Enhanced transmission identifier-to-link mapping mechanism for non-co-located access point multi-link downlink systems

Abstract

This disclosure describes systems, methods, and devices related to non-co-located MLD management. A device may identify a first non-co-located access point (AP) and a second non-co-located AP associated with a non-co-located AP multilink device (MLD). A device may determine traffic identifier (TID) to link mappings for a first non-co-located AP and a second non-co-located AP. The device may include a TID-to-link mapping element in a beacon frame or a probe response frame transmitted by each of the first non-co-located AP and the second non-co-located AP. The device may update the TID-to-link mapping element in response to a change in state of the first non-co-located AP or the second non-co-located AP. The device may transmit the updated TID-to-link mapping element to other APs that are affiliated to the non-co-located AP MLD.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present disclosure relates generally to systems and methods for wireless communications, and more particularly to an enhanced mapping mechanism of transmission identifiers to links in a non-co-located access point multi-link downlink system. Background Art

[0002] Advances in wireless technology have shaped the digital landscape, enabling enhanced data communications and connectivity. As wireless networks grow in complexity and size, so does the need for improved efficiency and seamless user mobility. Traditional network models focus primarily on co-located devices, limiting their applicability in vast distributed networks. Therefore, innovative approaches are needed to effectively manage non-co-located network components in these large-scale environments. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0003] Figure 1 is a network diagram illustrating an example network environment for non-co-located multi-link device (MLD) management according to one or more example embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0004] Figures 2A-2D Depicted is an illustrative diagram for non-co-located MLD management in accordance with one or more example embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0005] Figure 3 A flow chart of a process for an illustrative non-co-located MLD management system is shown, according to one or more example embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0006] Figure 4 A functional diagram of an exemplary communication station that may be suitable for use as a user equipment according to one or more example embodiments of the present disclosure is shown.

[0007] Figure 5 A block diagram is shown of an example machine upon which any one or more techniques (eg, methodologies) may be performed according to one or more example embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0008] Figure 6 is a block diagram of a radio architecture according to some examples.

[0009] Figure 7 A method for performing a multi-function circuit according to one or more example embodiments of the present disclosure is shown. Figure 6 Example front-end module circuit in a radio architecture of FIG.

[0010] Figure 8 A method for performing a multi-function circuit according to one or more example embodiments of the present disclosure is shown. Figure 6 Example radio IC circuit in a radio architecture of FIG.

[0011] Fig. 9A method for performing a multi-function circuit according to one or more example embodiments of the present disclosure is shown. Figure 6 Example baseband processing circuitry in a radio architecture of FIG. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0012] The following description and accompanying drawings sufficiently illustrate specific embodiments to enable those skilled in the art to practice them. Other embodiments may incorporate structural changes, logical changes, electrical changes, process changes, algorithm changes, and other changes. Portions and features of some embodiments may be included in or substituted with portions and features of other embodiments. The embodiments set forth in the claims encompass all available equivalents of those claims.

[0013] One of the goals with Wi-Fi 8 is to allow smooth mobility with zero or low latency and zero or low packet loss transitions between APs in different locations. Multi-link devices (MLDs) are defined in IEEE 802.11be ("11be"), which allow non-co-located access points (APs) to belong to the same AP MLD (this also holds true for non-AP MLDs). For 11be, the protocol is defined only for the co-location case. Therefore, in order to meet the above goals, the proposal would be to have non-co-located MLD operation for Wi-Fi 8.

[0014] Embodiments of the present disclosure relate to systems, methods, and devices for advertised TID-to-link mapping for non-co-located AP MLDs.

[0015] In one embodiment, the non-co-located MLD management system may incorporate several changes to the multi-link framework defined in .11be to define non-co-located AP MLD for Wi-Fi 8.

[0016] Of particular interest, the method defines procedures for allowing the advertised traffic identifier (TID) to link (TID-to-link) mapping process (also known as dependent AP link enabling and disabling) when associated with a non-co-located AP MLD.

[0017] In one or more embodiments, a non-co-located MLD management system may solve a specific problem, namely, the advertised TID-to-link mapping procedure defined in 11be for conventional AP MLDs and that needs to be adapted to non-co-located AP MLDs.

[0018] For co-located AP MLD, the following definitions are made:

[0019] - An AP can temporarily disable AP MLD for a specific duration.

[0020] - In this case, all APs of the AP MLD may include a TID-to-link mapping element in the beacon frames and probe response frames they send, indicating that no TID is mapped to the disabled link (which is equivalent to making the link disabled), and including the time when the link will be disabled (mapping switch time) and the duration of the disablement (expected duration field).

[0021] - Additionally, in this case, all APs that should include the AP MLD basic per-AP information for each subordinate AP in the Reduced Neighbor Report in the beacon frames and probe response frames they send should set a field called the Disabled Link Indication field to 1 for disabled APs (during the time that the AP is equivalent to being disabled).

[0022] In order to effectively scale to non-co-located AP MLD scenarios where merging all information becomes impractical due to the large number of APs affiliated with AP MLD, certain adaptations are necessary. These adaptations aimed at managing the complexity of non-co-located AP MLD are explained in this disclosure.

[0023] The above description is for illustrative purposes and is not meant to be limiting. There may be many other examples, configurations, processes, algorithms, etc., some of which are described in more detail below. Example embodiments will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0024] Figure 1 1 is a network diagram illustrating an example network environment for non-co-located MLD management according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure. A wireless network 100 may include one or more user devices 120 and one or more access points (APs) 102, which may communicate according to the IEEE 802.11 communication standard. The user device 120 may be a non-stationary (e.g., not having a fixed location) mobile device, or may be a stationary device.

[0025] In some embodiments, user equipment 120 and AP 102 may include a Figure 4 Functional diagram of the computer system and / or Figure 5 One or more computer systems of an example machine / system.

[0026] One or more illustrative user devices 120 and / or AP 102 may be operated by one or more users 110. It should be noted that any addressable unit may be a station (STA). A STA may exhibit a variety of different characteristics, each of which shapes its functionality. For example, a single addressable unit may be a portable STA, a quality of service (QoS) STA, a subordinate STA, and a hidden STA at the same time. One or more illustrative user devices 120 and AP 102 may be STAs. One or more illustrative user devices 120 and / or AP 102 may operate as a personal basic service set (PBSS) control point / access point (PCP / AP). User devices 120 (e.g., 124, 126, or 128) and / or AP 102 may include any suitable processor-driven device, including but not limited to mobile devices or non-mobile devices (e.g., static devices). For example, the user equipment 120 and / or the AP 102 may include a user equipment (UE), a station (STA), an access point (AP), a software-enabled AP (SoftAP), a personal computer (PC), a wearable wireless device (e.g., a wristband, a watch, glasses, a ring, etc.), a desktop computer, a mobile computer, a laptop computer, an ultrabook, or a wireless communication device. TMcomputer, notebook computer, tablet computer, server computer, handheld computer, handheld device, Internet of Things (IoT) device, sensor device, PDA device, handheld PDA device, on-board device, off-board device, hybrid device (e.g., combining cellular phone functionality with PDA device functionality), consumer device, in-vehicle device, non-in-vehicle device, mobile or portable device, non-mobile or non-portable device, mobile phone, cellular phone, PCS device, PDA device including wireless communication device, mobile or portable GPS device, DVB device, relatively small computing device, non-desktop computer, "travel light, live life" (CSLL) device, ultra mobile device (UMD), ultra mobile PC (UMPC), mobile Internet device (MID), "origami" Device or computing device, device supporting dynamic combinatorial computing (DCC), context-aware device, video device, audio device, A / V device, set-top box (STB), Blu-ray disc (BD) player, BD recorder, digital video disc (DVD) player, high-definition (HD) DVD player, DVD recorder, HDDVD recorder, personal video recorder (PVR), broadcast HD receiver, video source, audio source, video sink, audio sink, stereo tuner, broadcast radio receiver, flat panel display, personal media player (PMP), digital video camera (DVC), digital audio player, speaker, audio receiver, audio amplifier, gaming device, data source, data sink, digital still camera (DSC), media player, smart phone, television, music player, etc. Other devices, including smart devices (e.g., lights, climate control, automotive components, home components, appliances, etc.), may also be included in this list.

[0027] As used herein, the term "Internet of Things (IoT) device" is used to refer to any object (e.g., appliance, sensor, etc.) that has an addressable interface (e.g., Internet Protocol (IP) address, Bluetooth identifier (ID), near field communication (NFC) ID, etc.) and is capable of sending information to one or more other devices via a wired or wireless connection. IoT devices may have a passive communication interface (e.g., a quick response (QR) code, a radio frequency identification (RFID) tag, an NFC tag, etc.), or an active communication interface (e.g., a modem, a transceiver, a transmitter-receiver, etc.). IoT devices may have a set of specific attributes (e.g., device state or condition (e.g., whether the IoT device is on or off, open or closed, idle or active, available for task execution or busy, etc.), cooling or heating function, environmental monitoring or recording function, light emission function, sound emission function, etc.), which may be embedded in and / or controlled / monitored by a central processing unit (CPU), a microprocessor, an ASIC, etc., and configured to connect to an IoT network (e.g., a local ad-hoc network or the Internet). For example, IoT devices may include, but are not limited to, refrigerators, toasters, ovens, microwave ovens, freezers, dishwashers, dishes, hand tools, washers, dryers, furnaces, air conditioners, thermostats, televisions, lamps, vacuum cleaners, sprinklers, electric meters, gas meters, etc., as long as these devices are equipped with an addressable communication interface for communicating with the IoT network. IoT devices may also include cellular phones, desktop computers, laptop computers, tablet computers, personal digital assistants (PDAs), etc. Therefore, an IoT network may be composed of a combination of "legacy" Internet-accessible devices (e.g., laptop or desktop computers, cellular phones, etc.) and devices that typically do not have Internet connectivity (e.g., dishwashers, etc.).

[0028] User equipment 120 and / or AP 102 may also include, for example, mesh stations in a mesh network according to one or more IEEE 802.11 standards and / or 3GPP standards.

[0029] Any of the user devices 120 (e.g., user devices 124, 126, 128) and AP 102 may be configured to communicate with each other wirelessly or wired via one or more communication networks 130 and / or 135. The user devices 120 may also communicate with each other point-to-point or directly with or without AP 102. Any of the communication networks 130 and / or 135 may include, but are not limited to, any of a combination of different types of suitable communication networks, such as a broadcast network, a wired network, a public network (e.g., the Internet), a private network, a wireless network, a cellular network, or any other suitable private and / or public network. In addition, any of the communication networks 130 and / or 135 may have any suitable communication range associated therewith, and may include, for example, a global network (e.g., the Internet), a metropolitan area network (MAN), a wide area network (WAN), a local area network (LAN), or a personal area network (PAN). In addition, any of the communication networks 130 and / or 135 may include any type of medium that can carry network traffic, including but not limited to coaxial cable, twisted pair, optical fiber, hybrid fiber-coaxial (HFC) medium, microwave ground transceiver, radio frequency communication medium, white space communication medium, ultra-high frequency communication medium, satellite communication medium, or any combination thereof.

[0030] Any of the user devices 120 (e.g., user devices 124, 126, 128) and the AP 102 may include one or more communication antennas. The one or more communication antennas may be any suitable type of antenna corresponding to the communication protocol used by the user devices 120 (e.g., user devices 124, 126, and 128) and the AP 102. Some non-limiting examples of suitable communication antennas include Wi-Fi antennas, antennas compatible with the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 family of standards, directional antennas, non-directional antennas, dipole antennas, folded dipole antennas, patch antennas, multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) antennas, omnidirectional antennas, quasi-omnidirectional antennas, and the like. The one or more communication antennas may be communicatively coupled to a radio component to transmit signals (e.g., communication signals) to and / or receive signals from the user devices 120 and / or the AP 102.

[0031] Any one of the user equipment 120 (e.g., user equipment 124, 126, 128) and AP 102 can be configured to perform directional transmission and / or directional reception in conjunction with wireless communication in a wireless network. Any one of the user equipment 120 (e.g., user equipment 124, 126, 128) and AP 102 can be configured to use a set of multiple antenna arrays (e.g., DMG antenna arrays, etc.) to perform such directional transmission and / or reception. Each of the multiple antenna arrays can be used for transmission and / or reception in a specific corresponding direction or range of directions. Any one of the user equipment 120 (e.g., user equipment 124, 126, 128) and AP 102 can be configured to perform any given directional transmission to one or more defined transmission sectors. Any one of the user equipment 120 (e.g., user equipment 124, 126, 128) and AP 102 can be configured to perform any given directional reception from one or more defined reception sectors.

[0032] MIMO beamforming in wireless networks can be implemented using RF beamforming and / or digital beamforming. In some embodiments, when performing a given MIMO transmission, user equipment 120 and / or AP 102 can be configured to perform MIMO beamforming using all or a subset of its one or more communication antennas.

[0033] Any of the user devices 120 (e.g., user devices 124, 126, 128) and AP 102 may include any suitable radio and / or transceiver for sending and / or receiving radio frequency (RF) signals in a bandwidth and / or channel corresponding to a communication protocol used by any of the user devices 120 and AP 102 to communicate with each other. The radio component may include hardware and / or software for modulating and / or demodulating communication signals according to a pre-established transmission protocol. The radio component may also have hardware and / or software instructions to communicate via one or more Wi-Fi and / or Wi-Fi Direct protocols standardized by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 standard. In certain example embodiments, the radio assembly in cooperation with the communication antenna may be configured to communicate via a 2.4 GHz channel (e.g., 802.11b, 802.11g, 802.11n, 802.11ax), a 5 GHz channel (e.g., 802.11n, 802.11ac, 802.11ax, 802.11be, etc.), a 6 GHz channel (e.g., 802.11ax, 802.11be, etc.), or a 60 GHz channel (e.g., 802.11ad, 802.11ay), an 800 MHz channel (e.g., 802.11ah). The communication antenna may operate at 28 GHz and 40 GHz. It should be understood that this list of communication channels according to certain 802.11 standards is only a partial list, and other 802.11 standards (e.g., next generation Wi-Fi or other standards) may be used. In some embodiments, non-Wi-Fi protocols may be used for communication between devices, such as Bluetooth, dedicated short range communication (DSRC), ultra-high frequency (UHF) (e.g., IEEE 802.11af, IEEE 802.22), white band frequencies (e.g., white space), or other packetized radio communications. The radio component may include any known receiver and baseband suitable for communicating via a communication protocol. The radio component may also include a low noise amplifier (LNA), an additional signal amplifier, an analog-to-digital (A / D) converter, one or more buffers, and a digital baseband.

[0034] In one embodiment, and with reference to Figure 1, the user equipment 120 may communicate with one or more APs 102. For example, the one or more APs 102 may implement non-co-located MLD management 142 with the one or more user equipment 120. The one or more APs 102 may be a multi-link device (MLD), and the one or more user equipment 120 may be a non-AP MLD. Each of the one or more APs 102 may include a plurality of separate APs (e.g., AP1, AP2, ..., APn, where n is an integer), and each of the one or more user equipment 120 may include a plurality of separate STAs (e.g., STA1, STA2, ..., STAn). The AP MLD and the non-AP MLD may establish one or more links (e.g., link 1, link 2, ..., link n) between each AP and each of the STAs. It should be understood that the above description is for illustrative purposes only and is not meant to be limiting.

[0035] Figure 2A-2D Depicted is an illustrative diagram for non-co-located MLD management in accordance with one or more embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0036] In the context of wireless networks and Wi-Fi systems, the terms co-location and non-co-location typically refer to the physical placement or arrangement of APs or other devices in a network. Co-located devices are devices that are physically close to each other or located in the same physical space. In wireless communications, co-location often means placing multiple transmitters or receivers (e.g., APs) in the same physical location. In this case, these devices often need to coordinate their activities to avoid interference.

[0037] On the other hand, non-co-located devices are devices that are not physically close together. They may be distributed across different locations within a larger network infrastructure. In this context, non-co-located MLD implies that the access points involved in MLD are not necessarily in close physical proximity to each other. As devices move across the coverage areas of different APs, it introduces complexity in managing links, avoiding interference, and ensuring smooth handovers.

[0038] Reference Figure 2A , shows a co-located AP MLD1 consisting of three APs (eg, AP 1, AP 2, and AP 3). Similarly, Figure 2B A co-located AP MLD2 consisting of three APs (eg, AP 1, AP 2, and AP 3) is included.

[0039] Reference Figure 2C and Figure 2D, shows a non-co-located AP MLD3 composed of co-located AP MLD1 and co-located AP MLD2. AP MLD3 then includes six APs labeled AP 1, AP 2, AP 3, AP 4, AP 5, and AP 6. Figure 2D The circles shown indicate two different areas, thus indicating the non-co-located AP MLD3.

[0040] In one or more embodiments, a non-co-located MLD management system may define an MLD that may have multiple non-co-located affiliated APs, allowing all APs in an extended service set (ESS) to belong to the same AP MLD whenever possible. An ESS is a collection of one or more interconnected basic service sets (BSSs) covered by a single network identifier, referred to as a service set identifier (SSID). In simple terms, an ESS is a network consisting of multiple Wi-Fi access points (APs) and their associated clients that all use the same network name (SSID). This allows clients to move around within an area covered by an AP (e.g., in a large building or across a campus) and maintain continuous network connectivity because all APs are part of the same ESS. The process of moving a client's connection from one AP to another within the same ESS is typically seamless and is referred to as "roaming."

[0041] In one or more embodiments, when a subordinate AP is removed, the non-co-located MLD management system may facilitate the advertisement of a TID-to-link mapping element in the beacon frames and probe response frames of the APs subordinate to the non-co-located AP MLD.

[0042] A beacon frame is a type of management frame that is periodically broadcast by an AP to announce its presence and share network information. It includes the service set identifier (SSID) of the network, establishes network timing, informs network capabilities, and coordinates power saving modes for mobile devices. Similarly, a probe response frame is a type of management frame sent by an AP in response to a probe request frame sent from a client device (STA). The frame contains information about the network (e.g., SSID, supported data rates, and encryption types), thereby enabling client devices to evaluate the network and potentially connect to it.

[0043] In one or more embodiments, the advertised TID-to-link mapping in the TID-to-link mapping element is based on the link ID of the co-located AP MLD. By the 11be rule, it has therefore been advertised in all APs affiliated with the co-located AP MLD, so this means that all APs affiliated with the non-co-located AP MLD and in the same co-location set (overlapping with the co-located AP MLD) should advertise the TID-to-link mapping element and use the link ID mapping of the co-located AP MLD. Since there may be non-AP MLDs associated with non-co-located AP MLDs and having links that will be disabled as established links and other links in different co-location sets that are also established links, it would be very useful to provide these non-AP MLDs with information that such disabling has occurred or is about to occur. Establishing a link refers to a specific link within an MLD that is designated for establishing and maintaining connections with other devices or networks. It acts as a primary link or initial link for communication purposes. Establishing a link is responsible for handling the signaling and establishment procedures required to establish and configure the MLD and its associated non-AP MLDs.

[0044] In one or more embodiments, the non-co-located MLD management system may facilitate that if an AP affiliated with a non-AP MLD is disabled, a TID-to-link mapping element may be included in a beacon frame and / or a probe response frame sent by any AP affiliated with the same non-co-located AP MLD and in the same co-located set (also meaning in the same co-located AP MLD) using a link ID bitmap with a link ID of an overlapping co-located AP MLD (also corresponding to the same link ID of the co-located set for the non-co-located AP MLD). Each bit in the link ID bitmap may represent a link in a multi-link network. The state of each bit (0 or 1) may indicate a different state of the corresponding link (e.g., whether the link is active or inactive) or other link-specific information. This information is sufficient for the non-AP MLD to know which AP is disabled. In one or more embodiments, the non-co-located MLD management system may add a field indicating the ID of the co-located set (corresponding to the ID of the overlapping co-located AP MLD) (referred to as a co-located set ID field or an overlapping co-located AP MLD ID field) in the TID-to-link mapping element. The ID may be the MLD MAC address of the co-located AP MLD. The ID may be the MLD ID of the co-located AP MLD. The ID may be the unique co-located set ID in the non-co-located AP MLD.

[0045] In one or more embodiments, the non-co-located MLD management system may facilitate that, if an AP affiliated with a non-AP MLD is disabled, a TID-to-link mapping element may be included in beacon frames and probe responses sent by any reporting AP affiliated with the same non-co-located AP MLD and in a different co-located set only if the reporting AP is operating as an established link for a link that also has an associated non-AP MLD as an established link corresponding to a link of the removed AP.

[0046] Since the disabled link is in a different co-location set, a way to identify it with more information than a simple link ID is needed.

[0047] In one or more embodiments, the non-co-located MLD management system may identify the disabled link by using the link ID within the corresponding co-located set of the disabled link (which also corresponds to the link ID of the disabled link in the overlapping co-located AP MLD) and adding a field indicating the ID of the co-located set (corresponding to the ID of the overlapping co-located AP MLD) in the TID-to-link mapping element (referred to as the co-located set ID field or the overlapping co-located AP MLD ID field). The ID may be the MLD MAC address of the co-located AP MLD. The ID may be the MLD ID of the co-located AP MLD. The ID may be a co-located set ID that is unique within the non-co-located AP MLD.

[0048] In addition, APs belonging to the non-co-located AP MLD may include basic per-AP information for the AP corresponding to the disabled link in the compact neighbor report in the beacon frames and probe response frames they send only when the reporting AP is operating on a link that is used as an established link for an associated non-AP MLD that also has a link corresponding to the removed AP as an established link, and SHOULD set a field called the disabled link indication field to 1 for the disabled AP (during the time when the AP is equivalently disabled).

[0049] Alternatively, the non-co-located MLD management system may define the same rules without the restriction that the TID-to-link mapping element may be included in beacon frames and probe response frames sent by any reporting AP belonging to the same non-co-located AP MLD and in a different co-located set. In addition, APs belonging to the non-co-located AP MLD should include basic per-AP information for the AP corresponding to the disabled link in the reduced neighbor report in the beacon frames and probe response frames they send, and should set a field called the disabled link indication field to 1 for the disabled AP (during the time when the AP is equivalently disabled).

[0050] Alternatively, the non-co-located MLD management system may define a new very short field (e.g., a Link Disable Flag field) and include that field in the Capability Information field or in a multi-link element describing a non-co-located AP MLD (or a multi-link element describing a co-located AP MLD and also providing information for a non-co-located AP MLD, depending on the selection made regarding non-co-located AP MLD discovery) only when the reporting AP is operating as an established link for a link that also has an associated non-AP MLD as an established link corresponding to the removed AP's link.

[0051] Alternatively, a non-co-located MLD management system may define other information that is not provided for disabled links that are part of other co-located sets.

[0052] It is to be understood that the above description is for the purpose of illustration, and is not intended to be limiting.

[0053] Figure 3 A flow chart illustrating a process 300 for a non-co-located MLD management system according to one or more example embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0054] At block 302, a device (e.g., Figure 1 The user equipment 120 and / or the AP 102 and / or Figure 5 The non-co-located MLD management device 519) can identify a first non-co-located access point (AP) and a second non-co-located AP associated with a non-co-located AP multi-link device (MLD).

[0055] At block 304, the device may determine a traffic identifier (TID) to link mapping for a first non-co-located AP and a second non-co-located AP.

[0056] At block 306 , the device may include a TID-to-link mapping element in a beacon frame or a probe response frame sent by each of the first non-co-located AP and the second non-co-located AP.

[0057] At block 308 , the device may update the TID-to-link mapping element in response to a change in the status of the first non-co-located AP or the second non-co-located AP.

[0058] At block 310 , the device may send the updated TID-to-link mapping element to other APs belonging to the non-co-located AP MLD.

[0059] The device may include a first non-co-located AP and a second non-co-located AP as part of an extended service set (ESS). In addition, a TID-to-link mapping element may be included in a beacon frame or a probe response frame sent by any AP belonging to a non-co-located AP MLD and in the same co-located set. In order to indicate an identification (ID) of a co-located set, the device may include a co-located set ID field or an overlapping co-located AP MLD ID field within the TID-to-link mapping element. The ID may be selected from options such as a medium access control (MAC) address of a co-located AP MLD, an MLD ID of a co-located AP MLD, or a co-located set ID associated with a non-co-located AP MLD. In addition, the device may be able to temporarily disable a link of an AP within a non-co-located AP MLD for a specific duration. During this time, the TID-to-link mapping element may indicate that no service identifier (TID) is mapped to the disabled link. In addition, the device may include per-AP information for the AP corresponding to the disabled link in a simplified neighbor report. The device may also further merge a link disabled flag field in a capability information field or a multi-link element for describing a non-co-located AP MLD. This field may provide information about the disabled link state. Additionally, a device may include a TID-to-link mapping element in frames sent by any AP belonging to a non-co-located multi-link device (MLD) belonging to a different co-located set, regardless of the reporting AP's link operation state related to establishing a link for the associated non-AP MLD.

[0060] It is to be understood that the above description is intended for purposes of illustration, and is not intended to be limiting.

[0061] Figure 4 4 shows a functional diagram of an exemplary communication station 400 according to one or more example embodiments of the present disclosure. In one embodiment, Figure 4 FIG. 1 shows an example of an AP 102 ( Figure 1 ) or user equipment 120( Figure 1) is a functional block diagram of a communication station of the present invention. The communication station 400 may also be suitable for use as a handheld device, a mobile device, a cellular phone, a smart phone, a tablet, a netbook, a wireless terminal, a laptop computer, a wearable computer device, a femtocell, a high data rate (HDR) subscriber station, an access point, an access terminal, or other personal communication system (PCS) device.

[0062] The communication station 400 may include a communication circuit 402 and a transceiver 410 for sending signals to other communication stations and receiving signals from other communication stations using one or more antennas 401. The communication circuit 402 may include circuits that can operate physical layer (PHY) communications and / or medium access control (MAC) communications for controlling access to a wireless medium and / or any other communication layer for sending and receiving signals. The communication station 400 may also include a processing circuit 406 and a memory 408 arranged to perform the operations described herein. In some embodiments, the communication circuit 402 and the processing circuit 406 may be configured to perform the operations detailed in the above figures, diagrams, and processes.

[0063] According to some embodiments, the communication circuit 402 may be arranged to: compete for a wireless medium and configure a frame or packet for transmission over the wireless medium. The communication circuit 402 may be arranged to send and receive signals. The communication circuit 402 may also include circuits for modulation / demodulation, up-conversion / down-conversion, filtering, amplification, etc. In some embodiments, the processing circuit 406 of the communication station 400 may include one or more processors. In other embodiments, two or more antennas 401 may be coupled to the communication circuit 402 arranged to send and receive signals. The memory 408 may store information for configuring the processing circuit 406 to perform the following operations, which are used to configure and send message frames and perform various operations described herein. The memory 408 may include any type of memory (including non-transitory memory) for storing information in a machine (e.g., computer) readable form. For example, the memory 408 may include a computer-readable storage device, a read-only memory (ROM), a random access memory (RAM), a disk storage medium, an optical storage medium, a flash memory device, and other storage devices and media.

[0064] In some embodiments, the communication station 400 can be part of a portable wireless communication device (e.g., a personal digital assistant (PDA), a laptop or portable computer with wireless communication capabilities, a web tablet, a wireless phone, a smart phone, a wireless headset, a pager, an instant messaging device, a digital camera, an access point, a television, a medical device (e.g., a heart rate monitor, a blood pressure monitor, etc.), a wearable computer device, or another device that can wirelessly receive and / or send information).

[0065] In some embodiments, communication station 400 may include one or more antennas 401. Antenna 401 may include one or more directional or omnidirectional antennas, including, for example, dipole antennas, monopole antennas, patch antennas, loop antennas, microstrip antennas, or other types of antennas suitable for transmitting RF signals. In some embodiments, instead of two or more antennas, a single antenna with multiple apertures may be used. In these embodiments, each aperture may be considered a separate antenna. In some multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) embodiments, antennas may be effectively separated for spatial diversity and different channel characteristics that may be generated between each antenna and the antenna of the transmitting station.

[0066] In some embodiments, the communication station 400 may include one or more of a keyboard, a display, a non-volatile memory port, multiple antennas, a graphics processor, an application processor, a speaker, and other mobile device elements. The display may be an LCD screen including a touch screen.

[0067] Although the communication station 400 is shown as having several separate functional elements, two or more of the functional elements may be combined and may be implemented by a combination of software-configured elements (e.g., a processing element including a digital signal processor (DSP)) and / or other hardware elements. For example, some elements may include one or more microprocessors, DSPs, field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), application specific integrated circuits (ASICs), radio frequency integrated circuits (RFICs), and combinations of various hardware and logic circuits for performing at least the functions described herein. In some embodiments, the functional elements of the communication station 400 may refer to one or more processes operating on one or more processing elements.

[0068] Certain embodiments may be implemented in one or a combination of hardware, firmware, and software. Other embodiments may also be implemented as instructions stored on a computer-readable storage device, which may be read and executed by at least one processor to perform the operations described herein. A computer-readable storage device may include any non-transient memory mechanism for storing information in a machine (e.g., computer) readable form. For example, a computer-readable storage device may include a read-only memory (ROM), a random access memory (RAM), a disk storage medium, an optical storage medium, a flash memory device, and other storage devices and media. In some embodiments, the communication station 400 may include one or more processors and may be configured with instructions stored on a computer-readable storage device.

[0069] Figure 5A block diagram of an example of a machine 500 or system on which any one or more technologies (e.g., methods) discussed herein can be executed is shown. In other embodiments, the machine 500 can operate as a standalone device, or can be connected (e.g., networked) to other machines. In a networked deployment, the machine 500 can operate as a server machine, a client machine, or both in a server-client network environment. In an example, the machine 500 can act as a peer machine in a peer-to-peer (P2P) (or other distributed) network environment. The machine 500 can be a personal computer (PC), a tablet PC, a set-top box (STB), a personal digital assistant (PDA), a mobile phone, a wearable computer device, a network appliance, a network router, a switch or a bridge, or any machine capable of (sequentially or otherwise) executing instructions specifying the action to be taken by the machine (e.g., a base station). In addition, although only a single machine is shown, the term "machine" should also be deemed to include any collection of machines that execute a set (or multiple sets) of instructions individually or jointly to perform any one or more methods discussed herein, such as cloud computing, software as a service (SaaS) or other computer cluster configurations.

[0070] Examples as described herein may include logic or multiple components, modules or mechanisms, or may operate thereon. A module is a tangible entity (e.g., hardware) that can perform a specified operation when in operation. A module includes hardware. In an example, the hardware may be specifically configured to perform a specific operation (e.g., hardwired). In another example, the hardware may include a configurable execution unit (e.g., a transistor, a circuit, etc.) and a computer-readable medium containing instructions, wherein the instructions configure the execution unit to perform a specific operation when in operation. Configuration may occur under the guidance of an execution unit or a loading mechanism. Therefore, when the device is operating, the execution unit is communicatively coupled to the computer-readable medium. In this example, the execution unit may be a member of more than one module. For example, under operation, the execution unit may be configured by a first set of instructions to implement a first module at a point in time, and reconfigured by a second set of instructions to implement a second module at a second point in time.

[0071] The machine (e.g., computer system) 500 may include a hardware processor 502 (e.g., a central processing unit (CPU), a graphics processing unit (GPU), a hardware processor core, or any combination thereof), a main memory 504, and a static memory 506, some or all of which may communicate with each other via an interconnect (e.g., a bus) 508. The machine 500 may also include a power management device 532, a graphics display device 510, an alphanumeric input device 512 (e.g., a keyboard), and a user interface (UI) navigation device 514 (e.g., a mouse). In an example, the graphics display device 510, the alphanumeric input device 512, and the UI navigation device 514 may be a touch screen display. The machine 500 may additionally include a storage device (i.e., a drive unit) 516, a signal generating device 518 (e.g., a speaker), a non-co-located MLD management device 519, a network interface device / transceiver 520 coupled to an antenna 530, and one or more sensors 528 (e.g., a global positioning system (GPS) sensor, a compass, an accelerometer, or other sensor). The machine 500 may include an output controller 534, such as a serial (e.g., universal serial bus (USB)) connection, a parallel connection, or other wired or wireless (e.g., infrared (IR), near field communication (NFC), etc.) connection to communicate with or control one or more peripheral devices (e.g., printers, card readers, etc.). Operations according to one or more example embodiments of the present disclosure may be performed by a baseband processor. The baseband processor may be configured to generate corresponding baseband signals. The baseband processor may also include a physical layer (PHY) and a media access control layer (MAC) circuit, and may also interface with the hardware processor 502 to generate and process baseband signals, and control the operation of the main memory 504, the storage device 516, and / or the non-co-located MLD management device 519. The baseband processor may be provided on a single radio card, a single chip, or an integrated circuit (IC).

[0072] The storage device 516 may include a machine-readable medium 522 on which is stored one or more sets of data structures or instructions 524 (e.g., software) embodying or used by any one or more of the techniques or functionality described herein. The instructions 524 may also reside, completely or at least partially, within the main memory 504, within the static memory 506, or within the hardware processor 502 during execution thereof by the machine 500. In an example, one or any combination of the hardware processor 502, the main memory 504, the static memory 506, or the storage device 516 may constitute a machine-readable medium.

[0073] Non-co-located MLD management device 519 may run or perform any of the operations and processes described and illustrated above (eg, process 300 ).

[0074] It should be understood that the above are only a subset of the actions that the non-co-located MLD management device 519 may be configured to perform, and other functions included throughout the present disclosure may also be performed by the non-co-located MLD management device 519 .

[0075] Although machine-readable medium 522 is illustrated as a single medium, the term “machine-readable medium” may include a single medium or multiple media (eg, a centralized or distributed database, and / or associated caches and servers) configured to store one or more instructions 524 .

[0076] Various embodiments may be implemented in whole or in part in software and / or firmware. The software and / or firmware may take the form of instructions contained in or on a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium. Those instructions may then be read and executed by one or more processors to enable the operations described herein to be performed. The instructions may be in any suitable form, such as, but not limited to, source code, compiled code, interpreted code, executable code, static code, dynamic code, etc. Such computer-readable media may include any tangible, non-transitory media for storing information in one or more computer-readable forms, such as, but not limited to, read-only memory (ROM); random access memory (RAM); magnetic disk storage media; optical storage media; flash memory, etc.

[0077] The term "machine-readable medium" may include any medium capable of storing, encoding, or carrying instructions executed by the machine 500 and causing the machine 500 to perform any one or more of the techniques of the present disclosure, or any medium capable of storing, encoding, or carrying data structures used by or associated with such instructions. Non-limiting examples of machine-readable media may include solid-state memory and optical and magnetic media. In an example, a large-capacity machine-readable medium includes a machine-readable medium having a plurality of particles having a rest mass. Specific examples of large-capacity machine-readable media may include non-volatile memory, such as semiconductor memory devices (e.g., electrically programmable read-only memory (EPROM) or electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM)) and flash memory devices; magnetic disks, such as internal hard disks and removable disks; magneto-optical disks; and CD-ROM and DVD-ROM disks.

[0078] The instructions 524 may also be sent or received over a communication network 526 using a transmission medium via the network interface device / transceiver 520 using any of a variety of transmission protocols (e.g., frame relay, Internet Protocol (IP), transmission control protocol (TCP), user datagram protocol (UDP), hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP), etc.). Example communication networks may include a local area network (LAN), a wide area network (WAN), a packet data network (e.g., the Internet), a mobile telephone network (e.g., a cellular network), a plain old telephone (POTS) network, a wireless data network (e.g., a wireless network called The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 series of standards, known as ), IEEE 802.15.4 family of standards, and peer-to-peer (P2P) networks, etc. In an example, the network interface device / transceiver 520 may include one or more physical jacks (e.g., Ethernet jacks, coaxial jacks, or telephone jacks) or one or more antennas to connect to the communication network 526. In an example, the network interface device / transceiver 520 may include multiple antennas to wirelessly communicate using at least one of single-input multiple-output (SIMO), multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO), or multiple-input single-output (MISO) technologies. The term "transmission medium" should be understood to include any intangible medium that can store, encode, or carry instructions executed by the machine 500, and includes digital or analog communication signals or other intangible media to facilitate the communication of such software.

[0079] The operations and processes described and shown above may be performed or carried out in any suitable order desired in various implementations. In addition, in some implementations, at least a portion of the operations may be performed in parallel. In addition, in some implementations, less than or more than the operations described may be performed.

[0080] Figure 6 is a block diagram of a radio architecture 105A, 105B according to some embodiments, which may be Figure 1 The example AP 102 and / or the example STA 120 are implemented in any one of them. The radio architecture 105A, 105B may include a radio front end module (FEM) circuit 604a-b, a radio IC circuit 606a-b, and a baseband processing circuit 608a-b. The radio architecture 105A, 105B as shown includes both a wireless local area network (WLAN) function and a Bluetooth (BT) function, but the embodiment is not limited thereto. In the present disclosure, "WLAN" and "Wi-Fi" are used interchangeably.

[0081] The FEM circuits 604a-b may include WLAN or Wi-Fi FEM circuits 604a and Bluetooth (BT) FEM circuits 604b. The WLAN FEM circuits 604a may include a receive signal path including circuits configured to operate on WLAN RF signals received from one or more antennas 601, amplify the received signals, and provide an amplified version of the received signals to the WLAN radio IC circuits 606a for further processing. The BT FEM circuits 604b may include a receive signal path including circuits configured to operate on BT RF signals received from one or more antennas 601, amplify the received signals, and provide an amplified version of the received signals to the BT radio IC circuits 606b for further processing. The FEM circuits 604a may also include a transmit signal path including circuits configured to amplify WLAN signals provided by the radio IC circuits 606a for wireless transmission via the one or more antennas 601. Additionally, the FEM circuitry 604b may also include a transmit signal path that may include circuitry configured to amplify BT signals provided by the radio IC circuitry 606b for wireless transmission via one or more antennas. Figure 6 In the embodiment of the present invention, although FEM 604a and FEM 604b are shown as being different from each other, the embodiments are not limited thereto and include within their scope: using a FEM (not shown) that includes a transmit path and / or a receive path for both WLAN and BT signals, or using one or more FEM circuits, wherein at least some of the FEM circuits share transmit and / or receive signal paths for both WLAN and BT signals.

[0082] The radio IC circuits 606a-b as shown may include a WLAN radio IC circuit 606a and a BT radio IC circuit 606b. The WLAN radio IC circuit 606a may include a receive signal path that may include circuitry for down-converting a WLAN RF signal received from the FEM circuit 604a and providing a baseband signal to the WLAN baseband processing circuit 608a. The BT radio IC circuit 606b may in turn include a receive signal path that may include circuitry for down-converting a BT RF signal received from the FEM circuit 604b and providing a baseband signal to the BT baseband processing circuit 608b. The WLAN radio IC circuit 606a may also include a transmit signal path that may include circuitry for up-converting a WLAN baseband signal provided by the WLAN baseband processing circuit 608a and providing a WLAN RF output signal to the FEM circuit 604a for subsequent wireless transmission via one or more antennas 601. The BT radio IC circuit 606b may also include a transmit signal path that may include circuitry for up-converting a BT baseband signal provided by the BT baseband processing circuit 608b and providing a BT RF output signal to the FEM circuit 604b for subsequent wireless transmission via one or more antennas 601. Figure 6 In the embodiments, although the radio IC circuits 606a and 606b are shown as being different from each other, the embodiments are not limited thereto and include within their scope: using a radio IC circuit (not shown) that includes a transmit signal path and / or receive signal path for both WLAN and BT signals, or using one or more radio IC circuits, wherein at least some of the radio IC circuits share transmit and / or receive signal paths for both WLAN and BT signals.

[0083] The baseband processing circuits 608a-b may include a WLAN baseband processing circuit 608a and a BT baseband processing circuit 608b. The WLAN baseband processing circuit 608a may include a memory, such as a set of RAM arrays in a fast Fourier transform or inverse fast Fourier transform block (not shown) of the WLAN baseband processing circuit 608a. Each of the WLAN baseband circuit 608a and the BT baseband circuit 608b may also include one or more processors and control logic to process signals received from the corresponding WLAN or BT receive signal path of the radio IC circuit 606a-b, and also generate corresponding WLAN or BT baseband signals for the transmit signal path of the radio IC circuit 606a-b. Each of the baseband processing circuits 608a and 608b may also include a physical layer (PHY) and a medium access control layer (MAC) circuit, and may also interface with a device for generating and processing baseband signals and controlling the operation of the radio IC circuit 606a-b.

[0084] Still refer to Figure 6 According to the illustrated embodiment, the WLAN-BT coexistence circuit 613 may include logic to provide an interface between the WLAN baseband circuit 608a and the BT baseband circuit 608b to enable use cases requiring WLAN and BT coexistence. In addition, a switch 603 may be provided between the WLAN FEM circuit 604a and the BT FEM circuit 604b to allow switching between WLAN and BT radios as required by the application. Furthermore, while the antennas 601 are depicted as being connected to the WLAN FEM circuit 604a and the BT FEM circuit 604b, respectively, embodiments include within their scope: sharing one or more antennas between the WLAN and BT FEMs, or providing more than one antenna connected to each FEM 604a or 604b.

[0085] In some embodiments, the front end module circuits 604a-b, the radio IC circuits 606a-b, and the baseband processing circuits 608a-b may be provided on a single radio card (e.g., wireless radio card 602). In some other embodiments, one or more antennas 601, the FEM circuits 604a-b, and the radio IC circuits 606a-b may be provided on a single radio card. In some other embodiments, the radio IC circuits 606a-b and the baseband processing circuits 608a-b may be provided on a single chip or integrated circuit (IC) (e.g., IC 612).

[0086] In some embodiments, wireless radio card 602 may include a WLAN radio card and may be configured for Wi-Fi communications, but the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect. In some of these embodiments, radio architecture 105A, 105B may be configured to receive and transmit orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) or orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) communication signals over a multi-carrier communication channel. OFDM or OFDMA signals may include multiple orthogonal subcarriers.

[0087] In some of these multi-carrier embodiments, the radio architecture 105A, 105B may be part of a Wi-Fi communication station (STA) (e.g., a wireless access point (AP), a base station, or a mobile device including a Wi-Fi device). In some of these embodiments, the radio architecture 105A, 105B may be configured to send and receive signals according to a specific communication standard and / or protocol (e.g., any of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) standards, including 802.11n-2009, IEEE802.11-2012, IEEE 802.11-2016, 802.11n-2009, 802.11ac, 802.11ah, 802.11ad, 802.11ay, and / or 802.11ax standards, and / or specifications proposed for WLANs), but the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this regard. The radio architecture 105A, 105B may also be adapted to send and / or receive communications according to other technologies and standards.

[0088] In some embodiments, the radio architectures 105A, 105B may be configured for high-efficiency Wi-Fi (HEW) communications in accordance with the IEEE 802.11ax standard. In these embodiments, the radio architectures 105A, 105B may be configured to communicate in accordance with OFDMA technology, but the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect.

[0089] In some other embodiments, the radio architectures 105A, 105B may be configured to send signals and receive signals sent using one or more other modulation techniques, such as spread spectrum modulation (e.g., direct sequence code division multiple access (DS-CDMA) and / or frequency hopping code division multiple access (FH-CDMA)), time division multiplexing (TDM) modulation, and / or frequency division multiplexing (FDM) modulation, but the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect.

[0090] In some embodiments, Figure 6 As further shown, the BT baseband circuit 608 b may comply with a Bluetooth (BT) connection standard, such as Bluetooth, Bluetooth 8.0, or Bluetooth 6.0, or any other generation of the Bluetooth standard.

[0091] In some embodiments, the radio architecture 105A, 105B may include other radio cards, such as a cellular radio card configured for cellular (e.g., 5GPP such as LTE, LTE-Advanced, or 7G communications).

[0092] In some IEEE 802.11 embodiments, the radio architectures 105A, 105B may be configured to communicate over a variety of channel bandwidths, including bandwidths with center frequencies of approximately 900 MHz, 2.4 GHz, 5 GHz, and bandwidths of approximately 2 MHz, 4 MHz, 5 MHz, 5.5 MHz, 6 MHz, 8 MHz, 10 MHz, 20 MHz, 40 MHz, 80 MHz (with continuous bandwidth) or 80+80 MHz (160 MHz) (with non-continuous bandwidth). In some embodiments, a 920 MHz channel bandwidth may be used. However, the scope of the embodiments is not limited to the above center frequencies.

[0093] Figure 7 WLAN FEM circuit 604a is shown in accordance with some embodiments. Figure 7 The example is described in conjunction with the WLAN FEM circuit 604a, but may be combined with the example BT FEM circuit 604b ( Figure 6 ) to describe Figure 7 , although other circuit configurations may also be suitable.

[0094] In some embodiments, the FEM circuit 604a may include a TX / RX switch 702 to switch between transmit mode and receive mode operation. The FEM circuit 604a may include a receive signal path and a transmit signal path. The receive signal path of the FEM circuit 604a may include a low noise amplifier (LNA) 706 to amplify the received RF signal 703 and provide an amplified received RF signal 707 as an output (e.g., to the radio IC circuit 606a-b ( Figure 6 )). The transmit signal path of circuit 604a may include: a power amplifier (PA) for amplifying an input RF signal 709 (e.g., provided by radio IC circuits 606a-b); and one or more filters 712, such as bandpass filters (BPFs), lowpass filters (LPFs), or other types of filters, for generating an RF signal 715 for subsequent transmission via an example duplexer 714 (e.g., through one or more antennas 601 ( Figure 6 ))send.

[0095] In some dual-mode embodiments for Wi-Fi communications, the FEM circuit 604a can be configured to operate in the 2.4 GHz spectrum or the 5 GHz spectrum. In these embodiments, the receive signal path of the FEM circuit 604a can include a receive signal path duplexer 704 to separate the signals from each spectrum and provide a separate LNA 706 for each spectrum, as shown. In these embodiments, the transmit signal path of the FEM circuit 604a can also include a power amplifier 710 and a filter 712 (e.g., a BPF, LPF, or another type of filter) for each spectrum and a transmit signal path duplexer 704 to provide the signal of one of the different spectrums onto a single transmit path for subsequent transmission through one or more antennas 601 ( Figure 6 In some embodiments, BT communications may utilize a 2.4 GHz signal path and may utilize the same FEM circuit 604a as the FEM circuit used for WLAN communications.

[0096] Figure 8 606a according to some embodiments. The radio IC circuit 606a is suitable for use as a WLAN or BT radio IC circuit 606a / 606b ( Figure 6 ) is an example of a circuit, but other circuit configurations may also be suitable. Alternatively, the example BT radio IC circuit 606b may be described in conjunction with the example BT radio IC circuit 606b. Figure 8 .

[0097] In some embodiments, the radio IC circuit 606a may include a receive signal path and a transmit signal path. The receive signal path of the radio IC circuit 606a may include at least a mixer circuit 802 (e.g., a down-conversion mixer circuit), an amplifier circuit 806, and a filter circuit 808. The transmit signal path of the radio IC circuit 606a may include at least a filter circuit 812 and a mixer circuit 814 (e.g., an up-conversion mixer circuit). The radio IC circuit 606a may also include a synthesizer circuit 804 for synthesizing a frequency 805 for use by the mixer circuit 802 and the mixer circuit 814. According to some embodiments, the mixer circuits 802 and / or 814 may each be configured to provide a direct conversion function. The latter type of circuit presents a much simpler architecture than a standard superheterodyne mixer circuit, and any flicker noise caused by it may be mitigated by, for example, using OFDM modulation. Figure 8Only a simplified version of the radio IC circuit is shown, and may include (although not shown) embodiments in which each of the depicted circuits may include more than one component. For example, mixer circuits 814 may each include one or more mixers, and filter circuits 808 and / or 812 may each include one or more filters, such as one or more BPFs and / or LPFs as required by the application. For example, when the mixer circuits are of the direct conversion type, they may each include two or more mixers.

[0098] In some embodiments, the mixer circuit 802 may be configured to: based on the synthesized frequency 805 provided by the synthesizer circuit 804, Figure 6 ) down-converts the received RF signal 707. The amplifier circuit 806 may be configured to amplify the down-converted signal, and the filter circuit 808 may include an LPF configured to remove unwanted signals from the down-converted signal to generate an output baseband signal 807. The output baseband signal 807 may be provided to the baseband processing circuits 608a-b ( Figure 6 ) for further processing. In some embodiments, the output baseband signal 807 may be a zero frequency baseband signal, but this is not required. In some embodiments, the mixer circuit 802 may include a passive mixer, but the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect.

[0099] In some embodiments, mixer circuit 814 may be configured to up-convert input baseband signal 811 based on synthesized frequency 805 provided by synthesizer circuit 804 to generate RF output signal 709 for FEM circuits 604a-b. Baseband signal 811 may be provided by baseband processing circuits 608a-b and may be filtered by filter circuit 812. Filter circuit 812 may include an LPF or a BPF, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect.

[0100] In some embodiments, mixer circuit 802 and mixer circuit 814 may each include two or more mixers and may be arranged for quadrature down-conversion and / or up-conversion, respectively, with the aid of synthesizer 804. In some embodiments, mixer circuit 802 and mixer circuit 814 may each include two or more mixers, each mixer being configured for image rejection (e.g., Hartley image rejection). In some embodiments, mixer circuit 802 and mixer circuit 814 may each be arranged for direct down-conversion and / or direct up-conversion, respectively. In some embodiments, mixer circuit 802 and mixer circuit 814 may be configured for superheterodyne operation, but this is not a requirement.

[0101] According to one embodiment, mixer circuit 802 may include: quadrature passive mixers (e.g., for in-phase (I) and quadrature-phase (Q) paths). In such an embodiment, Figure 7 The RF input signal 707 may be downconverted to provide I and Q baseband output signals to be sent to a baseband processor.

[0102] The quadrature passive mixers may be driven by zero and ninety degree time varying LO switching signals provided by a quadrature circuit, which may be configured to receive the LO frequency (fLO) from a local oscillator or synthesizer, such as synthesizer 804 ( Figure 8 ) 805. In some embodiments, the LO frequency can be the carrier frequency, while in other embodiments, the LO frequency can be a fraction of the carrier frequency (e.g., half the carrier frequency, one third the carrier frequency). In some embodiments, the zero-degree and ninety-degree time-varying switching signals can be generated by a synthesizer, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect.

[0103] In some embodiments, the LO signal can differ in duty cycle (the percentage of a cycle that the LO signal is high) and / or offset (the difference between the start points of the cycle). In some embodiments, the LO signal can have an 85% duty cycle and an 80% offset. In some embodiments, each branch of the mixer circuit (e.g., the in-phase (I) and quadrature-phase (Q) paths) can operate at an 80% duty cycle, which can result in significant reductions in power consumption.

[0104] RF input signal 707 ( Figure 7 ) may include balanced signals, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect. The I and Q baseband output signals may be provided to a low noise amplifier (eg, amplifier circuit 806 ( Figure 8 )) or filter circuit 808 ( Figure 8 ).

[0105] In some embodiments, the output baseband signal 807 and the input baseband signal 811 may be analog baseband signals, but the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect. In some alternative embodiments, the output baseband signal 807 and the input baseband signal 811 may be digital baseband signals. In these alternative embodiments, the radio IC circuit may include an analog-to-digital converter (ADC) and a digital-to-analog converter (DAC) circuit.

[0106] In some dual-mode embodiments, separate radio IC circuits may be provided to process signals for each spectrum or other spectrums not mentioned herein, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect.

[0107] In some embodiments, synthesizer circuit 804 may be a fractional-N synthesizer or a fractional N / N+1 synthesizer, but the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect as other types of frequency synthesizers may be suitable. For example, synthesizer circuit 804 may be a delta-sigma synthesizer, a frequency multiplier, or a synthesizer including a phase-locked loop with a frequency divider. According to some embodiments, synthesizer circuit 804 may include a digital synthesizer circuit. An advantage of using a digital synthesizer circuit is that, while it may still include some analog components, its footprint may be reduced to a much smaller footprint than that of an analog synthesizer circuit. In some embodiments, the frequency input to synthesizer circuit 804 may be provided by a voltage controlled oscillator (VCO), but this is not a requirement. Baseband processing circuit 608a-b ( Figure 6 ) may further provide a divider control input depending on the desired output frequency 805. In some embodiments, the divider control input (e.g., N) may be determined from a lookup table (e.g., within a Wi-Fi card) based on a channel number and a channel center frequency determined or indicated by the example application processor 610. The application processor 610 may include or otherwise be connected to one of the example secure signal converter 101 or the example receive signal converter 103 (e.g., depending on which device the example radio architecture is implemented in).

[0108] In some embodiments, the synthesizer circuit 804 can be configured to generate a carrier frequency as the output frequency 805, while in other embodiments, the output frequency 805 can be a fraction of the carrier frequency (e.g., half the carrier frequency, one third the carrier frequency). In some embodiments, the output frequency 805 can be the LO frequency (fLO).

[0109] Fig. 9 6 shows a functional block diagram of a baseband processing circuit 608a according to some embodiments. The baseband processing circuit 608a is a circuit that can be suitable for use as a baseband processing circuit 608a ( Figure 6 ) is an example of a circuit, but other circuit configurations may also be suitable. Alternatively, Figure 8 Example implementation of Figure 6 An example BT baseband processing circuit 608b.

[0110] Baseband processing circuitry 608a may include circuitry for processing radio IC circuitry 606a-b ( Figure 6 ) and a transmit baseband processor (TX BBP) 904 for generating a transmit baseband signal 811 for use with the radio IC circuits 606a-b. The baseband processing circuit 608a may also include control logic 906 for coordinating the operation of the baseband processing circuit 608a.

[0111] In some embodiments (e.g., when analog baseband signals are exchanged between baseband processing circuits 608a-b and radio IC circuits 606a-b), baseband processing circuits 608a may include ADC 910 to convert analog baseband signals 909 received from radio IC circuits 606a-b into digital baseband signals for processing by RX BBP 902. In these embodiments, baseband processing circuits 608a may also include DAC 912 to convert digital baseband signals from TX BBP 904 into analog baseband signals 911.

[0112] In some embodiments where an OFDM signal or OFDMA signal is passed, for example, by the baseband processor 608a, the transmit baseband processor 904 may be configured to generate an OFDM or OFDMA signal suitable for transmission by performing an inverse fast Fourier transform (IFFT). The receive baseband processor 902 may be configured to process the received OFDM signal or OFDMA signal by performing an FFT. In some embodiments, the receive baseband processor 902 may be configured to detect the presence of an OFDM signal or OFDMA signal by performing an autocorrelation to detect a preamble (e.g., a short preamble) and by performing a cross-correlation to detect a long preamble. The preamble may be part of a predetermined frame structure for Wi-Fi communications.

[0113] Return to reference Figure 6 In some embodiments, antenna 601 ( Figure 6 ) can each include one or more directional or omnidirectional antennas, including, for example, dipole antennas, monopole antennas, patch antennas, loop antennas, microstrip antennas, or other types of antennas suitable for transmitting RF signals. In some multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) embodiments, the antennas can be effectively separated to take advantage of spatial diversity and the different channel characteristics that may result. Antennas 601 can each include a set of phased array antennas, but the embodiments are not limited thereto.

[0114] Although the radio architectures 105A, 105B are shown as having several separate functional elements, one or more of the functional elements may be combined and may be implemented by a combination of software-configured elements (e.g., a processing element including a digital signal processor (DSP)) and / or other hardware elements. For example, some elements may include one or more microprocessors, DSPs, field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), application specific integrated circuits (ASICs), radio frequency integrated circuits (RFICs), and combinations of various hardware and logic circuits for performing at least the functions described herein. In some embodiments, a functional element may refer to one or more processes operating on one or more processing elements.

[0115] The word "exemplary" is used herein to mean "serving as an example, instance, or illustration." Any embodiment described herein as "exemplary" is not necessarily to be construed as preferred or better than other embodiments. The terms "computing device," "user device," "communication station," "station," "handheld device," "mobile device," "wireless device," and "user equipment" (UE) as used herein refer to wireless communication devices such as cellular phones, smart phones, tablets, netbooks, wireless terminals, laptops, femtocells, high data rate (HDR) subscriber stations, access points, printers, point of sale devices, access terminals, or other personal communication system (PCS) devices. The device may be mobile or stationary.

[0116] As used within this document, the term "communication / transfer" is intended to include sending or receiving, or both sending and receiving. This may be particularly useful in claims when describing the organization of data sent by one device and received by another device, but only the functionality of one of these devices is required to infringe the claim. Similarly, a two-way data exchange between two devices (both devices send and receive during the exchange) may be described as "communication / transfer" when only the functionality of one of these devices is claimed. The term "communication / transfer" used herein with respect to wireless communication signals includes sending wireless communication signals and / or receiving wireless communication signals. For example, a wireless communication unit capable of transmitting wireless communication signals may include a wireless transmitter for sending wireless communication signals to at least one other wireless communication unit, and / or a wireless communication receiver for receiving wireless communication signals from at least one other wireless communication unit.

[0117] As used herein, unless otherwise indicated, the use of ordinal adjectives "first," "second," "third," etc. to describe common objects merely indicates that different instances of similar objects are referred to and is not intended to imply that the objects so described must be in a given order temporally, spatially, hierarchically, or in any other manner.

[0118] The term "access point" (AP) as used herein may be a fixed station. An access point may also be referred to as an access node, a base station, an evolved Node B (eNodeB), or some other similar terms known in the art. An access terminal may also be referred to as a mobile station, a user equipment (UE), a wireless communication device, or some other similar terms known in the art. Embodiments disclosed herein generally relate to wireless networks. Some embodiments may relate to a wireless network operating according to one of the IEEE 802.11 standards.

[0119] Some embodiments may be used in conjunction with various devices and systems (e.g., personal computers (PCs), desktop computers, mobile computers, laptop computers, notebook computers, tablet computers, server computers, handheld computers, handheld devices, personal digital assistant (PDA) devices, handheld PDA devices, on-board devices, off-board devices, hybrid devices, vehicle-mounted devices, non-vehicle-mounted devices, mobile or portable devices, consumer devices, non-mobile or non-portable devices, wireless communication stations, wireless communication devices, wireless access points (APs), wired or wireless routers, wired or wireless modems, video devices, audio devices, audio-video (A / V) devices, wired or wireless networks, wireless area networks, wireless video area networks (WVANs), local area networks (LANs), wireless LANs (WLANs), personal area networks (PANs), wireless PANs (WPANs), etc.).

[0120] Some embodiments may be used in conjunction with the following devices: one-way and / or two-way radio communication systems, cellular radio telephone communication systems, mobile phones, cellular phones, wireless phones, personal communication system (PCS) devices, PDA devices including wireless communication devices, mobile or portable global positioning system (GPS) devices, devices including GPS receivers or transceivers or chips, devices including RFID elements or chips, multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) transceivers or devices, single-input multiple-output (SIMO) transceivers or devices, multiple-input single-output (MISO) transceivers or devices, devices with one or more internal antennas and / or external antennas, digital video broadcasting (DVB) devices or systems, multi-standard radio devices or systems, wired or wireless handheld devices (e.g., smart phones), wireless application protocol (WAP) devices, etc.

[0121] Some embodiments may be operable to communicate with one or more types of wireless communication signals and / or systems conforming to one or more wireless communication protocols (e.g., radio frequency (RF), infrared (IR), frequency division multiplexing (FDM), orthogonal FDM (OFDM), time division multiplexing (TDM), time division multiple access (TDMA), extended TDMA (E-TDMA), general packet radio service (GPRS), extended GPRS, code division multiple access (CDMA), wideband CDMA (WCDMA), CDMA 2000, single carrier CDMA, multi-carrier CDMA, multi-carrier modulation (MDM), discrete multi-tone (DMT), The present invention can be used in combination with the global positioning system (GPS), Wi-Fi, Wi-Max, ZigBee, ultra-wideband (UWB), global system for mobile communications (GSM), 2G, 2.5G, 3G, 3.5G, 4G, fifth generation (5G) mobile network, 3GPP, long term evolution (LTE), LTEAdvanced, enhanced data rate for GSM evolution (EDGE), etc. Other embodiments can be used in various other devices, systems and / or networks.

[0122] The following examples pertain to further embodiments.

[0123] Example 1 may include: a device comprising a processing circuit coupled to a storage, the processing circuit being configured to: identify a first non-co-sited access point (AP) and a second non-co-sited AP associated with a non-co-sited AP multi-link device (MLD); determine a traffic identifier (TID) to link mapping for the first non-co-sited AP and the second non-co-sited AP; include the TID-to-link mapping element in a beacon frame or a probe response frame sent by each of the first non-co-sited AP and the second non-co-sited AP; update the TID-to-link mapping element in response to a change in the state of the first non-co-sited AP or the second non-co-sited AP; and send the updated TID-to-link mapping element to other APs belonging to the non-co-sited AP MLD.

[0124] Example 2 may include a device as described in Example 1 and / or some other examples herein, wherein the first non-co-located AP and the second non-co-located AP are in an extended service set (ESS).

[0125] Example 3 may include: an apparatus as described in Example 1 and / or some other examples herein, wherein the TID-to-link mapping element may be included in a beacon frame or a probe response frame sent by any AP belonging to the non-co-located AP MLD and in the same co-located set.

[0126] Example 4 may include: a device as described in Example 3 and / or some other examples herein, wherein the processing circuit may be further configured to: include a co-location set ID field or an overlapping co-location AP MLDID field in the TID-to-link mapping element to indicate the ID of the co-location set.

[0127] Example 5 may include: a device as described in Example 1 and / or some other examples herein, wherein the ID may be selected from a group consisting of: an MLD media access control (MAC) address of the co-located AP MLD, an MLD ID of the co-located AP MLD, and a co-located set ID associated with the non-co-located AP MLD.

[0128] Example 6 may include: an apparatus as described in Example 1 and / or some other examples herein, wherein the processing circuit may be further configured to: temporarily disable a link of the AP of the non-co-located AP MLD for a specific duration, wherein the TID-to-link mapping element indicates that no TID is mapped to the disabled link.

[0129] Example 7 may include: a device as described in Example 6 and / or some other examples herein, wherein the processing circuit may be further configured to: include per-AP information for the AP corresponding to the disabled link in the reduced neighbor report.

[0130] Example 8 may include: a device as described in Example 1 and / or some other examples herein, wherein the processing circuit may be further configured to: include a link disable flag field in a capability information field or in a multi-link element for describing the non-co-located AP MLD.

[0131] Example 9 may include: a device as described in Example 1 and / or some other examples herein, wherein the processing circuit may be further configured to: include the TID-to-link mapping element in a frame sent by any AP belonging to a non-co-located multi-link device (MLD) belonging to a different co-located set, regardless of the link operation state of the reporting AP related to the establishment link for associating the non-AP MLD.

[0132] Example 10 may include: a non-transitory computer-readable medium storing computer-executable instructions that, when executed by one or more processors, cause operations to be performed, including: identifying a first non-co-sited access point (AP) and a second non-co-sited AP associated with a non-co-sited AP multi-link device (MLD); determining a traffic identifier (TID) to link mapping for the first non-co-sited AP and the second non-co-sited AP; including the TID-to-link mapping element in a beacon frame or a probe response frame sent by each of the first non-co-sited AP and the second non-co-sited AP; updating the TID-to-link mapping element in response to a change in the state of the first non-co-sited AP or the second non-co-sited AP; and sending the updated TID-to-link mapping element to other APs belonging to the non-co-sited AP MLD.

[0133] Example 11 may include the non-transitory computer-readable medium of Example 10 and / or some other examples herein, wherein the first non-co-located AP and the second non-co-located AP are in an extended service set (ESS).

[0134] Example 12 may include a non-transitory computer-readable medium as described in Example 10 and / or some other examples herein, wherein the TID-to-link mapping element may be included in a beacon frame or a probe response frame sent by any AP belonging to the non-co-located AP MLD and in the same co-located set.

[0135] Example 13 may include: a non-transitory computer-readable medium as described in Example 12 and / or some other examples herein, wherein the operation further includes: including a co-location set ID field or an overlapping co-location AP MLD ID field in the TID-to-link mapping element to indicate the ID of the co-location set.

[0136] Example 14 may include: a non-transitory computer-readable medium as described in Example 10 and / or some other examples herein, wherein the ID may be selected from a group consisting of: an MLD media access control (MAC) address of the co-located AP MLD, an MLD ID of the co-located AP MLD, and a co-located set ID associated with the non-co-located AP MLD.

[0137] Example 15 may include: a non-transitory computer-readable medium as described in Example 10 and / or some other examples herein, wherein the operations further include: temporarily disabling a link of the AP of the non-co-located AP MLD for a specific duration, wherein the TID-to-link mapping element indicates that no TID is mapped to the disabled link.

[0138] Example 16 may include a non-transitory computer-readable medium as described in Example 15 and / or some other examples herein, wherein the operations further include including per-AP information for the AP corresponding to the disabled link in the reduced neighbor report.

[0139] Example 17 may include: a non-transitory computer-readable medium as described in Example 10 and / or some other examples herein, wherein the operation further includes: including a link disable flag field in a capability information field or in a multi-link element for describing the non-co-located AP MLD.

[0140] Example 18 may include: a non-transitory computer-readable medium as described in Example 10 and / or some other examples herein, wherein the operation further includes: including the TID-to-link mapping element in a frame sent by any AP belonging to a non-co-located multi-link device (MLD) belonging to a different co-located set, regardless of the link operation state of the reporting AP related to the setup link for the associated non-AP MLD.

[0141] Example 19 may include: a method comprising: identifying, by one or more processors, a first non-co-sited access point (AP) and a second non-co-sited AP associated with a non-co-sited AP multi-link device (MLD); determining a traffic identifier (TID) to link mapping for the first non-co-sited AP and the second non-co-sited AP; including the TID-to-link mapping element in a beacon frame or a probe response frame sent by each of the first non-co-sited AP and the second non-co-sited AP; updating the TID-to-link mapping element in response to a change in the state of the first non-co-sited AP or the second non-co-sited AP; and sending the updated TID-to-link mapping element to other APs belonging to the non-co-sited AP MLD.

[0142] Example 20 may include a method as described in Example 19 and / or some other examples herein, wherein the first non-co-located AP and the second non-co-located AP are in an extended service set (ESS).

[0143] Example 21 may include a method as described in Example 19 and / or some other examples herein, wherein the TID-to-link mapping element may be included in a beacon frame or a probe response frame sent by any AP belonging to the non-co-located AP MLD and in the same co-located set.

[0144] Example 22 may include: the method as described in Example 21 and / or some other examples herein, further comprising: including a co-location set ID field or an overlapping co-location AP MLD ID field in the TID-to-link mapping element to indicate an ID of the co-location set.

[0145] Example 23 may include: a method as described in Example 19 and / or some other examples herein, wherein the ID may be selected from a group consisting of: an MLD media access control (MAC) address of the co-located AP MLD, an MLD ID of the co-located AP MLD, and a co-located set ID associated with the non-co-located AP MLD.

[0146] Example 24 may include: the method as described in Example 19 and / or some other examples herein, further comprising: temporarily disabling a link of the AP of the non-co-located AP MLD for a specific duration, wherein the TID-to-link mapping element indicates that no TID is mapped to the disabled link.

[0147] Example 25 may include: a method as described in Example 24 and / or some other examples herein, further comprising: including per-AP information for the AP corresponding to the disabled link in the reduced neighbor report.

[0148] Example 26 may include: a method as described in Example 19 and / or some other examples herein, further comprising: including a link disable flag field in a capability information field or in a multi-link element for describing the non-co-located AP MLD.

[0149] Example 27 may include: a method as described in Example 19 and / or some other examples herein, further comprising: including the TID-to-link mapping element in a frame sent by any AP belonging to a non-co-located multi-link device (MLD) belonging to a different co-located set, regardless of the link operation state of the reporting AP related to the establishment link for associating the non-AP MLD.

[0150] Example 28 may include: an apparatus comprising components for: identifying a first non-co-sited access point (AP) and a second non-co-sited AP associated with a non-co-sited AP multi-link device (MLD); determining a traffic identifier (TID) to link mapping for the first non-co-sited AP and the second non-co-sited AP; including the TID-to-link mapping element in a beacon frame or a probe response frame sent by each of the first non-co-sited AP and the second non-co-sited AP; updating the TID-to-link mapping element in response to a change in the state of the first non-co-sited AP or the second non-co-sited AP; and sending the updated TID-to-link mapping element to other APs belonging to the non-co-sited AP MLD.

[0151] Example 29 may include an apparatus as described in Example 28 and / or some other examples herein, wherein the first non-co-located AP and the second non-co-located AP are in an extended service set (ESS).

[0152] Example 30 may include an apparatus as described in Example 28 and / or some other examples herein, wherein the TID-to-link mapping element may be included in a beacon frame or a probe response frame sent by any AP belonging to the non-co-located AP MLD and in the same co-located set.

[0153] Example 31 may include: the apparatus as described in Example 30 and / or some other examples herein, further comprising: including a co-location set ID field or an overlapping co-location AP MLD ID field in the TID-to-link mapping element to indicate the ID of the co-location set.

[0154] Example 32 may include: an apparatus as described in Example 28 and / or some other examples herein, wherein the ID may be selected from a group consisting of: an MLD media access control (MAC) address of the co-located AP MLD, an MLD ID of the co-located AP MLD, and a co-located set ID associated with the non-co-located AP MLD.

[0155] Example 33 may include: the apparatus as described in Example 28 and / or some other examples herein, further comprising: temporarily disabling a link of the AP of the non-co-located AP MLD for a specific duration, wherein the TID-to-link mapping element indicates that no TID is mapped to the disabled link.

[0156] Example 34 may include: the apparatus as described in Example 33 and / or some other examples herein, further comprising: including per-AP information for the AP corresponding to the disabled link in the reduced neighbor report.

[0157] Example 35 may include: the apparatus as described in Example 28 and / or some other examples herein, further comprising: including a link disable flag field in a capability information field or in a multi-link element for describing the non-co-located AP MLD.

[0158] Example 36 may include: an apparatus as described in Example 28 and / or some other examples herein, further comprising: including the TID-to-link mapping element in a frame sent by any AP belonging to a non-co-located multi-link device (MLD) belonging to a different co-located set, regardless of the link operation state of the reporting AP related to the establishment link for associating the non-AP MLD.

[0159] Example 37 may include: one or more non-transitory computer-readable media, comprising instructions, which, when executed by one or more processors of an electronic device, cause the electronic device to perform a method described in or related to any of Examples 1-36, or one or more elements of any other method or process described herein.

[0160] Example 38 may include: an apparatus comprising logic, modules, and / or circuits for performing one or more elements of a method described in or related to any of Examples 1-36, or any other method or process described herein.

[0161] Example 39 may include: a method, technique, or process as described in or related to any one of Examples 1-36 or a portion or part thereof.

[0162] Example 40 may include: an apparatus comprising: one or more processors; and one or more computer-readable media comprising instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform methods, techniques, or processes as described in or related to any one of Examples 1-36 or portions thereof.

[0163] Example 41 may include: A method of communicating in a wireless network as shown and described herein.

[0164] Example 42 may include: A system for providing wireless communications as shown and described herein.

[0165] Example 43 may include: An apparatus for providing wireless communications as shown and described herein.

[0166] Embodiments according to the present disclosure are specifically disclosed in the attached claims relating to methods, storage media, devices, and computer program products, wherein any feature mentioned in one claim category (e.g., method) may also be claimed in another claim category (e.g., system). Dependencies or reverse references in the attached claims are selected for formal reasons only. However, any subject matter resulting from intentional reverse reference to any previous claim (especially multiple dependencies) may also be claimed, so that any combination of claims and their features is disclosed and may be claimed regardless of the dependencies selected in the attached claims. The subject matter that may be claimed includes not only the combination of features set forth in the attached claims, but also any other combination of features in the claims, wherein each feature mentioned in the claims may be combined with any other feature or combination of other features in the claims. In addition, any embodiments and features described or depicted herein may be claimed in separate claims, and / or in any combination with any embodiment or feature described or depicted herein or with any feature of the attached claims.

[0167] The above description of one or more implementations provides illustration and description, but is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the scope of the embodiments to the precise forms disclosed. Modifications and variations are possible in light of the above teachings, or they may be acquired from practice of various embodiments.

[0168] Certain aspects of the present disclosure are described above with reference to block diagrams and flow charts of systems, methods, devices, and / or computer program products according to various implementations. It should be understood that one or more blocks in the block diagrams and flow charts and combinations of blocks in the block diagrams and flow charts, respectively, may be implemented by computer executable program instructions. Likewise, according to some implementations, some blocks in the block diagrams and flow charts may not necessarily need to be executed in the order presented, or may not need to be executed at all.

[0169] These computer executable program instructions can be loaded onto a special purpose computer or other specific machine, processor or other programmable data processing device to produce a specific machine, so that the instructions executed on the computer, processor or other programmable data processing device create a component for implementing one or more functions specified in one or more flowchart boxes. These computer program instructions can also be stored in a computer-readable storage medium or memory, which can guide a computer or other programmable data processing device to operate in a specific manner so that the instructions stored in the computer-readable storage medium produce a manufactured product, which includes an instruction component that implements one or more functions specified in one or more flowchart boxes. As an example, some implementations can provide a computer program product, which includes a computer-readable storage medium in which a computer-readable program code or program instruction is implemented, and the computer-readable program code is suitable for being executed to implement one or more functions specified in one or more flowchart boxes. Computer program instructions can also be loaded onto a computer or other programmable data processing device to generate a computer-implemented process by executing a series of operating elements or steps on a computer or other programmable device, so that the instructions executed on a computer or other programmable device provide elements or steps for implementing the functions specified in one or more flowchart boxes.

[0170] Therefore, the blocks of these block diagrams and flow charts support combinations of components for performing specified functions, combinations of elements or steps for performing specified functions, and program instruction components for performing specified functions. It should also be understood that each block of these block diagrams and flow charts and the combination of blocks in these block diagrams and flow charts can be implemented by a special hardware-based computer system or a combination of special hardware and computer instructions that performs the specified functions, elements or steps.

[0171] Conditional language, such as "can," "may," "might," or "may," unless otherwise specifically stated or otherwise understood within the context of use, is generally intended to convey that certain implementations may include certain features, elements, and / or operations while other implementations do not. Thus, such conditional language is generally not intended to imply that one or more implementations require features, elements, and / or operations in any way, or that one or more implementations must include logic for deciding (with or without user input or prompting) whether such features, elements, and / or operations are included or to be performed in any particular implementation.

[0172] Many modifications and other implementations of the disclosure set forth herein will be apparent with the benefit of the foregoing description and the teachings presented in the associated drawings. Therefore, it should be understood that the disclosure is not limited to the specific implementations disclosed, and modifications and other implementations are intended to be included within the scope of the appended claims. Although specific terms are used herein, they are used only in a general and descriptive sense and not for limiting purposes.

Claims

1. A device comprising a processing circuit coupled to a storage, the processing circuit being configured to: identifying a first non-co-located access point (AP) and a second non-co-located AP associated with a non-co-located AP multi-link device (MLD); determining a traffic identifier (TID) to link (TID-to-link) mapping for the first non-co-located AP and the second non-co-located AP; including the TID-to-link mapping element in a beacon frame or a probe response frame sent by each of the first non-co-located AP and the second non-co-located AP; updating the TID-to-link mapping element in response to a change in a state of the first non-co-located AP or the second non-co-located AP; as well as The updated TID-to-link mapping element is sent to other APs belonging to the non-co-located AP MLD.

2. The device according to claim 1, wherein: The first non-co-located AP and the second non-co-located AP are in an extended service set (ESS).

3. The device of claim 1, wherein: The TID-to-link mapping element is included in a beacon frame or a probe response frame sent by any AP belonging to the non-co-located AP MLD and in the same co-located set.

4. The device of claim 3, wherein: The processing circuit is further configured to: The TID-to-link mapping element includes a co-location set ID field or an overlapping co-location AP MLD ID field to indicate the ID of the co-location set.

5. The device of claim 1, wherein: The ID is selected from the group consisting of: an MLD medium access control (MAC) address of the co-located AP MLD, an MLD ID of the co-located AP MLD, and a co-location set ID associated with the non-co-located AP MLD.

6. The device of claim 1, wherein: The processing circuit is further configured to: A link of the AP of the non-co-located AP MLD is temporarily disabled for a specific duration, wherein a TID-to-link mapping element indicates that no TID is mapped to the disabled link.

7. The device of claim 6, wherein: The processing circuit is further configured to: The per-AP information for the AP corresponding to the disabled link is included in the Compact Neighbor Report.

8. The device of claim 1, wherein: The processing circuit is further configured to: A link disabled flag field is included in the capability information field or in the multi-link element MLD for describing the non-co-located AP.

9. The device according to any one of claims 1 to 8, wherein: The processing circuit is further configured to: The TID-to-link mapping element is included in frames sent by any AP belonging to a non-co-located multi-link device (MLD) belonging to a different co-located set, regardless of the reporting AP's link operation status related to establishing a link for an associated non-AP MLD.

10. A wireless communication device storing computer executable instructions, which when executed by one or more processors, causes the following operations to be performed, including: identifying a first non-co-located access point (AP) and a second non-co-located AP associated with a non-co-located AP multi-link device (MLD); determining a traffic identifier (TID) to link (TID-to-link) mapping for the first non-co-located AP and the second non-co-located AP; including the TID-to-link mapping element in a beacon frame or a probe response frame sent by each of the first non-co-located AP and the second non-co-located AP; updating the TID-to-link mapping element in response to a change in a state of the first non-co-located AP or the second non-co-located AP; as well as The updated TID-to-link mapping element is sent to other APs belonging to the non-co-located AP MLD.

11. The wireless communication device according to claim 10, wherein: The first non-co-located AP and the second non-co-located AP are in an extended service set (ESS).

12. The wireless communication device according to claim 10, wherein: The TID-to-link mapping element is included in a beacon frame or a probe response frame sent by any AP belonging to the non-co-located AP MLD and in the same co-located set.

13. The wireless communication device according to claim 12, wherein: The operations also include: The TID-to-link mapping element includes a co-location set ID field or an overlapping co-location AP MLD ID field to indicate the ID of the co-location set.

14. The wireless communication device according to claim 10, wherein: The ID is selected from the group consisting of: an MLD medium access control (MAC) address of the co-located AP MLD, an MLD ID of the co-located AP MLD, and a co-location set ID associated with the non-co-located AP MLD.

15. The wireless communication device according to claim 10, wherein: The operations also include: A link of the AP of the non-co-located AP MLD is temporarily disabled for a specific duration, wherein a TID-to-link mapping element indicates that no TID is mapped to the disabled link.

16. The wireless communication device according to claim 15, wherein: The operations also include: The per-AP information for the AP corresponding to the disabled link is included in the Compact Neighbor Report.

17. The wireless communication device according to claim 10, wherein: The operations also include: A link disabled flag field is included in the capability information field or in the multi-link element MLD for describing the non-co-located AP.

18. The wireless communication device according to any one of claims 10 to 17, wherein: The operations also include: The TID-to-link mapping element is included in frames sent by any AP belonging to a non-co-located multi-link device (MLD) belonging to a different co-located set, regardless of the reporting AP's link operation status related to establishing a link for an associated non-AP MLD.

19. A method comprising: identifying, by one or more processors, a first non-co-located access point (AP) and a second non-co-located AP associated with a non-co-located AP multi-link device (MLD); determining a traffic identifier (TID) to link (TID-to-link) mapping for the first non-co-located AP and the second non-co-located AP; including the TID-to-link mapping element in a beacon frame or a probe response frame sent by each of the first non-co-located AP and the second non-co-located AP; updating the TID-to-link mapping element in response to a change in a state of the first non-co-located AP or the second non-co-located AP; as well as The updated TID-to-link mapping element is sent to other APs belonging to the non-co-located AP MLD.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein: The first non-co-located AP and the second non-co-located AP are in an extended service set (ESS).

21. The method of claim 19, wherein: The TID-to-link mapping element is included in a beacon frame or a probe response frame sent by any AP belonging to the non-co-located AP MLD and in the same co-located set.

22. The method of claim 21, further comprising: The TID-to-link mapping element includes a co-location set ID field or an overlapping co-location AP MLD ID field to indicate the ID of the co-location set.

23. The method of claim 19, wherein: The ID is selected from the group consisting of: an MLD medium access control (MAC) address of the co-located AP MLD, an MLD ID of the co-located AP MLD, and a co-location set ID associated with the non-co-located AP MLD.

24. The method of claim 19, further comprising: A link of the AP of the non-co-located AP MLD is temporarily disabled for a specific duration, wherein a TID-to-link mapping element indicates that no TID is mapped to the disabled link.

25. The method of any one of claims 19-24, further comprising: The per-AP information for the AP corresponding to the disabled link is included in the Compact Neighbor Report.

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