Method and apparatus for enhanced dynamic allocation for directional transmission

Abstract

Methods and apparatuses for dynamically allocating multiple channels and data streams for multi-channel transmission and multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) are described herein. For example, a station (STA) can receive an enhanced poll (E-Poll) frame from an access point (AP) that includes a time offset, a channel offset, and an antenna / sector setting. The STA can transmit an enhanced service period request (ESPR) frame that includes a MIMO control field and a multi-channel control field based on the received E-Poll frame. The MIMO control field can indicate whether the STA supports MIMO transmission. The multi-channel control field can indicate whether the STA supports multi-channel transmission. Once the ESPR frame is transmitted, the STA can receive an enhanced grant frame from the AP. The enhanced grant frame can include an antenna configuration and a multi-channel allocation to enable the STA to perform the MIMO transmission and the multi-channel transmission.

Description

[0001] This application is a divisional application of Chinese Patent Application No. 201780079105.2, filed on November 3, 2017, entitled "Method and apparatus for enhanced dynamic allocation for directional transmission", the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.

[0002] Cross-references to related applications

[0003] This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application Serial No. 62 / 417,063, filed November 3, 2016, the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference. Background Technology

[0004] The IEEE 802.11ad standard specifies the Medium Access Control (MAC) and Physical (PHY) layers for Very High Throughput (VHT) in the 60 GHz band. It can operate in the unlicensed 60 GHz band, allowing devices to communicate wirelessly at speeds of several gigabits per second. For example, users can download and share 4K video in seconds, and synchronize photo albums and access cloud content in near real-time. Furthermore, devices enabling the 802.11ad standard can be equipped with compact antennas or antenna arrays (e.g., up to 32 antennas), allowing for the dynamic creation of very narrow beams focused on specific user equipment. For this directional multi-gigabit (DMG) data transmission, the 802.11ad standard defines a channel access scheme that allows users to perform near real-time data transmission (e.g., up to 7 Gbit / s). However, this scheme is limited to single-stream data transmission on a single channel. It does not support multi-channel transmission or multi-stream data transmission such as Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (MIMO). Therefore, it is desirable to have a method and apparatus for dynamically allocating working channels and data streams for multi-channel transmission and MIMO. Summary of the Invention

[0005] This document describes methods and apparatus for dynamically allocating multiple channels and data streams supporting multi-channel transmission and multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO). For example, an IEEE 802.11 station (STA) can receive a polling frame from an access point (AP). This polling frame may include time offsets, channel offsets, and antenna / sector settings to enable MIMO and multi-channel transmission. Based on the received polling frame, the STA can send a Service Period Request (SPR) frame including a MIMO control field and a multi-channel control field. The MIMO control field may indicate whether the STA supports MIMO transmission. The multi-channel control field may indicate whether the STA supports multi-channel transmission. The SPR frame may also include a multi-user / single-user (MU / SU) field and a dynamic allocation information field. Once the SPR frame is sent, the STA can receive a license frame from the AP. This license frame may include antenna configuration and multi-channel allocation to enable the STA to perform the MIMO and multi-channel transmissions. Attached Figure Description

[0006] A more detailed understanding can be obtained from the following description, given in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, which are presented by way of example:

[0007] Figure 1A This is a system diagram illustrating an exemplary communication system in which one or more of the disclosed embodiments may be implemented;

[0008] Figure 1B This illustrates the possibility of implementation according to an embodiment. Figure 1A A system diagram of an exemplary wireless transmit / receive unit (WTRU) used within a communication system shown;

[0009] Figure 1C This illustrates the possibility of implementation according to an embodiment. Figure 1A A system diagram of an exemplary radio access network (RAN) and an exemplary core network (CN) used within the communication system shown;

[0010] Figure 1D This illustrates the possibility of implementation according to an embodiment. Figure 1A A system diagram of another exemplary RAN and another exemplary CN used within the communication system shown;

[0011] Figure 2 This is a diagram illustrating an exemplary physical layer (PHY) protocol data unit (PPDU) format;

[0012] Figure 3 This is a diagram illustrating an exemplary directional multi-gigabit (DMG) channel access scheme;

[0013] Figure 4This is a diagram illustrating an exemplary dynamic allocation of service periods.

[0014] Figure 5 This is a diagram illustrating an exemplary poll frame format;

[0015] Figure 6 This is a diagram illustrating an exemplary Service Hour Request (SPR) frame format;

[0016] Figure 7 This is a diagram illustrating an exemplary license frame format;

[0017] Figure 8A This is a diagram illustrating an exemplary channel-bonded data transmission in a WLAN;

[0018] Figure 8B This is a diagram illustrating another exemplary channel-bonded data transmission in a WLAN;

[0019] Figure 9 This is a diagram illustrating an exemplary channelization in IEEE 802.11ay;

[0020] Figure 10 This is a diagram illustrating a first exemplary enhanced polling and request process;

[0021] Figure 11 This is a diagram illustrating a second exemplary enhanced polling and request process;

[0022] Figure 12 This is a diagram illustrating a third exemplary enhanced polling and request process;

[0023] Figure 13 This is a diagram illustrating an exemplary enhanced polling and request process, in which traditional polling and SPR frames are performed before enhanced polling (E-polling) and enhanced SPR (ESPR) frames;

[0024] Figure 14 This is a diagram illustrating an exemplary enhanced polling request process, wherein a traditional polling period and a permission period are performed prior to the enhanced polling and permission periods;

[0025] Figure 15 This is a diagram illustrating an exemplary enhanced polling and request process with concurrent conventional and enhanced polling transport;

[0026] Figure 16 This is a diagram illustrating an exemplary enhanced polling and request process with concurrent conventional polling / SPR and E-polling / ESPR transmissions;

[0027] Figure 17 This is a diagram illustrating an exemplary enhanced polling and request process with asymmetric channel allocation;

[0028] Figure 18 This is a diagram illustrating an example of dynamic service period (SP) allocation across multiple channels.

[0029] Figure 19 This is a diagram illustrating a first exemplary licensing process;

[0030] Figure 20 This is a diagram illustrating a second exemplary licensing process;

[0031] Figure 21 This is a diagram illustrating an exemplary backward-compatible transmission during the Enhanced License Period (eGP) and the corresponding downlink (DL) data transmission period;

[0032] Figure 22 This is a diagram illustrating an exemplary backward-compatible transmission during the eGP and corresponding uplink (UL) data transmission period;

[0033] Figure 23 This is a diagram illustrating an exemplary backward-compatible transmission within an eGP using a control tail; and

[0034] Figure 24 This is a diagram illustrating an exemplary dynamic allocation process for MIMO and multi-channel transmission. Detailed Implementation

[0035] Figure 1A This is an illustration of an exemplary communication system 100 that can implement the disclosed embodiments. The communication system 100 can be a multiple access system providing voice, data, video, messaging, broadcasting, and other content to multiple wireless users. The communication system 100 enables multiple wireless users to access such content by sharing system resources, including wireless bandwidth. For example, the communication system 100 can use one or more channel access methods, such as Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA), Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA), Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA), Orthogonal FDMA (OFDMA), Single Carrier FDMA (SC-FDMA), Zero-Tail Unique Word DFT-Extended OFDM (ZT UW DTS-s OFDM), Unique Word OFDM (UW-OFDM), Resource Block Filtering OFDM, and Filter Bank Multicarrier (FBMC), etc.

[0036] like Figure 1AAs shown, the communication system 100 may include wireless transmit / receive units (WTRUs) 102a, 102b, 102c, 102d, RAN 104 / 113, CN 106 / 115, public switched telephone network (PSTN) 108, Internet 110, and other networks 112. However, it should be understood that the disclosed embodiments contemplate any number of WTRUs, base stations, networks, and / or network components. Each WTRU 102a, 102b, 102c, 102d may be any type of device configured to operate and / or communicate in a wireless environment. For example, any WTRU 102a, 102b, 102c, or 102d may be referred to as a “station” and / or “STA”, and may be configured to transmit and / or receive wireless signals. It may include user equipment (UE), mobile stations, fixed or mobile subscriber units, subscription-based units, pagers, cellular phones, personal digital assistants (PDAs), smartphones, laptops, netbooks, personal computers, wireless sensors, hotspots or Mi-Fi devices, Internet of Things (IoT) devices, watches or other wearable devices, head-mounted displays (HMDs), vehicles, drones, medical devices and applications (e.g., remote surgery), industrial devices and applications (e.g., robots and / or other wireless devices operating in industrial and / or automated processing chain environments), consumer electronics devices, and devices operating on commercial and / or industrial wireless networks, etc. Any of WTRU 102a, 102b, 102c, or 102d may be interchangeably referred to as a UE.

[0037] The communication system 100 may also include base stations 114a and / or 114b. Each base station 114a, 114b may be any type of device configured to enable its access to one or more communication networks (e.g., CN 106 / 115, Internet 110, and / or other networks 112) by wirelessly interfacing with at least one of WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c, 102d. For example, base stations 114a, 114b may be base transceiver stations (BTS), node B, e-node B, home node B, home e-node B, gNB, NR node B, site controller, access point (AP), and wireless routers, etc. Although each base station 114a, 114b is described as a single component, it should be understood that base stations 114a, 114b may include any number of interconnected base stations and / or network components.

[0038] Base station 114a may be part of RAN 104 / 113, and the RAN may also include other base stations and / or network components (not shown), such as base station controllers (BSCs), radio network controllers (RNCs), and relay nodes, etc. Base station 114a and / or base station 114b may be configured to transmit and / or receive radio signals on one or more carrier frequencies called cells (not shown). These frequencies may be in licensed spectrum, unlicensed spectrum, or a combination of licensed and unlicensed spectrum. A cell may provide radio service coverage for a specific geographic area that is relatively fixed or may change over time. A cell may be further divided into cell sectors. For example, a cell associated with base station 114a may be divided into three sectors. Thus, in one embodiment, base station 114a may include three transceivers, that is, each transceiver corresponds to one sector of the cell. In embodiments, base station 114a may use multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) technology and may use multiple transceivers for each sector of the cell. For example, by using beamforming, signals can be transmitted and / or received in a desired spatial direction.

[0039] Base stations 114a and 114b can communicate with one or more of WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c, and 102d via air interface 116, wherein the air interface can be any suitable wireless communication link (e.g., radio frequency (RF), microwave, centimeter wave, micrometer wave, infrared (IR), ultraviolet (UV), visible light, etc.). Air interface 116 can be established using any suitable radio access technology (RAT).

[0040] More specifically, as described herein, communication system 100 can be a multiple access system and can use one or more channel access schemes, such as CDMA, TDMA, FDMA, OFDMA, and SC-FDMA, etc. For example, base station 114a in RAN 104 / 113 and WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c can implement a certain radio technology, such as Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) Terrestrial Radio Access (UTRA), wherein said technology can use Wideband CDMA (WCDMA) to establish air interfaces 115 / 116 / 117. WCDMA may include communication protocols such as High-Speed ​​Packet Access (HSPA) and / or Evolved HSPA (HSPA+). HSPA may include High-Speed ​​Downlink (DL) Packet Access (HSDPA) and / or High-Speed ​​Uplink (UL) Packet Access (HSUPA).

[0041] In an embodiment, base station 114a and WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c may implement a certain radio technology, such as evolved UMTS terrestrial radio access (E-UTRA), wherein the technology may use Long Term Evolution (LTE) and / or Advanced LTE (LTE-A) and / or Advanced LTA Pro (LTE-APro) to establish air interface 116.

[0042] In an embodiment, base station 114a and WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c may implement a certain radio technology, such as NR radio access, wherein the radio technology may use a new radio (NR) to establish air interface 116.

[0043] In this embodiment, base station 114a and WTRUs 102a, 102b, and 102c can implement various radio access technologies. For example, base station 114a and WTRUs 102a, 102b, and 102c can jointly implement LTE radio access and NR radio access (e.g., using the dual connectivity (DC) principle). Therefore, the air interface used by WTRUs 102a, 102b, and 102c can be characterized by various types of radio access technologies and / or transmissions sent to / from various types of base stations (e.g., eNBs and gNBs).

[0044] In other embodiments, base station 114a and WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c may implement the following radio technologies, such as IEEE 802.11 (i.e., WiFi), IEEE 802.16 (i.e., WiMAX), CDMA2000, CDMA2000 1X, CDMA2000 EV-DO, Provisional Standard 2000 (IS-2000), Provisional Standard 95 (IS-95), Provisional Standard 856 (IS-856), Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM), Enhanced Data Rate for GSM Evolution (EDGE), and GSM EDGE (GERAN), etc.

[0045] Figure 1ABase station 114b can be a wireless router, home node B, home e node B, or access point, and can use any suitable RAT to facilitate wireless connectivity in a local area, such as a business premises, residence, vehicle, campus, industrial facility, air corridor (e.g., for use by drones), and road, etc. In one embodiment, base station 114b and WTRUs 102c, 102d can establish a wireless local area network (WLAN) by implementing radio technology such as IEEE 802.11. In another embodiment, base station 114b and WTRUs 102c, 102d can establish a wireless personal area network (WPAN) by implementing radio technology such as IEEE 802.15. In yet another embodiment, base station 114b and WTRUs 102c, 102d can establish a picocell or femtocell by using a cellular-based RAT (e.g., WCDMA, CDMA 2000, GSM, LTE, LTE-A, LTE-A Pro, NR, etc.). Figure 1A As shown, base station 114b can be directly connected to the Internet 110. Therefore, base station 114b does not need to access the Internet 110 via CN 106 / 115.

[0046] RAN 104 / 113 can communicate with CN 106 / 115, where CN can be any type of network configured to provide voice, data, application, and / or Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) services to one or more WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c, 102d. This data can have different Quality of Service (QoS) requirements, such as different throughput requirements, latency requirements, fault tolerance requirements, reliability requirements, data throughput requirements, and mobility requirements, etc. CN 106 / 115 can provide call control, billing services, location-based services, prepaid calling, Internet connectivity, video distribution, etc., and / or can perform advanced security functions such as user authentication. Although in Figure 1A While not shown, it should be understood that RAN104 / 113 and / or CN 106 / 115 can communicate directly or indirectly with other RANs that use the same RAT or a different RAT as RAN 104 / 113. For example, in addition to connecting to RAN 104 / 113 which uses NR radio technology, CN 106 / 115 can also communicate with other RANs (not shown) that use GSM, UMTS, CDMA 2000, WiMAX, E-UTRA, or WiFi radio technologies.

[0047] CN 106 / 115 can also act as a gateway for WTRU 102a, 102b, 102c, 102d to access PSTN 108, the Internet 110, and / or other networks 112. PSTN 108 may include a circuit-switched telephone network providing Simple Old-Style Telephone Service (POTS). The Internet 110 may include a global network of interconnected computer equipment systems using common communication protocols, such as Transmission Control Protocol (TCP), User Datagram Protocol (UDP), and / or Internet Protocol (IP) from the TCP / IP Internet Protocol suite. Network 112 may include wired and / or wireless communication networks owned and / or operated by other service providers. For example, other networks 112 may include another CN connected to one or more RANs, wherein the one or more RANs may use the same RAT or a different RAT as RAN 104 / 113.

[0048] Some or all of the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c, and 102d in the communication system 100 may include multi-mode capability (e.g., WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c, and 102d may include multiple transceivers communicating with different wireless networks on different wireless links). For example... Figure 1A The WTRU 102c shown can be configured to communicate with base station 114a, which can use cellular-based radio technology, and with base station 114b, which can use IEEE 802 radio technology.

[0049] Figure 1B This is a system diagram illustrating an example of WTRU 102. (See diagram below.) Figure 1B As shown, WTRU 102 may include a processor 118, a transceiver 120, a transmit / receive unit 122, a speaker / microphone 124, a keyboard 126, a display / touchpad 128, non-removable memory 130, removable memory 132, a power supply 134, a Global Positioning System (GPS) chipset 136, and / or other peripheral devices 138. It should be understood that, while remaining consistent with the embodiments, WTRU 102 may also include any sub-combination of the foregoing components.

[0050] Processor 118 can be a general-purpose processor, a special-purpose processor, a conventional processor, a digital signal processor (DSP), multiple microprocessors, one or more microprocessors associated with a DSP core, a controller, a microcontroller, an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a field-programmable gate array (FPGA) circuit, any other type of integrated circuit (IC), and a state machine, etc. Processor 118 can perform signal encoding, data processing, power control, input / output processing, and / or any other function that enables WTRU 102 to operate in a wireless environment. Processor 118 can be coupled to transceiver 120, and transceiver 120 can be coupled to transmitting / receiving unit 122. Although Figure 1B While the processor 118 and transceiver 120 are described as separate components, it should be understood that the processor 118 and transceiver 120 can also be integrated into a single electronic component or chip.

[0051] Transmit / receive component 122 may be configured to transmit or receive signals to or from a base station (e.g., base station 114a) via air interface 116. For example, in one embodiment, transmit / receive component 122 may be an antenna configured to transmit and / or receive RF signals. As an example, in an embodiment, transmit / receive component 122 may be an emitter / detector configured to transmit and / or receive IR, UV, or visible light signals. In an embodiment, transmit / receive component 122 may be configured to transmit and / or receive RF and optical signals. It should be understood that transmit / receive component 122 may be configured to transmit and / or receive any combination of wireless signals.

[0052] Although Figure 1B The transmit / receive component 122 is described as a single component, but the WTRU 102 may include any number of transmit / receive components 122. More specifically, the WTRU 102 may use MIMO technology. Thus, in an embodiment, the WTRU 102 may include two or more transmit / receive components 122 (e.g., multiple antennas) that transmit and receive radio signals via the air interface 116.

[0053] Transceiver 120 can be configured to modulate signals to be transmitted by transmitting / receiving unit 122 and demodulate signals received by transmitting / receiving unit 122. As described herein, WTRU 102 may have multimode capability. Therefore, transceiver 120 may include multiple transceivers that allow WTRU 102 to communicate using various RATs (e.g., NR and IEEE 802.11).

[0054] The processor 118 of WTRU 102 can be coupled to a speaker / microphone 124, a keyboard 126, and / or a display / touchpad 128 (e.g., a liquid crystal display (LCD) unit or an organic light-emitting diode (OLED) display unit) and can receive user input data from these components. The processor 118 can also output user data to the speaker / microphone 124, keyboard 126, and / or display / touchpad 128. Furthermore, the processor 118 can access and store information from any suitable memory, such as non-removable memory 130 and / or removable memory 132. Non-removable memory 130 can include random access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), a hard disk, or any other type of memory storage device. Removable memory 132 can include a subscriber identity module (SIM) card, memory stick, secure digital card (SD) memory card, etc. In other embodiments, the processor 118 can access and store information from memory that is not actually located in WTRU 102; for example, such memory could be located in a server or home computer (not shown).

[0055] The processor 118 can receive power from the power supply 134 and can be configured to distribute and / or control power for other components in the WTRU 102. The power supply 134 can be any suitable device that powers the WTRU 102. For example, the power supply 134 may include one or more dry cell battery packs (such as nickel-cadmium (Ni-Cd), nickel-zinc (Ni-Zn), nickel-metal hydride (NiMH), lithium-ion (Li-ion), etc.), solar cells, and fuel cells, etc.

[0056] The processor 118 may also be coupled to a GPS chipset 136, which may be configured to provide location information (e.g., longitude and latitude) related to the current location of the WTRU 102. As a supplement or replacement to the information from the GPS chipset 136, the WTRU 102 may receive location information from base stations (e.g., base stations 114a, 114b) via the air interface 116, and / or determine its location based on signal timing received from two or more nearby base stations. It should be understood that, while remaining consistent with the embodiments, the WTRU 102 may acquire location information using any suitable positioning method.

[0057] The processor 118 can also be coupled to other peripheral devices 138, which may include one or more software and / or hardware modules providing additional features, functions, and / or wired or wireless connectivity. For example, peripheral devices 138 may include accelerometers, electronic compasses, satellite transceivers, digital cameras (for photos and / or video), Universal Serial Bus (USB) ports, vibration devices, television transceivers, hands-free headsets, etc. Modules, FM radio units, digital music players, media players, video game console modules, internet browsers, virtual reality and / or augmented reality (VR / AR) devices, and activity trackers, etc. Peripheral devices 138 may include one or more sensors, which may be one or more of the following: gyroscopes, accelerometers, Hall effect sensors, magnetometers, orientation sensors, proximity sensors, temperature sensors, time sensors, geolocation sensors, altimeters, light sensors, touch sensors, magnetometers, barometers, gesture sensors, biometric sensors, and / or humidity sensors, etc.

[0058] WTRU 102 may include a full-duplex wireless device, wherein the reception or transmission of some or all signals (e.g., associated with specific subframes for UL (e.g., for transmission) and downlink (e.g., for reception)) may be concurrent and / or simultaneous for the wireless device. The full-duplex wireless device may include an interference management unit 139 that reduces and / or substantially eliminates self-interference by means of hardware (e.g., choke coils) or by means of a processor (e.g., a separate processor (not shown) or by means of processor 118) for signal processing. In embodiments, WTRU 102 may include a half-duplex wireless device that transmits and receives some or all signals (e.g., associated with specific subframes for UL (e.g., for transmission) or downlink (e.g., for reception).

[0059] Figure 1C This is a system diagram illustrating RAN 104 and CN 106 according to an embodiment. As described herein, RAN 104 can communicate with WTRUs 102a, 102b, and 102c using E-UTRA radio technology on air interface 116. RAN 104 can also communicate with CN 106.

[0060] RAN 104 may include eNodeBs 160a, 160b, and 160c; however, it should be understood that RAN 104 may include any number of eNodeBs while remaining consistent with the embodiments. Each eNodeB 160a, 160b, and 160c may include one or more transceivers communicating with WTRUs 102a, 102b, and 102c on air interface 116. In one embodiment, eNodeBs 160a, 160b, and 160c may implement MIMO technology. Thus, for example, eNodeB 160a may use multiple antennas to transmit radio signals to and / or receive radio signals from WTRU 102a.

[0061] Each eNodeB 160a, 160b, and 160c can be associated with a specific cell (not shown) and can be configured to handle radio resource management decisions, handover decisions, user scheduling in UL and / or DL, etc. For example... Figure 1C As shown, nodes B160a, 160b, and 160c can communicate with each other via the X2 interface.

[0062] Figure 1C The CN 106 shown may include a Mobility Management Entity (MME) 162, a Serving Gateway (SGW) 164, and a Packet Data Network (PDN) Gateway (or PGW) 166. While each of the foregoing components is described as part of the CN 106, it should be understood that any of these components may be owned and / or operated by an entity other than the CN operator.

[0063] MME 162 can connect to each eNodeB 160a, 160b, and 160c in RAN 104 via the S1 interface and can act as a control node. For example, MME 162 can be responsible for authenticating users of WTRUs 102a, 102b, and 102c, performing bearer activation / deactivation processes, and selecting a specific serving gateway during the initial attach process of WTRUs 102a, 102b, and 102c, etc. MME 162 can also provide control plane functionality for handover between RAN 104 and other RANs (not shown) using other radio technologies (such as GSM and / or WCDMA).

[0064] The SGW 164 can connect to each eNodeB 160a, 160b, and 160c in RAN 104 via the S1 interface. The SGW 164 typically routes and forwards user data packets to / from WTRUs 102a, 102b, and 102c. Furthermore, the SGW 164 can perform other functions, such as anchoring the user plane during handover between eNBs, triggering paging processes when DL data is available to WTRUs 102a, 102b, and 102c, and managing and storing the context of WTRUs 102a, 102b, and 102c, etc.

[0065] SGW 164 can be connected to PGW 166, which can provide packet-switched network (e.g., Internet 110) access for WTRU 102a, 102b, 102c to facilitate communication between WTRU 102a, 102b, 102c and IP-enabled devices.

[0066] CN 106 can facilitate communication with other networks. For example, CN 106 can provide circuit-switched network (e.g., PSTN 108) access for WTRUs 102a, 102b, and 102c to facilitate communication between WTRUs 102a, 102b, and 102c and conventional landline communication equipment. For example, CN 106 may include or communicate with an IP gateway (e.g., an IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) server), and the IP gateway may act as an interface between CN 106 and PSTN 108. Furthermore, CN 106 can provide WTRUs 102a, 102b, and 102c with access to other networks 112, which may include other wired and / or wireless networks owned and / or operated by other service providers.

[0067] Although Figure 1A-1D The WTRU is described as a wireless terminal; however, it should be understood that in some typical embodiments, such a terminal may use a wired communication interface (e.g., temporary or permanent) with the communication network.

[0068] In a typical embodiment, the other network 112 may be a WLAN.

[0069] A WLAN employing an Infrastructure Basic Services Set (BSS) model may have an Access Point (AP) for the BSS and one or more Stations (STAs) associated with the AP. The AP may access or interface with a Distributed System (DS) or other type of wired / wireless network that sends services into and / or out of the BSS. Services originating outside the BSS and destined for a STA can be delivered to the STA via the AP. Services originating from a STA and destined for an external BSS can be sent to the AP for delivery to the appropriate destination. Services between STAs within the BSS can be sent via the AP; for example, a source STA can send a service to the AP, and the AP can deliver the service to the destination STA. Services between STAs within the BSS may be considered and / or referred to as end-to-end services. End-to-end services can be sent between the source and destination STAs (e.g., directly therebetween) using Direct Link Establishment (DLS). In some typical embodiments, the DLS may use 802.11e DLS or 802.11z Channelized DLS (TDLS). A WLAN using the Standalone BSS (IBSS) mode may not have an access point (AP), and STAs (STAs) within the IBSS or using the IBSS (e.g., all STAs) can communicate directly with each other. Here, the IBSS communication mode is sometimes also referred to as a "self-organizing" communication mode.

[0070] When operating in 802.11ac infrastructure mode or a similar mode, the AP can transmit beacons on a fixed channel (e.g., the primary channel). The primary channel can have a fixed width (e.g., a 20 MHz bandwidth) or a width dynamically set via signaling. The primary channel can be the operating channel of the BSS and can be used by STAs to establish connections with the AP. In some typical embodiments, carrier-sense multiple access with collision avoidance (CSMA / CA) can be implemented (e.g., in an 802.11 system). For CSMA / CA, STAs, including the AP (e.g., each STA), can sense the primary channel. If a particular STA senses / detects and / or determines that the primary channel is busy, that particular STA can fall back. Within a given BSS, at any given time, only one STA (e.g., only one station) can be transmitting.

[0071] High-throughput (HT) STAs can communicate using a 40MHz wide channel (e.g., by combining a 20MHz wide main channel with adjacent or non-adjacent 20MHz wide channels to form a 40MHz wide channel).

[0072] Very High Throughput (VHT) STAs can support channels with widths of 20MHz, 40MHz, 80MHz, and / or 160MHz. 40MHz and / or 80MHz channels can be formed by combining consecutive 20MHz channels. A 160MHz channel can be formed by combining eight consecutive 20MHz channels or by combining two non-consecutive 80MHz channels (this combination is referred to as an 80+80 configuration). For the 80+80 configuration, after channel coding, data is transmitted and passed through a segmented parser that splits the data into two streams. Inverse Fast Fourier Transform (IFFT) processing and time-domain processing can be performed individually on each stream. The streams can be mapped onto two 80MHz channels, and the data can be transmitted by the STA performing the transmission. On the receiver of the STA performing the reception, the operations described above for the 80+80 configuration can be reversed, and the combined data can be sent to the Media Access Control (MAC).

[0073] 802.11af and 802.11ah support sub-1 GHz operating modes. Compared to 802.11n and 802.11ac, the channel operating bandwidth and carrier used in 802.11af and 802.11ah are reduced. 802.11af supports 5 MHz, 10 MHz, and 20 MHz bandwidths in the TV white space (TVWS) spectrum, while 802.11ah supports 1 MHz, 2 MHz, 4 MHz, 8 MHz, and 16 MHz bandwidths using non-TVWS spectrum. According to some typical embodiments, 802.11ah can support instrument-type control / machine-type communication (e.g., MTC devices in macro coverage areas). MTCs may have certain capabilities, such as limited capabilities including support (e.g., only support) certain and / or limited bandwidths. MTC devices may include a battery with a battery life exceeding a threshold (e.g., for maintaining a very long battery life).

[0074] For WLAN systems that can support multiple channels and channel bandwidths (e.g., 802.11n, 802.11ac, 802.11af, and 802.11ah), the WLAN system includes a channel that can be designated as the primary channel. The bandwidth of the primary channel can be equal to the maximum common operating bandwidth supported by all STAs in the BSS. The bandwidth of the primary channel can be set and / or limited by a particular STA, wherein the STA originates from all STAs operating in the BSS that support the minimum bandwidth operating mode. In the example of 802.11ah, even if the APs and other STAs in the BSS support 2MHz, 4MHz, 8MHz, 16MHz, and / or other channel bandwidth operating modes, the width of the primary channel can be 1MHz for STAs that support (e.g., only support) the 1MHz mode (e.g., MTC type devices). Carrier sensing and / or Network Allocation Vector (NAV) settings can depend on the status of the primary channel. If the main channel is busy (e.g., because the STA (which only supports 1MHz operating mode) is transmitting to the AP), then the entire available band can be considered busy even if most of the band remains idle and available.

[0075] In the United States, the available frequency band for 802.11ah is 902MHz to 928MHz. In South Korea, the available frequency band is 917.5MHz to 923.5MHz. In Japan, the available frequency band is 916.5MHz to 927.5MHz. Depending on the country code, the total bandwidth available for 802.11ah is 6MHz to 26MHz.

[0076] Figure 1DThis is a system diagram illustrating RAN 113 and CN 115 according to an embodiment. As described above, RAN 113 can communicate with WTRUs 102a, 102b, and 102c using NR radio technology on air interface 116. RAN 113 can also communicate with CN 115.

[0077] RAN 113 may include gNBs 180a, 180b, and 180c; however, it should be understood that RAN 113 may include any number of gNBs while remaining consistent with the embodiments. Each gNB 180a, 180b, and 180c may include one or more transceivers for communicating with WTRUs 102a, 102b, and 102c via air interface 116. In one embodiment, gNBs 180a, 180b, and 180c may implement MIMO technology. For example, gNBs 180a and 180b may use beamforming to transmit and / or receive signals to and / or from gNBs 180a, 180b, and 180c. Thus, for example, gNB 180a may use multiple antennas to transmit radio signals to and / or receive radio signals from WTRU 102a. In an embodiment, gNBs 180a, 180b, and 180c may implement carrier aggregation technology. For example, gNB 180a can transmit multiple component carriers to WTRU 102a (not shown). A subset of these component carriers may be in unlicensed spectrum, while the remaining component carriers may be in licensed spectrum. In embodiments, gNBs 180a, 180b, and 180c may implement Cooperative Multipoint (CoMP) technology. For example, WTRU 102a can receive cooperative transmissions from gNBs 180a and 180b (and / or gNB 180c).

[0078] WTRUs 102a, 102b, and 102c can communicate with gNBs 180a, 180b, and 180c using transmissions associated with a scalable digital configuration (numerology). For example, the OFDM symbol spacing and / or OFDM subcarrier spacing can be different for different transmissions, different cells, and / or different portions of the radio transmission spectrum. WTRUs 102a, 102b, and 102c can communicate with gNBs 180a, 180b, and 180c using subframes or transmission time intervals (TTIs) of different or scalable lengths (e.g., containing different numbers of OFDM symbols and / or continuously varying absolute time lengths).

[0079] gNBs 180a, 180b, and 180c can be configured to communicate with WTRUs 102a, 102b, and 102c in standalone and / or non-standalone configurations. In standalone configuration, WTRUs 102a, 102b, and 102c can communicate with gNBs 180a, 180b, and 180c without accessing other RANs (e.g., eNodeBs 160a, 160b, and 160c). In standalone configuration, WTRUs 102a, 102b, and 102c can use one or more of gNBs 180a, 180b, and 180c as mobile anchors. In standalone configuration, WTRUs 102a, 102b, and 102c can use signals in unlicensed frequency bands to communicate with gNBs 180a, 180b, and 180c. In a non-standalone configuration, WTRUs 102a, 102b, and 102c communicate / connect with gNBs 180a, 180b, and 180c simultaneously with other RANs (e.g., eNodeBs 160a, 160b, and 160c). For example, WTRUs 102a, 102b, and 102c can communicate substantially simultaneously with one or more gNBs 180a, 180b, and 180c, as well as one or more eNodeBs 160a, 160b, and 160c, by implementing DC principles. In a non-standalone configuration, eNodeBs 160a, 160b, and 160c can act as mobile anchors for WTRUs 102a, 102b, and 102c, and gNBs 180a, 180b, and 180c can provide additional coverage and / or throughput to service WTRUs 102a, 102b, and 102c.

[0080] Each gNB 180a, 180b, and 180c can be associated with a specific cell (not shown) and can be configured to handle radio resource management decisions, handover decisions, user scheduling in UL and / or DL, support network slicing, dual connectivity, implement interoperability processing between NR and E-UTRA, route user plane data to User Plane Functions (UPF) 184a and 184b, and route control plane information to Access and Mobility Management Functions (AMF) 182a and 182b, etc. For example... Figure 1D As shown, gNB 180a, 180b, and 180c can communicate with each other via the X2 interface.

[0081] Figure 1DThe CN 115 shown may include at least one AMF 182a, 182b, at least one UPF 184a, 184b, at least one Session Management Function (SMF) 183a, 183b, and may include data network (DN) 185a, 185b. While each of the foregoing components is described as part of CN 115, it should be understood that any of these components may be owned and / or operated by an entity other than the CN operator.

[0082] AMF 182a and 182b can connect to one or more gNBs 180a, 180b, and 180c in RAN 113 via the N2 interface and can act as control nodes. For example, AMF 182a and 182b can be responsible for authenticating users of WTRU 102a, 102b, and 102c, supporting network slicing (e.g., handling different PDU sessions with different needs), selecting specific SMF 183a and 183b, managing registration areas, terminating NAS signaling, and mobility management, etc. AMF 182a and 1823b can use network slicing to customize the CN support provided to WTRU 102a, 102b, and 102c based on the service categories used by WTRU 102a, 102b, and 102c. For example, different network slices can be established for different use cases, such as services relying on Ultra Reliable Low Latency (URLLC) access, services relying on Enhanced Massive Mobile Broadband (eMBB) access, and / or services for Machine-Type Communications (MTC) access, etc. AMF 162 can provide control plane functions for switching between RAN 113 and other RANs (not shown) using other radio technologies (such as LTE, LTE-A, LTE-A Pro, and / or non-3GPP access technologies such as WiFi).

[0083] SMFs 183a and 183b can connect to AMFs 182a and 182b in CN 115 via the N11 interface. SMFs 183a and 183b can also connect to UPFs 184a and 184b in CN 115 via the N4 interface. SMFs 183a and 183b can select and control UPFs 184a and 184b, and can configure service routing through UPFs 184a and 184b. SMFs 183a and 183b can perform other functions, such as managing and allocating UE IP addresses, managing PDU sessions, controlling policy enforcement and QoS, and providing downlink data notifications, etc. PDU session types can be IP-based, non-IP-based, and Ethernet-based, etc.

[0084] UPF 184a and 184b can be connected to one or more gNBs 180a, 180b, and 180c in RAN 113 via the N3 interface. This provides WTRU 102a, 102b, and 102c with access to a packet-switched network (e.g., Internet 110) to facilitate communication between WTRU 102a, 102b, and 102c and IP-enabled devices. UPF 184 and 184b can perform other functions, such as routing and forwarding packets, enforcing user plane policies, supporting multihomed PDU sessions, handling user plane QoS, buffering downlink packets, and providing mobility anchoring, etc.

[0085] CN 115 can facilitate communication with other networks. For example, CN 115 may include or can communicate with an IP gateway (e.g., an IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) server) that acts as an interface between CN 115 and PSTN 108. Furthermore, CN 115 can provide WTRUs 102a, 102b, and 102c with access to other networks 112, which may include other wired and / or wireless networks owned and / or operated by other service providers. In one embodiment, WTRUs 102a, 102b, and 102c can be connected to local DNs 185a and 185b via the N3 interface connected to UPFs 184a and 184b and the N6 interface between UPFs 184a and 184b and data networks (DNs) 185a and 185b.

[0086] In view of Figure 1A-1D And about Figure 1A-1D The corresponding descriptions herein refer to one or more of the functions described below, which can be performed by one or more emulation devices (not shown): WTRU 102a-d, Base Station 114a-b, eNodeB 160a-c, MME 162, SGW 164, PGW 166, gNB 180a-c, AMF 182a-b, UPF 184a-b, SMF 183a-b, DN 185a-b, and / or any other devices (one or more) described herein. These emulation devices can be one or more devices configured to simulate one or more of the functions described herein. For example, these emulation devices can be used to test other devices and / or simulate network and / or WTRU functions.

[0087] The simulation device can be designed to perform one or more tests on other devices in a laboratory environment and / or a carrier network environment. For example, the one or more simulation devices can perform one or more functions while being implemented and / or deployed, wholly or partially, as part of a wired and / or wireless communication network, to test other devices within the communication network. The one or more simulation devices can perform one or more functions while being temporarily implemented / deployed as part of a wired and / or wireless communication network. The simulation device can be directly coupled to other devices to perform tests, and / or can use over-the-air wireless communication to perform tests.

[0088] The one or more simulation devices can perform one or more functions, including all functionalities, without being implemented / deployed as part of a wired and / or wireless communication network. For example, the simulation devices can be used in test laboratories and / or test scenarios where wired and / or wireless communication networks are not deployed (e.g., under test) to perform tests on one or more components. The one or more simulation devices can be test equipment. The simulation devices can transmit and / or receive data using direct RF coupling and / or wireless communication via RF circuitry (which, as an example, may include one or more antennas).

[0089] As used in the embodiments described herein, Directed Multi-Gigabit (DMG) transmission is defined as a WLAN transmission specified by IEEE 802.11ad using directed millimeter-wave (mmW) transmission. Specifically, the DMG may refer to operation in a frequency band containing channel start frequencies above 45 GHz. As used herein, a DMG station (STA) may refer to an STA whose radio transmitter is capable of transmitting and receiving DMG physical layer (PHY) protocol data units (PPDUs).

[0090] As used herein, a Personal Basic Service Set (PBSS) may refer to a DMG Basic Service Set (BSS) that includes a PBSS Control Point (PCP) where there is no access to the Distribution System (DS) but optionally, in-PBSS forwarding services exist. As used herein, the PBSS Control Point (PCP) may refer to an entity that includes at least one STA and coordinates access to the Radio Medium (WM) by STAs that are members of the PBSS. As used herein, a Personal Basic Service Set (PBSS) Control Point (PCP) / Access Point (AP) may refer to a STA that is at least one of a PCP or an AP. The terms “PCP / AP,” “AP / PCP,” or any variation thereof are used interchangeably herein. As used herein, a non-PCP STA may refer to a STA that is not a PCP. A non-PCP / non-AP station (STA) may refer to a STA that is neither a PCP nor an AP.

[0091] Figure 2 An exemplary physical layer (PHY) protocol data unit (PPDU) format (or physical layer frame format) is shown, which can be used in combination with any other embodiments described herein. Figure 2 As shown, there are three different frame formats based on the PHY mode: control PHY frame 205, single-carrier PHY frame 210, and OFDM PHY frame 215. These 802.11ad frames 205, 210, and 215 can be composed of three parts: preambles 220, 222, and 224; headers 230, 232, and 234; and data fields 240, 242, and 244. The preambles 220, 222, and 224 can be known data modes used in front-end synchronization at the receiver. The front-end synchronization can include time, frequency, and channel correction. The headers 230, 232, and 234 can contain information for decoding the remaining parts of the packet (i.e., the payload). Modulation and coding scheme indications can be carried by the headers 230, 232, and 234.

[0092] like Figure 2 As shown, the control PHY frame 205 consists of a preamble 220, a header 230, a data field 240, and an optional beamforming training subfield 250. The preamble 220 can be used for packet detection, automatic gain control (AGC), frequency offset estimation, synchronization, frame type indication, and channel estimation. The preamble also consists of two parts: a short training field (STF) and a channel estimation field (CEF). Following the preamble 208 is the header block 230. The header 230 may consist of several fields defining details of the PPDU to be transmitted. The data field 240 may consist of payload data of a Physical Layer Service Data Unit (PSDU).

[0093] A single-carrier PHY frame 210 consists of a preamble 222, a header 232, a data field 242, and an optional beamforming training subfield 252. The preamble 222 may include an STF and a CEF. Following the preamble 222 is a header block 232. The header 232 may consist of the payload data of the PSDU and possible padding. The data may be zero-padding, scrambled, encoded, and modulated. An OFDM PHY frame 215 also consists of a preamble 224, a header 234, a data field 244, and an optional beamforming training subfield 254. The preamble 224 may include an STF and a CEF. Following the preamble 224 is a header block 234. This header 234 may consist of several fields defining details of the PPDU to be transmitted.

[0094] Frames 205, 210, and 215 can facilitate mechanisms for beamforming training (e.g., discovery and tracking). The beamforming training protocol can include two parts: a sector-level scan (SLS) procedure and a beam refinement protocol (BRP) procedure. The SLS procedure can be used to transmit beamforming training, while the BRP procedure enables the reception of beamforming training and iterative refinement of the transmitted and received beams.

[0095] Figure 3 An exemplary DMG channel access scheme is illustrated, which can be used in combination with any other embodiments described herein. In this example, beacon interval 305 may include a beacon header interval (BHI) 310 and a data transmission interval (DTI) 320. The BHI 310 may facilitate the exchange of management information and network advertisements using scanning of multiple directed transmission frames. The BHI 310 may include a beacon transmission interval (BTI) 312, an associated beamforming training (A-BFT) sub-interval 314, and an advertisement transmission interval (ATI) 316. The BTI 312 may be an access period during which one or more DMG beacon frames may be transmitted. Not all DMG beacon frames may be detected by all non-PCP and non-AP STAs. Furthermore, not all beacon intervals 305 may include BTI 312. Non-PCP STAs (which are also non-AP STAs) may not transmit during BTI 312 of their Basic Service Set (BSS) as members.

[0096] The A-BFT 314 can be an access period during which beamforming training can be performed with the STA that sent the DMG beacon frame during the previous BTI 312. The presence of A-BFT 314 can be optional and can be signaled in the DMG beacon frame. ATI 316 can be a request-response based administrative access period between a PCP / AP and a non-PCP / non-AP STA. The presence of ATI 316 can be optional and can be signaled in the DMG beacon frame.

[0097] DTI 320 can be an access period during which the STA can perform frame switching. A single DTI 320 can exist for each beacon interval, and this DTI 320 can include contention-based access periods (CBAP) 322, 328 and scheduled service periods (SP) 324, 326. Since SLS is performed in BHI 310, in DTI 320, it can be assumed that the PCP / AP and STA know the transmit (Tx) and receive (Rx) directions to establish a basic communication link and information exchange, although beam refinement protocol (BRP) can be performed during this interval to achieve better link quality, especially for data transmission. Under certain conditions, SP 324, 326 and CBAP 322, 328 can be used for dynamic allocation, which can be used to allow near real-time reservation of channel time with the PCP / AP. This type of access can also be used in addition to SP 324, 326 and CBAP 322, 328.

[0098] Figure 4 An exemplary dynamic allocation of service periods is illustrated, which can be used in combination with any other embodiments described herein. In this example, dynamic allocation may include a polling period (PP) 405 and a grant period (GP) 410. During PP 405, PCP / AP 420 may send polling frames (polling) 430, 440 to STA 425 and receive service period request frames (SPR) 450, 455 to allocate channel time for data transmission. As an example, each of the polling frames 430, 440 may be separated by a short beamforming inter-frame spacing (SBIFS) 435. As an example, polling... N SPR1 440 and SPR1 450 can be separated by a Short Interframe Interval (SIF) duration of 445. Similarly, as an example, each of SPR frames 450 and 455 can be separated by a SIF duration of 452. Based on the received SPR frames 450 and 455, PCP / AP 420 can accept the request and send license frames (licenses) 460 and 465 to allocate channel time for STA 425 to communicate with other STAs during GP 410. After receiving the license frames 460 and 465, the STA can transmit data 415 to another STA based on the license frames 460 and 465. As an example, the license frames 460 and 465 can be separated by an SBIFS duration of 470.

[0099] Figure 5 An exemplary polling frame format is shown, which can be used in combination with any other embodiments described herein. Figure 5As shown, the polling frame may include a frame control field 505, a duration field 510, a receiver address (RA) 515, a transmitter address (TA) 520, a response offset 525, and a frame check sequence (FCS) 530. The frame control field 505 may contain control information, such as protocol version, type, and subtype. The frame control field 505 may also provide the necessary information for understanding how to process the polling frame. The duration field 510 may be set to include the duration of the remaining polling frame transmission (in microseconds) plus all appropriate inter-frame intervals (IFS) plus the duration of the service period request (SPR) frame transmission. The RA field 515 may contain the media access control (MAC) address of the polled STA. The TA field 520 may contain the MAC address of the PCP or AP. The response offset field may indicate an offset (in 1 μs) when the SPR frame in response to the polling frame is transmitted, starting after the SIFS following the end of the polling frame. The FCS 530 may include additional error detection codes for sending and receiving STAs to verify whether any errors have occurred in frames during transmission.

[0100] Figure 6 An exemplary Service Hour Request (SPR) frame format is shown, which can be used in combination with any other embodiments described herein. Figure 6 As shown, an SPR frame may include a frame control field 605, a duration field 610, a receiver address (RA) 615, a transmitter address (TA) 620, dynamic allocation information 625, a beamforming (BF) control field 630, and a frame check sequence (FCS) 635. When an SPR frame is transmitted in response to a polling frame, the duration field 610 in the SPR frame may be set to the value of the duration field 510 contained in the polling frame minus the value of the response offset field 525 contained in the polling frame multiplied by its unit minus SIFS minus the time spent transmitting the SPR frame. When the SPR frame is not transmitted in response to a polling frame but is transmitted within an SP or transmission opportunity (TXOP) allocation, the duration field 610 may be set to the remaining time in the allocation excluding the SPR transmission time. In all other cases, the duration field 610 may be set to 0.

[0101] The dynamic allocation information field 625 may include several subfields, such as allocation type, source association identifier (source AID), destination association identifier (destination AID), or allocation duration, to request channel time allocation. For example, the source AID field may identify the STA acting as the allocation source. The destination AID field may identify the STA acting as the allocation destination. When the dynamic allocation information field 625 is transmitted within an SPR frame, the allocation duration subfield may contain the requested duration (in microseconds). The beamforming (BF) control field 630 may include several subfields, such as beamforming training, number of sectors, or number of receiver DMG antennas, to control the antennas and sectors used for beamforming. For example, the beamforming training subfield may indicate whether the source DMG STA intends to initiate beamforming training with the destination DMG STA at the start of allocation. The RA field 615 may contain the MAC address of the PCP or AP. The TA field 620 may contain the MAC address of the STA sending the SP request. The frame control field 605 and frame check sequence (FCS) 635 in the SPR frame may include, with Figure 5 Similar information to those in the polling frames described in [the text].

[0102] Figure 7 An exemplary license frame format is shown, which can be used in combination with any other embodiments described herein. Figure 7 As shown, the license frame may include a frame control field 705, a duration field 710, a receiver address (RA) 715, a transmitter address (TA) 720, dynamic allocation information 725, a beamforming (BF) control field 730, and a frame check sequence (FCS) 735. The duration field 710 in the license frame can be set to cover the time (in microseconds) for transmitting the remaining license frames when needed, the associated IFS, 2×SIFS, and... Figure 6 The allocation duration is carried in the Dynamic Allocation Information field 625 of the SPR frame described herein. For broadcasting a license frame, the duration field 710 can be set to the duration covering all remaining license frames plus the license time (in microseconds). The RA field 715 may contain the MAC address of the STA receiving the SP license. The TA field 720 may contain the MAC address of the STA that has already sent the license frame.

[0103] When the Dynamic Allocation Information field 725 is sent within the license frame, the Allocation Duration subfield may include the license duration (in microseconds) allocated for a Service Period (SP) or Contention-Based Access Period (CBAP). When the BF Control field 730 is sent within the license frame, the BF Control field may include a Total Sectors subfield indicating the total number of sectors used by the initiator. The Frame Control field 705 and Frame Check Sequence (FCS) 735 in the license frame may include... Figure 5 and Figure 6 Similar information to those in the polling or SPR frames described in the text.

[0104] The IEEE 802.11ay standard includes modifications to the IEEE 802.11 PHY and MAC layers. It enables at least one operating mode capable of supporting a maximum throughput of at least 20 gigabits per second (measured at the MAC data service AP) while maintaining or improving power efficiency at the STA. The 802.11ay standard also defines operation in unlicensed bands above 45 GHz, while ensuring backward compatibility and coexistence with legacy DMG STAs operating in the same band (e.g., as defined by IEEE 802.11ad). IEEE 802.11ay may also include multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) transmissions, including single-user (SU)-MIMO and multi-user (MU)-MIMO. Furthermore, IEEE 802.11ay may cover multichannel transmissions, including channel bonding and channel aggregation.

[0105] Channel bonding or channel aggregation is a common practice in IEEE 802.11 implementations, where two consecutive or discontinuous channels within a given frequency band are combined to increase throughput between two or more wireless devices. For example, two consecutive channels can create wideband channel bonding to increase throughput using a higher sampling rate. Two discontinuous or consecutive channels can create channel aggregation, such as 2x aggregation. Specifically, this 2x aggregation can be frequency carrier aggregation, which allows a STA to simultaneously sense and detect two 802.11ad channels to transmit data. The difference between channel bonding and channel aggregation is that in channel bonding, two consecutive channels can be treated as a single medium while the STA is transmitting data. However, in channel aggregation, two discontinuous channels can be treated as two media while the STA is transmitting data.

[0106] Figure 8A and 8B Two exemplary channel-bonded data transmission processes in a WLAN are illustrated, which can be used in combination with any other embodiments described herein. Figure 8AIn this process, the transmitter can reserve medium on the channel to be bound via a Request to Send (RTS) frame 805, and the receiver can respond with a Allow to Send (CTS) frame 810. The transmitter can then send channel-bound data transmission 815 to the receiver. A binding indication can be placed in the RTS frame 805 or in the preamble of the transmitted data frame 815. The receiver can respond with a channel-bound acknowledge (BACK) 820, and the transmitter can respond with two contention-free end frames (CF-END) 825 to end the Transmission Opportunity (TxOP) reservation 845. Figure 8B As shown, the transmitter can reserve medium on the channel to be bonded using a CTS-to-slef frame 830. The transmitter can then send channel-bonded data 835 to the receiver. The bonding indication can be placed in the CTS-to-slef frame 830 or in the preamble of the transmitted data frame 835. The receiver can respond with a channel-bonded ACK (BACK) 840.

[0107] Regarding the above Figure 8A and 8B The described embodiments can maintain full carrier sensing (e.g., physical and virtual) on the primary channel. Furthermore, an Enhanced DMG (EDMG) STA can send frames to a peer EDMG STA to indicate channel-bonded transmissions to that peer STA. This allows an EDMG STA to select to operate on multiple channels only after receiving such frames, thus saving power. When using multiple channels, a PCP or AP can simultaneously transmit to multiple STAs assigned to different channels. Furthermore, SPs and scheduled CBAPs can be assigned on more than one channel and / or bonded channels. These assignments may not be necessary to include the primary channel. When assignments on different channels overlap in time, the source and destination of these assignments may differ, and the channels used for such assignments may be limited to the BSS's operating channels.

[0108] Figure 9This is a diagram illustrating exemplary channelization in IEEE 802.11ay, which can be used in combination with any other embodiments described herein. As mentioned above, IEEE 802.11ay can support channel aggregation or channel bonding. Such channel aggregation or channel bonding can include, but is not limited to, a 2.16 GHz + 2.16 GHz mode, a 4.32 GHz + 4.32 GHz mode, or any combination thereof. For example, two channels in a 2.16 GHz bandwidth 910 (e.g., #1 and #2) can form a channel (e.g., #9) with a 4.32 GHz bandwidth 915. Similarly, a channel in a 4.32 GHz bandwidth 915 and a channel in a 2.16 GHz bandwidth 910 can form a channel (e.g., #17) with a 6.48 GHz bandwidth 920. Furthermore, two channels (e.g., #9 and #11) in the 4.32 GHz bandwidth 915, or one channel (e.g., #1) in the 2.16 GHz bandwidth 910 and one channel (e.g., #18) in the 6.48 GHz bandwidth 920, can form a channel (e.g., #25) in the 8.64 GHz bandwidth 925. For channel bonding, a single waveform can be used, and the center frequency can be located in the middle of the bonded channels. For channel aggregation, separate waveforms can be used on separate aggregated channels, and each waveform can have its own center frequency.

[0109] To enable channel bonding or channel aggregation, the EDMG-Header-A (which is the PHY header of the EDMG device) may include the following fields: bandwidth, channel coding (e.g., used to distinguish between channel bonding and channel aggregation), or primary channel, etc. These fields may be included in the control tail used for RTS / CTS setup, etc. A repeated RTS / CTS method can be used to carry bandwidth information for effective channel bonding operations.

[0110] As mentioned above, IEEE 802.11ay supports MIMO and multichannel transmission. However, the polling, requesting, and granting process (e.g., as described above with respect to IEEE 802.11ad) is designed for single-stream data transmission on a single channel and does not support MIMO / multichannel transmission. For example, an AP / STA can use polling frames to poll STAs and expect the STAs to respond with SPR frames to request a transmission time allocation. The polling period may consist of two steps. In the first step, the AP / PCP can poll the STAs one after another, addressing each STA with a polling frame at a time. In the second step, the STA can respond with an SPR frame at the desired time offset indicated in the previous polling frame. In another example, the AP / PCP can send individual granting frames to allocate time slots between the source STA and the destination STA. Directed transmission between the source STA and the destination STA can occur after the granting frame. Therefore, it is desirable to have methods and apparatus that support IEEE 802.11ay by providing a MIMO / multichannel compatible polling, requesting, and granting process while maintaining backward compatibility.

[0111] The first set of embodiments includes enhanced polling and request processes. In one set of embodiments, conventional polling / SPR and enhanced polling / SPR (E-polling / ESPR) may be separated in time. In another set of embodiments, polling / SPR and E-polling / ESPR may be separated in frequency or in the spatial domain. In these embodiments, "conventional" may refer to any concept or idea related to IEEE 802.11ad or previous WLAN standards, and "enhanced" may refer to any concept or idea related to IEEE 802.11ay or newer WLAN standards. For example, the term "conventional" may refer to DMG, and the term "enhanced" may refer to Enhanced DMG (EDMG). Enhanced polling, enhanced SPR, and enhanced grant frames may be Media Access Control (MAC) frames as defined in the IEEE 802.11 standard.

[0112] In embodiments where conventional polling / SPR and E-polling / ESPR frames are time-separated, conventional polling can be sent first, followed by E-polling. Conventional SPR can be transmitted after E-polling, followed by ESPR. Alternatively, conventional polling and SPR can be transmitted after E-polling and ESPR. In another alternative, a conventional polling period (including conventional polling and SPR) can be performed at the beginning of a polling period. Enhanced polling (including E-polling and ESPR) can be performed after the conventional polling period.

[0113] E-polling and ESPR frames can include information about MIMO and multi-channel capabilities, as well as control information about MIMO and multi-channel transmission. This information can be exchanged between the PCP / AP and STA, between STAs, or between PCP / APs. For example, the PCP / AP can grant STAs permission for allocation for MIMO and / or multi-channel transmission based on this information. Later, using enhanced permission frames, the transmitter and receiver can obtain beam-matching information and other MIMO and multi-channel related information. Therefore, in dynamic allocation based on E-polling and ESPR frames, MIMO setup frames and / or multi-channel setup frames can be optional or omitted.

[0114] Figure 10 A first exemplary enhanced polling and request process is illustrated. In this example, conventional polling / SPR 1030, 1035, 1055, 1060 and E-polling / ESPR 1040, 1045, 1050, 1065, 1070, 1075 can be separated in time, and E-polling 1040, 1045, 1050 and ESPR 1065, 1070, 1075 can be addressed separately within a frame. Figure 10 As shown, the PCP / AP 1020 can acquire media through contention or scheduling, and can initiate a polling period (PP) 1005 when certain conditions are met. PP 1005 can include conventional polling 1030, 1035 and enhanced polling 1040, 1045, 1050.

[0115] The PCP / AP 1020 can use conventional PPDUs to transmit conventional polling frames 1030 and 1035. Conventional polling frames 1030 and 1035 can be separated by x-inter-frame interval (xIFS) durations. For example, the xIFS can be a short beamforming inter-frame interval (SBIFS), a beam refinement protocol inter-frame interval (BRPIFS), a medium beamforming inter-frame interval (MBIFS), or a long beamforming inter-frame interval (LBIFS), etc. The response offset field in conventional polling frames 1030 and 1035 can indicate a time offset, which can be calculated to include the duration used for E-polling frames 1040, 1045, and 1050.

[0116] After the xIFS duration following the end of the last conventional polling frame (i.e., polling N) 1035, the PCP / AP 1020 may send E-polling frames 1040, 1045, and 1050. For example, the xIFS may be SBIFS or a duration slightly longer than SBIFS. E-polling frames 1040, 1045, and 1050 may be separated by yIFS durations. For example, the yIFS duration may be SBIFS or may be slightly longer than SBIFS. Examples of the yIFS duration may include, but are not limited to, SBFS, BRPIFS, MBIFS, and LBIFS.

[0117] E-polling MAC frames 1040, 1045, and 1050 can be individually addressed to STA 1025. In this case, the RA field of E-polling MAC frames 1040, 1045, and 1050 can be the MAC address of the receiving STA 1025. Each E-polling frame 1040, 1045, and 1050 can carry a response offset field, a channel offset field, a response antenna setting and / or a response sector setting and / or a response polarization setting field, or an ESPR field, etc. The response offset field can indicate a time offset (e.g., in 1 μs). This offset can be the time period between the end of E-polling frames 1040, 1045, and 1050 and their respective ESPR frames 1065, 1070, and 1075. For example, the offset included in E-polling frame 1040 can indicate the time period during which ESPR frame 1065 needs to be sent to PCP / AP 1020. The channel offset field may be included in E-polling frames 1040, 1045, and 1050, indicating one or more channels on which corresponding ESPR frames 1065, 1070, and 1075 can be transmitted. The response antenna setting, response sector setting, and / or response polarization setting fields may indicate the antenna / sector / polarization settings for ESPR frames 1065, 1070, and 1075. In one embodiment, these antenna / sector / polarization settings may be referred to as spatial offset. The ESPR field may indicate whether the expected response frame is SPR 1055 or 1060, or ESPR frames 1065, 1070, and 1075.

[0118] The Physical Layer (PHY) Protocol Data Units (PPDUs) carrying E-polling frames 1040, 1045, and 1050 can be either traditional PPDUs or enhanced PPDUs. Traditional PPDUs can be transmitted using a single data stream on the main channel. If multiple channels are available for the PCP / AP 1020, the transmission of the PPDU can be replicated on each channel with or without phase rotation. Enhanced PPDUs can be transmitted using one or more data streams on one or more channels. PPDUs can be transmitted using either a beamforming direction (which may have been previously trained between the PCP / AP 1020 and STA 1025) or a quasi-omnidirectional direction for single data transmission.

[0119] STAs that have received polling / E-polling frames 1030, 1035, 1040, 1045, and 1050 from PCP / AP 1020 can send SPR frames 1055 and 1060 or ESPR frames 1065, 1070, and 1075 after the offset duration indicated in the corresponding polling / E-polling frames 1030, 1035, 1040, 1045, and 1050. STAs 1025 that can be polled by conventional polling 1030 and 1035 can respond with conventional SPR frames 1055 and 1060. The STA 1025, which can be polled by E-polling frames 1040, 1045, and 1050, can respond using either traditional SPR frames 1055 and 1060 or ESPR frames 1065, 1070, and 1075, depending on the ESPR field indicated in the E-polling frames 1040, 1045, and 1050. If the ESPR field in the E-polling frames 1040, 1045, and 1050 is omitted, the response frames to the E-polling frames 1040, 1045, and 1050 can be ESPR frames 1065, 1070, and 1075.

[0120] SPR frames 1055 and 1060 can be carried in a conventional PPDU on the main channel using single-stream transmission. SPR frames 1055 and 1060 can be transmitted using either quasi-omnidirectional or beamforming directions. Enhancement equipment can fully understand ESPR frames 1065, 1070, and 1075, and these frames can carry MIMO control fields, multi-channel control fields, MU / SU control fields, modulation and coding scheme (MCS) control fields, or dynamic allocation information fields, etc.

[0121] The MIMO control field may include several subfields and can be used in ESPR frames 1065, 1070, 1075 and other control or management frames. If the MIMO control field is included in ESPR frames 1065, 1070, 1075, it may carry a MIMO support subfield, a polarization support subfield, a data stream quantity subfield, or a MIMO training subfield, etc. The MIMO support subfield may indicate whether the STA 1025 supports MIMO. The polarization support subfield may indicate whether polarization is supported. The data stream quantity subfield may indicate the number of data streams to be sent in the requested allocation. The MIMO training subfield may indicate whether analog MIMO / beamforming (BF) training and digital MIMO / BF training are ready between the source and destination in the requested allocation.

[0122] The multi-channel control field may include several subfields and can be used in ESPR frames 1065, 1070, 1075 and other control or management frames. If a multi-channel control field is included in ESPR frames 1065, 1070, 1075, this field may carry a channel aggregation subfield or a per-channel beam subfield, etc. The channel aggregation subfield may indicate whether the STA 1025 supports channel aggregation or channel bonding. The per-channel beam subfield may indicate the number of concurrent beams supported by each channel. In one embodiment, the per-channel beam subfield may be included in the MIMO control subfield.

[0123] The Multi-User / Single-User (MU / SU) control field can indicate whether a MU or SU is recommended and / or supported for the requested allocation. The MCS control field can include several subfields and can be used in ESPR frames 1065, 1070, 1075, and other control or management frames. If an MCS control field is included in ESPR frames 1065, 1070, 1075, it can carry MCS subfields, Space-Time Block Coding (STBC) subfields, Spatial Stream Quantity subfields, or Short / Long Low-Density Parity Check (LDPC) subfields, etc. The MCS subfields can indicate the MCS level recommended to be used in the requested allocation. The STBC subfields can indicate whether STBC is recommended and / or supported. The Spatial Stream Quantity subfields can indicate the number of spatial streams recommended and / or supported for the requested allocation. The Short / Long LDPC subfields can indicate the short or long LDPC code recommended for the requested allocation.

[0124] The dynamic allocation information field can be calculated based on the MIMO control and multi-channel control fields. For example, if the MIMO control and multi-channel control fields request the use of two data streams via channel aggregation with two channels, the corresponding allocation duration can be factored by 4. Alternatively or additionally, the allocation duration field can always be calculated based on a single stream transmission on a single channel. In this case, the PCP / AP 1020 can calculate the actual duration based on the allocated data stream and channel.

[0125] The PPDU carrying ESPR frames 1065, 1070, and 1075 can be a conventional PPDU or an enhanced PPDU. The conventional PPDU can be transmitted using a single data stream on the main channel. If multiple channels are available for the PCP / AP 1020, the transmission of the PPDU can be replicated on each channel with or without phase rotation. The enhanced PPDU can be transmitted using one or more data streams on one or more channels. The PPDU can be transmitted using a beamforming direction (which may have been previously trained between the PCP / AP and STA) or a quasi-omnidirectional direction for single data transmission.

[0126] The fields described in the above paragraphs can be scrambled (i.e., a subfield defined for one field can be included in another field, or it can be directly included as a field in ESPR frames 1065, 1070, and 1075).

[0127] Figure 11 A second exemplary enhanced polling and request process is illustrated. In this example, conventional polling / SPR frames 1130, 1135, 1150, and 1155 can be executed before E-polling / ESPR frames 1140, 1141, 1143, 1145, 1146, 1148, 1160, 1165, and 1170, respectively. The conventional polling / SPR frames 1130, 1135, 1150, and 1155 and the E-polling / ESPR frames 1140, 1145, 1160, 1165, and 1170 are time-separated, and the ESPR frames 1160, 1165, and 1170 can be addressed individually within the frame. The E-polling frames 1340, 1343, 1341, 1345, 1346, and 1348 can be transmitted using downlink (DL) MU transmissions such as MU-MIMO and multi-channel MU transmissions.

[0128] Similar to Figure 10 The embodiments described herein, in Figure 11In this configuration, the PCP / AP 1120 can acquire media through contention or scheduling, and can initiate a polling period (PP) 1105 when certain conditions are met. After the xIFS duration following the end of the last conventional polling frame (i.e., polling N) 1135, the PCP / AP 1120 can send E-polling frames 1140, 1141, 1143, 1145, 1146, and 1148. These E-polling MAC frames 1140, 1141, 1143, 1145, 1146, and 1148 can be individually addressed to the STA 1125. In this case, the RA field of the E-polling MAC frames 1140, 1141, 1143, 1145, 1146, and 1148 can be the MAC address of the receiver 1125. Each E-polling MAC frame 1140, 1141, 1143, 1145, 1146, 1148 may carry a response offset field, a channel offset field, a response antenna setting and / or a response sector setting and / or a response polarization setting field, and the ESPR field as described above. Alternatively, E-polling MAC frames 1140, 1141, 1143, 1145, 1146, 1148 may be a group addressed to a set of STAs 1125. In this case, the RA field of E-polling frames 1140, 1141, 1143, 1145, 1146, 1148 may be a multicast MAC address or a broadcast MAC address, etc. The group of STAs 1125 may prepare their responses based on the information specified in E-polling MAC frames 1140, 1141, 1143, 1145, 1146, 1148.

[0129] In addition to or as a replacement for the fields described above for individually addressed E-polling frames 1140, 1141, 1143, 1145, 1146, 1148, group-addressed E-polling frames 1140, 1141, 1143, 1145, 1146, 1148 may include: a STA count field and one or more STA information fields. The STA count field may indicate the number of STAs addressed by E-polling frames 1140, 1141, 1143, 1145, 1146, 1148. The STA information fields (one or more) may indicate time / frequency / spatial offset information and destination association identifier (AID) for the STAs to send back SPR / ESPR frames 1150, 1155, 1160, 1165, 1170. The number of STA information fields carried in the E-polling frames 1140, 1141, 1143, 1145, 1146, and 1148 can be determined by the STA number field. The time / frequency / spatial offset information can be the same as described for individually addressed E-polling MAC frames 1140, 1141, 1143, 1145, 1146, and 1148. For example, the time offset information can refer to the time period between E-polling frame 1141 and ESPR frame 1160 indicated in the response offset field. The frequency offset can refer to one or more channels on which ESPR frames 1160, 1165, and 1170 are transmitted. The spatial offset can refer to the antenna setting or sector setting indicated in the response antenna setting and / or response sector setting and / or response polarization setting fields.

[0130] The PPDU carrying E-polling frames 1140, 1141, 1143, 1145, 1146, and 1148 can be an enhanced PPDU. When E-polling frames 1140, 1141, 1143, 1145, 1146, and 1148 are individually addressed, MU-PPDU can be used. For example, a common preamble can be sent at the beginning, followed by a user-specific preamble and a user-specific data portion. If MU-MIMO is used, the data portion for each STA can be carried in the spatial signature. If multi-channel MU transmission is used, the data portion for each STA can be carried in one or more channels. When E-polling frames 1140, 1141, 1143, 1145, 1146, and 1148 are group-addressed, all spatial signatures and channels can be used to carry the same E-polling frames 1140, 1141, 1143, 1145, 1146, and 1148 addressed to multiple STAs. For example, one or more spatial beams can be used to transmit the same frame, and the same frame can be repeated on multiple channels with or without phase rotation. The PPDU can be transmitted using a beamforming direction for a single data transmission (which may have been previously trained between the PCP / AP 1120 and STA 1125) or a quasi-omnidirectional direction.

[0131] Similar to Figure 11 The embodiments shown are in Figure 11In this context, STA 1125, which receives polling / E-polling frames 1130, 1135, 1140, 1141, 1143, 1145, 1146, and 1148 from PCP / AP 1120, can send SPR frames 1150 and 1155 or ESPR frames 1160, 1165, and 1170 after the offset duration indicated in the corresponding polling / E-polling frames 1130, 1135, 1140, 1141, 1143, 1145, 1146, and 1148. STA 1125, which can be polled by conventional polling frames 1130 and 1135, can respond with conventional SPR frames 1150 and 1155. STA 1125, which can be polled by E-polling frames 1140, 1141, 1143, 1145, 1146, 1148, can respond with conventional SPR frames 1150, 1155 or ESPR frames 1160, 1165, 1170, depending on the ESPR field indicated in E-polling frames 1140, 1141, 1143, 1145, 1146, 1148. If the ESPR field in E-polling frames 1140, 1141, 1143, 1145, 1146, 1148 is omitted, then the response to E-polling frames 1140, 1141, 1143, 1145, 1146, 1148 can be ESPR frames 1160, 1165, 1170. The SPR frames 1150, 1155 and ESPR frames 1160, 1165, 1170 can be used with... Figure 11 The SPR frames 1155, 1160 and ESPR frames 1165, 1170, 1175 are the same, so the details of these frames will not be repeated here.

[0132] and Figure 11 The situation is the same as in the embodiments shown, in Figure 11 In this context, the PPDU carrying ESPR frames 1160, 1165, and 1170 can be a conventional PPDU transmitted using a single data stream on the main channel, or an enhanced PPDU transmitted using one or more data streams on one or more channels. For conventional PPDUs, if multiple channels are available for the PCP / AP 1120, the transmission of the PPDU can be replicated on each channel with or without phase rotation. The PPDU can be transmitted using a beamforming direction for single data transmission (which may have been previously trained between the PCP / AP 1120 and STA 1125) or a quasi-omnidirectional direction.

[0133] Similar to Figure 10 The embodiments shown are in Figure 11In this context, the aforementioned fields and subfields can be mixed up (i.e., a subfield defined for one field can be included in another field, or it can be directly included as a field in ESPR frames 1065, 1070, and 1075).

[0134] Figure 12 A third exemplary enhanced polling and request process is illustrated. In this example, conventional polling frames 1230, 1235 and SPR frames 1250, 1255 can be executed before E-polling frames 1240, 1241, 1243, 1245, 1246, 1248 and ESPR frames 1260, 1261, 1263, 1265, 1266, 1268, respectively. The conventional polling / SPR frames 1230, 1235, 1250, 1255 and the E-polling / ESPR frames 1240, 1241, 1243, 1245, 1246, 1248, 1260, 1261, 1263, 1265, 1266, 1268 can be separated in time. E-polling frames 1240, 1241, 1243, 1245, 1246, 1248 and ESPR frames 1260, 1261, 1263, 1265, 1266, 1268 can all be transmitted using MU transmission (e.g., MU-MIMO and multi-channel MU transmission).

[0135] In addition to the following, Figure 12 The method and frame structure of the embodiments shown are similar to Figure 11 Those that are the same or similar as those described in [the text]. Figure 12In this configuration, two or more STAs 1225 can receive E-polling frames 1240, 1241, 1243, 1245, 1246, and 1248 with the same time offset. In this case, the two or more STAs 1225 can simultaneously use MU transmissions (i.e., UL MU transmissions) to send ESPR frames 1260, 1261, 1263, 1265, 1266, and 1268. Additionally, the PCP / AP 1220 can use a field (e.g., the MU ESPR field) to indicate a potential UL MU transmission to the STAs 1225. Other UL-MU transmission-related information, such as information to be included in the PLCP header (e.g., a traditional or enhanced header) of an upcoming uplink transmission, can be indicated here. Such information may include, for example, MCS, number of spatial streams (Nss), LDPC codeword size, bandwidth (BW), channel aggregation, guard interval (GI) / cyclic prefix (CP) length, PHY layer service data unit (PSDU) length, or the applied STBC, etc. Regarding the PPDUs carrying ESPR frames 1260, 1261, 1263, 1265, 1266, and 1268, if enhanced PPDUs are transmitted using one or more data streams on one or more channels, then these enhanced PPDUs can participate in MU transmission, and PPDU transmission can occur after E-polling frames 1240, 1241, 1243, 1245, 1246, and 1248.

[0136] exist Figure 10 , 11 In all embodiments described in 12, the duration field in polling, E-polling, SPR, and ESPR frames can be set to cover the entire time period. For example, the duration field within each conventional polling frame i in a total of N conventional polling and M E-polling sessions can be calculated using the following equation (1):

[0137] Duration_i=Duration_of_Poll_transmission_i,N+

[0138] Duration_of_EPoll_transmission+Offset_of_SPR_transmission_N+

[0139] Offset_of_ESPR_transmission_M equation (1) The duration field within each E-polling frame i in M ​​E-pollings can be calculated using the following equation (2):

[0140] Duration_i=Duration_of_EPoll_transmission_i,M+

[0141] The duration field within each conventional SPR frame i in a total of N conventional SPRs and M ESPRs, as defined in equation (2), can be calculated using the following equation (3):

[0142] Duration_i=Duration_of_SPR_transmission_i,N+

[0143] Offset_of_ESPR_transmission_M Equation (3)

[0144] The duration field within each ESPR frame i in the M ESPRs can be calculated using the following equation (4):

[0145] Duration_i=Duration_of_ESPR_transmission_i,M Equation (4)

[0146] In each of the above equations, taking into account all inter-frame intervals and antenna switching times, Duration_of_xxx_transmission_i,k can refer to the duration from the end of frame i to the end of frame k. Duration_of_EPoll_transmission can refer to the duration from the end of the last conventional polling frame to the end of the last E-polling frame. Furthermore, Offset_of_SPR_transmission_j can be calculated using the following equation (5):

[0147] Offset_of_SPR_transmission1=Poll_SPR_space

[0148] Offset_of_SPR_transmission j =Offset_of_SPR_transmission j-1

[0149] +floor(TXTIME(SPR j )+SIFS,aTSFResolution)+1, Equation (5) where Poll_SPR_space can be the time interval between the end of the last E-polling frame sent by the PCP / AP and the expected start time of the first traditional SPR frame of the non-PCP / non-AP STA.

[0150] Offset_of_ESPR_transmission_j can be calculated using the following equation (6):

[0151] Offset_of_ESPR_transmission1=Poll_ESPR_space

[0152] Offset_of_ESPR_transmission j =Offset_of_ESPR_transmission j-1

[0153] +floor(TXTIME(ESPR j Equation (6) is given by equation (6).

[0154] Poll_ESPR_space can be the time interval between the end of the last SPR frame sent by a non-PCP / non-AP STA and the expected start time of the first ESPR frame of a non-PCP / non-AP enhanced STA.

[0155] In embodiments of backward-compatible polling time-based designs, traditional polling and traditional SPR frames can be followed by E-polling and ESPR frames. Figure 13 An exemplary enhanced polling and request process with PP 1305 is shown, where an enhanced polling period follows a traditional polling period. Figure 13 As shown, the conventional polling period of PP 1305 (i.e., conventional polling and SPR frames 1330, 1335, 1340, 1345) can be executed before the enhanced polling period of PP 1305 (i.e., E-polling and ESPR frames 1350, 1355, 1360, 1365, 1370, 1375). GP 1310 and the data transfer period 1315 can follow PP 1305. In this example, E-polling frames 1350, 1355, 1360 and ESPR frames 1365, 1370, 1375 can be addressed individually within the frames. Additionally, DL E-polling and UL ESPR transfers can be performed using single-user (SU) transmissions. However, this can be easily extended for multi-user (MU) transmissions. Figure 13 The frame structure and fields of the embodiment shown can be compared with Figure 10-12 Those that are the same or similar as those described in the text.

[0156] exist Figure 13In the embodiments described herein, the duration field in polling, SPR, E-polling, and ESPR frames can be set to cover the entire time period. For example, the duration field in each conventional polling frame i of a total of N conventional polls and M E-pollings can be calculated using the following equation (7):

[0157] Duration_i=Duration_of_Poll_transmission_i,N+

[0158] duration_of_EPoll_transmission+Offset_of_SPR_transmission_N+

[0159] Offset_of_ESPR_transmission_M Equation (7)

[0160] Furthermore, the duration field within each E-polling frame i in a total of M E-pollings can be calculated using the following equation (8):

[0161] Duration_i=Duration_of_EPoll_transmission_i,M+

[0162] Offset_of_ESPR_transmission_M Equation (8)

[0163] And the duration field within each traditional SPR frame i in a total of N transmitted traditional SPRs and M ESPRs can be calculated by the following equation (9):

[0164] Duration_i=Duration_of_SPR_transmission_i,N+Duration_of_EPoll_transmission+Offset_of_ESPR_transmission_M Equation (9)

[0165] The duration field within each ESPR frame i in the M ESPRs can be calculated using the following equation (10):

[0166] Duration_i=Duration_of_ESPR_transmission_i,M Equation (10)

[0167] In these equations (7)-(10), the symbols can be the same or similar to those in the above equations (1)-(6).

[0168] In another embodiment of the backward-compatible polling and granting period design, enhanced PP and GP may follow the traditional polling period (PP) and granting period (GP). Figure 14 An exemplary enhanced polling request process is illustrated, wherein traditional PP 1405 and traditional GP 1410, which follow traditional data transfer 1414, can be performed before enhanced PP 14120 and enhanced GP 1425, which follow enhanced data transfer 1430. In this example, E-polling and ESPR frames can be addressed separately within a frame. Enhanced PP 1420 can use SU or MU transmissions. In this example, the duration field in the traditional polling and grant frames can be set to cover traditional PP 1405 and GP 1410, while the duration field in the enhanced polling and grant frames can be set to cover enhanced PP 1420 and GP 1425. Alternatively or additionally, the duration field in both the traditional polling / grant frames and the enhanced polling / grant frames can be set to cover the entire time period. Figure 14 The frame structure and fields of the embodiment shown can be compared with Figure 10-13 Those that are the same or similar as those described in the text.

[0169] Regarding the above Figure 10-14 All processes described herein, EMinPPDuration can be used as part of dynamic allocation to indicate the minimum duration of enhanced PP and GP and can be specified in microseconds. EMinPPDuration can be equal to or greater than MinPPDuration (which can indicate the minimum duration of traditional PP and GP). When associated with a PCP / AP, the enhanced STA can override the value of its local Edot11MinPPDuration variable with the value of this field when receiving the element from its PCP / AP. From the start of each SP / CBAP, the enhanced STA can be in a wake-up state of Edot11MinPPDuration, which can be used for dynamic allocation.

[0170] In one embodiment, conventional polling / SPR frames and E-polling / ESPR frames can be separated in frequency or spatial domain. In this embodiment, the PCP / AP can acquire or utilize multiple channels. For example, conventional polling frames can be transmitted on the primary channel, and E-polling frames can be transmitted on the remaining channels. SPR / ESPR frames can be transmitted after polling / E-polling frames. SPR frames can be transmitted on the primary channel, and ESPR frames can be transmitted on the remaining channels. The concurrent transmission of conventional and E-polling frames, as well as conventional SPR and ESPR frames, can be synchronized.

[0171] In another embodiment where conventional polling / SPR and E-polling / ESPR frames are separated in frequency or spatial domain, the PCP / AP can use MU-MIMO transmission in the PP (i.e., multiple users can be spatially separated). Conventional polling frames can be transmitted on one spatial stream, and E-polling frames can be transmitted on the remaining spatial streams (one or more). SPR / ESPR frames can be transmitted after polling / E-polling frames. SPR frames can be transmitted on one spatial stream, and ESPR frames can be transmitted on the remaining spatial streams. The concurrent transmission of conventional polling and E-polling frames, as well as conventional SPR and ESPR frames, can be synchronized.

[0172] Figure 15 An exemplary enhanced polling and request process with concurrent conventional polling and E-polling transmissions is illustrated. In a time slot, conventional polling frames 1531, 1536 can be transmitted on the primary channel or a spatial stream, while E-polling frames 1530, 1531, 1535, 1538 can be transmitted on other channels (e.g., secondary channels) and / or other spatial streams. For example, during polling period (PP) 1505, conventional STA 1525 can receive conventional polling frames 1531, 1536 on the primary channel, and enhanced STA 1525 can receive E-polling frames 1530, 1533, 1538 on a secondary channel. In this example, PCP / AP 1520 can acquire the media through contention or scheduling. PCP / AP 1520 can initiate a polling period when certain conditions are met. The polling period may include traditional polling frames 1531 and 1536 and enhanced polling frames 1530, 1533, 1535, and 1538.

[0173] The PCP / AP 1520 can simultaneously send conventional polling frames 1531 and 1536 to the conventional STA 1525 and enhanced polling frames 1530, 1533, 1535, and 1538 to the enhanced STA 1525 on multiple channels and / or multiple spatial streams. If MU-MIMO transmission is used, conventional polling frames 1531 and 1536 can be carried by a conventional PPDU, which can be transmitted from the beginning of the PPDU on one spatial stream. Enhanced polling frames 1530, 1533, 1535, and 1538 can be carried by either enhanced PPDUs or conventional PPDUs, and can be transmitted on the remaining spatial streams. If multi-channel transmission is used, conventional polling frames 1531 and 1536 can be carried by a conventional PPDU, and can be transmitted on the primary channel. Enhanced polling frames 1530, 1533, 1535, and 1538 can be carried by either enhanced PPDUs or conventional PPDUs, and can be transmitted on the remaining channels (e.g., secondary channels). In one embodiment, enhanced polling frames 1530, 1533, 1535, and 1538 can be carried by enhanced PPDUs or conventional PPDUs and can be transmitted on the primary channel. Conventional polling frames 1531 and 1536 can be carried by conventional PPDUs and can be transmitted on other channels (e.g., secondary channels).

[0174] Although conventional polling frames 1531, 1536 and E-polling frames 1530, 1533, 1535, 1538 can have different frame formats and lengths, their transmissions can be synchronized. In other words, padding may be required to ensure simultaneous completion of transmissions. After the xIFS duration following the completion of the MU transmission, the PCP / AP 1520 can send another set of conventional polling frames 1531, 1536 and E-polling frames 1530, 1533, 1535, 1538 to another set of STA1525.

[0175] E-polling frames 1530, 1533, 1535, and 1538 can be individually addressed and may carry a response offset field, a channel offset field, a response antenna setting, a response sector setting and / or a response polarization setting field, or an ESPR field, etc. The response offset field may indicate a time offset (e.g., in 1 μs). This offset may be the time period between the end of E-polling frames 1530, 1533, 1535, and 1538 and the ESPR frames 1545 and 1550 to be transmitted in response to polling frames 1531 and 1536. The channel offset field may be included in E-polling frames 1530, 1533, 1535, and 1538 and may indicate one or more channels on which ESPR frames 1545 and 1550 can be transmitted in response to polling frames 1531 and 1536. The response antenna settings, response sector settings, and / or response polarization settings fields can indicate the antenna / sector / polarization settings in response to ESPR frames 1545 and 1550 in response to polling frames 1531 and 1536. The ESPR field can indicate whether the expected response frame is SPR frame 1540 or ESPR frame 1545 or 1550.

[0176] STA 1525, having received polling / E-polling frames 1530, 1531, 1533, 1535, 1536, 1538 from PCP / AP 1520, can send SPR frame 1540 or ESPR frame 1545, 1550 after the offset duration indicated by the corresponding polling frame 1531, 1536 or E-polling frame 1530, 1533, 1535, 1538. STA 1525 polled by conventional polling frames 1531, 1536 can respond with conventional SPR frame 1540. STA 1520 polled by E-polling frames 1530, 1533, 1535, 1538 can respond with conventional SPR frame 1540 or ESPR frame 1545, 1550 based on the ESPR field indicated in the E-polling frame 1530, 1533, 1535, 1538. If the ESPR field in E-polling frames 1530, 1533, 1535, and 1538 is omitted, the response to E-polling frames 1530, 1533, 1535, and 1538 can be ESPR frames 1545 and 1550.

[0177] SPR frames 1540 can be carried in a conventional PPDU on the main channel using single-stream transmission. SPR frames 1540 can be transmitted using either quasi-omnidirectional or beamforming directions.

[0178] The enhancement device can fully understand ESPR frames 1545 and 1550. These ESPR frames 1545 and 1550 may carry MIMO control fields, multi-channel control fields, MU / SU control fields, MCS control fields, or dynamic allocation information fields, etc. The MIMO control field may include several subfields and can be used in ESPR frames 1545 and 1550 and other control or management frames. If a MIMO control field is included in ESPR frames 1545 and 1550, this field may carry MIMO support subfields, polarization support subfields, data stream quantity subfields, or MIMO training subfields, etc. The MIMO support subfield may indicate whether STA 1525 supports MIMO. The polarization support subfield may indicate whether polarization is supported. The data stream quantity subfield may indicate the number of data streams to be sent in the requested allocation. The MIMO training subfield may indicate whether analog MIMO / BF training and digital MIMO / BF training are ready between the source and destination in the requested allocation.

[0179] The multi-channel control field may include several subfields and can be used in ESPR frames 1545, 1550 and other control or management frames. If a multi-channel control field is included in ESPR frames 1545, 1550, this field may carry a channel aggregation subfield, or a per-channel beam subfield, etc. The channel aggregation subfield may indicate whether channel aggregation or channel bonding is supported, and the per-channel beam subfield may indicate the number of concurrent beams supported by each channel. Alternatively or additionally, this subfield may be included in the MIMO control subfield.

[0180] The MU / SU control field can indicate whether a MU or SU is supported for the requested allocation proposal. The MCS control field can include several subfields and can be used in ESPR frames 1545, 1550 and other control or management frames. If the MCS control field is included in ESPR frames 1545, 1550, this field can carry MCS subfields, STBC subfields, spatial stream quantity subfields, or short / long LDPC subfields, etc. The MCS subfield can indicate the MCS level proposed to be used in the requested allocation. The STBC subfield can indicate whether STBC is proposed. The spatial stream quantity subfield can indicate the number of spatial streams proposed for the requested allocation. The short / long LDPC subfield can indicate the short or long LDPC code proposed for the requested allocation.

[0181] The dynamic allocation information subfield can be calculated based on the MIMO control and multi-channel control fields. For example, if two data streams and the aggregation of two channels are requested in the MIMO control and multi-channel control fields, the corresponding allocation duration can be factored by 4. Alternatively, the allocation duration field can always be calculated based on a single stream transmission on a single channel. In that case, the PCP / AP 1520 can calculate the actual duration based on the allocated data stream and channel.

[0182] The PPDU carrying ESPR frames 1545 and 1550 can be a conventional PPDU or an enhanced PPDU. The conventional PPDU can be transmitted using a single data stream on the main channel. The enhanced PPDU can be transmitted using one or more data streams on one or more channels. If multiple channels are available for the PCP / AP 1520, the transmission of the PPDU can be replicated on each channel with or without phase rotation. The PPDU can be transmitted using a beamforming direction for single data transmission (which may have been previously trained between the PCP / AP 1520 and STA 1525) or a quasi-omnidirectional direction.

[0183] The fields and subfields mentioned above can be mixed up (i.e., a subfield defined for one field can be included in another field, or it can be included directly as a field in ESPR frames 1545 and 1550).

[0184] Figure 16 An exemplary enhanced polling and request process with concurrent conventional polling / SPR and E-polling / ESPR transmissions is illustrated. Specifically, conventional polling / SPR frames 1631, 1636, 1641, and 1646 can be transmitted on the main channel or a spatial stream, while E-polling / ESPR frames 1630, 1633, 1635, 1638, 1640, 1643, 1645, and 1648 can be transmitted on other channels and / or other spatial streams. During polling period (PP) 1605, conventional STA 1625 can receive conventional polling frames 1631 and 1636 on the main channel, and enhanced STA 1625 can receive E-polling frames 1630, 1633, and 1638 on an auxiliary channel. The detailed process can be similar to... Figure 15 As shown and referenced Figure 15 The process described. Furthermore... Figure 16 The frame structure and fields of the embodiment shown can be compared with Figure 15 Those that are the same or similar as those described in the text.

[0185] Figure 17An exemplary enhanced polling and request process with asymmetric channel allocation is illustrated. This asymmetric channel allocation can be enabled through multi-channel transmission. For example, the primary channel can be allocated for the SP / CBAP1705 between a pair of STAs (e.g., STA 1 and STA 2), and the remaining channels can be used for dynamic allocation.

[0186] The PCP / AP 1725 can allocate one or more SPs across multiple channels. SPs on the primary channel can be allocated to STA1 and STA2. SPs on secondary channels can be broadcast via source and destination AIDs, thus allowing for dynamic allocation. In addition to STA1 and STA2, enhanced STAs 1730, which can be used for dynamic allocation, can maintain receive mode on the secondary channel. The PCP / AP 1725 can initiate dynamic allocation on the secondary channel. The PCP / AP 1725 can begin sending E-polling frames 1735 and 1740 to STAs 1730, and polled STAs 1730 can respond with ESPR frames 1745 and 1750. The PCP / AP 1730 can then send enhanced grant (E-grant) frames to some STAs 1730 during the grant period (GP) 1715, and data transmission can subsequently occur 1720.

[0187] exist Figure 17 In the example shown, the SP can be assigned to a pair of non-PCT / non-AP STAs on the primary channel. Therefore, if a half-duplex radio is assumed on the PCP / AP 1725 side, the PCP / AP 1725 can transmit and receive without restriction on the secondary channel. If a full-duplex radio is assumed at the PCP / AP 1725, transmissions on the primary channel can occur between the PCP / AP 1725 and the non-PCP / non-AP STAs.

[0188] Figure 18 An example of dynamic SP allocation across multiple channels is shown. In this example, the licensed period 1810 and data transfer period 1815 can be enhanced for operation across multiple channels. For example, in PP 1805, STA1 1825 has indicated in the SPR frame that it wishes to communicate with STA2 1830, and E STA3 1835 has indicated in the SPR frame that it wishes to communicate with E STA4 1840. E STA3 1835 and E STA4 1840 can be EDMG STAs, and STA1 1825 and STA2 1830 can be DMG or EDMG STAs. In GP 1810, as... Figure 18As shown, L / E (Traditional / Enhanced) license frames 1845, 1855 and E license frames 1850, 1860 can be transmitted in parallel on different channels to STA1 1825 and E STA3 1835, as well as STA2 1830 and ESTA4 1840. STAs 1825, 1830, 1835, 1840 can implicitly derive the assigned channel (for data transfer 1865, 1870) based on the channel in which the RA matches its own MAC address in license frames 1845, 1850, 1855, 1860. Alternatively or additionally, the assigned channel can be implicitly signaled in E license frames 1850, 1860. In this case, the assigned channel can be the same as or different from the channel carrying E license frames 1850, 1860. Furthermore, E license frames 1850, 1860 can assign multiple channels and can indicate whether channel bonding or aggregation should be used in that allocation. During data transmission service period 1815, STAs 1825, 1830, 1835, and 1840 can use the allocated channel and duration to perform data transmissions 1865 and 1870 and acknowledgments 1875 and 1880, as follows. Figure 18 As shown.

[0189] In scheduled SP / CBAPs where both the destination and source AIDs are equal to the broadcast AID, or only the CBAP field is equal to 1, channel access may require including the primary channel. However, if dynamic allocation is performed in such SP / CBAPs, this may not be applicable to allocations of E-licensed frames 1850 and 1860.

[0190] It may be required that the time allocation on different channels be of equal duration so that the AP or PCP / AP 1820 can initiate subsequent GP 1810s on multiple channels simultaneously. It may be necessary to fill the transmissions of EDMGSTA 1835, 1840 with allocated slots on the primary or secondary channels until the dynamic allocation ends to prevent access from other STAs not controlled by the AP or PCP / AP 1820.

[0191] The AP or PCP / AP 1820 can be configured with EDMG STAs 1835 and 1840 to monitor the primary and secondary channels for certain durations in the SP or CBAP of PP 1805 or GP1810, where such monitoring may occur. This configuration can be accomplished using a setup frame similar to a channel-bonded wake-up to prepare STAs 1825, 1830, 1835, and 1840 to pre-monitor multiple channels. In PP1805, polling / SPR frames can be transmitted in parallel to / from different STAs 1825, 1830, 1835, and 1840 on different channels; however, the AP or PCP / AP 1820 will need to set the response offset to maintain an appropriate interval between the start of SPR frame reception on any channel and the end of polling frame transmission on any other channel.

[0192] Alternatively, it may be necessary only for EDMG STAs 1835 and 1840 to monitor the primary channel in a dynamically allocated SP / CBAP. If it receives a polling frame addressed to the primary channel of EDMG STAs 1835 and 1840, or a frame with an EDMG header-A indicating multichannel transmission sent on the primary channel, it can switch to operating on both the primary and secondary channels. In the case of a polling frame addressed to EDMG STAs 1835 and 1840 being sent on the primary channel, the polling frame can be sent on the primary channel and can be copied on the secondary channel, while SPR or ESPR frames from EDMG STAs 1835 and 1840 can be sent on the secondary channel. The polling frame will indicate to STAs 1825, 1830, 1835, and 1840 which secondary channel should be used to respond to the polling frame. When a frame is transmitted on the primary channel (where the EDMG header-A indicates multi-channel transmission), the frame may or may not be a polling frame addressed to EDMG STA 1835, 1840, but may be received by EDMG STA 1835, 1840. Polling frames sent to EDMG STA 1835, 1840 may only be received on the secondary channel. If EDMG STA 1835, 1840 is not addressed in any received polling frames, EDMG STA 1835, 1840 may switch back to monitoring the primary channel. In this case, the polling frame may be transmitted in a Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA) PPDU.

[0193] At any given time, when assigning different channels to different STAs, it may be necessary for only one assignment to have a destination AID set to the AP. Dynamic assignments with a destination AID set to the AP may need to include the primary channel. For example, if an assignment with the AP as its destination does not include the primary channel, the primary channel assignment may be truncated by the source or destination STA on that primary channel while the AP is receiving on a secondary channel. In this case, the AP may not be able to respond to frames received on the primary channel after the SP truncation and before data transmission on the secondary channel is complete.

[0194] When license frames are simultaneously sent to different STAs on different channels (e.g., ... Figure 18 As shown, the duration of the license frame carrying the allocation to the AP may need to be set longer than the duration typically used to cover license frame transmissions on other channels, so that data transmission to the AP does not begin until the licensing process is completed on all channels.

[0195] In a scheduled SP / CBAP where both the destination and source AIDs are equal to the broadcast AID, or only the CBAP field is equal to 1, the channel access should include the primary channel. This may be necessary because STAs participating in contention-based access may only need to perform the Fully Idle Channel Assessment (CCA) and Network Allocation Vector (NAV) procedures on the primary channel.

[0196] In the event that the primary and secondary channels are assigned to different STAs in a dynamic allocation, an EDMG STA not involved in the dynamic allocation may perform channel access on the primary and secondary channels under the following circumstances: (1) the dynamically allocated SP on the primary channel is truncated; (2) the STA does not listen to directed transmissions between STA pairs allocated on the primary channel; and / or (3) the STA does not listen to content from the transmitter on the secondary channel during the PIFS duration. While this may not affect the primary channel (because the full CCA and NAV procedures are performed), receiving STAs on the secondary channel may be subject to interference.

[0197] After a licensed frame allocates a dynamic SP on the secondary channel and before data transmission occurs on the primary channel, a short frame exchange can be performed on the primary channel between the source and destination STAs allocated on the secondary channel, using the antenna configuration for data transmission. This frame exchange can carry a duration setting, allowing EDMG STAs not involved in dynamic allocation to set a NAV and not perform channel access for the duration of the dynamic SP on the secondary channel. This short frame exchange can occur between a previous GP (which can also allocate dynamic SPs on the secondary channel for STA pairs to exchange short frames) and a GP that later allocates primary channel data transmission. Alternatively, this short frame exchange can immediately follow a GP that allocates SPs for all channels (e.g., as...). Figure 18 (As shown) However, this occurs before data transmission on the main channel. In this case, the duration of the licensed frame sent on the main channel may need to be set to a longer value to delay the data transmission until after the short frame exchange.

[0198] The end time (via allocated duration) of a dynamic SP on an auxiliary channel can be set to be less than the end time of a dynamic SP on the primary channel. STA pairs assigned on different auxiliary channels can simultaneously perform short frame switching on the primary channel, where identical frames carry the same duration information.

[0199] Transmissions between conventional STAs and / or enhanced STAs can be licensed by conventional licensed frames, while transmissions between enhanced STAs can be licensed by enhanced licensed frames (E-licensing). E-licensing frames can be used to allocate transmissions across multiple channels or in MIMO-based transmissions. The E-licensing frame can carry necessary information (e.g., analog beam / sector information, beam / sector allocation information, digital precoding scheme, or channel allocation) to establish transmissions on MIMO or multiple channels.

[0200] Figure 19 A first exemplary licensing process is illustrated. In this example, the PCP / AP can perform dynamic allocation on either the SP or CBAP. During PP 1905, the PCP / AP can poll the STA and receive a request from it (this step may be optional). Based on the previously sent uplink request, the PCP / AP can allocate time resources to the STA. One or more legacy license frames can be sent during GP 1910, followed by legacy data transmission during data transmission period 1915. Then, one or more E license frames can be sent during eGP 1920 to allocate resources to the enhanced STA. This can be followed by data transmission during data transmission period 1925. Here, the data transmission allocated by eGP 1920 can be legacy data transmission and / or enhanced data transmission.

[0201] Figure 20A second exemplary licensing process is shown. Figure 20 The process shown is similar to Figure 19 In addition to the second exemplary licensing process, after PP 2005, eGP 2010 and the corresponding data transfer period 2015 can be performed before GP 2020 and the corresponding data transfer period 2015.

[0202] Figure 21 An exemplary backward-compatible transmission within eGP 2110 and the corresponding DL data transmission period 2215 is illustrated. In this example, PCP / AP 2120 can initiate eGP 2110 with or without polling frames or E-polling frames previously transmitted during PP 2105. Furthermore, in eGP 2110, traditional license frames 2135 and E-license frames 2136 can be transmitted simultaneously. For example, license frames 2135 and E-license frames 2136 can be transmitted simultaneously on multiple channels. In this case, an enhancement device such as ESTA2 2130 can monitor all channels and expect to receive E-license frames 2136 transmitted via a non-primary channel. Alternatively, PCP / AP 2120 can send E-license frames 2136 to ESTA2 2130 on the same channel where ESTA2 2130 previously requested transmission time via polling / SPR frames or E-polling / ESPR frames. Therefore, in either case, the enhanced STA (e.g., ESTA2 2130) can monitor the channel on which it previously transmitted SPR or ESPR frames. In one embodiment, MIMO can be used to transmit license frames 2135 and E-license frames 2136 on multiple streams. It should be noted that the above process can be implemented with conventional STAs (e.g., STA1 2125) and enhanced STAs (e.g., E STA2 2130) coexisting. In some embodiments, it can be used for the enhanced STA (e.g., E STA2 2130) by: (1) replacing a conventional STA (e.g., STA1 2125) with an enhanced STA (e.g., E STA2 2130); (2) replacing conventional license frames 2135 with E-license frames 2136; (3) replacing conventional data frames 2140 with enhanced data frames 2141; and (4) replacing conventional ACKs 2145 with enhanced ACKs 2150.

[0203] The transmissions of the aforementioned license frame 2135 and E-license frame 2136 can be aligned. For example, packets can be padded to give the transmissions equal durations if necessary.

[0204] In one embodiment, only the E-license frame 2136 may be transmitted during eGP 2110. In this case, the same E-license frame 2136 carrying information for up to multiple STAs 2125, 2130 may be repeated on the MIMO stream and / or multiple channels. Alternatively or additionally, user-specific E-license frames 2136 may be transmitted on multiple spatial streams and / or multiple channels.

[0205] Following the xIFS duration after license frame 2135 or E-licensing frame 2136, a data transmission period (or data transfer period) 2115 may follow. This data transmission 2115 may consist of the transmission of conventional data frames (i.e., data 1) 2140 and enhanced data frames (i.e., e-data 2) 2141. Similar to the transmissions used for license frame 2135 and E-licensing frame 2136, conventional data frames 2140 and enhanced data frames 2141 may be transmitted on MIMO or multiple channels.

[0206] After the xIFS duration following data transmission, STAs 2125 and 2130 can send acknowledgment frames (i.e., ACK1 and eACK2) 2145 and 2150 back to PCP / AP 2120. In one embodiment, STAs 2125 and 2130 can send acknowledgment frames 2145 and 2150 simultaneously via MIMO or multiple channels. In another embodiment, STAs 2125 and 2130 can use a polling-based scheme to send acknowledgment frames 2145 and 2150. The first polling can be omitted because DL data transmission can be considered as the first polling.

[0207] Figure 22 An exemplary backward-compatible transmission within eGP 2210 and the corresponding UL data transmission period 2215 is illustrated. This process, or eGP 2210, can be used with... Figure 21 The examples described herein are the same or similar. For example, during eGP 2210, as described above, license frames 2235 and E-license frames 2240 can be transmitted on multiple channels or multiple spatial streams. However, the corresponding data transmissions (data 1 2245 and e-data 2250) can be UL multi-user transmissions on multiple spatial streams and / or multiple channels. MU ACK 2255 can be sent by PCP / AP 2220 as an acknowledgment of UL data transmissions in response to STA 2225, 2230.

[0208] Figure 23An exemplary backward-compatible transmission within an eGP 2310 using a control tail 2345 is illustrated. In this example, the PCP / AP 2325 can send a license frame 2340 to multiple STAs 2330, 2335. One of the STAs can be a traditional STA (i.e., STA1) 2330 and the remaining STAs can be enhanced STAs (i.e., E STA2) 2335. The traditional STA 2330 can receive the traditional license frame 2340 and the control tail 2345, but it can only decode the traditional license frame 2340. The enhanced STA 2335 can also receive the traditional license frame 2340 and the control tail 2345, and can decode both for use in data transmission period 2320. The traditional license frame 2340 can be sent in the MAC body, and the control tail 2345 can be appended to it. The control tail 2345 can include allocation information and MIMO / multi-channel setup information for the enhanced STA 2335. Specifically, the control tail 2345 may include several fields for channel aggregation, bandwidth, channel number, SU / MU MIMO, or antenna configuration, etc.

[0209] Figure 24 An exemplary dynamic allocation process enabling a STA to perform MIMO and multi-channel transmission is shown. Figure 24 As shown, in step 2410, the STA can receive a polling frame from the access point (AP). This polling frame includes a time offset, channel offset, antenna settings, and sector settings to enable MIMO and / or multi-channel transmission from the STA. The polling frame may be an enhanced polling frame, which includes a response offset field, a channel offset field, a response antenna settings field, or a response sector settings field, etc. The response offset field may include a time offset indicating a time period between the polling frame and the SPR frame. Specifically, the STA may transmit an SPR frame in response to the polling frame after a duration indicated in the response offset field. The channel offset field may include a channel offset indicating one or more channels on which the SPR frame is transmitted in response to the polling frame. The response antenna settings field may include an antenna setting indicating the antenna configuration on which the SPR frame is transmitted in response to the polling frame. The response sector settings field may include a sector setting indicating the antenna sector on which the SPR frame is transmitted.

[0210] In step 2420, the STA may send a Service Period Request (SPR) frame to the AP based on a polling frame. The SPR frame may be an enhanced SPR frame, including a MIMO control field, a multi-channel control field, a MU / SU control field, or an allocation duration field, etc. The MIMO control field may include a MIMO support subfield to indicate whether the STA supports MIMO. The MIMO control field may also include a data stream quantity subfield to indicate the number of data streams to be used in the requested allocation. The multi-channel control field may include a channel aggregation subfield to indicate whether the STA supports channel aggregation or channel bonding. The MU / SU control field may indicate whether the STA supports a MU or SU for the requested allocation. The allocation duration field may be calculated based on multiple data streams utilizing multiple channels or a single data stream utilizing a single channel. The SPR frame may be carried in a PPDU transmitted with one or more data streams based on the channel offset indicated in the polling frame. The PPDU may be transmitted using quasi-omnidirectional or beamforming orientation based on the antenna and sector settings indicated in the polling frame.

[0211] In step 2430, the STA may receive a license frame from the AP during the licensed period. This license frame may be an enhanced license frame, including antenna configuration and multi-channel allocation to enable the STA to perform MIMO and multi-channel transmissions. The license frame may include a conventional license frame and a control tail appended to it. In one embodiment, the license frame may include a PPDU, which includes a data field and a control tail inserted after the data field. The antenna configuration and multi-channel allocation for MIMO and multi-channel transmission may be carried in the control tail. In step 2440, the STA may transmit data to other STAs or APs using MIMO and / or multi-channel based on the antenna configuration and multi-channel allocation in the license frame.

[0212] While features and elements in specific combinations have been described above, those skilled in the art will recognize that each feature or element can be used alone or in any combination with other features and elements. Furthermore, the methods described herein can be implemented in a computer program, software, or firmware incorporated in a computer-readable medium for execution by a computer or processor. Examples of computer-readable media include electronic signals (transmitted via wired or wireless connections) and computer-readable storage media. Examples of computer-readable storage media include, but are not limited to, read-only memory (ROM), random access memory (RAM), registers, buffer memory, semiconductor memory devices, magnetic media (e.g., internal hard disks and removable disks), magneto-optical media, and optical media (e.g., CD-ROMs and DVDs). A processor associated with the software can be used to implement a radio frequency transceiver for a WTRU, UE, terminal, base station, RNC, or any host computer.

Claims

1. A method for use in a station (STA), the method comprising: A polling frame is received from an access point (AP). The polling frame includes a response offset field and a channel offset field. The response offset field indicates a time offset, wherein the time offset indicates a time period between the polling frame and a service time request (SPR) frame. The channel offset field indicates the channel that will be used to send the SPR frame. In response to the polling frame, the SPR frame is transmitted based on the time offset, the SPR frame including a multi-channel control field indicating support for transmission in multiple channels; as well as The STA receives a license frame from the AP, the license frame including the allocation of the plurality of channels to enable the STA to perform multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) transmissions.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein, The SPR frame also includes a MIMO control field indicating support for the MIMO transmission, wherein the MIMO control field includes a data stream number subfield indicating the number of data streams to be transmitted in the MIMO transmission.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein, The multichannel control field further includes a channel aggregation subfield indicating support for channel aggregation or channel binding in the transmission across the plurality of channels.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein, The control tail appended to the license frame includes a multi-user MIMO control field, a single-user MIMO control field, and a dynamic allocation information field.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein, The polling frame also includes channel information, antenna information, and sector information.

6. The method according to claim 5, wherein, The SPR frame is carried in a Physical Layer (PHY) Protocol Data Unit (PPDU) transmitted in one or more data streams based on the channel offset indicated in the channel information.

7. The method according to claim 6, wherein, The PPDU is transmitted using a quasi-omnidirectional or beamforming direction based on the antenna and sector configuration indicated in the antenna information or sector information.

8. The method according to claim 1, wherein, The license frame also includes a conventional license frame and a control tail appended to the conventional license frame.

9. The method according to claim 8, wherein, The allocation of the plurality of channels is carried in the control tail.

10. The method according to claim 1, wherein, The AP is a Personal Basic Service Set (PBSS) Control Point (PCP) / Access Point (AP).

11. A station (STA), the STA comprising: A receiver is configured to receive polling frames from an access point (AP), the polling frames including a response offset field and a channel offset field, the response offset field indicating a time offset, wherein the time offset indicates a time period between the polling frame and a service time request (SPR) frame, and the channel offset field indicating the channel to be used to transmit the SPR frame; The transmitter is configured to transmit the SPR frame based on the time offset in response to the polling frame, the SPR frame including a multi-channel control field indicating support for transmission in multiple channels; as well as The receiver is also configured to receive a license frame from the AP, the license frame including an allocation of the plurality of channels to enable the STA to perform multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) transmissions.

12. The STA of claim 11, wherein the SPR frame further includes a MIMO control field indicating support for the MIMO transmission, wherein the MIMO control field includes a data stream number subfield indicating the number of data streams to be transmitted in the MIMO transmission.

13. The STA of claim 11, wherein the multichannel control field further includes a channel aggregation subfield indicating support for channel aggregation or channel binding in the transmissions across the plurality of channels.

14. The STA of claim 11, wherein the control tail appended to the license frame includes a multi-user MIMO control field, a single-user MIMO control field, and a dynamic allocation information field.

15. The STA according to claim 11, wherein the polling frame further includes channel information, antenna information, and sector information.

16. The STA of claim 15, wherein the SPR frame is carried in a physical layer (PHY) protocol data unit (PPDU) transmitted using one or more data streams based on the channel offset indicated in the channel information.

17. The STA of claim 16, wherein the PPDU is transmitted using a quasi-omnidirectional or beamforming direction based on the antenna and sector configuration indicated in the antenna information or the sector information.

18. The STA of claim 11, wherein the license frame further comprises a conventional license frame and a control tail appended to the conventional license frame.

19. The STA of claim 18, wherein the allocation of the plurality of channels is carried in the control tail.

20. The STA of claim 11, wherein the AP is a Personal Basic Service Set (PBSS) Control Point (PCP) / Access Point (AP).

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