile may list one or more management elements to be disabled for a NonTxBSSID associated with a BSS profile.

[0071] Figure 5 An example non-inherited element 500 is depicted that may be included in a BSS profile to provide a list of management elements present in a multi-BSSID management frame 400 for a TxBSSID that are disabled and not inherited by the NonTxBSSID associated with the BSS profile. Figure 5As shown, non-inherited element 500 may include element ID field 502 , length field 504 , element ID extension field 506 , element ID list field 508 , and element ID extension list field 510 .

[0072] The element ID, length, and element ID extension fields have been described above and are defined by the IEEE 802.11 specification. For example, each management element having an element ID less than or equal to a value of 254 is associated with an element ID and length included in the element ID and length fields, respectively. When the element ID of a management element is greater than 254, the element ID extension field is used according to the IEEE 802.11 specification. In some implementations, the element ID list field 508 of the non-inherited element 500 may include a list of element ID values ​​(e.g., each having a value less than or equal to 254) corresponding to management elements that are disabled and not inherited for the corresponding NonTxBSSID. For example, if the NonTxBSSID determines that three management elements (supported by the TxBSSID) are disabled, the BSS profile associated with the NonTxBSSID may include a non-inherited element 500 having an element ID list field 508 that lists three different element ID values ​​(e.g., each having a value less than or equal to 254) corresponding to the three management elements that will be disabled for the NonTxBSSID. In some implementations, such as Figure 5 As shown, the element ID list field 508 may include a length subfield 511 and an element ID list subfield 512. The element ID list subfield 512 may include a list of element ID values ​​corresponding to management elements to be disabled for the NonTxBSSID (e.g., three different element ID values). The length subfield 511 may be set to the number of elements listed in the element ID list subfield 512. For example, if three different element ID values ​​are listed, the length subfield 511 may be set to three, or if no element ID value is listed or the element ID list subfield does not exist, the length subfield 511 may be set to zero.

[0073] The element ID extension list 510 of the non-inherited element 500 may list additional management elements that do not have an element ID value less than 255 as defined in the IEEE 802.11 specification (including current and future versions of the IEEE 802.11 specification), and these management elements are disabled for the corresponding NonTxBSSID and are not inherited. Figure 5As shown, the element ID extension list field 510 may include a length subfield 521 and an element ID extension list subfield 522. The additional management elements listed in the element ID extension list 510 may have an element ID value of 255 (as defined in the IEEE 802.11 specification, but may be another predefined value), and an element ID extension value (e.g., a value less than or equal to 254) that may be contained in the element ID extension list subfield 522. The length subfield 521 may be set to the number of elements listed in the element ID extension list subfield 522.

[0074] In some implementations, the non-inherited element 500 of each BSS profile associated with the corresponding NonTxBSSID may be the last element of the BSS profile. The non-inherited element 500 may be used as a delimiter to indicate the end of the BSS profile. For example, the non-inherited element 500 may indicate the end of the BSS profile (e.g., Figure 4 492) and the beginning of another BSS profile (e.g., BSS profile 494). In some implementations, since non-inherited element 500 is used as a delimiter, the element can be present in a BSS profile regardless of whether the element lists any management elements.

[0075] In some implementations, if the non-inherited element 500 includes only one or more management elements with an element ID value less than or equal to 254, the non-inherited element 500 may include the element ID list field 508, but may not include the element ID extension list field 510. If the non-inherited element 500 includes only one or more of the additional management elements with an element ID value of 255 (as defined in the IEEE 802.11 specification) and also with an element ID extension value (e.g., a value less than or equal to 254), the non-inherited element 500 may include the element ID extension list field 510, but may not include the element ID list field 508. If the non-inherited element 500 includes one or more management elements with an element ID value less than or equal to 254, and also includes one or more of the additional management elements with an element ID value of 255 (as defined in the IEEE 802.11 specification) and also with an element ID extension value, the non-inherited element may include the element ID list field 508 and the element ID extension list field 510.

[0076] In some implementations, non-inherited element 500 may optionally include an element list separator field that separates element ID list field 508 from element ID extension list field 510. The element list separator field may also be used with element ID extension list field 510 to indicate that the management element is included in element ID extension list field 510. In some implementations, when the element list separator field is present, it may be set to a predefined value (e.g., a value of 255).

[0077] In some implementations, two or more types of non-inherited elements may be selectively included in a BSS profile associated with a NonTxBSSID to indicate which management elements (supported by a TxBSSID) are disabled and not inherited for the NonTxBSSID. For example, a BSS profile associated with a NonTxBSSID may include one or more of the following: (1) a legacy non-inherited element and (2) an extended non-inherited element. A legacy non-inherited element may be included in a BSS profile to list one or more management elements having an element ID value less than or equal to 254, which may be referred to as a legacy management element. Since a legacy non-inherited element may be used to list legacy management elements, the legacy non-inherited element may include only an element ID field, a length field, an element ID extension field, and an element ID list field (and may not include an element list separator field and an element ID extension list field). An extended non-inherited element may be included in a BSS profile to list one or more additional management elements having an element ID value of 255 (as defined in the IEEE 802.11 specification) and also having an element ID extension value (e.g., a value less than or equal to 254), which may be referred to as a non-legacy management element or an extended management element. Since an extended non-inherited element may be used to list non-legacy management elements (or extended management elements), the extended non-inherited element may include only an element ID field, a length field, an element ID extension field, an element list separator field (optional), and an element ID extension list field (and may not include an element ID list field). In some implementations, a conditional inheritance technique using one or more non-inherited elements may be applied to a BSS that includes both legacy STAs and non-legacy STAs. In some implementations, a conditional inheritance technique using an empty element may be applied to a BSS that includes non-legacy STAs. It should also be noted that although the present disclosure includes some examples of conditional inheritance for management elements or features, conditional inheritance may also be applied to fields of a multi-BSSID management frame for global inheritance, BSS-based inheritance, and BSS-based profile announcement or configuration of one or more fields of a multi-BSSID management frame.

[0078] As described above, the multi-BSSID element 430 of the multi-BSSID management frame 400 may include BSS profiles 492, 494, and 496 associated with the VAPs 152, 153, and 154, respectively. In some implementations, the WLAN device 150 may indicate in the multi-BSSID management frame 400 that it is advertising a partial BSS profile, and therefore, the BSS profiles 492, 494, and 496 may be partial BSS profiles. For example, the WLAN device 150 may indicate that it is advertising a partial BSS profile by whether a certain field exists in the multi-BSSID element 430, or by setting an existing field in the multi-BSSID element 430 to a specific value (e.g., to 1 or 0). The field may be present in one of the existing elements (or new elements) in the multi-BSSID element 430. For example, one of the reserved bits in the existing non-transmitted BSSID capability element field may be used or its use may be changed to indicate that it is advertising a partial BSS profile.

[0079] Figure 6 Describes the inclusion of global inheritance settings (in Figure 2 ), BSS-based inheritance settings (described in Figure 3 ) and BSS-based profile announcement and configuration (described in Figure 4 6. Conceptual diagram of an example multi-BSSID management frame 600 (described in ). The multi-BSSID management frame 600 can be a beacon frame, a probe response frame, an association response frame, a reassociation response frame, or other type of management frame. The multi-BSSID management frame 600 can include a header 610, an element / field 620, and a multi-BSSID element 630.

[0080] The element / field 620 may include elements, fields, features, capabilities, and other management information from a Tx VAP (e.g., VAP 151) that may be inherited by a NonTx VAP (e.g., VAPs 152, 153, and 154). The multi-BSSID element 630 may include global inheritance settings 201 (in Figure 2 ), based on the inherited settings 382, ​​384, and 386 of the BSS (described in Figure 3 ) and BSS profiles 492, 494, and 496 and BSS-based profile announcements and configurations (described in Figure 4 As previously described, the global inheritance setting 201 and the BSS-based inheritance settings 382, ​​384, and 386 may determine the inheritance settings for elements 222 and 225 (as well as various other elements).

[0081] like Figure 6 As shown, the WLAN device 150 can implement Figure 2-Figure 4 The WLAN device 150 may also implement Figure 2-Figure 4 For example, the conditional inheritance unit 155 and the multiple BSSID management unit 156 of the WLAN device 150 may only implement the BSS-based inheritance settings 382, ​​384, and 386 (in Figure 3 ), and BSS profiles 492, 494, and 496 and BSS-based profile announcements and configurations (described in Figure 4 described in ).

[0082] In some implementations, Figure 2-Figure 4 The conditional inheritance techniques described in the above may have different priorities. BSS profiles 492, 494, and 496 and BSS-based profile announcements and configurations of custom BSS profiles 492, 494, and 496 may have the highest priority. For example, as described above, BSS-based profile announcements and configurations may override any BSS-based or global inheritance settings. In one example, Figure 6 As shown, if element 222 is customized in BSS profiles 492 and 496 (as shown by BSS-based profile announcement arrow 445 in legend 640), the configuration of element 222 in BS profiles 492 and 496 overrides any BSS-based inherited settings or global inherited settings. For example, if element 222 is a broadcast TWT parameter, then since each VAP can be associated with a different number and type of STAs, a BSS-based profile announcement or configuration can be used to customize the broadcast TWT parameters in each corresponding BSS profile, which will override any BSS-based inherited settings or global inherited settings for the broadcast TWT parameters. For example, referring to Figure 6 , BSS-based profile announcements or configurations may be used to customize broadcast TWT parameters in BSS profiles 492 and 496. This overrides BSS-based inheritance settings 382 and 386, as well as global inheritance settings 201.

[0083] As previously described, the BSS-based inheritance settings 382, ​​384, and 386 may have the second highest priority and thus may override any conflicting global inheritance settings. Figure 6 As shown, if the BSS-based inheritance setting 384 has an inheritance setting for the element 222 (as shown by the BSS-based inheritance setting arrow 344), the BSS-based inheritance setting 384 overrides the global inheritance setting 201. The global inheritance setting 201 may have the lowest priority.

[0084] In some implementations, all VAPs within a multi-BSS set may inherit the same PHY / MAC capabilities and modulation and coding scheme (MCS) / number of spatial streams (NSS). However, in some cases, different WLAN devices may require different bandwidths or NSS to limit the peak throughput of certain NonTxBSSID VAPs. BSS-based profile announcements or configurations may be used to customize the PHY / MAC capabilities, MCS, and NSS elements in the corresponding BSS profile, which will override any BSS-based or global inherited settings for these elements. For example, refer to Figure 6 , a BSS-based profile announcement or configuration may be used to customize the PHY / MAC capabilities, MCS, and NSS elements (not shown) in the BSS profile 496. This will override the BSS-based inheritance settings 386 and the global inheritance settings 201 for these elements.

[0085] Figure 7 A system diagram of an example WLAN device is depicted, which operates at least two co-located VAPs associated with at least two BSSs. System diagram 700 includes a WLAN device 750 that is communicatively coupled to a broadband network 160. The WLAN device 750 can operate at least two co-located VAPs, such as a first VAP 751 (or VAP1) associated with a first BSS (or BSS1) and a second VAP 752 (or VAP 2) associated with a second BSS (or BSS2). VAP 751 and VAP 752 can be located in the same physical WLAN device (e.g., AP). The first VAP 751 can provide a first coverage area 741, and the second VAP 752 can provide a second coverage area 742. For the purpose of illustration, the first coverage area 741 and the second coverage area 742 are shown in the figure as ellipses of different sizes. However, the sizes of the coverage areas may be similar to each other, and the shapes of the coverage areas may vary due to environmental obstacles or interference. The WLAN device 750 may have one or more antennas 758. In some implementations, the VAPs 751 and 752 may share the same one or more antennas 758. In some implementations, the WLAN device 750 may be an AP that implements the VAPs 751 and 752.

[0086] like Figure 7 As shown, the WLAN device 750 may include a conditional inheritance unit 755 and a BSS management unit 756. In some implementations, the conditional inheritance unit 755 may support and implement a multi-BSSID mode, or may not support and implement a multi-BSSID mode. When the conditional inheritance unit 755 supports the multi-BSSID mode, the conditional inheritance unit 755 may enable or disable operation in the multi-BSSID mode. When operating in the multi-BSSID mode, the conditional inheritance unit 755 may implement Figure 1-Figure 6When the conditional inheritance unit 755 disables the multi-BSSID mode or does not support the multi-BSSID mode, the conditional inheritance unit 755 can operate in the co-location mode, as described in this article Figure 7-Figure 8 When the conditional inheritance unit 755 operates in the co-location mode, the conditional inheritance unit 755 and the BSS management unit 756 can implement the above Figure 1-Figure 6 The conditional inheritance unit 755 may determine the capabilities, features, and other management information of the BSS associated with the VAP of the WLAN device, and implement various conditional inheritance settings. For example, one of the VAPs may announce conditional inheritance (including non-inheritance) for another VAP based on the management information (e.g., management elements) associated with the VAP obtained by the conditional inheritance unit 755. For example, when the first VAP 751 associated with the first BSS announces the management elements and other features or capabilities of the second VAP 752 associated with the second BSS, the first VAP 751 may announce the management elements inherited by the second VAP 752, the management elements customized for the second VAP 752, and the management elements not inherited by the VAP 752. As described in the present disclosure, management elements may also be referred to as elements or information elements.

[0087] The BSS management unit 756 can manage the BSS capabilities of the WLAN device 750, including operating the VAPs (e.g., VAPs 751 and 752) of the WLAN device 750, obtaining the conditional inheritance settings determined by the conditional inheritance unit 755, and generating management frames based on the conditional inheritance settings. In some implementations, the VAPs 751 and 752, the conditional inheritance unit 755, and the BSS management unit 756 can be included in a communication module (not shown) of the WLAN device 750, and can be implemented by one or more processors of the communication module. The communication module can include other components related to the network interface, such as one or more modems, an analog front end (AFE), and one or more antennas 758.

[0088] In some implementations, a first VAP associated with a first BSS and a second VAP associated with a second BSS may operate in the same frequency band or in different frequency bands. For example, both the first BSS and the second BSS may operate in the same channel of the same frequency band (e.g., 2.4 GHz, 5 GHz, 6 GHz, or 60 GHz band). In another example, one of the BSSs may operate in a first frequency band (e.g., 2.4 GHz or 5 GHz band), and the other BSS may operate in a second frequency band (e.g., 6 GHz band). Each VAP associated with a BSS may have a different wireless association with a client station (also referred to as a station (STA)). A STA may establish a wireless association (also referred to as a wireless link, wireless connection, etc.) with a VAP to access a broadband network 160 via a WLAN device 150. For example, as Figure 7 As shown in , a first STA 710 may have a first wireless association 712 with a first BSS (corresponding to a first VAP 751), and a second STA 720 may have a second wireless association 722 with a second BSS (corresponding to a second VAP 752).

[0089] In some implementations, a first VAP 751 associated with a first BSS may advertise management elements of a second VAP 752 associated with a second BSS. The first VAP 751 and the second VAP 752 may operate in the same frequency band or in different frequency bands. The first VAP 751 may generate and broadcast a management frame (e.g., a beacon frame or a probe response frame) specifying management elements for the first BSS, and also advertise inheritance information (including non-inherited information) of the second BSS associated with the second VAP 752. Figure 1-Figure 6 Similar to the aspects described in the present disclosure, the first VAP may announce the management elements of the first BSS inherited by the second VAP 752 associated with the second BSS, the management elements customized for the second VAP 752, and the management elements not inherited by the second VAP 752. For example, the management elements of the first BSS inherited by the second BSS may be referred to as global inheritance settings because both the first BSS and the second BSS utilize those management elements. The management elements of the first BSS that are not inherited by the second BSS may be referred to as non-inherited settings because it disables the management elements or features of the second BSS (and overrides any inherited settings for the management elements). As further described in the present disclosure, the non-inherited settings for the second BSS may be specified in the non-inherited elements included in the management frame. In addition, the management elements of the first BSS customized for the second BSS may be referred to as BSS-based inheritance settings because the management elements are customized for the respective BSSs.

[0090] In some implementations, a management frame generated and sent by a first VAP 751 associated with a first BSS may include a neighbor report element (or other inheritance-related element) that may indicate the presence of a second VAP 752 and provide inheritance (including non-inheritance) information about the second VAP 752 associated with the second BSS, as will be described in Figure 8 For example, a neighbor report element may include a non-inherited element (e.g. Figure 5 ), which specifies the management elements or features that are disabled for the second BSS (and overrides any inherited settings for those management elements). In some implementations, the non-inherited element may be a child element of the neighbor report element, or the neighbor report element may include a BSS profile (or other similar BSS-specific information) for the second BSS, which includes the non-inherited element, such as Figure 8 The neighbor report element may also include additional inheritance information indicating management elements inherited from the first BSS, and management elements customized for the second BSS, as sub-elements of the neighbor report element or within the BSS profile of the second BSS. In some implementations, the conditional inheritance unit 755 and the BSS management unit 756 of the WLAN device 750 may prepare and configure the neighbor report element and the non-inherited element, and include the neighbor report element and the non-inherited element in the management frame.

[0091] In some implementations, each of these STAs (e.g., STAs 710 and 720) may include a conditional inheritance unit to process a management frame (e.g., a beacon frame or a probe response frame) received from the WLAN device 750. Figure 7 As shown, the second STA 720 may include a conditional inheritance unit 725. STA710 may also include a conditional inheritance unit; however, for simplicity, Figure 7 The conditional inheritance unit is not shown in the figure. In some implementations, for example, after receiving the management frame, the conditional inheritance unit 725 of the second STA 720 can process the management frame to determine which management elements are inherited and which are not inherited. The conditional inheritance unit 725 can parse and process some management elements related to inheritance (including non-inheritance) associated with the second BSS to determine which management elements are inherited from the first BSS, which management elements are not inherited or disabled, and which management elements are customized for the second BSS. After processing the management frame, the second STA 720 can communicate with the VAP 752 of the WLAN device 750.

[0092] In some implementations, at least one of the VAPs of the WLAN device 750 (e.g., the first VAP 751) may also advertise the existence and inheritance (including non-inheritance) information for neighboring APs that are not physically co-located with the first and second VAPs 751 and 752 within the same device. For example, the first VAP 751 may advertise inheritance information for a neighbor AP 770, which may be a neighbor AP that is near the WLAN device 750 and may be within the same extended service set (ESS) as the WLAN device 750. In some implementations, similar to advertising inheritance information about co-located VAPs, the first VAP 751 may use a neighbor report element to advertise inheritance information for the neighbor AP 770, such as Figure 8 . In some implementations, the WLAN device 750 may determine management information (e.g., management elements and other features) associated with a third BSS of the neighbor AP 770. For example, the WLAN device 750 and the neighbor AP 770 may periodically communicate to exchange management information (and other information). The conditional inheritance unit 755 and the BSS management unit 756 of the WLAN device 750 may prepare and configure neighbor report elements and non-inherited elements, and include the neighbor report elements and non-inherited elements in the management frame.

[0093] Figure 8 An example neighbor report element 800 for advertising the presence and inheritance information of a co-located VAP or neighbor AP is depicted. The neighbor report element 800 may be provided by an AP (e.g., Figure 7 The first VAP 751 of the WLAN device 750 is used to notify other devices (eg, STAs) in the WLAN of the presence of co-located neighbor APs (eg, Figure 7 A second VAP 752) or an independent neighbor AP (e.g., Figure 7 information associated with the neighbor AP 770 (which is not a co-located AP).

[0094] In some implementations, each VAP (e.g., VAP 751 and 752) operating in the WLAN device 750 may send a neighbor report element. The neighbor report element may be sent periodically in a beacon frame, or may be sent at any time via other management frames (e.g., a probe response or (re)association response frame). Figure 88, the neighbor report element 800 may include an element ID 802, a length 804, a BSSID 806, BSSID information 808, an operation category 810, a channel number 812, a PHY type 814, and an optional sub-element 816. In some implementations, the BSSID information 808 may include a co-located BSS parameter 825. The BSSID information 808 may include one or more additional parameters not shown for simplicity. In some implementations, the neighbor report element 800 may include a BSS parameter 825. Figure 8 The fields shown may be different fields, additional fields, or fewer fields. Element ID 802, length 804, BSSID 806, BSSID information 808, operating category 810, channel number 812, PHY type 814, and optional sub-elements 816 may be defined according to general procedures (e.g., as defined by the IEEE 802.11 family of wireless standards).

[0095] In some implementations, the first VAP 751 of the WLAN device 750 may generate and send a management frame including a neighbor report element 800 to announce inherited (including non-inherited) information associated with the second VAP 752 or the neighbor AP 770. In some implementations, the co-located BSS parameter 825 may be a bit or field indicating whether the neighbor AP identified in the neighbor report element is a co-located VAP operating in the same physical device (e.g., the WLAN device 750) as the first VAP 751. For example, when the co-located BSS parameter 825 includes a value of "1", the co-located BSS parameter 825 may indicate that the neighbor AP is a co-located VAP (e.g., VAP 752). When the co-located BSS parameter 825 includes a value of "0", the co-located BSS parameter 825 may indicate that the neighbor AP is not co-located in the same physical device, and therefore it is a separate AP in the WLAN (e.g., the neighbor AP 770). The bit or field associated with the co-located BSS parameter 825 may be an existing reserved bit or field, a repurposed bit or field, or a new bit or field.

[0096] In some implementations, the optional sub-element 816 may include a non-inherited element 855 and, optionally, a BSS profile 857. As described above, the non-inherited element 855 may indicate a management element associated with the first BSS that is disabled (or not inherited) for a second BSS associated with the second VAP 752. The non-inherited element 855 may indicate a management element associated with the first BSS that is disabled (or not inherited) for a third BSS associated with the neighbor AP 770. In some implementations, the non-inherited element 855 may have a non-inherited BSS profile 857. Figure 5855. In some implementations, the non-inherited element 855 may be part of a BSS profile included in the optional sub-element 816. The BSS profile may indicate management elements of the first BSS inherited by the second BSS (or third BSS), management elements customized for the second BSS (or third BSS), and the non-inherited element 855. In some implementations, the BSS profile may include the non-inherited element 855 and a list of management elements customized for the second BSS (or third BSS).

[0097] Fig. 9 An example flowchart 900 of an apparatus implementing one or more conditional inheritance techniques is shown. The apparatus may be a WLAN apparatus, such as an AP. The apparatus may be configured to provide functionality of multiple VAPs corresponding to multiple BSSs, respectively. The multiple VAPs may include a first VAP corresponding to a first BSS and a second VAP corresponding to a second BSS. In some implementations, the multiple VAPs and associated BSSs may be part of a multi-BSSID set. For example, a first BSSID of a first BSS associated with a first VAP may be a transmitted BSSID of a multi-BSSID set, and a second BSSID of a second BSS associated with a second VAP may be a non-transmitted BSSID of a multi-BSSID set. In some implementations, the first VAP and the second VAP may be co-located VAPs of an apparatus operating in the same frequency band or in different frequency bands.

[0098] At block 910, the device may determine a first BSSID profile for a second VAP by customizing one or more management elements of management information of the first VAP. The first BSSID profile may include one or more customized management elements for use by a second BSS associated with the second VAP (e.g., Figure 4 In some implementations, the device may configure a field of a customized management element in one or more customized management elements of the first BSSID profile to prohibit use of the customized management element by a second BSS associated with the second VAP.

[0099] At block 920, the device may configure a first non-inherited element of the first BSSID profile associated with the second VAP to indicate that use of at least one management element in the management information by the second BSS associated with the second VAP is prohibited. In some implementations, the device may configure the first non-inherited element of the first BSSID profile (as described above) by listing information associated with the at least one management element in the first non-inherited element. Figure 4For example, the non-inherited element of the first BSSID profile may list one or more management elements that will be disabled by the second BSS and will not inherit the BSS-based inheritance setting or the global inheritance setting. In some implementations, the device may configure a second non-inherited element of the second BSSID profile associated with a third VAP in the plurality of VAPs to indicate that the use of at least one management element in the management information by a third BSS associated with the third VAP is prohibited.

[0100] At block 930, the apparatus may generate a management frame including the first BSSID profile. In some implementations, the multi-BSSID management frame may include additional information, such as a second BSSI profile associated with a third VAP.

[0101] At block 940, the device may output the management frame for transmission. In some implementations, the multi-BSSID management frame may be a beacon frame or a probe response frame, and the management information may include one or more of management elements, fields, characteristics, and capabilities.

[0102] In some implementations, the device may determine a first BSS-based inheritance setting that indicates one or more management elements in the management information of the first VAP to be used by the second VAP. The first BSS-based inheritance setting may be determined based on a first inheritance configuration of the management information of the first VAP, where the first inheritance configuration is supported by the second VAP. For example, the device may determine the BSS-based inheritance setting 382, ​​as described above in Figure 3 and Figure 6 As described in.

[0103] In some implementations, the device may determine a second BSS-based inheritance setting that may indicate one or more management elements in the management information to be used by a third VAP in the plurality of VAPs. The second BSS-based inheritance setting may be determined based on a second inheritance configuration of the management information, where the second inheritance configuration is supported by the third VAP. For example, the WLAN device may determine the BSS-based inheritance setting 384, as described above in Figure 3 and Figure 6 As described in.

[0104] In some implementations, the device may generate a multi-BSSID management frame based at least in part on the first BSS-based inheritance setting and the second BSS-based inheritance setting. For example, the WLAN device may generate a multi-BSSID management frame based on at least one of the BSS-based inheritance setting 382 and the BSS-based inheritance setting 384.

[0105] In some implementations, the device may determine a global inheritance setting for a management element of management information indicating the first VAP. The global inheritance setting may be determined based on a global inheritance configuration of the management information, wherein the global inheritance configuration is supported by the second VAP and any other VAP in the plurality of VAPs (e.g., Figure 3 described above).

[0106] In some implementations, when the first and second VAPs are co-located VAPs, the apparatus may prepare a management frame associated with the first VAP and configure a neighbor report element for advertising the presence of the second VAP associated with the second BSS. The neighbor report element may include a first non-inherited element.

[0107] In some implementations, the device may determine management information associated with a neighbor AP associated with a third BSS. The neighbor AP may not be co-located with the first and second VAPs of the device. The device may prepare a management frame associated with the first VAP and configure a neighbor report element for announcing the presence of the neighbor AP associated with the third BSS. The neighbor report element may include a non-inherited element associated with the neighbor AP to indicate that the use of at least one management element in the management information by the third BSS associated with the neighbor AP is prohibited.

[0108] As mentioned above Figure 1-Figure 6 As described in, a multi-BSSID management frame can be generated based on one or more of the above-mentioned conditional inheritance techniques. For example, a multi-BSSID management frame can be generated by applying a first BSS-based inheritance setting to the second VAP and a second BSS-based inheritance setting to the third VAP. Moreover, a multi-BSSID management frame can be generated by configuring a first BSSID profile for the second VAP, the first BSSID profile including management information customized for the second VAP; and configuring a second BSSID profile for the third VAP, the second BSSID profile including management information customized for the third VAP. In addition, a multi-BSSID management frame can be generated by applying a global inheritance setting to the WLAN device, the global inheritance setting indicating management information that will be inherited from the management information of the first VAP by the second VAP, the third VAP, and any other VAPs implemented by the WLAN device. Therefore, a multi-BSSID management frame can be generated based on one or more of these conditional inheritance techniques, and these conditional inheritance techniques also follow the above Figure 6 The precedence rules described in .

[0109] Fig.10 An example flow chart of a device receiving a multi-BSSID management frame implementing a conditional inheritance technique is shown. The device may be a WLAN device, such as a STA.

[0110] At block 1010, the device may receive a management frame from a first VAP of a second device that implements at least a first VAP associated with a first BSS and a second VAP associated with a second BSS. The management frame may include management information. In some implementations, multiple VAPs and associated BSSs of the second device may be part of a multi-BSSID set. For example, a first BSSID of a first BSS associated with a first VAP may be a transmitted BSSID of a multi-BSSID set, and a second BSSID of a second BSS associated with a second VAP may be a non-transmitted BSSID of a multi-BSSID set. In some implementations, the first VAP and the second VAP may be co-located VAPs of a second device operating in the same frequency band or in different frequency bands.

[0111] At block 1020, the device may determine a first BSSID profile for a management frame. The first BSSID profile may include one or more customized management elements of management information. The one or more customized management elements may be used by a second BSS associated with a second VAP. In some implementations, the device may determine that a field of a customized management element in the one or more customized management elements of the first BSSID profile indicates that use of the customized element by the second BSS associated with the second VAP is prohibited. For example, the customized management element may include at least one customized management element to be used by the second BSS, and at least one customized management element having a field indicating that the element is prohibited from being used for the second BSS (e.g., Figure 4 described above).

[0112] At block 1030, the device may determine that a non-inherited element of the first BSSID profile associated with the second VAP indicates that use of at least one management element in the management information by the second BSS associated with the second VAP is prohibited. For example, the non-inherited element of the first BSSID profile may list one or more management elements (such as BSS-based inheritance settings or global inheritance settings) that are to be disabled for the second BSS and will not be inherited. Figure 4 ).

[0113] At block 1040, the apparatus may determine to communicate with the second VAP based at least in part on the first BSSID profile of the management frame.

[0114] In some implementations, the device may determine a first BSS-based inheritance setting for the management frame. The first BSS-based inheritance setting may indicate one or more management elements (such as Figure 3 shown). .

[0115] Fig.11A system diagram of an example WLAN device configured to implement multi-link aggregation and conditional inheritance of a BSS is depicted. System diagram 1100 includes a WLAN device 1150 that is communicatively coupled to a broadband network 160. WLAN device 1150 may provide access point (AP) functionality, such as operating a first VAP 1151 (or VAP1) associated with a first BSS (or BSS1). WLAN device 1150 may support protocols defined by the IEEE 802.11 family of wireless standards, such as IEEE 802.11ax and 802.11be extremely high throughput (EHT) standard specifications. In some implementations, WLAN device 1150 may operate a single AP that implements multi-link aggregation with conditional inheritance of its BSS. In some implementations, WLAN device 1150 may optionally operate one or more additional VAPs, such as a second VAP 1152 (or VAP 2) associated with a second BSS (or BSS2). At least one of the VAPs 1151 and 1152 may implement multi-link aggregation with conditional inheritance to its corresponding BSS. The first VAP 1151 may provide a first coverage area 1141, and the second VAP 1152 may provide a second coverage area 1142. For illustrative purposes, the first coverage area 1141 and the second coverage area 1142 are shown in the figure as ellipses of different sizes. However, the sizes of the coverage areas may be similar to each other, and the shapes of the coverage areas may vary due to environmental obstacles or interference. The WLAN device 1150 may have one or more antennas 1158. In some implementations, the VAPs 1151 and 1152 may share the same one or more antennas 1158.

[0116] like Fig.11As shown, the WLAN device 1150 may include a conditional inheritance unit 1155 and a link management unit 1156. In some implementations, the conditional inheritance unit 1155 and the link management unit 1156 may support and implement multi-link aggregation. Multi-link aggregation allows a single AP (e.g., a first VAP 1151) to simultaneously establish and manage two or more communication links (e.g., communication links 1112 and 1114) in different frequency bands of a single BSS (e.g., a first BSS). For example, the VAP 1151 may use a first frequency band (e.g., a 2.4 GHz frequency band) to associate with a first STA 110 in a first BSS and establish a first communication link 1112, and may simultaneously establish a second communication link 1114 with the first STA 110 in the first BSS. The first communication link 1112 using the first frequency band may be used to perform an association process with the STA 110, and to send management frames to the STA 110 during and after the association. Therefore, the first communication link 1112 may be referred to as a primary communication link, an anchor communication link, a home communication link, or a management communication link. The first frequency band (or channel) may be referred to as a primary communication frequency band (or channel), an anchor communication frequency band (or channel), a home communication frequency band (or channel), or a management communication frequency band (or channel). VAP 1151 may use the first communication link 1112 to send a management frame to STA 110 announcing the multi-link capability of VAP 1151. For example, VAP 1151 may announce that it can use the second frequency band to establish a second communication link 1114 with the first STA 110 in the first BSS, and may indicate management information (e.g., management elements and other features) and inheritance information associated with the second communication link 1114. The second communication link 1114 may be referred to as a secondary communication link, an alternative communication link, or a candidate communication link. The second frequency band may be referred to as a secondary frequency band, an alternative frequency band, or a candidate frequency band. When STA 110 supports multi-link aggregation, as will be further described herein, STA110 may determine whether it can establish the second communication link 1114 based on the management and inheritance information received from VAP 1151. If so, the VAP 1151 and the STA 110 may exchange one or more communications to enable the second communication link 1114 without having to go through the association process of the second communication link 1114. After establishing the second communication link 1114, the VAP 1151 and the STA 110 may send data packets via the first communication link 1112 and the second communication link 1114. For example, if the VAP 1151 and the STA 110 of the first BSS are exchanging data packets associated with an application (e.g., file download), the VAP 1151 may send some packets via the first communication link 1112 and send other packets via the second communication link 1114.

[0117] In some implementations, for the multi-link aggregation mode, the condition inheritance unit 1155 and the link management unit 1156 may implement the above Figure 1-Figure 10 11. The conditional inheritance unit 1155 may determine the capabilities, features, and other management information of available and established communication links (e.g., the first and second communication links 1112 and 1114), and implement various conditional inheritance settings. For example, the VAP 1151 may, based on the management information associated with the first communication link 1112 and the second communication link 1114, announce the conditional inheritance (including non-inheritance) for the second communication link 1114 in the management frame sent in the first communication link 1112. For example, when the first VAP 1151 sends a management frame via the first communication link 1112 that provides management information (e.g., management elements) for the first communication link 1112, the first VAP 1151 may also indicate which of the management elements of the first communication link 112 are inherited by the second communication link 1114, the management elements customized for the second communication link 1114 (e.g., channel or band specific elements), and the management elements that are not inherited by the second communication link 1114. As described in this disclosure, management elements may also be referred to as elements or information elements.

[0118] In some implementations, the link management unit 1156 can manage the link capabilities of the WLAN device 1150, including operating one or more VAPs (e.g., VAP 1151 and optionally VAP 1152) of the WLAN device 1150 and corresponding communication links, obtaining the conditional inheritance settings determined by the conditional inheritance unit 1155, and generating management frames based on the conditional inheritance settings. In some implementations, the VAPs 1151 and 1152, the conditional inheritance unit 1155, and the link management unit 1156 can be included in a communication module (not shown) of the WLAN device 1150, and can be implemented by one or more processors of the communication module. The communication module can include other components related to the network interface, such as one or more modems, an analog front end (AFE), and one or more antennas 1158.

[0119] In some implementations, the first communication link 1112 may use a first frequency band, such as a 2.4 GHz, 5 GHz, 6 GHz, or 60 GHz frequency band. The second communication link 1114 may use a frequency band different from that of the first communication link. For example, the first communication link 1112 may use a 2.4 GHz frequency band, while the second communication link 1114 may use a 5 GHz frequency band. In another example, the first communication link 1112 may use a 5 GHz frequency band, while the second communication link 1114 may use a 6 GHz frequency band. In some implementations, the first VAP 1151 may generate and broadcast a management frame (e.g., a beacon frame or a probe response frame) via the first communication link 1112 to indicate a management element associated with the first communication link 1112, and also announce inheritance information (including non-inherited information) of the second communication link 1114. For example, with Figure 1-Figure 10 114, the first VAP 1151 may advertise management elements of the first communication link 1112 that are inherited by the second communication link 1114, management elements that are customized for the second communication link 1114, and management elements that are not inherited by the second communication link 1114. For example, the management elements of the first communication link 1112 that are inherited by the second communication link 1114 may be referred to as global inherited settings because both the first communication link 1112 and the second communication link 1114 utilize those management elements. The management elements of the first communication link 1112 that are not inherited by the second communication link 1114 may be referred to as non-inherited settings because it disables the management element or feature of the second communication link 1114 (and overrides any inherited settings for the management element). As further described in the present disclosure, the non-inherited settings for the second communication link 1114 may be specified in a non-inherited element included in a management frame. In addition, the management elements of the first communication link 1112 customized for the second communication link 1114 can be referred to as link-based inheritance settings (or link-specific inheritance settings) because the management elements are customized for the corresponding communication link. In some implementations, in order to reduce the overhead from beacons and other management frames, the first communication link 1112 can be used to send beacons and other management frames for two communication links of the first BSS, and the second communication link 1114 may not send beacons and other management frames. In some implementations, the second communication link 1114 can be used to send certain special management frames with low overhead, such as fast initial link establishment (FILS) discovery frames.

[0120] In some embodiments, the management frame generated by the first VAP 1151 and sent via the first communication link 1112 may include a multilink element (or other inheritance-related element) that may advertise the second communication link 1114 and provide inheritance (including non-inheritance) information about the second communication link 1114, as will be described in Fig.12For example, a multilink element may include a non-inherited element (e.g. Figure 5 ), which specifies management elements or features that are disabled for the second communication link 1114 (and overrides any inherited settings for those management elements). In some implementations, the non-inherited element can be a child element of the multilink element, or the multilink element can include a link profile (or other similar link-specific information) for the second communication link 1114, which includes non-inherited elements, such as Fig.12 As further described. The multilink element may also include additional inheritance information indicating management elements inherited from the first communication link 1112 and management elements customized for the second communication link 1114 as sub-elements of the multilink element or within the link profile of the multilink element. In some implementations, management elements that are not included in the multilink element or link profile are considered to be management elements inherited by the second communication link 1114 from the first communication link 1112. In some implementations, the conditional inheritance unit 1155 and the link management unit 1156 of the WLAN device 1150 may prepare and configure the multilink elements, link profiles, and non-inherited elements, and include the inheritance information and settings in the management frame. In some implementations, instead of including the multilink element (such as Fig.12 ), the link profile and non-inherited elements may be included in an existing management element or sub-element (e.g., a management element or sub-element defined by the IEEE 802.11 family of wireless standards, such as the IEEE 802.11ax or 802.11be EHT standard specifications), or an existing management element or sub-element may be repurposed. For example, the link profile and non-inherited elements may be included in a multi-band element or a capability element (e.g., an EHT capability element).

[0121] In some implementations, each of these STAs (eg, STAs 1110 and 1120) may include a conditional inheritance unit to process a management frame (eg, a beacon frame or a probe response frame) received from the WLAN device 1150. For example, Fig.11 As shown, the first STA 1110 may include a conditional inheritance unit 1125. The second STA 1120 may also include a conditional inheritance unit; however, for simplicity, Fig.11The conditional inheritance unit is not shown in FIG. In some implementations, for example, after receiving the management frame, the conditional inheritance unit 1125 of the first STA 1110 can process the management frame to determine which management elements are inherited and which are not inherited. The conditional inheritance unit 1125 can parse and process some management elements related to inheritance (including non-inheritance) associated with the second communication link 1114 to determine which management elements are inherited from the first communication link 1112, which management elements are not inherited or disabled, and which management elements are customized for the second communication link 1114. In some implementations, as will be described in Fig.14 As further described in the first STA 1110, the first STA 1110 may also determine whether it supports the second communication link 1114 based on the inheritance information included in the management frame, and the first STA 1110 may also determine whether to enable the second communication link 1114. After processing the management frame, the first STA 1110 may communicate at least in part with the VAP 1151 of the WLAN device 1150 to indicate whether to enable the second communication link 1114.

[0122] In some implementations, when the WLAN device 1150 provides the function of the second VAP 1152 associated with the second BSS (optional), the second VAP 1152 may also implement multi-link aggregation with the second STA 1120. For example, the second VAP 1152 may communicate with the second STA 1120 of the second BSS using the first communication link 1122 and the second communication link 1124. In addition, similar to what is described herein for the first VAP 1151 and the first STA 1110, the second VAP 1152 may perform multi-link aggregation operations and conditional inheritance operations with the second STA 1120. In some implementations, when performing multi-link aggregation, the WLAN device 1150 may maintain backward compatibility with legacy devices (e.g., devices that do not support multi-link aggregation). For example, the legacy device may receive a management frame from the WLAN device 1150 that implements multi-link aggregation via the first communication link 1112 using the first frequency band, and the management frame may include a management element associated with the first communication link 1112 and inheritance information associated with the second communication link 1114. The legacy device may communicate with the first VAP 1151 of the WLAN apparatus 1150 to establish an association via the first communication link 1112 and ignore the inherited information associated with the second communication link 1114 (because the legacy device does not support multi-link aggregation or multi-link elements). After establishing a wireless association with the legacy device, the first VAP 1151 of the WLAN apparatus 1150 may communicate with the legacy device using only the first communication link 1112 for that particular association (rather than the second communication link 114) because the legacy device does not support multi-link aggregation.

[0123] Fig.12An example multi-link element 1200 is depicted that is included in a management frame associated with a first communication link and is used to advertise inheritance information of a second communication link. In some implementations, the multi-link element 1200 may be implemented by an AP (e.g., Fig.11 The first VAP 1151 of the WLAN device 1150 shown is used to communicate via a first communication link (eg Fig.11 The inheritance information associated with the second communication link is announced in the management frame sent by the first and second communication links 1112 and 1114.

[0124] In some implementations, a multilink element (e.g., multilink element 1200) may be sent periodically in a beacon frame, or may be sent at any time via other management frames (e.g., a probe response or (re)association response frame). Fig.12 As shown, the multilink element 1200 may include an element ID 1202, a length 1204, a BSSID 1206, a link ID 1208, a channel number 1210, and a link profile 1212. The link profile 1212 may include a non-inherited element 1215. In some implementations, if the AP supports multi-link aggregation with three or more communication links, the multilink element 120 may include two or more link profiles. In some implementations, the multilink element 1200 may include additional fields or subfields, which are not shown in the figure for simplicity. Fig.12 In some implementations, the multilink element 1200 may include Fig.12 1204, BSSID 1206, and channel number 1210 may be defined according to a common procedure (e.g., defined by the IEEE 802.11 family of wireless standards). For example, element ID 1202 and length 1204 may be element IDs and lengths defined in an existing or future IEEE 802.11 standard. BSSID 1206 may be the BSSID of a BSS associated with the AP, and channel number 1210 may be a channel number associated with the BSS (which may also correspond to a frequency band).

[0125] In some implementations, the VAP 1151 may generate a management frame including the multilink element 1200 and transmit the management frame via the first communication link 1112 to announce inheritance (including non-inheritance) information associated with the second communication link 1114. As described above, the non-inheritance element 1215 may indicate a management element associated with the first communication link 1112 that is disabled (or not inherited) for the second communication link 1114. In some implementations, the non-inheritance element 1215 may have the same Figure 5The non-inherited element 1215 may have the same (or similar) structure and information as the non-inherited element 500 shown in FIG. 12. In some implementations, the non-inherited element 1215 may be part of the link profile 1212. The link profile 1212 may also list management elements (e.g., channel or band-specific elements) of the first communication link 1112 that are customized for the second communication link 1114. In some implementations, management elements of the first communication link 1112 that are not listed in the link profile 1212 or the non-inherited element 1215 are inherited by the second communication link 1114 from the first communication link 1112 (without any changes or customizations).

[0126] Fig.13 An example flow chart 1300 of a device implementing conditional inheritance for multi-link aggregation is shown. The device may be a WLAN device, which may be configured to provide a function of an AP corresponding to a first BSS for multi-link aggregation.

[0127] At block 1310, the device may establish a first communication link with a first STA of a first BSS using a first frequency band. For example, the first frequency band may be a 2.4 GHz, 5 GHz, 6 GHz, or 60 GHz frequency band.

[0128] At block 1320, the device may determine a first link profile for a second communication link that may be used for the first STA by customizing one or more management elements of management information associated with the first communication link. The first link profile may include one or more customized management elements used by the second communication link. The second communication link may use a second frequency band that is different from the first frequency band. For example, if the first frequency band is a 2.4 GHz frequency band, the second frequency band may be a 5 GHz frequency band. In some implementations, the first communication link may be an anchor communication link for establishing a wireless association with the first STA, and the second communication link is a candidate communication link used by the first STA to implement multi-link aggregation.

[0129] At block 1330, the device may configure a first non-inherited element of a first link profile associated with the second communication link to indicate that use of at least one management element in the management information by the second communication link is prohibited. In some implementations, the device may configure the first non-inherited element of the first link profile by listing information associated with at least one management element in the first non-inherited element. For example, the non-inherited element of the first link profile may list one or more management elements that are to be disabled (or not inherited) for the second communication link. In some implementations, the first non-inherited element may list an element ID associated with at least one management element in an element ID list field of the first non-inherited element, and an element ID extension associated with at least one management element in an element ID extension list field of the first non-inherited element.

[0130] In some implementations, the device may determine a second link profile for a third communication link available to the first STA by customizing one or more management elements of the management information associated with the first communication link. The second link profile may include one or more customized management elements used by the third communication link. The third communication link may use a third frequency band different from the first and second frequency bands. In some implementations, the device may configure a second non-inherited element of the second link profile associated with the third communication link to indicate that the third communication link is prohibited from using at least one management element in the management information.

[0131] At block 1340, the apparatus may generate a management frame including a first link profile. The first link profile may include a first non-inherited element. In some implementations, the management frame may also include a second link profile having a second non-inherited element.

[0132] At block 1350, the device may output a management frame for transmission to the first STA. In some implementations, the management frame may be a beacon frame, a probe response frame, an association response frame, or a reassociation response frame, and the management information may include one or more of management elements, fields, features, and capabilities. In some implementations, the device may determine to establish a second communication link in response to receiving from the first STA a communication indicating that the first STA supports establishing a second communication link based at least in part on a first link profile. For example, the first STA may indicate that it supports one or more customized management elements and non-inherited elements (associated with the second communication link) included in the management frame received by the first STA. The device and the first STA may then establish a second communication link and begin multi-link aggregation operations. The first STA may also indicate to the device that it does not support the second communication link based on the inheritance information included in the management frame. In addition, in some cases, since the first STA does not have enough active traffic to extend to an additional link, the first STA may also instruct the device not to enable the second communication link.

[0133] Fig.14 An example flow chart 1400 of a first device receiving a management frame with conditional inheritance information for multi-link aggregation is shown. The first device may be a STA that may be configured to implement conditional inheritance and multi-link aggregation functions. The first device may receive a management frame from a second device that may be configured to provide the functionality of an AP corresponding to a first BSS for multi-link aggregation.

[0134] At block 1410, a first device may receive a management frame from a second device via a first communication link, the second device may be configured to provide at least the functionality of a first AP associated with a first BSS. The first communication link may use a first frequency band. For example, the first frequency band may be a 2.4 GHz, 5 GHz, 6 GHz, or 60 GHz frequency band.

[0135] At block 1420, the first device may determine a link profile associated with a second communication link, which the first device may use for multi-link aggregation. The link profile may be included in the received management frame. The link profile may include one or more customized management elements of management information associated with the first communication link for use by the second communication link. The second communication link may use a second frequency band different from the first frequency band. For example, if the first frequency band is a 5 GHz frequency band, the second frequency band may be a 6 GHz frequency band. In some implementations, the first communication link may be an anchor communication link for establishing a wireless association between the first device and the second device. The second communication link may be a candidate communication link for the first STA for implementing multi-link aggregation.

[0136] At block 1430, the first device may determine that the first non-inherited element of the first link profile indicates that usage of at least one management element in the management information by the second communication link is prohibited.

[0137] In some implementations, the first device may determine a second link profile for a third communication link that the first device may use for multi-link aggregation. The second link profile may include one or more customized management elements used by the third communication link. The third communication link may use a third frequency band that is different from the first and second frequency bands. In some implementations, the device may determine that a second non-inherited element of the second link profile associated with the third communication link indicates that use of at least one management element in the management information by the third communication link is prohibited.

[0138] At block 1440, the first device may determine whether to establish a second communication link between the first device and the second device for multi-link aggregation based at least in part on a link profile associated with the second communication link. In some implementations, the first device may receive a management frame including a link profile and determine that it supports one or more customized management elements and non-inherited elements included in the link profile associated with the second communication link. In response to determining that the first device supports one or more customized management elements and non-inherited elements, the first device may approve the establishment of the second communication link. In response to determining that the first device supports one or more customized management elements and non-inherited elements, the first device may communicate with the second device to indicate that the first device supports the establishment of the second communication link. The first device and the second device may then exchange communications or other signaling to establish the second communication link. If the first device does not support the inheritance information included in the management frame, the first device may communicate with the second device to indicate that the first device does not support enabling the second communication link. In addition, in some cases, the first device may dynamically expand or shrink the number of enabled communication links based on the amount of active traffic and the number of optional communication links required to support the active traffic. For example, the first device may determine that it does not have enough active links for expansion to the second communication link. Thus, the first device may communicate with the second device to indicate that the second communication link is not enabled, or to indicate that the first device is to disable the second communication link if the second communication link is enabled.The first device may periodically and dynamically enable or disable additional communication links as needed.

[0139] Fig.15 A block diagram of an example electronic device 1500 for implementing some aspects of the present disclosure is depicted. In some implementations, the electronic device 1500 may represent Figure 1 , Figure 7 and Fig.11 WLAN device or STA shown. Electronic device 1500 can be a laptop computer, a tablet computer, a mobile phone, a game console, a smart watch, a wearable device, an access point, a network router, a range extender, a smart device, or another electronic system. Electronic device 1500 includes a processor 1502 (which may include multiple processors, multiple cores, multiple nodes, or implement multiple threads, etc.). Electronic device 1500 includes memory 1506. Memory 1506 can be any one or more of the possible implementations of system memory or machine-readable media or computer-readable media described below. Electronic device 1500 can also include a bus 1501 (e.g., PCI, ISA, PCI-Express, NuBus, AHB, AXI, etc.). The electronic device 1500 may include one or more network interfaces 1504, which may include at least one of the following: a wireless network interface (e.g., a WLAN interface, interface, LTE interface, interface, Interface, wireless USB interface, etc.) and wired network interface (e.g., Ethernet interface, power line communication interface, etc.). In some implementations, electronic device 1500 may support one or more network interfaces 1504, each of which may be configured to couple electronic device 1500 to a different communication network.

[0140] The electronic device 1500 may include a communication module 1520. In some implementations, the communication module 1520 may include one or more network interfaces 1504. In some implementations, the one or more network interfaces 1504 may represent one or more modems, one or more antennas, an analog front end (AFE), and other communication-related components of the electronic device 1500. In some implementations, the communication module 1520 may include a conditional inheritance unit 1555 and a management unit 1556. Figure 1-Figure 6 and Figure 9-10 As described in the specification, the conditional inheritance unit 1555 can implement various conditional inheritance operations and techniques for multiple BSSID sets. The management unit 1556 can manage the multiple BSSID capabilities of the electronic device 1500, obtain the conditional inheritance settings determined by the conditional inheritance unit 1555, and generate management frames for multiple BSSIDs based on the conditional inheritance settings, such as Figure 1-Figure 6 as well as Figure 9-10 In some implementations, the conditional inheritance unit 1555 and the management unit 1556 may implement various conditional inheritance operations and techniques for co-locating VAPs, such as Figure 7-Figure 10 In some implementations, the conditional inheritance unit 1555 and the management unit 1556 may implement various conditional inheritance operations for multi-link aggregation, such as Figure 11-Figure 14 described.

[0141] Memory 1506 includes functions that support various implementations. Memory 1506 may include functions that can be executed by processor 1502 to implement Figure 1-Figure 14 For example, memory 1506 may include computer instructions that facilitate implementation of the functions described in the implementation method. Figure 1-Figure 14 In some implementations, the communication module 1520 may perform some or all of the operations described herein. For example, the communication module 1520 may include an additional processor (e.g., a baseband processor) and additional memory, which may include executable by the additional processor to implement Figure 1-Figure 14 In some implementations, additional processors and memory of communication module 1520, processor 1502 and memory 1506, or a combination of some or all of these components may implement some or all of the functions described in the computer instructions for implementing ... Figure 1, Figure 7 and Fig.11 1514. The conditional inheritance unit 1555 and the management unit 1556 described in . In some implementations, the electronic device 1500 may also include additional components, such as a camera module 1510, a microphone module 1512, a user interface 1515, and other input / output components. For example, if the electronic device 1500 is a STA or a device operating as an AP (e.g., a software-enabled AP or "SoftAP"), the STA may include a camera module 1510, a microphone module 1512, and a user interface 1515. A dedicated or standalone AP may include a version of the user interface 1515, but may not include a camera module 1510 or a microphone module 1512.

[0142] Any of these functions may be implemented partially (or completely) in hardware or on the processor 1502. For example, the functions may be implemented with an application specific integrated circuit, a logic unit implemented in the processor 1302, a coprocessor on a peripheral device or card, etc. In addition, the implementation may include fewer or more. Fig.15 1501). The processor 1502, memory 1506, and network module 1520 may be coupled to the bus 1501. Although shown as coupled to the bus 1501, the memory 1506 may be coupled directly to the processor 1502. In addition, although shown as within the communication module 1520, in some implementations, the network interface 1504 may be a separate module coupled directly to the bus 1501.

[0143] As used herein, a phrase referring to "at least one" of a list of items refers to any combination of those items, including single members. For example, "at least one of a, b, or c" is intended to cover: a, b, c, ab, ac, bc, and abc.

[0144] Each illustrative logic unit, logic block, module, circuit, and algorithmic process described in conjunction with the implementation disclosed herein may be implemented as electronic hardware, computer software, or a combination thereof. The interchangeability of hardware and software has been generally described in terms of functionality and is illustrated throughout the various illustrative components, blocks, modules, circuits, and processes described herein. Whether such functionality is implemented as hardware or software depends on the specific application and the design constraints imposed on the overall system.

[0145] The hardware and data processing apparatus for implementing the various illustrative logics, logic blocks, modules and circuits described in conjunction with the various aspects disclosed herein may be implemented or executed using a general purpose single-chip or multi-chip processor, a digital signal processor (DSP), an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a field programmable gate array (FPGA) or other programmable logic device, a discrete gate or transistor logic device, a discrete hardware component, or any combination thereof designed to perform the functions described herein. A general purpose processor may be a microprocessor, or any conventional processor, controller, microcontroller, or state machine. A processor may also be implemented as a combination of computing devices, such as a combination of a DSP and a microprocessor, a plurality of microprocessors, a combination of one or more microprocessors and a DSP core, or any other such structure. In some implementations, specific processes and methods may be performed by circuits dedicated to a certain function.

[0146] In one or more aspects, the functions described may be implemented as hardware, digital electronic circuitry, computer software, firmware, including the structures disclosed in this specification and their structural equivalents, or any combination thereof. Implementations of the inventive subject matter described in this specification may also be implemented as one or more computer programs, i.e., one or more modules of computer program instructions, encoded on computer storage media for execution by data processing apparatus or for controlling the operation of data processing apparatus.

[0147] If implemented with software, these functions can be stored on a computer-readable medium as one or more instructions or codes, or sent via a computer-readable medium. The process of the method or algorithm disclosed herein can be implemented in a processor executable software module that can be located on a computer-readable medium. Computer-readable media include both computer storage media and communication media, which include any medium that can be used to transfer a computer program from one place to another. Storage media can be any available medium that can be accessed by a computer. By way of example and not limitation, such a computer-readable medium may include a cache, RAM (including SRAM, DRAM, zero capacitor RAM, dual transistor RAM, eDRAM, EDO RAM, DDR RAM, EEPROM, NRAM, RRAM, SONOS, PRAM, etc.), ROM, EEPROM, CD-ROM or other optical disk storage, disk storage or other magnetic storage device, or any other medium that can be used to store the required program code in the form of an instruction or data structure and can be accessed by a computer. Any connection may also be appropriately referred to as a computer-readable medium. As used herein, disk and disc include compact disc (CD), laser disc, optical disc, digital versatile disc (DVD), floppy disk and Blu-ray TM, where magnetic disks typically reproduce data magnetically, while optical disks use lasers to reproduce data optically. Combinations of the above may also be included within the scope of computer-readable media. In addition, the operations of a method or algorithm may be located as one or any combination or set of code and instructions on machine-readable media and computer-readable media that may be incorporated into a computer program product.

[0148] Various modifications to the implementations described in this disclosure may be apparent to those skilled in the art, and the general principles defined herein may be applied to other implementations without departing from the spirit or scope of this disclosure. Therefore, the claims are not intended to be limited to the implementations shown herein, but rather to be consistent with the broadest scope consistent with the disclosure, principles, and novel features disclosed herein.

[0149] Certain features described in this specification in the context of separate implementations may also be implemented in combination in a single implementation. Conversely, various functions described in the context of a single implementation may also be implemented separately in multiple implementations or in any appropriate subcombination. Furthermore, although functions may be described as operating in certain combinations, or even initially claimed as such, one or more features from a claimed combination may in some cases be removed from the combination, and a claimed combination may involve subcombinations or variations of subcombinations.

[0150] Similarly, although the operations are described in a specific order in the accompanying drawings, this should not be understood as requiring the operations to be performed in the specific order shown or in sequence, or requiring the execution of all the operations shown to achieve the desired result. In addition, the accompanying drawings can schematically depict one or more example processes in the form of a flow chart. However, other operations not depicted can be incorporated into the schematically illustrated example process. For example, one or more additional operations can be performed before, after, simultaneously or between any operation in the illustrated operation. In some cases, multitasking and parallel processing can be advantageous. In addition, the separation of various system components in the described implementation should not be understood as requiring such separation in all implementations, and it should be understood that the described program components and systems can generally be integrated together in a single software product or packaged into multiple software products. In addition, other implementations are within the scope of the following claims. In some cases, the actions listed in the claims can be performed in different orders and still achieve the desired result.

Claims

1. A method performed by an apparatus configurable to provide functionality of at least a first access point (AP) corresponding to a first basic service set (BSS) for multi-link aggregation, comprising: establishing a first communication link with a first STA of the first BSS using a first frequency band, wherein the first communication link is associated with management information; determining a first link profile for a second communication link available to the first STA by customizing one or more management elements of the management information associated with the first communication link, the first link profile comprising one or more customized management elements used by the second communication link, the second communication link being associated with a second frequency band; configuring a first non-inherited element of the first link profile associated with the second communication link, the first non-inherited element indicating that use of at least one management element in the management information by the first STA via the second communication link is prohibited; generating a management frame including the first link profile, the first link profile including the one or more customized management elements used by the second communication link, and the first non-inherited element indicating that use of the at least one management element is prohibited for the second communication link; as well as The management frame is output for transmission to the first STA.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein: The first communication link is an anchor communication link used to establish a wireless association with the first STA, and the second communication link is a candidate communication link used by the first STA to implement the multi-link aggregation.

3. The method according to claim 1, further comprising: Establishing the second communication link is determined in response to receiving a communication from the first STA indicating that the first STA supports establishing the second communication link based at least in part on the first link profile.

4. The method according to claim 3, wherein: The second communication link is dynamically enabled or disabled by the device or the first STA based at least in part on an amount of active traffic between the device and the first STA.

5. The method according to claim 3, wherein: The second communication link is established without performing a separate wireless association process between the apparatus and the first STA for the second communication link.

6. The method according to claim 1, further comprising: determining a second link profile for a third communication link available to the first STA by customizing one or more management elements of the management information associated with the first communication link, the second link profile including the one or more customized management elements used by the third communication link, the third communication link being associated with a third frequency band, The management frame also includes the second link profile.

7. The method according to claim 1, further comprising: configuring a second non-inherited element of a second link profile associated with a third communication link to indicate that usage of at least one management element in the management information by the third communication link is prohibited; The management frame also includes the second link profile.

8. The method according to claim 1, wherein: Management elements of the management information associated with the first communication link that are not customized for the second communication link in the first link profile and are not included in the first non-inherited elements are inherited by the second communication link for use by the second communication link.

9. The method according to claim 1, wherein: Configuring the first non-inherited element of the link profile for the second communication link comprises: Information associated with the at least one managed element in the first non-inherited element is listed.

10. The method according to claim 9, wherein: Listing information associated with the at least one management element in the first non-inherited element includes listing, in the first non-inherited element, at least one member selected from the group consisting of: an element ID associated with at least one managed element in the Element ID List field of the first non-inherited element; and An element ID extension associated with at least one managed element in the element ID extension list field of the first non-inherited element.

11. The method according to claim 1, wherein: The management frame is a beacon frame, a probe response frame, an association response frame, or a reassociation response frame, and wherein the management information includes at least one member of the group consisting of a management element, a field, a feature, and a capability.

12. An apparatus for wireless communication, the apparatus being configurable to provide a function of a first access point (AP) corresponding to a first basic service set (BSS) for performing multi-link aggregation, the apparatus comprising: processor; as well as a memory coupled to the processor and having stored therein instructions which, when executed by the processor, cause the apparatus to: establishing a first communication link with a first STA of the first BSS using a first frequency band, wherein the first communication link is associated with management information; determining, by customizing one or more management elements of the management information associated with the first communication link, a first link profile for a second communication link available to the first STA, the first link profile comprising one or more customized management elements used by the second communication link, the second communication link being associated with a second frequency band; configuring a first non-inherited element of the first link profile associated with the second communication link, the first non-inherited element indicating that use of at least one management element in the management information by the first STA via the second communication link is prohibited; generating a management frame including the first link profile, the first link profile including the one or more customized management elements used by the second communication link, and the first non-inherited element indicating that use of the at least one management element is prohibited for the second communication link; as well as The management frame is output for transmission to the first STA.

13. The device according to claim 12, wherein: The first communication link is an anchor communication link used to establish a wireless association with the first STA, and the second communication link is a candidate communication link used by the first STA to implement the multi-link aggregation.

14. The device according to claim 12, wherein: The instructions, when executed by the processor, further cause the apparatus to: Establishing the second communication link is determined in response to receiving a communication from the first STA indicating that the first STA supports establishing the second communication link based at least in part on the first link profile.

15. The device according to claim 14, wherein: The instructions, when executed by the processor, further cause the apparatus to dynamically enable or disable the second communication link based at least in part on an amount of active traffic between the apparatus and the first STA.

16. The device according to claim 14, wherein: The second communication link is established without performing a separate wireless association process between the apparatus and the first STA for the second communication link.

17. The device according to claim 12, wherein: The instructions, when executed by the processor, further cause the apparatus to: determining a second link profile for a third communication link available to the first STA by customizing one or more management elements of the management information associated with the first communication link, the second link profile including the one or more customized management elements used by the third communication link, the third communication link being associated with a third frequency band, The management frame also includes the second link profile.

18. The device according to claim 12, wherein: The instructions, when executed by the processor, further cause the apparatus to: configuring a second non-inherited element of a second link profile associated with the second communication link to indicate that use of at least one management element in the management information by the second communication link is prohibited, The management frame also includes the second link profile.

19. An apparatus for wireless communication, the apparatus being configurable to provide a function of a first access point (AP) corresponding to a first basic service set (BSS) for performing multi-link aggregation, the apparatus comprising: means for establishing a first communication link with a first STA of the first BSS using a first frequency band, the first communication link being associated with management information; means for determining a first link profile for a second communication link available to the first STA by customizing one or more management elements of the management information associated with the first communication link, the first link profile comprising one or more customized management elements used by the second communication link, the second communication link being associated with a second frequency band; means for configuring a first non-inherited element of the first link profile associated with the second communication link, the first non-inherited element indicating that use of at least one management element in the management information by the first STA via the second communication link is prohibited; means for generating a management frame comprising the first link profile, the first link profile comprising the one or more customized management elements used by the second communication link, and the first non-inherited element, the first non-inherited element indicating that use of the at least one management element is prohibited for the second communication link; as well as A unit configured to output the management frame for transmission to the first STA.

20. The device according to claim 19, wherein The first communication link is an anchor communication link used to establish a wireless association with the first STA, and the second communication link is a candidate communication link used by the first STA to implement the multi-link aggregation, further comprising: Means for determining to establish the second communication link in response to receiving a communication from the first STA indicating that the first STA supports establishing the second communication link based at least in part on the first link profile.

21. The apparatus of claim 20, further comprising means for dynamically enabling or disabling the second communication link based at least in part on an amount of active traffic between the apparatus and the first STA.

22. The device according to claim 20, wherein: The second communication link is established without performing a separate wireless association process between the apparatus and the first STA for the second communication link.

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