Request and report of MLD level statistics and delay information

Abstract

Embodiments of the present disclosure relate to an MLD, a method, an apparatus, and a computer readable storage medium for requesting and reporting MLD level statistics and delay information. The MLD determines at least one of statistical information associated with the MLD or delay information associated with the MLD. In response to receiving a request for at least one of statistical information or latency information from the second MLD, the MLD sends the at least one of statistical information or latency information to the second MLD.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] Embodiments of the present disclosure relate generally to the field of telecommunications, and more particularly to a multi-link device (MLD), method, and computer-readable storage medium for requesting and reporting MLD level statistics and delay information. Background Art

[0002] The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Task Group (TG) defines the MLD architecture. In the MLD architecture, one MLD can establish multiple links with another MLD and send data to another MLD on multiple links at the same time. For example, an AP MLD can establish three links with a non-AP MLD on the 2.4 GHz, 5 GHz, and 6 GHz frequency bands and send data to the non-AP MLD on these three links at the same time. Compared with the architecture before 802.11be, the MLD architecture improves throughput (TP) and significantly reduces latency. Summary of the invention

[0003] Example embodiments of the present disclosure provide an improved solution for requesting and reporting MLD level statistics and latency information.

[0004] In a first aspect, an MLD is provided. The MLD includes: at least one processor and at least one memory storing instructions. When the instructions are executed by the at least one processor, the MLD at least: determines at least one of statistical information associated with the MLD or delay information associated with the MLD; in response to receiving a request for at least one of the statistical information or the delay information from a second MLD, sends at least one of the statistical information or the delay information to the second MLD.

[0005] In a second aspect, an MLD is provided. The MLD includes: at least one processor and at least one memory storing instructions. When the instructions are executed by the at least one processor, the MLD at least: sends a request for at least one of statistical information associated with the first MLD or delay information associated with the first MLD to a first MLD; and receives a report on at least one of the statistical information or delay information from the first MLD.

[0006] In a third aspect, a method is provided. The method includes: determining at an MLD at least one of statistical information associated with the MLD or delay information associated with the MLD; and in response to receiving a request for at least one of the statistical information or the delay information from a second MLD, sending at least one of the statistical information or the delay information to the second MLD.

[0007] In a fourth aspect, a method is provided. The method includes: sending a request from an MLD to a first MLD for at least one of statistical information associated with the first MLD or delay information associated with the first MLD; and receiving a report on at least one of the statistical information or delay information from the first MLD.

[0008] In a fifth aspect, an apparatus is provided that includes a first MLD having: a component for determining at least one of statistical information associated with the first MLD or delay information associated with the first MLD; and a component for sending at least one of the statistical information or the delay information to the second MLD in response to receiving a request for at least one of the statistical information or the delay information from the second MLD.

[0009] In a sixth aspect, an apparatus is provided comprising a second MLD having: means for sending a request to a first MLD for at least one of statistical information associated with the first MLD or delay information associated with the first MLD; and means for receiving a report on at least one of the statistical information or delay information from the first MLD.

[0010] In a seventh aspect, a computer readable medium is provided, wherein the non-transitory computer readable medium comprises program instructions for causing an apparatus to execute the method according to the third aspect.

[0011] In an eighth aspect, a computer readable medium is provided, wherein the non-transitory computer readable medium comprises program instructions for causing an apparatus to execute the method according to the fourth aspect.

[0012] It should be understood that the invention summary is not necessarily intended to identify the key or essential features of the embodiments of the present disclosure, nor is it intended to limit the scope of the present disclosure. Other features of the present disclosure will become readily understood through the following description. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0013] Some example implementations will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

[0014] Figure 1A illustrates an example communication environment in which embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented;

[0015] Figure 1B illustrates another example communication environment in which embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented;

[0016] Figure 1C illustrates yet another example communication environment in which embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented;

[0017] Figure 2A and Figure 2Billustrates examples of differences between link-level statistics and delay information and MLD-level statistics and delay information, respectively, according to some example implementations of the present disclosure;

[0018] Figure 3 illustrates a signaling diagram illustrating a process for requesting and reporting at least one of statistical information or delay information associated with an MLD according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0019] Figure 4A and Figure 4B respectively illustrate examples of station statistics request frames according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0020] Figure 4C illustrates an example of a station statistics report frame according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0021] Figure 5 illustrates a signaling diagram illustrating a process for requesting and reporting at least one of statistical information or delay information associated with an MLD according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0022] Figure 6 A flowchart illustrating an example method according to some example implementations of the present disclosure;

[0023] Figure 7 Flowcharts illustrating example methods according to other example implementations of the present disclosure;

[0024] Figure 8 illustrates a simplified block diagram of an apparatus suitable for implementing an example implementation of the present disclosure; and

[0025] Fig. 9 A block diagram of an example computer-readable medium according to an example implementation of the present disclosure is illustrated.

[0026] Unless otherwise specified, the same or similar reference numbers refer to the same or similar elements throughout the drawings. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0027] The principles of the present disclosure will now be described with reference to some example implementations. It should be understood that these implementations are described only for illustrative purposes and to help those skilled in the art understand and implement the present disclosure, and do not represent any limitation on the scope of the present disclosure. The disclosure described herein can be implemented in various other ways except for the way described below.

[0028] In the following description and claims, unless defined otherwise, all technical and scientific terms used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which this disclosure belongs.

[0029] In this disclosure, references to "one embodiment," "an embodiment," and "an example embodiment," etc., indicate that the described embodiment may include a particular feature, structure, or characteristic, but not every embodiment must include the particular feature, structure, or characteristic. Furthermore, such phrases do not necessarily refer to the same embodiment. Furthermore, when a particular feature, structure, or characteristic is described in conjunction with an embodiment, those skilled in the art recognize that it is within the knowledge of those skilled in the art to affect such feature, structure, or characteristic in conjunction with other implementations, whether or not explicitly described.

[0030] It should be understood that although the terms "first" and "second" etc. may be used herein to describe various elements, these elements should not be limited by these terms. These terms are only used to distinguish one element from another element. For example, without departing from the scope of the example implementation, the first element may be referred to as the second element, and similarly, the second element may be referred to as the first element. As used herein, the term "and / or" includes any and all combinations of one or more of the listed terms.

[0031] The terms used herein are only used to describe specific implementations and are not intended to limit example implementations. As used herein, the singular forms "a", "an", and "the" also include the plural forms, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. It will be further understood that "includes", "comprising", "having", "having", "containing", and / or "including" when used herein specify the presence of the features, elements, and / or components, etc., but do not exclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, elements, components, and / or combinations thereof.

[0032] As used in this application, the term "circuitry" may refer to one, more, or all of the following:

[0033] (a) a pure hardware circuit implementation (such as an implementation using only analog and / or digital circuitry), and

[0034] (b) a combination of hardware circuitry and software such as (where applicable):

[0035] (i) a combination of analog and / or digital hardware circuits and software / firmware, and

[0036] (ii) any portion of hardware processor(s) (including digital signal processor(s)) with software, software and memory(s) that work together to enable a device (such as a mobile phone or server) to perform various functions), and

[0037] (c) Hardware circuit(s) and / or processor(s), such as microprocessor(s) or portion(s) of microprocessor(s), that require software (e.g., firmware) to operate, but which may not be present when the software is not required for operation.

[0038] This definition of circuitry applies to all uses of the term in this application, including in any claims. As another example, as used in this application, the term circuitry also covers an implementation of only a hardware circuit or processor (or multiple processors) or a portion of a hardware circuit or processor and its accompanying software and / or firmware. For example, if applicable to a particular claim element, the term circuitry also covers a baseband integrated circuit or processor integrated circuit for a mobile device, or a similar integrated circuit in a server, cellular network device, or other computing or network device.

[0039] As used herein, the term "communication network" refers to a network that complies with any suitable communication standard, such as, but not limited to, the fifth generation (5G) system, long term evolution (LTE), advanced LTE (LTE-A), wideband code division multiplexing (WCDMA), high speed packet access (HSPA), narrowband Internet of Things (NB-IoT), Wi-Fi, etc. In addition, the communication between the terminal device and the network device in the communication network can be performed according to any suitable generation of communication protocols, including but not limited to the first generation (1G), second generation (2G), 2.5G, 2.75G, third generation (3G), fourth generation (4G), 4.5G, fifth generation (5G) new radio (NR) communication protocol, and / or any other protocol currently known or to be developed in the future. The embodiments of the present disclosure can be applied to various communication systems. Considering the rapid development of communication, there will certainly be communication technologies and systems that can be used to embody future types of the present disclosure. It should not be regarded as limiting the scope of the present disclosure to the above-mentioned system.

[0040] As used herein, the term "network device" refers to a node in a communication network, via which a terminal device accesses the network and receives services from the network. Depending on the terminology and technology applied, a network device may refer to a base station (BS) or an access point (AP), such as a NodeB (NodeB or NB), an evolved NodeB (eNodeB or eNB), a NR NB (also known as a gNB), a remote radio unit (RRU), a radio head (RH), a remote radio head (RRH), a relay, a low-power node (such as a femto, a micro), etc. The RAN split architecture includes a gNB-CU (centralized unit, which hosts RRC, SDAP, and PDCP), which controls multiple gNB-DUs (distributed units, which host RLC, MAC, and PHY). A relay node may correspond to the DU portion of an IAB node.

[0041] The term "terminal device" refers to any terminal device capable of wireless communication. As an example and not limitation, the terminal device may also be referred to as a communication device, a user equipment (UE), a subscriber station (SS), a portable subscriber station, a mobile station (MS) or an access terminal (AT). The terminal device may include, but is not limited to, a mobile phone, a cellular phone, a smart phone, a voice over IP (VoIP) phone, a wireless local loop phone, a tablet computer, a wearable terminal device, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a portable computer, a desktop computer, an image capture terminal device (such as a digital camera), a game terminal device, a music storage and playback device, a vehicle-mounted wireless terminal device, a wireless endpoint, a mobile station, a laptop embedded device (LEE), a laptop mounted device (LME), a USB dongle, a smart device, a wireless customer premises equipment (CPE), an Internet of Things (IoT) device, a watch or other wearable device, a head mounted display (HMD), a vehicle, a drone, medical equipment and applications (e.g., remote surgery), industrial equipment and applications (e.g., robots and / or other wireless devices operating in industrial and / or automated processing chain environments), consumer electronic devices, equipment operating on commercial and / or industrial wireless networks, etc. The terminal device may also correspond to the mobile terminal (MT) part of an integrated access and backhaul (IAB) node (also known as a relay node). In the following description, the terms "terminal device", "communication device", "terminal", "user equipment", and "UE" may be used interchangeably.

[0042] Figure 1A An example communication environment 100A is illustrated in which embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented. In some embodiments, the communication environment 100A may be implemented as a simple mesh network (ESS).

[0043] like Figure 1A As shown in FIG. 1 , the communication environment 100A includes a non-AP MLD 110 and an AP MLD 120. It should be understood that an MLD is a logical entity. An MLD that acts as an AP entity may be referred to as an AP MLD, and an MLD that acts as a non-AP STA entity may be referred to as a non-AP MLD.

[0044] The non-AP MLD 110 has subordinate non-AP STA 111, AP STA 112, and AP STA 113. Hereinafter, for the sake of brevity, the non-AP STA is also referred to as STA. The AP MLD 120 has subordinate AP 121, AP 122, and AP 123.

[0045] AP MLD 120 may establish three links with non-AP MLD 110, and simultaneously send data to non-AP MLD 110 on the three links. The three links may include: link 131 between AP 121 and STA 111, link 132 between AP 122 and STA 112, and link 133 between AP 123 and STA 113. For example, the three links may operate on 2.4 GHz, 5 GHz, and 6 GHz frequency bands, respectively.

[0046] It should be understood that Figure 1A As shown in FIG. 1 , the number of non-AP STAs attached with non-AP MLDs 110 and the number of APs attached with APMLDs 120 are for illustration purposes only and do not represent any limitation. The communication environment 100A may include any suitable number of STAs attached with non-AP MLDs 110 and any suitable number of APs attached with APMLDs 120 suitable for implementing embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0047] Furthermore, it should be understood that Figure 1A The number of non-AP MLDs shown is also for illustration purposes only and does not represent any limitation. The communication environment 100A may include any suitable number of non-AP MLDs suitable for implementing embodiments of the present disclosure. In some embodiments, the AP MLD 120 may establish links with multiple non-AP MLDs. This will refer to Figure 1B Give a description.

[0048] Figure 1B Another example communication environment 100B is illustrated in which embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented. In some embodiments, the communication environment 100B may be implemented as an ESS.

[0049] like Figure 1B As shown in FIG. 1 , the communication environment 100B includes: Figure 1A Non-AP MLD 110 and AP MLD 120 , as well as non-AP MLD 140 and non-AP MLD 150 are shown.

[0050] The non-AP MLD 140 has a subordinate non-AP STA 141. The non-AP MLD 150 has a subordinate non-AP STA 151 and a non-AP STA 152.

[0051] AP MLD 120 may establish a link with non-AP MLD 140, and the link is between AP 123 and STA 141. AP MLD 120 may establish two links with non-AP MLD 150. One of the two links is between AP 121 and STA 151, and the other link is between AP 122 and STA 152.

[0052] Figure 1C Yet another example communication environment 100C is illustrated in which embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented. In some embodiments, the communication environment 100C may be implemented as an ESS.

[0053] like Figure 1C As shown in FIG. 1 , the communication environment 100C includes: Figure 1B 1 , an AP MLD 120, a non-AP MLD 110, a non-AP MLD 150, and an AP MLD 160, an access control (AC) device 170, and the Internet 180 are shown. The AP MLD 160 has APs 161, 162, and 163 attached thereto.

[0054] It should be understood that Figure 1C It is illustrated by way of example that the AC device 170 is separate from the AP MLD 120 and the AP MLD 160. In some embodiments, the AC device 170 may be incorporated into one of the AP MLD 120 and the AP MLD 160.

[0055] In some embodiments, each of the AP attached with the AP MLD and the STA attached with the non-AP MLD may be configured with a STA statistical counter (also referred to as a link-level counter). The STA statistical counter may store statistical information associated with the link between the AP and the STA. In addition, each of the AP and the STA may maintain delay information associated with the link between the AP and the STA. The delivery state of the AP or the STA may be determined based on the statistical information associated with the link or the delay information associated with the link. In the following, the statistical information associated with the link and the delay information associated with the link are also referred to as link-level statistical information and link-level delay information, respectively. For the sake of brevity, the link-level statistical information and the link-level delay information are collectively referred to as link-level statistics and delay information.

[0056] The AP may obtain link-level statistics and delay information from the connected STAs. Similarly, the STAs may obtain link-level statistics and delay information from the APs. For example, AP 121 may obtain statistics and delay information associated with link 131 from STA 111, and STA 112 may obtain statistics and delay information associated with link 132 from AP 122.

[0057] In some embodiments, an MLD (such as AP MLD 120) may need to obtain at least one of statistical information or delay information associated with another MLD (such as non-AP MLD 110) in order to make a decision, such as a decision about service scheduling and / or load balancing. In addition, non-AP MLD 110 may need to decide whether to continue to connect to AP MLD 120 or to connect to a neighboring AP MLD to improve its performance. Hereinafter, statistical information associated with an MLD and delay information associated with an MLD are referred to as ML-level statistical information and ML-level delay information, respectively. For the sake of brevity, MLD-level statistical information and MLD-level delay information are collectively referred to as MLD-level statistics and delay information.

[0058] In the case where there are multiple links established between two MLDs, the link-level statistics and delay information can be different from the MLD-level statistics and delay information. Therefore, if the MLD makes decisions based on link-level counters, there may be information errors. This will refer to Figure 2A and Figure 2B Give a description.

[0059] Figure 2A An example 200 illustrates the difference between link-level statistics and delay information and MLD-level statistics and delay information. Example 200 may involve Figure 1A The AP MLD 120 and the non-AP MLD 110 are shown in FIG.

[0060] AP MLD 120 sends Data 1 to non-AP MLD 110 via AP 121. Non-AP MLD 110 will respond with ACK via STA 111. However, due to interference on the channel, the ACK frame is missed. AP MLD 120 may then retransmit Data 1 to non-AP MLD 110 via AP 122. Non-AP MLD 110 will respond with ACK via STA 112. However, the ACK frame is missed again. AP MLD 120 retransmits Data 1 to non-AP MLD 110 via AP 123. STA 113, to which non-AP MLD 110 is attached, will respond with ACK, which is eventually received by AP MLD 110.

[0061] The AP MLD 120 may retrieve the number of media access control (MAC) protocol data units (MPDUs) received on each of the links 131, 132, and 133 via a link-level STA statistics request. The non-AP MLD 110 may respond to receiving one MPDU on each of the links 131, 132, and 133 via a link-level STA statistics report. Therefore, the APMLD 120 determines that the total number of received MPDUs is three based on the three link-level STA statistics reports. However, only one MPDU (i.e., Data 1) is actually delivered between the two MLDs. In other words, if we only count link-level statistics, three MPDUs will be sent (which is wrong information). However, if we count MLD-level statistics, one MPDU (Data 1) is sent (which is correct information). That is, if the number of received MPDUs is determined based on the counters of the links 131, 132, and 133, wrong information will be obtained.

[0062] Figure 2B Another example 205 of the difference between link level statistics and delay information and MLD level statistics and delay information is illustrated. Example 205 may involve Figure 1B An AP MLD 120 and a non-AP MLD 110 are shown.

[0063] like Figure 2B As shown, non-AP MLD 110, AP MLD 140, and AP MLD 150 are associated with AP MLD 120. In other words, three non-AP MLDs are associated with AP MLD. The number of links established between AP MLD 120 and non-AP MLD 110, non-AP MLD 140, and non-AP MLD 150 are 3, 2, and 1, respectively. AP 121, AP 122, and AP 123, to which AP MLD 120 is attached, can record the number of STAs based on the number of connected STAs.

[0064] If we count only link-level statistics, there are six STAs connected to AP MLD 120. However, if we count MLD-level statistics, there are actually three non-AP MLDs connected to AP MLD 120. Apparently, AP MLD 120 calculates an erroneous value based on the information provided by the associated STA counters on each of APs 121, 122, and 123.

[0065] Example embodiments of the present disclosure provide a solution for identifying and discovering devices to solve the above-mentioned problems and one or more other potential problems. According to the solution, the MLD determines at least one of statistical information associated with the MLD or delay information associated with the MLD. In response to receiving a request for at least one of the statistical information or delay information from a second MLD, the MLD sends at least one of the statistical information or delay information to the second MLD. In this way, based on at least one of the statistical information or delay information to the MLD, the MLD can decide whether to continue to connect to the second MLD or to connect to a neighboring MLD to improve its performance. In the following, reference will be made to Figures 3 to 9 The principles of the present disclosure are described.

[0066] Figure 3 A signaling diagram is illustrated, which illustrates a process 300 for requesting and reporting at least one of statistical information or delay information associated with an MLD according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0067] Process 300 may involve a first MLD and a second MLD. In some embodiments, each of the first MLD and the second MLD may be implemented as a non-AP MLD, such as Figure 1A , Figure 1B ,as well as Figure 1C In other embodiments, the first MLD may be implemented as a non-AP MLD, such as one of the non-AP MLD 110, the non-AP MLD 140, and the non-AP MLD 150, and the second MLD may be implemented as an APMLD, such as one of the non-AP MLD 110, the non-AP MLD 140, and the non-AP MLD 150. Figure 1A , Figure 1B ,as well as Figure 1C 120 and AP MLD 160 shown in FIG. 121 . Figure 1A The process 300 is described with reference to the communication environment 100A of FIG. 1 . However, the process may also be applied to other communication scenarios, such as the communication environment 100B or 100C.

[0068] like Figure 3 As shown in FIG. 3 , the non-AP MLD 110 determines 310 at least one of statistical information associated with the non-AP MLD 110 or delay information associated with the non-AP MLD 110 .

[0069] The AP MLD 120 sends 320 a request to the non-AP MLD 110 for at least one of statistical information or delay information associated with the non-AP MLD 110 .

[0070] In some embodiments, the AP MLD 120 may send a request for at least one of the statistical information or the delay information by sending a station statistics request frame. In some embodiments, the station statistics request frame may be included in a measurement request to be sent to the non-AP MLD 110.

[0071] In some embodiments, the station statistics request frame may be sent on a specific link among a plurality of links from the AP MLD 120 to the non-AP MLD 110. In such an embodiment, the station statistics request frame may include: a first address of a first MAC entity of the non-AP MLD 110 in a first sub-element field. Hereinafter, the sub-element field may also be referred to as an optional sub-element field. The first address indicates that at least one of statistical information and delay information associated with the non-AP MLD 110 is requested. This will refer to Figure 4A and Table 1 for description.

[0072] Figure 4A An example of a station statistics request frame 400 according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure is illustrated. Figure 4A As shown in , the station statistics request frame 400 includes: a peer MAC address field 410 , a randomization interval field 412 , a measurement duration field 414 , a group identity field 416 , and an optional sub-element field 418 .

[0073] Table 1 shows Figure 4A Examples of values ​​in optional sub-elements field 418 in .

[0074] Table 1

[0075]

[0076]

[0077] In some embodiments, the reserved sub-element ID in the optional sub-element field 418 may indicate that at least one of the statistical information or the delay information associated with the non-AP MLD 110 is requested. For example, the reserved sub-element ID "2" in the 4th row and the 1st column of Table 1 may indicate that at least one of the statistical information or the delay information associated with the non-AP MLD 110 is requested. Of course, in other embodiments, one of the other reserved sub-element IDs in Table 1 may be used for this purpose.

[0078] In addition, as shown in the 4th row of the 2nd column of Table 1, a basic multilink element associated with a reserved sub-element ID “2” may be added to carry the first address of the first MAC entity of the non-AP MLD 110 .

[0079] Alternatively, in some embodiments, the station statistics request frame may be sent on any one of a plurality of links between the AP MLD 120 and the non-AP MLD 110. In such an embodiment, the station statistics request frame may include: a first address of a first MAC entity of the non-AP MLD 110. The first address indicates: requesting at least one of statistical information or delay information associated with the MLD. This will refer to Figure 4B Give a description.

[0080] Figure 4B Another example of a station statistics request frame 420 is illustrated according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure. Figure 4B As shown in , the station statistics request frame 420 is similar to the station statistics request frame 400 in that the station statistics request frame 420 further includes: a randomization interval field 412 , a measurement duration field 414 , and a group identity field 416 .

[0081] In the STA / non-AP MLD MAC address field 430, the station statistics request frame 420 is different from the station statistics request frame 400. In some embodiments, the STA / non-AP MLD MAC address field 430 may carry the first address of the first MAC entity of the non-AP MLD 110 or the address of the MAC entity of the STA. The first address indicates that at least one of the statistical information or delay information associated with the MLD is requested. The address indicates that at least one of the statistical information or delay information associated with the STA is requested.

[0082] Furthermore, the station statistics request frame 420 is different from the station statistics request frame 400 in the optional sub-element field 432. The optional sub-element field 432 is not used to indicate that at least one of the statistical information or the delay information associated with the MLD is requested.

[0083] Back to Figure 3 In response to receiving the request for at least one of the statistical information or the delay information, the non-AP MLD 110 sends 330 at least one of the statistical information or the delay information to the AP MLD 120 .

[0084] With process 300, based on at least one of statistical information or delay information associated with AP MLD 120, non-AP MLD 120 may decide whether to continue connecting to current AP MLD 110 or to connect to a neighboring AP MLD to improve its performance.

[0085] Furthermore, based on at least one of statistical information or delay information associated with the AP MLD 120, the non-AP MLD 110 may make decisions, such as decisions regarding traffic scheduling and / or load balancing.

[0086] In some embodiments, the non-AP MLD 110 may transmit at least one of the statistical information or the delay information by transmitting a station statistics report frame.

[0087] In an embodiment in which the station statistics request frame is sent on a specific link among the plurality of links between the AP MLD 120 and the non-AP MLD 110, the station statistics report frame may be sent on a specific link among the plurality of links between the AP MLD 120 and the non-AP MLD 110. In such an embodiment, the station statistics report frame may include at least one of the following items: at least one item of the statistical information or the delay information, or a second address of the second MAC entity of the AP MLD 120 in the second optional sub-element field. The second address indicates that at least one item of the statistical information or the delay information is associated with the non-AP MLD 110. This will refer to Figure 4C and Table 2 for description.

[0088] Figure 4C An example of a station statistics report frame 440 is illustrated according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure. Figure 4C As shown in FIG. 4 , the station statistics report frame 440 includes a measurement duration field 450, a group identity field 452, a statistics group data field 454, and an optional sub-element field 456. In some embodiments, the statistics group data field 454 may carry at least one of statistics information or delay information associated with the non-AP MLD 110.

[0089] Table 2 shows Figure 4C Examples of values ​​in optional sub-elements field 456 in .

[0090] Table 2

[0091]

[0092]

[0093] In some embodiments, the reserved sub-element ID in the optional sub-element field 456 may indicate that at least one of the statistical information or the delay information in the statistics group data field 454 is associated with the non-AP MLD 110. For example, the reserved sub-element ID "2" in the 4th row and the 1st column of Table 2 may indicate that at least one of the statistical information or the delay information in the statistics group data field 454 is associated with the non-AP MLD 110. Of course, in other embodiments, one of the other reserved sub-element IDs in Table 2 may be used for this purpose.

[0094] In addition, as shown in the 4th row of the 2nd column of Table 2, a basic multilink element associated with a reserved sub-element ID “2” may be added to carry a second address of a second MAC entity of the AP MLD 120 .

[0095] In embodiments where the station statistics request frame is sent on any one of the multiple links between the AP MLD 120 and the non-AP MLD 110 , the station statistics report frame may be sent on any one of the multiple links between the AP MLD 120 and the non-AP MLD 110 .

[0096] In some embodiments, the non-AP MLD 110 may be configured with an MLD stage counter, and statistical information associated with the non-AP MLD 110 may be determined based on the value of the MLD stage counter.

[0097] In some embodiments, the statistical information associated with the MLD includes at least one of the following:

[0098] The number of fragment frames sent by MLD,

[0099] The number of multicast frames sent by MLD,

[0100] The number of frames that failed to be sent by MLD,

[0101] The number of fragment frames received by the MLD,

[0102] The number of frames received by the MLD with frame check sequence errors,

[0103] The number of fragment frames sent by MLD,

[0104] The number of frames retransmitted by MLD,

[0105] The number of frames that were retransmitted multiple times by MLD,

[0106] The number of frames re-received by MLD,

[0107] The number of Requests to Send (RTS) successfully sent by the MLD,

[0108] The number of failed RTSs sent by MLD, or

[0109] • The number of unacknowledged frames sent by MLD.

[0110] In some embodiments, the frame comprises a quality of service (QoS) frame, the QoS frame having a traffic indicator in the range of 0 to 7, and the statistical information comprises at least one of the following:

[0111] The number of QoS fragments sent by MLD,

[0112] The number of QoS messages that failed to be sent by MLD,

[0113] The number of QoS frames retransmitted by MLD,

[0114] The number of QoS frames retransmitted by MLD multicast,

[0115] The number of QoS frames re-received by MLD,

[0116] The number of QoS RTS messages sent successfully,

[0117] The number of QoS RTS messages that were not successfully sent,

[0118] The number of QoS unacknowledged frames sent by MLD,

[0119] The number of QoS fragments received by the MLD,

[0120] The number of QoS frames received by the MLD,

[0121] The number of QoS frames dropped by MLD,

[0122] The number of QoS MPDUs received by the MLD, or

[0123] • Number of QoS retransmission frames received by MLD.

[0124] In some embodiments, the frame includes an aggregate medium access control (MAC) service data unit (A-MSDU), and the statistical information includes at least one of the following:

[0125] The number of A-MSDUs sent by the MLD,

[0126] The number of A-MSDUs that failed to be sent by the MLD,

[0127] The number of bytes sent by the MLD in the A-MSDU,

[0128] The number of A-MSDUs retransmitted by MLD,

[0129] The number of A-MSDUs that were retransmitted multiple times by MLD,

[0130] The number of A-MSDUs not acknowledged by the MLD,

[0131] The number of A-MSDUs received by the MLD, or

[0132] • The number of bytes received by the MLD in the A-MSDU.

[0133] In some embodiments, the frame includes an aggregate media access control (MAC) protocol data unit (A-MPDU), and the statistical information includes at least one of the following:

[0134] The number of A-MPDUs sent by the MLD,

[0135] The number of MPDUs in the A-MPDU sent by the MLD,

[0136] The number of bytes in the A-MPDU sent by the MLD,

[0137] The number of A-MPDUs received by the MLD,

[0138] The number of MPDUs in the A-MPDU received by the MLD,

[0139] The number of bytes in the A-MPDU received by the MLD, or

[0140] • Number of A-MPDUs received by the MLD with cyclic redundancy check errors.

[0141] In some embodiments, the delay information associated with the MLD may include at least one of the following:

[0142] MLD average access delay,

[0143] MLD average delay on Quality of Service QoS frames with best effort priority,

[0144] MLD average delay on QoS frames with background priority,

[0145] MLD average latency on QoS frames with video priority,

[0146] MLD average delay on QoS frames with voice priority,

[0147] The number of non-AP MLDs, or

[0148] MLD channel utilization.

[0149] In some embodiments, the non-AP MLD 110 may include: a first station management entity (SME), and a first media access control sublayer management entity (MLME). The first SME may communicate with the first MLME using primitives. Primitives are used to describe some abstract behaviors, signaling, and / or functions between the SME and the MLME (or between the SME and the PLME). Any action specified as being related to a service access point (SAP) primitive will be interpreted as an action of a call or instance of the primitive.

[0150] Similarly, AP MLD 120 may include a second SME and a second MLME. The second SME may communicate with the second MLME using primitives. This will refer to Figure 5 Give a description.

[0151] Figure 5 A signaling diagram is illustrated, which illustrates a process 500 for requesting and reporting at least one of statistical information or delay information associated with an MLD according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure. Process 500 may be viewed as an example implementation of process 300. In the following, reference will be made to Figure 1A The process 500 is described with reference to the communication environment 100A of FIG. 1 . However, the process may also be applied to other communication scenarios, such as the communication environment 100B or 100C.

[0152] like Figure 5 As shown in FIG. 1 , the non-AP MLD 110 includes a first SME 110A and a first MLME 110B. The AP MLD 120 includes a second SME 120A and a second MLME 120B.

[0153] After making 505 the decision to request measurements from the non-AP MLD 110, the second SME 120A provides 510 a second request primitive to the second MLME 120B to indicate that a request for at least one of statistical information or delay information is to be sent.

[0154] As described above, in some embodiments, the AP MLD 120 may send a request for at least one of the statistical information or the delay information by sending a station statistics request frame. The station statistics request frame may be included in a measurement request to be sent to the non-AP MLD 110.

[0155] In such an embodiment, the station statistics request frame may be sent on a specific link among the multiple links between the AP MLD 120 and the non-AP MLD 110. In such an embodiment, the second request primitive may include at least one of the following items: a first address of a first MAC entity of the non-AP MLD 110, or a fourth address of a fourth MAC entity of a device attached to the non-AP MLD 110. The fourth address indicates that at least one of the statistical information or the delay information is to be sent to the device. For example, the device attached to the non-AP MLD 110 may be as follows: Figure 1A One of STA 111, STA 112, and STA 113 shown.

[0156] In such an embodiment, the second request primitive may include a MLME-MREQUEST.request primitive. An example of a MLME-MREQUEST.request primitive is shown below:

[0157]

[0158]

[0159] Table 3 illustrates the details of the parameters in the MLME-MREQUEST.request primitive.

[0160] Table 3

[0161]

[0162]

[0163] As shown in Table 3, the “STA MAC address” is an address of a peer MAC entity to which the measurement request is sent. In other words, the “STA MAC address” is an address of a peer MAC entity to which a request for at least one of statistical information or delay information associated with the non-AP MLD 110 is sent. For example, in the case where the request is sent to the STA 111 to which the non-AP MLD 110 is attached, the “STA MAC address” is an address of a MAC entity of the STA 111.

[0164] In addition, as shown in Table 3, the "MLD MAC address" is an address of a MAC entity of the MLD to which the measurement request is sent. For example, the "MLD MAC address" may be an address of a MAC entity of the non-AP MLD 110 to which a request for at least one of statistical information or delay information associated with the non-AP MLD 110 is sent.

[0165] Continue to refer Figure 5 After receiving the second request primitive from the second SME 120A 510, the second MLME 120B provides 515 an acknowledgement to the second SME 120A to indicate that the second request primitive is received. In addition, the second MLME 120B sends 520 a measurement request to the first MLME 110B of the non-AP MLD 110. The measurement request includes a request for at least one of statistical information or delay information associated with the non-AP MLD 110.

[0166] After receiving the request for at least one of statistical information or delay information associated with the non-AP MLD 110, the first MLME 110B provides 525 a first indication to the first SME 110A indicating that the request for at least one of statistical information or delay information is received.

[0167] In some embodiments, the first indication primitive may include at least one of the following items: a second address of a second MAC entity of the AP MLD 120, or a third address of a third MAC entity of a device attached to the AP MLD 120. The third address indicates that at least one of the statistical information or the delay information is to be received via the device. For example, the device attached to the AP MLD 120 may be such as Figure 1A One of AP 121, AP 122, and AP 123 is shown.

[0168] In such an embodiment, the first indication primitive may include a MLME-MREQUEST.indication primitive. An example of a MLME-MREQUEST.indication primitive is as follows:

[0169]

[0170] Table 4 illustrates the details of the parameters in the MLME-MREQUEST.indication primitive.

[0171] Table 4

[0172]

[0173]

[0174] As shown in Table 4, the “STA MAC address” is an address of a peer MAC entity from which a measurement request is received. In other words, the “STA MAC address” is an address of a peer MAC entity from which a request for at least one of statistical information or delay information associated with the non-AP MLD 110 is received. For example, in a case where a request is received from the AP 121 to which the AP MLD 120 is attached, the “STA MAC address” is an address of a MAC entity of the AP 121.

[0175] In addition, as shown in Table 4, the "MLD MAC address" is an address of a MAC entity of the MLD from which the measurement request is received. For example, the "MLD MAC address" may be an address of a MAC entity of the AP MLD 120 from which a request for at least one of statistical information or delay information associated with the non-AP MLD 110 is received.

[0176] Continue to refer Figure 5, after receiving the first indication from the first MLME 110B, the first SME 110A makes 530 a decision to accept the measurement request from the AP MLD 120. In turn, the first SME 110A provides 535 a measurement request primitive to the first MLME 110B. For example, the measurement request primitive may include a MLME-MEASURE.request primitive.

[0177] After receiving the measurement request primitive from the first SME 110A, the first MLME 110B performs 540 the measurement procedure. After completing the measurement procedure, the first MLME 110B provides 545 an acknowledgement to the first SME 110A to indicate the completion of the measurement procedure.

[0178] After receiving the acknowledgement from the first MLME 110B, the first SME 110A compiles 550 a measurement report. In turn, the first SME 110A provides 555 a first request primitive to the first MLME 110B.

[0179] In an embodiment in which the station statistics report frame is sent on a specific link among a plurality of links between the AP MLD 120 and the non-AP MLD 110, the first request primitive may include at least one of the following items: at least one of the statistical information or the delay information, an address of a MAC entity of a device attached to the AP MLD 120, or a second address of a second MAC entity of the AP MLD 120. The address of the MAC entity of the device indicates that at least one of the statistical information or the delay information is to be sent to the device. For example, the device attached to the AP MLD 120 may be Figure 1A One of AP 121, AP 122 and AP 123 shown in FIG.

[0180] In such an embodiment, the first request primitive may include a MLME-MREPORT.request primitive. An example of a MLME-MREPORT.request primitive is as follows:

[0181]

[0182] Table 5 illustrates the details of the parameters in the MLME-MREPORT.request primitive.

[0183] Table 5

[0184]

[0185]

[0186] As shown in Table 5, the “STA MAC address” is an address of a peer MAC entity to which the measurement request is sent. In other words, the “STA MAC address” is an address of a peer MAC entity to which at least one item of statistical information or delay information associated with the non-AP MLD 110 is sent. For example, in the case where at least one item of statistical information or delay information is sent to the AP 121 to which the APMLD 120 is attached, the “STA MAC address” is an address of a MAC entity of the AP 121.

[0187] In addition, as shown in Table 5, the "MLD MAC address" is the address of the MAC entity of the MLD to which the measurement report is sent. For example, the "MLD MAC address" may be the address of the MAC entity of the AP MLD 120 to which at least one of the statistical information or the delay information associated with the non-AP MLD 110 is sent.

[0188] Continue to refer Figure 5 , after receiving the first request primitive from the first SME 110A, the first MLME 110B sends 560 a measurement report to the second MLME 120B of the APMLD 120. The measurement report includes at least one of statistical information or delay information associated with the non-AP MLD 110. In addition, the first MLME 110B provides 565 an acknowledgement to the first SME 110A to indicate that the first request primitive is received.

[0189] After receiving the measurement report including at least one of the statistical information or the delay information associated with the non-AP MLD 110, the second MLME 120B provides 570 a second indication primitive to the second SME 120A to indicate that at least one of the statistical information or the delay information is received.

[0190] In some embodiments, the second indication primitive may include at least one of the following items: at least one of the statistical information or the delay information, the first address of the first MAC entity of the non-AP MLD 110, or the fourth address of the fourth MAC entity of the device attached to the non-AP MLD 110. The fourth address indicates that at least one of the statistical information or the delay information is received from the device. For example, the device attached to the non-AP MLD 110 may be as follows: Figure 1A One of the STA 111, STA 112 and STA 113 shown in FIG.

[0191] In such an embodiment, the second indication primitive may include the MLME-MREPORT.indication primitive. An example of the MLME-MREPORT.indication primitive is as follows:

[0192]

[0193] Table 6 illustrates the details of the parameters in the MLME-MREPORT.indication primitive.

[0194] Table 6

[0195]

[0196]

[0197] As shown in Table 6, the “STA MAC address” is the address of the peer MAC entity from which the measurement report is received. In other words, the “STA MAC address” is the address of the peer MAC entity from which at least one item of statistical information or delay information associated with the non-AP MLD 110 is received. For example, in the case where at least one item of statistical information or delay information is received from the STA 111 to which the non-AP MLD 110 is attached, the “STA MAC address” is the address of the MAC entity of the STA 111.

[0198] In addition, as shown in Table 6, the "MLD MAC address" is the address of the MAC entity of the MLD from which the measurement report is received. For example, the "MLD MAC address" may be the address of the MAC entity of the non-AP MLD 110 from which at least one of the statistical information or the delay information associated with the non-AP MLD 110 is received.

[0199] Continue to refer Figure 5 , after receiving the second indication primitive from the second MLME 120B, the second SME 120A determines 575 that the measurement request is complete.

[0200] As described above, in some embodiments, the station statistics request frame may be sent on any one of a plurality of links between the AP MLD 120 and the non-AP MLD 110. In such an embodiment, the second request primitive provided from the second SME 120A to the second MLME 120B may include a first address of a first MAC entity of the non-AP MLD 110. The first address indicates that at least one of the statistical information or the delay information is to be sent to any of the devices to which the non-AP MLD 110 is attached.

[0201] In such an embodiment, the second request primitive may include a MLME-MREQUEST.request primitive. An example of a MLME-MREQUEST.request primitive is shown below:

[0202]

[0203] For example, in the above-mentioned MLME-MREQUEST.request primitive, the parameter "STA / MLD MAC address" may be the first address of the first MAC entity of the non-AP MLD 110, or the address of the MAC entity of the STA to which the non-AP MLD 110 is attached. The first address indicates that at least one of the statistical information or the delay information associated with the non-AP MLD 110 is requested. The address of the MAC entity of the STA indicates that at least one of the statistical information or the delay information associated with the STA is requested.

[0204] In an embodiment in which the station statistics request frame is sent on any one of a plurality of links between the AP MLD 120 and the non-AP MLD 110, the first indication primitive provided from the first MLME 110B to the first SME 110A may include a second address of the second MAC entity of the AP MLD 120. The second address indicates that at least one of the statistical information or the delay information is to be received via any of the devices to which the AP MLD 120 is attached.

[0205] As described above, in some embodiments, the station statistics report frame may be sent on any one of a plurality of links between the AP MLD 120 and the non-AP MLD 110. In such an embodiment, the first request primitive provided from the first SME 110A to the first MLME 110B may include at least one of the following items: at least one of the statistical information or the delay information, or a second address of the second MAC entity of the AP MLD 120. The second address indicates that at least one of the statistical information and the delay information is to be sent to any device among the devices to which the AP MLD 120 is attached.

[0206] In an embodiment in which the station statistics report frame is sent on any one of a plurality of links between the AP MLD 120 and the non-AP MLD 110, the second indication primitive provided from the second MLME 120B to the second SME 120A may include at least one of the following items: at least one of the statistical information or the delay information, or a first address of the first MAC entity of the non-AP MLD 110. The first address indicates that at least one of the statistical information and the delay information is received from any device among the devices to which the non-AP MLD 110 is attached.

[0207] In some embodiments, the AP MLD 120 may send a request for at least one of the statistical information or the delay information to the non-AP MLD 110 in response to receiving a query request for at least one of the statistical information or the delay information from the AC device. In such an embodiment, upon receiving the at least one of the statistical information or the delay information, the AP MLD 120 may send the at least one of the statistical information or the delay information to the AC device. This will refer to Figure 1C Give a description.

[0208] The AC device 170 may send a query request to the APMLD 120 for at least one item of statistical information or delay information associated with the AP MLD 120, at least one item of statistical information or delay information associated with the non-AP MLD 110, and at least one item of statistical information or delay information associated with the non-AP MLD 150, periodically or in response to satisfaction of a condition, through an API defined by a data element specification.

[0209] In some embodiments, at least one of the statistical information or delay information associated with AP MLD 120 may include at least one of the following items: the number of non-AP MLDs associated with AP MLD 120, sent packets, received packets, sent errors, received errors, and a retransmission counter of AP MLD 120.

[0210] In some embodiments, at least one of the statistical information or delay information associated with the non-AP MLD 110 or the non-AP MLD 150 may include at least one of the following items: sent packets, received packets, sent errors, received errors, and a retransmission counter of the non-AP MLD 110 or the non-AP MLD 150.

[0211] In some embodiments, the condition may include TP, delay, or the number of non-AP MLDs being above a first threshold determined by AC device 170. For example, AC device 170 may send a query request to AP MLD 120 if the number of non-AP MLDs associated with AP MLD 120 is above the first threshold.

[0212] After receiving the query request from the AC device 170 , the AP MLD 120 may send a request for at least one of statistical information or delay information associated with the non-AP MLD 150 to the non-AP MLD 150 .

[0213] Upon receiving the request for at least one of the statistical information or the delay information associated with the non-AP MLD 150 , the non-AP MLD 150 may send at least one of the statistical information or the delay information associated with the non-AP MLD 150 to the AP MLD 120 .

[0214] In some embodiments, at least one of the statistical information or delay information associated with the non-AP MLD 150 may include at least one of: a QoS retry count, a QoS frame repeat count, a QoS discarded frame count, or a QoS MPDU reception count.

[0215] After receiving at least one of the statistical information or the delay information associated with the non-AP MLD 150 , the APMLD 120 may transmit at least one of the statistical information or the delay information associated with the non-AP MLD 150 to the AC device 170 .

[0216] After receiving at least one of the statistical information or the delay information associated with the non-AP MLD 150 , the AC device 170 may determine whether to move the non-AP MLD 150 to a neighboring AP MLD, such as the AP MLD 160 .

[0217] For example, if at least one of the following items is satisfied on at least one side of the AP MLD 120 and the non-AP MLD 150, the AC device 170 determines to move the non-AP MLD 150 to the AP MLD 160:

[0218] The ratio of the number of retransmitted frames to the total number of frames is higher than the second threshold,

[0219] The ratio of the number of discarded frames to the total number of frames is higher than the third threshold,

[0220] The ratio of the number of repeated frames to the total number of frames is higher than a fourth threshold, or

[0221] • The number of non-AP MLDs associated with the AP MLD 120 is above a fifth threshold.

[0222] After moving the non-AP MLD 150 from the AP MLD 120 to the AP MLD 160 , the AC device 170 may reschedule downlink or uplink traffic of the non-AP MLD 150 from the AP MLF 120 to the AP MLF 160 .

[0223] Figure 6 FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing an example method 600 implemented at a first MLD according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure. For example, the first MLD may include an AP MLD such as Figure 1A , Figure 1B ,as well as Figure 1C AP MLD 120, or Figure 1C AP MLD 160 in.

[0224] At block 610 , the first MLD determines at least one of statistical information associated with the first MLD or delay information associated with the first MLD.

[0225] At block 620, in response to receiving a request for at least one of the statistical information or the delay information from the second MLD, the first MLD sends at least one of the statistical information or the delay information to the second MLD. For example, the second MLD may include a non-AP MLD such as Figure 1A Non-AP MLD 110, Figure 1B The non-AP MLD 110, the non-AP MLD 140, or the non-AP MLD 150, or Figure 1C The non-AP MLD 110 or the non-AP MLD 150 in FIG.

[0226] In some embodiments, the first MLD may receive a request for at least one of the statistical information or the delay information by receiving a station statistics request frame from the second MLD.

[0227] In some embodiments, the station statistics request frame includes: a first address of a first media access control MAC entity of the MLD in a first optional sub-element field, the first address indicating that at least one of statistical information and delay information associated with the MLD is requested.

[0228] In some embodiments, the first MLD may send a station statistics report frame, and the station statistics report frame includes at least one of the following items: at least one item of statistical information or delay information, or a first address of a first MAC entity of the first MLD or a second address of a second MAC entity of the second MLD in a second optional sub-element field. The first address or the second address indicates that at least one item of statistical information or delay information is associated with the first MLD.

[0229] In some embodiments, the station statistics request frame includes: a first address of a first MAC entity of a first MLD, the first address indicating: requesting at least one of statistical information or delay information associated with the first MLD.

[0230] In some embodiments, the first MLD includes a first SME and a first MLME. In some embodiments, the first MLME is configured to provide a first indication primitive to the first SME to indicate that a request for at least one of the statistical information or the delay information is received.

[0231] In some embodiments, the first indication primitive includes at least one of the following items: a second address of a second MAC entity of a second MLD, or a third address of a third MAC entity of a device attached to the second MLD, the third address indicating that at least one of the statistical information or the delay information is to be received via the device.

[0232] In some embodiments, the first indication primitive includes a second address of a second MAC entity of the second MLD, the second address indicating that at least one of the statistical information or the delay information is to be received via any device among devices attached to the second MLD.

[0233] In some embodiments, the first SME can be configured to: provide a first request primitive to the first MLME, and the first request primitive includes at least one of the following items: at least one item of statistical information or delay information; a third address of a third MAC entity of a device attached to the second MLD, the third address indicating that: at least one item of statistical information or delay information is to be sent to the device; or a second address of a second MAC entity of the second MLD.

[0234] In some embodiments, the first SME can be configured to: provide a first request primitive to the first MLME, and the first request primitive includes at least one of the following items: at least one of the statistical information or the delay information, or a second address of the second MAC entity of the second MLD, and the second address indicates that: at least one of the statistical information and the delay information is to be sent to any device among the devices affiliated with the second MLD.

[0235] In some embodiments, the statistical information associated with the MLD includes at least one of the following:

[0236] The number of fragment frames sent by MLD,

[0237] The number of multicast frames sent by MLD,

[0238] The number of frames that failed to be sent by MLD,

[0239] The number of fragment frames received by the MLD,

[0240] The number of frames received by the MLD with frame check sequence errors,

[0241] The number of fragment frames sent by MLD,

[0242] The number of frames retransmitted by MLD,

[0243] The number of frames that were retransmitted multiple times by MLD,

[0244] The number of frames re-received by MLD,

[0245] The number of Requests to Send (RTS) successfully sent by the MLD,

[0246] The number of failed RTSs sent by MLD, or

[0247] • The number of unacknowledged frames sent by MLD.

[0248] In some embodiments, the frame comprises a quality of service (QoS) frame, the QoS frame having a traffic indicator in the range of 0 to 7, and the statistical information comprises at least one of the following:

[0249] The number of QoS fragments sent by MLD,

[0250] The number of QoS messages that failed to be sent by MLD,

[0251] The number of QoS frames retransmitted by MLD,

[0252] The number of QoS frames retransmitted by MLD multicast,

[0253] The number of QoS frames re-received by MLD,

[0254] The number of QoS RTS messages sent successfully,

[0255] The number of QoS RTS messages that were not successfully sent,

[0256] The number of QoS unacknowledged frames sent by MLD,

[0257] The number of QoS fragments received by the MLD,

[0258] The number of QoS frames received by the MLD,

[0259] The number of QoS frames dropped by MLD,

[0260] The number of QoS MPDUs received by the MLD, or

[0261] • Number of QoS retransmission frames received by MLD.

[0262] In some embodiments, the frame includes an aggregate medium access control (MAC) service data unit (A-MSDU), and the statistical information includes at least one of the following:

[0263] The number of A-MSDUs sent by the MLD,

[0264] The number of A-MSDUs that failed to be sent by the MLD,

[0265] The number of bytes sent by the MLD in the A-MSDU,

[0266] The number of A-MSDUs retransmitted by MLD,

[0267] The number of A-MSDUs that were retransmitted multiple times by MLD,

[0268] The number of A-MSDUs not acknowledged by the MLD,

[0269] The number of A-MSDUs received by the MLD, or

[0270] • The number of bytes received by the MLD in the A-MSDU.

[0271] In some embodiments, the frame includes an aggregate media access control (MAC) protocol data unit (A-MPDU), and the statistical information includes at least one of the following:

[0272] The number of A-MPDUs sent by the MLD,

[0273] The number of MPDUs in the A-MPDU sent by the MLD,

[0274] The number of bytes in the A-MPDU sent by the MLD,

[0275] The number of A-MPDUs received by the MLD,

[0276] The number of MPDUs in the A-MPDU received by the MLD,

[0277] The number of bytes in the A-MPDU received by the MLD, or

[0278] • Number of A-MPDUs received by the MLD with cyclic redundancy check errors.

[0279] In some embodiments, the delay information associated with the MLD may include at least one of the following:

[0280] MLD average access delay,

[0281] MLD average delay on Quality of Service QoS frames with best effort priority,

[0282] MLD average delay on QoS frames with background priority,

[0283] MLD average latency on QoS frames with video priority,

[0284] MLD average delay on QoS frames with voice priority,

[0285] The number of non-AP MLDs, or

[0286] MLD channel utilization.

[0287] Figure 7 FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing an example method 700 implemented at a second MLD according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure. For example, the second MLD may include: an AP MLD, such as Figure 1A and Figure 1B AP MLD 120, or Figure 1C One of APMLD 120 and AP MLD 160.

[0288] At block 710, the second MLD sends a request to the first MLD for at least one of statistical information associated with the first MLD or latency information associated with the first MLD.

[0289] At block 720, the second MLD receives a report on at least one of statistical information or delay information from the first MLD.

[0290] In some embodiments, the second MLD may send a request for at least one of the statistical information or the delay information by sending a station statistics request frame to the first MLD.

[0291] In some embodiments, the station statistics request frame includes: a first address of a first MAC entity of a first MLD in a first optional sub-element field, the first address indicating that at least one of statistical information and delay information associated with the first MLD is requested.

[0292] In some embodiments, the second MLD may receive a station statistics report frame, and the station statistics report frame includes at least one of the following items: at least one item of statistical information or delay information, or a first address of a first MAC entity of the first MLD or a second address of a second MAC entity of the second MLD in a second optional sub-element field. The first address or the second address indicates that at least one item of statistical information or delay information is associated with the first MLD.

[0293] In some embodiments, the station statistics request frame includes at least one of the following items: a first address of a first MAC entity of the first MLD, the first address indicating that at least one of statistical information or delay information associated with the second MLD is requested.

[0294] In some embodiments, the second MLD includes a second SME and a second MLME.In some embodiments, the second SME may provide a second request primitive to the second MLME to indicate that a request for at least one of the statistical information or the delay information is to be sent.

[0295] In some embodiments, the second request primitive includes at least one of the following items: a first address of a first MAC entity of a first MLD, or a fourth address of a fourth MAC entity of a device attached to the first MLD, the fourth address indicating that at least one of statistical information or delay information is to be sent to the device.

[0296] In some embodiments, the second request primitive includes a first address of a first MAC entity of the first MLD, the first address indicating that at least one of the statistical information or the delay information is to be sent to any device among the devices attached to the first MLD.

[0297] In some embodiments, the second MLME is configured to provide a second indication primitive to the second SME to indicate that at least one of the statistical information or the delay information is received.

[0298] In some embodiments, the second indication primitive also includes at least one of the following items: at least one item of statistical information or delay information, a first address of a first MAC entity of a first MLD, or a fourth address of a fourth MAC entity of a device attached to the first MLD, the fourth address indicating that at least one item of statistical information or delay information is received from the device.

[0299] In some embodiments, the second indication primitive also includes at least one of the following items: at least one of statistical information or delay information, a first address of a first MAC entity of the first MLD, and the first address indicates that at least one of the statistical information and the delay information is received from any device among the devices affiliated with the first MLD.

[0300] In some embodiments, the statistical information associated with the MLD includes at least one of the following:

[0301] The number of fragment frames sent by MLD,

[0302] The number of multicast frames sent by MLD,

[0303] The number of frames that failed to be sent by MLD,

[0304] The number of fragment frames received by the MLD,

[0305] The number of frames received by the MLD with frame check sequence errors,

[0306] The number of fragment frames sent by MLD,

[0307] The number of frames retransmitted by MLD,

[0308] The number of frames that were retransmitted multiple times by MLD,

[0309] The number of frames re-received by MLD,

[0310] The number of Requests to Send (RTS) successfully sent by the MLD,

[0311] The number of failed RTSs sent by MLD, or

[0312] • The number of unacknowledged frames sent by MLD.

[0313] In some embodiments, the frame comprises a quality of service (QoS) frame, the QoS frame having a traffic indicator in the range of 0 to 7, and the statistical information comprises at least one of the following:

[0314] The number of QoS fragments sent by MLD,

[0315] The number of QoS messages that failed to be sent by MLD,

[0316] The number of QoS frames retransmitted by MLD,

[0317] The number of QoS frames retransmitted by MLD multicast,

[0318] The number of QoS frames re-received by MLD,

[0319] The number of QoS RTS messages sent successfully,

[0320] The number of QoS RTS messages that were not successfully sent,

[0321] The number of QoS unacknowledged frames sent by MLD,

[0322] The number of QoS fragments received by the MLD,

[0323] The number of QoS frames received by the MLD,

[0324] The number of QoS frames dropped by MLD,

[0325] The number of QoS MPDUs received by the MLD, or

[0326] • Number of QoS retransmission frames received by MLD.

[0327] In some embodiments, the frame includes an aggregate medium access control (MAC) service data unit (A-MSDU), and the statistical information includes at least one of the following:

[0328] The number of A-MSDUs sent by the MLD,

[0329] The number of A-MSDUs that failed to be sent by the MLD,

[0330] The number of bytes sent by the MLD in the A-MSDU,

[0331] The number of A-MSDUs retransmitted by MLD,

[0332] The number of A-MSDUs that were retransmitted multiple times by MLD,

[0333] The number of A-MSDUs not acknowledged by the MLD,

[0334] The number of A-MSDUs received by the MLD, or

[0335] • The number of bytes received by the MLD in the A-MSDU.

[0336] In some embodiments, the frame includes an aggregate media access control (MAC) protocol data unit (A-MPDU), and the statistical information includes at least one of the following:

[0337] The number of A-MPDUs sent by the MLD,

[0338] The number of MPDUs in the A-MPDU sent by the MLD,

[0339] The number of bytes in the A-MPDU sent by the MLD,

[0340] The number of A-MPDUs received by the MLD,

[0341] The number of MPDUs in the A-MPDU received by the MLD,

[0342] The number of bytes in the A-MPDU received by the MLD, or

[0343] • Number of A-MPDUs received by the MLD with cyclic redundancy check errors.

[0344] In some embodiments, the delay information associated with the MLD may include at least one of the following:

[0345] MLD average access delay,

[0346] MLD average delay on Quality of Service QoS frames with best effort priority,

[0347] MLD average delay on QoS frames with background priority,

[0348] MLD average latency on QoS frames with video priority,

[0349] MLD average delay on QoS frames with voice priority,

[0350] The number of non-AP MLDs, or

[0351] MLD channel utilization.

[0352] In some embodiments, the second MLD is configured to send a request for at least one of the statistical information or the delay information in response to receiving a query request for at least one of the statistical information or the delay information associated with the second MLD from the access control device.

[0353] In some embodiments, the second MLD is configured to send at least one of statistical information or delay information associated with the second MLD to the access control device.

[0354] Refer to Figures 1 to Figure 5 The described example embodiments of the present disclosure may also be applied to methods 600 and 700. Therefore, details of the example embodiments are omitted.

[0355] In some example embodiments, an apparatus capable of performing method 600 may include components for performing the corresponding steps of method 600. The components may be implemented in any suitable form. For example, the components may be implemented in a circuit system or a software module or a combination thereof.

[0356] In some example embodiments, an apparatus includes a first MLD having: means for determining at least one of statistical information associated with the first MLD or delay information associated with the first MLD; and means for sending at least one of the statistical information or the delay information to a second MLD in response to receiving a request for at least one of the statistical information or the delay information from the second MLD.

[0357] In some embodiments, the first MLD is configured to receive a request for at least one of the statistical information or the delay information by receiving a station statistics request frame from the second MLD.

[0358] In some embodiments, the station statistics request frame includes: a first address of a first MAC of a first MLD in a first sub-element field, the first address indicating that at least one of statistics information and delay information associated with the first MLD is requested.

[0359] In some embodiments, the first MLD is configured to: send a station statistics report frame, and the station statistics report frame includes at least one of the following items: at least one item of statistical information or delay information, or a first address of a first MAC of the first MLD or a second address of a second MAC entity of the second MLD in a second sub-element field, and the first address or the second address indicates that at least one item of statistical information or delay information is associated with the first MLD.

[0360] In some embodiments, the station statistics request frame includes: a first address of a first MAC of a first MLD, the first address indicating that at least one of statistical information or delay information associated with the first MLD is requested.

[0361] In some embodiments, the first MLD comprises a first station management entity SME and a first MLME. In some embodiments, the first MLME is configured to provide a first indication primitive to the first SME to indicate that a request for at least one of the statistical information or the delay information is received.

[0362] In some embodiments, the first indication primitive includes at least one of the following items: a second address of a second MAC of a second MLD, or a third address of a third MAC entity of a device attached to the second MLD, the third address indicating that at least one of the statistical information or the delay information is to be received via the device.

[0363] In some embodiments, the first indication primitive includes a second address of a second MAC of the second MLD, the second address indicating that at least one of the statistical information or the delay information is to be received via any device among the devices attached to the second MLD.

[0364] In some embodiments, the first SME is configured to: provide a first request primitive to the first MLME, and the first request primitive includes at least one of the following items: at least one item of statistical information or delay information; a third address of a third MAC entity of a device attached to the second MLD, the third address indicating that: at least one item of statistical information or delay information is to be sent to the device; or a second address of a second MAC of the second MLD.

[0365] In some embodiments, the first SME is configured to: provide a first request primitive to the first MLME, and the first request primitive includes at least one of the following items: at least one of the statistical information or the delay information, or a second address of the second MAC of the second MLD, and the second address indicates that: at least one of the statistical information and the delay information is to be sent to any device among the devices affiliated with the second MLD.

[0366] In some embodiments, the statistical information includes at least one of the following:

[0367] The number of fragment frames sent by the first MLD,

[0368] The number of multicast frames sent by the first MLD,

[0369] The number of frames that failed to be sent by the first MLD,

[0370] The number of fragment frames received by the first MLD,

[0371] The number of frames received by the first MLD with frame check sequence errors,

[0372] The number of fragment frames sent by the first MLD,

[0373] The number of frames retransmitted by the first MLD,

[0374] The number of frames retransmitted multiple times by the first MLD,

[0375] The number of frames re-received by the first MLD,

[0376] The number of Request To Send (RTS) successfully sent by the first MLD,

[0377] The number of failed RTSs sent by the first MLD, or

[0378] • The number of unacknowledged frames sent by the first MLD.

[0379] In some embodiments, the frame comprises a Quality of Service (QoS) frame, the QoS frame having a traffic indicator in the range of 0 to 7, and the statistical information comprises at least one of the following:

[0380] The number of QoS fragments sent by the first MLD,

[0381] The number of QoS messages that failed to be sent by the first MLD,

[0382] The number of QoS frames retransmitted by the first MLD,

[0383] The number of QoS frames retransmitted by the first MLD multicast,

[0384] The number of QoS frames re-received by the first MLD,

[0385] The number of QoS RTS messages sent successfully,

[0386] The number of QoS RTS messages that were not successfully sent,

[0387] The number of QoS unacknowledged frames sent by the first MLD,

[0388] The number of QoS fragments received by the first MLD,

[0389] The number of QoS frames received by the first MLD,

[0390] The number of QoS frames dropped by the first MLD,

[0391] The number of QoS Media Access Control (MAC) Protocol Data Units (MPDUs) received by the first MLD, or

[0392] • The number of QoS retransmission frames received by the first MLD.

[0393] In some embodiments, the frame includes an aggregate media access control (MAC) service data unit (A-MSDU), and the statistical information includes at least one of the following:

[0394] The number of A-MSDUs sent by the first MLD,

[0395] The number of A-MSDUs that failed to be sent by the first MLD,

[0396] The number of bytes sent by the first MLD in the A-MSDU,

[0397] The number of A-MSDUs retransmitted by the first MLD,

[0398] The number of A-MSDUs retransmitted multiple times by the first MLD,

[0399] The number of A-MSDUs not acknowledged by the first MLD,

[0400] The number of A-MSDUs received by the first MLD, or

[0401] • The number of bytes received in the A-MSDU by the first MLD.

[0402] In some embodiments, the frame includes an aggregate media access control (MAC) protocol data unit (A-MPDU), and the statistical information includes at least one of the following:

[0403] The number of A-MPDUs sent by the first MLD,

[0404] The number of MPDUs in the A-MPDU sent by the first MLD,

[0405] The number of bytes in the A-MPDU sent by the first MLD,

[0406] The number of A-MPDUs received by the first MLD,

[0407] The number of MPDUs in the A-MPDU received by the first MLD,

[0408] The number of bytes in the A-MPDU received by the first MLD, or

[0409] • The number of A-MPDUs received by the first MLD with cyclic redundancy check errors.

[0410] In some embodiments, the delay information includes at least one of the following:

[0411] MLD average access delay,

[0412] MLD average delay on Quality of Service QoS frames with best effort priority,

[0413] MLD average delay on QoS frames with background priority,

[0414] MLD average latency on QoS frames with video priority,

[0415] MLD average delay on QoS frames with voice priority,

[0416] The number of non-AP MLDs, or

[0417] MLD channel utilization.

[0418] In some embodiments, the apparatus further comprises: at least one antenna configured to facilitate communication.

[0419] In some example embodiments, an apparatus capable of performing method 700 may include a component for performing the corresponding steps of method 700. The component may be implemented in any suitable form. For example, the component may be implemented in a circuit system or a software module or a combination thereof.

[0420] In some example embodiments, an apparatus includes a second MLD having: means for sending a request to a first MLD for at least one of statistical information associated with the first MLD or delay information associated with the first MLD; and means for receiving a report on at least one of the statistical information or the delay information from the first MLD.

[0421] In some embodiments, the second MLD is configured to send a request for at least one of the statistical information or the delay information by sending a station statistics request frame to the first MLD.

[0422] In some embodiments, the station statistics request frame includes: a first address of a first MAC of a first MLD in a first sub-element field, the first address indicating: requesting at least one of statistics information and delay information associated with the first MLD.

[0423] In some embodiments, the second MLD is configured to: receive a station statistics report frame, and the station statistics report frame includes at least one of the following items: at least one item of statistical information or delay information, or a first address of a first MAC of the first MLD or a second address of a second MAC entity of the second MLD in a second sub-element field, and the first address or the second address indicates that at least one item of statistical information or delay information is associated with the first MLD.

[0424] In some embodiments, the station statistics request frame includes at least one of the following: a first address of a first MAC of a first MLD, the first address indicating that at least one of statistical information or delay information associated with the first MLD is requested.

[0425] In some embodiments, the second MLD includes a second SME and a second MLME. In some embodiments, the second SME is configured to provide a second request primitive to the second MLME to indicate that a request for at least one of the statistical information or the delay information is to be sent.

[0426] In some embodiments, the second request primitive includes at least one of the following items: a first address of a first MAC of a first MLD, or a fourth address of a fourth MAC entity of a device attached to the first MLD, the fourth address indicating that at least one of statistical information or delay information is to be sent to the device.

[0427] In some embodiments, the second request primitive includes a first address of a first MAC of the first MLD, the first address indicating that at least one of the statistical information or the delay information is to be sent to any device among the devices attached to the first MLD.

[0428] In some embodiments, the second MLME is configured to provide a second indication primitive to the second SME to indicate that at least one of the statistical information or the delay information is received.

[0429] In some embodiments, the second indication primitive also includes at least one of the following items: at least one item of statistical information or delay information, a first address of a first MAC of a first MLD, or a fourth address of a fourth MAC entity of a device attached to the first MLD, the fourth address indicating that at least one item of statistical information or delay information is received from the device.

[0430] In some embodiments, the second indication primitive further includes at least one of the following items: at least one of the statistical information or the delay information, or a first address of the first MAC of the first MLD, the first address indicating that at least one of the statistical information and the delay information is received from any device among the devices affiliated with the first MLD.

[0431] In some embodiments, the statistical information includes at least one of the following:

[0432] The number of fragment frames sent by MLD,

[0433] The number of multicast frames sent by MLD,

[0434] The number of frames that failed to be sent by MLD,

[0435] The number of fragment frames received by the MLD,

[0436] The number of frames received by the MLD with frame check sequence errors,

[0437] The number of fragment frames sent by MLD,

[0438] The number of frames retransmitted by MLD,

[0439] The number of frames that were retransmitted multiple times by MLD,

[0440] The number of frames re-received by MLD,

[0441] The number of RTSs successfully sent by MLD,

[0442] The number of failed RTSs sent by MLD, or

[0443] • The number of unacknowledged frames sent by MLD.

[0444] In some embodiments, the frame comprises a Quality of Service (QoS) frame, the QoS frame having a traffic indicator in the range of 0 to 7, and the statistical information comprises at least one of the following:

[0445] The number of QoS fragments sent by MLD,

[0446] The number of QoS messages that failed to be sent by MLD,

[0447] The number of QoS frames retransmitted by MLD,

[0448] The number of QoS frames retransmitted by MLD multicast,

[0449] The number of QoS frames re-received by MLD,

[0450] The number of QoS RTS messages sent successfully,

[0451] The number of QoS RTS messages that were not successfully sent,

[0452] The number of QoS unacknowledged frames sent by MLD,

[0453] The number of QoS fragments received by the MLD,

[0454] The number of QoS frames received by the MLD,

[0455] The number of QoS frames dropped by MLD,

[0456] The number of QoS MAC Protocol Data Units (MPDUs) received by the MLD, or

[0457] • Number of QoS retransmission frames received by MLD.

[0458] In some embodiments, the frame includes an A-MSDU, and the statistical information includes at least one of the following:

[0459] The number of A-MSDUs sent by the MLD,

[0460] The number of A-MSDUs that failed to be sent by the MLD,

[0461] The number of bytes sent by the MLD in the A-MSDU,

[0462] The number of A-MSDUs retransmitted by MLD,

[0463] The number of A-MSDUs that were retransmitted multiple times by MLD,

[0464] The number of A-MSDUs not acknowledged by the MLD,

[0465] The number of A-MSDUs received by the MLD, or

[0466] • The number of bytes received by the MLD in the A-MSDU.

[0467] In some embodiments, the frame includes an A-MPDU and the statistical information includes at least one of the following:

[0468] The number of A-MPDUs sent by the MLD,

[0469] The number of MPDUs in the A-MPDU sent by the MLD,

[0470] The number of bytes in the A-MPDU sent by the MLD,

[0471] The number of A-MPDUs received by the MLD,

[0472] The number of MPDUs in the A-MPDU received by the MLD,

[0473] The number of bytes in the A-MPDU received by the MLD, or

[0474] • Number of A-MPDUs received by the MLD with cyclic redundancy check errors.

[0475] In some embodiments, the delay information includes at least one of the following:

[0476] MLD average access delay,

[0477] MLD average delay on Quality of Service QoS frames with best effort priority,

[0478] MLD average delay on QoS frames with background priority,

[0479] MLD average latency on QoS frames with video priority,

[0480] MLD average delay on QoS frames with voice priority,

[0481] The number of non-AP MLDs, or

[0482] MLD channel utilization.

[0483] In some embodiments, the second MLD is configured to send a request for at least one of the statistical information or the delay information in response to receiving a query request for at least one of the statistical information or the delay information associated with the first MLD from the access control device.

[0484] In some embodiments, the second MLD is configured to send at least one of statistical information or delay information associated with the first MLD to the access control device.

[0485] In some embodiments, the second MLD further includes at least one antenna configured to facilitate communication.

[0486] Figure 8 800 is a simplified block diagram of a device 800 suitable for implementing an embodiment of the present disclosure. The device 800 may be provided to implement a communication device, such as Figure 1A , Figure 1B ,as well as Figure 1C The non-AP MLD 110 or AP MLD 120 shown in FIG. Figure 1B The non-AP MLD 140 or the non-AP MLD 150 shown, or Figure 1C The AP MLD 160 is shown. As shown, the device 800 includes one or more processors 810, one or more memories 820 coupled to the processors 810, and one or more communication modules 840 coupled to the processors 810.

[0487] The communication module 840 is configured for bidirectional communication. The communication module 840 has at least one antenna to facilitate communication. The communication interface may represent any interface required for communication with other network elements.

[0488] Processor 810 may be of any type suitable for the local technology network, and may include, as non-limiting examples, one or more of a general purpose computer, a special purpose computer, a microprocessor, a digital signal processor (DSP), and a processor based on a multi-core processor architecture. Device 800 may have multiple processors, such as application specific integrated circuit chips that are time slaved to a clock synchronized with a main processor.

[0489] The memory 820 may include one or more non-volatile memories and one or more volatile memories. Examples of non-volatile memories include, but are not limited to, read-only memory (ROM) 824, electrically programmable read-only memory (EPROM), flash memory, hard disk, compact disk (CD), digital video disk (DVD), and other magnetic storage and / or optical storage. Examples of volatile memories include, but are not limited to, random access memory (RAM) 822 and other volatile memories that do not persist during power outages.

[0490] The computer program 830 includes computer executable instructions executed by the associated processor 810. The program 830 may be stored in a memory 820, such as a ROM 824. The processor 810 may perform any suitable actions and processes by loading the program 830 into the RAM 822.

[0491] The embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented by a program 830, so that the device 800 may execute the steps of FIG. Figure 7 Any process of the present disclosure discussed. The embodiments of the present disclosure may also be implemented by hardware or by a combination of software and hardware.

[0492] In some example embodiments, the program 830 may be tangibly embodied in a computer-readable medium that may be included in the device 800 (such as in the memory 820) or in other storage devices accessible to the device 800. The device 800 may load the program 830 from the computer-readable medium to the RAM 822 for execution. The computer-readable medium may include any type of tangible non-volatile memory, such as ROM, EPROM, flash memory, hard disk, CD, DVD, etc. Fig. 9 An example of a computer readable medium 900 in the form of a CD or DVD is shown. The computer readable medium has a program 830 stored thereon.

[0493] Generally, various embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented using hardware or dedicated circuits, software, logic, or any combination thereof. Some aspects may be implemented using hardware, while other aspects may be implemented using firmware or software that may be executed by a controller, microprocessor, or other computing device. Although various aspects of the embodiments of the present disclosure are illustrated and described as block diagrams, flow charts, or using some other graphical representations, it should be understood that, as non-limiting examples, the blocks, devices, systems, techniques, or methods described herein may be implemented using hardware, software, firmware, dedicated circuits or logic, general-purpose hardware or controllers or other computing devices, or some combination thereof.

[0494] The present disclosure also provides at least one computer program product tangibly stored on a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium. The computer program product includes computer executable instructions, such as instructions included in a program module, which are executed in a device on a target real or virtual processor to perform the above reference Figure 6 and Figure 7 Methods 600 and 700 are described. Typically, program modules include routines, programs, libraries, objects, classes, components, data structures, etc. that perform specific tasks or implement specific abstract data types. In various embodiments, the functions of program modules can be combined or split between program modules as needed. The machine executable instructions of program modules can be executed in local or distributed devices. In distributed devices, program modules can be located in both local and remote storage media.

[0495] The program code for executing the method of the present disclosure can be written in any combination of one or more programming languages. These program codes can be provided to a processor or controller of a general-purpose computer, a special-purpose computer or other programmable data processing device so that the program code is implemented when executed by the processor or controller in the flow chart and / or the block diagram. The program code can be executed completely on the machine, partially on the machine, as an independent software package, partially on the machine and partially on a remote machine, or completely on a remote machine or server.

[0496] In the context of the present disclosure, computer program codes or related data may be carried by any suitable carrier to enable a device, apparatus or processor to perform various processes and operations as described above. Examples of carriers include signals, computer readable media, etc.

[0497] The computer readable medium can be a computer readable signal medium or a computer readable storage medium. The computer readable medium can include, but is not limited to, electronic, magnetic, optical, electromagnetic, infrared or semiconductor systems, devices or equipment, or any suitable combination of the foregoing. A more specific example of a computer readable storage medium will include an electrical connection with one or more wires, a portable computer floppy disk, a hard disk, a random access memory (RAM), a read-only memory (ROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM or flash memory), an optical fiber, a portable compact disk read-only memory (CD-ROM), an optical storage device, a magnetic storage device, or any suitable combination of the foregoing.

[0498] In addition, although the operations are described in a particular order, this should not be understood as requiring such operations to be performed in the particular order shown or in order or performing all the operations shown to obtain the desired result. In some cases, multitasking and parallel processing may be advantageous. Similarly, although several specific implementation details are included in the above discussion, these should not be interpreted as limitations on the scope of the present disclosure, but rather descriptions of features that may be specific to a particular embodiment. Certain features described in the context of a separate embodiment may also be implemented in combination in a single embodiment. On the contrary, the various features described in the context of a single embodiment may also be implemented in multiple embodiments individually or in any suitable sub-combination.

[0499] Although the disclosure has been described in language specific to structural features and / or methodological acts, it should be understood that the disclosure defined in the appended claims is not necessarily limited to the specific features or acts described above. Rather, the specific features and acts described above are disclosed as example forms of implementing the claims.

[0500] List of abbreviations

[0501] AP: Access Point

[0502] Non-AP MLD: Non-Access Point Multi-Link Device

[0503] MAC: Media Access Control

[0504] ML: Multi-Link

[0505] MLD: Multi-Link Device

[0506] MLO: Multi-Link Operation

[0507] QoS: Quality of Service

[0508] STA: Station

[0509] MLME: Media Access Control Sublayer Management Entity

[0510] SME: Site Management Entity

[0511] MPDU: Media Access Control (MAC) Protocol Data Unit

Claims

1. A multi-link device MLD, comprising: at least one processor; as well as at least one memory storing instructions, which, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the MLD to at least: determining at least one of statistical information associated with the MLD or delay information associated with the MLD; as well as In response to receiving a request for the at least one of the statistical information or the delay information from a second MLD, sending the at least one of the statistical information or the delay information to the second MLD.

2. The MLD of claim 1 , wherein the MLD is configured to: receive the request for the at least one of the statistical information or the delay information by: A station statistics request frame is received from the second MLD.

3. The MLD according to claim 2, wherein the station statistics request frame comprises: The first sub-element field contains a first address of a first media access control MAC entity of the MLD, wherein the first address indicates: requesting at least one of the statistical information and the delay information associated with the MLD.

4. The MLD of claim 1 , wherein the MLD is configured to: send a station statistics report frame, and the station statistics report frame includes at least one of the following items: At least one of the statistical information or the delay information, or The second sub-element field contains the first address of the first media access control MAC entity of the MLD or the second address of the second MAC entity of the second MLD, wherein the first address or the second address indicates that at least one of the statistical information or the delay information is associated with the MLD.

5. The MLD according to claim 2, wherein the station statistics request frame comprises: A first address of a first media access control MAC entity of the MLD, wherein the first address indicates: requesting at least one of the statistical information or the delay information associated with the MLD.

6. The MLD of claim 1, wherein the MLD comprises: A first station management entity SME, and a first media access control sublayer management entity MLME; as well as The first MLME is configured to provide a first indication primitive to the first SME to indicate that the request for at least one of the statistical information or the delay information is received.

7. The MLD according to claim 6, wherein the first indication primitive comprises at least one of the following items: a second address of a second media access control MAC entity of the second MLD, or A third address of a third MAC entity of a device to which the second MLD is attached, the third address indicating that the at least one of the statistical information or the delay information is to be received via the device.

8. The MLD according to claim 6, wherein the first indication primitive comprises: A second address of a second media access control MAC entity of the second MLD, wherein the second address indicates that the at least one item of the statistical information or the delay information is to be received via any device among devices attached to the second MLD.

9. The MLD of claim 6, wherein the first SME is configured to provide a first request primitive to the first MLME, and the first request primitive comprises at least one of the following items: the at least one of the statistical information or the delay information, a third address of a third MAC entity of a device attached to the second MLD, the third address indicating that at least one of the statistical information or the delay information is to be sent to the device, or A second address of a second media access control MAC entity of the second MLD.

10. The MLD of claim 6, wherein the first SME is configured to provide a first request primitive to the first MLME, and the first request primitive comprises at least one of the following: At least one of the statistical information or the delay information, or A second address of a second media access control MAC entity of the second MLD, wherein the second address indicates that the at least one item of the statistical information and the delay information is to be sent to any device among the devices attached to the second MLD.

11. The MLD according to any one of claims 1 to 10, wherein the statistical information comprises at least one of the following items: The number of fragment frames sent by the MLD, the number of multicast frames sent by the MLD, The number of frames that failed to be sent by the MLD, the number of fragment frames received by the MLD, the number of frames received by the MLD with frame check sequence errors, The number of fragment frames sent by the MLD, The number of frames retransmitted by the MLD, The number of frames retransmitted multiple times by the MLD, The number of frames re-received by the MLD, The number of send requests RTS successfully sent by the MLD, The number of failed RTSs sent by the MLD, or The number of unacknowledged frames sent by this MLD.

12. The MLD of claim 11, wherein the frame comprises a Quality of Service (QoS) frame having a traffic indicator in the range of 0 to 7, and the statistical information comprises at least one of the following: the number of QoS fragments sent by the MLD, The number of QoS messages that failed to be sent by the MLD, The number of QoS frames retransmitted by the MLD, The number of QoS frames retransmitted by the MLD multicast, The number of QoS frames re-received by the MLD, The number of QoS RTS messages sent successfully. The number of QoS RTS messages that were not sent successfully. The number of QoS unacknowledged frames sent by the MLD, the number of QoS fragments received by the MLD, the number of QoS frames received by the MLD, The number of QoS frames dropped by the MLD, the number of QoS Media Access Control (MAC) Protocol Data Units (MPDUs) received by the MLD, or The number of QoS retransmission frames received by this MLD.

13. The MLD of claim 11, wherein the frame comprises an aggregated media access control (MAC) service data unit (A-MSDU), and the statistical information comprises at least one of the following: the number of A-MSDUs sent by the MLD, The number of A-MSDUs that failed to be sent by the MLD, The number of bytes sent by the MLD in the A-MSDU, the number of A-MSDUs retransmitted by the MLD, The number of A-MSDUs that are retransmitted multiple times by the MLD, The number of A-MSDUs not acknowledged by the MLD, the number of A-MSDUs received by the MLD, or The number of bytes received by the MLD in an A-MSDU.

14. The MLD of claim 11, wherein the frame comprises an aggregate media access control (MAC) protocol data unit (A-MPDU), and the statistical information comprises at least one of the following: the number of A-MPDUs sent by the MLD, the number of MPDUs in the A-MPDU sent by the MLD, the number of bytes in the A-MPDU sent by the MLD, the number of A-MPDUs received by the MLD, the number of MPDUs in the A-MPDU received by the MLD, the number of bytes in the A-MPDU received by the MLD, or The number of A-MPDUs received by the MLD with cyclic redundancy check errors.

15. The MLD according to any one of claims 1 to 10, wherein the delay information comprises at least one of the following items: MLD average access delay, MLD average delay on Quality of Service QoS frames with best effort priority, MLD average delay over said QoS frames with background priority, MLD average delay over said QoS frames with video priority, the MLD average delay over said QoS frames with voice priority, Number of non-AP MLDs, or MLD channel utilization.

16. The MLD according to any one of the preceding claims, further comprising: At least one antenna configured to facilitate communications.

17. A multi-link device MLD, comprising: at least one processor; as well as at least one memory storing instructions, which, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the MLD to at least: sending a request to a first MLD for at least one of statistical information associated with the first MLD or delay information associated with the first MLD; and A report on the at least one of the statistical information or the delay information is received from the first MLD.

18. The MLD of claim 17, wherein the MLD is configured to: send the request for the at least one of the statistical information or the delay information by: Send a station statistics request frame to the first MLD.

19. The MLD according to claim 18, wherein the station statistics request frame comprises: The first sub-element field contains a first address of a first media access control MAC entity of the first MLD, the first address indicating: requesting at least one of the statistical information and the delay information associated with the first MLD.

20. The MLD of claim 17, wherein the MLD is configured to: receive a station statistics report frame, and the station statistics report frame comprises at least one of the following items: At least one of the statistical information or the delay information, or The second sub-element field contains a first address of a first media access control MAC entity of the first MLD or a second address of a second MAC entity of the MLD, wherein the first address or the second address indicates that at least one of the statistical information or the delay information is associated with the first MLD.

21. The MLD of claim 18, wherein the station statistics request frame comprises at least one of the following: A first address of a first media access control MAC entity of the first MLD, the first address indicating: requesting the at least one of the statistical information or the delay information associated with the first MLD.

22. The MLD of claim 17, wherein the MLD comprises: a second station management entity SME, and a second media access control sublayer management entity MLME; and The second SME is configured to provide a second request primitive to the second MLME to indicate that the request for at least one of the statistical information or the delay information is to be sent.

23. The MLD of claim 22, wherein the second request primitive comprises at least one of the following: a first address of a first media access control MAC entity of the first MLD, or A fourth address of a fourth MAC entity of a device attached to the first MLD, the fourth address indicating that at least one of the statistical information or the delay information is to be sent to the device.

24. The MLD of claim 22, wherein the second request primitive comprises: A first address of a first media access control MAC entity of the first MLD, wherein the first address indicates that the at least one item of the statistical information or the delay information is to be sent to any device among devices attached to the first MLD.

25. The MLD of claim 22, wherein the second MLME is configured to provide a second indication primitive to the second SME to indicate that the at least one of the statistical information or the delay information is received.

26. The MLD according to claim 25, wherein the second indication primitive further comprises at least one of the following items: the at least one of the statistical information or the delay information, a first address of a first media access control MAC entity of the first MLD, or A fourth address of a fourth MAC entity of a device to which the first MLD is attached, the fourth address indicating that the at least one of the statistical information or the delay information is received from the device.

27. The MLD according to claim 25, wherein the second indication primitive further comprises at least one of the following items: At least one of the statistical information or the delay information, or A first address of a first media access control (MAC) entity of the first MLD, wherein the first address indicates that the at least one of the statistical information and the delay information is received from any device among devices attached to the first MLD.

28. The MLD according to any one of claims 17 to 27, wherein the statistical information comprises at least one of the following: The number of fragment frames sent by the MLD, the number of multicast frames sent by the MLD, The number of frames that failed to be sent by the MLD, the number of fragment frames received by the MLD, the number of frames received by the MLD with frame check sequence errors, The number of fragment frames sent by the MLD, The number of frames retransmitted by the MLD, The number of frames retransmitted multiple times by the MLD, The number of frames re-received by the MLD, The number of send requests RTS successfully sent by the MLD, The number of failed RTSs sent by the MLD, or The number of unacknowledged frames sent by this MLD.

29. The MLD of claim 28, wherein the frame comprises a Quality of Service (QoS) frame having a traffic indicator in the range of 0 to 7, and the statistical information comprises at least one of: the number of QoS fragments sent by the MLD, The number of QoS messages that failed to be sent by the MLD, The number of QoS frames retransmitted by the MLD, The number of QoS frames retransmitted by the MLD multicast, The number of QoS frames re-received by the MLD, The number of QoS RTS messages sent successfully. The number of QoS RTS messages that were not sent successfully. The number of QoS unacknowledged frames sent by the MLD, the number of QoS fragments received by the MLD, the number of QoS frames received by the MLD, The number of QoS frames dropped by the MLD, the number of QoS Media Access Control (MAC) Protocol Data Units (MPDUs) received by the MLD, or The number of QoS retransmission frames received by this MLD.

30. The MLD of claim 28, wherein the frame comprises an aggregate media access control (MAC) service data unit (A-MSDU), and the statistical information comprises at least one of the following: the number of A-MSDUs sent by the MLD, The number of A-MSDUs that failed to be sent by the MLD, The number of bytes sent by the MLD in the A-MSDU, the number of A-MSDUs retransmitted by the MLD, The number of A-MSDUs that are retransmitted multiple times by the MLD, The number of A-MSDUs not acknowledged by the MLD, the number of A-MSDUs received by the MLD, or The number of bytes received by the MLD in an A-MSDU.

31. The MLD of claim 28, wherein the frame comprises an aggregate media access control (MAC) protocol data unit (A-MPDU), and the statistical information comprises at least one of the following: the number of A-MPDUs sent by the MLD, the number of MPDUs in the A-MPDU sent by the MLD, the number of bytes in the A-MPDU sent by the MLD, the number of A-MPDUs received by the MLD, the number of MPDUs in the A-MPDU received by the MLD, the number of bytes in the A-MPDU received by the MLD, or The number of A-MPDUs received by the MLD with cyclic redundancy check errors.

32. The MLD according to any one of claims 17 to 27, wherein the delay information comprises at least one of the following: MLD average access delay, MLD average delay on Quality of Service QoS frames with best effort priority, MLD average delay over said QoS frames with background priority, MLD average delay over said QoS frames with video priority, the MLD average delay over said QoS frames with voice priority, The number of non-AP MLDs, or MLD channel utilization.

33. The MLD of claim 17, wherein the MLD is configured to: in response to receiving a query request for the at least one of the statistical information or the delay information associated with the first MLD from an access control device, send the request for the at least one of the statistical information or the delay information.

34. The MLD of claim 33, wherein the MLD is configured to send the at least one of the statistical information or the delay information associated with the first MLD to the access control device.

35. The MLD according to any one of the preceding claims 17 to 35, further comprising: At least one antenna configured to facilitate communications.

36. A method comprising: At a multi-link device, determining at least one of statistical information associated with the MLD or delay information associated with the MLD; as well as In response to receiving a request for the at least one of the statistical information or the delay information from a second MLD, sending the at least one of the statistical information or the delay information to the second MLD.

37. A method comprising: sending, from the multi-link device MLD to the first MLD, a request for at least one of statistical information associated with the first MLD or delay information associated with the first MLD; as well as A report on the at least one of the statistical information or the delay information is received from the first MLD.

38. An apparatus comprising: The first multi-link device MLD has: means for determining at least one of statistical information associated with the first MLD or delay information associated with the first MLD; as well as Means for sending the at least one of the statistical information or the delay information to the second MLD in response to receiving a request for the at least one of the statistical information or the delay information from the second MLD.

39. An apparatus comprising: The second multi-link device MLD has: means for sending a request to a first MLD for at least one of statistical information associated with the first MLD or delay information associated with the first MLD; as well as Means for receiving a report from the first MLD regarding the at least one of the statistical information or the delay information.

40. A computer readable medium comprising program instructions for causing an apparatus to perform the method according to claim 36.

41. A computer readable medium comprising program instructions for causing an apparatus to perform the method according to claim 37.

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