Advanced procedure for non-co-located multi-link device reconfiguration in Wi-Fi networks

Abstract

The invention discloses an advanced process for non-co-located multi-link device reconfiguration in a Wi-Fi network. This disclosure describes systems, methods, and devices related to non-co-located multilink device (MLD) reconfiguration. A device may establish a non-co-located MLD with a plurality of membership access points (APs) that are not geographically co-located. The device may generate a reconfigured multi-link element for removing a subordinate AP within the non-co-located MLD. The device may include the reconfigured multi-link element in a beacon or probe response frame sent by any AP affiliated to the non-co-located MLD and in the same co-located set.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present disclosure relates generally to systems and methods for wireless communications and, more particularly, to a high-level process for non-collocated multi-link device reconfiguration in a Wi-Fi network. Background Art

[0002] Modern wireless networking technologies are focused on enhancing mobility and reducing latency and packet loss, especially during transitions between geographically diverse access points (APs). Existing protocols are primarily targeted at AP-colocated multi-link devices (MLDs), leaving a gap in handling non-colocated APs. This has created a significant need for a reconfiguration process that specifically caters to non-colocated MLDs in wireless networks. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

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

[0004] Figures 2A to 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 showing an illustrative process for an illustrative non-co-located MLD reconfiguration system according to one or more example embodiments of the present disclosure is shown.

[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 of an example machine is shown on which any of 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 these embodiments. Other embodiments may include structural, logical, electrical, algorithmic, process, and other changes. Portions and features of some embodiments may be included in portions and features of other embodiments, or may replace portions and features of other embodiments. The embodiments set forth in the claims include all available equivalents of these claims.

[0013] One of the goals of Wi-Fi 8 is to allow smooth mobility between APs in different locations with near-zero latency and near-lossless packet loss transitions.

[0014] Multi-Link Device (MLD) is defined in 11be, which allows non-co-located APs to belong to the same AP MLD (as well as non-AP MLD). For IEEE 802.11be ("11be"), the protocol is defined only for the co-location case. Therefore, in order to achieve the above goals, the proposal will have non-co-located MLD operation for Wi-Fi 8.

[0015] In this disclosure, the focus issue is the ML reconfiguration process defined in 11be for regular AP MLDs (only co-located AP MLDs are defined in 11be) and needs to be applicable to non-co-located AP MLDs.

[0016] For co-located AP MLD, the definition is as follows: APs of an AP MLD can be removed from that AP MLD. In this case, all APs of the AP MLD shall include a reconfiguration multi-link element with a per-STA profile containing only the link ID of the removed AP and an AP removal timer identifying the time when the AP will be removed in the beacon and probe response frames they transmit.

[0017] For each subordinate AP that the AP MLD intends to remove, the Reconfigure Multilink element shall include a Per-STA Profile sub-element with the following subfields of the STA Control field: the Link ID subfield shall identify the AP to be removed, the Complete Profile subfield shall be set to 0, the STA MAC Address Present subfield shall be set to 0, the AP Removal Timer Present subfield shall be set to 1, and the AP Removal Timer subfield shall be set to the number of TBTTs before the subordinate AP is removed (or for NSTR mobile AP MLDs, the AP Removal Timer subfield shall be set to the number of TBTTs that the AP operates on the primary link). The initial value of the AP Removal Timer subfield shall point to a TBTT value that provides a sufficiently large time to announce the removal of the subordinate AP so that all associated non-AP MLDs (including non-AP MLDs in power save mode) have the opportunity to receive the Reconfigure Multilink element at least once before the AP is removed. The Per-STA Profile sub-element shall not include the STA Profile field.

[0018] Properly extending this process to the non-co-located AP MLD case, including all of this information would be very large since the number of subordinate APs of an AP MLD may include a large number of members. Therefore, some adjustments described in this disclosure are of course required.

[0019] Since only co-located MLDs were defined in the previous standard version (11be) and there was no concept of non-co-located MLDs in the standard, this subject is new and there is no known method to solve the above problems.

[0020] Example embodiments of the present disclosure relate to systems, methods, and devices for multi-link reconfiguration of non-co-located AP MLDs.

[0021] In one embodiment, the non-co-located MLD reconfiguration system may incorporate several changes to the multi-link framework defined in 11be in order to define non-co-located AP MLD for Wi-Fi 8. Of particular interest, the method defines procedures that allow for a multi-link reconfiguration process when associated with a non-co-located AP MLD.

[0022] The above description is for the purpose of illustration and is not meant to be limiting. There may be many other examples, configurations, processes, algorithms, etc., some of which will be described in more detail below. Example embodiments will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0023] Figure 11 is a network diagram illustrating an example network environment for non-co-located MLD reconfiguration 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(s) 120 may be a non-static (e.g., not having a fixed location) mobile device, or may be a static device.

[0024] In some embodiments, user equipment 120 and AP 102 may include a Figure 4 Functional diagram and / or Figure 5 One or more computer systems of an example machine / system.

[0025] 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 have a plurality 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 dependent 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). (One or more) 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 a mobile device or a non-mobile (e.g., static) device. For example, the user equipment(s) 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 bracelet, a watch, glasses, a ring, etc.), a desktop computer, a mobile computer, a laptop computer, an ultrabook, or a laptop computer. TM) computer, 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, off-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, "Central Computing System (CSLL)" device, ultra mobile device (UMD), ultra mobile PC (UMPC), mobile Internet device (MID), "origami" device or computer Devices, devices supporting Dynamic Composable Computing (DCC), context-aware devices, video devices, audio devices, A / V devices, set-top boxes (STBs), Blu-ray Disc (BD) players, BD recorders, digital video disc (DVD) players, high-definition (HD) DVD players, DVD recorders, HDDVD recorders, personal video recorders (PVRs), broadcast HD receivers, video sources, audio sources, video receivers, audio receivers, stereo tuners, broadcast radio receivers, flat panel displays, personal media players (PMPs), digital video cameras (DVCs), digital audio players, speakers, audio receivers, audio amplifiers, gaming devices, data sources, data receivers, digital still cameras (DSCs), media players, smartphones, televisions, music players, etc. Other devices, including smart devices such as lamps, climate controls, automotive components, home components, appliances, etc., may also be included in this list.

[0026] 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 can send information to one or more other devices through a wired or wireless connection. IoT devices can have passive communication interfaces, such as quick response (QR) codes, radio frequency identification (RFID) tags, NFC tags, etc., or active communication interfaces, such as modems, transceivers, transmitter-receivers, etc. IoT devices can have a set of specific attributes (e.g., device states or conditions, such as whether the IoT device is turned on or off, open or closed, idle or active, available for task execution or busy, etc., cooling or heating functions, environmental monitoring or recording functions, light emission functions, sound emission functions, etc.), which can be embedded in a central processing unit (CPU), a microprocessor, an ASIC, etc. and / or controlled / monitored by these, and configured to be connected to an IoT network such as 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, washing machines, dryers, stoves, 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 mobile phones, desktop computers, laptop computers, tablet computers, personal digital assistants (PDAs), etc. Therefore, an IoT network may include a combination of "old-fashioned" Internet-accessible devices (e.g., laptop or desktop computers, mobile phones, etc.) in addition to devices that typically do not have Internet connectivity (e.g., dishwashers, etc.).

[0027] The user equipment(s) 120 and / or the AP 102 may also include, for example, mesh stations in a mesh network in accordance with one or more IEEE 802.11 standards and / or 3GPP standards.

[0028] 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 peer-to-peer or directly with each other with or without the 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 appropriate communication networks, including, for example, 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 media that can carry network traffic, including but not limited to coaxial cable, twisted pair, optical fiber, hybrid fiber-coaxial (HFC) media, microwave ground transceivers, radio frequency communication media, white space communication media, ultra-high frequency communication media, satellite communication media, or any combination thereof.

[0029] Any of the user device(s) 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.

[0030] Any one of the user devices 120 (e.g., user devices 124, 126, 128) and AP 102 may be configured to perform directional transmission and / or directional reception in conjunction with wireless communications in a wireless network. Any one of the user devices 120 (e.g., user devices 124, 126, 128) and AP 102 may be configured to perform such directional transmission and / or reception using a set of multiple antenna arrays (e.g., DMG antenna arrays, etc.). Each of the multiple antenna arrays may be used to transmit and / or receive in a specific corresponding direction or range of directions. Any one of the user devices 120 (e.g., user devices 124, 126, 128) and AP 102 may be configured to perform any given directional transmission toward one or more defined transmission sectors. Any one of the user devices 120 (e.g., user devices 124, 126, 128) and AP 102 may be configured to perform any given directional reception for one or more defined reception sectors.

[0031] MIMO beamforming in a wireless network can be implemented using RF beamforming and / or digital beamforming. In some embodiments, when performing a given MIMO transmission, (one or more) user devices 120 and / or AP 102 can be configured to use all or a subset of their one or more communication antennas to perform MIMO beamforming.

[0032] Any of the user device(s) 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 device(s) 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 protocols 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 component cooperates with the communication antenna and can 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 and 802.11ay), an 800 MHz channel (e.g., 802.11ah). The communication antenna can 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) can 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 space 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.

[0033] In one embodiment, reference Figure 1, the user equipment 120 may communicate with one or more APs 102. For example, the one or more APs 102 may implement a non-co-located MLD reconfiguration 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., Link1, Link2, ..., Linkn) between each AP and the STA. It should be understood that the above description is for illustrative purposes and is not meant to be limiting.

[0034] 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.

[0035] In the context of wireless networks and Wi-Fi systems, the terms "co-location" and "non-co-location" generally 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 generally means that multiple transmitters or receivers (such as APs) are placed in the same physical location. In this case, these devices often need to coordinate their activities to avoid interference.

[0036] On the other hand, non-co-located devices are those that are not physically close together. They may be distributed in different locations within a larger network infrastructure. In this context, non-co-located MLD means that the access points involved in MLD are not necessarily physically close to each other. It introduces complexity in managing links, avoiding interference, and ensuring smooth handover when devices move between coverage areas of different APs.

[0037] refer to 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.

[0038] refer to Figure 2C and 2D, shows a non-co-located AP MLD3 consisting 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 in indicate two different partitions, thus indicating a non-co-located AP MLD3.

[0039] In one or more embodiments, the non-co-located MLD reconfiguration system may incorporate several changes to the multi-link framework defined in .11be in order to define a non-co-located AP MLD for Wi-Fi 8. Specifically, a process is defined that allows a multi-link reconfiguration process when associated with a non-co-located AP MLD. There are several reasons why the rules for co-located AP MLD cannot be used for the non-co-located case. In the co-located case, a reconfiguration multi-link element indicating the removal of one or more subordinate APs is included in the beacon and probe response. In the non-co-located case, this would be a very large number to do for all APs belonging to the non-co-located AP MLD because the number of subordinate APs may be very large, and in addition the APs may also be very far away from the AP, which would render the above indication useless.

[0040] The following outlines the proposed method for removing an access point (AP) that is affiliated with a non-multi-link device (non-MLD):

[0041] 1) The Reconfiguration Multilink Element shall be included in the Beacon and Probe Response frames sent by any AP belonging to the same non-co-located AP MLD and in the same co-located set (and therefore also in the same co-located AP MLD), and include the per-STA profile information (with link ID information and AP removal timer) of the removed AP. This requirement is based on the fact that if the co-located set to which the non-co-located AP MLD is added has the same AP set constraint as the overlapping co-located AP MLD (e.g. Figures 2A-2D shown).

[0042] 2) In addition, the Reconfigure Multilink element may be included in the Beacon and / or Probe Response frames sent by any reporting AP that is affiliated with the same non-colocated AP MLD and is in a different colocated set. In addition, the Reconfigure Multilink element will include the Per-STA Profile Information Element of the removed AP (with Link ID information and AP Removal Timer). In addition, this is only true if the reporting AP is operating on a link that was the setup link of an associated non-AP MLD that also has a link corresponding to the removed AP as the setup link. This would be a new requirement needed for the non-colocated case compared to 11be. The colocated case would not be impacted.

[0043] Since the removed AP is in a different co-location set, an additional method is proposed to identify the AP with more information than the simple link ID provided in 11be for the co-location case. A non-co-located MLD reconfiguration system can identify the removed AP by including the following information in the per-STA profile of the reconfigured multilink element:

[0044] - Identifier of the co-location set (of which the removed AP is a member) (or a co-location AP MLD overlapping with the co-location set): This identifier can be the MLD MAC address of the co-location AP MLD overlapping with the co-location set. This identifier can also be the co-location set ID.

[0045] – Identifier ID of the removed AP in this co-located set. For this purpose, a link ID may be used, which uniquely identifies the removed AP in the co-located set. This should be the same as the link ID of the removed AP in the corresponding / overlapping co-located AP MLD.

[0046] As an alternative to method 2 above, a new short field may be defined, such as a non-co-located reconfiguration multilink flag included in the capability information field or in a multilink element. This then describes the non-co-located AP MLD (or in a multilink element that describes the co-located AP MLD and provides information about the non-co-located AP MLD, depending on the choice made regarding non-co-located AP MLD discovery).

[0047] As another alternative to the above method 2 and the above alternatives, it may be defined that no other information of the removed APs that are part of other co-location sets is provided.

[0048] It should be understood that the above description is for illustrative purposes only and is not meant to be limiting.

[0049] Figure 3 A flow chart is shown of an illustrative process 300 for a non-co-located MLD reconfiguration system according to one or more example embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0050] At block 302, a device (e.g., Figure 1 (one or more) user equipment 120 and / or AP 102 and / or Figure 5 The non-co-located MLD reconfiguration device 519) can establish a non-co-located multi-link device (MLD) with multiple subordinate access points (APs) that are not geographically co-located.

[0051] At block 304, the device may generate a reconfiguration multilink element for removing a subordinate AP within a non-co-located MLD.

[0052] At block 306, the device may include a reconfiguration multilink element in a beacon or probe response frame sent by any AP that is affiliated with the non-colocated MLD and is in the same colocated set.

[0053] The device may generate per-STA profile information for the removed AP, the per-STA profile information including link ID information and an AP removal timer. The per-STA profile information may also include an identifier of a co-located set or a co-located AP MLD overlapping the co-located set. The identifier of the co-located set or the co-located AP MLD may be the MLD MAC address of the co-located AP MLD overlapping the co-located set, or alternatively, may be a co-located set ID. The device may include the per-STA profile information in the reconfiguration multilink element of the beacon and probe response frame sent by any reporting AP belonging to the same non-co-located AP MLD and in a different co-located set. This inclusion may be valid only when the reporting AP is operating on a link that is a setup link for an associated non-AP MLD, which also has a link corresponding to the removed AP as a setup link. The device may define a non-co-located reconfiguration multilink flag included in a capability information field or a multilink element to describe a non-co-located AP MLD. Alternatively, the device may not provide any information of the removed AP as part of other co-located sets. Finally, the device may ensure that the reconfigure multilink element includes a per-STA profile sub-element having a link ID sub-field for identifying the removed AP and an AP removal timer sub-field for setting the number of TBTTs before the AP is removed.

[0054] It is to be understood that the above description is for the purpose of illustration, and is not intended to be limiting.

[0055] Figure 4 FIG. 4 is a functional diagram of an exemplary communication station 400 according to one or more exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure. In one embodiment, Figure 4 1 shows a functional block diagram of a communication station according to some embodiments, which may be suitable for use as an AP 102 ( Figure 1 ) or user equipment 120( Figure 1 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 device, a netbook, a wireless terminal, a laptop computer, a wearable computer device, a femtocell, a high data rate (HDR) user station, an access point, an access terminal, or other personal communication system (PCS) device.

[0056] 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 to control physical layer (PHY) communications and / or medium access control (MAC) communications for access to the 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, which are 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 described in detail in the above illustrations, diagrams, and processes.

[0057] According to some embodiments, the communication circuit 402 may be arranged to contend for a wireless medium and configure a frame or packet for communication on 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 operations for configuring and sending message frames and performing 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.

[0058] In some embodiments, the communication station 400 may 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 device, a wireless telephone, 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.

[0059] 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 transmission of 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 as a separate antenna. In some multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) embodiments, antennas may be effectively separated to obtain spatial diversity and different channel characteristics that may be generated between each antenna and the antenna of the transmitting station.

[0060] In some embodiments, 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.

[0061] Although the communication station 400 is illustrated as having several separate functional elements, two or more of these functional elements may be combined and may be implemented by a combination of software-configured elements, for example, 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.

[0062] 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-transitory 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.

[0063] 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 be operated as a standalone device, or can be connected (e.g., networked) to other machines. In a networked deployment, the machine 500 can operate in a server-client network environment with the capabilities of a server machine, a client machine, or both. In one 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 device, a network router, a switch or a bridge, or any machine capable of executing instructions (the instructions specify the actions to be taken by the machine) (sequentially or otherwise), such as a base station. In addition, although only a single machine is shown, the term "machine" should also be deemed to include any machine collection that executes a set (or multiple sets) of instructions individually or jointly to execute any one or more methods discussed herein, such as cloud computing, software as a service (SaaS), or other computer cluster configurations.

[0064] As described herein, examples may include logic or multiple components, modules, or mechanisms, or may operate on these logic or multiple components, modules, or mechanisms. A module is a tangible entity (e.g., hardware) that can perform a specified operation when in operation. A module includes hardware. In one 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 these instructions configure the execution unit to perform a specific operation when in operation. Configuration may be performed 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 instruction set to implement a first module at a point in time, and reconfigured by a second instruction set to implement a second module at a second point in time.

[0065] 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 one 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 also include a storage device (i.e., a drive unit) 516, a signal generation device 518 (e.g., a speaker), a non-co-located MLD reconfiguration device 519, a network interface device / transceiver 520 coupled to an antenna (or) 530, and one or more sensors 528, such as a global positioning system (GPS) sensor, a compass, an accelerometer, or other sensors. The machine 500 may include an output controller 534, for example, a serial (e.g., universal serial bus (USB)), parallel, 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., printer, card reader, 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 further include a physical layer (PHY) and a media access control layer (MAC) circuit, and may further interface with the hardware processor 502 for baseband signal generation and processing and for controlling the operation of the main memory 504, the storage device 516, and / or the non-co-located MLD reconfiguration device 519. The baseband processor may be provided on a single radio card, a single chip, or an integrated circuit (IC).

[0066] 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) that are embodied or utilized by any one or more of the techniques or functionality described herein. The instructions 524 may also reside, in whole or in part, within the main memory 504, within the static memory 506, or within the hardware processor 502 during execution by the machine 500. In one 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.

[0067] The non-co-located MLD reconfiguration device 519 may perform or implement any of the operations and processes described and illustrated above (eg, process 300 ).

[0068] It should be understood that the above is only a subset of the functions that the non-co-located MLD reconfiguration device 519 may be configured to perform, and other functions included throughout this disclosure may also be performed by the non-co-located MLD reconfiguration device 519 .

[0069] 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 .

[0070] 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. These 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, parsed code, executable code, static code, dynamic code, etc. Such a computer-readable medium may include any tangible, non-transitory medium 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.

[0071] 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 these instructions. Non-limiting examples of machine-readable media may include solid-state memory and optical and magnetic media. In one example, a large-capacity machine-readable medium includes a machine-readable medium having a plurality of particles of 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.

[0072] The instructions 524 may also be sent or received using a transmission medium via the network interface device / transceiver 920 over a communication network 526 using any of a variety of transmission protocols including, for example, 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 known as Wi-Fi), or a wireless data network (e.g., a wireless network such as a Wi-Fi network). The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 family of standards, known as IEEE 802.16 family of standards), IEEE 802.15.4 family of standards, and peer-to-peer (P2P) networks, etc. In one example, the network interface device / transceiver 520 may include one or more physical jacks (e.g., Ethernet, coaxial, or telephone jacks) or one or more antennas to connect to the communication network 526. In one 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 deemed to include any intangible medium that can store, encode, or carry instructions for execution by the machine 500, and includes digital or analog communication signals or other intangible media that facilitate the communication of such software.

[0073] In various embodiments, the operations and processes described and shown above can be performed or implemented in any suitable order as needed. In addition, in some implementations, at least a portion of the operations can be performed in parallel. In addition, in some implementations, more or less operations than the described operations can be performed.

[0074] Figure 6 According to some embodiments, it can be implemented in Figure 1 105A, 105B in any of the example AP 102 and / or example STA 120. The radio architecture 105A, 105B may include radio front end module (FEM) circuits 604a-b, radio IC circuits 606a-b, and baseband processing circuits 608a-b. The radio architecture 105A, 105B as shown includes wireless local area network (WLAN) functionality and Bluetooth (BT) functionality, although embodiments are not limited thereto. In the present disclosure, "WLAN" and "Wi-Fi" may be used interchangeably.

[0075] 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 by 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 by 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 the use of a FEM (not shown) that includes a transmit path and / or receive path for both WLAN signals and BT signals, or the use of one or more FEM circuits where at least some of the FEM circuits share transmit and / or receive signal paths for both WLAN signals and BT signals.

[0076] 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, which may include circuitry for down-converting a WLAN RF signal received from the FEM circuit 604a and providing a baseband signal to a WLAN baseband processing circuit 608a. The BT radio IC circuit 606b may in turn include a receive signal path, which 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, which 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 by 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 by the one or more antennas 601. Figure 6 In the embodiment, 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 the use of a radio IC circuit (not shown) that includes a transmit signal path and / or receive signal path for both WLAN signals and BT signals, or includes the use of one or more radio IC circuits in which at least some of the radio IC circuits share transmit and / or receive signal paths for both WLAN signals and BT signals.

[0077] 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 further include one or more processors and control logic to process signals received from the corresponding WLAN receive signal path or BT receive signal path of the radio IC circuit 606a-b, and also generate corresponding WLAN baseband signals 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 further include a physical layer (PHY) and a medium access control layer (MAC) circuit, and may further interface with a device for performing baseband signal generation and processing and for controlling the operation of the radio IC circuit 606a-b.

[0078] Still reference 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 the WLAN and BT radios as required by the application. Furthermore, although the antenna 601 is 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 of the FEM 604a or 604b.

[0079] 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, such as the 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), such as on IC 612.

[0080] In some embodiments, wireless radio card 602 may include a WLAN radio card and may be configured for Wi-Fi communications, although 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.

[0081] In some of these multi-carrier embodiments, the radio architecture 105A, 105B may be part of a Wi-Fi communication station (STA), such as 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, such as any one 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 WLAN. The radio architecture 105A, 105B may also be adapted to send and / or receive communications according to other technologies and standards.

[0082] 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, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect.

[0083] In some other embodiments, the radio architectures 105A, 105B may be configured to send and receive signals sent using one or more other modulation techniques, including, for example, 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, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect.

[0084] In some embodiments, Figure 6 As further shown in FIG. 6 , the BT baseband circuit 608 may comply with a Bluetooth (BT) connection standard, such as Bluetooth, Bluetooth 8.0, or Bluetooth 6.0, or any other iteration of the Bluetooth standard.

[0085] 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).

[0086] 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 channel bandwidth of 920 MHz may be used. However, the scope of the embodiments is not limited to the above center frequencies.

[0087] 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, Figure 7 The example can also be combined with the example BT FEM circuit 604b ( Figure 6 ) is described, although other circuit configurations may also be suitable.

[0088] In some embodiments, FEM circuit 604a may include TX / RX switch 702 for switching between transmit mode and receive mode operation. FEM circuit 604a may include a receive signal path and a transmit signal path. The receive signal path of FEM circuit 604a may include a low noise amplifier (LNA) 706 to amplify received RF signal 703 and provide the amplified received RF signal 707 as an output (e.g., to radio IC circuit 606a-b ( Figure 6 )). The transmit signal path of the circuit 604a may include a power amplifier (PA) for amplifying an input RF signal 709 (e.g., provided by the radio IC circuits 606a-b), and may include one or more filters 712, such as a bandpass filter (BPF), a lowpass filter (LPF), or other types of filters, to generate an RF signal 715 for subsequent transmission via an example duplexer 714 (e.g., through one or more antennas 601 ( Figure 6 )).

[0089] 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 provide the signal of one of the different spectrums to a single transmit path for one or more antennas 601 ( Figure 6 ) The transmit signal path duplexer 704 for subsequent transmissions. 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.

[0090] Figure 8 6. The radio IC circuit 606a is shown in accordance with some embodiments. The radio IC circuit 606a is suitable for use as a WLAN radio IC circuit 606a or a BT radio IC circuit 606b ( Figure 6 ) is an example of a circuit, although other circuit configurations may also be suitable. Alternatively, Figure 8 Examples of may be described in conjunction with example BT radio IC circuit 606b.

[0091] 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, each of the mixer circuits 802 and / or 814 may 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 introduced therefrom may be mitigated, for example, by 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 shown circuits may include more than one component. For example, as required by the application, the mixer circuits 814 may each include one or more mixers, and the filter circuits 808 and / or 812 may each include one or more filters, such as one or more BPFs and / or LPFs. For example, when the mixer circuits are of the direct conversion type, they may each include two or more mixers.

[0092] In some embodiments, mixer circuit 802 may be configured to generate a synthesized frequency 805 from FEM circuits 604a-b based on the synthesized frequency 805 provided by 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, output baseband signal 807 may be a zero frequency baseband signal, although this is not a requirement. In some embodiments, mixer circuit 802 may include a passive mixer, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect.

[0093] 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.

[0094] 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, each of mixer circuit 802 and mixer circuit 814 may 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, although this is not a requirement.

[0095] According to one embodiment, mixer circuit 802 may include quadrature passive mixers (e.g., for an in-phase (I) path and a quadrature-phase (Q) path). In such an embodiment, Figure 8 The RF input signal 707 in the baseband is down-converted to provide an I baseband output signal and a Q baseband output signal for transmission to the baseband processor.

[0096] The quadrature passive mixers can be driven by 0 and 90 degree time-varying LO switching signals provided by a quadrature circuit that can be configured to receive LO frequencies (f LO ), for example, synthesizer 804 ( Figure 8 ) 805. In some embodiments, the LO frequency may be the carrier frequency, while in other embodiments the LO frequency may be a fraction of the carrier frequency (e.g., one-half the carrier frequency, one-third the carrier frequency). In some embodiments, the 0 degree and 90 degree time-varying switching signals may be generated by a synthesizer, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect.

[0097] In some embodiments, the duty cycle (percentage of a period that the LO signal is high) and / or the offset (difference between the starting points of the period) of the LO signal may be different. In some embodiments, the LO signal may have an 85% duty cycle and an 80% offset. In some embodiments, each branch of the mixer circuit (e.g., the in-phase (I) path and the quadrature-phase (Q) path) may operate at an 80% duty cycle, which may result in a significant reduction in power consumption.

[0098] RF input signal 707 ( Figure 7 ) may include balanced signals, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect. The I baseband output signal and the Q baseband output signal may be provided to amplifier circuit 806 ( Figure 8 ) or provided to a filter circuit 808 ( Figure 8 ).

[0099] In some embodiments, output baseband signal 807 and input baseband signal 811 may be analog baseband signals, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect. In some alternative embodiments, output baseband signal 807 and input baseband signal 811 may be digital baseband signals. In these alternative embodiments, the radio IC circuit may include analog-to-digital converter (ADC) and digital-to-analog converter (DAC) circuits.

[0100] In some dual-mode embodiments, separate radio IC circuits may be provided for processing signals for each spectrum, or for other spectrums not mentioned herein, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect.

[0101] In some embodiments, the synthesizer circuit 804 can be a fractional-N synthesizer or a fractional N / N+1 synthesizer, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect, as other types of frequency synthesizers may be suitable. For example, the synthesizer circuit 804 can be a delta-sigma synthesizer, a frequency multiplier, or a synthesizer including a phase-locked loop with a frequency divider. According to some embodiments, the synthesizer circuit 804 can include a digital synthesizer circuit. One advantage of using a digital synthesizer circuit is that, although it can still include some analog components, its footprint can be much smaller than the footprint of an analog synthesizer circuit. In some embodiments, the frequency input to the synthesizer circuit 804 can be provided by a voltage-controlled oscillator (VCO), although this is not a requirement. Depending on the desired output frequency 805, the divider control input can be further controlled by the baseband processing circuit 608a-b ( Figure 6 ) is provided. In some embodiments, the divider control input (e.g., N) can be determined from a lookup table (e.g., within a Wi-Fi card) based on the channel number and channel center frequency determined or indicated by the example application processor 610. The application processor 610 can include, or be otherwise 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).

[0102] 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 of the carrier frequency, one third of the carrier frequency). In some embodiments, the output frequency 805 can be the LO frequency (f LO ).

[0103] 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, although other circuit configurations may also be suitable. Alternatively, Figure 8 The example can be used to implement Figure 6 An example BT baseband processing circuit 608b.

[0104] Baseband processing circuitry 608a may include circuitry for processing signals received from radio IC circuitry 606a-b ( Figure 6 ) and a transmit baseband processor (TX BBP) 904 for generating a transmit baseband signal 811 for 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.

[0105] 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.

[0106] In some embodiments, for example, in which an OFDM signal or an OFDMA signal is transmitted 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 communication.

[0107] 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 transmission of 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. Each of the antennas 601 can include a set of phased array antennas, although the embodiments are not limited thereto.

[0108] Although the radio architecture 105A, 105B is shown as having several separate functional elements, one or more of these functional elements may be combined and may be implemented by a combination of software-configured elements, for example, 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.

[0109] 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 advantageous over 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 a wireless communication device, such as a cellular phone, a smartphone, a tablet device, a netbook, a wireless terminal, a laptop computer, a femtocell, a high data rate (HDR) user station, an access point, a printer, a point of sale device, an access terminal, or other personal communication system (PCS) device. The device may be mobile or fixed.

[0110] The term "transmit" as used herein is intended to include sending, receiving, or sending and receiving. This may be particularly useful in a claim when describing the organization of data sent by one device and received by another device, but an infringement claim only requires the functionality of one of the devices. Similarly, a two-way data exchange between two devices (the two devices send and receive during the exchange) may be described as "communication" when only the functionality of one of the devices is required. The term "transmit" 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.

[0111] As used herein, unless otherwise specified, the use of ordinal adjectives "first," "second," and "third," etc. to describe a common object merely indicates that different instances of similar objects are referenced and does not imply that the objects so described are necessarily in a given sequence in time, space, ranking, or in any other manner.

[0112] 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 terminology 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 terminology 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.

[0113] Some embodiments may be used in conjunction with various devices and systems, such as a personal computer (PC), a desktop computer, a mobile computer, a laptop computer, a notebook computer, a tablet computer, a server computer, a handheld computer, a handheld device, a personal digital assistant (PDA) device, a handheld PDA device, an on-board device, an off-board device, a hybrid device, an on-board device, an off-board device, a mobile or portable device, a consumer device, a non-mobile or non-portable device, a wireless communication station, a wireless communication device, a wireless access point (AP), a wired or wireless router, a wired or radio modem, a video device, an audio device, an audio and video (A / V) device, a wired or wireless network, a wireless area network, a wireless video area network (WVAN), a local area network (LAN), a wireless LAN (WLAN), a personal area network (PAN), a wireless PAN (WPAN), etc.

[0114] Some embodiments may be used in conjunction with one-way and / or two-way radio communication systems, cellular radiotelephone 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.

[0115] Some embodiments may be used with one or more types of wireless communication signals and / or systems that comply with one or more of the following wireless communication protocols: for example, 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), 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 networks, 3GPP, Long Term Evolution (LTE), Advanced LTE, Enhanced Data Rates for GSM Evolution (EDGE), etc. Other embodiments may be used in various other devices, systems, and / or networks.

[0116] The following examples relate to further embodiments.

[0117] Example 1 may include an apparatus comprising a processing circuit coupled to a storage device, the processing circuit being configured to: establish a non-co-located multi-link device (MLD) having multiple subordinate access points (APs) that are not geographically co-located; generate a reconfiguration multi-link element for removing subordinate APs within the non-co-located MLD; and include the reconfiguration multi-link element in a beacon or probe response frame sent by any AP that is subordinate to the non-co-located MLD and is in the same co-located set.

[0118] Example 2 may include the device of Example 1 and / or some other examples in this document, wherein the processing circuit may also be configured to: generate per-STA profile information of the removed AP, the per-STA profile information including link ID information and an AP removal timer.

[0119] Example 3 may include the device of Example 2 and / or some other examples herein, wherein the per-STA profile information may further include an identifier of the co-located set or a co-located AP MLD overlapping with the co-located set.

[0120] Example 4 may include the apparatus of Example 3 and / or some other examples herein, wherein the identifier of the co-located set or the co-located AP MLD may be an MLD MAC address of the co-located AP MLD overlapping with the co-located set.

[0121] Example 5 may include the apparatus of Example 3 and / or some other examples herein, wherein the identifier of the co-located set or the co-located AP MLD may be a co-located set ID.

[0122] Example 6 may include a device of Example 2 and / or some other examples herein, wherein the processing circuit may also be configured to: include the per-STA profile information in a reconfiguration multi-link element of beacons and probe response frames sent by any reporting AP belonging to the same non-co-located AP MLD and in different co-located sets.

[0123] Example 7 may include the device of Example 6 and / or some other examples herein, wherein including the per-STA profile information in the reconfiguration multi-link element may be valid only when the reporting AP is operating on a link that is a setup link for an associated non-AP MLD, and the associated non-AP MLD also has a link corresponding to the removed AP as a setup link.

[0124] Example 8 may include a device of Example 1 and / or some other examples herein, wherein the reconfiguration multi-link element may include a per-STA profile sub-element having a link ID subfield for identifying the removed AP and an AP removal timer subfield for setting the number of target beacon transmission times (TBTTs) before the AP is removed.

[0125] Example 9 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, the operations comprising: establishing a non-co-located multi-link device (MLD) having multiple subordinate access points (APs) that are not geographically co-located; generating a reconfiguration multi-link element for removing subordinate APs within the non-co-located MLD; and including the reconfiguration multi-link element in a beacon or probe response frame sent by any AP that is subordinate to the non-co-located MLD and is in the same co-located set.

[0126] Example 10 may include the non-transitory computer-readable medium of Example 9 and / or some other examples herein, wherein the operation further comprises: generating per-STA profile information of the removed AP, the per-STA profile information comprising link ID information and an AP removal timer.

[0127] Example 11 may include the non-transitory computer-readable medium of Example 10 and / or some other examples herein, wherein the per-STA profile information may further include an identifier of the co-located set or a co-located AP MLD overlapping with the co-located set.

[0128] Example 12 may include the non-transitory computer-readable medium of Example 11 and / or some other examples herein, wherein the identifier of the co-located set or the co-located AP MLD may be an MLD MAC address of the co-located APMLD overlapping with the co-located set.

[0129] Example 13 may include the non-transitory computer-readable medium of Example 11 and / or some other examples herein, wherein the identifier of the co-located set or the co-located AP MLD may be a co-located set ID.

[0130] Example 14 may include a non-transitory computer-readable medium of Example 10 and / or some other examples herein, wherein the operation further comprises: including the per-STA profile information in a reconfiguration multi-link element of beacons and probe response frames sent by any reporting AP belonging to the same non-co-located AP MLD and in different co-located sets.

[0131] Example 15 may include a non-transitory computer-readable medium of Example 14 and / or some other examples herein, wherein including the per-STA profile information in the reconfiguration multi-link element may be valid only when the reporting AP is operating on a link that is a setup link for an associated non-AP MLD, and the associated non-AP MLD also has a link corresponding to the removed AP as a setup link.

[0132] Example 16 may include a non-transitory computer-readable medium of Example 9 and / or some other examples herein, wherein the reconfiguration multi-link element may include a per-STA profile sub-element having a link ID subfield for identifying the removed AP and an AP removal timer subfield for setting the number of target beacon transmission times (TBTTs) before the AP is removed.

[0133] Example 17 may include a method comprising: establishing a non-co-located multi-link device (MLD) having multiple subordinate access points (APs) that are not geographically co-located; generating a reconfiguration multi-link element for removing subordinate APs within the non-co-located MLD; and including the reconfiguration multi-link element in a beacon or probe response frame sent by any AP that is subordinate to the non-co-located MLD and is in the same co-located set.

[0134] Example 18 may include the method of Example 17 and / or some other examples herein, further comprising: generating per-STA profile information of the removed AP, the per-STA profile information comprising link ID information and an AP removal timer.

[0135] Example 19 may include the method of Example 18 and / or some other examples herein, wherein the per-STA profile information may further include an identifier of the co-located set or a co-located AP MLD overlapping with the co-located set.

[0136] Example 20 may include the method of Example 19 and / or some other examples herein, wherein the identifier of the co-located set or the co-located AP MLD may be an MLD MAC address of the co-located AP MLD overlapping with the co-located set.

[0137] Example 21 may include the method of Example 19 and / or some other examples herein, wherein the identifier of the co-located set or the co-located AP MLD may be a co-located set ID.

[0138] Example 22 may include the method of Example 18 and / or some other examples in this document, further including: including the per-STA profile information in the reconfiguration multi-link element of the beacon 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.

[0139] Example 23 may include the method of Example 22 and / or some other examples herein, wherein including the per-STA profile information in the reconfiguration multi-link element may be valid only when the reporting AP is operating on a link that is a setup link for an associated non-AP MLD, and the associated non-AP MLD also has a link corresponding to the removed AP as a setup link.

[0140] Example 24 may include a method of Example 17 and / or some other examples herein, wherein the reconfiguration multi-link element may include a per-STA profile sub-element having a link ID subfield for identifying the removed AP and an AP removal timer subfield for setting the number of target beacon transmission times (TBTTs) before the AP is removed.

[0141] Example 25 may include an apparatus comprising an apparatus for: establishing a non-co-located multi-link device (MLD) having multiple subordinate access points (APs) that are not geographically co-located; generating a reconfiguration multi-link element for removing subordinate APs within the non-co-located MLD; and including the reconfiguration multi-link element in a beacon or probe response frame sent by any AP that is subordinate to the non-co-located MLD and is in the same co-located set.

[0142] Example 26 may include the apparatus of Example 25 and / or some other examples herein, further comprising: generating per-STA profile information of the removed AP, the per-STA profile information comprising link ID information and an AP removal timer.

[0143] Example 27 may include the apparatus of Example 26 and / or some other examples herein, wherein the per-STA profile information may further include an identifier of the co-located set or a co-located AP MLD overlapping with the co-located set.

[0144] Example 28 may include the apparatus of Example 27 and / or some other examples herein, wherein the identifier of the co-located set or the co-located AP MLD may be an MLD MAC address of the co-located AP MLD overlapping with the co-located set.

[0145] Example 29 may include the apparatus of Example 27 and / or some other examples herein, wherein the identifier of the co-located set or the co-located AP MLD may be a co-located set ID.

[0146] Example 30 may include the apparatus of Example 26 and / or some other examples herein, further comprising: including the per-STA profile information in a reconfiguration multi-link element of beacons and probe response frames sent by any reporting AP belonging to the same non-co-located AP MLD and in different co-located sets.

[0147] Example 31 may include an apparatus of Example 30 and / or some other examples herein, wherein including the per-STA profile information in the reconfiguration multi-link element may be valid only when the reporting AP is operating on a link that is a setup link for an associated non-AP MLD, and the associated non-AP MLD also has a link corresponding to the removed AP as a setup link.

[0148] Example 32 may include an apparatus of Example 25 and / or some other examples herein, wherein the reconfiguration multi-link element may include a per-STA profile sub-element having a link ID subfield for identifying the removed AP and an AP removal timer subfield for setting the number of target beacon transmission times (TBTTs) before the AP is removed.

[0149] Example 33 may include one or more non-transitory computer-readable media, including instructions that, when executed by one or more processors of an electronic device, cause the electronic device to perform one or more elements of a method described in or related to any of Examples 1 to 32 or any other method or process described herein.

[0150] Example 34 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 to 32 or any other method or process described herein.

[0151] Example 35 may include a method, technique, or process, or a portion or component thereof, described in or related to any of Examples 1 to 32.

[0152] Example 36 may include a device comprising: one or more processors and one or more computer-readable media, wherein the computer-readable media includes instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform a method, technique, or process described in or related to any example or portion thereof in Examples 1 to 32.

[0153] Example 37 may include a method of communicating in a wireless network as shown and described herein.

[0154] Example 38 may include a system for providing wireless communications as shown and described herein.

[0155] Example 39 may include an apparatus for providing wireless communications as shown and described herein.

[0156] Embodiments according to the present disclosure are particularly 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). The reference relationship or citation relationship in the attached claims is selected only for formal reasons. However, any subject matter resulting from intentional citation of any previous claim (especially multiple citation relationships) may also be claimed, so that any combination of claims and their features is disclosed and may be claimed, regardless of the citation relationship selected in the attached claims. The subject matter that may be claimed includes not only the combination of features described 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 embodiment and feature described or depicted herein may be claimed in a separate claim and / or in any combination with any specific embodiment or feature described and depicted herein or any feature of the attached claims.

[0157] The foregoing 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 may be acquired from practice of the various embodiments.

[0158] 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 the combination of blocks in the block diagrams and flow charts can be implemented by computer executable program instructions, respectively. Likewise, according to some implementations, some blocks of the block diagrams and flow charts may not necessarily need to be executed in the order presented, or may not necessarily need to be executed at all.

[0159] 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, or other programmable data processing device to create a device for implementing one or more functions specified in one or more flowchart blocks. These computer program instructions can also be stored in a computer readable storage medium or memory, which can instruct a computer or other programmable data processing device to work in a specific manner so that the instructions stored in the computer readable storage medium produce a product of an instruction device including one or more functions specified in one or more flowchart blocks. For example, some implementations can provide a computer program product, which includes a computer readable storage medium having a computer readable program code or program instructions implemented therein, and the computer readable program code is suitable for being executed to implement one or more functions specified in one or more flowchart blocks. Computer program instructions can also be loaded onto a computer or other programmable data processing device to enable a series of operating elements or steps to be executed on a computer or other programmable device, thereby generating a computer-implemented process so that the instructions running on a computer or other programmable device provide functions specified in one or more flowchart blocks.

[0160] Therefore, the blocks of the block diagrams and flow charts support a combination of means for performing the specified functions, a combination of elements or steps for performing the specified functions, and a program instruction means for performing the specified functions. It will also be understood that each block of the block diagrams and flow charts and the combination of blocks in the block diagrams and flow charts can be implemented by a dedicated, hardware-based computer system that performs the specified functions, components, elements or steps, or can be implemented by a combination of dedicated hardware and computer instructions.

[0161] Conditional language, such as "may," "can," "might," or "might be able to," unless specifically stated otherwise or otherwise understood in the context of use, is generally intended to convey that some implementations may include certain features, elements, and / or operations that other implementations do not. Thus, such conditional language generally does not imply that features, elements, and / or operations are in any way required by one or more implementations, or that one or more implementations necessarily include instructions for determining, with or without user input or prompting, that such features, elements, and / or operations are included or will be performed in any particular implementation.

[0162] Many modifications and other implementations of the disclosure set forth herein will be apparent with the benefit of the teachings presented in the foregoing description and associated drawings. Therefore, it should be understood that the disclosure is not limited to the particular 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 purposes of limitation.

Claims

1. An apparatus, the apparatus comprising a processing circuit coupled to a storage device, the processing circuit being configured to: Establishing a non-co-located multi-link device (MLD) with multiple subordinate access points (APs) that are not geographically co-located; generating a reconfiguration multi-link element for removing a subordinate AP in the non-co-located MLD; as well as The reconfiguration multilink element is included in a beacon or probe response frame sent by any AP affiliated with the non-colocated MLD and in the same colocated set.

2. The device according to claim 1, wherein: The processing circuit is further configured to generate per-STA profile information of the removed AP, the per-STA profile information including link ID information and an AP removal timer.

3. The device according to claim 2, wherein: The per-STA profile information further includes an identifier of the co-located set or a co-located AP MLD overlapping with the co-located set.

4. The device according to claim 3, wherein: The identifier of the co-located set or the co-located AP MLD is an MLD MAC address of the co-located AP MLD overlapping with the co-located set.

5. The device according to claim 3, wherein: The identifier of the co-location set or the co-location AP MLD is a co-location set ID.

6. The device according to claim 2, wherein: The processing circuit is further configured to include the per-STA profile information in a reconfiguration multilink element of beacons and probe response frames sent by any reporting APs belonging to the same non-colocated AP MLD and in different colocated sets.

7. The device according to claim 6, wherein: Including the per-STA profile information in the reconfiguration multilink element is only valid when the reporting AP is operating on a link that is a setup link for an associated non-AP MLD that also has a link corresponding to the removed AP as a setup link.

8. The apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 7, wherein: The reconfiguration multi-link element includes a per-STA profile sub-element having a link ID sub-field for identifying the removed AP and an AP removal timer sub-field for setting a number of target beacon transmission times (TBTTs) before the AP is removed.

9. A wireless communication device storing computer executable instructions, wherein the computer executable instructions, when executed by one or more processors, cause operations to be performed, the operations comprising: Establishing a non-co-located multi-link device (MLD) with multiple subordinate access points (APs) that are not geographically co-located; generating a reconfiguration multi-link element for removing a subordinate AP in the non-co-located MLD; as well as The reconfiguration multilink element is included in a beacon or probe response frame sent by any AP affiliated with the non-colocated MLD and in the same colocated set.

10. The wireless communication device according to claim 9, wherein: The operations also include generating per-STA profile information of the removed AP, the per-STA profile information including link ID information and an AP removal timer.

11. The wireless communication device according to claim 10, wherein: The per-STA profile information further includes an identifier of the co-located set or a co-located AP MLD overlapping with the co-located set.

12. The wireless communication device according to claim 11, wherein: The identifier of the co-located set or the co-located AP MLD is an MLD MAC address of the co-located AP MLD overlapping with the co-located set.

13. The wireless communication device according to claim 11, wherein: The identifier of the co-location set or the co-location AP MLD is a co-location set ID.

14. The wireless communication device according to claim 10, wherein: The operations further include including the per-STA profile information in a reconfiguration multi-link element of beacons and probe response frames sent by any reporting APs belonging to the same non-co-located AP MLD and in different co-located sets.

15. The wireless communication device according to claim 14, wherein: Including the per-STA profile information in the reconfiguration multilink element is only valid when the reporting AP is operating on a link that is a setup link for an associated non-AP MLD that also has a link corresponding to the removed AP as a setup link.

16. The wireless communication device according to any one of claims 9 to 15, wherein: The reconfiguration multi-link element includes a per-STA profile sub-element having a link ID sub-field for identifying the removed AP and an AP removal timer sub-field for setting a number of target beacon transmission times (TBTTs) before the AP is removed.

17. A method comprising: Establishing a non-co-located multi-link device (MLD) with multiple subordinate access points (APs) that are not geographically co-located; generating a reconfiguration multi-link element for removing a subordinate AP in the non-co-located MLD; as well as The reconfiguration multilink element is included in a beacon or probe response frame sent by any AP affiliated with the non-colocated MLD and in the same colocated set.

18. The method according to claim 17, further comprising: Per-STA profile information of the removed AP is generated, the per-STA profile information including link ID information and an AP removal timer.

19. The method according to claim 18, wherein: The per-STA profile information further includes an identifier of the co-located set or a co-located AP MLD overlapping with the co-located set.

20. The method according to claim 19, wherein: The identifier of the co-located set or the co-located AP MLD is an MLD MAC address of the co-located AP MLD overlapping with the co-located set.

21. The method according to claim 19, wherein: The identifier of the co-location set or the co-location AP MLD is a co-location set ID.

22. The method of claim 18, further comprising: The per-STA profile information is included in the Reconfiguration Multilink Elements of Beacons and Probe Response frames sent by any reporting APs belonging to the same non-colocated AP MLD and in different colocated sets.

23. The method according to claim 22, wherein: Including the per-STA profile information in the reconfiguration multilink element is only valid when the reporting AP is operating on a link that is a setup link for an associated non-AP MLD that also has a link corresponding to the removed AP as a setup link.

24. The method according to any one of claims 17 to 23, wherein: The reconfiguration multi-link element includes a per-STA profile sub-element having a link ID sub-field for identifying the removed AP and an AP removal timer sub-field for setting a number of target beacon transmission times (TBTTs) before the AP is removed.

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