Communication apparatus and communication method

Abstract

A communication apparatus and a communication method are provided. The communication apparatus includes circuitry that generates a physical layer protocol data unit (PPDU) including a first field including a first portion and a second portion different from each other, the first portion and the second portion including bandwidth information and punctured channel information, respectively, and a transmitter that transmits the PPDU. The bandwidth information and the punctured channel information jointly indicate a channel puncturing pattern applied to the EHT PPDU.

Description

[0001] This application is a divisional application of the invention patent application with application date of November 25, 2020, application number 202080096421.2, and invention name “Communication device and communication method for control signaling”. Technical Field

[0002] The present disclosure relates to a communication device and method for control signaling, and more particularly, to a communication device and method for control signaling in an EHT WLAN (Extremely High Throughput Wireless Local Area Network). Background Art

[0003] In the standardization of the next generation wireless local area network (WLAN), a new radio access technology with backward compatibility with IEEE 802.11a / b / g / n / ac / ax technologies has been discussed in the IEEE 802.11 working group and named IEEE 802.11be Extremely High Throughput (EHT) WLAN.

[0004] In 802.11be EHT WLAN, in order to provide a significant peak throughput and capacity increase over 802.11ax High Efficiency (HE) WLAN, it is expected to increase the maximum channel bandwidth from 160 MHz to 320 MHz, increase the maximum number of spatial streams from 8 to 16, and support multi-link operation. In addition, in order to improve the spectrum efficiency on 11ax HE WLAN, it has been proposed to allow preamble puncturing of physical layer protocol data units (PPDUs) sent to a single communication device or multiple communication devices.

[0005] However, there has not been much discussion regarding communication devices and methods for control signaling, particularly regarding effective signaling support for preamble puncturing of PPDUs transmitted to a single communication device or multiple communication devices in the environment of an EHT WLAN.

[0006] Therefore, there is a need for a communication device and method that provides a feasible technical solution for control signaling in an EHT WLAN environment.Furthermore, other desirable features and characteristics will become apparent from the following detailed description and the appended claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and background of the disclosure. Summary of the invention

[0007] Non-limiting and exemplary embodiments facilitate providing a communication apparatus and a communication method for control signaling in an EHT WLAN environment.

[0008] According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, a communication device is provided, the communication device including a circuit that generates an EHT physical layer protocol data unit (EHT PPDU) including a universal signal (U-SIG) field and an extremely high throughput signal (EHT-SIG) field, wherein the U-SIG field includes punctured channel information, and the EHT-SIG field includes supplementary punctured channel information; and a transmitter that transmits the EHT PPDU, wherein when the EHT PPDU is used for punctured single-user (SU) or multi-user (MU) multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) transmission and the punctured channel information can indicate a channel puncturing pattern applied to the EHT PPDU, the EHT-SIG field does not include the supplementary punctured channel information.

[0009] According to another embodiment of the present disclosure, a communication device is provided, the communication device including: a receiver that receives an EHT physical layer protocol data unit (EHT PPDU) including a universal signal (U-SIG) field and an extremely high throughput signal (EHT-SIG) field, wherein the U-SIG field includes punctured channel information, and the EHT-SIG field includes supplementary punctured channel information; and a circuit that processes the EHT PPDU, wherein when the EHT PPDU is used for punctured SU or MU-MIMO transmission and the punctured channel information can indicate a channel puncturing pattern applied to the EHT PPDU, the EHT-SIG field does not include the supplementary punctured channel information.

[0010] According to another embodiment of the present disclosure, a communication method is provided, the method including: generating an EHT physical layer protocol data unit (EHT PPDU) including a universal signal (U-SIG) field and an extremely high throughput signal (EHT-SIG) field, wherein the U-SIG field includes punctured channel information, and the EHT-SIG field includes supplementary punctured channel information; and sending the EHT PPDU, wherein, when the EHT PPDU is used for punctured SU or MU-MIMO transmission and the punctured channel information can indicate a channel puncturing pattern applied to the EHT PPDU, the EHT-SIG field does not include the supplementary punctured channel information.

[0011] According to another embodiment of the present disclosure, a communication device is provided, including: a circuit that generates a physical layer protocol data unit (PPDU) including a first field, and a transmitter that sends the PPDU, wherein the first field includes a first part and a second part that are different from each other, the first part and the second part respectively include bandwidth information and punctured channel information, and the bandwidth information and the punctured channel information jointly indicate a channel puncturing pattern applied to the EHT PPDU.

[0012] According to another embodiment of the present disclosure, a communication method is provided, including: generating a physical layer protocol data unit (PPDU) including a first field, and sending the PPDU, wherein the first field includes a first part and a second part that are different from each other, the first part and the second part respectively include bandwidth information and punctured channel information, and the bandwidth information and the punctured channel information jointly indicate a channel puncturing pattern applied to the EHT PPDU.

[0013] It should be noted that the general or specific embodiments may be implemented as a system, a method, an integrated circuit, a computer program, a storage medium, or any selective combination thereof.

[0014] Additional benefits and advantages of the disclosed embodiments will become apparent from the specification and drawings. Benefits and / or advantages can be obtained individually by various embodiments and features of the specification and drawings, and the specification and drawings do not need to be fully provided in order to obtain one or more of these benefits and / or advantages. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0015] Embodiments of the present disclosure will be better understood and will become apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art from the following written description, which is given by way of example only, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:

[0016] Figure 1A A schematic diagram depicting uplink and downlink single-user (SU) multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) communications between an access point (AP) and stations (STA) in a MIMO wireless network.

[0017] Figure 1B A schematic diagram depicts downlink multi-user (MU) communication between an AP and multiple STAs in a MIMO wireless network.

[0018] Figure 1C A schematic diagram depicts triggered uplink MU communication between an AP and multiple STAs in a MIMO wireless network.

[0019] Figure 1D A schematic diagram of triggered downlink multi-AP communication between multiple APs and STAs in a MIMO wireless network is depicted.

[0020] Figure 2A Depicted is an example format of a PPDU (Physical Layer Protocol Data Unit) for uplink and downlink SU communications between APs and STAs in a HE WLAN.

[0021] Figure 2B An example format of a PPDU for downlink MU communication between an AP and multiple STAs in a HE WLAN is depicted.

[0022] Figure 2C The HE-SIG-B field is depicted in more detail.

[0023] Figure 2D An example format of a PPDU for triggered uplink MU communication between an AP and multiple STAs in a HE WLAN is depicted.

[0024] Figure 3A Schematic examples of communication devices according to various embodiments are shown. According to the present disclosure, the communication device may be implemented as an AP or a STA and configured for control signaling.

[0025] Figure 3B A flow chart illustrating a communication method according to the present disclosure is shown.

[0026] Figure 4 Depicted is a flow diagram illustrating downlink communications in accordance with various embodiments.

[0027] Figure 5A An example format of an EHT Basic PPDU for non-trigger based communications is depicted.

[0028] Figure 5B An example of transmission of the U-SIG field is depicted.

[0029] Figure 5C Table showing how the number of EHT-SIG content channels depends on the bandwidth and the value of L.

[0030] Figure 5D A diagram showing mapping of one or two EHT-SIG content channels when a 40 MHz EHT Basic PPDU is transmitted to multiple STAs.

[0031] Figure 5E A diagram showing mapping of two EHT-SIG content channels when an 80 MHz EHT Basic PPDU is transmitted to multiple STAs.

[0032] Fig. 5F A diagram showing mapping of two EHT-SIG content channels when an 80+80 MHz or 160 MHz EHT Basic PPDU is transmitted to multiple STAs.

[0033] Figure 5G A diagram showing mapping of two EHT-SIG content channels when a 160+80 MHz or 240 MHz EHT Basic PPDU is transmitted to multiple STAs.

[0034] Figure 5H A diagram showing mapping of two EHT-SIG content channels when a 160+160 MHz or 320 MHz EHT Basic PPDU is transmitted to multiple STAs.

[0035] Figure 6 Depicted is a flowchart illustrating processing of a received EHT Basic PPDU in an AP or a STA according to the first embodiment.

[0036] Fig. 7A and Figure 7B An example format of an EHT-SIG content channel is depicted.

[0037] Figure 8 Depicted is a flowchart illustrating processing of a received EHT Basic PPDU in an AP or a STA according to a second embodiment.

[0038] Fig.9A and Fig. 9B Depicted is a flowchart illustrating processing of a received EHT Basic PPDU in an AP or a STA according to a third embodiment.

[0039] Fig.10 An example format of an EHT TB PPDU is depicted.

[0040] Fig.11 A configuration of a communication device (eg, AP) according to the present disclosure is shown.

[0041] Fig.12 A configuration of a communication device (eg, STA) according to the present disclosure is shown.

[0042] Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the elements in the drawings are shown for simplicity and clarity and are not necessarily drawn to scale. For example, the size of some elements in the diagrams, block diagrams or flow charts may be exaggerated relative to other elements to help accurately understand the present embodiment. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0043] Some embodiments of the present disclosure will be described by way of example only with reference to the accompanying drawings. Like reference numerals and characters in the drawings represent like elements or equivalents.

[0044] In the following paragraphs, certain exemplary embodiments are explained with reference to an access point (AP) and a station (STA) for uplink or downlink control signaling, particularly in a multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) wireless network.

[0045] In the context of IEEE 802.11 (Wi-Fi) technology, a station, interchangeably referred to as a STA, is a communication device capable of using the 802.11 protocol. Based on the IEEE 802.11-2016 definition, a STA can be any device that includes an IEEE 802.11-compliant medium access control (MAC) and physical layer (PHY) interface to a wireless medium (WM).

[0046] For example, a STA can be a laptop, desktop personal computer (PC), personal digital assistant (PDA), access point, or Wi-Fi phone in a wireless local area network (WLAN) environment. A STA can be fixed or mobile. In a WLAN environment, the terms "STA", "wireless client", "user", "user equipment", and "node" are often used interchangeably.

[0047] Likewise, an AP, which may be interchangeably referred to as a wireless access point (WAP) in the context of IEEE 802.11 (Wi-Fi) technology, is a communication device that allows STAs in a WLAN to connect to a wired network. An AP is typically connected to a router (via a wired network) as a standalone device, but it may also be integrated with or employed in a router.

[0048] As described above, a STA in a WLAN can work as an AP at different times, and vice versa. This is because a communication device in the context of IEEE 802.11 (Wi-Fi) technology can include both STA hardware components and AP hardware components. In this way, the communication device can switch between STA mode and AP mode based on actual WLAN conditions and / or requirements.

[0049] In a MIMO wireless network, "multiple" refers to multiple antennas used for transmission and multiple antennas used for reception simultaneously through a radio channel. In this regard, "multiple input" refers to multiple transmitter antennas that input radio signals into a channel, and "multiple output" refers to multiple receiver antennas that receive radio signals from a channel into a receiver. For example, in an N×M MIMO network system, N is the number of transmitter antennas, and M is the number of receiver antennas. N may be equal to or different from M. For simplicity, the number of transmitter antennas and receiver antennas, respectively, is not further discussed in this disclosure.

[0050] In a MIMO wireless network, single-user (SU) communication and multi-user (MU) communication may be deployed for communication between communication devices such as APs and STAs. MIMO wireless networks have benefits such as spatial multiplexing and spatial diversity, which enable higher data rates and robustness by using multiple spatial streams. According to various embodiments, the term "spatial stream" may be used interchangeably with the term "space-time stream" (or STS).

[0051] Figure 1A A schematic diagram of SU communication 100 between an AP 102 and a STA 104 in a MIMO wireless network is depicted. As shown, the MIMO wireless network may include one or more STAs (e.g., STA 104, STA 106, etc.). If the SU communication 100 in a channel is performed over the entire channel bandwidth, it is referred to as full-bandwidth SU communication. If the SU communication 100 in a channel is performed over a portion of the channel bandwidth (e.g., one or more 20 MHz sub-channels within the channel are punctured), it is referred to as punctured SU communication. In the SU communication 100, the AP 102 uses multiple antennas (e.g., Figure 1A 104) to transmit multiple space-time streams, where all space-time streams are directed to a single communication device, namely STA 104. For simplicity, the multiple space-time streams directed to STA 104 are illustrated as packet data transmission arrows 108 directed to STA 104.

[0052] SU communication 100 may be configured for bidirectional transmission. Figure 1A As shown, in SU communication 100, STA 104 may use multiple antennas (e.g., Figure 1A The AP 102 may be configured to transmit multiple space-time streams using two antennas (shown) where all space-time streams are directed toward the AP 102. For simplicity, the multiple space-time streams directed toward the AP 102 are illustrated as packet data transmission arrows 110 directed toward the AP 102.

[0053] so, Figure 1A The SU communication 100 depicted in FIG. 1 enables both uplink and downlink SU transmissions in a MIMO wireless network.

[0054] Figure 1BA schematic diagram of downlink MU communication 112 between an AP 114 and multiple STAs 116, 118, 120 in a MIMO wireless network is depicted. The MIMO wireless network may include one or more STAs (e.g., STA 116, STA 118, STA 120, etc.). The MU communication 112 may be OFDMA (Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access) communication or MU-MIMO communication. For OFDMA communication in a channel, the AP 114 simultaneously sends multiple streams to the STAs 116, 118, 120 in the network at different resource units (RUs) within the channel bandwidth. For MU-MIMO communication in a channel, the AP 114 simultaneously sends multiple streams to the STAs 116, 118, 120 at the same RU within the channel bandwidth using multiple antennas via spatial mapping or precoding techniques. If the RU where the OFDMA or MU-MIMO communication occurs occupies the entire channel bandwidth, the OFDMA or MU-MIMO communication is referred to as full-bandwidth OFDMA or MU-MIMO communication. If the RU in which OFDMA or MU-MIMO communication occurs occupies a portion of the channel bandwidth (for example, one or more 20MHz subchannels within the channel are punctured), the OFDMA or MU-MIMO communication is referred to as punctured OFDMA or MU-MIMO communication. For example, two space-time streams may be directed to STA118, another space-time stream may be directed to STA116, and yet another space-time stream may be directed to STA120. For simplicity, the two space-time streams directed to STA118 are illustrated as packet data transmission arrows 124, the space-time stream directed to STA 116 is illustrated as data transmission arrows 122, and the space-time stream directed to STA 120 is illustrated as data transmission arrows 126.

[0055] To enable uplink MU transmission, trigger-based communication is provided to MIMO wireless networks. In this regard, Figure 1C A schematic diagram of triggered uplink MU communication 128 between an AP 130 and a plurality of STAs 132, 134, 136 in a MIMO wireless network is depicted.

[0056] Since there are multiple STAs 132 , 134 , 136 participating in the triggered uplink MU communication, the AP 130 needs to coordinate the simultaneous transmissions of the multiple STAs 132 , 134 , 136 .

[0057] For this reason, Figure 1CAs shown, AP 130 simultaneously sends trigger frames 139, 141, 143 to STAs 132, 134, 136 to indicate user-specific resource allocation information (e.g., the number of space-time streams, the starting STS number, and the allocated RUs) that each STA can use. In response to the trigger frames, STAs 132, 134, 136 can then simultaneously send their respective space-time streams to AP 130 according to the user-specific resource allocation information indicated in the trigger frames 139, 141, 143. For example, two space-time streams can be directed from STA 134 to AP 130, another space-time stream can be directed from STA 132 to AP 130, and yet another space-time stream can be directed from STA 136 to AP 130. For simplicity, two space-time flows directed from STA 134 to AP 130 are illustrated as packet data transmission arrows 140, the space-time flow directed from STA 132 to AP 130 is illustrated as data transmission arrow 138, and the space-time flow directed from STA 136 to AP 130 is illustrated as data transmission arrow 142.

[0058] Trigger-based communications are also provided to MIMO wireless networks to enable downlink multi-AP communications. In this regard, Figure 1D A schematic diagram of downlink multi-AP communication 144 between a STA 150 and multiple APs 146, 148 in a MIMO wireless network is depicted.

[0059] Since there are multiple APs 146 , 148 participating in the triggered downlink multi-AP MIMO communication, the master AP 146 needs to coordinate the simultaneous transmissions of the multiple APs 146 , 148 .

[0060] For this reason, Figure 1D As shown, the master AP 146 simultaneously sends trigger frames 147, 153 to the AP 148 and the STA 150 to indicate the AP-specific resource allocation information (e.g., the number of space-time streams, the starting STS stream number, and the allocated RUs) that each AP can use. In response to the trigger frame, multiple APs 146, 148 can then send corresponding space-time streams to the STA 150 according to the AP-specific resource allocation information indicated in the trigger frame 147; and then the STA 150 can receive all space-time streams according to the AP-specific resource allocation information indicated in the trigger frame 153. For example, two space-time streams can be directed from the AP 146 to the STA 150, and another two space-time streams can be directed from the AP 148 to the STA 150. For simplicity, the two space-time streams directed from the AP 146 to the STA 150 are illustrated as packet data transmission arrows 152, and the two space-time streams directed from the AP 148 to the STA 150 are illustrated as packet data transmission arrows 154.

[0061] Due to the packet / PPDU (physical layer protocol data unit) based transmission and distributed MAC (medium access control) scheme in 802.11 WLAN, there is no time scheduling (e.g., periodic time slot allocation for data transmission like TDMA (time division multiple access)) in 802.11 WLAN. Frequency and space resource scheduling is performed on a packet basis. In other words, resource allocation information is on a PPDU basis.

[0062] Figure 2A An example format of a PPDU 200 for SU communication between an AP and a STA in a HE WLAN is depicted. Such a PPDU 200 is referred to as a HE SU PPDU 200. The HE SU PPDU 156 may include a non-high throughput short training field (L-STF), a non-high throughput long training field (L-LTF), a non-high throughput signal (L-SIG) field, a repeated L-SIG (RL-SIG) field, a HE signal A (HE-SIG-A) field 202, a HE short training field (HE-STF), a HE long training field (HE-LTF), a data field, and a packet extension (PE) field. The RL-SIG field is mainly used to identify the format of the HE PPDU. The HE-SIG-A field 202 contains necessary control information such as uplink / downlink, modulation and coding scheme (MCS), and bandwidth (BW) for decoding the data field.

[0063] Figure 2B An example format of a PPDU 204 for downlink MU communication (e.g., OFDMA transmission and full bandwidth MU-MIMO transmission) between an AP and multiple STAs in a HE WLAN is shown. Such a PPDU 204 is referred to as a HE MU PPDU 204. The HE MU PPDU may have a similar format to the HE SU PPDU, but includes a HE signal B (HE-SIG-B) field 210. Specifically, the HE MU PPDU 204 may include an L-STF, an L-LTF, an L-SIG, an R-SIG, a HE-SIG-A field 206, a HE-SIG-B field 210, a HE-STF, a HE-LTF, a data field 214, and a PE field. In the HE MU PPDU 204, the HE-SIG-B field 210 provides OFDMA and MU-MIMO resource allocation information to allow the STA to find the corresponding resources to be used in the data field 170, as indicated by arrow 212. The HE-SIG-A field 206 contains the necessary information for decoding the HE-SIG-B field 210, such as the MCS of the HE-SIG-B, the number of HE-SIG-B symbols, as indicated by arrow 208.

[0064] Figure 2C The HE-SIG-B field 210 is depicted in more detail. The HE-SIG-B field 210 includes (or consists of) a common field 216 (if present), followed by a user-specific field 218, which are collectively referred to as the HE-SIG-B content channel. The HE-SIG-B field 210 contains an RU allocation subfield indicating RU information for each allocation. The RU information includes the RU position in the frequency domain, an indication of the RU allocated for non-MU-MIMO or MU-MIMO allocation, and the number of users in the MU-MIMO allocation. The common field 216 does not exist in the case of full-bandwidth MU-MIMO transmission. In this case, the RU information (e.g., the number of users in the MU-MIMO allocation) is indicated in the HE-SIG-A field 162.

[0065] The user-specific field 218 includes (or is composed of) one or more user fields for non-MU-MIMO allocation and / or MU-MIMO allocation. The user field contains user information indicating user-specific allocation (i.e., user-specific allocation information). Figure 2C In the example shown, the user-specific field 218 includes five user fields (user field 0, ..., user field 4), wherein user-specific allocation information for allocation (allocation 0) is provided by user field 0, user-specific allocation information for further allocation (allocation 1 with 3 MU-MIMO users) is provided by user field 1, user field 2 and user field 3, and user-specific allocation information for further allocation (allocation 2) is provided by user field 4.

[0066] Figure 2DThe format of a PPDU 220 for uplink MU communication between an AP and multiple STAs in a HE WLAN is shown. Such a PPDU 220 is called a HE TB (trigger-based) PPDU 220. The HE TB PPDU may have a format similar to that of the HE SUPPDU. Specifically, the HE TB PPDU 220 may include an L-STF, an L-LTF, an L-SIG field, an RL-SIG field, a HE-SIG-A field 222, a HE-STF, a HE-LTF, a data field, and a PE field. The HE-STF of the HE TB PPDU 220 has a duration of 8 μs. The HE TB PPDU 220 is used for uplink MU transmission in response to a trigger frame. Instead of using the HE-SIG-B field, the information required for uplink MU transmission from one or more STAs is carried by a trigger frame requesting the transmission. In a typical transmission of a HETB PPDU 220 , the HE-SIG-A related information is copied from the request trigger frame into the HE-SIG-A field 222 of the HETB PPDU 220 .

[0067] In 11ax HE WLAN, only preamble puncturing of PPDUs sent to multiple STAs is allowed. As the maximum channel bandwidth increases from 160 MHz to 320 MHz, an object of the present disclosure is to substantially overcome existing challenges to provide a communication device and method for control signaling, which allows preamble puncturing of PPDUs sent to a single STA or multiple STAs so as to improve the spectrum efficiency of EHT WLAN relative to 11ax HE WLAN. Specifically, preamble puncturing of PPDUs for SU, MU-MIMO, or OFDMA transmission is provided in the present disclosure. According to various embodiments, the term "preamble puncturing" may be used interchangeably with the term "channel puncturing".

[0068] According to various embodiments, the EHT WLAN supports Figure 1A and Figure 1B The non-trigger-based communication shown in Figure 1C and Figure 1D In non-trigger-based communication, a communication device sends a PPDU to one or more other communication devices in an unsolicited manner. In trigger-based communication, a communication device sends a PPDU to one or more other communication devices only after receiving a request trigger frame.

[0069] Figure 3A A schematic partial cross-sectional view of a communication device 300 according to the present disclosure is shown. The communication device 300 may be implemented as an AP or a STA.

[0070] like Figure 3A As shown, the communication device 300 may include a circuit 314, at least one radio transmitter 302, at least one radio receiver 304, and at least one antenna 312 (for simplicity, the Figure 3A Only one antenna is depicted for illustration purposes). The circuitry 314 may include at least one controller 306 for software and hardware assistance in performing the tasks that the at least one controller 306 is designed to perform, including controlling communications with one or more other communication devices in a MIMO wireless network. The circuitry 314 may also include at least one transmit signal generator 308 and at least one receive signal processor 310. At least one controller 306 can control at least one transmission signal generator 308 to generate a PPDU (e.g., a PPDU for non-trigger-based communication or a PPDU for triggered multi-AP joint transmission (if the communication device 300 is an AP), and for example, a PPDU for non-trigger-based communication or a PPDU for triggered uplink transmission (if the communication device 300 is a STA)) to be sent to one or more other communication devices through at least one radio transmitter 302, and control at least one receiving signal processor 310 to process the PPDU (e.g., a PPDU for non-trigger-based communication or a PPDU for triggered uplink transmission (if the communication device 300 is an AP), and for example, a PPDU for non-trigger-based communication or a PPDU for triggered multi-AP joint transmission (if the communication device 300 is a STA)) received from one or more other communication devices through at least one radio receiver 304 under the control of at least one controller 306. At least one transmission signal generator 308 and at least one reception signal processor 310 may be independent modules of the communication device 300, which communicate with at least one controller 306 to implement the above functions, such as Figure 3A As shown. Alternatively, at least one transmission signal generator 308 and at least one reception signal processor 310 may be included in at least one controller 306. It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that the arrangement of these functional modules is flexible and may vary according to actual needs and / or requirements. Data processing, storage and other related control devices may be provided on appropriate circuit boards and / or in chipsets. In various embodiments, at least one radio transmitter 302, at least one radio receiver 304 and at least one antenna 312 may be controlled by at least one controller 306.

[0071] The communication device 300 provides the functions required for control signaling in non-trigger-based communication and trigger-based communication. For example, the communication device 300 can be an AP, and the circuit 314 (e.g., at least one transmission signal generator 308 of the circuit 314) can generate a transmission signal (e.g., a PPDU for non-trigger-based communication or a PPDU for trigger-based multi-AP joint transmission) including a first signal field and a second signal field, wherein the first signal field includes punctured channel information and the second signal field includes supplementary punctured channel information, wherein when the transmission signal is used for punctured SU or MU-MIMO transmission and the punctured channel information can indicate a channel puncturing pattern applied to the transmission signal, the second signal field does not include the supplementary punctured channel information. The radio transmitter 302 can send the generated transmission signal to one or more other communication devices.

[0072] The communication device 300 may be a STA, and the radio receiver 304 may receive a transmission signal (e.g., a PPDU for non-trigger-based communication or a PPDU for trigger-based multi-AP joint transmission) including a first signal field and a second signal field, wherein the first signal field includes punctured channel information, and the second signal field includes supplementary punctured channel information, wherein when the transmission signal is for punctured SU or MU-MIMO transmission and the punctured channel information can indicate a channel puncturing pattern applied to the transmission signal, the second signal field does not include the supplementary punctured channel information. The circuit 314 (e.g., at least one receive signal processor 310 of the circuit 314) may process the received transmission signal.

[0073] Figure 3B A flowchart 316 illustrating a communication method for sending a generated transmission signal according to the present disclosure is shown. In step 318, a transmission signal is generated, the transmission signal (e.g., a PPDU for non-trigger-based communication or a PPDU for trigger-based multi-AP joint transmission) including a first signal field and a second signal field, wherein the first signal field includes punctured channel information and the second signal field includes supplementary punctured channel information, wherein when the transmission signal is for punctured SU or MU-MIMO transmission and the punctured channel information is capable of indicating a channel puncturing pattern applied to the transmission signal, the second signal field does not include the supplementary punctured channel information. In step 320, the generated transmission signal is sent to one or more other communication devices.

[0074] In various embodiments, when the transmission signal is used for punctured SU or MU-MIMO transmission and the punctured channel information cannot indicate the channel puncturing pattern applied to the transmission signal, the second signal field includes supplementary punctured channel information, which together with the punctured channel information indicates the channel puncturing pattern applied to the transmission signal. According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, when the transmission signal is used for punctured OFDMA transmission and the punctured channel information cannot indicate the channel puncturing pattern applied to the transmission signal, the second signal field includes supplementary punctured channel information, which together with the punctured channel information indicates the channel puncturing pattern applied to the transmission signal. In an embodiment, the punctured channel information can indicate all channel puncturing patterns allowed for up to a determined bandwidth (e.g., 80 MHz). In another embodiment, the punctured channel information can indicate all channel puncturing patterns allowed for up to a determined bandwidth (e.g., 80 MHz) and a portion of the channel puncturing pattern for a bandwidth greater than the determined bandwidth. This may allow preamble puncturing of a PPDU sent to a single communication device or multiple communication devices, and may advantageously enable efficient signaling support and improve spectral efficiency of 11be EHT WLAN relative to 11ax HE WLAN.

[0075] In the following paragraphs, certain exemplary embodiments are explained with reference to an AP and a plurality of STAs for controlling signaling to enable preamble puncturing of a PPDU sent to a single communication device or a plurality of communication devices in non-trigger based communications.

[0076] Figure 4 A flow chart 400 illustrating downlink communication according to the present disclosure is depicted, wherein the downlink communication is between an AP 402 and a single STA 404 or between the AP 402 and multiple communication devices (e.g., STAs 404, 406). A contention-based channel access procedure (e.g., an enhanced distributed channel access (EDCA) procedure) is shown by block 408, and a short interframe space (SIFS) 411 is illustrated. The AP 402 may generate a transmission signal (e.g., an EHT basic PPDU) 410 including a first signal field and a second signal field, wherein the first signal field includes punctured channel information and the second signal field includes supplemental punctured channel information, wherein when the transmission signal is for punctured SU or MU-MIMO transmission and the punctured channel information can indicate a channel puncturing pattern applied to the transmission signal, the second signal field does not include the supplemental punctured channel information. A rate transmitter of the AP 402 may transmit the generated transmission signal 410 to the STA 404 or the STAs 404, 406.

[0077] In IEEE 802.11 networks, SIFS is the time interval before a STA sends an acknowledgment. After the last symbol of the transmission signal 410 is sent, SIFS 411 may take effect, and at 412, the radio transmitters of STAs 404 and 406 may simultaneously send their respective block acknowledgment (BA) frames 414 and 415 when the transmission signal 410 is sent to STAs 404 and 406; or the radio transmitter of STA 404 may send its own BA frame 414 when the transmission signal 410 is sent to STA 404.

[0078] According to the present disclosure, the EHT Basic PPDU may be used for non-trigger-based SU or MU communications. Figure 5A An example format of an EHT basic PPDU 500 is depicted. The EHT basic PDDU 500 includes an L-STF, an L-LTF, an L-SIG field, an RL-SIG field, a universal signal (U-SIG) field 502, an EHT signal (EHT-SIG) field 504, an EHT-STF, an EHT-LTF, a data field, and a PE field. The L-STF, the L-LTF, the L-SIG field, the RL-SIG field, the U-SIG field, and the EHT-SIG field may be grouped as a pre-EHT modulation field, while the EHT-STF, the EHT-LTF, the data field, and the PE field may be grouped as an EHT modulation field. Both the U-SIG field 502 and the EHT-SIG field 504 are present in an EHT basic PPDU sent to a single STA or multiple STAs.

[0079] According to various embodiments, the U-SIG field 502 has a duration of two orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) symbols. The data bits in the U-SIG field 502 are jointly coded and modulated in the same manner as the HE-SIG-A field of 802.11ax. The modulated data bits in the U-SIG field 502 are mapped to 52 data tones in each of the two OFDM symbols and are replicated for each 20 MHz frequency segment in the same manner as the HE-SIG-A field of 802.11ax. Figure 5B An example of transmission of the U-SIG field 502 is illustrated, where the bandwidth of the EHT basic PPDU 500 is 80 MHz. According to various embodiments, the term "frequency segment" may be used interchangeably with the term "subchannel".

[0080] In various embodiments, regardless of whether the EHT basic PPDU 500 is sent to a single STA or multiple STAs, the U-SIG field 502 has the same format. The U-SIG field 502 includes two parts: U-SIG1 and U-SIG2, each including 26 data bits. The U-SIG field 502 includes all version-independent bits and a portion of version-dependent bits. All version-independent bits are included in U-SIG1 and have static positions and bit definitions across different physical layer (PHY) versions. The version-independent bits include a PHY version identifier (3 bits), an uplink / downlink (UL / DL) flag (1 bit), a basic service set (BSS) color (e.g., 6 bits), a transmission opportunity (TXOP) duration (e.g., 7 bits), and a bandwidth (e.g., 3 or 4 bits). The PHY version identifier of the version-independent bit is used to identify the exact PHY version starting with 802.11be. The effect of including all version-independent bits in a portion of the U-SIG field 502 (i.e., U-SIG1) is that legacy STAs only need to parse U-SIG1, so their power efficiency can be improved. On the other hand, the version-related bits may have a variable bit definition in each PHY version. The part of the version-related bits included in the U-SIG field 502 may include a PPDU type, an EHT-SIG-related bit for interpreting the EHT-SIG field 504, and a spatial reuse-related bit for coexistence with an unexpected STA.

[0081] Table 1: Example format of the U-SIG field of the EHT Basic PPDU

[0082]

[0083]

[0084] Table 1 shows an example format of the U-SIG field 502. As described above, the U-SIG field 502 includes two parts: U-SIG1 and U-SIG2, each of which contains 26 data bits. U-SIG1 includes a PHY version identifier field, a UL / DL flag field, a BSS color field, a TXOP duration field, a BW (bandwidth) field, and a PPDU type field; while U-SIG2 includes an EHT-SIG compression field, an EHT-SIG dual subcarrier modulation (DCM) field, an EHT-SIG EHT MCS field, an EHT-SIG symbol or the number of non-OFDMA users, a spatial reuse field, a reserved bit after, a cyclic redundancy check (CRC) field for detecting errors, and a tail bit. In an embodiment, when the PHY version identifier field refers to 802.11be, the PPDU type field may be set to "0" for an EHT basic PPDU, and the PPDU type field may be set to "1" for an EHT TB PPDU. Unless otherwise noted in this specification, it should be apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art that the standard definitions, protocols, and functions of most of the fields in the U-SIG field 502 listed in Table 1 can be obtained from the 802.11ax specification.

[0085] Back to Figure 5A , the EHT-SIG field 504 of the EHT Basic PPDU 500 may include the remaining version-related bits. It has a variable MCS and a variable length. The EHT-SIG field 504 has a common field followed by a user-specific field, which are collectively referred to as an EHT-SIG content channel. The user-specific field includes one or more user fields. The common field includes a first part and may include a second part. The first part includes common information of all scheduled STAs except RU allocation information, and the second part may include RU allocation information. The first part contains a determined number of data bits and may be the same across all EHT-SIG content channels; while the second part may be different between EHT-SIG content channels.

[0086] Unlike the U-SIG field 502, the format of the EHT-SIG field 504 depends on whether the EHT basic PPDU 500 is sent to a single STA or multiple STAs. In the case where the EHT basic PPDU 500 is sent to a single STA, there will be a single EHT-SIG content channel, regardless of the BW of the EHT basic PPDU 500, which is replicated for each 20MHz frequency segment. In the case where the EHT basic PPDU 500 is sent to multiple STAs, there are one or two EHT-SIG content channels depending on the BW of the EHT basic PPDU 500. Specifically, the EHT-SIG field 504 including a common field and a user-specific field is encoded separately on each L×20MHz frequency segment, where L=1 or 2.

[0087] Figure 5C 1 is a table showing how the number of EHT-SIG content channels depends on the bandwidth and the value of L when the EHT Basic PPDU 500 is sent to multiple STAs. Figure 5C As shown, in an embodiment where the BW of the EHT-Basic PPDU 500 is 20MHz, L can only be 1 because the EHT-SIG field 504 is encoded on a per 20MHz basis and there will be only one EHT-SIG content channel. In an embodiment where the BW of the EHT-Basic PPDU 500 is 40MHz, L can be assigned a value of 1 or 2 by the AP. If L is set to "1", there will be two EHT-SIG content channels. If L is set to "2", there will be only one EHT-SIG content channel. In an embodiment where the BW of the EHT-Basic PPDU 500 is 80MHz, 80+80MHz, 160MHz, 160+80MHz, 240MHz, 160+160MHz, or 320MHz, there will be two EHT-SIG content channels regardless of the value of L.

[0088] Figure 5D The figure shows the mapping of one or two EHT-SIG content channels in a 40MHz EHT Basic PPDU. The number of EHT-SIG content channels depends on the bandwidth and the value of L, as Figure 5C As shown. A 40MHz channel includes two 20MHz frequency segments. When L=1, there will be two EHT-SIG content channels (i.e., EHT-SIG content channel 1 and EHT-SIG content channel 2) transmitted in the first and second 20MHz frequency segments, respectively. When L=2, there will be only one EHT-SIG content channel.

[0089] Figure 5EA diagram showing mapping of two EHT-SIG content channels (i.e., EHT-SIG content channel 1 and EHT-SIG content channel 2) in an 80MHz EHT basic PPDU. When L=1, in an 80MHz channel including four 20MHz frequency segments, EHT-SIG content channel 1 is duplicated and transmitted in the 1st and 3rd 20MHz frequency segments, while EHT-SIG content channel 2 is duplicated and transmitted in the 2nd and 4th 20MHz frequency segments. When L=2, in an 80MHz channel including two 40MHz frequency segments, EHT-SIG content channel 1 is transmitted in the 1st 40MHz frequency segment, while EHT-SIG content channel 2 is transmitted in the 2nd 40MHz frequency segment.

[0090] Fig. 5F A diagram showing mapping of two EHT-SIG content channels in an 80+80MHz or 160MHz EHT Basic PPDU. When L=1, in an 80+80MHz or 160MHz channel including eight 20MHz frequency segments, EHT-SIG content channel 1 is duplicated and transmitted in the 1st, 3rd, 5th, and 7th 20MHz frequency segments, and EHT-SIG content channel 2 is duplicated and transmitted in the 2nd, 4th, 6th, and 8th 20MHz frequency segments. When L=2, in an 80+80MHz or 160MHz channel including four 40MHz frequency segments, EHT-SIG content channel 1 is duplicated and transmitted in the 1st and 3rd 40MHz frequency segments, and EHT-SIG content channel 2 is duplicated and transmitted in the 2nd and 4th 40MHz frequency segments.

[0091] Figure 5G A diagram showing the mapping of two EHT-SIG content channels in a 160+80MHz or 240MHz EHT Basic PPDU. When L=1, in a 160+80MHz or 240MHz channel including twelve 20MHz frequency segments, EHT-SIG content channel 1 is replicated and transmitted in the 1st, 3rd, 5th, 7th, 9th, and 11th 20MHz frequency segments, and EHT-SIG content channel 2 is replicated and transmitted in the 2nd, 4th, 6th, 8th, 10th, and 12th 20MHz frequency segments. When L=2, in a 160+80MHz or 240MHz channel including six 40MHz frequency segments, EHT-SIG content channel 1 is replicated and transmitted in the 1st, 3rd, and 5th 40MHz frequency segments, and EHT-SIG content channel 2 is replicated and transmitted in the 2nd, 4th, and 6th 40MHz frequency segments.

[0092] Figure 5HA diagram showing mapping of two EHT-SIG content channels in a 160+160MHz or 320MHz EHT Basic PPDU. When L=1, in a 160+160MHz or 320MHz channel including sixteen 20MHz frequency segments, EHT-SIG content channel 1 is replicated and transmitted in the 1st, 3rd, 5th, 7th, 9th, 11th, 13th, and 15th 20MHz frequency segments, and EHT-SIG content channel 2 is replicated and transmitted in the 2nd, 4th, 6th, 8th, 10th, 12th, 14th, and 16th 20MHz frequency segments. When L=2, in a 160+160 MHz or 320 MHz channel including eight 40 MHz frequency segments, EHT-SIG content channel 1 is replicated and transmitted in the 1st, 3rd, 5th and 7th 40 MHz frequency segments, and EHT-SIG content channel 2 is replicated and transmitted in the 2nd, 4th, 6th and 8th 40 MHz frequency segments.

[0093] According to various embodiments of the present disclosure, the U-SIG field 502 includes punctured channel information. There are two options for the punctured channel information to be carried in the U-SIG field 502: (i) carrying the punctured channel information in the punctured channel information field; or (ii) carrying the punctured channel information together with the BW information in the BW field. For example, under option 2, that is, carrying the punctured channel information and the BW information in the BW field of the U-SIG field 502, the BW field of the U-SIG field 502 is set to: for 20MHz, the BW field is set to "0"; for 40MHz, the BW field is set to "1"; for 80MHz non-preamble puncturing mode, the BW field is set to "2"; for 160MHz and 80+80MHz non-preamble puncturing mode, the BW field is set to "3"; for 240MHz and 160+80MHz non-preamble puncturing mode, the BW field is set to "4". , the BW field is set to "4"; for 320MHz and 160+160MHz non-preamble puncturing mode, the BW field is set to "5"; for 80MHz preamble puncturing mode, the BW field is set to "6"; for 160MHz and 80+80MHz preamble puncturing mode, the BW field is set to "7"; for 240MHz and 160+80MHz preamble puncturing mode, the BW field is set to "8"; for 320MHz and 160+160MHz preamble puncturing mode, the BW field is set to "9". Note that the preamble puncturing mode is allowed only when the PPDU has a BW of 80MHz or higher.

[0094] According to the first embodiment of the present disclosure, depending on the transmission mode of the EHT basic PPDU 500, the common field of the EHT-SIG field 504 may include supplementary punctured channel information. In the case where the EHT basic PPDU 500 is used for full bandwidth SU or MU-MIMO transmission, the EHT-SIG field 504 does not include supplementary punctured channel information and RU allocation information. In the case where the EHT basic PPDU 500 is used for punctured SU or MU-MIMO transmission, the EHT-SIG field 504 includes supplementary punctured channel information but does not include RU allocation information, and the punctured channel information in the U-SIG field 502 and the supplementary punctured channel information in the EHT-SIG field 504 jointly indicate a channel puncturing pattern applied to the EHT basic PPDU 500. In the case where the EHT basic PPDU 500 is used for OFDMA transmission, the EHT-SIG field 504 does not include supplementary punctured channel information but includes RU allocation information. The punctured channel information in the U-SIG field 502 and the RU allocation information in the EHT-SIG field 504 jointly indicate the channel puncturing pattern applied to the EHT basic PPDU 500. Specifically, the RU allocation information in the EHT-SIG field 504 may indicate that one or more 20 MHz subchannels are not allocated. One or more unallocated 20 MHz subchannels have the same effect as one or more punctured 20 MHz subchannels.

[0095] With such an EHT basic PPDU configuration, in which the U-SIG field 502 includes punctured channel information and the EHT-SIG field 504 includes supplementary punctured channel information, it is advantageously possible to obtain as much punctured channel information as possible at the earliest time.

[0096] According to the first embodiment of the present disclosure, different EHT-SIG compression modes may be enabled according to the necessary information contained in the EHT-SIG field 504 of the EHT basic PPDU 500. There may be three different EHT-SIG compression modes: (i) compression mode 0 for OFDMA transmission, in which the common field of the EHT-SIG field 504 includes RU allocation information but does not include supplementary punctured channel information; (ii) compression mode 1 for full bandwidth SU or MU-MIMO, in which the common field of the EHT-SIG field 504 does not include RU allocation information and supplementary punctured channel information; and (iii) compression mode 2 for punctured SU or MU-MIMO transmission, in which the common field of the EHT-SIG field 504 does not include RU allocation information but includes supplementary punctured channel information. In the following various embodiments, EHT-SIG compression mode 0 means that there is no compression on the EHT-SIG field 504.

[0097] In an embodiment, the EHT-SIG compression mode may be indicated in the EHT-SIG compression field and the BW field of the U-SIG field 502. Table 2 depicts how various EHT-SIG compression modes are indicated in the EHT-SIG compression field and the BW field of the U-SIG field 502. For EHT-SIG compression mode 0 for OFDMA transmission, the EHT-SIG compression field value is "0" regardless of the BW of the EHT basic PPDU 500. The common fields of the EHT-SIG field 504 include RU allocation information, but do not include supplementary punctured channel information. For EHT-SIG compression mode 1 for full bandwidth SU or MU-MIMO transmission, the EHT-SIG compression field value is "1" and the BW field value is one of "0" to "5" (i.e., non-preamble puncturing mode). The common fields of the EHT-SIG field 504 do not include RU allocation information and supplementary punctured channel information. For EHT-SIG compression mode 2 for punctured SU or MU-MIMO transmission, the EHT-SIG compression field value is "1" and the BW field value is one of "5" to "9" (i.e., preamble puncturing mode). The common field of the EHT-SIG field 504 does not include RU allocation information, but includes supplementary punctured channel information.

[0098] Table 2 shows various EHT-SIG compression modes associated with the EHT-SIG compression field value and the BW field value of the U-SIG field 502.

[0099] EHT-SIG compression field value BW field value meaning 0 Any EHT-SIG compression mode 0 1 0 to 5 EHT-SIG compression mode 1 1 6 to 9 EHT-SIG Compression Mode 2

[0100] In addition, when the EHT-SIG compression field is set to 1, SU or MU-MIMO transmission is indicated by the EHT-SIG symbol or the number of non-OFDMA users field of the U-SIG field 502. Specifically, a value of "0" in the EHT-SIG symbol or the number of non-OFDMA users field indicates SU transmission.

[0101] Figure 6A flowchart 600 illustrating processing of a received EHT-basic PPDU 500 in an AP or STA according to a first embodiment is depicted. The process may begin by determining whether the EHT-SIG compression field of the U-SIG field 502 of the received EHT-basic PPDU 500 is set to "1". If it is set to "1", step 608 is performed; otherwise, step 604 is performed. In step 604, EHT-SIG compression mode 0 is determined, and then in step 606, a channel puncturing pattern applied to the received EHT-basic PPDU 500 may be obtained from the punctured channel information and RU allocation information, which are obtained from the U-SIG field 502 and the EHT-SIG field 504, respectively. Returning to step 608, the process may continue by determining whether the BW field is set to a value greater than "5". If the BW field is not set to a value greater than "5", then in step 610, EHT-SIG compression mode 1 is determined, indicating full bandwidth SU or MU-MIMO transmission; otherwise, step 612 is performed. In step 612, EHT-SIG compression mode 2 is determined, indicating punctured SU or MU-MIMO transmission, and then in step 614, a channel puncturing pattern applied to the received EHT basic PPDU 500 is obtained from the punctured channel information and the supplementary punctured channel information, which are obtained from the U-SIG field 502 and the EHT-SIG field 504, respectively.

[0102] Table 3: Example format of the first part of the common field of the EHT-SIG field

[0103] Field Name Field size (bits) LDPC extra symbol segment 1 Pre-FEC Fill Factor 2 PE Disambiguation 1 Doppler 1 GI-LTF size 2 EHT-LTF mode 1 Number of midamble periods and EHT-LTF symbols 4 total 12

[0104] Returning to the EHT-SIG field 504, an example format of the first part of the common field of the EHT-SIG field 504 is shown in Table 3. As described above, the first part of the common field includes common information of all scheduled STAs except the RU allocation information, and contains a determined number of data bits, which may be the same across all EHT-SIG content channels. Specifically, the first part of the common field may include a low-density parity-check code (LDPC) additional symbol segment subfield, a pre-FEC filling factor subfield, a PE disambiguation subfield, a Doppler subfield, a GI-LTF size subfield, an EHT-LTF mode subfield, and a midamble period and a number of EHT-LTF symbols subfield.

[0105] An example format of the second part of the common field of the EHT-SIG field 504 is shown in Tables 9 and 10. The second part of the common field of the EHT-SIG field 504 may include RU allocation information and / or supplemental punctured channel information, and may be different between EHT-SIG content channels. Similar to the punctured channel information and bandwidth information that may be included in a single field or two separate fields in the U-SIG field 502, the RU allocation information and the supplemental punctured channel information may be included in a single field of the second part of the common field (e.g., RU allocation or supplemental punctured channel information field), where the field size thereof depends on the BW and the compression mode, as shown in Table 9. Alternatively, the RU allocation information and the supplemental punctured channel information may be included in two separate fields of the second part of the common field (e.g., RU allocation information field and supplemental punctured channel information field, respectively), where the field size of each RU allocation information field and supplemental punctured channel information field depends on the BW, as shown in Table 10. Specifically, the second part of the common field of the EHT-SIG field 504 may include a bitmap, for example, 3 bits for a BW of 80 MHz, 7 bits for a BW of 160 MHz or 80 + 80 MHz, 11 bits for a BW of 240 MHz or 160 + 80 MHz, and 15 bits for a BW of 320 MHz or 160 + 160 MHz, to carry supplementary punctured channel information. The bitmap indicates whether each 20 MHz subchannel that is not the main 20 MHz is punctured. Note that the preamble puncturing mode is allowed only when the EHT basic PPDU has a BW of 80 MHz or higher. It should also be noted that in EHT-SIG compression mode 1, the EHT-SIG field 504 does not include RU allocation information and supplementary punctured channel information.

[0106] An example format of the user field of the EHT-SIG field 504 for non-MU MIMO allocation and MU-MIMO allocation is shown in Table 4 and Table 5, respectively. For non-MU MIMO allocation, the user field may include a STAID field, an EHT MCS field, a DCM field, an NSTS field, a coding field, and a beamforming field; while for MU-MIMO allocation, the user field may include a STAID field, an EHT MCS field, a spatial configuration field, and a coding field. It is apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art that the standard definitions, protocols, and functions of all fields of the common fields and user fields listed in Tables 3 to 5, Tables 9, and Table 10 can be obtained from the 802.11ax specification unless otherwise stated in this specification.

[0107] Table 4: Example format of the user field of the EHT-SIG field 504 for non-MU-MIMO allocations

[0108] Field Name Field size (bits) STAID 11 EHT MCS 4 DCM 1 NSTS 4 coding 1 Beamforming 1 total 22

[0109] Table 5: Example format of the user field of the EHT-SIG field 504 for MU-MIMO allocation

[0110]

[0111]

[0112] The user-specific field may consist of one or more user block fields, and each user block field may include one or two user fields. Fig. 7A and Figure 7B As shown, the user-specific field may include three user block fields 1, 2, and 3, wherein the user block field 1 includes two user fields, such as user field 1 and user field 2, the user block field 2 includes two user fields, such as user field 3 and user field 4, and the user block field 3 includes one user field 5, wherein one or two user fields in each of the user block fields 1 to 3 are appended with a CRC field for error detection and tail bits. In an embodiment, the last user block may consist of one or two user fields, depending on the total number of user fields allowed in the user-specific field, which refers to an odd number or an even number.

[0113] According to the present disclosure, the first and second parts of the common field of the EHT-SIG content channel or the EHT-SIG field 504 may be jointly encoded or separately encoded, resulting in different EHT-SIG field format options. Fig. 7A An example format of an EHT-SIG content channel of an EHT-SIG field 504 is depicted, wherein a first portion 702a and a second portion 702b of a common field 702 are jointly encoded (option 1). In this option, the first portion 702a of the common field 702 is followed by a second portion 702b of the common field 702 to which a CRC field and tail bits of a single block are appended. This EHT-SIG field format with jointly encoded common fields can advantageously reduce the number of CRC fields and tail bits used in the EHT-SIG field, thereby reducing signaling overhead.

[0114] Figure 7BAnother example format of an EHT-SIG content channel or EHT-SIG field 504 is depicted, in which the first part 702a and the second part 702b of the common field 702 are separately encoded (Option 2). In this option, the CRC field and the tail bits may be included at the end of each separately encoded field (i.e., the first part 702a and the second part 702b of the common field 702). In an embodiment, when EHT-SIG compression mode 1 is enabled, for example, the EHT-SIG compression field of the U-SIG field 502 is set to "1" and the BW field of the U-SIG field 502 is set to one of "0" to "5", indicating full bandwidth SU or MU-MIMO transmission, the second part 702b of the common field 702 including RU allocation information and supplemental punctured channel information may not be present. In this case, the format of the EHT-SIG field 504 or EHT-SIG content channel, Option 1 and Option 2, are the same.

[0115] In yet another embodiment, the first part 702a and the second part 702b of the common field 702 of the EHT-SIG content channel or EHT-SIG field 504 may be encoded separately or jointly depending on which compression mode is enabled. When EHT-SIG compression mode 0 is enabled, the first part 702a and the second part 702b of the common field 702 of the EHT-SIG field 504 are encoded separately; and when EHT-SIG compression mode 2 is enabled, the first part 702a and the second part 702b of the common field 702 are jointly encoded to reduce EHT-SIG field signaling overhead.

[0116] According to the second embodiment of the present disclosure, when the EHT basic PPDU 500 is used for punctured SU or MU-MIMO transmission, if the punctured channel information in the U-SIG field 502 can indicate the channel puncturing pattern applied to the EHT basic PPDU 500, the supplementary punctured channel information is not required, and thus the EHT-SIG field 504 may not include the supplementary punctured channel information. On the other hand, if the punctured channel information in the U-SIG field 502 cannot indicate the channel puncturing pattern applied to the EHT basic PPDU 500, the EHT-SIG field 504 includes the supplementary punctured channel information, which indicates the channel puncturing pattern applied to the EHT basic PPDU 500 together with the punctured channel information in the U-SIG field 502.

[0117] In one embodiment, the punctured channel information in the U-SIG field 502 can indicate all channel puncturing patterns allowed for up to a certain BW (e.g., 80 MHz). When the EHT basic PPDU 500 is used for punctured SU or MU-MIMO transmission, if the BW of the EHT basic PPDU 500 is less than or equal to the certain BW, the supplementary punctured channel information is not required, and thus the EHT-SIG field 504 may not include the supplementary punctured channel information.

[0118] In another embodiment, the punctured channel information in the U-SIG field 502 can indicate all channel puncturing patterns allowed for up to a determined BW (e.g., 80 MHz) and a portion of the channel puncturing pattern for a BW greater than the determined BW. When the EHT basic PPDU 500 is used for punctured SU or MU-MIMO transmission, if the BW of the EHT basic PPDU 500 is less than or equal to the determined BW, the supplementary punctured channel information is not required, and thus the EHT-SIG field 504 may not include the supplementary punctured channel information. If the BW of the EHT basic PPDU 500 is greater than the determined BW, and the portion of the channel puncturing pattern for a BW greater than the determined BW that the punctured channel information in the U-SIG field 502 can indicate includes the channel puncturing pattern applied to the EHT basic PPDU 500, the supplementary punctured channel information is not required, and thus the EHT-SIG field 504 may not include the supplementary punctured channel information.

[0119] In yet another embodiment, the punctured channel information in the U-SIG field 502 may be able to indicate a plurality of channel puncturing patterns allowed for different BWs. When the EHT basic PPDU 500 is used for punctured SU or MU-MIMO transmission, if the plurality of channel puncturing patterns for different BWs that the punctured channel information in the U-SIG field 502 can indicate include a channel puncturing pattern applied to the EHT basic PPDU 500, supplementary punctured channel information is not required, and thus the EHT-SIG field 504 may not include supplementary punctured channel information.

[0120] The effect of this implementation allows compression mode 1 to be enabled in more use cases, and thus the EHT-SIG field signaling overhead can be minimized. Specifically, according to the second embodiment, the EHT-SIG field 504 of the EHT basic PPDU 500 can have three different EHT-SIG compression modes: (i) compression mode 0 (i.e., no compression), in which the common field 702 of the EHT-SIG field 504 includes RU allocation information for OFDMA transmission, but does not include supplementary punctured channel information; (ii) compression mode 1, for SU or MU-MIMO transmission, in which the common field 702 of the EHT-SIG field 504 does not include RU allocation information and supplementary punctured channel information; and (iii) compression mode 2, for SU or MU-MIMO transmission, in which the common field 702 of the EHT-SIG field 504 does not include RU allocation information, but includes supplementary punctured channel information.

[0121] Specifically, EHT-SIG compression mode 1 is enabled for an EHT basic PPDU 500 for SU or MU-MIMO transmission that does not require supplemental punctured channel information in the EHT-SIG field 504. Example use cases include an EHT basic PPDU 500 for full bandwidth SU or MU-MIMO transmission (use case 1); or an EHT basic PPDU 500 for punctured SU or MU-MIMO transmission when the punctured channel information in the U-SIG field 502 can indicate a channel puncturing pattern applied to the EHT basic PPDU 500 (use case 2). In EHT-SIG compression mode 1, the common field 702 of the EHT-SIG field 504 does not include RU allocation information and supplemental punctured channel information.

[0122] EHT-SIG compression mode 2 is enabled for an EHT basic PPDU 500 for SU or MU-MIMO transmission that requires supplementary punctured channel information in the EHT-SIG 504. An example use case is an EHT basic PPDU 500 for SU or MU-MIMO transmission, where the punctured channel information in the U-SIG field 502 cannot indicate the channel puncturing pattern applied to the EHT basic PPDU 500. In EHT-SIG compression mode 2, the common field 702 of the EHT-SIG field 504 does not include RU allocation information, but includes supplementary punctured channel information.

[0123] According to the second embodiment, the second use case of EHT-SIG compression mode 1 and the use case of EHT-SIG compression mode 2 depend on the content of the punctured channel information in the U-SIG field 502. For example, it is assumed that the punctured channel information in the U-SIG field 502 can indicate whether each 20 MHz subchannel other than the main 20 MHz within the main 80 MHz is punctured, and whether at least one 20 MHz subchannel outside the main 80 MHz is punctured. Under this assumption, the second use case of EHT-SIG compression mode 1 can be further divided into two use cases: when the BW of the EHT basic PPDU 500 is 80 MHz, the EHT basic PPDU 500 for punctured SU or MU-MIMO transmission (use case 2.1); and when the BW of the EHT basic PPDU 500 is greater than 80 MHz and no 20 MHz subchannel outside the main 80 MHz is punctured, the EHT basic PPDU 500 for punctured SU or MU-MIMO transmission (use case 2.2). On the other hand, the use case of EHT-SIG compression mode 2 is the EHT basic PPDU 500 for punctured SU or MU-MIMO transmission when the BW of the EHT basic PPDU 500 is greater than 80 MHz and at least one 20 MHz subchannel outside the primary 80 MHz is punctured.

[0124] Table 6: Second example format of the U-SIG field of the EHT Basic PPDU

[0125]

[0126] Table 6 depicts an example format of the U-SIG field 502 in the EHT Basic PPDU 500. The U-SIG field 502 includes two parts: U-SIG1 and U-SIG2, each of which contains 26 data bits. U-SIG1 includes all version-independent bits, such as the PHY version identifier field, the UL / DL flag field, the BSS color field, the TXOP duration field, and the BW field; some version-related bits, such as the PPDU type field; and some EHT-SIG-related bits, such as the EHT-SIG compression field and the EHT-SIG DCM field. U-SIG2 includes the remaining version-related bits, such as the EHT-SIG EHT MCS field, the number of EHT-SIG symbols or non-OFDMA users field, the spatial reuse field, and the punctured channel information field, followed by the reserved bits: CRC field and tail bits. Unless otherwise stated in this specification, it is obvious to those of ordinary skill in the art that the standard definitions, protocols, and functions of most of the fields in the U-SIG field 502 listed in Table 6 can be obtained from the 802.11ax specification.

[0127] Specifically, the punctured channel information field is a 4-bit bitmap, in which the three least significant bits (LSBs) indicate whether each 20MHz subchannel within the main 80MHz that is not the main 20MHz is punctured, and the most significant bit (MSB) indicates whether at least one 20MHz subchannel outside the main 80MHz is punctured, which is reserved for the BW of 80MHz. The BW field of the U-SIG field 502 is set to: for 20MHz, the BW field is set to "0", for 40MHz, the BW field is set to "1", for 80MHz, the BW field is set to "2", for 160MHz and 80+80MHz, the BW field is set to "3", for 240MHz and 160+80MHz, the BW field is set to "4", and for 320MHz and 160+160MHz, the BW field is set to "5".

[0128] In an embodiment, the EHT-SIG compression mode may be indicated in the EHT-SIG compression field, the punctured channel information field, and the BW field of the U-SIG field 502. Table 11 depicts how various EHT-SIG compression modes are indicated in the EHT-SIG compression field, the punctured channel information field, and the BW field of the U-SIG field 502. Specifically, when the EHT-SIG compression field value is "0" indicating OFDMA transmission, EHT-SIG compression mode 0 is enabled regardless of the punctured channel information field value and the BW field value.

[0129] Table 11 is drawn based on the assumption that the punctured channel information in the U-SIG field 502 can indicate whether each 20 MHz subchannel other than the main 20 MHz within the main 80 MHz is punctured and whether at least one 20 MHz subchannel outside the main 80 MHz is punctured. When the EHT-SIG compression field value is "1", the punctured channel information field sets all non-reserved bits to "0" indicating the non-preamble puncturing mode, and EHT-SIG compression mode 1 can be enabled under use case 1 regardless of the BW field value. When the EHT-SIG compression field value is "1", at least one of the 3 LSBs of the punctured channel information field is set to "1", and the BW field value is "2" (BW = 80 MHz), at least one 20 MHz subchannel other than the main 20 MHz within the 80 MHz channel is punctured. In this case, the channel puncturing pattern applied to the EHT basic PPDU 500 for punctured SU or MU-MIMO transmission may be determined based only on the punctured channel information in the U-SIG field 502, and thus the EHT-SIG compression mode 1 may be enabled for the EHT basic PPDU 500 under use case 2.1. When the EHT-SIG compression field value is "1", at least one of the 3 LSBs of the punctured channel information field is set to "1" and the MSB of the punctured channel information field is set to "0", and the BW field value is greater than "2" (BW>80MHz), at least one 20MHz subchannel within the main 80MHz that is not the main 20MHz is punctured, and the 20MHz subchannel outside the main 80MHz is not punctured. In this case, the channel puncturing pattern applied to the EHT basic PPDU 500 for punctured SU or MU-MIMO transmission may also be determined based only on the punctured channel information in the U-SIG field 502, so that EHT-SIG compression mode 1 may be enabled for the EHT basic PPDU 500 under use case 2.2.

[0130] When the EHT-SIG compression field value is "1", the MSB of the punctured channel information field is set to "1", and the BW field value is greater than "2" (BW>80MHz), at least one 20MHz subchannel outside the main 80MHz is punctured. In this case, the channel puncturing pattern applied to the EHT basic PPDU 500 for punctured SU or MU-MIMO transmission can be determined based on the punctured channel information in the U-SIG field 502 and the supplementary punctured channel information in the EHT-SIG field 504, and thus EHT-SIG compression mode 2 can be enabled for the EHT basic PPDU 500.

[0131] In addition, when the EHT-SIG compression field is set to 1, SU or MU-MIMO transmission may be indicated by the EHT-SIG symbol or the number of non-OFDMA users field of the U-SIG field 502. Specifically, a value of "0" in the EHT-SIG symbol or the number of non-OFDMA users field indicates SU transmission.

[0132] An example format of the second part 702b of the common field 702 of the EHT-SIG field 504 is shown in Table 12 and Table 13. The RU allocation information and the supplementary punctured channel information may be included in a single field (e.g., RU allocation or supplementary punctured channel information field) of the second part 702b of the common field 702 of the EHT-SIG field 504, where the field size thereof depends on the BW and the compression mode, as shown in Table 12. Alternatively, the RU allocation information and the supplementary punctured channel information may be included in two separate fields (e.g., RU allocation information field and supplementary punctured channel information field, respectively) of the second part 702b of the common field 702, where the field size of each RU allocation information field and supplementary punctured channel information field depends on the BW, as shown in Table 13. Specifically, the second part 702b of the common field 702 of the EHT-SIG field 504 may include a bitmap, for example, 4 bits for a BW of 160 MHz or 80+80 MHz, 8 bits for a BW of 240 MHz or 160+80 MHz, and 12 bits for a BW of 320 MHz or 160+160 MHz, to carry supplemental punctured channel information. The bitmap indicates whether each 20 MHz subchannel outside the main 80 MHz is punctured.

[0133] The first part 702a of the common field and the user field of the EHT-SIG field 504 may be the same as those depicted in Tables 3 to 5. It is apparent to a person of ordinary skill in the art that the standard definitions, protocols, and functions of all fields of the common fields and user fields listed in Tables 3 to 5 may be obtained from the 802.11ax specification without further elaboration unless otherwise stated in this specification.

[0134] Figure 8A flowchart 800 illustrating processing of a received EHT basic PPDU 500 in an AP or STA according to a second embodiment is depicted. The process may start in step 802 by determining whether the EHT-SIG compression field is set to "1" indicating SU or MU-MIMO transmission. If the EHT-SIG compression field is not set to "1", in step 804, EHT-SIG compression mode 0 is determined, and in step 806, a channel puncturing pattern applied to the received EHT basic PPDU 500 is determined based on the punctured channel information in the U-SIG field 502 and the RU allocation information in the EHT-SIG field 504, and the process may end.

[0135] If the EHT-SIG compression field is set to "1", step 808 is performed. In step 808, it is determined whether the BW field is set to a value greater than "2" (BW>80MHz). If the BW field is not set to a value greater than "2", step 810 is performed. In step 810, it is then determined whether the BW field is set to "2" (BW=80MHz) and at least one of the three LSBs of the punctured channel information field is set to "1". If the BW is not set to "2" or all three LSBs of the punctured channel information field are set to "0", in step 812, use case 1 of EHT-SIG compression mode 1 is determined, i.e., full bandwidth SU or MU-MIMO transmission, and the process can end. If the BW field is set to "2" or at least one of the 3 LSBs of the punctured channel information field is set to "1" indicating that at least one 20MHz subchannel within the 80MHz channel that is not the main 20MHz is punctured, then use case 2.1 of EHT-SIG compression mode 1 is determined in step 814.

[0136] Returning to step 808, if it is determined that the BW field is set to a value greater than "2" (BW>80MHz), step 816 is performed. In step 816, it is further determined whether the MSB of the punctured channel information field is set to "1" indicating that at least one 20MHz subchannel outside the main 80MHz is punctured. If the MSB of the punctured channel information field is not set to "1", use case 2.2 of EHT-SIG compression mode 1 is determined in step 818. If the MSB of the punctured channel information field is set to "1", EHT-SIG compression mode 2 is determined in step 822. When use case 2.1 or use case 2.2 of EHT-SIG compression mode 1 is determined in step 814 or step 818, respectively, step 820 is performed. In step 820, the channel puncturing pattern applied to the received EHT basic PPDU 500 is determined according to the punctured channel information in the U-SIG field 502. On the other hand, when the EHT-SIG compression mode 2 is determined in step 822, step 824 is performed. In step 824, the channel puncturing pattern applied to the received EHT basic PPDU 500 is determined based on the punctured channel information in the U-SIG field 502 and the supplementary punctured channel information in the EHT-SIG field 504.

[0137] According to the third embodiment of the present disclosure, the above-mentioned punctured channel signaling for punctured SU or MU-MIMO transmission can also be applied to punctured OFDMA transmission. Specifically, when the EHT basic PPDU 500 is used for punctured OFDMA transmission, the EHT-SIG field 504 includes RU allocation information. If the punctured channel information of the U-SIG field 502 is able to indicate the channel puncturing pattern applied to the EHT basic PPDU 500, the EHT-SIG field 504 does not include the supplementary punctured channel information. If the punctured channel information of the U-SIG field 502 cannot indicate the channel puncturing pattern applied to the EHT basic PPDU 500, the EHT-SIG field 504 includes the supplementary punctured channel information. In this case, the punctured channel information in the U-SIG field 502 and the supplementary punctured channel information in the EHT-SIG field 504 jointly indicate the channel puncturing pattern applied to the EHT basic PPDU 500. The effect is that in the case of punctured OFDMA transmissions, less RU allocation information may be required, thereby reducing the EHT-SIG field signaling overhead.

[0138] In an embodiment, the punctured channel information in the U-SIG field 502 may be able to indicate all channel puncturing patterns allowed for up to a determined BW (e.g., 80 MHz). When the EHT basic PPDU 500 is used for punctured SU, MU-MIMO, or OFDMA transmission, if the BW of the EHT basic PPDU 500 is less than or equal to the determined BW, supplementary punctured channel information is not required, and thus the EHT-SIG field 504 may not include supplementary punctured channel information.

[0139] In another embodiment, the punctured channel information in the U-SIG field 502 may be able to indicate all channel puncturing patterns allowed for up to a determined BW (e.g., 80 MHz) and a portion of the channel puncturing pattern for a BW greater than the determined BW. When the EHT basic PPDU 500 is used for punctured SU, MU-MIMO, or OFDMA transmission, if the BW of the EHT basic PPDU 500 is less than or equal to the determined BW, the supplementary punctured channel information is not required, and thus the EHT-SIG field 504 may not include the supplementary punctured channel information. If the BW of the EHT basic PPDU 500 is greater than the determined BW, and the portion of the channel puncturing pattern for a BW greater than the determined BW that the punctured channel information in the U-SIG field 502 can indicate includes the channel puncturing pattern applied to the EHT basic PPDU 500, the supplementary punctured channel information is not required, and thus the EHT-SIG field 504 may not include the supplementary punctured channel information.

[0140] According to the third embodiment, the EHT-SIG field 504 of the EHT basic PPDU 500 may have four different EHT-SIG compression modes: (i) compression mode 0, in which the common field of the EHT-SIG field 504 includes RU allocation information but does not include supplementary punctured channel information; (ii) compression mode 1, in which the common field of the EHT-SIG field 504 does not include RU allocation information and supplementary punctured channel information; (iii) compression mode 2, in which the common field of the EHT-SIG field 504 does not include RU allocation information but includes supplementary punctured channel information; and (iv) compression mode 3, in which the common field of the EHT-SIG field 504 includes both RU allocation information and supplementary punctured channel information.

[0141] Specifically, EHT-SIG compression mode 0 is enabled for an EHT basic PPDU 500 for OFDMA transmission, where the supplemental punctured channel information in the EHT-SIG field 504 is not required. Example use cases include an EHT basic PPDU 500 for full bandwidth OFDMA transmission (use case 1 of compression mode 0); and an EHT basic PPDU 500 for punctured OFDMA transmission when the punctured channel information in the U-SIG field 502 can indicate a channel puncturing description applied to the EHT basic PPDU 500 (use case 2 of compression mode 0). In EHT-SIG compression mode 0, the common fields of the EHT-SIG field 504 include RU allocation information, but do not include supplemental punctured channel information.

[0142] On the other hand, EHT-SIG compression mode 3 is enabled for the EHT basic PPDU 500 for punctured OFDMA transmission, wherein the punctured channel information in the U-SIG field 502 cannot indicate the channel puncturing pattern applied to the EHT basic PPDU 500. Since the punctured channel information of the U-SIG field 502 cannot indicate the channel puncturing pattern applied to the EHT basic PPDU 500, the supplementary punctured channel information in the EHT-SIG field 504 is required. Under EHT-SIG compression mode 3, the common field of the EHT-SIG field 504 includes RU allocation information and supplementary punctured channel information. In the case of punctured OFDMA transmission, this implementation of compression mode 3 can advantageously reduce the EHT-SIG field signaling overhead because RU allocation information is not required for the punctured 20MHz subchannel.

[0143] EHT-SIG compression mode 1 is enabled for an EHT basic PPDU 500 for SU or MU-MIMO transmission, where the supplemental punctured channel information in the EHT-SIG field 504 is not required. Example use cases include an EHT basic PPDU 500 for full bandwidth SU or MU-MIMO transmission (use case 1 of compression mode 1); and an EHT basic PPDU 500 for punctured SU or MU-MIMO transmission when the punctured channel information in the U-SIG field 502 can indicate the channel puncturing pattern applied to the EHT basic PPDU 500 (use case 2 of compression mode 1). In EHT-SIG compression mode 1, the common field 702 of the EHT-SIG field 504 does not include RU allocation information and supplemental punctured channel information.

[0144] EHT-SIG compression mode 2 is enabled for an EHT basic PPDU 500 for SU or MU-MIMO transmission, where supplementary punctured channel information is required in the EHT-SIG 504. An example use case is an EHT basic PPDU 500 for SU or MU-MIMO transmission, where the punctured channel information in the U-SIG field 502 cannot indicate the channel puncturing pattern applied to the EHT basic PPDU 500. In EHT-SIG compression mode 2, the common field 702 of the EHT-SIG field 504 does not include RU allocation information, but includes supplementary punctured channel information.

[0145] The second use case of EHT-SIG compression mode 0 or compression mode 1 and the use case of EHT-SIG compression mode 2 or compression mode 3 depend on the content of the punctured channel information in the U-SIG field 502. For example, by assuming that the punctured channel information in the U-SIG field 502 can indicate whether each 20 MHz subchannel other than the primary 20 MHz within the primary 80 MHz is punctured and whether at least one 20 MHz subchannel outside the primary 80 MHz is punctured, the second use case of EHT-SIG compression mode 0 or 1 can be further divided into two use cases: when the BW of the EHT basic PPDU 500 is 80 MHz, the EHT basic PPDU for punctured SU, MU-MIMO, or OFDMA transmission (use case 2.1); and when the BW of the EHT basic PPDU 500 is greater than 80 MHz and the 20 MHz subchannel outside the primary 80 MHz is not punctured, the EHT basic PPDU 500 for punctured SU, MU-MIMO, or OFDMA transmission (use case 2.2).

[0146] Table 7 depicts an example format of the U-SIG field 502 in the EHT Basic PPDU 500. The U-SIG field 502 includes two parts: U-SIG1 and U-SIG2, each of which contains 26 data bits. U-SIG1 includes all version-independent bits, such as the PHY version identifier field, the UL / DL flag field, the BSS color field, the TXOP duration field, and the BW field; some version-related bits, such as the PPDU type field, and some EHT-SIG-related bits, such as the EHT-SIG compression field and the EHT-SIG DCM field. U-SIG2 includes the remaining version-related bits, such as the EHT-SIG EHT MCS field, the number of EHT-SIG symbols or non-OFDMA users field, the spatial reuse field, and the punctured channel information field, followed by the reserved bits: CRC field and tail bits. Unless otherwise stated in this specification, it is obvious to those of ordinary skill in the art that the standard definitions, protocols, and functions of most of the fields in the U-SIG field 502 listed in Table 7 can be obtained from the 802.11ax specification.

[0147] Table 7: Example format of the U-SIG field of the EHT Basic PPDU

[0148]

[0149]

[0150] Specifically, the punctured channel information field is a 4-bit bitmap, in which the three LSBs indicate whether each 20MHz subchannel within the main 80MHz that is not the main 20MHz is punctured, and the MSB indicates whether at least one 20MHz subchannel outside the main 80MHz is punctured, which is reserved for the BW of 80MHz. The BW field of the U-SIG field 502 is set to: for 20MHz, the BW field is set to "0", for 40MHz, the BW field is set to "1", for 80MHz, the BW field is set to "2", for 160MHz and 80+80MHz, the BW field is set to "3", for 240MHz and 160+80MHz, the BW field is set to "4", and for 320MHz and 160+160MHz, the BW field is set to "5".

[0151] In an embodiment, the EHT-SIG compression mode may be indicated in the EHT-SIG compression field, the punctured channel information field, and the BW field of the U-SIG field 502. Table 14 illustrates how various EHT-SIG compression modes are indicated in the EHT-SIG compression field, the punctured channel information field, and the BW field of the U-SIG field 502 according to the third embodiment of the present disclosure. The EHT-SIG compression field is set to "0" indicating OFDMA transmission and "1" indicating SU or MU-MIMO transmission.

[0152] Table 14 is drawn based on the assumption that the punctured channel information in the U-SIG field 502 can indicate whether each 20 MHz subchannel other than the main 20 MHz within the main 80 MHz is punctured and whether at least one 20 MHz subchannel outside the main 80 MHz is punctured. When the EHT-SIG compression field value is "1", the punctured channel information field sets all non-reserved bits to "0" indicating the non-preamble puncturing mode of SU or MU-MIMO transmission, and EHT-SIG compression mode 1 can be enabled under use case 1 regardless of the BW field value. When the EHT-SIG compression field value is "1", at least one of the 3 LSBs of the punctured channel information field is set to "1", and the BW field value is "2" (BW = 80 MHz), at least one 20 MHz subchannel other than the main 20 MHz within the 80 MHz channel is punctured. In this case, the channel puncturing pattern applied to the EHT basic PPDU 500 for punctured SU or MU-MIMO transmission may be determined based only on the punctured channel information in the U-SIG field 502, and thus the EHT-SIG compression mode 1 may be enabled under use case 2.1 for the EHT basic PPDU 500. When the EHT-SIG compression field value is '1', at least one of the 3 LSBs of the punctured channel information field is set to '1', and the MSB of the punctured channel information field is set to '0', and the BW field value is greater than '2' (BW>80 MHz), at least one 20 MHz subchannel within the main 80 MHz that is not the main 20 MHz is punctured, and the 20 MHz subchannel outside the main 80 MHz is not punctured. In this case, the channel puncturing pattern applied to the EHT basic PPDU 500 for punctured SU or MU-MIMO transmission may also be determined based only on the punctured channel information in the U-SIG field 502, so EHT-SIG compression mode 1 may be enabled for the EHT basic PPDU 500 under use case 2.2.

[0153] When the EHT-SIG compression field value is "1", the MSB of the punctured channel information field is set to "1", and the BW field value is greater than "2" (BW>80MHz), at least one 20MHz subchannel outside the main 80MHz is punctured. In this case, the channel puncturing pattern applied to the EHT basic PPDU 500 for punctured SU or MU-MIMO transmission can be determined based on the punctured channel information in the U-SIG field 502 and the supplementary punctured channel information in the EHT-SIG field 504, so EHT-SIG compression mode 2 can be enabled for the EHT basic PPDU 500.

[0154] When the EHT-SIG compression field value is "0", the punctured channel information field sets all non-reserved bits to "0" indicating the non-preamble puncturing mode of OFDMA transmission, and EHT-SIG compression mode 0 can be enabled under use case 1 regardless of the BW field value. When the EHT-SIG compression field value is "0", at least one of the 3 LSBs of the punctured channel information field is set to "1" and the BW field value is "2" (BW = 80MHz), at least one 20MHz subchannel within the 80MHz channel that is not the main 20MHz is punctured. In this case, the channel puncturing pattern applied to the EHT basic PPDU 500 for punctured OFDMA transmission can be determined based only on the punctured channel information in the U-SIG field 502, so EHT-SIG compression mode 0 can be enabled for the EHT basic PPDU 500 under use case 2.1. When the EHT-SIG compression field value is "1", at least one of the 3 LSBs of the punctured channel information field is set to "1" and the MSB of the punctured channel information field is set to "0" and the BW field value is greater than "2" (BW>80MHz), at least one 20MHz subchannel within the main 80MHz that is not the main 20MHz is punctured, and the 20MHz subchannel outside the main 80MHz is not punctured. In this case, the channel puncturing pattern applied to the EHT basic PPDU 500 for punctured OFDMA transmission can also be determined based only on the punctured channel information in the U-SIG field 502, so EHT-SIG compression mode 0 can be enabled for the EHT basic PPDU 500 under use case 2.2.

[0155] When the EHT-SIG compression field value is "0", the MSB of the punctured channel information field is set to "1", and the BW field value is greater than "2" (BW>80MHz), at least one 20MHz subchannel outside the main 80MHz is punctured. In this case, the channel puncturing pattern applied to the EHT basic PPDU 500 for punctured OFDMA transmission can be determined based on the punctured channel information in the U-SIG field 502 and the supplementary punctured channel information in the EHT-SIG field 504, so EHT-SIG compression mode 3 can be enabled for the EHT basic PPDU 500.

[0156] In addition, when the EHT-SIG compression field is set to 1, SU or MU-MIMO transmission may be indicated by the EHT-SIG symbol or the number of non-OFDMA users field of the U-SIG field 502. Specifically, a value of "0" in the EHT-SIG symbol or the number of non-OFDMA users field indicates SU transmission.

[0157] The supplemental punctured channel information may be carried in a signaling field (e.g., a supplemental punctured channel information field) in the first part 702a of the common field 702 of the EHT-SIG field 504, where the field size depends on the BW of the EHT Basic PPDU 500. The supplemental punctured channel information field may contain supplemental punctured channel information on all 20MHz subchannels outside the main 80MHz. In one option, this supplemental punctured channel information field is independent of the EHT-SIG content channel, so all EHT-SIG content channels contain the same supplemental punctured channel information field. The field may contain a bitmap, 4 bits for a BW of 160MHz or 80+80MHz, 8 bits for a BW of 240MHz or 160+80MHz, or 12 bits for a BW of 320MHz or 160+160MHz. The bitmap indicates whether each 20MHz subchannel outside the main 80MHz is punctured.

[0158] In another option, the supplemental punctured channel information field in the EHT-SIG content channel may contain supplemental punctured channel information on the 20MHz sub-channels outside the main 80MHz corresponding to the EHT-SIG content channel only. This supplemental punctured channel information field may depend on the EHT-SIG content channel and therefore be different between all EHT-SIG content channels. The field may contain a bitmap, 2 bits for a BW of 160MHz or 80+80MHz, 4 bits for a BW of 240MHz or 160+80MHz, or 6 bits for a BW of 320MHz or 160+160MHz. In this way, the second implementation option of the field can advantageously reduce the EHT-SIG field signaling overhead.

[0159] In addition, the RU allocation can be included in the second part 702b of the common field 702 of the EHT-SIG field 504 (e.g., the RU allocation information field), where its field size depends on the value of BW, the redundant channel information field, and the supplementary redundant channel information field, because the RU allocation information for the redundant 20MHz subchannel is not required.

[0160] Fig.9A and Fig. 9B A flowchart 900 is depicted illustrating processing of a received EHT Basic PPDU 500 in an AP or STA according to a third embodiment. The process may begin in step 902 by determining whether the EHT-SIG Compression field is set to "1". If the EHT-SIG Compression field is set to "1" indicating SU or MU-MIMO transmission, step 904 is performed in which EHT-SIG compression mode 1 or 2 is determined, and if the EHT-SIG Compression field is set to "0" indicating OFDMA transmission, step 922 is performed in which EHT-SIG compression mode 0 or 3 is determined. Fig. 9B Further processing of the received EHT basic PPDU 500 for OFDMA transmission after step 922 is discussed in detail.

[0161] Returning to step 904, it is then determined whether the BW field is set to a value greater than "2", the BW field value "2" indicating a BW of 80 MHz. If the BW field is not set to a value greater than "2", step 906 is performed. In step 906, it is then determined whether the BW field is set to "2" and at least one of the three LSBs of the punctured channel information field is set to "1". If the BW field is not set to "2" or all three LSBs of the punctured channel information field are set to "0", then in step 908, use case 1 of EHT-SIG compression mode 1 is determined, i.e., full bandwidth SU or MU-MIMO transmission, and the process can end. If the BW field is set to "2" or at least one of the 3 LSBs of the punctured channel information field is set to "1" indicating that at least one 20 MHz subchannel within the 80 MHz channel that is not the main 20 MHz is punctured, then use case 2.1 of EHT-SIG compression mode 1 is determined in step 910.

[0162] Returning to step 904, if it is determined that the BW field is set to a value greater than "2", step 912 is performed. In step 912, it is further determined whether the MSB of the punctured channel information field is set to "1" indicating that at least one 20MHz subchannel outside the main 80MHz is punctured. If the MSB of the punctured channel information field is not set to "1", use case 2.2 of EHT-SIG compression mode 1 is determined in step 914. If the MSB of the punctured channel information field is set to "1", EHT-SIG compression mode 3 is determined in step 916. When use case 2.1 or use case 2.2 of EHT-SIG compression mode 1 is determined in step 910 or step 914, respectively, step 918 is performed. In step 918, a channel puncturing pattern applied to the received EHT basic PPDU 500 is determined according to the punctured channel information in the U-SIG field 502. On the other hand, when EHT-SIG compression mode 2 is determined in step 914, step 920 is performed. In step 920 , a channel puncturing pattern applied to the received EHT basic PPDU 500 is determined according to the punctured channel information in the U-SIG field 502 and the supplementary punctured channel information in the EHT-SIG field 504 .

[0163] Returning to step 922, after determining EHT-SIG compression mode 0 or 3, step 924 is performed. In step 924, it is determined whether the BW field is set to a value greater than "2". If the BW field is not set to a value greater than "2", step 926 is performed. In step 926, it is then determined whether the BW field is set to "2" and at least one of the three LSBs of the punctured channel information field is set to "1". If BW is not set to "2" or all three LSBs of the punctured channel information field are set to "0", then in step 928, use case 1 of EHT-SIG compression mode 0 is determined, i.e., full bandwidth OFDMA transmission, and the process can end. If the BW field is set to "2" or at least one of the 3 LSBs of the punctured channel information field is set to "1" indicating that at least one 20MHz subchannel within the 80MHz channel that is not the main 20MHz is punctured, then use case 2.1 of EHT-SIG compression mode 0 is determined in step 930.

[0164] Returning to step 924, if it is determined that the BW field is set to a value greater than "2", step 932 is performed. In step 932, it is further determined whether the MSB of the punctured channel information field is set to "1" indicating that at least one 20 MHz sub-channel outside the main 80 MHz is punctured. If the MSB of the punctured channel information field is not set to "1", use case 2.2 of EHT-SIG compression mode 0 is determined in step 934. If the MSB of the punctured channel information field is set to "1", EHT-SIG compression mode 3 is determined in step 936. When use case 2.1 or use case 2.2 of EHT-SIG compression mode 0 is determined in step 930 or step 934, respectively, step 938 is performed. In step 938, the channel puncturing pattern applied to the received EHT basic PPDU 500 is determined according to the punctured channel information in the U-SIG field 502. On the other hand, when EHT-SIG compression mode 3 is determined in step 936, step 940 is performed. In step 940 , a channel puncturing pattern applied to the received EHT basic PPDU 500 is determined according to the punctured channel information in the U-SIG field 502 and the supplementary punctured channel information in the EHT-SIG field 504 .

[0165] Fig.10An example format of an EHT TB PPDU 1000 is depicted. The EHT TB PPDU 1000 has a structure similar to that of the EHT basic PPDU 500, but without the EHT-SIG field 504. The EHT TB PPDU 1000 may include an L-STF, an L-LTF, an L-SIG field, a FIF, a U-SIG field 1002, an EHT-STF, an EHT-LTF, a data field, and a PE field. The L-STF, L-LTF, L-SIG, RL-SIG, and U-SIG fields 602 may be grouped as pre-EHT modulation fields, while the EHT-STF, EHT-LTF, data field, and PE field may be grouped as an EHT modulation field. The EHT TB PPDU may be used for trigger-based communication in response to a request trigger frame. For example, when the EHT Basic PPDU 410 is sent to the STAs 404, 406 and contains one or more trigger frames, the EHT TB PPDU may be used by the STAs 404, 406 to send BA frames 414, 415, such as Figure 4 shown.

[0166] Table 8 depicts an example format of the U-SIG field 1002 of the EHT TB PPDU 1000. Similar to the EHT Basic PPDU 500, the U-SIG field 1002 includes two parts: U-SIG1 and U-SIG2, each of which includes 26 data bits. In this embodiment, all version-independent bits can be included in U-SIG1. The first part of the U-SIG field 1002, namely U-SIG1, includes a PHY version identifier field, a UL / DL flag field, a BSS color field, a TXOP duration field, a BW field, and a PPDU type field. The PHY version identifier field is used to identify the exact PHY version starting with 802.11be. The second part of the U-SIG field 1002, namely U-SIG2, includes spatial reuse 1 to 4 fields, followed by a CRC field and tail bits. Information of some fields in the U-SIG field 602 (e.g., the BW field and the spatial reuse 1 to 4 fields) can be copied from the corresponding trigger frame requesting the transmission of the EHT TB PPDU 1000. It should be understood and apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art that the standard definitions, protocols, and functions of most fields in the U-SIG field 1002 of the EHT TBPPDU 1000 can be obtained from the 802.11ax specification.

[0167] Table 8: Example format of the U-SIG field in the EHT TB PPDU

[0168]

[0169]

[0170] Fig.11 FIG. 1 shows a configuration of a communication device 1100 (e.g., an AP) according to various embodiments. Similar to the schematic example of the communication device 300 shown in FIG. 3 , the communication device 1100 includes a circuit 1102, at least one radio transmitter 1110, at least one radio receiver 1112, at least one antenna 1114 (for simplicity, the antenna 1114 is not shown in FIG. 1 ). Fig.11 Only one antenna is depicted in FIG. 1 ). The circuit 1102 may include at least one controller 1108 for use in software and hardware-assisted execution of tasks, the controller 1108 being designed to perform communications for control signaling. The circuit 1102 may also include a transmission signal generator 1104 and a reception signal processor 1106. At least one controller 1108 may control the transmission signal generator 1104 and the reception signal processor 1106. The transmission signal generator 1104 may include a frame generator 1122, a control signaling generator 1124, and a PPDU generator 1126. The frame generator 1122 may generate a MAC frame, such as a data frame or a trigger frame. The control signaling generator 1124 may generate a control signaling field of a PPDU to be generated (e.g., a U-SIG field and an EHT-SIG field of an EHT basic PPDU). The PPDU generator 1126 may generate a PPDU (e.g., an EHT basic PPDU).

[0171] The receive signal processor 1106 may include a data demodulator and decoder 1134 that may demodulate and decode a data portion of a received signal (e.g., a data field of an EHT basic PPDU or an EHT TB PPDU). The receive signal processor 1106 may also include a control demodulator and decoder 1134 that may demodulate and decode a control signaling portion of a received signal (e.g., a U-SIG field of an EHT basic PPDU or an EHT TB PPDU and an EHT-SIG field of an EHT basic PPDU). The at least one controller 1108 may include a control signal parser 1142 and a scheduler 1144. The scheduler 1144 may determine RU information and user-specific allocation information for downlink SU or MU transmission allocation and trigger information for uplink MU transmission allocation. The control signal parser 1142 may analyze the control signaling portion of the received signal and the trigger information for uplink MU transmission allocation shared by the scheduler 1144, and the auxiliary data demodulator and decoder 1132 may demodulate and decode the data portion of the received signal.

[0172] Fig.12FIG. 1 shows a configuration of a communication device 1200 (e.g., STA) according to various embodiments. Similar to the schematic example of the communication device 300 shown in FIG. 3 , the communication device 1200 includes a circuit 1202, at least one radio transmitter 1210, at least one radio receiver 1212, at least one antenna 1214 (for simplicity, the antenna 1214 is not shown in FIG. 1 ). Fig.12 Only one antenna is depicted in FIG. 1 ). The circuit 1202 may include at least one controller 1208 for use in a software and hardware assisted execution in which the controller 1208 is designed to perform tasks for communication of control signaling. The circuit 1202 may also include a receive signal processor 1206 and a transmit signal generator 1204. At least one controller 1208 may control the receive signal processor 1206 and the transmit signal generator 1204. The receive signal processor 1206 may include a data demodulator and decoder 1232 and a control demodulator and decoder 1234. The control demodulator and decoder 1234 may demodulate and decode the control signaling portion of the received signal (e.g., the U-SIG field and the EHT-SIG field of the EHT Basic PPDU). The data demodulator and decoder 1232 may demodulate and decode the data portion of the received signal (e.g., the data field of the ETH Basic PPDU) based on the RU information and its own allocated user-specific allocation information.

[0173] At least one controller 1208 may include a control signal parser 1242, a scheduler 1244, and a trigger information parser 1246. The control signal parser 1242 may analyze the control signaling portion of the received signal (e.g., the U-SIG field and the EHT-SIG field of the EHT basic PPDU), and the auxiliary data demodulator and decoder 1232 may demodulate and decode the data portion of the received signal (e.g., the data field of the EHT basic PPDU). The trigger information parser 1248 may analyze the trigger information for its own uplink allocation from the received trigger frame contained in the data portion of the received signal. The transmission signal generator 1204 may include a control signaling generator 1224, which may generate a control signaling field of the PPDU to be generated (e.g., the U-SIG field of the EHT basic PPDU or the EHT TB PPDU). The transmission signal generator 1204 may also include a PPDU generator 1226, which generates a PPDU (e.g., an EHT basic PPDU or an EHT TB PPDU). The transmission signal generator 1204 may also include a frame generator 1222 that may generate a MAC frame, such as a data frame.

[0174] As described above, the embodiments of the present disclosure provide an advanced communication system, a communication method, and a communication device for control signaling in a MIMO WLAN network with extremely high throughput and improving spectrum efficiency in the MIMO WLAN network.

[0175] The present disclosure can be implemented by software, hardware or software and hardware collaboration. Each functional block used in the description of each of the above embodiments can be implemented in part or in whole by LSI such as integrated circuit, and each process described in each embodiment can be controlled in part or in whole by the same LSI or a combination of LSI. LSI can be formed as a chip alone, or a chip can be formed to include some or all functional blocks. LSI can include data input and output coupled to it. According to the difference in integration, LSI here can be referred to as IC, system LSI, super LSI or ultra LSI. However, the technology for implementing integrated circuits is not limited to LSI, but can be implemented by using a dedicated circuit, a general-purpose processor or a dedicated processor. In addition, an FPGA (field programmable gate array) that can be programmed after manufacturing LSI or a reconfigurable processor that can reconfigure the connection and setting of the circuit unit arranged inside LSI can be used. The present disclosure can be implemented as digital processing or analog processing. If future integrated circuit technology replaces LSI due to the progress of semiconductor technology or other derivative technologies, future integrated circuit technology can be used to integrate functional blocks. Biotechnology can also be applied.

[0176] The present disclosure may be implemented by any kind of device, apparatus, or system having a communication function, which is referred to as a communication device.

[0177] The communication device may include a transceiver and a processing / control circuit. The transceiver may include and / or function as a receiver and a transmitter. The transceiver as a transmitter and a receiver may include an RF (radio frequency) module, and one or more antennas, the RF module including an amplifier, an RF modulator / demodulator, etc.

[0178] Some non-limiting examples of such communication devices include phones (e.g., cellular (cell) phones, smart phones), tablets, personal computers (PCs) (e.g., laptops, desktops, netbooks), cameras (e.g., digital cameras / camcorders), digital players (digital audio / video players), wearable devices (e.g., wearable cameras, smart watches, tracking devices), game consoles, digital book readers, telehealth / telemedicine (remote health and medicine) devices, and vehicles that provide communication capabilities (e.g., cars, airplanes, ships), and various combinations thereof.

[0179] Communication devices are not limited to portable or mobile, and may also include any type of non-portable or fixed device, equipment, or system, such as smart home devices (e.g., appliances, lighting, smart meters, control panels), vending machines, and any other "things" in an "Internet of Things (IoT)" network.

[0180] Communications may include exchanging data via, for example, cellular systems, wireless LAN systems, satellite systems, etc., and various combinations thereof.

[0181] The communication apparatus may include a device such as a controller or a sensor coupled to a communication device that performs the communication functions described in the present disclosure. For example, the communication apparatus may include a controller or a sensor that generates a control signal or a data signal that is used by the communication device to perform the communication functions of the communication apparatus.

[0182] The communication devices may also include infrastructure such as base stations, access points, and any other devices, equipment, or systems that communicate with or control devices such as those in the non-limiting examples above.

[0183] It should be understood that, although some features of the various embodiments have been described with reference to an apparatus, the corresponding features also apply to the method of the various embodiments, and vice versa.

[0184] It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that many changes and / or modifications may be made to the present disclosure as shown in the specific embodiments without departing from the spirit or scope of the present disclosure as broadly described. Therefore, the present embodiments are to be considered in all aspects as illustrative and not restrictive.

[0185] Table 9: Example format of the second part of the common fields

[0186]

[0187] Table 10: Another example format for the second part of the common fields

[0188]

[0189] Table 11: Various EHT-SIG compression modes associated with EHT-SIG compression field values, punctured channel information field values, and BW field values

[0190]

[0191] Table 12: Example format of the second part of the common fields

[0192]

[0193] Table 13: Another example format for the second part of the common fields

[0194]

[0195]

[0196] Table 14: Various EHT-SIG compression modes associated with EHT-SIG compression field values, punctured channel information field values, and BW field values

[0197]

Claims

1. A communication device, comprising: A circuit that generates a physical layer protocol data unit (PPDU) including a first field, and a transmitter that transmits the PPDU, The first field includes a first part and a second part that are different from each other, the first part and the second part respectively include bandwidth information and punctured channel information, and the bandwidth information and the punctured channel information jointly indicate a channel puncturing pattern applied to the EHT PPDU.

2. The communication device according to claim 1, wherein: The PPDU also includes a second field, and when the EHT PPDU is used for orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) transmission, the second field includes RU allocation information, but when the EHT PPDU is not used for OFDMA transmission, the second field does not include the RU allocation information.

3. The communication device according to claim 1, wherein: The communication device is an access point.

4. The communication device according to claim 2, wherein: When the PPDU is used for OFDMA transmission, the punctured channel information and the RU allocation information jointly indicate the channel puncturing pattern.

5. The communication device according to claim 2, wherein: When the PPDU is used for OFDMA transmission and the punctured channel information cannot indicate the channel puncturing pattern, the punctured channel information and supplementary punctured channel information jointly indicate the channel puncturing pattern, and the supplementary punctured channel information is included in the second field.

6. The communication device according to claim 2, wherein: A portion of the subfield including the RU allocation information indicates supplementary punctured channel information.

7. The communication device according to claim 2, wherein: The second field includes a common field and a user-specific field, the common field includes a first part and also includes a second part when the EHT PPDU is used for OFDMA transmission, but when the EHT PPDU is not used for OFDMA transmission, the common field does not include the second part, the first part includes common information different from the RU allocation information and the second part includes the RU allocation information.

8. The communication device according to claim 1, wherein: The punctured channel information can indicate all channel puncturing patterns allowed by a bandwidth less than or equal to a determined bandwidth.

9. The communication device according to claim 1, wherein: The punctured channel information can indicate all channel puncturing patterns allowed by a bandwidth less than or equal to a determined bandwidth and a portion of channel puncturing patterns of a bandwidth greater than the determined bandwidth.

10. A communication method, comprising: generating a physical layer protocol data unit PPDU including a first field, and sending the PPDU, The first field includes a first part and a second part that are different from each other, the first part and the second part respectively include bandwidth information and punctured channel information, and the bandwidth information and the punctured channel information jointly indicate a channel puncturing pattern applied to the EHT PPDU.

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