Method and apparatus for transmitting or receiving extended control field in wireless LAN system

Abstract

Disclosed are a method and an apparatus for transmitting or receiving an extended control field in a wireless LAN system. According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, a method performed by a first station (STA) in a wireless LAN system comprises the steps of: receiving, from a second STA, a frame including a medium access control (MAC) header, the MAC header including one or more specific control fields; and performing processing on one or more fields included in a frame body within the frame based on one or more specific control fields, in which the one or more specific control fields may additionally exist in a High Throughput (HT) control field based on the presence of the HT control field in the MAC header, and the one or more specific control fields may additionally exist in the HT control field based on the absence of the HT control field in the MAC header. One or more particular control fields may exist at particular locations within the frame.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present disclosure relates to a method and apparatus for transmitting or receiving an extended control field in a wireless local area network (WLAN) system. Background Art

[0002] New technologies have been introduced for wireless LAN (WLAN) to increase transmission rates, increase bandwidth, improve reliability, reduce errors, and reduce latency. Among WLAN technologies, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 series of standards may be referred to as Wi-Fi. For example, technologies recently introduced to WLAN include the Very High Throughput (VHT) enhancements of the 802.11ac standard and the High Efficiency (HE) enhancements of the IEEE 802.11ax standard.

[0003] In order to provide a more advanced wireless communication environment, improved technologies for extremely high throughput (EHT) are being discussed. For example, technologies for MIMO and multi-access point (AP) coordination that support increased bandwidth, efficient use of multiple frequency bands, and increased spatial streams are being studied, and specifically, various technologies are being studied to support low latency or real-time services. In addition, new technologies are being discussed to support ultra-high reliability (UHR), including improvements or extensions of EHT technologies. Summary of the invention

[0004] Technical issues

[0005] The technical problem of the present disclosure is to provide a method and apparatus for transmitting or receiving an extended control field in a WLAN system.

[0006] An additional technical problem of the present disclosure is to provide a method and apparatus for transmitting or receiving a frame including a control field of a size supporting extension within a Medium Access Control (MAC) header in a WLAN system.

[0007] The technical objectives to be achieved by the present disclosure are not limited to the above-mentioned technical objectives, and those skilled in the art can clearly understand other technical objectives not described herein through the following description.

[0008] Technical Solution

[0009] A method performed by a first station (STA) in a WLAN system according to an aspect of the present disclosure includes: receiving a frame including a medium access control (MAC) header from a second STA, the MAC header including at least one specific control field; and based on the at least one specific control field, performing processing on at least one field included in a frame body within the frame, wherein based on the presence of a high throughput (HT) control field in the MAC header, the at least one specific control field may be present in addition to the HT control field, and based on the absence of the HT control field in the MAC header, the at least one specific control field may be present at a specific position within the frame.

[0010] A method performed by a second station (STA) in a WLAN system according to additional aspects of the present disclosure includes: generating a frame including a medium access control (MAC) header and a frame body, the MAC header including at least one specific control field; and sending the generated frame to at least one first STA, wherein based on the presence of a high throughput (HT) control field in the MAC header, at least one specific control field may be present in addition to the HT control field, and based on the absence of the HT control field in the MAC header, the at least one specific control field may be present at a specific position within the frame.

[0011] Technical Effects

[0012] According to the present disclosure, a method and apparatus for transmitting or receiving an extended control field in a WLAN system may be provided.

[0013] According to the present disclosure, a method and apparatus for transmitting or receiving a frame including a control field of a size supporting extension within a Medium Access Control (MAC) header in a WLAN system may be provided.

[0014] Effects achievable by the present disclosure are not limited to the above-described effects, and other effects not described herein may be clearly understood by those skilled in the relevant art through the following description. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0015] The accompanying drawings, which are included as a part of the detailed description for understanding the present disclosure, provide embodiments of the present disclosure and describe technical features of the present disclosure together with the detailed description.

[0016] Figure 1 A configuration block diagram of a wireless communication device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure is illustrated.

[0017] Figure 2 is a diagram illustrating an exemplary structure of a WLAN system to which the present disclosure can be applied.

[0018] Figure 3 It is a diagram for explaining a link establishment process to which the present disclosure can be applied.

[0019] Figure 4 This is a diagram for explaining a backoff process to which the present disclosure can be applied.

[0020] Figure 5 It is a diagram for explaining a frame transmission operation based on CSMA / CA to which the present disclosure can be applied.

[0021] Figure 6 is a diagram for explaining an example of a frame structure used in a WLAN system to which the present disclosure can be applied.

[0022] Figure 7 is a diagram illustrating an example of a PPDU defined in the IEEE 802.11 standard to which the present disclosure can be applied.

[0023] Figure 8 is a diagram showing an exemplary format of an Aggregation Control (A-Control) subfield of an HT Control field to which the present disclosure may be applied.

[0024] Fig. 9 is a diagram for explaining an example of a method for transmitting a frame including a non-legacy control field according to the present disclosure.

[0025] Fig.10 is a diagram for explaining an example of a method for receiving a frame including a non-legacy control field according to the present disclosure.

[0026] Fig.11 is a diagram for explaining an example of a frame format including an extended control field according to the present disclosure. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0027] Hereinafter, embodiments according to the present disclosure will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. The detailed description disclosed by the accompanying drawings is intended to describe exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure, rather than to represent the only embodiment in which the present disclosure can be implemented. The following detailed description includes specific details to provide a complete understanding of the present disclosure. However, those skilled in the relevant art know that the present disclosure can be implemented without these specific details.

[0028] In some cases, well-known structures and devices may be omitted, or may be shown in the form of a block diagram based on the core functions of each structure and device in order to prevent ambiguity of the concepts of the present disclosure.

[0029] In the present disclosure, when an element is referred to as being "connected", "combined" or "linked" to another element, it may include an indirect connection relationship between another element and a direct connection relationship. In addition, in the present disclosure, the term "comprising" or "having" specifies the presence of the mentioned features, steps, operations, components and / or elements, but does not exclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, stages, operations, components, elements and / or groups thereof.

[0030] In the present disclosure, terms such as "first", "second", etc. are only used to distinguish one element from another element and are not used to limit the elements, and unless otherwise specified, they do not limit the order or importance between the elements, etc. Therefore, within the scope of the present disclosure, the first element in an embodiment may be referred to as the second element in another embodiment, and similarly, the second element in an embodiment may be referred to as the first element in another embodiment.

[0031] The terms used in this disclosure are intended to describe specific embodiments, rather than to limit the claims. As used in the description of the embodiments and the appended claims, the singular form is intended to include the plural form, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. The term "and / or" used in this disclosure may refer to one of the related enumerated items, or mean that it refers to and includes any and all possible combinations of two or more of them. In addition, unless otherwise stated, the " / " between words in this disclosure has the same meaning as "and / or".

[0032] Examples of the present disclosure can be applied to various wireless communication systems. For example, examples of the present disclosure can be applied to wireless LAN systems. For example, examples of the present disclosure can be applied to wireless LANs based on IEEE 802.11a / g / n / ac / ax standards. In addition, examples of the present disclosure can be applied to wireless LANs based on the newly proposed IEEE 802.11be (or EHT) standard. Examples of the present disclosure can be applied to wireless LANs based on the IEEE802.11be version 2 standard corresponding to the additional enhanced technology of the IEEE 802.11be version 1 standard. In addition, examples of the present disclosure can be applied to wireless LANs based on next-generation standards after IEEE 802.11be. In addition, examples of the present disclosure can be applied to cellular wireless communication systems. For example, it can be applied to cellular wireless communication systems based on long term evolution (LTE) technology and 5G new radio (NR) technology based on the third generation partnership project (3GPP) standard.

[0033] Hereinafter, technical features of examples to which the present disclosure can be applied will be described.

[0034] Figure 1 A block diagram of a wireless communication device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure is illustrated.

[0035] Figure 1The first device 100 and the second device 200 illustrated in the figure may be replaced with various terms such as terminal, wireless device, wireless transmit / receive unit (WTRU), user equipment (UE), mobile station (MS), user terminal (UT), mobile subscriber station (MSS), mobile subscriber unit (MSU), subscriber station (SS), advanced mobile station (AMS), wireless terminal (WT) or simple user, etc. In addition, the first device 100 and the second device 200 include an access point (AP), a base station (BS), a fixed station, a node B, a base transceiver system (BTS), a network. It may be replaced with various terms such as an artificial intelligence (AI) system, a roadside unit (RSU), a repeater, a router, a relay and a gateway.

[0036] Figure 1 The devices 100 and 200 illustrated in the example may be referred to as stations (STAs). Figure 1 The devices 100 and 200 illustrated in the figure may be referred to by various terms such as a transmitting device, a receiving device, a transmitting STA, and a receiving STA. For example, the STAs 110 and 200 may perform an access point (AP) role or a non-AP role. That is, in the present disclosure, the STAs 110 and 200 may perform the functions of an AP and / or a non-AP. When the STAs 110 and 200 perform the AP function, they may be simply referred to as APs, and when the STAs 110 and 200 perform the non-AP function, they may be simply referred to as STAs. In addition, in the present disclosure, an AP may also be indicated as an AP STA.

[0037] Reference Figure 1 , the first device 100 and the second device 200 can send and receive radio signals through various wireless LAN technologies (e.g., IEEE802.11 series). The first device 100 and the second device 200 may include interfaces for a media access control (MAC) layer and a physical layer (PHY) that conform to the IEEE802.11 standard.

[0038] In addition, in addition to the wireless LAN technology, the first device 100 and the second device 200 may further support various communication standards (e.g., 3GPP LTE series, 5G NR series standards, etc.) technologies. In addition, the device of the present disclosure may be implemented in various devices such as mobile phones, vehicles, personal computers, augmented reality (AR) devices, and virtual reality (VR) devices. In addition, the STA of the present specification may support various communication services such as voice calls, video calls, data communications, autonomous driving, machine type communications (MTC), machine to machine (M2M), device to device (D2D), IoT (Internet of Things), etc.

[0039] The first device 100 may include one or more processors 102 and one or more memories 104, and may further include one or more transceivers 106 and / or one or more antennas 108. The processor 102 may control the memory 104 and / or the transceiver 106, and may be configured to implement the descriptions, functions, processes, suggestions, methods, and / or operational flowcharts included in the present disclosure. For example, the processor 102 may send a wireless signal including the first information / signal through the transceiver 106 after generating the first information / signal by processing the information in the memory 104. In addition, the processor 102 may receive a wireless signal including the second information / signal through the transceiver 106, and then store the information obtained by the signal processing of the second information / signal in the memory 104. The memory 104 may be connected to the processor 102 and may store various information related to the operation of the processor 102. For example, the memory 104 may store software codes including instructions for executing all or part of the processing controlled by the processor 102 or for executing the descriptions, functions, processes, suggestions, methods, and / or operational flowcharts included in the present disclosure. Here, the processor 102 and the memory 104 may be part of a communication modem / circuit / chip designed to implement wireless LAN technology (e.g., IEEE 802.11 series). The transceiver 106 may be connected to the processor 102 and may send and / or receive wireless signals through one or more antennas 108. The transceiver 106 may include a transmitter and / or a receiver. The transceiver 106 may be used in conjunction with an RF (radio frequency) unit. In the present disclosure, a wireless device may refer to a communication modem / circuit / chip.

[0040] The second device 200 may include one or more processors 202 and one or more memories 204, and may further include one or more transceivers 206 and / or one or more antennas 208. The processor 202 may control the memory 204 and / or the transceiver 206, and may be configured to implement the descriptions, functions, processes, suggestions, methods, and / or operation flowcharts included in the present disclosure. For example, the processor 202 may generate third information / signals by processing the information in the memory 204, and then send a wireless signal including the third information / signal through the transceiver 206. In addition, the processor 202 may receive a wireless signal including fourth information / signals through the transceiver 206, and then store information obtained by signal processing of the fourth information / signal in the memory 204. The memory 204 may be connected to the processor 202 and may store various information related to the operation of the processor 202. For example, the memory 204 may store software codes including instructions for executing all or part of the processing controlled by the processor 202 or for executing the descriptions, functions, processes, suggestions, methods, and / or operation flowcharts included in the present disclosure. Here, the processor 202 and the memory 204 may be part of a communication modem / circuit / chip designed to implement wireless LAN technology (e.g., IEEE 802.11 series). The transceiver 206 may be connected to the processor 202 and may send and / or receive wireless signals through one or more antennas 208. The transceiver 206 may include a transmitter and / or a receiver. The transceiver 206 may be used in conjunction with an RF unit. In the present disclosure, a device may refer to a communication modem / circuit / chip.

[0041] In the following, the hardware elements of the apparatus 100, 200 will be described in more detail. Without limitation thereto, one or more protocol layers may be implemented by one or more processors 102, 202. For example, one or more processors 102, 202 may implement one or more layers (e.g., functional layers such as PHY, MAC). One or more processors 102, 202 may generate one or more PDUs (protocol data units) and / or one or more SDUs (service data units) according to the description, function, process, suggestion, method, and / or operation flow chart disclosed in the present disclosure. One or more processors 102, 202 may generate messages, control information, data, or information according to the description, function, process, suggestion, method, and / or operation flow chart disclosed in the present disclosure. One or more processors 102, 202 may generate signals (e.g., baseband signals) including PDUs, SDUs, messages, control information, data, or information according to the functions, processes, suggestions, and / or methods disclosed in the present disclosure to provide them to one or more transceivers 106, 206. One or more processors 102, 202 may receive a signal (e.g., a baseband signal) from one or more transceivers 106, 206 according to the descriptions, functions, processes, suggestions, methods, and / or operational flow charts included in the present disclosure and obtain a PDU, SDU, message, control information, data, or information.

[0042] One or more processors 102, 202 may be referred to as controllers, microcontrollers, microprocessors, or microcomputers. One or more processors 102, 202 may be implemented by hardware, firmware, software, or a combination thereof. For example, one or more ASICs (Application Specific Integrated Circuits), one or more DSPs (Digital Signal Processors), one or more DSPDs (Digital Signal Processing Devices), one or more PLDs (Programmable Logic Devices), or one or more FPGAs (Field Programmable Gate Arrays) may be included in one or more processors 102, 202. The descriptions, functions, processes, suggestions, methods, and / or operational flow charts included in the present disclosure may be implemented using firmware or software, and the firmware or software may be implemented to include modules, processes, functions, and the like. Firmware or software configured to execute the descriptions, functions, processes, suggestions, methods, and / or operational flow charts included in the present disclosure may be included in one or more processors 102, 202, or may be stored in one or more memories 104, 204 and driven by one or more processors 102, 202. The descriptions, functions, processes, suggestions, methods and / or operational flow charts included in the present disclosure may be implemented using firmware or software in the form of codes, instructions and / or instruction sets.

[0043] One or more memories 104, 204 may be connected to one or more processors 102, 202 and may store data, signals, messages, information, programs, codes, instructions, and / or commands in various forms. One or more memories 104, 204 may be configured with ROM, RAM, EPROM, flash memory, hard drive, registers, cache memory, computer-readable storage media, and / or combinations thereof. One or more memories 104, 204 may be located inside and / or outside one or more processors 102, 202. In addition, one or more memories 104, 204 may be connected to one or more processors 102, 202 via various technologies such as wired or wireless connections.

[0044] One or more transceivers 106, 206 may send user data, control information, wireless signals / channels, etc. mentioned in the method and / or operation flow chart of the present disclosure to one or more other devices. One or more transceivers 106, 206 may receive user data, control information, wireless signals / channels, etc. mentioned in the description, function, process, suggestion, method and / or operation flow chart, etc. included in the present disclosure from one or more other devices. For example, one or more transceivers 106, 206 may be connected to one or more processors 102, 202 and may send and receive wireless signals. For example, one or more processors 102, 202 may control one or more transceivers 106, 206 to send user data, control information or wireless signals to one or more other devices. In addition, one or more processors 102, 202 may control one or more transceivers 106, 206 to receive user data, control information or wireless signals from one or more other devices. In addition, one or more transceivers 106, 206 may be connected to one or more antennas 108, 208, and one or more transceivers 106, 206 may be configured to send and receive user data, control information, wireless signals / channels, etc. mentioned in the description, functions, processes, suggestions, methods and / or operation flow charts, etc. included in the present disclosure through one or more antennas 108, 208. In the present disclosure, one or more antennas may be multiple physical antennas or multiple logical antennas (e.g., antenna ports). One or more transceivers 106, 206 may convert received wireless signals / channels, etc. from RF band signals into baseband signals to process received user data, control information, wireless signals / channels, etc. by using one or more processors 102, 202. One or more transceivers 106, 206 may convert user data, control information, wireless signals / channels, etc. processed by using one or more processors 102, 202 from baseband signals into RF band signals. Thus, one or more of the transceivers 106 , 206 may include (analog) oscillators and / or filters.

[0045] For example, one of the STAs 100 and 200 may perform the expected operation of an AP, and the other of the STAs 100 and 200 may perform the expected operation of a non-AP STA. Figure 1 The transceivers 106 and 206 of the present invention may perform transmission and reception operations of signals (e.g., packets or physical layer protocol data units (PPDUs) compliant with IEEE 802.11a / b / g / n / ac / ax / be / bn). In addition, in the present disclosure, operations of various STAs generating transmission / reception signals or performing data processing or calculations on transmission / reception signals in advance may be performed by Figure 1The processors 102 and 202 are executed. For example, examples of operations of generating a transmission / reception signal or performing data processing or calculation for the transmission / reception signal in advance may include: 1) determining / obtaining / configuring / calculating / decoding / encoding bit information of fields (signal (SIG), short training field (STF), long training field (LTF), data, etc.) included in the PPDU; 2) determining / configuring / obtaining time resources or frequency resources (e.g., subcarrier resources) for fields (SIG, STF, LTF, data, etc.) included in the PPDU; 3) determining / configuring / obtaining a specific sequence (e.g., pilot sequence, STF / LTF sequence, additional sequence applied to SIG) for fields (SIG, STF, LTF, data, etc.) included in the PPDU action; 4) power control operations and / or power saving operations applied to STAs; 5) operations related to ACK signal determination / obtaining / configuring / calculating / decoding / encoding, etc. In addition, in the following example, various information used by various STAs to determine / acquire / configure / calculate / decode / encode transmission signals and reception signals (e.g., information related to fields / subfields / control fields / parameters / power, etc.) may be stored in Figure 1 in the memories 104 and 204.

[0046] Hereinafter, a downlink (DL) may mean a link for communication from an AP STA to a non-AP STA, and a DL PPDU / packet / signal may be transmitted and received through the DL. In DL communication, a transmitter may be a part of an AP STA, and a receiver may be a part of a non-AP STA. An uplink (UL) may mean a link for communication from a non-AP STA to an AP STA, and a UL PPDU / packet / signal may be transmitted and received through the UL. In UL communication, a transmitter may be a part of a non-AP STA, and a receiver may be a part of an AP STA.

[0047] Figure 2 is a diagram illustrating an exemplary structure of a wireless LAN system to which the present disclosure can be applied.

[0048] The structure of the wireless LAN system may be composed of a plurality of components. A wireless LAN supporting STA mobility transparent to an upper layer may be provided through the interaction of the plurality of components. A basic service set (BSS) corresponds to a basic building block of a wireless LAN. Figure 2 It is exemplarily shown that two BSSs (BSS1 and BSS2) exist, and two STAs (STA1 and STA2 are included in BSS1, and STA3 and STA4 are included in BSS2) are included as members of each BSS. Figure 2The ellipse representing the BSS in the figure can also be understood as representing the coverage area in which the STAs included in the corresponding BSS maintain communication. This area can be called a basic service area (BSA). When a STA moves outside the BSA, it cannot communicate directly with other STAs in the BSA.

[0049] If you don't consider Figure 2 , the most basic BSS type in the wireless LAN is an independent BSS (IBSS), if the DS is shown in FIG. 1 . For example, an IBSS may have a minimum form containing only two STAs. For example, assuming that other components are omitted, a BSS1 containing only STA1 and STA2 or a BSS2 containing only STA3 and STA4 may correspond to representative examples of IBSSs, respectively. This configuration is possible when STAs can communicate directly without an AP. In addition, in this type of wireless LAN, it is not pre-configured but can be configured when a LAN is needed, and this may be referred to as an ad-hoc network. Since the IBSS does not include an AP, there is no centralized management entity. That is, in the IBSS, STAs are managed in a distributed manner. In the IBSS, all STAs may be composed of mobile STAs, and access to the distributed system (DS) is not allowed, thereby forming a self-contained network.

[0050] The membership of a STA in a BSS can be changed dynamically by turning the STA on or off, entering or exiting a BSS region, etc. In order to become a member of a BSS, a STA can join the BSS using a synchronization process. In order to access all services of the BSS infrastructure, a STA should associate with the BSS. This association can be established dynamically and can include the use of a distributed system service (DSS).

[0051] The direct STA-to-STA distance in a wireless LAN may be limited by PHY performance. In some cases, this distance limitation may be sufficient, but in some cases, communication between STAs at longer distances may be required. A distributed system (DS) can be configured to support extended coverage.

[0052] DS refers to the structure of BSS interconnection. Specifically, Figure 2As shown, the BSS can exist as an extended form of a network composed of multiple BSSs. DS is a logical concept and can be specified by the characteristics of the distributed system medium (DSM). At this point, the wireless medium (WM) and the DSM can be logically separated. Each logical medium is used for different purposes and is used by different components. These media are not limited to being the same, nor are they limited to being different. In this way, the flexibility of the wireless LAN structure (DS structure or other network structure) can be interpreted as multiple media being logically different. That is, the wireless LAN structure can be implemented in various ways, and the corresponding wireless LAN structure can be independently specified by the physical characteristics of each implementation.

[0053] DS can support mobile devices by providing seamless integration of multiple BSSs and providing logical services necessary to address the address leading to the destination. In addition, DS can also include a component called a portal, which is used as a bridge for connection between wireless LAN and other networks (e.g., IEEE 802.X).

[0054] The AP enables access to the DS through the WM for associated non-AP STAs and means an entity that also has STA functionality. Data movement between the BSS and the DS can be performed through the AP. For example, Figure 2 STA2 and STA3 shown in the figure have the function of STA and provide the function of allowing the associated non-AP STA (STA1 and STA4) to access the DS. In addition, since all APs basically correspond to STAs, all APs are addressable entities. The address used by the AP to communicate on the WM is not necessarily the same as the address used by the AP to communicate on the DSM. A BSS composed of an AP and one or more STAs may be referred to as an infrastructure BSS.

[0055] Data sent from one of the STAs associated with the AP to the STA address of the corresponding AP can always be received at the uncontrolled port and can be processed by the IEEE 802.1X port access entity. In addition, when the controlled port is authenticated, the transmitted data (or frame) can be delivered to the DS.

[0056] In addition to the above-mentioned structure of the DS, an extended service set (ESS) may also be configured to provide wide coverage.

[0057] ESS means a network with arbitrary size and complexity consisting of DS and BSS. ESS may correspond to a set of BSSs connected to one DS. However, ESS does not include DS. The ESS network is characterized by being regarded as an IBSS in the logical link control (LLC) layer. The STAs included in the ESS can communicate with each other, and the mobile STA can move from one BSS to another (within the same ESS) transparently for LLC. The APs included in one ESS may have the same service set identifier (SSID). SSID is distinguished from BSSID, which is an identifier of BSS.

[0058] The wireless LAN system does not assume anything about the relative physical location of the BSS, and all of the following forms are possible. The BSS may partially overlap, which is a form commonly used to provide continuous coverage. In addition, the BSS may not be physically connected, and logically, there is no limit on the distance between the BSS. In addition, the BSS may be physically located in the same location, which can be used to provide redundancy. In addition, one (or more than one) IBSS or ESS network may physically exist in the same space as one (or more than one) ESS network. When an ad hoc network operates in a location where an ESS network exists, when physically overlapping wireless networks are configured by different organizations, or when two or more different access and security policies are required in the same location, this may correspond to the form of an ESS network, etc.

[0059] Figure 3 is a diagram for explaining a link establishment process to which the present disclosure can be applied.

[0060] In order for a STA to establish a link with respect to a network and send / receive data, it first discovers the network, performs authentication, establishes association, and needs to perform authentication processing for security. The link establishment processing may also be referred to as a session initiation processing or a session establishment processing. In addition, the discovery, authentication, association, and security establishment processing of the link establishment processing may be collectively referred to as an association processing.

[0061] In step S310, the STA may perform a network discovery operation. The network discovery operation may include a scanning operation of the STA. That is, in order for the STA to access a network, it needs to find a network that it can participate in. The STA should identify compatible networks before participating in a wireless network, and the process of identifying networks present in a specific area is called scanning.

[0062] Scanning schemes include active scanning and passive scanning. Figure 3The network discovery operation including active scanning processing is exemplarily illustrated. In active scanning, the STA performing the scan sends a probe request frame to discover which APs exist around it while the channel moves and waits for a response thereto. The responder sends a probe response frame as a response to the probe request frame to the STA that has sent the probe request frame. Here, the responder may be the STA that last sent a beacon frame in the BSS of the channel being scanned. In the BSS, since the AP sends a beacon frame, the AP becomes the responder, and in the IBSS, the STAs in the IBSS rotate to send beacon frames, so the responder is not constant. For example, a STA that sends a probe request frame on channel 1 and receives a probe response frame on channel 1 may store the BSS-related information included in the received probe response frame, and may move to the next channel (e.g., channel 2), and perform scanning in the same manner (i.e., sending and receiving probe requests / responses on channel 2).

[0063] Although not in Figure 3 , but the scanning operation can be performed in a passive scanning manner. In passive scanning, the STA performing the scan waits for a beacon frame while the channel moves. The beacon frame is one of the management frames defined in IEEE 802.11, and is periodically sent to notify the existence of a wireless network and allow the STA performing the scan to find the wireless network and participate in the wireless network. In the BSS, the AP is used to periodically send beacon frames, and in the IBSS, the STAs within the IBSS rotate to send beacon frames. When the STA performing the scan receives the beacon frame, the STA stores the information of the BSS included in the beacon frame, and records the beacon frame information in each channel while moving to another channel. The STA receiving the beacon frame can store the BSS-related information included in the received beacon frame, move to the next channel, and perform scanning in the next channel in the same manner. Comparing active scanning with passive scanning, the advantage of active scanning is that it has less delay and less power consumption than passive scanning.

[0064] After the STA discovers the network, an authentication process may be performed at step S320. In order to clearly distinguish from the security establishment operation of step S340 to be described later, this authentication process may be referred to as a first authentication process.

[0065] The authentication process includes the following process: the STA sends an authentication request frame to the AP, and in response thereto, the AP sends an authentication response frame to the STA. The authentication frame for authentication request / response corresponds to a management frame.

[0066] The authentication frame includes an authentication algorithm number, an authentication transaction sequence number, a status code, a challenge text, a robust security network (RSN), a limited cycle group, etc. This corresponds to some examples of information that can be included in the authentication request / response frame, and can be replaced with other information, or additional information can also be included.

[0067] The STA may send an authentication request frame to the AP. The AP may determine whether to allow authentication of the corresponding STA based on the information included in the received authentication request frame. The AP may provide the result of the authentication process to the STA via an authentication response frame.

[0068] After the STA is successfully authenticated, an association process may be performed at step S330. The association process includes the following processes: the STA sends an association request frame to the AP, and in response, the AP sends an association response frame to the STA.

[0069] For example, the association request frame may include information related to various capabilities, a beacon listening interval, a service set identifier (SSID), supported rates, supported channels, RSN, a mobile domain, supported operation categories, a traffic indication map broadcast request (TIM broadcast request), interworking service capabilities, etc. For example, the association response frame may include information related to various capabilities, a status code, an association ID (AID), supported rates, an enhanced distributed channel access (EDCA) parameter set, a received channel power indicator (RCPI), a received signal-to-noise ratio indicator (RSNI), a mobile domain, a timeout interval (e.g., an association recovery time), an overlapping BSS scan parameter, a TIM broadcast response, a quality of service (QoS) map, etc. This corresponds to some examples of information that may be included in an association request / response frame, and may be replaced with other information, or may also include additional information.

[0070] After the STA successfully associates with the network, a security establishment process may be performed at step S340. The security establishment process at step S340 may be referred to as an authentication process through a robust security network association (RSNA) request / response, the authentication process at step S320 may be referred to as a first authentication process, and the security establishment process at step S340 may also be referred to simply as an authentication process.

[0071] The security establishment process of step S340 may include, for example, a process of establishing a private key through an Extensible Authentication Protocol over LAN (EAPOL) frame using a four-way handshake. In addition, the security establishment process may be performed according to a security scheme not defined in the IEEE 802.11 standard.

[0072] Figure 4 It is a diagram for explaining a backoff process to which the present disclosure can be applied.

[0073] In a wireless LAN system, the basic access mechanism of the medium access control (MAC) is a carrier sense multiple access with collision avoidance (CSMA / CA) mechanism. The CSMA / CA mechanism is also known as the distributed coordination function (DCF) of the IEEE 802.11 MAC, and basically adopts a "listen before talk" access mechanism. According to this type of access mechanism, before starting to send, the AP and / or STA may perform a clear channel assessment (CCA) of sensing the radio channel or medium during a predetermined time interval (e.g., DCF interframe space (DIFS)). As a result of the sensing, if it is determined that the medium is in an idle state, frame transmission is started through the corresponding medium. On the other hand, if it is detected that the medium is occupied or busy, the corresponding AP and / or STA does not start its own transmission, and a delay period (e.g., a random backoff period) for medium access may be set and frame transmission may be attempted after waiting. By applying a random backoff period, since multiple STAs are expected to attempt frame transmission after waiting for different time periods, conflicts can be minimized.

[0074] In addition, the IEEE 802.11 MAC protocol provides a hybrid coordination function (HCF). HCF is based on DCF and point coordination function (PCF). PCF is a synchronous access method based on polling, and refers to a method in which all receiving APs and / or STAs periodically poll to receive data frames. In addition, HCF has enhanced distributed channel access (EDCA) and HCF controlled channel access (HCCA). EDCA is a contention-based access method that provides data frames to multiple users in a direction, and HCCA uses a non-contention-based channel access method that utilizes a polling mechanism. In addition, HCF includes a medium access mechanism for improving the QoS (quality of service) of a wireless LAN, and QoS data can be sent during a contention period (CP) and a contention-free period (CFP).

[0075] Reference Figure 4, the operation based on the random backoff period will be described. When the occupied / busy medium becomes idle, multiple STAs may attempt to send data (or frames). As a method of minimizing conflicts, each of the STAs may select a random backoff count respectively and attempt to send after waiting for the corresponding time slot time. The random backoff count has a pseudo-random integer value and may be determined as one of the values ​​ranging from 0 to CW. Here, CW is a contention window parameter value. The CW parameter is assigned CWmin as an initial value, but may take a value twice as large in the event of a transmission failure (e.g., when an ACK for a transmitted frame is not received). When the CW parameter value reaches CWmax, data transmission may be attempted while maintaining the CWmax value until data transmission is successful, and when data transmission is successful, the CWmin value is reset. The values ​​of CW, CWmin, and CWmax are preferably set to 2n-1 (n=0, 1, 2, ...).

[0076] When the random backoff process starts, the STA continuously monitors the medium in the backoff slot countdown according to the determined backoff count value. When the medium is monitored for occupancy, it stops the countdown and waits, and restarts the remaining part of the countdown when the medium becomes idle.

[0077] exist Figure 4 In the example of , when the packet to be sent arrives at the MAC of STA3, STA3 can send the frame immediately after confirming that the medium has been idle for up to DIFS. The remaining STAs monitor and wait for the medium to be occupied / busy. At the same time, the data to be sent can also occur in each of STA1, STA2 and STA5, and when the medium is monitored as idle, each STA waits for up to DIFS, and then the countdown of the backoff slot can be performed according to the random backoff count value selected by each STA. Assume that STA2 selects the minimum backoff count value and STA1 selects the maximum backoff count value. That is, the example illustrates a case where the remaining backoff time of STA5 is shorter than the remaining backoff time of STA1 when STA2 completes the backoff count and starts frame transmission. STA1 and STA5 temporarily stop the countdown and wait when STA2 occupies the medium. When STA2's occupancy ends and the medium becomes idle again, STA1 and STA5 wait for DIFS and restart the stopped backoff count. That is, frame transmission can start after counting down the remaining backoff slot for the remaining backoff time. Since the remaining backoff time of STA5 is shorter than that of STA1, STA5 starts frame transmission. The data to be transmitted may also occur in STA4 while STA2 occupies the medium. From the perspective of STA4, when the medium becomes idle, STA4 may wait for DIFS, and then may perform a countdown according to a random backoff count value selected by STA4, and start transmitting frames. Figure 4The example shows a case where the remaining backoff time of STA5 accidentally collides with the random backoff count value of STA4. In this case, a collision may occur between STA4 and STA5. When a collision occurs, neither STA4 nor STA5 receives an ACK, so data transmission fails. In this case, STA4 and STA5 can double the CW value, select a random backoff count value, and perform a countdown. While the medium is occupied due to the transmission of STA4 and STA5, STA1 waits, and when the medium becomes idle, STA1 waits DIFS, and then starts frame transmission after the remaining backoff time has passed.

[0078] As in Figure 4 In the example of , a data frame is a frame for sending data forwarded to a higher layer, and may be sent after a backoff performed after DIFS has passed since the medium became idle. In addition, a management frame is a frame for exchanging management information that is not forwarded to a higher layer, and is sent after a backoff is performed after an IFS such as DIFS or a point coordination function IFS (PIFS). As subtype frames of the management frame, there are beacons, association requests / responses, reassociation requests / responses, probe requests / responses, authentication requests / responses, and the like. A control frame is a frame for controlling access to a medium. As subtype frames of the control frame, there are request to send (RTS), clear to send (CTS), acknowledgement (ACK), power save poll (PS-Poll), block ACK (BlockAck), block ACK request (BlockACKReq), empty data packet announcement (NDP announcement), and trigger, and the like. If the control frame is not a response frame of the previous frame, it is sent after a backoff is performed after DIFS has passed, and if it is a response frame of the previous frame, it is sent without performing a backoff after a short IFS (SIFS). The type and subtype of a frame may be identified by the type field and subtype field in the frame control (FC) field.

[0079] Quality of Service (QoS) STA can perform a backoff performed after arbitration IFS (AIFS) (i.e., AIFS (where i is a value determined by AC)) for the access category (AC) to which the frame belongs, and then can send the frame. Here, the frame that can use AIFS may be a data frame, a management frame, or a control frame instead of a response frame.

[0080] Figure 5 is a diagram for explaining a frame transmission operation based on CSMA / CA to which the present disclosure can be applied.

[0081] As described above, in addition to the physical carrier sensing in which the STA directly senses the medium, the CSMA / CA mechanism also includes virtual carrier sensing. Virtual carrier sensing is intended to compensate for problems such as hidden node problems that may occur in medium access. For virtual carrier sensing, the MAC of the STA can use a network allocation vector (NAV). NAV is a value that indicates to other STAs the remaining time until the medium is available for use by the STA that is currently using or has the right to use the medium. Therefore, the value set to NAV corresponds to the period during which the STA sending the frame plans to use the medium, and during the corresponding period, the STA receiving the NAV value is prohibited from accessing the medium. For example, the NAV can be configured based on the value of the "Duration" field of the MAC header of the frame.

[0082] exist Figure 5 In the example of FIG. 1 , it is assumed that STA1 intends to send data to STA2, and STA3 is in a position to be able to eavesdrop on some or all frames sent and received between STA1 and STA2.

[0083] In order to reduce the possibility of transmission conflicts among multiple STAs in the CSMA / CA-based frame transmission operation, a mechanism using RTS / CTS frames can be applied. Figure 5 In the example of , when STA1's transmission is being performed, as a result of STA3's carrier sensing, it can be determined that the medium is in an idle state. That is, STA1 may correspond to a hidden node with respect to STA3. Alternatively, in Figure 5 In the example of , it can be determined that the carrier sensing result medium of STA3 is in an idle state while the transmission of STA2 is being performed. That is, STA2 may correspond to a hidden node with respect to STA3. By exchanging RTS / CTS frames before performing data transmission and reception between STA1 and STA2, STAs outside the transmission range of one of STA1 or STA2 or STAs outside the carrier sensing range of the transmission from STA1 or STA3 may not attempt to occupy the channel during data transmission and reception between STA1 and STA2.

[0084] Specifically, STA1 can determine whether the channel is being used by carrier sensing. In terms of physical carrier sensing, STA1 can determine the channel occupancy idle state based on the energy level or signal correlation detected in the channel. In addition, in terms of virtual carrier sensing, STA1 can use the network allocation vector (NAV) timer to determine the channel occupancy state.

[0085] When the channel is in an idle state during DIFS, STA1 may send an RTS frame to STA2 after performing backoff. When STA2 receives the RTS frame, STA2 may send a CTS frame to STA1 as a response to the RTS frame after SIFS.

[0086] If STA3 cannot eavesdrop on the CTS frame from STA2 but can eavesdrop on the RTS frame from STA1, STA3 can set the NAV timer for the frame transmission period (e.g., SIFS+CTS frame+SIFS+data frame+SIFS+ACK frame) that is continuously transmitted thereafter using the duration information included in the RTS frame. Alternatively, if STA3 can eavesdrop on the CTS frame from STA2, STA3 can set the NAV timer for the frame transmission period (e.g., SIFS+data frame+SIFS+ACK frame) that is continuously transmitted thereafter using the duration information included in the CTS frame even though STA3 cannot eavesdrop on the RTS frame from STA1. That is, if STA3 can eavesdrop on one or more of the RTS frame or the CTS frame from one or more of STA1 or STA2, STA3 can set the NAV accordingly. When STA3 receives a new frame before the NAV timer expires, STA3 can update the NAV timer using the duration information included in the new frame. STA3 does not attempt channel access until the NAV timer expires.

[0087] When STA1 receives a CTS frame from STA2, STA1 may send a data frame to STA2 after SIFS, starting from the time point when reception of the CTS frame is completed. When STA2 successfully receives the data frame, STA2 may send an ACK frame to STA1 after SIFS as a response to the data frame. When the NAV timer expires, STA3 may determine whether the channel is being used by carrier sensing. When STA3 determines that the channel is not being used by other terminals during the DIFS period after the NAV timer expires, STA3 may attempt channel access after the contention window (CW) according to the random backoff has passed.

[0088] Figure 6 is a diagram for explaining an example of a frame structure used in a WLAN system to which the present disclosure can be applied.

[0089] With the help of instructions or primitives (meaning a set of instructions or parameters) from the MAC layer, the PHY layer can prepare a MAC PDU (MPDU) to be transmitted. For example, when a command requesting the PHY layer to start transmitting is received from the MAC layer, the PHY layer switches to a transmission mode, and configures information (e.g., data) provided from the MAC layer in the form of a frame and transmits it. In addition, when the PHY layer detects a valid preamble of a received frame, the PHY layer monitors the header of the preamble and transmits a command notifying the start of reception of the PHY layer to the MAC layer.

[0090] In this manner, information transmission / reception in the wireless LAN system is performed in the form of a frame, and for this purpose, a PHY layer protocol data unit (PPDU) format is defined.

[0091] The basic PPDU may include a short training field (STF), a long training field (LTF), a signal (SIG) field, and a data (Data) field. The most basic PPDU format (e.g., Figure 7 The non-HT (high throughput) shown in the figure may consist of only the legacy-STF (L-STF), the legacy-LTF (L-LTF), the legacy-SIG (L-SIG) field and the data field. In addition, depending on the type of PPDU format (e.g., HT mixed format PPDU, HT greenfield format PPDU, VHT (very high throughput) PPDU, etc.), additional (or different types of) RL-SIG, U-SIG, non-legacy SIG field, non-legacy STF, non-legacy LTF (i.e., xx-SIG, xx-STF, xx-LTF (e.g., xx is HT, VHT, HE, EHT, etc.)) and the like may be included between the L-SIG field and the data field.

[0092] STF is a signal used for signal detection, automatic gain control (AGC), diversity selection, precise time synchronization, etc., and LTF is a signal used for channel estimation and frequency error estimation. STF and LTF can be called signals for synchronization and channel estimation of the OFDM physical layer.

[0093] The SIG field may include various information related to the transmission and reception of the PPDU. For example, the L-SIG field consists of 24 bits, and the L-SIG field may include a 4-bit rate field, a 1-bit reserved bit, a 12-bit length field, a 1-bit parity field, and a 6-bit tail field. The RATE field may include information about the modulation and coding rate of the data. For example, the 12-bit length field may include information about the length or duration of the PPDU. For example, the value of the 12-bit length field may be determined based on the type of the PPDU. For example, for non-HT, HT, VHT, or EHT PPDUs, the value of the length field may be determined as a multiple of 3. For example, for HEPPDUs, the value of the length field may be determined as a multiple of 3+1 or a multiple of 3+2.

[0094] The data field may include a service (SERVICE) field, a physical layer service data unit (PSDU) and a PPDU tail bit, and may also include padding bits if necessary. Some bits of the service field may be used for synchronization of the descrambler at the receiving end. The PSDU corresponds to the MAC PDU defined in the MAC layer and may include data generated / used in the upper layer. The PPDU tail bit may be used to return the encoder to the 0 state. The padding bit may be used to adjust the length of the data field in predetermined units.

[0095] MAC PDU is defined according to various MAC frame formats, and a basic MAC frame consists of a MAC header, a frame body, and a frame check sequence (FCS). A MAC frame may consist of a MAC PDU and be transmitted / received through a PSDU of a data portion of a PPDU format.

[0096] The MAC header includes a frame control field, a duration / ID field, an address field, etc. The frame control field may include control information required for frame transmission / reception. The duration / ID field may be set to the time for transmitting the corresponding frame, etc. For details of the sequence control, QoS control, and HT control subfields of the MAC header, refer to the IEEE 802.11 standard document.

[0097] The null data PPDU (NDP) format refers to a PPDU format that does not include a data field. In other words, NDP refers to a frame format that includes a PPDU preamble (i.e., L-STF, L-LTF, L-SIG fields and additional non-legacy SIG, non-legacy STF, non-legacy LTF (if present)) of a general PPDU format and does not include the remaining part (i.e., the data field).

[0098] Figure 7 is a diagram illustrating an example of a PPDU defined in the IEEE 802.11 standard to which the present disclosure can be applied.

[0099] In standards such as IEEE 802.11a / g / n / ac / ax, various types of PPDUs have been used. The basic PPDU format (IEEE 802.11a / g) includes L-LTF, L-STF, L-SIG, and data fields. The basic PPDU format may also be referred to as a non-HT PPDU format (such as Figure 7 (as shown in (a)).

[0100] Compared to the basic PPDU format, the HT PPDU format (IEEE 802.11n) additionally includes HT-SIG, HT-STF, and HT-LFT fields. Figure 7The HT PPDU format shown in (b) may be referred to as an HT mixed format. In addition, an HT greenfield format PPDU may be defined, and this corresponds to a format consisting of HT-GF-STF, HT-LTF1, HT-SIG, one or more HT-LTFs, and a data field, excluding L-STF, L-LTF, and L-SIG (not shown).

[0101] Compared to the basic PPDU format, an example of the VHT PPDU format (IEEE 802.11ac) additionally includes VHTSIG-A, VHT-STF, VHT-LTF, and VHT-SIG-B fields (eg, Figure 7 (as shown in (c)).

[0102] Compared to the basic PPDU format, an example of the HE PPDU format (IEEE 802.11ax) additionally includes a repeated L-SIG (RL-SIG), HE-SIG-A, HE-SIG-B, HE-STF, HE-LTF, a packet extension (PE) field (such as Figure 7 (d) of the HE PPDU format). Some fields may be excluded or their lengths may vary according to the detailed example of the HE PPDU format. For example, the HE-SIG-B field is included in the HE PPDU format for multi-user (MU), and the HE-SIG-B is not included in the HE PPDU format for single user (SU). In addition, the HE trigger-based (TB) PPDU format does not include the HE-SIG-B, and the length of the HE-STF field may vary to 8μs. The extended range (HE ER) SU PPDU format does not include the HE-SIG-B field, and the length of the HE-SIG-A field may vary to 16μs. For example, the RL-SIG may be configured to be the same as the L-SIG. Based on the presence of the RL-SIG, the receiving STA may know that the received PPDU is a HE PPDU or an EHT PPDU, which will be described later.

[0103] The EHT PPDU format may include Figure 7 (e) EHT MU (multi-user) and Figure 7 The EHT TB (trigger-based) PPDU in (f) of FIG. The EHT PPDU format is similar to the HE PPDU format in that it includes the RL-SIG following the L-SIG, but may include the U (Universal)-SIG, the EHT-SIG, the EHT-STF, and the EHT-LTF following the RL-SIG.

[0104] Figure 7The EHT MU PPDU in (e) corresponds to a PPDU carrying one or more data (or PSDU) for one or more users. That is, the EHT MU PPDU can be used for both SU transmission and MU transmission. For example, the EHT MU PPDU can correspond to a PPDU for one receiving STA or multiple receiving STAs.

[0105] Compared with EHT MU PPDU, Figure 7 The EHT TB PPDU in (f) omits the EHT-SIG. A STA that receives a trigger for UL MU transmission (eg, a trigger frame or a triggered response schedule (TRS)) may perform UL transmission based on the EHT TB PPDU format.

[0106] The L-STF, L-LTF, L-SIG, RL-SIG, U-SIG (Universal Signal), EHT-SIG fields may be coded and modulated so that even legacy STAs may attempt to demodulate and decode, and may be mapped based on a determined subcarrier frequency interval (e.g., 312.5kHz). These may be referred to as pre-EHT modulation fields. Next, the EHT-STF, EHT-LTF, data, PE fields may be coded and modulated so that they may be demodulated and decoded by a STA that successfully decodes a non-legacy SIG (e.g., U-SIG and / or EHT-SIG) and obtains the information included in the field, and may be mapped based on a determined subcarrier frequency interval (e.g., 78.125kHz). These may be referred to as EHT modulation fields.

[0107] Similarly, in the HE PPDU format, the L-STF, L-LTF, L-SIG, RL-SIG, HE-SIG-A, and HE-SIG-B fields may be referred to as pre-HE modulation fields, and the HE-STF, HE-LTF, data, and PE fields may be referred to as HE modulation fields. In addition, in the VHT PPDU format, the L-STF, L-LTF, L-SIG, and VHT-SIG-A fields may be referred to as non-VHT modulation fields, and the VHT STF, VHT-LTF, VHT-SIG-B, and data fields may be referred to as VHT modulation fields.

[0108] Included in Figure 7The U-SIG in the EHT PPDU format may be configured based on, for example, two symbols (e.g., two consecutive OFDM symbols). Each symbol (e.g., OFDM symbol) used for the U-SIG may have a duration of 4 μs, and the U-SIG may have a total duration of 8 μs. Each symbol of the U-SIG may be used to send 26 bits of information. For example, each symbol of the U-SIG may be sent and received based on 52 data tones and 4 pilot tones.

[0109] The U-SIG may be constructed in units of 20 MHz. For example, if an 80 MHz PPDU is constructed, the U-SIG may be duplicated. That is, the same 4 U-SIGs may be included in the 80 MHz PPDU. A PPDU with a bandwidth exceeding 80 MHz may include a different U-SIG.

[0110] For example, A uncoded bits may be sent via U-SIG, the first symbol of U-SIG (e.g., U-SIG-1 symbol) may send the first X bits of information out of a total of A bits of information, and the second symbol of U-SIG (e.g., U-SIG-2 symbol) may send the remaining Y bits of information out of a total of A bits of information. The A bits of information (e.g., 52 uncoded bits) may include a CRC field (e.g., a 4-bit long field) and a tail field (e.g., a 6-bit long field). For example, the tail field may be used to terminate the trellis structure of the convolutional decoder and may be set to 0.

[0111] The bit information sent through U-SIG can be divided into version-independent bits and version-dependent bits. For example, U-SIG can be included in Figure 7 In a new PPDU format not shown in the EHT PPDU format (e.g., UHR PPDU format), and may be included in the format of the U-SIG field included in the EHT PPDU format and the format of the U-SIG field included in the UHR PPDU format, the version-independent bits may be the same, and some or all of the version-related bits may be different.

[0112] For example, the size of the version-independent bit of the U-SIG may be fixed or variable. The version-independent bit may be assigned only to the U-SIG-1 symbol, or to both the U-SIG-1 symbol and the U-SIG-2 symbol. The version-independent bit and the version-dependent bit may be referred to by various names, such as a first control bit and a second control bit.

[0113] For example, the version-independent bits of the U-SIG may include a 3-bit physical layer version identifier (PHY version identifier), and this information may indicate the PHY version (e.g., EHT, UHR, etc.) of the transmitted / received PPDU. The version-independent bits of the U-SIG may include a 1-bit UL / DL flag field. The first value of the 1-bit UL / DL flag field is related to UL communication, and the second value of the UL / DL flag field is related to DL communication. The version-independent bits of the U-SIG may include information about the length of a transmit opportunity (TXOP) and information about a BSS color ID.

[0114] For example, the version-related bits of the U-SIG may include information directly or indirectly indicating the type of the PPDU (eg, SU PPDU, MU PPDU, TB PPDU, etc.).

[0115] Information required for PPDU transmission and reception may be included in the U-SIG. For example, the U-SIG may also include information about bandwidth, information about an MCS technology applied to a non-legacy SIG (e.g., EHT-SIG or UHR-SIG, etc.), information indicating whether a DCM (dual carrier modulation) technology (e.g., a technology for achieving an effect similar to frequency diversity by reusing the same signal on two subcarriers) is applied to the non-legacy SIG, information about the number of symbols used for the non-legacy SIG, and information about whether the non-legacy SIG is generated across the entire frequency band.

[0116] Some of the information required for PPDU transmission and reception may be included in the U-SIG and / or the non-legacy SIG (e.g., EHT-SIG or UHR-SIG, etc.). For example, information about the type of non-legacy LTF / STF (e.g., EHT-LTF / EHT-STF or UHR-LTF / UHR-STF, etc.), information about the length of the non-legacy LTF and the CP (cyclic prefix) length, information about the GI (guard interval) applicable to the non-legacy LTF, information about preamble puncturing applicable to the PPDU, information about resource unit (RU) allocation, etc. may be included only in the U-SIG, only in the non-legacy SIG, or may be indicated by a combination of information included in the U-SIG and information included in the non-legacy SIG.

[0117] Preamble puncturing may indicate the transmission of a PPDU in which there is no signal in one or more frequency units in the bandwidth of the PPDU. For example, the size of the frequency unit (or the resolution of the preamble puncturing) may be defined as 20 MHz, 40 MHz, etc. For example, preamble puncturing may be applied to a PPDU bandwidth of a predetermined size or greater.

[0118] exist Figure 7In the example of , non-legacy SIGs such as HE-SIG-B and EHT-SIG may include control information for receiving STAs. The non-legacy SIG may be transmitted on at least one symbol, and one symbol may have a length of 4 μs. Information about the number of symbols used for the EHT-SIG may be included in a previous SIG (eg, HE-SIG-A, U-SIG, etc.).

[0119] Non-legacy SIGs such as HE-SIG-B and EHT-SIG may include a common field and a user-specific field. The common field and the user-specific field may be encoded separately.

[0120] In some cases, the common field may be omitted. For example, in a compressed mode that does not apply OFDMA (Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access), the common field may be omitted, and multiple STAs may receive the PPDU (e.g., the data field of the PPDU) through the same frequency band. In a non-compressed mode that applies OFDMA, multiple users may receive the PPDU (e.g., the data field of the PPDU) through different frequency bands.

[0121] The number of user-specific fields may be determined based on the number of users. A user block field may include up to two user fields. Each user field may be associated with a MU-MIMO allocation or may be associated with a non-MU-MIMO allocation.

[0122] The common field may include a CRC bit and a tail bit, and the length of the CRC bit may be determined to be 4 bits, and the length of the tail bit may be determined to be 6 bits and set to 000000. The common field may include RU allocation information. The RU allocation information may include information about the positions of RUs to which multiple users (ie, multiple receiving STAs) are assigned.

[0123] RU can include multiple subcarriers (or tones). RU can be used when sending signals to multiple STAs based on OFDMA technology. In addition, RU can be defined even when sending signals to one STA. Resources can be allocated to non-traditional STF, non-traditional LTF and data fields in units of RU.

[0124] The RU of applicable size may be defined according to the PPDU bandwidth. The RU may be defined identically or differently for the applied PPDU format (e.g., HEPPDU, EHT PPDU, UHR PPDU, etc.). For example, in the case of an 80MHz PPDU, the RU layout of the HEPPDU and EHT PPDU may be different. The applicable RU size, the number of RUs and RU positions, the DC (direct current) subcarrier positions and numbers, the empty subcarrier positions and numbers, the guard subcarrier positions and numbers, etc. for each PPDU bandwidth may be referred to as a tone plan. For example, a tone plan for high bandwidth may be defined in the form of multiple iterations of a low bandwidth tone plan.

[0125] RUs of various sizes may be defined as 26-tone RUs, 52-tone RUs, 106-tone RUs, 242-tone RUs, 484-tone RUs, 996-tone RUs, 2×996-tone RUs, 3×996-tone RUs, etc. MRUs (multi-RUs) are different from multiple individual RUs and correspond to a group of subcarriers consisting of multiple RUs. For example, one MRU may be defined as 52+26 tones, 106+26 tones, 484+242 tones, 996+484 tones, 996+484+242 tones, 2×996+484 tones, 3×996 tones, or 3×996+484 tones. In addition, the multiple RUs constituting one MRU may or may not be continuous in the frequency domain.

[0126] The specific size of the RU may be reduced or expanded. Therefore, the specific size of each RU in the present disclosure (i.e., the number of corresponding tones) is not restrictive but illustrative. In addition, in the present disclosure, within a predetermined bandwidth (e.g., 20 MHz, 40 MHz, 80 MHz, 160 MHz, 320 MHz ...), the number of RUs may vary according to the RU size.

[0127] Figure 7 The names of each field in the PPDU format are exemplary, and the scope of the present disclosure is not limited by these names. In addition, the examples of the present disclosure can be applied to Figure 7 The PPDU format shown in Figure 7 A new PPDU format that excludes some fields and / or adds some fields.

[0128] HT Control Field

[0129] Figure 8 is a diagram showing an exemplary format of an Aggregation Control (A-Control) subfield of an HT Control field to which the present disclosure may be applied.

[0130] As reference Figure 6As described, the HT Control field may be included in the MAC header. The HT Control field is present in a Control Wrapper frame and may be present in QoS Data, QoS Null, and Management frames determined by the +HTC subfield of the Frame Control field.

[0131] The HT Control field may have the format in Table 1.

[0132] [Table 1]

[0133]

[0134] As shown in Table 1, the HE variant HT Control field may include an A (Aggregation)-Control subfield. The A-Control subfield may have a length of 30 bits.

[0135] like Figure 8 As shown, the A-Control subfield may include a variable length control list subfield and a padding subfield of 0 or more bits. The control list subfield may include at least one control subfield. The padding subfield follows the last control subfield (if present) and may be configured as a sequence of multiple 0s, which enables the length of the A-Control subfield to be included in the HT Control field 30.

[0136] One control subfield may include a 4-bit control ID subfield and a control information subfield having a variable length.

[0137] The control ID subfield may indicate the type of information included in the control information subfield. The length of the control information subfield may be defined as a fixed value for each value of the control ID subfield (excluding reserved values). The value of the control ID subfield and the length of the control information subfield associated therewith may be defined as in Table 2.

[0138] [Table 2]

[0139] Control ID value meaning Length of the control information subfield (bits) 0 Triggered Response Scheduling (TRS) 26 1 Operation Mode (OM) 12 2 HE Link Adaptation (HLA) 26 3 Buffer Status Report (BSR) 26 4 UL Power Headroom (UPH) 8 5 Bandwidth Query Report (BQR) 10 6 Command and Status (CAS) 8 7 EHT Operation Mode (EHT OM) 6 8 Single Response Scheduling (SRS) 10 9 AP Assistance Request (AAR) 20 10-14 reserve 15 Some are definitely in need of expansion (ONES) 26

[0140] Table 2 shows the length of the format of the control subfield (TRS, OM, HLA, BSR, UPH, BQR, CAS, EHTOM, SRS, AAR, etc.) indicated by the control ID value. In the ONES control subfield, all 26 bits can be configured to 1. The format of each other control subfield is defined separately, and Figure 8 An illustrative format of the HE Link Adaptation (HLA) Control subfield having a length of 12 bits among them is shown.

[0141] The control information subfield of the HLA control subfield may include information related to the HE Link Adaptation (HLA) procedure.

[0142] The unsolicited modulation and coding scheme (MCS) feedback (MFB) subfield may correspond to an unsolicited MFB indicator. The MRQ subfield may correspond to an HLA feedback request indicator. The NSS subfield may correspond to the number of recommended spatial streams. The HE-MCS subfield may correspond to the recommended HE-MCS. The DCM subfield may correspond to the use of the recommended dual carrier modulation (DCM). The RU allocation subfield may correspond to the RU of the recommended HE-MCS, or may correspond to the RU specified by the MFB requester to receive feedback. The BW subfield may correspond to the bandwidth of the recommended HE-MCS, or may correspond to the bandwidth specified by the MFB requester to receive feedback. The MRQ sequence identifier (MSI) / partial PPDU parameter subfield may correspond to a partial parameter or MRQ sequence identifier of the measured PPDU. The Tx beamforming subfield may correspond to the transmission type of the measured PPDU (i.e., whether beamforming is applied). The UL HE TB PPDU MFB subfield may correspond to an indication of the MFB for the HE TB PPDU transmitted in the uplink.

[0143] Extended Control Field

[0144] For the HT control field as described above, even in the HE variant format, only the remaining 26 bits of the 30 bits of the A-control subfield, excluding the 4-bit control list subfield, can include control information. In other words, there is a limitation that the existing HT control field can provide a container of up to 26 bits for control information. In an enhanced WLAN system, in order to support wider bandwidth, more RU allocation, more spatial streams, higher MCS, etc., it may be necessary to include more control information in a MAC frame (ie, a MAC header and / or a frame body).

[0145] For example, as a control ID value included in the A-control subfield, 8 (i.e., 0-6 and 15) is defined in a WLAN system based on 802.11ax, and 3 (i.e., 7-9) is additionally defined in 802.11be, so the reserved control ID value is 5 (i.e., 10-14). In addition, the maximum size of the content of the A-control subfield is 26 bits, and for the HLA control subfield, 25 bits are defined among the 26-bit information size, and only 1 bit is defined as a reserved bit. For link adaptation in an enhanced WLAN system, it may be necessary to extend the size for bandwidth (BW), RU allocation, NSS subfield, etc. in the HLA control subfield, and only the reserved 1-bit size may not be able to include the additional information in the HT control field. Therefore, it may be necessary to extend the HT control field (e.g., modify the HT control field or define a new control field), which may include information whose size exceeds the existing 26-bit limit.

[0146] The present disclosure describes various examples for extending the HT Control field. In the following description, the HE variant HT Control field including the A-Control subfield is described as a representative example, but the scope of the present disclosure is not limited by the name, and the following example can also be applied to another variant or another format of the control field.

[0147] Hereinafter, in order to distinguish from the existing HT control field, an extended example of the HT control field according to the present disclosure is referred to by using an unrestricted name called a non-legacy control field. The non-legacy name may refer to application to the next WLAN system and may be replaced by various names such as EHT+ or UHR that are different from the name of EHT in 802.11be.

[0148] Fig. 9 is a diagram for explaining an example of a method for transmitting a frame including a non-legacy control field according to the present disclosure.

[0149] In S910 , a first STA may receive a frame including a non-legacy control field from a second STA.

[0150] Here, the non-legacy control field may correspond to at least one specific control field different from the existing HT control field. For example, when the HT control field is present in the MAC header, the non-legacy control field may be present in the MAC header in addition to the HT control field. Alternatively, when the HT control field is not present in the MAC header, the non-legacy control field may be present at a specific position within the frame. For example, the non-legacy control field may be present at the last field position of the MAC header, at a position followed by a frame body, or at a position following the HT control field.

[0151] A non-legacy control field may be included in place of the HT Control field. The non-legacy control field may also be defined to have the same size as the HT Control field. In this case, the +HTC subfield in the frame control field of the MAC header may indicate whether a non-legacy control field is present, rather than whether an HT Control field is present (in which case it may be referred to by a name different from the +HTC subfield).

[0152] The non-legacy control field may be included in the frame body instead of being included in the MAC header. Inclusion in the frame body may correspond to defining a new type or sub-type of MAC frame format including the non-legacy control field.

[0153] The non-legacy control field may be defined as a field included in the MAC header but having a larger size than the HT Control field (e.g., more than 4 octets (e.g., 5 octets or 6 octets)). The non-legacy control field may be included in addition to the HT Control field, or the non-legacy control field may be included in a frame that does not include the HT Control field.

[0154] For example, the +HTC subfield (or a subfield with a new name corresponding to the existing +HTC subfield position) in the frame control field of the MAC header may indicate whether a non-legacy control field exists. In this case, the +HTC subfield (or a subfield with a new name corresponding to the existing +HTC subfield position) does not indicate whether an HT control field exists, and the HT control field may be defined as not existing in the corresponding MAC frame. In other words, there is no need to indicate whether an HT control field exists.

[0155] For example, the first bit of the frame body may indicate whether a non-legacy control field is present.

[0156] For example, the format applied to the MAC header may include a first format and a second format. The first format may correspond to a format that does not include information indicating whether a non-legacy control field exists, and the second format may correspond to a new format including information indicating whether a non-legacy control field exists (e.g., 1-bit information). The MAC header of the second format may have a larger size than the MAC header of the first format (e.g., the size including information indicating whether a non-legacy control field exists, or including information indicating whether a non-legacy control field exists and the size of the non-legacy control field). Alternatively, the protocol version subfield in the frame control field of the MAC header may have various values ​​(e.g., four values), one of which may indicate that the second format is applied. Whether the HT control field exists is indicated by the +HTC subfield in the frame control field of the MAC header, and the information indicating whether a non-legacy control field exists may be included in a field different from the +HTC subfield (e.g., an additional 1 bit of the MAC header of the second format).

[0157] For example, a specific value (e.g., one of the pre-reserved values ​​10-14) of the Control ID subfield in the A-Control subfield of the HT Control field may indicate the presence of a non-legacy control field. The A-Control subfield including the Control ID subfield of the specific value may include a Control Information subfield whose length is set to 0 (or may not include a Control Information subfield). Alternatively, the Control Information subfield in the A-Control subfield including the Control ID subfield of the specific value may include information on the number and / or use of non-legacy control fields.

[0158] In S920 , the first STA may perform processing on the frame body based on the non-legacy control field.

[0159] For example, a non-legacy control field (e.g., at least one specific control field) within a frame may include information about link adaptation in a WLAN system supporting extended bandwidth, and processing including decoding / interpreting / calculating at least one field included in a frame body within the same frame may be performed based on the information.

[0160] In other words, the processing of the frame body in the first STA receiving the frame may include a process including decoding / interpreting / calculating the frame body. For example, the PHY entity of the first STA may receive the PPDU through a wireless medium, and perform processing such as calculation / measurement based on the fields included in the PPDU (e.g., TXTIME calculation, pilot-based channel state estimation, etc.) and decoding / descrambling of the fields included in the PPDU (e.g., obtaining the PSDU by performing decoding / descrambling on the data (DATA) field of the PPDU based on the indication information of the SIG field). For example, as a result derived by processing the PPDU, the PSDU may be sent from the PHY entity to the MAC entity as an MPDU / A (aggregation)-MPDU. The MPDU / A-MPDU may include at least one MAC frame. The processing of the MAC frame may obtain information included in the MAC frame by performing parsing, defragmentation, etc. on the fields included in the MAC frame. For example, information included in the MAC header of the MAC frame may be interpreted and obtained, and based on this, information included in the frame body of the MAC frame may be interpreted and obtained.

[0161] Fig. 9 The method described in the example can be Figure 1 The first device (100) in is executed. For example, Figure 1 At least one processor (102) of the first device (100) in the embodiment of the present invention may receive a frame including a non-legacy control field from another device through at least one transceiver (106), and process information included in a frame body of a corresponding frame based on the corresponding information. In addition, at least one memory (104) of the first device (100) may store instructions for executing the non-legacy control field when executed by the at least one processor (102). Fig. 9 Examples or instructions of the methods described in the examples described below.

[0162] Fig.10 is a diagram for explaining an example of a method for receiving a frame including a non-legacy control field according to the present disclosure.

[0163] In S1010 , the second STA may generate a frame including a non-legacy control field.

[0164] Here, the non-legacy control field may correspond to at least one specific control field, and since the description related to the frame including the non-legacy field is the same as Fig. 9 The examples are the same, so the overlapping descriptions are omitted.

[0165] In S1020 , the second STA may send the generated frame to at least one other STA.

[0166] Fig.10 The method described in the example can be Figure 1 The second device (200) in is executed. For example, Figure 1 At least one processor (202) of the second device (200) in the embodiment of the present invention may generate a frame including a non-legacy control field and a frame including information in a frame body configured based on the non-legacy control field through at least one transceiver (206), and transmit them to other devices. In addition, at least one memory (204) of the second device (200) may store instructions for executing the operation of the second device (200) when executed by the at least one processor (202). Fig.10 Examples or instructions of the methods described in the examples described below.

[0167] Fig. 9 and Fig.10 Examples of may correspond to some examples of the various examples of the present disclosure. In the following, the examples including Fig. 9 and Fig.10 Various examples of the present disclosure including examples of .

[0168] The embodiments described below mainly describe the format of a frame including an extended control field (or a non-legacy control field), and describe the control information included in the extended control field by taking link adaptation related information as a representative example, but the scope of the present disclosure is not limited by the type or characteristics of the information included in the extended control field. In other words, the example described below defines the format of a frame including a control field of a new format, which can provide a container of control information having an extended size compared to an existing container, and any control information can be included in the extended control field according to the present disclosure.

[0169] Fig.11 is a diagram for explaining an example of a frame format including an extended control field according to the present disclosure.

[0170] Implementation Method 1

[0171] Reference Fig.11 (a), a non-legacy control field may be included in a frame in place of an existing HT control field.

[0172] For example, a STA that complies with a WLAN system that supports a non-legacy control field may interpret a field present at the position of the HT control field in the existing MAC header as a non-legacy control field. A STA that complies with an existing WLAN system may interpret the HT control field in the MAC header in the same manner as before. In other words, depending on the version of the WLAN system supported (e.g., a WLAN system before EHT or a WLAN system after EHT), a field of the same size at the same position may be interpreted as an HT control field or a non-legacy control field. Therefore, the corresponding field may be referred to as, for example, an "HT / non-legacy control field".

[0173] Whether the HT / non-legacy control field exists in the MAC header may be indicated by the value of the +HTC subfield in the Frame Control subfield within the existing MAC header.

[0174] According to this embodiment, for a STA that complies with a WLAN system that supports a non-legacy control field, a MAC header format including an existing HT control field may not be supported. The non-legacy control field may be defined as including information of an existing HT control field, or a subtype or subvariant of the non-legacy control field may be defined as corresponding to various types and / or various variations of the existing HT control field.

[0175] Implementation Method 2

[0176] Reference Fig.11 (b), the non-legacy control field may be newly defined as a field different from the existing HT control field. For example, unlike the existing HT control field defined as having a size of 4 octets (or bytes), the non-legacy control field may be defined as having a size of more than 4 octets (e.g., 5 octets or 6 octets).

[0177] Whether there is an existing HT Control field in the MAC header may be indicated by the existing +HTC subfield. The present disclosure includes various examples of indicating whether there is a non-legacy control field in the MAC header.

[0178] Implementation Method 2-1

[0179] The existing +HTC subfield may be newly defined to indicate whether a non-legacy control field exists, rather than whether an existing HT control field exists. In this case, the +HTC subfield may be called a different name, but whether a non-legacy control field exists may be indicated by a field with a new name whose position and size are the same as those of the existing +HTC subfield in the frame control field of the MAC header. In other words, the value of the subfield at the same position may be interpreted as the value of the +HTC subfield by a STA that complies with an existing WLAN system that does not support a non-legacy control field in the same manner as before, and may be interpreted as the value of a subfield indicating whether a non-legacy control field exists by a STA that complies with a new WLAN system that supports a non-legacy control field.

[0180] In this case, similar to Embodiment 1, for a STA that complies with a WLAN system that supports a non-legacy control field, the MAC header format including the existing HT control field may not be supported. Fig.11 In the example of (b), the size / length of the HT Control field may be always defined as 0 in the new WLAN system (however, the non-legacy Control field may be defined as including information / corresponding information of the existing HT Control field). In other words, except that the size of the non-legacy Control field is different in Embodiment 1 and Embodiment 2-1, whether or not the non-legacy Control field exists may be indicated in the same manner through the +HTC subfield (or a subfield with a new name).

[0181] Implementation method 2-2

[0182] Information indicating whether a non-legacy control field exists may be defined in the MAC header. For example, information indicating whether a non-legacy control field exists may be defined as 1-bit information.

[0183] Since there are no reserved bits in the currently defined MAC header format (e.g., the first format), a WLAN system supporting a non-legacy control field can define and support a new MAC header format (e.g., the second format), which includes information indicating whether a non-legacy control field exists.

[0184] For example, some fields / subfields of the existing MAC header (e.g., fields / subfields corresponding to information not used in the new WLAN system) may be reused as information indicating whether a non-legacy control field exists. In this case, the size of the MAC header not including the non-legacy control field may be the same in the first format and the second format.

[0185] For example, information indicating whether there is a non-legacy control field may be included in the MAC header as an additional bit. In this case, the size of the MAC header not including the non-legacy control field may be larger in the second format than in the first format. For example, the size of the information indicating whether there is a non-legacy control field may be 1 bit, but the second format may be defined as 1 octet larger than the first format, and 1 bit of the additional 1 octet may be defined as information indicating whether there is a non-legacy control field. When the MAC header also includes a non-legacy control field of X octets, the second format may be defined as X+1 octets larger than the first format. Alternatively, compared to the first format, the second format may be defined as an additional field including 1 or X octets, and a portion of the 1 octet of the additional field may correspond to information indicating whether there is a non-legacy control field, and when there is no non-legacy control field, the additional field may be defined as having a size of 1 octet, and when there is a non-legacy control field, X octets may be defined as having information indicating whether there is a non-legacy control field and the size of the non-legacy control field.

[0186] When a new format of a MAC header is defined in this way, it is possible to indicate that it is a new format by the value of the protocol version subfield in the frame control field of the MAC header. For example, the existing protocol version subfield may be defined to have a size of 2 bits and may indicate four values, the first and second values ​​of which may indicate previously defined contents, and the MAC header of a new format according to the present disclosure may be indicated by the third or fourth value.

[0187] Additionally or alternatively, a portion of the frame body (eg, the first bit) may be defined and used as information indicating whether a non-legacy control field exists.

[0188] Implementation 2-3

[0189] A specific control ID value (e.g., one of the values ​​10-14 in Table 2) of the A-Control subfield of the HT Control field may be defined to correspond to a non-legacy control field indication. The HT Control field including the A-Control subfield set to the specific control ID value may indicate a specific position within the frame where the non-legacy control field is included. For example, the position of the non-legacy control field may correspond to the last field position of the MAC frame, a position following the HT Control field, or a position followed by a frame body.

[0190] In the A-Control subfield set to the control ID value corresponding to the non-legacy control field indication, the length of the control information subfield may be set to 0 (or defined as not existing). In other words, the HT control field including the A-Control field corresponding to the non-legacy control field indication may be defined as having minimum overhead.

[0191] Alternatively, in the A-control subfield set to a control ID value corresponding to the non-legacy control field indication, the control information subfield may include non-legacy control field related information. The non-legacy control field related information may include the number of non-legacy control fields (or subfields), the purpose of the non-legacy control field, etc. The purpose of the non-legacy control field may be defined to include various purposes, such as trigger response scheduling related information, operation mode information, link adaptation related information, etc. similar to the control ID in A-control.

[0192] Implementation 3

[0193] Reference Fig.11 (c) of the present invention may define a frame of a new type or a new subtype including non-legacy control information. Embodiments 1 and 2 above correspond to examples in which information indicating whether a non-legacy control field exists is included in a frame in order to support a structure of a frame including a non-legacy control field, while Embodiment 3 may include non-legacy control information in a frame body regardless of a MAC header (i.e., a MAC header to be newly defined to be applied to any format as well as a previously defined MAC header).

[0194] For example, a frame of a new control type and / or control subtype including non-legacy control information may be defined. In other words, the non-legacy control information may be included in a new independent control / management / data frame. This may be distinguished from including a non-legacy control field in a MAC header within an existing management / data frame in Embodiment 1 or Embodiment 2.

[0195] For example, a value of 10 for the control type and a value of 0001 for the subtype reserved in the existing WLAN system may be defined to correspond to a non-legacy control frame. The HT control field of the MAC header of the non-legacy control frame may include control information following the control ID of the A-control (in the same manner as before). In this case, the non-legacy control information included in the frame body of the non-legacy control frame may also include control information that is not related to or separate from the HT control information. Alternatively, the non-legacy control information included in the frame body of the non-legacy control frame may include additional information associated with the information included in the A-control subfield of the HT control field (e.g., not included in a field defined in the existing A-control subfield, but required in the new WLAN system). For example, request or response information for link adaptation such as HLA control may be included in the HT control field in the MAC header of the non-legacy control frame and / or the non-legacy control information of the frame body. In addition, at least one control ID and control information corresponding thereto may be included in the HT control field in the MAC header of the non-legacy control frame and / or the non-legacy control information of the frame body.

[0196] When non-legacy control frames are defined and supported, a frame including non-legacy control information may be transmitted or received within an A(aggregate)-MPDU along with another control / management / data frame.

[0197] The HT control field in the MAC header in the existing WLAN system may not be suitable for transmitting or receiving control information required in the new WLAN system related to UHR, etc. due to its limited size. Therefore, the present disclosure may define a new / extended non-legacy control field different from the existing HT control field, and may achieve a new effect of providing an extended container capable of transmitting or receiving control information required in the new WLAN system through various methods, in which the non-legacy control field is included in the MAC frame in addition to or instead of the existing HT control field.

[0198] The above-mentioned embodiments are to combine the elements and features of the present disclosure in a predetermined form. Unless otherwise explicitly mentioned, each element or feature should be considered as optional. Each element or feature can be implemented in a form that is not combined with other elements or features. In addition, the embodiments of the present disclosure may include combined partial elements and / or features. The order of the operations described in the embodiments of the present disclosure may be changed. Some elements or features of an embodiment may be included in other embodiments, or may be replaced by corresponding elements or features of other embodiments. Obviously, the embodiments may include claims that do not have a clear reference relationship in the combined claims, or may be included as new claims by modification after application.

[0199] It is clear to those skilled in the relevant art that the present disclosure can be implemented in other specific forms within the scope of the essential features of the present disclosure. Therefore, the above detailed description should not be interpreted restrictively in every aspect, but should be considered as illustrative. The scope of the present disclosure should be determined by the reasonable interpretation of the attached claims, and all changes within the equivalent scope of the present disclosure are included in the scope of the present disclosure.

[0200] The scope of the present disclosure includes software or machine executable commands (e.g., operating systems, applications, firmware, programs, etc.) that perform operations in a device or computer according to the methods of various embodiments, and non-transitory computer-readable media that enable software or commands, etc. to be stored and executable in a device or computer. Commands that can be used to program a processing system that performs the features described in the present disclosure can be stored in a storage medium or a computer-readable storage medium, and the features described in the present disclosure can be implemented by using a computer program product including such a storage medium. The storage medium may include a high-speed random access memory, such as DRAM, SRAM, DDR RAM, or other random access solid-state storage devices, but is not limited thereto, and it may include a non-volatile memory, such as one or more magnetic disk storage devices, optical disk storage devices, flash memory devices, or other non-volatile solid-state storage devices. The memory optionally includes one or more storage devices located away from the processor. The memory, or alternatively, the non-volatile memory device in the memory includes a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium. The features described in this disclosure may be stored in any machine-readable medium to control the hardware of a processing system, and may be integrated into software and / or firmware that allows the processing system to interact with other mechanisms using the results from the embodiments of this disclosure. Such software or firmware may include, but is not limited to, application code, device drivers, operating systems, and execution environments / containers.

[0201] Industrial Applicability

[0202] The method proposed in the present disclosure is mainly described based on an example applied to a system based on IEEE 802.11, but may be applied to various WLAN or wireless communication systems other than the system based on IEEE 802.11.

Claims

1. A method performed by a first station STA in a wireless local area network WLAN system, the method comprising the following steps: receiving a frame including a medium access control MAC header from a second STA, the MAC header including at least one specific control field; as well as performing processing on at least one field included in a frame body within the frame based on the at least one specific control field, wherein, based on the presence of a high throughput HT control field in the MAC header, the at least one specific control field exists in addition to the HT control field, Wherein, based on the absence of the HT control field in the MAC header, the at least one specific control field exists at a specific position in the frame.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein: The specific location: Corresponding to the last field of the MAC header; is the position followed by the body of the frame; or It is the position following the HT Control field.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein: The +HTC subfield within the frame control field of the MAC header indicates whether the at least one specific control field exists.

4. The method according to claim 3, wherein: The +HTC subfield does not indicate whether the HT Control field exists. The HT Control field is defined not to be present in the frame.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein: The first bit of the frame body indicates whether the at least one specific control field is present.

6. The method according to claim 1, wherein: The format applied to the MAC header includes a first format and a second format, Compared with the first format, the second format additionally includes information indicating whether the at least one specific control field exists.

7. The method according to claim 6, wherein: The MAC header of the second format has a size larger than a size of the MAC header of the first format.

8. The method according to claim 6, wherein: A single value of the protocol version subfield within the frame control field of the MAC header indicates that the second format applies.

9. The method according to claim 6, wherein: The presence or absence of the HT Control field is indicated by the +HTC subfield in the Frame Control field of the MAC header, Information indicating whether the at least one specific control field exists is included in a field different from the +HTC subfield.

10. The method according to claim 1, wherein: A specific value of the Control Identifier Control ID subfield within the Aggregation Control A-Control subfield of the HT Control field indicates the presence of the at least one specific control field.

11. The method according to claim 10, wherein: For the A-control subfield including the control identifier subfield having the specific value, the length of the control information subfield within the A-control subfield is 0.

12. The method according to claim 10, wherein: The control information subfield within the A-control subfield including the control identifier subfield having the specific value includes information about at least one of: the number of the at least one specific control field; or The purpose of the at least one specific control field.

13. The method according to claim 1, wherein: The at least one specific control field has a size exceeding 4 octets.

14. A first station STA device in a wireless local area network (WLAN) system, the device comprising: at least one transceiver; as well as at least one processor connected to the at least one transceiver, Wherein, the at least one processor is configured to: receiving, by the at least one transceiver, from a second STA, a frame including a medium access control MAC header, the MAC header including at least one specific control field; and performing processing on at least one field included in a frame body within the frame based on the at least one specific control field, wherein, based on the presence of a high throughput HT control field in the MAC header, the at least one specific control field exists in addition to the HT control field, Wherein, based on the absence of the HT control field in the MAC header, the at least one specific control field exists at a specific position in the frame.

15. A method performed by a second station (STA) in a wireless local area network (WLAN) system, the method comprising the following steps: generating a frame including a medium access control MAC header and a frame body, wherein the MAC header includes at least one specific control field; as well as sending the generated frame to at least one first STA, wherein, based on the presence of a high throughput HT control field in the MAC header, the at least one specific control field exists in addition to the HT control field, Wherein, based on the absence of the HT control field in the MAC header, the at least one specific control field exists at a specific position in the frame.

16. A second station STA device in a wireless local area network (WLAN) system, the device comprising: at least one transceiver; as well as at least one processor connected to the at least one transceiver, Wherein, the at least one processor is configured to: generating a frame including a medium access control MAC header and a frame body, the MAC header including at least one specific control field; and sending the generated frame to at least one first STA through the at least one transceiver, wherein, based on the presence of a high throughput HT control field in the MAC header, the at least one specific control field exists in addition to the HT control field, Wherein, based on the absence of the HT control field in the MAC header, the at least one specific control field exists at a specific position in the frame.

17. A processing device configured to control a station STA in a wireless local area network (WLAN) system, the processing device comprising: at least one processor; as well as At least one computer memory operatively connected to the at least one processor, the at least one computer memory storing instructions for performing the method according to any one of claims 1 to 13 based on execution by the at least one processor.

18. At least one non-transitory computer-readable medium storing at least one instruction, wherein: The at least one instruction is executed by at least one processor to control a device to execute the method according to any one of claims 1 to 13 in a wireless local area network (WLAN) system.

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