ENHANCED EHT STA OPERATION FOR SPATIAL MULTIPLEXING, rTWT AND EMLMR

Abstract

Methods and apparatus are described herein for how to enable or disable an enhanced multi-link multi-radio (EMLMR) mode in an enhanced multi-link multi-radio (EMLMR) link set. In one example, a beacon frame is received by a station (STA) from an access point (AP), the beacon frame including a very high throughput (EHT) operation element, the very high throughput (EHT) operation element including a presence disabled channel bitmap subfield and a presence EHT operation information subfield. When the presence disabling channel bitmap subfield is equal to 1 and the presence EHT operation information subfield is also equal to 1, the STA receives a disabling channel bitmap field indicated in the EHT operation information field to determine an allowed subchannel for an enhanced multi-link multi-radio (EMLMR) link. The EMLMR mode may be enabled / disabled by an EML mode of operation notification frame and a bit value in an EMLMR bitmap subfield. Additional embodiments are disclosed.

Description

[0001] CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

[0002] This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 63 / 359,071, filed on July 7, 2022, and U.S. Provisional Application No. 63 / 397,183, filed on August 11, 2022, the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference. Background Art

[0003] For example, a trigger frame is introduced in the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11ax to allocate resources and trigger single-user access or multi-user access. However, the current design of the trigger frame is not enough to support new features in IEEE 802.11be or other standards, such as larger bandwidth (BW), multi-resource unit (RU) allocation, enhanced modulation and coding scheme (MCS) and a larger number of spatial streams. For example, the existing trigger frame includes unnecessary bit resources, so as to provide spatial multiplexing features, for example, in IEEE 802.11be. It is not clear in the current be standard how to enable or disable the EMLMR mode in the enhanced multi-link multi-radio (EMLMR) link set. It is necessary to define how to enable or disable the specified set of EMLMR links. In addition, it is not defined how to set the existence of extremely high throughput (EHT) operation information subfield value when presenting a disabled subchannel bitmap subfield (e.g., updating a disabled subchannel) on an operating link. Therefore, an improved frame design and / or procedure is needed. Summary of the invention

[0004] According to some aspects, methods and apparatus are described to define how to enable or disable Enhanced Multi-Link Multi-Radio (EMLMR) mode in an EMLMR link set. Accordingly, EMLMR mode enable / disable procedures and EHT element transmission on enabled links are disclosed.

[0005]

[0013] In other aspects, access point (AP) behavior with fully scheduled restricted target wake time (RTWT) is disclosed.

[0006] According to certain aspects, methods and apparatus for enhanced very high throughput (EHT) station (STA) operation for spatial multiplexing (SR) are described herein. For example, a STA may receive a trigger frame from an access point (AP), the trigger frame including a common information field having a spatial multiplexing (SR) subfield. The SR subfield may indicate multiple SR values ​​for SR operation performed by the STA. For example, the multiple SR values ​​may include a first SR value, a second SR value, a third SR value, and a fourth SR value. The STA may determine a first value of a first SR subfield and a second value of a second SR subfield in a U-SIG field of an extremely high throughput (EHT) triggered (TB) physical protocol data unit (EHT TB PPDU) based on the multiple SR values. The STA may use the first value of the first SR subfield and the second value of the second SR subfield to send the EHT TB PPDU for the SR operation.

[0007] In other aspects, EHT-SIG symbol padding methods and apparatus are disclosed to add padding (at the bit level or symbol level) to the EHT-SIG field.Additional features, aspects, and implementations are further described below. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0008] A more detailed understanding may be obtained from the following description given by way of example in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which like reference numerals indicate like elements, and in which:

[0009] Figure 1A is a system diagram illustrating an example communication system in which one or more disclosed embodiments may be implemented;

[0010] Figure 1B is an example of an embodiment in which Figure 1A A system diagram of an example wireless transmit / receive unit (WTRU) for use within an illustrated communication system;

[0011] Figure 1C is an example of an embodiment in which Figure 1A A system diagram of an example Radio Access Network (RAN) and an example Core Network (CN) used within the illustrated communication system;

[0012] Figure 1D is an example of an embodiment in which Figure 1A A system diagram of another example RAN and another example CN used within the illustrated communication system;

[0013] Figure 2 is a diagram illustrating an example trigger frame format in 802.11ax;

[0014] Figure 3Ais a diagram illustrating an example High Efficiency (HE) variant common information field in a trigger frame;

[0015] Figure 3B is a diagram illustrating an example Extremely High Throughput (EHT) variant common information field format in a trigger frame;

[0016] Figure 4A is a diagram illustrating an example special user information field in a trigger frame;

[0017] Figure 4B is a diagram illustrating an example HE variant user information field in a trigger frame;

[0018] Figure 4C is a diagram illustrating example EHT variant user information fields for all trigger types except a Null Feedback Report Poll (NFRP) trigger;

[0019] Figure 5 is a diagram illustrating an example control information subfield format in a buffer status request (BSR) control subfield;

[0020] Figure 6 is a diagram illustrating an example user information field format in an NFRP trigger frame;

[0021] Figure 7 is a diagram illustrating an example enhanced multilink (EML) control field format;

[0022] Figure 8 is a diagram illustrating an example enhanced multi-link multi-radio (EMLMR) supported MCS and number of spatial streams (NSS) set subfield format;

[0023] Fig. 9 is a diagram illustrating an example frame exchange sequence between an AP belonging to an AP Multi-Link Device (MLD) and a STA belonging to a non-AP MLD in an Enhanced Multi-Link Single Radio (EMLSR) mode;

[0024] Fig.10 is a diagram illustrating an example frame exchange sequence between an AP (AP1) belonging to an AP MLD and n STAs belonging to n different non-APMLDs in EMLSR mode;

[0025] Fig.11 is a diagram illustrating an example UL spatial multiplexing subfield format;

[0026] Fig.12 is a diagram illustrating an example mapping between two spatial multiplexing (SR) subfield sets;

[0027] Fig.13Ais a diagram illustrating an example EHT operation element format;

[0028] Fig. 13B is a diagram illustrating an example EHT operation parameter field format;

[0029] Fig.14A is a diagram illustrating an example SR value mapping from a common information field to a U-SIG of an EHT trigger-based (TB) physical protocol data unit (PPDU);

[0030] Fig. 14B is a diagram illustrating another example SR value mapping from the common information field to the U-SIG of the EHT TB PPDU;

[0031] Fig. 14C is a diagram illustrating another example SR value mapping from the common information field to the U-SIG of the EHT TB PPDU;

[0032] Fig.14D is a diagram illustrating another example SR value mapping from the common information field to the U-SIG of the EHT TB PPDU;

[0033] Fig.15 is a diagram illustrating example modified EHT operating elements;

[0034] Fig.16 is a diagram illustrating an example enhanced EML control field format 1;

[0035] Fig.17 is a diagram illustrating an example enhanced EML control field format 2;

[0036] Fig.18 is a diagram illustrating an example of the overall EMLMR supported MCS and NSS set subfield format 1;

[0037] Fig.19 is a diagram illustrating an example overall EMLMR supported MCS and NSS set subfield format 2; and

[0038] Fig. 20 is a message diagram illustrating a method for enabling / disabling EMLMR operation according to various embodiments. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0039] Figure 1A1 is a diagram illustrating an example communication system 100 in which one or more disclosed embodiments may be implemented. The communication system 100 may be a multiple access system that provides content such as voice, data, video, messaging, broadcast, etc. to multiple wireless users. The communication system 100 may enable multiple wireless users to access such content through sharing of system resources (including wireless bandwidth). For example, the communication system 100 may employ one or more channel access methods such as code division multiple access (CDMA), time division multiple access (TDMA), frequency division multiple access (FDMA), orthogonal FDMA (OFDMA), single carrier FDMA (SC-FDMA), zero tail unique word discrete Fourier transform spread OFDM (ZT-UW-DFT-S-OFDM), unique word OFDM (UW-OFDM), resource block filtered OFDM, filter bank multi-carrier (FBMC), etc.

[0040] like Figure 1A As shown, the communication system 100 may include wireless transmit / receive units (WTRUs) 102a, 102b, 102c, 102d, a radio access network (RAN) 104, a core network (CN) 106, a public switched telephone network (PSTN) 108, the Internet 110 and other networks 112, but it should be understood that the disclosed embodiments contemplate any number of WTRUs, base stations, networks, and / or network elements. Each of the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c, 102d may be any type of device configured to operate and / or communicate in a wireless environment. By way of example, the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c, 102d (any of which may be referred to as a station (STA)) may be configured to send and / or receive wireless signals and may include user equipment (UE), a mobile station, a fixed or mobile subscriber unit, a subscription-based unit, a pager, a cellular phone, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a smart phone, a laptop, a netbook, a personal computer, a wireless sensor, a hotspot or Mi-Fi device, an Internet of Things (IoT) device, a watch or other wearable device, a head-mounted display (HMD), a vehicle, a drone, medical devices and applications (e.g., remote surgery), industrial devices and applications (e.g., robots and / or other wireless devices operating in an industrial and / or automated process chain environment), a consumer electronic device, a device operating on a commercial and / or industrial wireless network, etc. Any of the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c, and 102d may be interchangeably referred to as a UE.

[0041] The communication system 100 may also include a base station 114a and / or a base station 114b. Each of the base stations 114a, 114b may be any type of device configured to wirelessly interface with at least one of the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c, 102d to facilitate access to one or more communication networks, such as the CN 106, the Internet 110, and / or other networks 112. By way of example, the base stations 114a, 114b may be a base transceiver station (BTS), a Node B, an evolved Node B (eNB), a Home Node B, a Home evolved Node B, a next generation Node B such as a gNode B (gNB), a new radio (NR) Node B, a site controller, an access point (AP), a wireless router, and the like. While the base stations 114a, 114b are each depicted as a single element, it will be appreciated that the base stations 114a, 114b may include any number of interconnected base stations and / or network elements.

[0042] The base station 114a may be part of the RAN 104, which may also include other base stations and / or network elements (not shown), such as a base station controller (BSC), a radio network controller (RNC), a relay node, etc. The base station 114a and / or the base station 114b may be configured to send and / or receive wireless signals on one or more carrier frequencies, which may be referred to as a cell (not shown). These frequencies may be in a licensed spectrum, an unlicensed spectrum, or a combination of a licensed spectrum and an unlicensed spectrum. A cell may provide coverage of wireless services to a specific geographic area, which may be relatively fixed or may change over time. The cell may be further divided into cell sectors. For example, a cell associated with the base station 114a may be divided into three sectors. Therefore, in one embodiment, the base station 114a may include three transceivers, i.e., one transceiver for each sector of the cell. In an embodiment, the base station 114a may employ multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) technology and may utilize multiple transceivers for each sector of the cell. For example, beamforming may be used to send and / or receive signals in a desired spatial direction.

[0043] The base stations 114a, 114b may communicate with one or more of the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c, 102d over an air interface 116, which may be any suitable wireless communication link (e.g., radio frequency (RF), microwave, centimeter wave, micrometer wave, infrared (IR), ultraviolet (UV), visible light, etc.). The air interface 116 may be established using any suitable radio access technology (RAT).

[0044] More specifically, as noted above, the communication system 100 may be a multiple access system and may employ one or more channel access schemes, such as CDMA, TDMA, FDMA, OFDMA, SC-FDMA, etc. For example, the base station 114a in the RAN 104 and the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c may implement a radio technology, such as Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) Terrestrial Radio Access (UTRA), that may use Wideband CDMA (WCDMA) to establish the air interface 116. WCDMA may include communication protocols, such as High Speed ​​Packet Access (HSPA) and / or Evolved HSPA (HSPA+). HSPA may include High Speed ​​Downlink (DL) Packet Access (HSDPA) and / or High Speed ​​Uplink (UL) Packet Access (HSUPA).

[0045] In an embodiment, the base station 114a and the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c may implement a radio technology such as Evolved UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access (E-UTRA) that may establish the air interface 116 using Long Term Evolution (LTE) and / or Advanced LTE (LTE-A) and / or Advanced LTE Pro (LTE-APro).

[0046] In an embodiment, the base station 114a and the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c may implement a radio technology (such as NR radio access) that may establish the air interface 116 using NR.

[0047] In an embodiment, the base station 114a and the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c may implement multiple radio access technologies. For example, the base station 114a and the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c may together implement LTE radio access and NR radio access, for example using the dual connectivity (DC) principle. Thus, the air interface utilized by the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c may be characterized by multiple types of radio access technologies and / or transmissions transmitted to / from multiple types of base stations (e.g., eNBs and gNBs).

[0048] In other embodiments, the base station 114a and the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c may implement radio technologies such as IEEE 802.11 (i.e., Wireless Fidelity (WiFi)), IEEE 802.16 (i.e., Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX)), CDMA2000, CDMA2000 1X, CDMA2000 EV-DO, Interim Standard 2000 (IS-2000), Interim Standard 95 (IS-95), Interim Standard 856 (IS-856), Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM), Enhanced Data rates for GSM Evolution (EDGE), GSM EDGE (GERAN), etc.

[0049] Figure 1A The base station 114b in the may be, for example, a wireless router, a Home NodeB, a Home eNodeB, or an access point, and may utilize any suitable RAT to facilitate wireless connectivity in a local area, such as a business location, a home, a vehicle, a campus, an industrial facility, an air corridor (e.g., for use by drones), a road, and the like. In one embodiment, the base station 114b and the WTRUs 102c, 102d may implement a radio technology (such as IEEE 802.11) to establish a wireless local area network (WLAN). In an embodiment, the base station 114b and the WTRUs 102c, 102d may implement a radio technology (such as IEEE 802.15) to establish a wireless personal area network (WPAN). In yet another embodiment, the base station 114b and the WTRUs 102c, 102d may utilize a cellular-based RAT (e.g., WCDMA, CDMA2000, GSM, LTE, LTE-A, LTE-A Pro, NR, etc.) to establish a picocell or a femtocell. As Figure 1A As shown, the base station 114 b may have a direct connection to the Internet 110. Therefore, the base station 114 b may not need to access the Internet 110 via the CN 106.

[0050] The RAN 104 may be in communication with the CN 106, which may be any type of network configured to provide voice, data, applications, and / or Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) services to one or more of the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c, 102d. The data may have different quality of service (QoS) requirements, such as different throughput requirements, latency requirements, error tolerance requirements, reliability requirements, data throughput requirements, mobility requirements, etc. The CN 106 may provide call control, billing services, mobile location-based services, prepaid calling, Internet connectivity, video distribution, etc., and / or perform high-level security functions, such as user authentication. Although not described in detail in the accompanying drawings, the CN 106 may be configured to provide voice, data, applications, and / or Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) services to one or more of the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c, 102d. Figure 1AAlthough not shown in the figure, it will be appreciated that the RAN 104 and / or the CN 106 may be in direct or indirect communication with other RANs that employ the same RAT as the RAN 104 or a different RAT. For example, in addition to being connected to the RAN 104, which may utilize NR radio technology, the CN 106 may also be in communication with another RAN (not shown) that employs GSM, UMTS, CDMA 2000, WiMAX, E-UTRA, or WiFi radio technology.

[0051] The CN 106 may also act as a gateway for the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c, 102d to access the PSTN 108, the Internet 110, and / or other networks 112. The PSTN 108 may include a circuit-switched telephone network that provides plain old telephone service (POTS). The Internet 110 may include a global system of interconnected computer networks and devices that use common communication protocols, such as the Transmission Control Protocol (TCP), the User Datagram Protocol (UDP), and / or the Internet Protocol (IP) in the TCP / IP Internet protocol suite. The networks 112 may include wired communication networks and / or wireless communication networks owned and / or operated by other service providers. For example, the networks 112 may include another CN connected to one or more RANs, which may employ the same RAT as the RAN 104 or a different RAT.

[0052] Some or all of the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c, 102d in the communication system 100 may include multi-mode capabilities (e.g., the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c, 102d may include multiple transceivers for communicating with different wireless networks via different wireless links). Figure 1A The illustrated WTRU 102c may be configured to communicate with the base station 114a, which may employ a cellular-based radio technology, and with the base station 114b, which may employ an IEEE 802 radio technology.

[0053] Figure 1B is a system diagram illustrating an example WTRU 102. Figure 1B As shown, the WTRU 102 may include, among other things, a processor 118, a transceiver 120, a transmit / receive element 122, a speaker / microphone 124, a keypad 126, a display / touchpad 128, non-removable memory 130, removable memory 132, a power source 134, a global positioning system (GPS) chipset 136, and / or other peripherals 138. It will be appreciated that the WTRU 102 may include any sub-combination of the foregoing elements while remaining consistent with an embodiment.

[0054] The processor 118 may be a general purpose processor, a special purpose processor, a conventional processor, a digital signal processor (DSP), a plurality of microprocessors, one or more microprocessors associated with a DSP core, a controller, a microcontroller, an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a field programmable gate array (FPGA), any other type of integrated circuit (IC), a state machine, etc. The processor 118 may perform signal decoding, data processing, power control, input / output processing, and / or any other functionality that enables the WTRU 102 to operate in a wireless environment. The processor 118 may be coupled to the transceiver 120, which may be coupled to the transmit / receive element 122. Although Figure 1B The processor 118 and the transceiver 120 are depicted as separate components, but it is understood that the processor 118 and the transceiver 120 may be integrated together in an electronic package or chip.

[0055] The send / receive element 122 may be configured to send a signal to a base station (e.g., base station 114a) or receive a signal from the base station via an air interface 116. For example, in one embodiment, the send / receive element 122 may be an antenna configured to send and / or receive an RF signal. In an embodiment, the send / receive element 122 may be a transmitter / detector configured to send and / or receive, for example, IR, UV or visible light signals. In another embodiment, the send / receive element 122 may be configured to send and / or receive both RF signals and optical signals. It should be understood that the send / receive element 122 may be configured to send and / or receive any combination of wireless signals.

[0056] Although the transmit / receive element 122 Figure 1B 1 as a single element, the WTRU 102 may include any number of transmit / receive elements 122. More specifically, the WTRU 102 may employ MIMO technology. Thus, in one embodiment, the WTRU 102 may include two or more transmit / receive elements 122 (e.g., multiple antennas) for transmitting and receiving wireless signals over the air interface 116.

[0057] The transceiver 120 may be configured to modulate signals to be transmitted by the transmit / receive element 122 and to demodulate signals received by the transmit / receive element 122. As noted above, the WTRU 102 may have multi-mode capabilities. For example, the transceiver 120 may include multiple transceivers for enabling the WTRU 102 to communicate via multiple RATs, such as NR and IEEE 802.11.

[0058] The processor 118 of the WTRU 102 may be coupled to a speaker / microphone 124, a keypad 126, and / or a display / touchpad 128 (e.g., a liquid crystal display (LCD) display unit or an organic light emitting diode (OLED) display unit) and may receive user input data therefrom. The processor 118 may also output user data to the speaker / microphone 124, the keypad 126, and / or the display / touchpad 128. In addition, the processor 118 may access information from and store data in any type of suitable memory, such as a non-removable memory 130 and / or a removable memory 132. The non-removable memory 130 may include a random access memory (RAM), a read-only memory (ROM), a hard disk, or any other type of memory storage device. The removable memory 132 may include a subscriber identity module (SIM) card, a memory stick, a secure digital (SD) memory card, and the like. In other embodiments, the processor 118 may access information from and store data in a memory that is not physically located on the WTRU 102, such as on a server or a home computer (not shown).

[0059] The processor 118 may receive power from the power source 134, and may be configured to distribute and / or control power to the other components in the WTRU 102. The power source 134 may be any suitable device for powering the WTRU 102. For example, the power source 134 may include one or more dry cell batteries (e.g., nickel-cadmium (NiCd), nickel-zinc (NiZn), nickel-metal hydride (NiMH), lithium-ion (Li-ion), etc.), solar cells, fuel cells, etc.

[0060] The processor 118 may also be coupled to the GPS chipset 136, which may be configured to provide location information (e.g., longitude and latitude) regarding the current location of the WTRU 102. In addition to or in lieu of the information from the GPS chipset 136, the WTRU 102 may receive location information from a base station (e.g., base stations 114a, 114b) over the air interface 116 and / or determine its location based on the timing of signals received from two or more nearby base stations. It will be appreciated that the WTRU 102 may acquire location information by any suitable location-determination method while remaining consistent with an embodiment.

[0061] The processor 118 may also be coupled to other peripherals 138, which may include one or more software modules and / or hardware modules that provide additional features, functionality, and / or wired or wireless connectivity. For example, the peripherals 138 may include an accelerometer, an electronic compass, a satellite transceiver, a digital camera (for photos and / or video), a universal serial bus (USB) port, a vibration device, a television transceiver, a hands-free headset, module, FM radio unit, digital music player, media player, video game player module, Internet browser, virtual reality and / or augmented reality (VR / AR) device, activity tracker, etc. The peripheral device 138 may include one or more sensors. The sensor may be one or more of the following: a gyroscope, an accelerometer, a Hall effect sensor, a magnetometer, an orientation sensor, a proximity sensor, a temperature sensor, a time sensor; a geolocation sensor, an altimeter, a light sensor, a touch sensor, a magnetometer, a barometer, a gesture sensor, a biometric sensor, a humidity sensor, etc.

[0062] The WTRU 102 may include a full-duplex radio for which transmission and reception of some or all of the signals (e.g., associated with specific subframes for both UL (e.g., for transmission) and DL (e.g., for reception)) may be concurrent and / or simultaneous. The full-duplex radio may include an interference management unit for reducing and / or substantially eliminating self-interference via signal processing performed by hardware (e.g., a choke) or via a processor (e.g., a separate processor (not shown) or via the processor 118). In an embodiment, the WTRU 102 may include a half-duplex radio for which transmission and reception of some or all of the signals (e.g., associated with specific subframes for both UL (e.g., for transmission) or DL ​​(e.g., for reception)) may be concurrent and / or simultaneous.

[0063] Figure 1C 1 is a system diagram illustrating the RAN 104 and the CN 106 in accordance with an embodiment. As noted above, the RAN 104 may employ an E-UTRA radio technology to communicate with the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c over the air interface 116. The RAN 104 may also be in communication with the CN 106.

[0064] The RAN 104 may include evolved Node-Bs 160a, 160b, 160c, though it will be appreciated that the RAN 104 may include any number of evolved Node-Bs while remaining consistent with an embodiment. The evolved Node-Bs 160a, 160b, 160c may each include one or more transceivers for communicating with the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c over the air interface 116. In one embodiment, the evolved Node-Bs 160a, 160b, 160c may implement MIMO technology. Thus, the evolved Node-B 160a, for example, may use multiple antennas to transmit wireless signals to and / or receive wireless signals from the WTRU 102a.

[0065] Each of the evolved Node Bs 160a, 160b, 160c may be associated with a particular cell (not shown) and may be configured to handle radio resource management decisions, handover decisions, scheduling of users in UL and / or DL, etc. Figure 1C As shown, the eNode-Bs 160a, 160b, 160c may communicate with one another via an X2 interface.

[0066] Figure 1C The illustrated CN 106 may include a mobility management entity (MME) 162, a serving gateway (SGW) 164, and a packet data network (PDN) gateway (PGW) 166. Although the foregoing elements are depicted as part of the CN 106, it should be understood that any of these elements may be owned and / or operated by an entity other than the CN operator.

[0067] The MME 162 may be connected to each of the evolved Node-Bs 162a, 162b, 162c in the RAN 104 via an S1 interface and may serve as a control node. For example, the MME 162 may be responsible for authenticating users of the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c, bearer activation / deactivation, selecting a particular serving gateway during an initial attach of the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c, etc. The MME 162 may provide a control plane function for switching between the RAN 104 and other RANs (not shown) that employ other radio technologies, such as GSM and / or WCDMA.

[0068] The SGW 164 may be connected to each of the evolved Node-Bs 160a, 160b, 160c in the RAN 104 via an S1 interface. The SGW 164 may generally route and forward user data packets to / from the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c. The SGW 164 may perform other functions, such as anchoring the user plane during inter-evolved Node-B handover, triggering paging when DL data is available for the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c, managing and storing the context of the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c, and the like.

[0069] The SGW 164 may be connected to the PGW 166, which may provide the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c with access to packet-switched networks, such as the Internet 110, to facilitate communications between the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c and IP-enabled devices.

[0070] The CN 106 may facilitate communications with other networks. For example, the CN 106 may provide the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c with access to circuit-switched networks, such as the PSTN 108, to facilitate communications between the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c and traditional land-line communications devices. For example, the CN 106 may include, or may be in communication with, an IP gateway (e.g., an IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) server) that acts as an interface between the CN 106 and the PSTN 108. In addition, the CN 106 may provide the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c with access to other networks 112, which may include other wired networks and / or wireless networks owned and / or operated by other service providers.

[0071] Although the WTRU Figures 1A to 1D Although described as wireless terminals, it is contemplated that in certain representative embodiments, such terminals may (eg, temporarily or permanently) use a wired communications interface with a communications network.

[0072] In a representative embodiment, the other network 112 may be a WLAN.

[0073] A WLAN in infrastructure basic service set (BSS) mode may have an access point (AP) for the BSS and one or more stations (STA) associated with the AP. The AP may have access or an interface to a distribution system (DS) or another type of wired / wireless network that carries traffic to and / or carries traffic away from the BSS. Traffic originating from outside the BSS and leading to the STA may be reached by the AP and may be delivered to the STA. Traffic originating from the STA and leading to a destination outside the BSS may be transmitted to the AP to be delivered to the corresponding destination. Traffic between STAs within the BSS may be transmitted by the AP, for example, wherein the source STA may transmit traffic to the AP, and the AP may deliver traffic to the destination STA. Traffic between STAs within the BSS may be considered and / or referred to as point-to-point traffic. Point-to-point traffic may be transmitted between the source STA and the destination STA (e.g., directly between them) using a direct link establishment (DLS). In certain representative embodiments, the DLS may use 802.11e DLS or 802.11z tunnel DLS (TDLS). A WLAN using an independent BSS (IBSS) mode may not have an AP, and STAs within or using the IBSS (eg, all STAs in the STA) may communicate directly with each other. The IBSS communication mode may sometimes be referred to herein as an "ad hoc" communication mode.

[0074] When using the 802.11ac infrastructure operating mode or a similar operating mode, the AP may send beacons on a fixed channel (such as a primary channel). The primary channel may be a fixed width (e.g., a 20 MHz wide bandwidth) or a dynamically set width. The primary channel may be an operating channel of the BSS and may be used by the STA to establish a connection with the AP. In certain representative embodiments, carrier sense multiple access / collision avoidance (CSMA / CA) may be implemented, for example, in an 802.11 system. For CSMA / CA, a STA (e.g., each STA) (including the AP) may listen to the primary channel. If the primary channel is listened / detected and / or determined to be busy by a particular STA, the particular STA may back off. One STA (e.g., only one station) may transmit at any given time in a given BSS.

[0075] High throughput (HT) STAs may communicate using a 40 MHz wide channel, for example, via a combination of a primary 20 MHz channel and adjacent or non-adjacent 20 MHz channels to form a 40 MHz wide channel.

[0076] Very high throughput (VHT) STA can support 20MHz, 40MHz, 80MHz and / or 160MHz wide channels. 40MHz channels and / or 80MHz channels can be formed by combining continuous 20MHz channels. 160MHz channels can be formed by combining 8 continuous 20MHz channels, or by combining two non-continuous 80MHz channels (this can be called 80+80 configuration). For 80+80 configuration, after channel coding, the data can pass through a segment parser that can divide the data into two streams. Each stream can be processed by inverse fast Fourier transform (IFFT) and time domain processing separately. These streams can be mapped to two 80MHz channels, and data can be sent by the transmitter STA. At the receiver of the receiver STA, the above-mentioned operation for the 80+80 configuration can be reversed, and the combined data can be transmitted to the medium access control (MAC).

[0077] 802.11af and 802.11ah support operating modes below 1GHz. Channel operating bandwidths and carriers are reduced in 802.11af and 802.11ah relative to those used in 802.11n and 802.11ac. 802.11af supports 5MHz, 10MHz, and 20MHz bandwidths in the TV White Space (TVWS) spectrum, and 802.11ah supports 1MHz, 2MHz, 4MHz, 8MHz, and 16MHz bandwidths using non-TVWS spectrum. According to a representative embodiment, 802.11ah may support meter type control / machine type communication (MTC), such as MTC devices in macro coverage areas. MTC devices may have certain capabilities, such as limited capabilities, including support for (e.g., only support for) certain bandwidths and / or limited bandwidths. MTC devices may include batteries with battery life above a threshold (e.g., to maintain very long battery life).

[0078] WLAN systems that can support multiple channels and channel bandwidths (such as 802.11n, 802.11ac, 802.11af, and 802.11ah) include channels that can be designated as primary channels. The primary channel may have a bandwidth equal to the maximum common operating bandwidth supported by all STAs in the BSS. The bandwidth of the primary channel may be set and / or limited by a STA (which supports the minimum bandwidth operating mode) from all STAs operating in the BSS. In the example of 802.11ah, for STAs (e.g., MTC-type devices) that support (e.g., only support) a 1MHz mode, the primary channel may be 1MHz wide, even if the AP and other STAs in the BSS support 2MHz, 4MHz, 8MHz, 16MHz, and / or other channel bandwidth operating modes. Carrier sensing and / or network allocation vector (NAV) settings may depend on the state of the primary channel. If the primary channel is busy, for example, because a STA (which only supports a 1MHz operating mode) is transmitting to the AP, all available bands may be considered busy even if most of the available bands remain idle.

[0079] In the United States, the available frequency band for 802.11ah is 902MHz to 928MHz. In South Korea, the available frequency band is 917.5MHz to 923.5MHz. In Japan, the available frequency band is 916.5MHz to 927.5MHz. The total bandwidth available for 802.11ah is 6MHz to 26MHz, depending on the country code.

[0080] Figure 1D1 is a system diagram illustrating the RAN 104 and the CN 106 in accordance with an embodiment. As noted above, the RAN 104 may employ NR radio technology to communicate with the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c over the air interface 116. The RAN 104 may also be in communication with the CN 106.

[0081] The RAN 104 may include gNBs 180a, 180b, 180c, though it will be appreciated that the RAN 104 may include any number of gNBs while remaining consistent with an embodiment. The gNBs 180a, 180b, 180c may each include one or more transceivers for communicating with the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c over the air interface 116. In one embodiment, the gNBs 180a, 180b, 180c may implement MIMO technology. For example, the gNBs 180a, 180b may utilize beamforming to send signals to and / or receive signals from the gNBs 180a, 180b, 180c. Thus, the gNB 180a may, for example, use multiple antennas to send wireless signals to and / or receive wireless signals from the WTRU 102a. In an embodiment, the gNBs 180a, 180b, 180c may implement carrier aggregation technology. For example, the gNB 180a may transmit multiple component carriers to the WTRU 102a (not shown). A subset of these component carriers may be on an unlicensed spectrum, while the remaining component carriers may be on a licensed spectrum. In an embodiment, the gNBs 180a, 180b, 180c may implement coordinated multi-point (CoMP) technology. For example, the WTRU 102a may receive coordinated transmissions from the gNB 180a and the gNB 180b (and / or the gNB 180c).

[0082] The WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c may communicate with the gNBs 180a, 180b, 180c using transmissions associated with a set of parameters that may be scalable. For example, OFDM symbol spacing and / or OFDM subcarrier spacing may vary for different transmissions, different cells, and / or different portions of the wireless transmission spectrum. The WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c may communicate with the gNBs 180a, 180b, 180c using subframes or transmit time intervals (TTIs) of varying or scalable lengths (e.g., containing varying numbers of OFDM symbols and / or varying absolute time lengths over time).

[0083] The gNBs 180a, 180b, 180c may be configured to communicate with the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c in a standalone configuration and / or a non-standalone configuration. In a standalone configuration, the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c may communicate with the gNBs 180a, 180b, 180c while not accessing other RANs (e.g., such as the eNodeBs 160a, 160b, 160c). In a standalone configuration, the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c may use one or more of the gNBs 180a, 180b, 180c as mobility anchors. In a standalone configuration, the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c may communicate with the gNBs 180a, 180b, 180c using signals in an unlicensed band. In a non-standalone configuration, the WTRU 102a, 102b, 102c may communicate / connect with the gNB 180a, 180b, 180c while also communicating / connecting with another RAN, such as the evolved Node-B 160a, 160b, 160c. For example, the WTRU 102a, 102b, 102c may implement the DC principle to communicate with one or more gNBs 180a, 180b, 180c and one or more evolved Node-Bs 160a, 160b, 160c substantially simultaneously. In a non-standalone configuration, the evolved Node-B 160a, 160b, 160c may act as a mobility anchor for the WTRU 102a, 102b, 102c, and the gNB 180a, 180b, 180c may provide additional coverage and / or throughput for serving the WTRU 102a, 102b, 102c.

[0084] Each of the gNBs 180a, 180b, 180c may be associated with a specific cell (not shown) and may be configured to handle radio resource management decisions, handover decisions, scheduling of users in UL and / or DL, support of network slicing, interworking between DC, NR and E-UTRA, routing of user plane data towards user plane functions (UPFs) 184a, 184b, routing of control plane information towards access and mobility management functions (AMFs) 182a, 182b, etc. Figure 1D As shown, gNBs 180a, 180b, and 180c may communicate with each other via an Xn interface.

[0085] Figure 1DThe illustrated CN 106 may include at least one AMF 182a, 182b, at least one UPF 184a, 184b, at least one session management function (SMF) 183a, 183b, and possible data networks (DNs) 185a, 185b. Although the aforementioned elements are depicted as part of the CN 106, it should be understood that any of these elements may be owned and / or operated by entities other than the CN operator.

[0086] The AMF 182a, 182b may be connected to one or more of the gNBs 180a, 180b, 180c in the RAN 104 via the N2 interface and may act as a control node. For example, the AMF 182a, 182b may be responsible for authenticating users of the WTRU 102a, 102b, 102c, support of network slicing (e.g., handling of different protocol data unit (PDU) sessions with different requirements), selecting a specific SMF 183a, 183b, management of registration areas, termination of non-access stratum (NAS) signaling, mobility management, etc. The AMF 182a, 182b may use network slicing to customize CN support for the WTRU 102a, 102b, 102c based on the type of services utilized by the WTRU 102a, 102b, 102c. For example, different network slices may be established for different use cases, such as services relying on ultra-reliable low latency (URLLC) access, services relying on enhanced massive mobile broadband (eMBB) access, services for MTC access, etc. The AMF 182a, 182b may provide a control plane function for switching between the RAN 104 and other RANs (not shown) that employ other radio technologies, such as LTE, LTE-A, LTE-A Pro, and / or non-3GPP access technologies, such as WiFi.

[0087] The SMF 183a, 183b may be connected to the AMF 182a, 182b in the CN 106 via the N11 interface. The SMF 183a, 183b may also be connected to the UPF 184a, 184b in the CN 106 via the N4 interface. The SMF 183a, 183b may select and control the UPF 184a, 184b, and configure the traffic routing through the UPF 184a, 184b. The SMF 183a, 183b may perform other functions, such as managing and allocating UE IP addresses, managing PDU sessions, controlling policy implementation and QoS, providing DL data notification, etc. The PDU session type may be IP-based, non-IP-based, Ethernet-based, etc.

[0088] The UPF 184a, 184b may be connected to one or more of the gNBs 180a, 180b, 180c in the RAN 104 via the N3 interface, which may provide the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c with access to packet-switched networks, such as the Internet 110, to facilitate communications between the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c and IP-enabled devices. The UPF 184, 184b may perform other functions, such as routing and forwarding packets, enforcing user plane policies, supporting multi-homed PDU sessions, handling user plane QoS, buffering DL packets, providing mobility anchoring, etc.

[0089] The CN 106 may facilitate communications with other networks. For example, the CN 106 may include or may communicate with an IP gateway (e.g., an IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) server) that acts as an interface between the CN 106 and the PSTN 108. In addition, the CN 106 may provide the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c with access to other networks 112, which may include other wired networks and / or wireless networks owned and / or operated by other service providers. In one embodiment, the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c may be connected to the DNs 185a, 185b via the UPFs 184a, 184b via the N3 interfaces to the UPFs 184a, 184b and the N6 interfaces between the UPFs 184a, 184b and the local DNs 185a, 185b.

[0090] Given that Figures 1A to 1D as well as Figures 1A to 1D Corresponding to the description of the present invention, one or more or all of the functions described herein with reference to one or more of the following items may be performed by one or more simulation devices (not shown): WTRU102a to 102d, base station 114a to 114b, evolved Node B 160a to 160c, MME 162, SGW 164, PGW 166, gNB180a to 180c, AMF 182a to 182b, UPF 184a to 184b, SMF 183a to 183b, DN 185a to 185b and / or any other device described herein. The simulation device may be one or more devices configured to mimic one or more or all of the functions described herein. For example, the simulation device can be used to test other devices and / or simulate network and / or WTRU functions.

[0091] The simulation device may be designed to implement one or more tests of other devices in a laboratory environment and / or in an operator network environment. For example, one or more simulation devices may perform one or more functions or all functions while being fully or partially implemented and / or deployed as part of a wired and / or wireless communication network in order to test other devices within the communication network. One or more simulation devices may perform one or more functions or all functions while being temporarily implemented / deployed as part of a wired and / or wireless communication network. The simulation device may be directly coupled to another device for the purpose of testing and / or performing tests using over-the-air wireless communications.

[0092] One or more simulation devices can perform one or more (including all) functions without being implemented / deployed as part of a wired and / or wireless communication network. For example, the simulation device can be used in a test scenario in a test laboratory and / or a non-deployed (e.g., testing) wired and / or wireless communication network to implement testing of one or more components. One or more simulation devices can be test equipment. Direct RF coupling and / or wireless communication via RF circuits (e.g., which may include one or more antennas) can be used by the simulation device to send and / or receive data.

[0093] A WLAN in infrastructure basic service set (BSS) mode has an access point (AP) for the BSS and one or more stations (STAs) associated with the AP. The AP typically has access or an interface to a distribution system (DS) or another type of wired / wireless network that carries traffic to and from the BSS. Traffic originating from outside the BSS and directed to the STA arrives through the AP and is delivered to the STA. Traffic originating from the STA and directed to a destination outside the BSS is transmitted to the AP to be delivered to the corresponding destination. Traffic between STAs within the BSS can also be transmitted through the AP, where the source STA transmits traffic to the AP, and the AP delivers the traffic to the destination STA.

[0094] When using the 802.11ac infrastructure mode of operation, the AP may send beacons on a fixed channel (usually the primary channel). This channel may be 20MHz wide and is the operating channel of the BSS. This channel is also used by STAs to establish a connection with the AP. The basic channel access mechanism in 802.11 systems is carrier sense multiple access / collision avoidance (CSMA / CA). In this mode of operation, each STA, including the AP, will listen to the primary channel. If the channel is detected to be busy, the STA "backs off". Therefore, only one STA can transmit at any given time in a given BSS.

[0095] In 802.11n, high throughput (HT) STAs can also use 40 MHz wide channels for communication. This is achieved by combining the primary 20 MHz channel with an adjacent 20 MHz channel to form a 40 MHz wide contiguous channel.

[0096] In 802.11ac, very high throughput (VHT) STAs can support 20MHz, 40MHz, 80MHz, and 160MHz wide channels. 40MHz and 80MHz channels are formed by combining continuous 20MHz channels similar to the above-mentioned 802.11n. A 160MHz channel can be formed by combining 8 continuous 20MHz channels, or by combining two non-contiguous 80MHz channels (this can also be referred to as an 80+80 configuration). For the 80+80 configuration, after channel coding, the data is passed through a segment parser that divides the data into two streams. IFFT and time domain processing are performed separately for each stream. The streams are then mapped to two channels and the data is sent. At the receiver, this mechanism is reversed and the combined data is transmitted to the MAC.

[0097] To improve spectral efficiency, 802.11ac has introduced the concept of downlink multi-user MIMO (MU-MIMO) transmission to multiple STAs in the same symbol time frame (e.g., during a downlink OFDM symbol). The possibility of using downlink MU-MIMO is currently also being considered for 802.11ah. It is important to note that since downlink MU-MIMO uses the same symbol timing for multiple STAs when used in 802.11ac, interference with waveform transmissions for multiple STAs is not a problem. However, all STAs involved in a MU-MIMO transmission with the AP need to use the same channel or frequency band, which can limit the operating bandwidth to the minimum channel bandwidth supported by the STA included in the MU-MIMO transmission with the AP.

[0098] OFDMA is introduced in 802.11ax, High Efficiency (HE) Wi-Fi to further improve spectral efficiency and multi-user support in densely deployed systems. To synchronize uplink transmissions, trigger frames and trigger-based transmissions can be utilized. Target wake time (TWT) is reviewed and enhanced to improve wake-up and sleep efficiency on power or battery-constrained devices.

[0099] IEEE 802.11 Extremely High Throughput (EHT) was formed to further increase peak throughput and improve the efficiency of IEEE802.11 networks. The main use cases and applications proposed may include high throughput and low latency applications such as: video over WLAN; augmented reality (AR); and virtual reality (VR). New features introduced in 802.11be may include: multi-link operation; 320MHz bandwidth; 16 spatial streams and MIMO enhancements; enhanced resource allocation in OFDMA; more flexible preamble puncturing schemes.

[0100] Figure 2 2 is a diagram illustrating an example trigger frame format 200 in 802.11ax. Trigger frames are introduced in 802.11ax. EHT can support larger bandwidth (BW), multiple resource unit (RU) allocation, enhanced modulation and coding scheme (MCS), and a larger number of spatial streams. 802.11be modifies the trigger frame so that the trigger frame can support new 802.11be features and is backward compatible with 802.11ax at the same time. The trigger frame can be used to allocate resources and trigger single-user or multi-user access. For trigger frames with new, additional values / fields / subfields, 802.11be can reuse the same format 200.

[0101] The common information field 205 in 802.11be may have two variants: a high efficiency (HE) variant and an EHT variant. Figure 3A is a diagram illustrating an example High Efficiency (HE) variant common information field 300 in a trigger frame. Figure 3B is a diagram illustrating an example Extremely High Throughput (EHT) variant common information field format 350 in a trigger frame.

[0102] The 802.11be frame may include three types of user information fields, a special user information field, a HE variant user information field, and an EHT variant user information field. Figure 4A 4 is a diagram illustrating an example special user information field 400 in a trigger frame. Figure 4A As illustrated, the special user information field 400 may carry extended common information for an EHT STA to send an EHT trigger-based (TB) physical layer protocol data unit (PPDU).

[0103] Figure 4B is a diagram illustrating an example HE Variant User Information field 410 in a trigger frame. The HE Variant User Information field for all trigger types except the Null Feedback Report Poll (NFRP) trigger may be as follows: Figure 4B Defined by example.

[0104] Figure 4C4 is a diagram illustrating an example EHT variant user information field 420 in a trigger frame. The EHT variant user information field 420 may be used for all trigger types except for a Null Feedback Report Poll (NFRP) trigger and may be used as shown in FIG. Figure 4C Defined by example.

[0105] The trigger type subfield in the common information field may have values ​​as shown in Table 1.

[0106]

[0107] Table 1

[0108] In 11ax, the Multi-User Request to Send (MU-RTS) frame can be used to trigger a Clear to Send (CTS) frame from one or more STAs. The RU Allocation subfield in the User Information field can indicate whether the CTS frame should be sent on the primary 20MHz channel, primary 40MHz channel, primary 80MHz channel, 160MHz channel, or 80+80MHz channel.

[0109] Figure 5 FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating an example control information subfield format 500 in a buffer status request (BSR) control subfield. In 11ax, an AP may send a buffer status report poll (BSRP) frame to trigger a buffer status report (BSR) frame. Figure 5 As illustrated, the BSR frame may be carried in a BSR control field in a MAC header.

[0110] Figure 6 600 in a Null Feedback Report Poll (NFRP) trigger frame. The Feedback Type subfield 610, which may be set to a value = 0, may indicate a resource request. The remaining values ​​may be reserved. The total number N of STAs scheduled to respond to the NFRP trigger frame may be calculated using the following formula 1: STA :

[0111] N STA = 18 × 2 BW × (multiplexing flag + 1) (Formula 1)

[0112] With range [Starting AID, Starting AID+N STA -1] may be eligible to respond to the NFRP trigger frame.

[0113] Figure 7is a diagram illustrating an example enhanced multi-link (EML) control field format 700. The enhanced multi-link (EML) multi-radio (EMLMR) link bitmap subfield 705 may indicate a subset of enabled links used by a non-AP multi-link device (MLD) in EMLMR mode. Bit position i of the EMLMR link bitmap subfield may correspond to a link with a link ID equal to i and be set to 1 to indicate that the link is used for EMLMR mode by the non-AP MLD and is a member of the EMLMR link; otherwise the bit position may be set to 0. The EMLMR link bitmap subfield 705 may be present if the EMLMR mode subfield 706 is equal to 1, otherwise it may not be present. Figure 8 The format of the EMLMR Supported MCS and NSS Sets subfield is shown 800. If the EMLMR Mode subfield is equal to 1, then the EMLMR Supported MCS and NSS Sets subfield is present; otherwise, it is not present.

[0114] Fig. 9 is a diagram illustrating an example frame exchange sequence 900 between an AP affiliated with an AP multi-link device (MLD) 910 and a STA affiliated with a non-AP MLD 920 in enhanced multi-link single radio (EMLSR) mode. If the EMLMR mode subfield (e.g., 706; Figure 7 ) is equal to 1, the MCS and number of spatial streams (NSS) set subfield supported by the EMLMR may exist; otherwise, it does not exist.

[0115] Enhanced Multi-Link Single Radio (EMLSR) operation allows a non-AP MLD with multiple receive chains to listen on the EMLSR link when the corresponding STA belonging to the non-AP MLD is in an awake state (as defined below for an initial control frame transmitted by an AP belonging to an APMLD in a non-HT (repeated) PPDU with one spatial stream), and then perform frame exchange on the link where the initial control frame is received.

[0116] The non-AP MLD may operate in EMLSR mode on a specified set of enabled links between the non-AP MLD and its associated AP MLD. The specified set of enabled links to which the EMLSR mode is applied may be referred to as EMLSR links. The EMLSR links may be indicated in the EMLSR Link Bitmap subfield of the EML Control field of the EML Operation Mode Notification frame by setting the bit position of the EMLSR Link Bitmap subfield to 1. For the EMLSR mode enabled in a single-radio non-AP MLD, if a STA belonging to a non-AP MLD operating on one of the EMLSR links is in an awake state, a STA belonging to a non-AP MLD operating on a link corresponding to the bit position of the EMLSR Link Bitmap subfield set to 0 may be in a dormant state.

[0117] When the non-AP MLD operates in the EMLSR mode and the AP MLD supports the EMLSR mode, the following example is applicable.

[0118] The non-AP MLD may be able to listen on these links by placing its subordinate STAs corresponding to the EMLSR links in an awake state. The listening operation may include a clear channel assessment (CCA) and receiving an initial control frame of a frame exchange initiated by the AP MLD (e.g., 910; Fig. 9 ).

[0119] An AP subordinate to an AP MLD that initiates a frame exchange with a non-AP MLD on one of the EMLSR links may start the frame exchange by sending an initial control frame to the non-AP MLD with restrictions specified as follows.

[0120] First, the initial control frame of the frame exchange may be transmitted in a non-HT PPDU or non-HT duplicate PPDU format using a rate of 6 Mbps, 12 Mbps, or 24 Mbps.

[0121] Second, the non-AP MLD may indicate the minimum MAC padding duration of the padding field of the initial control frame in the EMLSR padding delay subfield of the EML Capability subfield in the common information field of the basic multilink element.

[0122] Finally, the initial control frame may be a MU-RTS trigger frame (e.g., 912; Fig. 9) or BSRP trigger frame. A STA belonging to a non-AP MLD that is in a listening operation and receives the MU-RTS trigger frame 912 (or a BSRP trigger frame addressed to the non-AP MLD) may respond as defined in the rules for soliciting UL MU frames unless the frame exchange initiated by the initial control frame on one of the EMLSR links overlaps with the transmission of group addressed frames on other EMLSR links where the non-AP STA intends to receive group addressed frames. The number of spatial streams for responding to the BSRP trigger frame may be limited to 1.

[0123] After receiving the initial control frame of the frame exchange and sending an immediate response frame as a response to the initial control frame, the STA belonging to the non-AP MLD listening on the corresponding link may be able to send or receive frames on the link where the initial control frame was received, and may not send or receive on other EMLSR links before the frame exchange is completed, and is affected by its spatial stream capabilities, operation mode, and link switching delay. The STA belonging to the non-AP MLD may be able to receive a PPDU that is transmitted using more than one spatial stream on the link on which the initial control frame is received one SIFS after the end of the transmission of its response frame requested by the initial control frame. During the frame exchange, other APs belonging to the APMLD may not send frames to other STAs belonging to the non-AP MLD on other EMLSR links.

[0124] If any of the predetermined conditions is met, the non-AP MLD may be switched back to listening operation on the EMLSR link after the time indicated in the EMLSR Transition Delay subfield of the EML Capability subfield in the Common Information field of the Basic Multilink Element, and this is defined as the end of the frame exchange.

[0125] If an AP belonging to an AP MLD intends to continue frame exchange with a STA belonging to a non-AP MLD and has not received a response frame from the STA for the most recently sent frame (which requires an immediate response after SIFS), then the AP may send another initial control frame addressed to the STA before the transmit network allocation vector (TXNAV) timer expires.

[0126] When a STA other than the AP MLD initiates a TXOP, the following items may apply.

[0127] First, the non-AP MLD may switch back to listening operation on the EMLSR link after the end of the TXOP after the duration indicated in the EMLSR Switch Delay subfield.

[0128] Second, only one STA affiliated with a non-AP MLD operating on one of the EMLSR links can initiate a frame exchange with the AP MLD.

[0129] As mentioned earlier, Fig. 9 9 is a diagram illustrating an example frame exchange sequence 900 between an AP belonging to an AP multi-link device (MLD) 910 and a STA belonging to a non-AP MLD 920 in enhanced multi-link single radio (EMLSR) mode. The example of the frame exchange sequence begins with a MU-RTS trigger frame 912 between the AP belonging to the AP MLD 910 and the STA belonging to the non-AP MLD 920 in EMLSR mode.

[0130] Fig.10 1 is a diagram illustrating an example frame exchange sequence 1000 between an AP (AP1) affiliated with an AP MLD and (n) STAs (STA1) affiliated with (n) different non-AP MLDs (MLD 1-MLD n) in EMLSR mode. The example of the frame exchange sequence 1000 begins with a BSRP trigger frame 1010 between an AP (AP1) affiliated with an AP MLD and n STAs (STA1) affiliated with n different non-AP MLDs (MLD 1-MLD n) in EMLSR mode.

[0131] The non-AP MLD may operate on a specified set of enabled links between the non-AP MLD and its associated AP MLD in EMLMR mode. The specified set of enabled links to which the EMLMR mode is applied may be referred to as "EMLMR links". A STA of the non-AP MLD on an EMLMR link may be an EMLMR STA. An EMLMR link may be indicated in the EMLMR Link Bitmap subfield of the EML Control field of the EML Operation Mode Notification frame by setting the bit position of the EMLMR Link Bitmap subfield to 1.

[0132] When a non-AP MLD with dot11EHTEMLMROptionImplemented true (re)associates with an AP MLD, the EMLMR mode may be disabled by default. If a non-AP MLD with dot11EHTEMLMROptionImplemented true intends to switch the EMLMR mode after MLD association, the non-AP STA affiliated with the non-AP MLD may send an EML operation mode notification frame 1015 with the EMLMR mode subfield equal to 1 or 0 to enable or disable the EMLMR mode, respectively.

[0133] After the EML operation mode notification frame 1015 is successfully sent from the non-AP STA affiliated to the non-AP MLD to the AP affiliated to the APMLD, the non-AP STA and the AP may initialize the conversion timeout timer using the conversion timeout subfield value in the EML capability subfield of the basic multilink element received from the AP. The conversion timeout timer starts counting down from the end of the PPDU 1020 containing the immediate response to the EML operation mode notification frame. The AP may transmit the EML operation mode notification frame 1020 for confirming the mode switching on the AP MLD side to the non-AP STA, wherein the EML control field is set to the same value as the EML control field in the EML operation mode notification frame received from the non-AP STA before the expiration of the conversion timeout.

[0134] Multiple resource allocation subfields are described herein. For example, the 802.11be EHT-SIG may include RU Allocation 1 and RU Allocation 2 subfields for different bandwidths. Table 2 shows the number of RU Allocation 1 and RU Allocation 2 for different bandwidths.

[0135]

[0136] Table 2

[0137] Table 3 shows the allowed MCS for EHT-SIG symbols, where R is the coding rate, N BPSCS is the number of bits per subcarrier per spatial stream, N SD is the effective number of data tones carrying unique data, N CBPS is the number of decoded bits per OFDM symbol, and N DBPS is the number of data bits per OFDM symbol.

[0138]

[0139] Table 3

[0140] Fig.11 1100 is a diagram illustrating an example UL spatial multiplexing subfield format 1100. In the current 802.11be (EHT), the EHT variant common information field (such as Figure 3B The UL SNR (as illustrated) may include a 16-bit UL spatial multiplexing (SR) subfield (B37-B52), which is further divided into four subfields (eg, SR1, SR2, SR3, and SR4). Each of the four subfields may have 4 bits.

[0141] In addition, if the EHT variants share the information field ( Figure 3BThe special user information field flag subfield (B55) in the example) is set to 0, then the EHT variant common information field may be followed by a special user information subfield ( Figure 4A As illustrated), the 8-bit (EHT) spatial multiplexing subfield includes two 4-bit subfields: EHT spatial multiplexing 1 (ESR1) and EHT spatial multiplexing 2 (ESR2).

[0142] Fig.12 is a diagram illustrating example mappings 1205, 1210, 1215, and 1220 between two sets of spatial multiplexing (SR) subfields 1230 and 1240. The relationship between the SR subfield 1240 in the common information field and the ESR subfield 1230 in the special user information subfield is as follows.

[0143] In mapping 1205, when the trigger frame requests a 20MHz EHT TB PPDU, each spatial multiplexing n subfield (where n=1, 2, 3, and 4) of the common information field may be set to the value of the EHT spatial multiplexing 1 subfield of the special user information field. In this case, the values ​​in the EHT spatial multiplexing 1 subfield and the EHT spatial multiplexing 2 subfield of the special user information field may be the same.

[0144] In mapping 1210, when the triggered frame requests a 40MHz EHT TB PPDU, the spatial multiplexing 1 subfield and the spatial multiplexing 3 subfield of the common information field may be set to the value of the EHT spatial multiplexing 1 subfield of the special user information field, and the spatial multiplexing 2 subfield and the spatial multiplexing 4 subfield of the common information field may be set to the value of the EHT spatial multiplexing 2 subfield of the special user information field.

[0145] In mapping 1215, when the trigger frame requests 80MHz EHT TB PPDU or 160MHz EHT TB PPDU, the spatial multiplexing 1 subfield and the spatial multiplexing 2 subfield of the common information field may be set to the value of the EHT spatial multiplexing 1 subfield of the special user information field, and the spatial multiplexing 3 subfield and the spatial multiplexing 4 subfield of the common information field may be set to the value of the EHT spatial multiplexing 2 subfield of the special user information field.

[0146] For mapping 1220, when the trigger frame requires a 320 MHz EHT TB PPDU, each spatial multiplexing n subfield (n=1, 2, 3, and 4) of the common information field may be set to a smaller value of the values ​​of the EHT spatial multiplexing 1 subfield and the EHT spatial multiplexing 2 subfield of the special user information field.

[0147] After the solicited non-AP EHT STA receives the trigger frame with the special user information field, it applies the values ​​in the EHT spatial multiplexing 1 subfield and the EHT spatial multiplexing 2 subfield to the corresponding SR field in the U-SIG in the EHT TB PPDU. The trigger frame may have a total of 24 bits for spatial multiplexing. Since there may be unnecessary bit resources for the spatial multiplexing feature, a more efficient design may be required.

[0148] Fig.13A is a diagram illustrating an example EHT operation element format 1300 . Fig. 13B 1305 is a diagram illustrating an example EHT operation parameter field format 1350. The presence of a disabled subchannel bitmap may be defined in an EHT operation information field, which may optionally be present in the EHT operation element 1300. The EHT operation information field may be present if the channel width indicated in the HT operation element, VHT operation element, or HE operation element present in the same management frame is different from the channel width field indicated in the EHT operation information field 1305. If the channel width is the same, but the disabled subchannel bitmap is updated, the presence of the EHT operation information subfield 1352 may or may not be set to = 1.

[0149] In 11be, it may be recommended that STAs do not request membership establishment in the r-TWT schedule announced by the r-TWT scheduling AP, where the Restricted TWT Scheduling Complete subfield is set to 1. However, when the Restricted TWT Scheduling Complete subfield is set to 1, the STA may not follow the recommendation and still request membership establishment in r-TWT. When this scenario occurs, it may be necessary to specify the AP behavior.

[0150] In 802.11be, when a non-AP MLD operates in EMLMR mode, there may be a per-link limit on the number of spatial streams. When multiple links are enabled in a non-AP MLD, it may be necessary to define a limit on the total number of spatial streams across these enabled links. In addition, it may be necessary to specify how to enable or disable EMLMR mode on a set of EMLMR links. It is necessary to define procedures for enabling or disabling a specified set of EMLMR links.

[0151] Padding may be used in EHT or any other wireless communication system to align a data block to the next integer number of octets or OFDM symbols. Padding may be performed at the bit level (i.e., bit-level padding) and / or may be performed at the symbol level (i.e., symbol-level padding). In EHT, padding may be added to the EHT-SIG field (e.g., at the bit level and / or symbol level) for different purposes, including non-simultaneous transmit and receive (NSTR) PPDU alignment and A-PPDU alignment. Methods and apparatus for efficiently adding padding to the EHT-SIG are needed.

[0152] Embodiments of the spatial multiplexing subfield in the trigger frame are described herein.

[0153] In one embodiment, when the EHT TB PPDU bandwidth is 20 MHz, 40 MHz, 80 MHz, or 160 MHz, the special user information field may not allocate any bits for SR. Instead, as described below, the SR subfield in the U-SIG of the EHT TB PPDU may obtain the value from the SR subfield in the common information field.

[0154] Fig.14A is a diagram illustrating example SR value mappings 1405, 1410, 1415, and 1420 from the common information field to the U-SIG field of an EHT triggered (TB) physical protocol data unit (PPDU). In mapping 1405, for a 20 MHz EHT TB PPDU, the AP may set the four SR subfields SR1, SR2, SR3, SR4 in the common information field of the trigger frame to have the same value, and the triggered STA may use the value of any of these subfields to set the SR1 and SR2 subfields in the U-SIG, such as Figure 4A exemplified.

[0155] Fig. 14B is a diagram illustrating another example SR value mapping 1410 from the common information field to the U-SIG of the EHT TB PPDU. For a 40 MHz EHT TB PPDU, the AP may set the SR subfields SR1 and SR3 in the common information field of the trigger frame to have the same value (e.g., SR1=SR3=a), and set the SR2 and SR4 in the common information field of the trigger frame to have the same value (e.g., SR2=SR4=b). The triggered STA may set the SR1 subfield in the U-SIG using the value in the SR1 or SR3 subfield of the common information field, and set the SR2 subfield in the U-SIG using the value in the SR2 or SR4 subfield of the common information field, as shown in FIG. Fig. 14B exemplified.

[0156] Fig. 14Cis a diagram illustrating another example SR value mapping 1415 from the common information field to the U-SIG of the EHT TB PPDU. For an 80 MHz EHT TB PPDU or a 160 MHz EHT TB PPDU, the AP may set the SR subfields SR1 and SR2 in the common information field of the trigger frame to have the same value (e.g., SR1=SR2=a), and set the SR subfields SR3 and SR4 in the common information field of the trigger frame to have the same value (e.g., SR3=SR4=b). The triggered STA may set the SR1 subfield in the U-SIG using the value in the SR1 or SR2 subfield of the common information field, and set the SR2 subfield in the U-SIG using the value in the SR3 or SR4 subfield of the common information field, as shown in FIG. Fig. 14C As illustrated. Alternatively or additionally, the AP may set the four SR subfields SR1, SR2, SR3, SR4 in the common information field of the trigger frame to have different values, for example, SR1=a, SR2=b, SR3=c, and SR4=d. Then, the triggered STA may set the SR1 subfield in the U-SIG using the minimum value (i.e., min(a,b)) of the SR1 and SR2 (or any pair of SR1, SR2, SR3, and SR4) subfields of the common information field, and set the SR2 subfield in the U-SIG using the minimum value (i.e., min(c,d)) of the SR3 and SR4 (or any other pair of SR1, SR2, SR3, and SR4) subfields of the common information field.

[0157] Fig.14D 14 is a diagram illustrating another example SR value mapping 1420 from the common information field to the U-SIG of the EHT TB PPDU. When the EHT TB PPDU bandwidth is 320 MHz, the STA or AP can still use the 8 bits in the special user information field to indicate the SR value. In other channel bandwidth cases, these bits can be set to "reserved".

[0158] Alternatively or additionally, the AP may set the SR subfields SR1 and SR4 in the common information field of the trigger frame to have the same value (e.g., SR1=SR4=a), and set the SR2 and SR3 in the common information field of the trigger frame to have the same value (e.g., SR2=SR3=b). The triggered STA shall use the value in the SR1 or SR4 subfield of the common information field to set the SR1 (or SR2) subfield in the U-SIG, and use the value in the SR2 or SR3 subfield of the common information field to set the SR2 (or SR1) subfield in the U-SIG, as shown in FIG. Fig.14D In this embodiment, no bits in the special user information subfield need to be allocated for SR.

[0159] In another embodiment, "a" and "b" in the above method may be set to be the same, for example, "a". In this case, the values ​​in the SR1 and SR2 subfields in the U-SIG may also be the same.

[0160] In another embodiment, the AP may set the four SR subfields SR1, SR2, SR3, SR4 in the common information field of the trigger frame to different values, for example, SR1 = a, SR2 = b, SR3 = c, and SR4 = d. Then, the triggered STA may set the SR1 subfield in the U-SIG using the minimum value (i.e., min(a, b)) of the SR1 and SR2 subfields (or any pair of SR1, SR2, SR3, and SR4) of the common information field, and set the SR2 subfield in the U-SIG using the minimum value (i.e., min(c, d)) of the SR3 and SR4 subfields (or any other pair of SR1, SR2, SR3, and SR4) of the common information field.

[0161] In one embodiment, a 4-bit SR field may be defined in the special user information field. For the 20MHz-160MHz bandwidth case, the method in the above embodiment may be applied, and the SR field in the special user information field may be retained. For the 320MHz case, the SR1, SR2, SR3, and SR4 fields in the common information field may be set to the same value, which may be used to indicate the SR value of the primary (or higher or lower) 160MHz subchannel. The SR field in the special user information field may be set to a value that may indicate the SR value of the secondary 160MHz (or lower or higher) subchannel.

[0162] Embodiments are described herein that disable the presence of a sub-channel bitmap.

[0163] In one embodiment, if the Disable Subchannel Bitmap is included, the EHT Operation Information field may always be present. The EHT Operation Information subfield may be set to 1 if one or more of the following conditions are met:

[0164] (1) the channel width indicated in the HT Operation Element, VHT Operation Element, or HE Operation Element present in the same management frame is different from the channel width field indicated in the EHT Operation Information field; and / or

[0165] (2) The forbidden subchannel bitmap is updated and / or the forbidden subchannel bitmap subfield in the EHT operation parameter field is set to 1, and / or the AP may puncture one or more subchannels for the BSS in the beacon interval.

[0166] Fig.15is a diagram illustrating an example modified EHT operation element 1500. In one embodiment, the EHT operation element may be redefined (e.g. Fig.15 1520 is decoupled from the EHT operation information field 1510. Optionally, the disabled subchannel bitmap field 1520 may be present in a size of 0 or 2 octets. The presence of the disabled subchannel bitmap field 1520 may depend on the presence of the disabled subchannel bitmap subfield located in the EHT operation parameter field 1530.

[0167] In some scenarios, a non-AP STA may miss the latest disabled subchannel bitmap. For example, the STA may wake up from sleep mode / power saving mode and miss the beacon frame. Alternatively or additionally, the STA may switch from another link to the current link and miss the beacon frame. If the STA misses the beacon frame, or misses the latest disabled subchannel bitmap subfield, the STA may be able to respond to the trigger frame sent by the AP using HE / EHT or other types of TB PPDUs, where the RU / MRU assigned by the AP for the STA to send UL data. The STA may not respond to the MU-RTS trigger frame with a CTS frame unless the CTS frame is sent over the main 20MHz subchannel. This is because the AP does not include any punctured subchannel related information in the MU-RTS trigger frame. In addition, the STA may not initiate a transmission unless it is a 20MHz bandwidth transmission.

[0168] In one method, the disabled subchannel bitmap subfield / field may be included in a multilink element or an element that may be carried on another link. For example, the disabled subchannel bitmap subfield / field may be carried in a per-STA profile subelement in a basic multilink element. If an AP (e.g., an AP referred to as an affected AP) belonging to an AP MLD may carry a disabled subchannel bitmap subfield for itself in a beacon frame or a probe response frame sent by it, then another AP (e.g., a reporting AP) belonging to the same AP MLD and not corresponding to a non-transmitted BSSID may carry a disabled subchannel bitmap subfield / field in a STA profile field of a per-STA profile subelement corresponding to the affected AP included in a basic multilink element included in a beacon frame and a probe response frame sent by it.

[0169] This document describes an implementation of AP behavior with fully scheduled rTWT.

[0170] In one embodiment, a non-AP STA may be required to not request to establish membership in an r-TWT schedule announced by a restricted target wake time (rTWT) scheduling AP, where the Restricted TWT Schedule Complete subfield is set to 1. In other words, a non-AP STA may not request to establish membership in an r-TWT schedule announced by an r-TWT scheduling AP, where the Restricted TWT Schedule Complete subfield is set to 1.

[0171] A non-AP STA may request to become a member of a broadcast TWT or r-TWT by sending a frame to its associated AP, the frame including a TWT element having a negotiation type subfield set to 3 and a TWT setup command field set to request TWT or suggest TWT or demand TWT, even if the restricted TWT scheduling full subfield is set by the AP to 1. The TWT parameter set may indicate the broadcast TWT ID of the broadcast TWT that the STA is requesting to join.

[0172] In one embodiment, a TWT or r-TWT scheduling AP that receives a TWT element having a negotiation type subfield set to 3 and a TWT setup command field set to request TWT or suggest TWT or demand TWT after the AP announces that no scheduling is available to accommodate any new membership may respond with a unicast or individually addressed TWT element having a TWT request field equal to 0 and a negotiation type subfield equal to 3.

[0173] The TWT setup command field indicates a rejection of TWT. This means that the TWT scheduled STA that sends the initiation frame is not a member of the broadcast TWT / r-TWT identified by the broadcast TWT ID and the transmitter address (TA) of the response frame. At this time, the TWT scheduling AP may not accept any new requests from the TWT scheduled STA to join or create a broadcast TWT / r-TWT.

[0174] Includes a TWT setup command field and a restricted TWT parameter set field indicating an alternative TWT. In this scenario, a new r-TWT schedule is not created using the TWT parameters indicated in the initiation frame. The r-TWT scheduling AP is providing an alternative parameter set relative to those parameters indicated in the initiation frame as a means of negotiating r-TWT parameters with the r-TWT scheduled STA. The TWT / r-TWT scheduled STA can transmit a new request with any TWT and r-TWT parameter set, and the r-TWT scheduling AP can create a new r-TWT schedule using the parameters indicated in the response frame.

[0175] A TWT setup command field indicating an alternative TWT may be included, and a restricted TWT parameter set field may not be included. In this case, a new r-TWT schedule is not created using the TWT parameters indicated in the initiation frame. The TWT scheduling AP is providing an alternative parameter set relative to those parameters indicated in the initiation frame as a means of negotiating TWT parameters with the TWT scheduled STA. The TWT scheduled STA may transmit a new request with any TWT parameter set, and the TWT scheduling AP may create a new TWT schedule using the parameters indicated in the response frame.

[0176] A TWT setup command field and a restricted TWT parameter set field indicating a waiting list TWT may be included. In this case, a new r-TWT schedule is not created using the TWT parameters indicated in the initiation frame. The r-TWT scheduling AP may record the STA and its request in the waiting list. The TWT / r-TWT scheduled STA may receive a TWT setup frame including a restricted TWT parameter set field sent later by the r-TWT scheduling AP to grant membership of the TWT / r-TWT to the STA. In one method, a predefined or predetermined period may be used to determine the expected waiting time. For example, when the AP can accommodate the STA within the period, the AP may set the TWT setup command field to a waiting list TWT. Otherwise, the AP may set the TWT setup command field to reject TWT or select another TWT. The predetermined / predefined period may be carried in a field, a subfield, an element, a MAC header, a management frame, or a control frame. In one method, the AP may broadcast a predetermined / predefined period to its STAs.

[0177] In one embodiment, a TWT or r-TWT scheduling AP that receives a TWT element (the TWT element having a negotiation type subfield and a TWT setup command field, the negotiation type subfield being set to 3, the TWT setup command field being set to request TWT or suggest TWT or demand TWT) after the AP announces that there is no scheduling available to accommodate any new membership may not respond to a unicast or individually addressed TWT setup frame. If, after a fixed period, a TWT / r-TWT scheduled STA may not receive any response frame from the TWT / r-TWT scheduling AP, the TWT / r-TWT scheduled STA may consider that the initial request is shelved or rejected, and TWT / r-TWT membership is not granted.

[0178] Implementations of enhanced multi-link multi-radio (EMLMR) operation are described herein. Implementations of enhanced multi-link (EML) control fields are described herein.

[0179] Fig.161600 is a diagram illustrating an example of a modified EML control field format 1600. In one embodiment, the capability of the total number of spatial streams that can be supported across multiple EMLMR-enabled links may be indicated by a non-AP MLD. The EML control field 1600 may include two subfields: one subfield is a total EMLMR supported MCS and NSS set subfield 1610, and the other subfield is a total EMLMR supported MCS and NSS set subfield 1620, as shown in FIG. Fig.16 As depicted. The presence of the total EMLMR supported MCS and NSS set subfield 1610 may indicate whether the total EMLMR supported MCS and NSS set subfield 1620 exists. For example, when the presence subfield 1610 is set to =0, it indicates that the total EMLMR supported MCS and NSS set subfield 1620 does not exist or is empty (i.e., when the EMLMR link set is used for frame exchange, the non-AP MLD may not have a restriction on the total number of spatial streams). When the presence subfield 1610 is set to =1, it may indicate that the total EMLMR supported MCS and NSS set field 1620 exists (i.e., when the EMLMR link set is used for frame exchange, the non-AP MLD has a restriction on the total number of spatial streams). The total EMLMR supported MCS and Nss set subfield 1620 may indicate the MCS combination and the number of spatial streams N_ss that the non-AP MLD supports simultaneously on all EMLMR links. When EMLMR Mode subfield 1630 is set to =0, there is a total EMLMR supported MCS and NSS subfield 1620 set to =0 (ie, when EMLMR Mode subfield 1630 is set to =0, the total EMLMR supported MCS and NSS set does not exist).

[0180] Alternatively or additionally, such as Fig.17 As shown, only the MCS and NSS sets supported by the total EMLMR are added in the enhanced EML control field. Fig.17 is a diagram illustrating an example enhanced EML control field format 2 1700. When the EMLMR mode subfield 1730 is set to = 0, this means that the EMLMR operation is not set, and the total EMLMR supported MCS and NSS set subfield 1720 may not exist. When the EMLMR mode subfield 1730 is set to = 1, this means that the EMLMR operation is set, and the total EMLMR supported MCS and NSS set subfield 1720 may exist.

[0181] Fig.18 It is an example of the total EMLMR supported MCS and NSS set subfield format 1 (e.g., 1620; Fig.16 ) is an illustration of an example subfield 1800. Fig.19It is an example of the total EMLMR supported MCS and NSS set subfield format 2 (e.g., 1720; Fig.17 ) is an illustration of an example subfield 1900.

[0182] Exemplary subfields 1800, 1900 of the total EMLMR supported MCS and NSS set subfield are defined in Table 4 below. It should be noted that the MCS combination for all links in Table 4 can be represented as a vector or array. The number of elements in the vector (or array) can be equal to the number of links enabled by the non-AP MLD. Each element can represent the MCS value used in the corresponding link. For example, if there are three links for the non-AP MLD: link 1 with link ID=0 and link 3 with link ID=2 can be used for EMLMR operation (i.e., these two links correspond to the bit positions with value=1 in the EMLMR link bitmap subfield). The MCS combination can be represented as [MCS_LinkID0, reserved, MCS_LinkID2], where MCS_LinkID0 represents the MCS used in link 1, reserved means that link 2 with link ID=1 is not in EMLMR mode, and MCS_LinkID2 represents the MCS used in link 3. Alternatively or additionally, the number of elements in the vector (or array) may be equal to the number of EMLMR links, which are enabled links used by non-AP MLDs in EMLMR mode. In other words, EMLMR links may be defined as links corresponding to bit positions having a value of 1 in the EMLMR Link Bitmap subfield. For example, if there are 3 links in the non-AP MLD, and link 1 with link ID=0 and link 3 with link ID=2 are in EMLMR operation (i.e., these two links correspond to bit positions having a value of 1 in the EMLMR Link Bitmap subfield), the MCS combination may be represented as [MCS_LinkID0, MCS_LinkID2], where MCS_LinkID0 represents the MCS used in link 1, and MCS_LinkID2 represents the MCS used in link 3.

[0183]

[0184] Table 4

[0185] An implementation of the EMLMR mode enable / disable procedure is described herein.

[0186] refer to Fig. 20, a method 2000 for enabling / disabling EMLMR mode in communication between an AP 2005 affiliated with an AP MLD and a non-AP STA 2010 affiliated with a non-AP MLD is shown. In a first embodiment, if a non-AP MLD for which dot11EHTEMLMROptionImplemented is true intends to switch to EMLMR mode after MLD association, the non-AP STA 2010 affiliated with the non-AP MLD may send an EML operation mode notification frame 2015 with an EMLMR mode subfield equal to 1 on one of the EMLMR links to enable the EMLMR mode. Once the EML operation mode notification frame 2015 is transmitted with the EMLMR mode subfield equal to 1, all links corresponding to the bit positions having a value of 1 in the EMLMR link bitmap subfield may be in the EMLMR mode. After the EML operation mode notification frame 2015 is successfully sent from the non-AP STA 2010 belonging to the non-AP MLD to the AP 2005 belonging to the AP MLD on any one of the EMLMR links, the non-AP STA 2010 and the AP 2005 may initialize the conversion timeout timer using the conversion timeout subfield value in the EML capability subfield of the basic multilink element received from the AP. The conversion timeout timer starts counting down from the end of the PPDU including the immediate response to the EML operation mode notification frame. The AP 2005 may transmit an EML operation mode notification frame response 2020 on the same link where the EML operation mode notification frame 2015 is received to confirm the mode switching on the AP MLD side to the non-AP STA 2010, wherein the EML control field is set to the same value as the EML control field in the EML operation mode notification frame 2015 received from the non-AP STA 2010 before the expiration of the conversion timeout. The acknowledgement 2020 may indicate that the EMLMR mode is enabled on all links corresponding to the bit positions having a value = 1 in the EMLMR Link Bitmap subfield.

[0187] After the EMLMR link is enabled, the frame 2025 may be sent by the AP 2005 and received by the station (STA) 2010 having an extremely high throughput (EHT) operation element, the extremely high throughput (EHT) operation element including the presence of a disabled subchannel bitmap subfield and the presence of an EHT operation information subfield. When the presence of the disabled subchannel bitmap subfield is equal to 1, the AP 2005 sets the presence of the EHT operation information subfield to be equal to 1.

[0188] In one example implementation of disabling an active EMLMR link, the non-AP STA 2010 may then send its EML operation mode notification frame 2030 on the link to disable EMLMR operation (e.g., disable all active EMLMR links) by setting the EMLMR Mode subfield in the EML operation mode notification frame 2030 to 0. Additionally or alternatively, the bits corresponding to the links to be disabled in the EMLMR Bitmap subfield may be set to 0. In other words, the links corresponding to the bit positions having a value of 0 in the EMLMR Link Bitmap subfield will not be in EMLMR mode.

[0189] In a second implementation, if a non-AP MLD for which dot11EHTEMLMROptionImplemented is true intends to switch to EMLMR mode after MLD association, the non-AP STA affiliated with the non-AP MLD may send an EML operation mode notification frame with an EMLMR mode subfield equal to 1 on one of the EMLMR links to enable the EMLMR mode on the link on which the EML operation mode notification frame is sent. If the non-AP MLD wants to enable other EMLMR links corresponding to the bit positions with a value of 1 in the EMLMR link bitmap subfield, the non-AP MLD may need to send another EML operation mode notification frame with an EMLMR mode subfield equal to 1 on the link. After each successful transmission of an EML operation mode notification frame 2015 from a non-AP STA 2010 affiliated with the non-AP MLD to an AP 2005 affiliated with an AP MLD, the non-AP STA and the AP may initialize a transition timeout timer using the transition timeout subfield value in the EML capability subfield of the basic multilink element received from the AP. The conversion timeout timer may count down from the end of the PPDU including the immediate response to the EML operation mode notification frame. The AP may transmit an EML operation mode notification frame for confirming the mode switching on the AP MLD side to the non-AP STA, wherein the EML control field is set to the same value as the EML control field in the EML operation mode notification frame received from the non-AP STA before the conversion timeout expires. The confirmation indicates that the EMLMR mode is enabled on the link where the EML operation mode notification frame is sent. Similarly, when the EMLMR mode subfield in the EML operation mode notification frame is set to 0, the EMLMR mode may be disabled only in the link where the EML operation mode notification is received. Alternatively or additionally, when the EMLMR mode subfield in the EML operation mode notification frame is set to 0 and transmitted in any EMLMR link, the EMLMR mode may be disabled in all EMLMR links.

[0190] Implementations of EHT-SIG symbol padding are described herein.

[0191] In one embodiment, the number of OFDM symbols in the EHT-SIG field (denoted as N 符号，EHT-SIG ) can be calculated by a number of methods that will produce the same result. An example of these methods is given in Equation 2 below:

[0192]

[0193] Where N DBPS is the number of data bits per content channel of each EHT-SIG OFDM, and N bpcc It is the number of bits of the unique content channel or the number of bits of the content channel carrying the maximum number of user fields when the bandwidth of the PPDU is 20 MHz. bpcc This can be calculated using Formula 3 as follows:

[0194]

[0195] Where N is the number of RU Allocation 1 subfields, M is the number of RU Allocation 2 subfields, and N u is the number of user fields including all virtual user fields for padding purposes and can be expressed by the following Formula 4, Formula 5, Formula 6, and Formula 7: In one embodiment, when the bandwidth of the PPDU is 20 MHz, N u It can be expressed by the following formula 4:

[0196]

[0197] In one embodiment, when the bandwidth of the PPDU is 20 MHz and the padding type is bit-level padding or symbol-level padding, N u It can be expressed by the following formula 5:

[0198]

[0199] In one embodiment, when the bandwidth of the PPDU is greater than 20 MHz (or greater than or equal to 20 MHz), N u It can be expressed by the following formula 6:

[0200]

[0201] In one embodiment, when the bandwidth of the PPDU is greater than 20 MHz (or greater than or equal to 20 MHz) and the padding type is bit-level padding or symbol-level padding, N u It can be expressed by the following formula 7:

[0202]

[0203] Where N 用户 In case of non-OFDMA transmission, N 用户，虚拟 is the number of virtual users used for padding or any other purpose, R is the set of all RUs and MRUs that are signaled in the RU Allocation 1 and RU Allocation 2 subfields and contribute non-zero users to the content channel, and c is the index of the content channel.

[0204] In one embodiment, padding may be added to the EHT-SIG field for different purposes, which may include non-simultaneous transmission and reception (NSTR) PPDU alignment and A-PPDU alignment. The padding of the EHT-SIG field may take one of three different forms: bit-level padding, user-level padding, and symbol-level padding. Bit-level padding may refer to padding the content channel of the EHT-SIG field with a dummy bit that may take a value of 1 or 0, such that all dummy bits are either 1 or 0. User-level padding may refer to padding the content channel of the EHT-SIG field with a dummy user field. Symbol-level padding may refer to padding the ET-SIG field by adding an entire dummy OFDM symbol.

[0205] In one embodiment, the EHT-SIG field can be padded by adding additional dummy bits at the end of the content channel that includes the largest number of user fields (i.e., the content channel with the largest number of data bits). The number of padded bits can be calculated based on the required padding length according to the OFDM symbol. The number of data bits per content channel after padding can be obtained by the following formula 8:

[0206] N bpcc，填充 =N bpcc +N 位，填充 (Formula 8)

[0207] The length of the padded OFDM symbol is denoted as N 符号，填充 , the number of EHT-SIG symbols after padding is denoted as N EHT-SIG符号，填充 , which can be obtained by the following formula 9:

[0208] N EHT-SIG符号，填充 =N EHT-SIG符号 +N 符号，填充 (Formula 9)

[0209] Number of padding bits N 位，填充 It can then be calculated according to the following formula 10:

[0210] N 位，填充 =N 符号，填充 ×N DBPS (Formula 10)

[0211] Padding bits may be added to the end of a content channel and may take values ​​of 1 or 0, such that all dummy bits are either 1 or 0.

[0212] In one embodiment, in the case of bit-level filling or symbol-level filling, N u It can be expressed according to the following formula 11:

[0213]

[0214] Where N u Does not include any virtual user fields.

[0215] In one embodiment, the EHT-SIG field may be populated by adding an additional virtual user field to the content channel that includes the maximum number of user fields. In one embodiment, the virtual user field may include all 1s or all 0s so that the virtual user field may be distinguished from the actual user field that includes RU allocation information. In another embodiment, the user field may be distinguished from the actual user field by using a special STA ID that indicates that the virtual user field does not correspond to an actual user.

[0216] The number of virtual user fields (denoted as N 用户，虚拟 ) can be calculated according to the following formula 12:

[0217]

[0218] In one embodiment, user-level padding via one virtual user field may result in padding the EHT-SIG field with one or more OFDM symbols. In the case where Formula 12 above results in padding with 0 virtual user fields, this may indicate that user-level padding may not be a suitable padding alternative in these cases, and bit-level padding and / or symbol-level padding may need to be used instead.

[0219] In one embodiment, the EHT-SIG field may be padded by adding additional OFDM symbols to the EHT-SIG field, such that the number of EHT-SIG symbols after padding may be obtained by the following formula 13:

[0220] N EHT-SIG符号，填充 =N EHT-SIG符号 +N 符号，填充 (Formula 13)

[0221] In one embodiment, the number of EHT-SIG symbols after padding may not exceed the maximum number of allowed EHT-SIG symbols.

[0222] In one embodiment, the number of EHT-SIG symbols signaled to the receiver of the PPDU may include all or some of the EHT-SIG symbols in the preamble, including padding OFDM symbols, regardless of whether the padding symbols are added according to bit-level padding, user-level padding, or symbol-level padding.

[0223] In one embodiment, the number of padded EHT-SIG OFDM symbols may be signaled in the U-SIG field or any other field in the transmitted PPDU that includes padding in the EHT-SIG field.

[0224] In one embodiment, a receiver of a PPDU with an EHT-SIG including bit-level, user-level, or symbol-level padding may decode the EGT-SIG field according to the following example procedure:

[0225] The receiver may decode a signaling field (eg, a U-SIG field) indicating the number of EHT-SIG symbols.

[0226] The receiver may extract the EHT-SIG field OFDM symbol based on the number of EHT-SIG symbols.

[0227] The receiver can determine whether the PPDU is a non-OFDMA transmission or an OFDMA transmission. In the case of a non-OFDMA transmission, the number of actual user fields can be explicitly signaled so that the receiver can learn this parameter. In the case of an OFDMA transmission, the number of actual user fields can be determined by decoding the RU allocation subfield that contributes non-zero user fields to the content channel.

[0228] In case of bit level stuffing, the receiver may calculate the number of bits of the content channel carrying the actual allocation information and extract up to that number of bits from the decoded EHT-SIG based on the known number of user fields from the previous step.

[0229] In the case of user-level padding, the receiver may extract the actual user field carrying the actual allocation information and extract up to that number of user fields from the decoded EHT-SIG based on the known number of user fields from the previous step. In another example, the receiver may determine the padding user field based on a special STA ID used to distinguish the padding user field. In another example, the receiver may discard the padding user field carrying all 1 or all 0 bits.

[0230] In the case of symbol-level padding, the receiver can calculate the number of bits of the content channel carrying the actual allocation information, and then calculate the required number of actual EHT-SIG symbols. The receiver can then extract up to that number of OFDM symbols from the decoded EHT-SIG based on the known number of user fields from the previous step. In another example, the receiver can extract the actual EHT-SIG OFDM symbols from the received EHT-SIG field by knowing the number of padding EHT-SIG OFDM symbols and subtracting that number from the total number of EHT-SIG symbols.

[0231] Although features and elements of the invention are described in particular combinations in the preferred embodiments, each feature or element can be used alone without the other features and elements of the preferred embodiments, or in various combinations with or without the other features and elements of the invention.

[0232] Although the solution described herein considers 802.11 specific protocols, it should be understood that the solution described herein is not limited to this scenario and is also applicable to other wireless systems.

[0233] Although SIFS is used in the design and program examples to represent various interframe spacings, all other interframe spacings such as RIFS, AIFS, DIFS, or other agreed time intervals are applicable to the same solution.

[0234] Although four RBs per triggered TXOP are shown as an example in some figures, the actual number of RBs / channels / bandwidth used may vary.

[0235] For example, although specific bits are used to signal in-BSS / OBSS, other bits may be used to signal this information.

[0236] Although some trigger type values ​​are used as examples to identify newly defined trigger frame variants, other values ​​may be used.

[0237] Multi-AP and MAP are used interchangeably to refer to the same concept.

[0238] The Long Training Field (LTF) may be any type of predefined sequence known at both the transmitter and receiver sides.

[0239] Although features and elements are described above in specific combinations, it will be understood by those of ordinary skill in the art that each feature or element may be used alone or in any combination with other features and elements. In addition, the methods described herein may be implemented in a computer program, software, or firmware incorporated in a computer-readable medium for execution by a computer or processor. Examples of computer-readable media include electronic signals (sent via a wired or wireless connection) and computer-readable storage media. Examples of computer-readable storage media include, but are not limited to, read-only memory (ROM), random access memory (RAM), registers, cache memory, semiconductor memory devices, magnetic media (such as built-in hard disks and removable disks), magneto-optical media, and optical media (such as CD-ROM disks and digital versatile disks (DVDs)). A processor associated with software may be used to implement a radio frequency transceiver for a WTRU, UE, terminal, base station, RNC, or any host computer.

Claims

1. A method for use in a station (STA), the method comprising: receiving a frame from an access point (AP), the frame comprising an extremely high throughput (EHT) operation element, the extremely high throughput (EHT) operation element comprising the presence of a forbidden channel bitmap subfield and the presence of an EHT operation information subfield; Wherein, under the condition that the presence of the forbidden channel bitmap subfield is equal to 1 and the presence of the EHT operation information subfield is also equal to 1, the forbidden channel bitmap field in the EHT operation information field is received to determine the allowed subchannels for the enhanced multi-link multi-radio (EMLMR) link.

2. The method according to claim 1, further comprising: A first enhanced multi-link (EML) operation mode notification frame is sent to the AP, wherein the first enhanced multi-link (EML) operation mode notification frame includes an EMLMR mode subfield and an EMLMR bitmap subfield, wherein the EMLMR mode subfield has a value of 1, and the EMLMR bitmap subfield has one or more indications of the EMLMR link that the STA will use for the EMLMR mode.

3. The method according to claim 2, further comprising: An EML operation mode notification response frame is received from the AP, the EML operation mode notification response frame including an EML control field, the EML control field confirming an EML MR link indicated by the STA for EML MR mode.

4. The method according to claim 2, further comprising: A second EML operation mode notification frame is sent to the AP, wherein the second EML operation mode notification frame includes the EMLMR mode subfield and the EMLMR bitmap subfield, the EMLMR mode subfield has a value of 0, and the EMLMR bitmap subfield has one or more indications that the STA will disable the EMLMR link of the EMLMR mode. 5 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the STA is a non-AP STA belonging to a non-AP multi-link device (MLD). The method according to claim 1 , wherein the AP is an AP belonging to an AP Multi-Link Device (MLD).

7. A station (STA), the station (STA) comprising: a receiver configured to receive a frame from an access point (AP), the frame comprising an extremely high throughput (EHT) operation element, the extremely high throughput (EHT) operation element comprising the presence of a forbidden channel bitmap subfield and the presence of an EHT operation information subfield; and A processor configured to determine an allowed subchannel for an enhanced multi-link multi-radio (EMLMR) link from a forbidden channel bitmap field indicated in an EHT operation information field when the forbidden channel bitmap subfield exists is equal to 1 and the EHT operation information subfield exists is also equal to 1.

8. The STA according to claim 7, further comprising: A transmitter, the transmitter being configured to send a first enhanced multi-link (EML) operation mode notification frame to the AP, the first enhanced multi-link (EML) operation mode notification frame comprising an EMLMR mode subfield and an EMLMR bitmap subfield, the EMLMR mode subfield having a value of 1, and the EMLMR bitmap subfield having one or more indications of an EMLMR link that the STA will use for the EMLMR mode.

9. The STA of claim 8, wherein the receiver is further configured to receive an EML operation mode notification response frame from the AP, the EML operation mode notification response frame comprising an EML control field, the EML control field confirming the EMLMR link indicated by the STA for the EMLMR mode.

10. The STA of claim 8, wherein the transmitter is further configured to send a second EML operation mode notification frame to the AP, the second EML operation mode notification frame comprising the EMLMR mode subfield and the EMLMR bitmap subfield, the EMLMR mode subfield having a value of 0, and the EMLMR bitmap subfield having one or more indications of an EMLMR link that the STA is to disable from the EMLMR mode.

11. The STA according to claim 7, wherein the STA is a non-AP STA belonging to a non-AP multi-link device (MLD).

12. The STA according to claim 7, wherein the AP is an AP belonging to an AP Multi-Link Device (MLD).

13. An access point (AP), comprising: A transceiver and a processor, the processor communicating with the transceiver, the transceiver and the processor being configured to: A frame is sent to a station (STA), the frame including an extremely high throughput (EHT) operation element, the extremely high throughput (EHT) operation element including a prohibited channel bitmap subfield=1, an EHT operation information subfield=1, and a prohibited channel bitmap field indicated in the EHT operation information field to indicate to the STA an allowed subchannel for an enhanced multi-link multi-radio (EMLMR) link.

14. The AP of claim 13, wherein the transceiver and the processor are further configured to: A first enhanced multi-link (EML) operation mode notification frame is received from the STA, wherein the first enhanced multi-link (EML) operation mode notification frame includes an EMLMR mode subfield and an EMLMR bitmap subfield, wherein the EMLMR mode subfield has a value of 1, and the EMLMR bitmap subfield has one or more indications of an EMLMR link that the STA will use for the EMLMR mode.

15. The AP of claim 14, wherein the transceiver and the processor are further configured to: An EML operation mode notification response frame is sent to the STA, the EML operation mode notification response frame including an EML control field, the EML control field confirming the EMLMR link indicated by the STA for the EMLMR mode.

16. The AP of claim 14, wherein the transceiver and the processor are further configured to: A second EML operation mode notification frame is received from the STA, the second EML operation mode notification frame including the EMLMR mode subfield and the EMLMR bitmap subfield, the EMLMR mode subfield having a value of 0, the EMLMR bitmap subfield having one or more indications that the STA will disable the EMLMR link in the EMLMR mode.

17. The AP according to claim 13, wherein the STA is a non-AP STA belonging to a non-AP multi-link device (MLD).

18. The AP of claim 13, wherein the AP is an AP belonging to an AP Multi-Link Device (MLD).

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