Systems, methods, and apparatuses for signaling support for EHT redundancy capabilities

Abstract

An extremely high throughput (EHT) station (STA) encodes a management frame to include a quality of service (QoS) capabilities element that includes a QoS information field configured as a signal QoS redundancy capability. The EHT STA can set a QoS redundancy bit in the QoS information field of the QoS capabilities element to indicate (i.e., signal) that the EHT STA supports redundancy of QoS data frames. The EHT STA can include an extended capabilities element in the management frame and set a new redundancy indicator bit in the extended capabilities element to indicate (i.e., signal) that the EHT STA supports redundancy of a selected subset of IEEE 802.11 management frames.

Description

[0001] CLAIM OF PRIORITY

[0002] This application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Patent Application Serial No. 63 / 056,019, filed July 24, 2020 [Ref. No. AD1284-Z] and U.S. Provisional Patent Application Serial No. 63 / 133,645, filed January 4, 2021 [Ref. No. AD4389-Z], which are incorporated by reference in their entirety. TECHNICAL FIELD

[0003] Embodiments relate to wireless communications. Some embodiments relate to IEEE P802.11be and Extremely High Throughput (EHT) networks. Some embodiments apply to signaling redundancy capabilities. Some embodiments relate to Multi-Link Device (MLD) operations. BACKGROUND

[0004] One issue with communicating data over a wireless network is redundancy. Redundancy is a component of time sensitive networking and it helps to meet the high reliability and constrained latency requirements of time sensitive traffic. In a wireless network, a signaling mechanism is needed in order for peers to be aware of support or non-support of redundancy. Currently, there is no standard mechanism in a wireless network to indicate support for redundancy. Therefore, there is a general need to indicate support for redundancy. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

[0005] Figure 1 A QoS capabilities element is shown in accordance with some embodiments.

[0006] Figure 2A A QoS information field for a STA is shown in accordance with some embodiments.

[0007] Figure 2B A QoS information field for an AP is shown in accordance with some embodiments.

[0008] Figure 3 An extended capabilities element is shown in accordance with some embodiments.

[0009] Figure 4 Semantics of a service primitive are shown in accordance with some embodiments.

[0010] Figure 5 An internal access priority field is shown in accordance with some embodiments.

[0011] Figure 6 A functional block diagram of a wireless communication device is shown in accordance with some embodiments. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0012] The following description and drawings are illustrative of specific embodiments and are not intended to limit the scope of the embodiments. Other embodiments can incorporate structural, logical, electrical, process, and other changes. Some embodiments can include parts and features of other embodiments, or parts and features can be replaced by parts and features of other embodiments. Embodiments set forth in the claims are intended to encompass all available equivalents thereof.

[0013] Some embodiments are directed to Extremely High Throughput (EHT) stations (STAs). In these embodiments, an EHT STA can be configured to encode management frames for transmission. The management frames can be encoded to include a Quality of Service (QoS) capabilities element that includes a QoS information field configured to signal a QoS redundancy capability. In these embodiments, the EHT STA can set a QoS redundancy bit in the QoS information field of the QoS capabilities element to indicate (i.e., signal) that the EHT STA supports redundancy of QoS data frames. In some of these embodiments, the EHT STA can include an extended capabilities element in the management frame and set a new redundancy indicator bit in the extended capabilities element to indicate (i.e., signal) that the EHT STA supports redundancy of a selected subset of IEEE 802.11 management frames. In these embodiments, this signaling can allow a peer station to identify when an EHT STA supports redundancy of QoS traffic and supports redundancy of certain management frames. This can help provide high reliability and constrained latency requirements for time sensitive traffic, although the scope of embodiments is not limited in this respect. These embodiments are described in more detail below.

[0014] In some embodiments, if the EHT STA is indicated to support redundancy of QoS data frames, the EHT STA can encode a copy of the QoS data frame for transmission in a MAC header of the QoS data frame or for traffic stream indication based on a traffic identifier (TID). In these embodiments, the EHT STA can decode a copy of a QoS data frame received from another EHT STA when in a MAC header of the QoS data frame or for traffic stream indication based on a TID.

[0015] In some embodiments, when the EHT STA is indicated to support redundancy of a subset of management frames, the EHT STA can encode a copy of a management frame of the subset for transmission when in a MAC header of the management frame or indicated based on an agreement with another EHT STA (e.g., an EHT access point (AP) STA). In some embodiments, the EHT STA can decode a copy of a management frame of the subset received from another EHT STA when indicated in a MAC header of the management frame or based on an agreement with the other EHT STA.

[0016] In some embodiments, when an EHT STA does not support redundancy of QoS data frames, the EHT STA can be configured to prohibit setting the QoS redundancy bit in the QoS information field of the QoS capability element. In some embodiments, when an EHT STA does not support redundancy of a subset of management frames, the EHT STA can prohibit setting the redundancy indicator bit in the Extended Capability element.

[0017] In some embodiments, an EHT STA is configured to negotiate a Block- Acknowledgement (BA) agreement with another EHT STA. The BA agreement can indicate whether QoS data frames are to be duplicated and / or whether a subset of management frames are to be duplicated.

[0018] In some embodiments, when an EHT STA operates as an EHT Access Point STA (AP STA), the management frame can be a beacon frame and the subset of management frames includes at least the beacon frame, although the scope of embodiments is not limited in this respect as other management frames can also be included. In some embodiments, when an EHT STA operates as a non-AP STA, the management frame can be an association request frame or a re-association request frame.

[0019] In these embodiments, the QoS redundancy bit in the QoS information field of the QoS capability element can be used to indicate whether an EHT STA supports redundancy. Whether an EHT STA actually needs to duplicate a data frame (on a per-frame basis) can be indicated by one bit in the MAC header traffic stream (on a per-TID basis), which can be pre-negotiated between the AP and the STA. Whether an EHT STA actually needs to duplicate a management frame can be pre-defined, pre-negotiated, or indicated by one bit in the MAC header. In some embodiments, the redundancy transmission requirement can be indicated by one bit in the MAC header or by a redundancy header when integrated with a redundancy EtherType protocol such as 802.1CB, although the scope of embodiments is not limited in this respect.

[0020] In some embodiments, for Multi-Link Device (MLD) operation (MLO), when an EHT STA operates as a STA affiliated with a Multi-Link Device (MLD), the EHT STA can be configured to encode a management frame to include an Internal Access Category Priority element to indicate a redundancy transmission requirement. In these embodiments, the MLD can include a plurality of affiliated STAs. In some embodiments, based on the indication of the redundancy transmission requirement, the EHT STA can be configured to cause the MLD to initiate redundant packet transmission with another MLD on more than one link. These embodiments allow IEEE 802.11 networks to provide low-latency services with high reliability and will enable TSN services and Ultra-Reliable Low-Latency Communication (URLLC) on 802.11be.

[0021] In some of these embodiments, the redundancy transmission requirement is for a particular access category or traffic stream. In some embodiments, the management frame encoded to include the internal access category priority element includes one or more of an Add Traffic Stream (ADDTS) Request frame, a Quality of Service (QoS) Map Configuration frame, and a Stream Classification Service (SCS) Request frame.

[0022] In some embodiments, the redundancy transmission requirement is a requirement of an established Block Acknowledgement (BA) agreement that allows QoS data frames for a TID aggregated within an A-MPDU to be exchanged between two MLDs on available links.

[0023] In some embodiments, an EHT STA can be configured to encode an internal access category priority element to include a redundancy indication (RI) subfield in an internal access priority field within the internal access category priority element to indicate a redundancy transmission requirement. In some embodiments, when set, the RI indicates that a particular traffic stream (TS) is to be duplicated and transmitted on more than one link.

[0024] In some embodiments, the MLD can be a STA MLD or an AP MLD. In some embodiments, the MLD can have a single medium access control (MAC) service access point (SAP) to a logical link control (LLC) that includes one MAC data service.

[0025] Some embodiments are directed to a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium that stores instructions for execution by processing circuitry of an Extremely High Throughput (EHT) station.

[0026] Some embodiments are directed to an Extremely High Throughput (EHT) station (STA) configured for multi-link device (MLD) operation (MLO) when the EHT STA operates as a STA affiliated with a MLD. In these embodiments, the MLD can include a plurality of affiliated STAs. In these embodiments, the EHT STA can be configured to encode a management frame to include an internal access category priority element to indicate a redundancy transmission requirement. Based on the indication of the redundancy transmission requirement, the EHT STA can be configured to cause the MLD to initiate redundant packet transmission with another MLD on more than one link. These embodiments are described in more detail below.

[0027] Example embodiments of the present disclosure relate to systems, methods, and apparatuses for a framework of signaling support for redundancy capabilities in wireless networks. In some embodiments, a redundancy capabilities system can facilitate mechanisms for signaling support for redundancy of quality of service (QoS) traffic in a QoS capabilities element, and support for redundancy of a selected subset of IEEE 802.11 management frames in an extended capabilities element. With the proposed mechanisms, two peer apparatuses can discover support for redundancy, and thus enable a redundant path, providing high reliability and constrained latency for transmitting payloads over IEEE 802.11 medium.

[0028] In one or more embodiments, the redundancy capabilities system can facilitate the QoS capabilities element to be included in a beacon frame when transmitted by an AP with QoS capabilities, and in an [re]association request frame when transmitted by a STA with QoS capabilities.

[0029] Figure 1 A QoS capabilities element is shown in accordance with some embodiments. In one or more embodiments, the QoS information field needs to be extended to a length of 2 octets in order to accommodate the additional bits needed to signal QoS redundancy capabilities. In one or more embodiments, the redundancy capabilities system can facilitate the definition of the QoS information field when the transmitter is a STA. Figure 2A A QoS information field for a STA is shown in accordance with some embodiments. In one or more embodiments, the redundancy capabilities system can facilitate the definition of the QoS information field when the transmitter is an AP. Figure 2B A QoS information field for an AP is shown in accordance with some embodiments. In one or more embodiments, the redundancy capabilities system can facilitate the QoS redundancy bit to be set to 1 to indicate that this implementation supports redundancy of QoS data frames, and 0 otherwise.

[0030] In one or more embodiments, the redundancy capabilities system can facilitate the definition of a new bit in the extended capabilities element to indicate support for redundancy of a selected subset of IEEE 802.11 management frames. If this bit is set to 1, it indicates that the underlying implementation supports redundancy of a selected subset of IEEE 802.11 management frames, and 0 otherwise. Figure 3 An extended capabilities element is shown in accordance with some embodiments.

[0031] One of the main challenges for next generation Wi-Fi technology is to support Time-Sensitive Networking (TSN) and Real-Time Applications (RTA), which require high reliability, low latency, and jitter. Defining better support for TSN and RTA applications is part of the scope of the next generation Wi-Fi being developed by the 802.11be task group.

[0032] Multi-link operation (MLO) is defined in 802.11be, but there is no mechanism for applications (upper layers) to request / negotiate the service of providing redundant data frames over more than one link to achieve high reliability and low latency constraints using this multi-link capability. It is agreed in 802.11be that the Block ACK (BA) agreement established allows the exchange of QoS data frames for TIDs aggregated within A-MPDUs between two MLDs on any available link. This means that data frames can be transmitted on any available link, but there are no specific rules / requirements defined in 11be for implementing redundancy capabilities. In order to support redundancy in 802.11be using multi-link operation, the following capabilities still need to be defined:

[0033] 1) Interface and mechanism to indicate redundancy transmission requirements.

[0034] 2) Rules for 802.11be MLD (multi-link device) to handle frames or traffic flows with redundancy requirement indication, which includes frame duplication and transmission on more than one available link.

[0035] Embodiments disclosed herein provide one or more methods to indicate redundancy requirements by using an internal access category priority element. Some embodiments propose reusing the internal access category priority element that optionally exists in ADDTS request, QoS map configuration, or SCS (stream classification service) request frames, which is used by the STA to convey the relative priority of intra-AC flows to the AP. There are three different methods to indicate redundancy requirements, which include:

[0036] 1) Redundancy requirements can be included as part of low latency or other QoS signaling mechanisms to identify data flows that require redundancy requirements. Redundancy requirements can also be identified by a specific TID (existing or new TID value) associated with traffic flows that require high reliability.

[0037] 2) Enhancement to IEEE 802.1 layer protocols.

[0038] High Availability Seamless Redundancy (HSR), Parallel Redundancy Protocol (PRP), and 802.1CB are redundancy protocols defined for time-sensitive networks to improve reliability with constrained latency. After applying any of these redundancy protocols on the 802.1 layer, the data packets forwarded down to 802.11 will have a redundancy tag attached as the Ether Type. Therefore, for devices that support 802.1 layer redundancy protocols, the redundancy protocol can be applied to the attached redundancy tag to indicate redundancy requirements. Therefore, 802.11be MLDs can perform frame duplication and transmission on more than one available link based on the redundancy tag.

[0039] Note: Other parameters related to QoS requirements, such as packet delivery rate, delay constraints, can be defined using the reserved bits in the Redundancy Tag Info field.

[0040] 3) Add redundancy requirement in MA-UNITDATA request of 802.11 MAC data service primitive. Figure 4 The semantics of the service primitive are shown according to some embodiments.

[0041] Example embodiments of the present disclosure relate to systems, methods, and apparatuses for using multi-link to enable redundancy in 802.11be to support low latency reliable services. In one embodiment, the redundancy system can facilitate a method of reusing the intra-access category priority element to indicate a redundancy requirement of a multi-link device (MLD) to initiate redundant packet transmission on more than one available link. This can enable 802.11 networks to provide low latency services with high reliability. This new capability is expected to be one of the major new features in 802.11be and will enable Time-Sensitive Networking (TSN) services and Ultra-Reliable Low-Latency Communication (URLLC) over 802.11be.

[0042] High Availability Seamless Redundancy (HSR), Parallel Redundancy Protocol (PRP), and 802.1CB are redundancy protocols defined for Time-Sensitive Networking to improve reliability with constrained latency. After applying any of these redundancy protocols on the 802.1 layer, the packets forwarded down to the 802.11 layer will be attached with a redundancy tag as the Ether Type (see Figure 4 ). Therefore, for a device that supports a layer redundancy protocol, the redundancy protocol can be applied to the attached redundancy tag to indicate the redundancy requirement. Therefore, an 802.11be MLD can make frame duplication and transmission on more than one available link based on the redundancy tag.

[0043] Figure 5 The internal access priority field is shown according to some embodiments. Some embodiments disclosed herein define the redundancy requirement using one of the reserved bits between B5-B7 in the internal access priority field within the internal access category priority element. As shown in Figure 5 , as a demonstration, the 5th bit (B5) can be defined as a “Redundancy Indication” (RI) subfield. When it equals 1, it indicates that the IS needs to be duplicated and transmitted on more than one available link.

[0044] In one or more embodiments, redundancy can reuse the B0-B2 bits in the internal access priority field to define a “TID” value instead of the baseline definition of “User Priority”.

[0045] It has been proposed to define new 8 TIDs (TID 8 through TID 15). The new 8 TIDs are used to distinguish EHT traffic that requires QoS management (specifically, low latency, jitter, frame rate, etc.) from legacy VI, VO, BE, and RK traffic identified by the lower 8 TIDs (TID 0 through TID 7).

[0046] In essence, the TID value in the B0-B2 subfield indicates the TID of the MSDU or A-MSDU of the flow that the inner access category priority element is concerned with.

[0047] In one or more embodiments, redundancy can facilitate that the primary EDCA queue for the traffic identified by the TID subfield in the inner access priority field is set to AC_VO. When the value in the alternate queue subfield is set to 0, then the traffic corresponding to the TID in the B0-B2 subfield is queued in the AC_VO queue. When the alternate queue subfield is set to 1, then an alternate EDCA queue is used for this AC. This can facilitate queuing optimization when the primary queue is non-empty.

[0048] In one or more embodiments, redundancy can facilitate that if the B5 (redundancy) value is set to 1, then the drop eligibility subfield should be set to 0. In other words, for traffic that requires redundancy, the packet should not be dropped due to resource limitations.

[0049] In one or more embodiments, redundancy can facilitate that the subfield in the B6 bit position is defined as “access policy”. When this bit is set to 1, the channel access for the traffic with the TID value indicated in bits B0-B2 should be trigger-based (for non-AP MLD) or using DL MU PPDU (for AP MLD). When this bit is set to 0, the preference between EDCA-based access or trigger-based access is selected based on the QoS requirements.

[0050] When the SCS (or MSCS) descriptor element consists of the inner access category priority element, then the classifier parameter (user priority) in the frame classifier field of the TCLAS element is ignored. In addition, the UP subfield in the TS information field of the TSPC element is reserved.

[0051] In case the internal access category priority element is aggregated with the MSCS descriptor element, then it is proposed to reuse the "User Priority Bitmap" subfield in the MSCS descriptor element as the "TID Priority Bitmap" subfield. In some embodiments, each bit in the bitmap corresponds to a TID, with the least significant bit corresponding to TID value 15 and the most significant bit corresponding to TID value 8. In some embodiments, a value of 1 in a bit position in the bitmap indicates that the corresponding TID is used when assigning TIDs to flows classified by the MSCS; a value of 0 in a bit position indicates that the corresponding TID is not used for this purpose. In some embodiments, the TID values with a value of 1 in the bitmap correspond to the TID values indicated in the internal access category priority element.

[0052] Device-centric QoS management, after the MSCS (or SCS) request (carrying the MSCS or SCS descriptor element) and response frame exchange between the non-AP MLD and the AP MLD, the STA (or non-AP MLD) can indicate the preferred TID values (bits set to 1 in the bitmap) in its UL PPDU so that the AP MLD mirrors the corresponding TIDs in its DL PPDU. As part of the QoS negotiation, the AP and the non-AP MLD associate the redundancy requirement with the traffic stream. For traffic streams with redundancy requirement, the non-AP MLD also adds the internal access category priority element in the MSCS request frame, where B0-B2 is equal to the corresponding preferred TID of the traffic stream, B4 is equal to 0, and B5 is equal to 1. Note that it can also be present in the QoS Map Configuration or ADDTS Request frame. Thus, the AP MLD will trigger the redundant data transmission for the corresponding TIDs in the DL PPDU.

[0053] For network-centric QoS management, if the AP sends the MSCS descriptor element (in the request frame) or the descriptor element included in the response frame, the AP can indicate the preferred TID values (bits set to 1 in the bitmap) in its DL PPDU so that the non-AP MLD mirrors the corresponding TIDs in its UL PPDU. For traffic streams with redundancy requirement, the AP MLD also adds the internal access category priority element in the MSCS request frame, where B0-B2 is equal to the corresponding preferred TID of the traffic stream, B4 is equal to 0, and B5 is equal to 1. Note that it can also be present in the QoS Map Configuration or ADDTS Request frame. Thus, the non-AP MLD will trigger the redundant data transmission for the corresponding TIDs in the UL PPDU.

[0054] When a MAC SAP receives an MSDU, if the associated internal access category priority element with the corresponding TID of the MSDU is set to B5 = 1, the MAC SAP will schedule the transmission of the MSDU on more than one available link before an acknowledgement is received. The number of links is determined by implementation. In some embodiments, the physical layer protocol data unit can be a physical layer conformance procedure (PLCP) protocol data unit (PPDU).

[0055] In some embodiments, the AP and STAs can communicate in accordance with one of the IEEE 802.11 standards. IEEE 802.11-2016 is incorporated herein by reference. IEEE P802.11-REVmd / D2.4 of August 2019 and IEEE Draft Specification IEEE P802.11ax / D5.0 of October 2019 are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.

[0056] The extended capabilities element ( Figure 3 ) carries information about the capabilities of the STA that enhance the capabilities specified in the capabilities information field. The extended capabilities field is a bit field that indicates the extended capabilities advertised by the STA transmitting the element.

[0057] In some embodiments, a station (STA) can refer to a logically separate addressable instance of a medium access control (MAC) and physical layer (PHY) interface to a wireless medium (WM). In the context of an IEEE 802.11 medium access control (MAC) entity, a communication link (or just “link”) can refer to a physical path consisting of a single traversal of the wireless medium (WM) that can be used to transfer MAC service data units (MSDUs) between two STAs.

[0058] In multi-link communication, a multi-link device (MLD), also referred to as a multi-link logical entity (MLLE), can refer to a device with more than one attached STA and the device has a medium access control (MAC) layer service access point (SAP) (e.g., of a communication layer stack) to a logical link control (LLC) that can include MAC data services. An AP MLD (A MLD) can refer to an AP device where each STA attached to the STA MLD is an AP. A non-AP ML device (non-AP MLD) can be an A MLD where each STA attached to the MLD is a non-AP STA. An MLD can be considered a logical / virtual entity with multiple STAs (e.g., AP STAs or non-AP STAs) and each STA can use a separate communication link with a corresponding STA of another MLD concurrently. In this way, an MLD can communicate concurrently on multiple communication links without having to give up one communication link to allow another communication link to be established.

[0059] Multi-Link Operation (MLO) is an important 802.11be feature that allows a device to communicate with another device using multiple links on different channels / bands. A device that supports multi-link is an MLD.

[0060] In one embodiment, Figure 6 A functional block diagram of a communication station (STA) is shown, which can be suitable for use as an AP STA, a non-AP STA, or other user device, according to some embodiments. The communication station 600 can also be suitable for use as a handset, a mobile device, a cellular phone, a smartphone, a tablet computer, a netbook, a wireless terminal, a laptop computer, a wearable computer device, a femtocell, a high data rate (HDR) subscriber station, an access point, an access terminal, or other personal communication system (PCS) device.

[0061] The communication station 600 can include communication circuitry 602 and a transceiver 610 for transmitting signals to and receiving signals from other communication stations using one or more antennas 601. The communication circuitry 602 can include circuitry that can operate a physical layer (PHY) communication and / or medium access control (MAC) communication for controlling access to a wireless medium, and / or any other communication layers for transmitting and receiving signals. The communication station 600 can also include processing circuitry 606 and memory 608 arranged to perform the operations described herein. In some embodiments, the communication circuitry 602 and the processing circuitry 606 can be configured to perform the operations detailed in the above figures, diagrams, and flowcharts.

[0062] According to some embodiments, the communication circuitry 602 can be arranged to contend for the wireless medium and configure frames or packets for communication over the wireless medium. The communication circuitry 602 can be arranged to transmit and receive signals. The communication circuitry 602 can also include circuitry for modulation / demodulation, upconversion / downconversion, filtering, amplification, etc. In some embodiments, the processing circuitry 606 of the communication station 600 can include one or more processors. In other embodiments, two or more antennas 601 can be coupled to the communication circuitry 602, which is arranged for sending and receiving signals. The memory 608 can store information for configuring the processing circuitry 606 to perform operations for configuring and transmitting message frames, as well as performing the various operations described herein. The memory 608 can include any type of memory, including non-transitory memory, for storing information in a form readable by a machine (e.g., a computer), for example, the memory 608 can include computer-readable storage media, read-only memory (ROM), random-access memory (RAM), magnetic disk storage media, optical storage media, flash-memory devices, and other storage devices and media.

[0063] In some embodiments, the communication station 600 can be part of a portable wireless communication device, such as a personal digital assistant (PDA), a laptop or portable computer with wireless communication capability, a web tablet, a wireless telephone, a smartphone, a wireless headset, a pager, an instant messaging device, a digital camera, an access point, a television, a medical device (e.g., a heart rate monitor, a blood pressure monitor, etc.), a wearable computer device, or another device that can receive and / or transmit information wirelessly.

[0064] In some embodiments, the communication station 600 can include one or more antennas 601. The antennas 601 can include one or more directional or omnidirectional antennas, including, for example, dipole antennas, monopole antennas, patch antennas, loop antennas, microstrip antennas or other types of antennas suitable for transmission and reception of RF signals. In some embodiments, a single antenna with multiple apertures can be used instead of two or more antennas. In such embodiments, each aperture can be thought of as a separate antenna. In some multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) embodiments, the antennas can be effectively separated using signal processing techniques, such as spatial

[0065] In some embodiments, the communication station 600 can include one or more of a keyboard, a display, a non- volatile memory port, multiple antennas, a graphics processor, an application processor, a speaker, and other mobile device elements. The display can be an LCD screen including a touch screen.

[0066] Although the communication station 600 is illustrated as having several separate functional elements, two or more of the functional elements can be combined and can be implemented by combinations of software-coded tasks and / or other hardware elements. For example, some elements can comprise one or more microprocessors, DSPs, field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), application specific integrated circuits (ASICs), radio-frequency integrated circuits (RFICs) and combinations of various hardware and logic circuitry for performing at least the functions described herein. In some embodiments, the functional elements of the communication station 600 can refer to one or more processes operating on one or more processing elements.

[0067] This abstract is provided to comply with the rules requiring the abstraction of the disclosure set forth in 37 C.F.R. § 1.72(b) which requires that the abstract allow the reader to determine the nature and gist of the technical disclosure. It is submitted with the understanding that it will not be used to limit or interpret the scope or meaning of the claims. The claims appended hereto are hereby incorporated into the detailed description, wherein each claim stands independently as a separate embodiment.

Claims

1. An apparatus of an extremely high throughput (EHT) station (STA), the apparatus comprising: processing circuitry and memory, wherein the processing circuitry is configured to: encode a management frame for transmission, the management frame encoded to include a quality of service (QoS) capabilities element, the quality of service (QoS) capabilities element including a QoS information field configured to signal a QoS redundancy capability, set a QoS redundancy bit in the QoS information field of the QoS capabilities element to indicate that the EHT STA supports redundancy of QoS data frames; generate an extended capabilities element to include in the management frame, and set a redundancy indicator bit in the extended capabilities element to indicate that the EHT STA supports redundancy for a subset of management frames.

2. The device of claim 1, wherein if the EHT STA is indicated to support redundancy of QoS data frames, the processing circuitry is to configure the EHT STA to encode a copy of a QoS frame for transmission when indicated in a MAC header or for traffic stream indication based on a traffic stream identifier (TID).

3. The device of claim 2, wherein when the EHT STA is indicated to support redundancy for a subset of management frames, the processing circuitry is to configure the EHT STA to encode a copy of the subset of management frames for transmission when indicated in a MAC header of the management frame or based on an agreement with another EHT STA.

4. The apparatus of claim 3, wherein, the processing circuitry is configured to prohibit setting the QoS redundancy bit in the QoS information field of the QoS capabilities element when the EHT STA does not support redundancy of QoS data frames, and wherein the processing circuitry is configured to prohibit setting the redundancy indicator bit in the extended capabilities element when the EHT STA does not support redundancy for the subset of management frames.

5. The device of claim 4, wherein the EHT STA is configured to negotiate a block-acknowledgement (BA) agreement with another EHT STA, the block-acknowledgement (BA) agreement indicating whether the QoS data frames are to be duplicated and / or whether the subset of management frames are to be duplicated.

6. The device of claim 5, wherein when the EHT STA operates as an EHT access point STA (AP STA), the management frame is a beacon frame, and the subset of management frames includes at least the beacon frame.

7. The device of claim 6, wherein when the EHT STA operates as a non-AP STA, the management frame is an association request frame or a re-association request frame.

8. The device of claim 1, wherein for multi-link device operation, when the EHT STA operates as a STA affiliated with a multi-link device (MLD), the MLD including a plurality of affiliated STAs, the processing circuitry is configured to encode a management frame to include an intra-access category priority element to indicate a redundancy transmission requirement, and wherein based on the indication of the redundancy transmission requirement, the processing circuitry is configured to cause the MLD to initiate redundant packet transmission with another MLD on more than one link.

9. The device of claim 8, wherein the redundancy transmission requirement is for a particular access category or traffic stream.

10. The device of claim 9, wherein the management frame encoded to include the internal access category priority element comprises: one or more of an Add Traffic Stream (ADDTS) Request frame, a Quality of Service (QoS) Map Configuration frame, and a Stream Classification Service Request frame.

11. The device of claim 10, wherein the redundancy transmission requirement is a requirement of an established Block-Acknowledgement (BA) agreement that allows QoS data frames of a TID aggregated within an A-MPDU to be exchanged between the two MLDs on available links.

12. The device of claim 9, wherein the processing circuitry is configured to encode the internal access category priority element to include a redundancy indication (RI) subfield in an internal access priority field within the internal access category priority element to indicate the redundancy transmission requirement, and wherein when set, the RI indicates that a traffic stream (TS) is to be duplicated and transmitted on more than one link.

13. The device of claim 9, wherein the MLD is a STA MLD or an AP MLD, wherein the MLD has a single medium access control (MAC) service access point (SAP) to a logical link control (LLC) that includes one MAC data service.

14. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing instructions for execution by processing circuitry of an Extremely High Throughput (EHT) station (STA), wherein the processing circuitry is configured to: encode a management frame for transmission, the management frame encoded to include a Quality of Service (QoS) capability element, the Quality of Service (QoS) capability element including a QoS information field configured to signal a QoS redundancy capability, set a QoS redundancy bit in the QoS information field of the QoS capability element to indicate that the EHT STA supports redundancy of QoS data frames; generate an extended capability element to include the extended capability element in the management frame and set a redundancy indicator bit in the extended capability element to indicate that the EHT STA supports redundancy for a subset of management frames.

15. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 14, wherein if the EHT STA is indicated to support redundancy of QoS data frames, the processing circuitry is to configure the EHT STA to encode duplicates of QoS data frames for transmission in a MAC header or when traffic stream indication is based on a traffic stream identifier (TID).

16. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein when the EHT STA indicates support for redundancy of a subset of management frames, the processing circuitry is to configure the EHT STA to encode a copy of the subset of management frames for transmission when indicated in a MAC header of the management frame or based on an agreement with another EHT STA.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 16, wherein, the processing circuitry is configured to prohibit setting the QoS redundancy bit in a QoS information field of the QoS capability element when the EHT STA does not support redundancy of QoS data frames, and wherein the processing circuitry is configured to prohibit setting the redundancy indicator bit in the extended capability element when the EHT STA does not support redundancy of the subset of management frames.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 17, wherein an EHT STA is configured to negotiate a Block-Acknowledgement (BA) agreement with another EHT STA indicating whether the QoS data frames are to be duplicated and / or whether the subset of management frames are to be duplicated.

19. An apparatus of an extremely high throughput (EHT) station (STA), the apparatus comprising: processing circuitry and memory, wherein for multi-link device operation, when the EHT STA operates as a STA affiliated with a multi-link device (MLD) that includes multiple affiliated STAs, the processing circuitry is configured to encode a management frame to include an internal access category priority element to indicate a redundancy transmission requirement, and wherein based on the indication of the redundancy transmission requirement, the processing circuitry is configured to cause the MLD to initiate redundant packet transmissions with another MLD on more than one link.

20. The apparatus of claim 19, wherein the redundancy transmission requirement is for a particular access category or traffic stream.

Images