Resource unit sharing

Abstract

Resource unit (RU) sharing between access points in a wireless network is provided by: identifying a first access point (AP) associated with a first user device, wherein the first AP has won a competition for the RU; identifying a second AP associated with a second user device, wherein the first user device and the second user device are located in an overlapping area served by the first AP and the second AP; identifying an unused portion of the RU to which the first AP has not yet scheduled traffic between the first AP and the first user device; and allocating the unused portion to the second AP for communication between the second AP and the second user device.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] Embodiments presented in this disclosure generally relate to wireless transmission management. More specifically, embodiments disclosed herein relate to managing the allocation of resource units (RUs) such that unused portions of reserved RUs are available for reservation by additional devices. Although this disclosure generally provides examples of RUs of unspecified time length and unspecified number of subchannels or subcarriers (where a given RU may be of a different time length or a different number of subchannels than a subsequent RU), this disclosure may be applicable to networking standards or deployments that apply a specified time length or a specified number of subchannels or subcarriers to all or a portion of the RUs. Background Art

[0002] Wireless access points (APs) operating on the same spectrum reserve blocks of time and spectrum for communicating with user devices so that the communications do not overlap and interfere with each other. These blocks of time and spectrum are generally referred to as RUs, and a given communication specification may define an RU to include various subchannels and subtimes for specific communication tasks. For example, two uplink communications may occur simultaneously on different subchannels within an RU, or on the same subchannel at different times. The AP communicates the allocations of various times and channels to the user devices associated with it so that the user devices respect the allocations selected by the AP for a given RU. In various embodiments, when two or more APs are adjacent to each other, each AP may want to use the same RU. The RUs may be won through a contention process or allocated by a central network controller so that two APs do not attempt to use the same portion of the spectrum at the same time. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0003] In order that the manner in which the above-described features of the present disclosure can be understood in detail, a more particular description of the disclosure, briefly summarized above, may be had by reference to embodiments, some of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings. It should be noted, however, that the drawings illustrate typical embodiments and are therefore not to be considered limiting; other equally effective embodiments are also contemplated.

[0004] Figure 1A and Figure 1B A networked environment according to an embodiment of the present disclosure is shown.

[0005] Figure 2A and Figure 2B RU allocation for multiple access communications according to an embodiment of the present disclosure is shown.

[0006] Figure 3 is a flowchart of a method for RU sharing according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0007] Figure 4 is a flowchart of a method for RU sharing according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0008] Figure 5 is a flowchart of a method for RU sharing according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0009] Figure 6 The hardware of a computing device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure is shown.

[0010] To facilitate understanding, identical reference numerals have been used, where possible, to designate identical elements that are common to the figures. It is contemplated that elements disclosed in one embodiment may be beneficially utilized on other embodiments without specific recitation. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0011] Overview

[0012] Various aspects of the invention are set out in the independent claims and preferred features are set out in the dependent claims. Features of one aspect may apply to any aspect alone or in combination with other aspects.

[0013] One embodiment presented in the present disclosure provides a method for RU sharing, the method comprising: reserving, by a first access point (AP), a RU for use in an environment including an overlapping area served by the first AP and a second AP; allocating traffic between a first user device and the first AP in the RU; sending an invitation to the second AP identifying an unused portion of the RU; allocating a sub-portion of the unused portion to the second AP; and transmitting the traffic to the first user device during the RU.

[0014] One embodiment presented in the present disclosure provides a method for RU sharing, the method comprising: receiving at a first access point (AP) an invitation from a second AP (which has reserved a channel for a time period) to share an unused portion of a channel during the time period; reserving a sub-portion during the unused portion, wherein the sub-portion starts after the start of the time period and ends at or before the end of the time period; and allocating a service associated with the first AP to the sub-portion.

[0015] One embodiment presented in the present disclosure provides a method for RU sharing, the method comprising: identifying a first access point (AP) associated with a first user device, wherein the first AP has won competition for a resource unit (RU); identifying a second AP associated with a second user device, wherein the first user device and the second user device are located in an overlapping area served by the first AP and the second AP; identifying an unused portion of the RU to which the first AP has not yet scheduled traffic between the first AP and the first user device; and allocating the unused portion to the second AP for communication between the second AP and the second user device.

[0016] Example Embodiments

[0017] The present disclosure provides improvements in channel usage so that network deployments with more than one AP can use available bandwidth more efficiently for communications. An AP that has won or been allocated an RU notifies neighboring APs of any availability within the RU that the AP is willing to share. For example, a first AP can tell a second AP (directly or through a manager application) to reserve the RU that occupies channel 1 from time t1 to t3, but the first AP is only scheduled to use subchannels 1-4; although the first AP has reserved the RU, the second AP can use subchannels 5-9. For example, the second AP can then use subchannels 5-9 from time t2 to t3 so that the bandwidth in subchannels 5-9 does not become unused. In addition, the first AP can allow access to subchannels within a subset of the reserved times, so that the first AP can use a given subchannel during one time period, while the second AP can use that subchannel during a different time period.

[0018] In Wi-Fi (e.g., the 802.11 family of standards developed by the IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers)) and other contention-based networking standards, each device competes for access to the transmission medium. When a device "wins" a contention for access to the transmission medium, it can schedule transmissions to and from one or more other devices. Furthermore, the winning time period can be consistent across contentions (e.g., each winning device is allocated X milliseconds (ms) of access to the transmission medium) or can be variable across different contentions.

[0019] Figure 1A and Figure 1B FIG. 1 shows a network environment 100 according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. Figure 1A and Figure 1B As shown, multiple APs 110a-c (collectively, APs 110) serve various user devices (UDs) 120a-g (collectively, UDs 120) located within ranges 130a-c (collectively, ranges 130) of the respective APs 110a-c. As shown, the ranges 130 define several overlapping regions 140a-d (collectively, overlap regions 140), wherein a UD 120 located in an overlap region 140 can communicate with more than one AP 110. Conversely, some UDs 120 are located within one range 130 (i.e., not in the overlap region 140) and, therefore, can communicate directly with one AP 110.

[0020] For example, Figure 1AAs shown, the first UD 120a located in the first overlapping area 140a is located in the first to third ranges 130a-c and can send signals to and receive signals from the first to third APs 110a-c. The second UD 120b located in the second overlapping area 140b is located in both the first range 130a and the second range 130b (but not in the third range 130c) and can send signals to and receive signals from the first AP 110a and the second AP 110b (but not the third AP 110c). Figure 1A A given number of APs 110 and UDs 120 are shown at different locations relative to the range 130 of the APs 110, but more or fewer APs 110 and UDs 120 may be present in the network environment 100 and in conjunction with the network environment 100. Figure 1A In different positions shown.

[0021] In another example, Figure 1B In FIG. 1 , a first AP 110a may have a first range 130a having a first overlap region 140a shared with a second AP 110b and a second overlap region 140b shared with a third AP 110c, wherein the overlap region 140 is discontinuous. A UD 120 located in the overlap region 140 may be associated with any of the APs 110 whose ranges 130 form the overlap region 140. For example, in FIG. Figure 1B In the first overlapping region 140a, the first UD 120a and the seventh UD 120g may both be associated with (and served by) the first AP 110a or the second AP 110b, or one may be associated with the first AP 110a and the other with the second AP 110b.

[0022] In some embodiments, the scheduler 150 (e.g., a network controller) communicates with the AP 110 to manage the shared network provided by the AP 110 within the networked environment. The scheduler 150 may be included in the AP 110 or may be provided by a separate computing device. In various embodiments, the scheduler 150 communicates with the AP 110 via a wired connection (e.g., via a wired network interface) or may communicate with the AP 110 via wireless communication (e.g., via control frame messages). Figure 6 Example hardware that may be included in scheduler 150 is discussed in more detail.

[0023] AP 110 may include various networking devices configured to operate in accordance with various networking standards or radio access technologies (RATs) (e.g., IEEE 802.11 or “WiFi” networks, Wireless networks are provided by networks, "cellular" (including various generations and subtypes such as Long Term Evolution (LTE) and Fifth Generation New Radio (5G NR) networks, Citizens Broadband Radio Service (CBRS) networks, and proprietary networks. Figure 6 Example hardware that may be included in AP 110 is discussed in more detail.

[0024] Similarly, UD 120 may include any computing device configured to wirelessly connect to one or more APs 110. Example UD 120 may include, but is not limited to, smartphones, feature phones, tablets, laptops, desktop computers, Internet of Things (IoT) devices, etc. Figure 6 Example hardware that may be included in UD 120 is discussed in greater detail.

[0025] According to the various communication standards used by the AP 110 and the UD 120 for wireless communication, transmissions between the AP 110 and the UD 120 may be performed in various frequency bands on various channels (and sub-channels) at various times to avoid collisions or interference in the overlap region 140. For example, the first AP 110a, the second AP 110b, and the third AP 110c may each communicate over a shared channel at different times, or may communicate simultaneously (i.e., at shared times) on different channels. Devices in the network environment 100 may contend for access (or be scheduled by the scheduler 150 to access) various portions of the available transmission medium, including both spectrum and time.

[0026] As discussed herein, the portion of spectrum and time won in competition is referred to as a RU. The RU may include various defined portions related to a preamble, an interframe spacing, and various protocol data units defined in various standards. However, for ease of understanding, the present disclosure focuses on the portion of the RU used to transmit data (e.g., payload) between the AP 110 and the UD 120, and one of ordinary skill in the art will be able to apply the formatting, error correction / mitigation, and spacing specified by the relevant standards. Although the present disclosure generally provides examples of RUs with unspecified time lengths or unspecified numbers of subchannels or subcarriers (where a given RU may be a different time length or a different number of subchannels than a subsequent RU), the present disclosure is applicable to networking standards or deployments that apply a specified time length or a specified number of subchannels or subcarriers to all or a portion of the RUs.

[0027] In response to winning an RU, some devices in the network environment 100 reserve the RU for single access communication with a single partner (e.g., first UD 120a communicating with first AP 110a). In response to winning an RU, some other devices in the network environment 100 reserve the RU for multi-access communication. Multi-access communication allocates various subchannels of the RU for transmitting or receiving multiple data streams to one or more targets during the RU. For example, first AP 110a may allocate the first subchannel for communication with first UD 120a and the second and third subchannels for communication with second UD 120b. Various devices in the network environment 100 can choose to use the transmission medium for single access or multi-access communication and can change between single access and multi-access communication for a given RU. Furthermore, a device may use a given RU for uplink communication, downlink communication, or duplex communication (i.e., both uplink and downlink communication).

[0028] Figure 2A and Figure 2B RU allocations 200a and 200b for multi-access communications according to an embodiment of the present disclosure are shown, respectively. As shown, the RU includes seven subchannels J1-J7 and lasts from a start time t0 to an end time t7, but more or fewer than seven subchannels or longer or shorter durations may be included in the RU in various embodiments.

[0029] Figure 2A A first RU allocation 200a is illustrated, wherein a first AP 110a that has won contention or been scheduled for a RU is allocated traffic for communicating with one or more devices on various sub-channels of the RU. Figure 2A , the first AP 110a has allocated traffic to subchannel J1 from time t0 to t7, to subchannel J3 from time t0 to t3, to subchannel J4 from time t0 to t4, and to subchannel J5 from time t3 to t7, which are collectively referred to as the allocated portion 210 of the RU. In contrast, the unused portion 220 refers to those channels or portions of channels to which the first AP 110a has not yet allocated traffic. Figure 2A In the figure, the unused portion 220 includes subchannel J2 from time t0 to time t7, subchannel J3 from time t3 to time t7, subchannel J4 from time t4 to time t7, subchannel J5 from time t0 to time t3, subchannel J6 from time t0 to time t7, and subchannel J7 from time t0 to time t7.

[0030] exist Figure 2A, subchannels J2, J6, and J7 are idle subchannels because the first AP 110a has no traffic assigned to these subchannels. In contrast, based on the allocation of traffic to subchannels J3, J4, and J5, these channels are partially occupied subchannels, and subchannel J1 is a fully occupied subchannel. Both idle and partially occupied subchannels represent unused transmission opportunities—for either uplink or downlink messages. The first AP 110a may leave portions of an RU unused when the first AP 110a and associated UDs 120 do not have enough data to fill all subchannels or when the first AP 110a offers to share an RU with neighboring APs 110 for load balancing or prioritizing traffic handled by those APs 110.

[0031] Figure 2B A second RU allocation 200b is illustrated, in which the first AP 110a has shared access to the RU with other APs 110 and has scheduled times when these other APs 110 can send or receive communications. In various embodiments, when two or more other APs 110 are adjacent to the first AP 110a, these other APs 110 may compete for access to the unused portion 220 from the first RU allocation 200a, or may be scheduled by the first AP 110 (or an external scheduler 150) for access to the unused portion 220. Similarly, any unused portion 220 remaining after the second AP 110b is allowed to allocate traffic to the unused portion 220 may be available to other APs 110. The unused portion 220 may remain available for sharing until the available bandwidth during the RU is fully allocated, until the duration of any remaining bandwidth is too short for the AP 110 to use, or until the request period ends.

[0032] Compare Figure 2A and Figure 2B , the allocated portion 210 of the traffic handled by the first AP 110a remains the same, but the unused portion 220 has been partially filled with the shared portion 230 and the auxiliary portion 240 that handle traffic for the other APs 110. Each sub-portion of the RU used by the other APs 110 begins after the start time of the RU (e.g., at time t1 or later) and ends at or before the end time of the RU (e.g., at or before time t7). As will be understood, a sub-portion of a RU refers to a portion of the RU that is smaller than the entire RU.

[0033] Subchannel J2 shows the use of Figure 2AThe shared portion 230 may be a subset of the unused portion 220 of the first AP 110a. For example, the second AP 110b may use a subset of the available time in the idle subchannel to send a message to the UD 120 associated with the second AP 110b. The other UD 120 may be located in the overlap region 140 of the first AP 110a and the second AP 110b, or may be located outside the overlap region 140. The allocation of the shared portion 230 may leave some subchannels as unused portions 220 (e.g., from time t0 to time t1). For example, the remaining unused portion 220 may act as a buffer or give the first AP 110a time to invite the second AP 110b to share subchannel J2 and give the second AP 110b time to process the availability of the unused portion 220 and respond.

[0034] Subchannel J3 shows the use of Figure 2A 1. The shared portion 230 of the subset of the unused portion 220 of the subchannel is a subchannel where the spatial separation of the two APs 110 allows the first AP 110a to share the unused portion of the subchannel with both APs 110. For example, consider a second AP 110b attempting to communicate with a second UD 120b and a third AP 110c attempting to communicate with a third UD 120c. When the third UD 120c and the third AP 110c are out of range of the second AP 110b, messages sent from the second AP 110b will not interfere with messages sent between the third AP 110c and the third UD 120c (at their intended destination). Similarly, when the second UD 120b and the second AP 110b are out of range of the third AP 110c, messages sent from the third AP 110c will not interfere with messages sent between the second AP 110b and the second UD 120b (at their intended destination). Thus, the first AP 110a may simultaneously share a subset of RUs with more than one other AP 110 when the other APs 110 do not interfere with each other or the corresponding UDs 120. As shown, the shared portion 230 of two different APs 110 may last for different amounts of time.

[0035] Subchannels J4 and J5 illustrate that the shared portion 230 may be scheduled after the allocated portion 210 occurs (as in subchannel J4) or before the allocated portion 210 occurs (as in subchannel J5). In embodiments where the shared portion 230 precedes the allocated portion 210, some subchannels between the shared portion 230 and the allocated portion 210 may remain unallocated (e.g., from time t2 to time t3) to act as a buffer between transmissions from the two APs 110.

[0036] Subchannels J6 and J7 illustrate an auxiliary portion 240 in which the first AP 110a transmits a message to a UD 120 associated with another AP 110. For example, with respect to subchannel J6, the shared portion 230 (e.g., transmitted by the second AP 110b) may coincide with the auxiliary portion 240, such that the first AP 110a and the second AP 110b both transmit the same message jointly to the UD 120 associated with the second AP 110b. In another example, with respect to subchannel J7, the first AP 110a may transmit a message to the UD 120 associated with the second AP 110b on behalf of the second AP 110b, while the second AP 110b does not transmit the message (e.g., when the UD 120 is within the overlap region 140 of the first and second APs 110). In various embodiments, the message to be transmitted jointly with or on behalf of the second AP 110b is transmitted to the first AP 110 via a wired or wireless connection before the RU begins (e.g., before time t0). In some embodiments, when a message is transmitted over the wireless connection for transmission in the auxiliary portion 240, the message is transmitted on a channel different from the channel occupied by the RU.

[0037] Each RU subset used to process traffic (e.g., the allocated portion 210, the shared portion 230, and the auxiliary portion 240) can process uplink or downlink communications, and the direction of communication on one subchannel may be different from the direction of communication on another subchannel in the same RU. In addition, communications from one AP 110 can be addressed to one target device as different flows on different subchannels (e.g., addressed to a single UD 120 via channels J1, J3, J4, and J5), or can be addressed to several target devices (e.g., addressed to a first UD 120a via channel J1 and to a second UD 120b via channels J3, J4, and J5).

[0038] Figure 3FIG3 is a flow chart of a method 300 for RU sharing according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. In response to a first AP 110a reserving an RU (thus having priority over a channel or frequency band for a known period of time), the method 300 begins at block 310. In various embodiments, the first AP 110a reserves the RU through a contention process with other APs 110 in the network environment 100, or the RU may be allocated by a scheduler managing the APs 110. During the contention period, the first AP 110a requests the RU based on the requirements of the UD 120 associated with the first AP 110a. In some embodiments, when determining whether to allocate the RU to the first AP 110a to determine whether a neighboring AP 110 is also ready to transmit / receive data and can share the RU with the first AP 110a (e.g., after completing the current transmission / reception), the controller or scheduler 150 also evaluates performance parameters of the APs 110 neighboring the first AP 110a. When the neighboring APs 110 are able to share the RU and have data to send / receive, the scheduler 150 may decide to allocate a larger RU to the first AP 110a than originally requested by the first AP 110a, thereby providing additional time and / or bandwidth in the RU to share with the neighboring APs 110 to send / receive data during the RU.

[0039] At block 320, the first AP 110a allocates the RU reserved in block 310 for multi-access communication, where several subchannels of the RU may be allocated for communication with several different devices. Conversely, the AP 110 may also allocate the RU for single access, where the RU is used to communicate with another device (e.g., to send or receive messages to or from a UD 120 or another AP 110).

[0040] At block 330, the first AP 110a allocates traffic to the subchannels of the multi-access RU. In various embodiments, the traffic allocation may be for one or both of uplink communications (to the first AP 110a) or downlink communications (from the first AP 110a), and traffic to / from a given destination may be allocated to one or more subchannels in the RU.

[0041] At block 340, the first AP 110a invites other APs 110 to use the sub-portion of the RU that is not allocated for handling the traffic of the first AP 110a (i.e., the unused portion 220). In various embodiments, the first AP 110a invites the other APs 110 to share the unused portion 220 via a preamble for the RU that is broadcast by the first AP 110a to all devices. For example, the first AP 110 may broadcast the allocated portion 210 to the target device in the preamble of the RU, and the other APs 110 that have received the RU preamble interpret the gap in the allocated portion 210 as an invitation to contend for or request use of the unused portion 220. In some embodiments, the invitation is sent to the other APs 110 as a specific message (wirelessly or via a wired connection) that identifies the unused portion 220 to the other APs 110. Typically, the invitation identifies the start time of the RU, the end time of the RU (the duration from the start time or a specified time to the end), and any available time span on one or more subchannels so that other APs 110 can identify available subchannels no earlier than or extending beyond the available time of the RU. In other words, the shared portion 230 of the RU begins after the RU starts and ends at or before the RU ends.

[0042] In various embodiments, when a first AP 110a invites another AP 110 to share an RU won by the first AP 110a, the invited AP 110 may decide at or before the start of the RU, or at a time during the RU (and indicate the decision to the first AP 110a or the scheduler 150). For example, a second AP 110b and a third AP 110c may both be invited to share the RU won by the first AP 110a from time t0 to time t8. The second AP 110b may indicate at or before time t0 that the second AP 110b will reserve the unused portion 220 (e.g., from time t1 to time t4) as the shared portion. However, the third AP 110c may determine to allocate traffic to the unused portion 220 of the RU after time t0, and may reserve the shared portion 230 at time t3 for time t5-t8. For example, the third AP 110c in this example may receive priority traffic after time t0, end transmission on a different channel but still have data to send / receive after time t0, or not process the invitation or win contention for a given unused portion 220 until after time t0. In various embodiments, the first AP 110a or the scheduler 150 may schedule a RU 220 by keeping the invitation open for a predefined amount of time (e.g., x ms after sending the invitation), allowing it to remain open until a given time before the RU end time (e.g., x ms before the RU ends), or allowing it to remain open until a predefined time after the RU starts (e.g., time t 0+xand no allocation thereafter) to allow other APs 110 to reserve portions of the RU after the RU begins.

[0043] In embodiments where an invited AP 110 can reserve portions of the RU after the RU begins, the first AP 110a, the scheduler 150, or other AP 110 that has already reserved a portion of the shared RU can update the invitation to indicate which portions of the RU remain the unused portion 220 and / or which portions are now the shared portion 230 or auxiliary portion 240.

[0044] In various embodiments, when a given AP 110 (or UD 120) in the network environment 100 is only capable of transmitting in a single access mode, the first AP 110a may refrain from sending a directed invitation to the given AP 110 so that the given AP 110 does not attempt to communicate during the RU. In some embodiments, the first AP 110a may send a quiet period command to the given AP 110 (or UD 120) to request that the given AP 110 not communicate on the channel during the RU time.

[0045] At block 350, the first AP 110a allocates available subportions of the RU to other APs 110 for multi-access communication. In various embodiments, the other APs 110 compete for access to the unused portion 220, and the first AP 110a (or scheduler 150) allocates which subportions of the RU are allocated to the other APs 110. In various embodiments, the scheduler 150 of the first AP 110a (which initially won the RU) may use various strategies to break the contention between the other APs 110 seeking to share the RU, including giving preference to higher-priority traffic (e.g., delay-sensitive traffic), higher-priority devices (e.g., employees versus guests), etc. In various embodiments, the shared portion 230 may occupy an idle subchannel or a partially occupied channel (before or after the allocation portion 210 occurs). In some embodiments, the same unused portion 220 may be allocated to different APs 110 that serve different UDs 120 that are not within range 130 of the other APs 110. Shared portion 230 may occur on more or fewer subchannels than allocated portion 210 and may last for various durations.

[0046] The unused portions 220 of the RUs may be shared until the available bandwidth during the RU is fully allocated, until the duration of any remaining bandwidth is too short for the AP 110 to use, or until the request period ends. For example, in some embodiments, the first AP 110a shares some RUs with the second AP 110b, and then the second AP 110b shares any remaining unused portions 220 with other APs 110. In other words, the second AP 110b may perform parallel iterations of the method 300 using a subset of RUs that are not used by either the first AP 110a or the second AP 110b as the unused portions. In some embodiments, the first AP 110a retains control of the sub-portion of the RUs that are not used by either the first AP 110a or the second AP 110b, and the method 300 may return from block 350 to block 340 to invite the third AP 110c (or subsequent AP) to share the RUs.

[0047] At block 360, the first AP 110a sends and / or receives communications on the allocated portion 210 of the RU. Similarly, at block 360, the other APs 110 with which the first AP 110a shares access to the RU send and / or receive communications on the shared portion 230 of the RU.

[0048] In various embodiments, if a message has been received that the first AP 110a transmitted jointly with or on behalf of the second AP 110b, the first AP 110a may transmit the message during the auxiliary portion 240 of the RU during block 360. In some embodiments, when the first AP 110a transmits jointly with or on behalf of the second AP 110b, the first AP 110a may alter the header of a frame destined for the destination device to indicate that the source of the message is the second AP 110b, even though the first AP 110a transmitted the message. In other embodiments, during the initial negotiation between the UD 120 and the AP 110, when the UD 120 is located in the overlap region 140, one or more of the APs 110 indicate to the target device that data may be received from different or multiple APs 110, and when the first AP 110a transmits jointly with or on behalf of the second AP 110b, the header of the frame may remain unmodified (i.e., indicating the actual transmitting AP 110). The method 300 may then end.

[0049] Figure 44 is a flow chart of a method 400 for RU sharing according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. The method 400 begins at block 420 when the second AP 110b receives an invitation to use a shared RU won by the first AP 110a in the shared network environment 100. In various embodiments, the invitation is received as a specific message (e.g., in a control frame) that identifies when the RU begins, ends, and the subchannels, and when those subchannels are unoccupied. In some embodiments, the invitation is received as a preamble of the RU (identifying when the RU begins, ends, and the allocated portion 210 of the RU).

[0050] In some embodiments, the method 400 includes block 410, in which the second AP 110b loses contention for the shared RU occupied channel and time, before block 420 occurs. For example, the second AP 110b may contend for use of a given channel for at least some of the time the RU is occupied, but the first AP 110a wins the channel and time, with the first AP 110a subsequently sharing any unused portion 220 with the second AP 110b. In other embodiments, the second AP 110b may be invited to use and then share access to the RU won by the first AP 110a during the time or channel that the second AP 110b initially did not contend for, and the method 400 may omit block 410.

[0051] At block 430, the second AP 110b reserves a subportion of the shared RU that is not occupied by other APs 110. The second AP 110b may contend for access to the unused portion 220 (whether allocated simultaneously or sequentially). In various embodiments, the second AP 110b is granted access to some or all of the unused portion 220 before, after, or simultaneously with the third AP 110c being granted access to the unused portion 220. The second AP 110b requests a subportion of the shared RU to handle traffic for various UDs 120 associated with the second AP 110b, including uplink, downlink, and / or bidirectional traffic. In various embodiments, once the second AP 110b has reserved a subportion of the RU, the first AP 110a or the scheduler 150 prevents other APs 110 from also reserving overlapping subportions of the RU (unless those APs 110 are serving UDs 120 in the non-overlapping range 130).

[0052] In various embodiments, the shared portion 230 reserved for processing traffic by the second AP 110 may occur on a given subchannel that has no assigned portion 210 or is partially idle. On a partially idle subchannel, the shared portion 230 may occur before the assigned portion 210, after the assigned portion 210, or between two assigned portions 210.

[0053] At block 440, the second AP 110b allocates traffic to the sub-portion(s) reserved in block 430. In various embodiments, the second AP 110b prioritizes which traffic to allocate to the reserved sub-portion based on the priority of the traffic, which may include the delay sensitivity of the traffic, how full the buffer for the traffic is, the priority level or guaranteed service level of the connection, etc. The second AP 110b transmits the allocation to each UD 120 to remind the UD 120 to be ready to send and / or receive messages on each reserved sub-channel at each reserved time. In various embodiments, the allocation is transmitted in a wireless broadcast.

[0054] Optionally, at block 450, the second AP 110b shares the message with the first AP 110a for transmission on the reserved sub-portion. In some embodiments, the shared message is transmitted by the first AP 110a (rather than the second AP 110b), and the first AP 110a transmits the shared message on behalf of the second AP 110b in the shared portion 230. In some embodiments, the shared message is transmitted simultaneously and jointly by the first AP 110a and the second AP 110b on the reserved sub-channel. In various embodiments, the second AP 110b shares the message with the first AP 110a wirelessly on a channel different from the channel occupied by the RU and / or via a wired connection. When the second AP 110b instructs the first AP 110a to transmit the message on its behalf or jointly with the second AP 110b, the first AP 110a may modify the header of the frame destined for the target device to indicate that the source of the message is the second AP 110b. In other embodiments, during the initial negotiation between the UD 120 and the AP 110, when the UD 120 is located in the overlap region 140, one or more of the APs 110 indicate to the target device that data may be received from different or multiple APs 110, and when the first AP 110a transmits jointly with or on behalf of the second AP 110b, the header of the frame may remain unmodified (i.e., indicating the actual transmitting AP 110).

[0055] At block 460, the second AP 110b sends and / or receives communications over the shared portion 230 of the RU. Similarly, at block 460, the other APs 110 with which the first AP 110a shares access to the RU send and / or receive communications over the allocated portion 210 or the shared portion 230 of the RU. In various embodiments, if a message has been received that the first AP 110a sent jointly with or on behalf of the second AP 110b, the first AP 110a may send the message during the auxiliary portion 240 of the RU during block 460. The method 400 may then end.

[0056] Figure 5 5 is a flow chart of a method 500 for RU sharing according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. The method 500 begins at block 510, where the scheduler 150 (or the master AP 110 in the network environment 100) identifies APs 110 having overlapping ranges 130 and UDs 120 associated with these APs 110. For example, the scheduler 150 identifies a first AP 110a associated with a first UD 120a and a second AP 110b associated with a second UD 120b located in the overlapping area 140 of the first and second APs 110.

[0057] At block 520, the scheduler 150 identifies the unused portions 220 of the RUs won by the first AP 110a and, at block 530, allocates at least some of these unused portions 220 to the second AP 110b for use as the shared portions 230, which the second AP 110b can use to communicate with the second UD 120b. In various embodiments, the second AP 110b or the scheduler 150 communicates the allocation to the second UD 120b. In some embodiments, the scheduler 150 may repeat blocks 520 and 530 for subsequent APs 110 to allocate sub-portions of the RUs not used by other APs 110 to subsequent APs 110 (e.g., a third AP 110c). In some embodiments, the scheduler 150 may provide an RU to the AP 110a that is larger than the RU requested by the AP 110 after analyzing various performance parameters (e.g., the buffer depth of pending packets for devices in the overlap area 140), and this over-allocation may allow for increased opportunities for other neighboring APs 110 that also need to serve packets in the overlap area 140. For example, the scheduler 150 may allocate an RU with a longer duration and / or a larger number of subchannels than the duration and / or subchannels required by the first AP 110a that won the RU in the contention to serve the UD 120 associated with the first AP 110a, thereby providing an opportunity to share the unused portion 220 of the RU with one or more neighboring APs 110. Thus, the AP 110 may request a RU of X ms duration and / or occupy Y channels, but the scheduler 150 over-allocates the RU to have a duration of X+A ms and / or Y+B channels to provide additional capacity for the APs 110 to share.

[0058] Optionally, at block 540 , the scheduler 150 sends a quiet period command to one or more APs 110 that are not scheduled for communication during the RU to ensure that these APs 110 do not attempt to communicate on the channel used by the RU for the duration of the RU.

[0059] At block 550, the scheduler 150 allows the AP 110 to send or receive communications over the scheduled sub-channels during the scheduled time. The method 500 may then end.

[0060] Figure 6The hardware of a computing device 600 is shown, such as may be used in the AP 110, UD 120, or scheduler 150 described in this disclosure. The computing device 600 includes a processor 610, a memory 620, and a communication interface 630. The processor 610 can be any processing element capable of performing the functions described herein. The processor 610 represents a single processor, multiple processors, a processor with multiple cores, and combinations thereof. The communication interface 630 facilitates communication between the computing device 600 and other devices. The communication interface 630 represents a wireless communication antenna and various wired communication ports. The memory 620 can be volatile or non-volatile memory and can include RAM, flash memory, cache, disk drives, and other computer-readable memory storage devices. Although shown as a single entity, the memory 620 can be divided into different memory storage elements, such as RAM and one or more hard drives.

[0061] As shown, the memory 620 includes various instructions executable by the processor 610 to provide an operating system 621 for managing various functions of the computing device 600 and one or more applications 622 for providing various functions to the user of the computing device 600, including one or more of the functions and functionalities described in this disclosure. In addition, the memory 620 includes one or more neighbor lists 623 that indicate which APs 110 can (or are expected to) request or propose sharing RUs. The neighbor lists 623 can include details of neighboring APs 110, such as MAC addresses, signaling capabilities, extensions of associated ranges 130, etc., to enable the computing device 600 to determine where overlapping areas 140 exist, whether two APs 110 have continuous ranges 130, and what information to include in the header or preamble when processing sharing messages in the auxiliary portion 240 of the RU.

[0062] In summary, resource unit (RU) sharing between access points in a wireless network is provided by: identifying a first access point (AP) associated with a first user device, wherein the first AP wins the competition for the RU; identifying a second AP associated with a second user device, wherein the first user device and the second user device are located in an overlapping area served by the first AP and the second AP; identifying an unused portion of the RU to which the first AP has not yet scheduled traffic between the first AP and the first user device; and allocating the unused portion to the second AP for communication between the second AP and the second user device.

[0063] In the present disclosure, reference is made to various embodiments. However, the scope of the present disclosure is not limited to the specifically described embodiments. On the contrary, any combination of the described features and elements, whether or not related to different embodiments, is contemplated to implement and practice the contemplated embodiments. In addition, when the elements of an embodiment are described in the form of "at least one of A and B", it should be understood that embodiments comprising only element A, only element B, and both elements A and B are considered. In addition, although some embodiments disclosed herein can achieve advantages over other possible solutions or prior art, whether a given embodiment achieves a specific advantage does not limit the scope of the present disclosure. Therefore, the various aspects, features, embodiments, and advantages disclosed herein are merely illustrative and are not considered to be elements or limitations of the appended claims unless expressly stated in (one or more) claims. Similarly, reference to "the present invention" should not be interpreted as a summary of any inventive subject matter disclosed herein and should not be considered to be elements or limitations of the appended claims unless expressly stated in (one or more) claims.

[0064] As will be appreciated by those skilled in the art, the embodiments disclosed herein may be embodied as systems, methods, or computer program products. Thus, the embodiments may take the form of entirely hardware embodiments, entirely software embodiments (including firmware, resident software, microcode, etc.), or embodiments combining software and hardware aspects, which may all be collectively referred to herein as "circuits," "modules," or "systems." Furthermore, the embodiments may take the form of a computer program product embodied in one or more computer-readable media having computer-readable program code contained thereon.

[0065] Program code embodied on a computer readable medium may be transmitted using any appropriate medium, including but not limited to wireless, wireline, optical fiber cable, RF, etc., or any suitable combination of the foregoing.

[0066] The computer program code for performing the operations of the embodiments of the present disclosure can be written in any combination of one or more programming languages, including object-oriented programming languages ​​such as Java, Smalltalk, C++, and traditional procedural programming languages ​​such as the "C" programming language or similar programming languages. The program code can be executed entirely on the user's computer, partially on the user's computer, as a stand-alone software package, partially on the user's computer and partially on a remote computer, or entirely on a remote computer or server. In the latter case, the remote computer can be connected to the user's computer through any type of network, including a local area network (LAN) or a wide area network (WAN), or can be connected to an external computer (e.g., via the Internet using an Internet service provider).

[0067] Various aspects of the present disclosure are described herein with reference to the flow charts and / or block diagrams of the methods, devices (systems) and computer program products of the embodiments presented in the present disclosure. It should be understood that each frame of the flow charts and / or block diagrams, and the combination of frames in the flow charts and / or block diagrams can be implemented by computer program instructions. These computer program instructions can be provided to the processor of a general-purpose computer, a special-purpose computer or other programmable data processing device to produce a machine, so that the instructions executed by the processor of the computer or other programmable data processing device create a method for implementing the function / action specified in (one or more) frames of the flow charts and / or block diagrams.

[0068] These computer program instructions may also be stored in a computer-readable medium, which can direct a computer, other programmable data processing apparatus, or other device to operate in a specific manner so that the instructions stored in the computer-readable medium produce an article of manufacture including instructions for implementing the functions / actions specified in (one or more) boxes of the flowchart and / or block diagram.

[0069] The computer program instructions may also be loaded onto a computer, other programmable data processing apparatus, or other device to cause a series of operational steps to be performed on the computer, other programmable apparatus, or other device to produce a computer-implemented process, such that the instructions executed on the computer, other programmable data processing apparatus, or other device provide a process for implementing the functions / actions specified in (one or more) boxes of the flowchart and / or block diagram.

[0070] The flow chart and block diagram in the figure illustrate the architecture, function and operation of the possible implementation of the system, method and computer program product according to various embodiments.In this regard, each frame in the flow chart or block diagram can represent a part for a module, segment or code, which includes one or more executable instructions for realizing (one or more) specified logical functions.It should also be noted that in some alternative implementations, the function marked in the frame may not occur in the order marked in the figure.For example, the two frames shown in succession can actually be performed substantially simultaneously, or these frames can sometimes be performed in reverse order, depending on the function involved.It should also be noted that the combination of each frame of the block diagram and / or flow chart and the frame in the block diagram and / or flow chart can be realized by a system based on dedicated hardware or a combination of dedicated hardware and computer instructions that performs a specified function or action.

[0071] In view of the foregoing, the scope of the present disclosure is determined by the following claims.

Claims

1. A method for resource unit sharing, comprising: reserving, by a first access point AP, a resource unit RU for use in an environment including an overlapping area served by said first AP and a second AP; Allocating, in the RU, traffic between the first user equipment and the first AP; sending an invitation to the second AP, the invitation identifying the unused portion of the RU; allocating a sub-portion of the unused portion to the second AP; transmitting the service to the first user equipment during the RU; as well as During the sub-portion, the first AP sends the message to the second user device associated with the second AP at the same time as the second AP sends the message to the second user device; or, during the sub-portion, the message is received from the second AP for transmission to the second user device associated with the second AP, and the first AP sends the message to the second user device on behalf of the second AP.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein The invitation ID: The start time of the RU; The end time of the RU; and available subchannels during the unused portion; and The time during which the subpart starts after the start time and ends at or before the end time occupies the available subchannel.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising: Allocating, in the RU, a service between a third user equipment and the first AP; and The first message between the first AP and the first user equipment and the second message between the first AP and the third user equipment are transmitted on different sub-channels at a shared time.

4. The method according to claim 3, wherein: The first message is transmitted on a different number of sub-channels than the second message.

5. The method according to claim 3, wherein: The first message is transmitted for a different length of time than the second message.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein: The unused portion comprises subchannels, wherein For a time before the unused portion is scheduled to occur, the service is allocated to the sub-channel in the RU.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein: The service includes at least one of an uplink message and a downlink message.

8. A method for resource unit sharing, comprising: receiving, at a first access point AP, an invitation from a second AP that has reserved a channel for a time period to share an unused portion of the channel for the time period; retaining a sub-portion of the period of the unused portion, wherein the sub-portion begins after the start of the time period and ends on or before the end of the time period; allocating traffic associated with the first AP to the sub-portion; sending a downlink message to a first user equipment associated with the first AP to the second AP, the downlink message being part of the traffic allocated to the subportion; and and sending the downlink message to the first user equipment together with the second AP.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising at least one of the following: sending a downlink message to a user equipment during the sub-portion; and An uplink message is received from the user equipment during the sub-portion.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein: The subportion is reserved on a partially occupied subchannel, wherein the subportion occupies a time range in the partially occupied subchannel outside of which the second AP has allocated traffic to the partially occupied subchannel.

11. A device for resource unit sharing, comprising: means for reserving, by a first access point AP, resource units RU for use in an environment comprising an overlapping area served by said first AP and a second AP; a device for allocating, in the RU, traffic between the first user equipment and the first AP; a device for sending an invitation to the second AP, the invitation identifying an unused portion of the RU; means for allocating a sub-portion of the unused portion to the second AP; a device for transmitting the service to the first user equipment during the RU; as well as A device for, during the sub-portion, at the same time that the second AP sends the message to the second user device associated with the second AP, the first AP jointly sends the message to the second user device; or, a device for, during the sub-portion, receiving a message from the second AP for transmission to the second user device associated with the second AP, and sending the message to the second user device on behalf of the second AP.

12. The apparatus according to claim 11, further comprising: Device for implementing the method according to any one of claims 2 to 7.

13. A computer program product comprising instructions which, when executed by a computer, cause the computer to perform the steps of the method according to any one of claims 1 to 10.

14. A computer-readable medium comprising instructions which, when executed by a computer, cause the computer to perform the steps of the method according to any one of claims 1 to 10.

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