Asymmetric coordinated beamforming

Abstract

Certain aspects of the present disclosure provide techniques for handling coordinated beamforming in a wireless communication system. An example method performed by a first access point (AP) generally includes outputting, for transmission to a second AP, at least one of a first indication that the first AP supports spatial reuse of transmission resources or a second indication that the first AP supports asymmetric coordinated beamforming (CBF); and outputting signaling to one or more stations (STAs) supported by the first AP for transmission without desiring to form null values directed to other STAs supported by the second AP.

Description

[0001] CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

[0002] This application claims priority to U.S. patent application Ser. No. 18 / 050,847, filed on Oct. 28, 2022, which is hereby incorporated by reference herein. Technical Field

[0003] Certain aspects of the present disclosure relate generally to wireless communications and, more particularly, to techniques for handling coordinated beamforming in wireless communication systems.

[0004] Related technologies

[0005] Wireless communication networks are widely deployed to provide various communication services such as voice, video, packet data, messaging, broadcast, etc. These wireless networks may be multiple-access networks capable of supporting multiple users by sharing the available network resources. Examples of such multiple-access networks include code division multiple access (CDMA) networks, time division multiple access (TDMA) networks, frequency division multiple access (FDMA) networks, orthogonal FDMA (OFDMA) networks, and single carrier FDMA (SC-FDMA) networks.

[0006] In order to address the problem of increased bandwidth requirements required for wireless communication systems, different schemes are being developed to allow multiple user terminals to communicate with a single access point by sharing channel resources while achieving high data throughput. Multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) technology represents one such approach that has emerged as a popular technology for communication systems. MIMO technology has been adopted in several wireless communication standards, such as the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 standards. IEEE 802.11 represents a set of wireless local area network (WLAN) air interface standards developed by the IEEE 802.11 committee for short-range communications, such as tens of meters to hundreds of meters. Summary of the invention

[0007] One innovative aspect of the subject matter described in the present disclosure provides a method for wireless communication at a first access point (AP). The method includes: outputting at least one of a first indication that the first AP supports spatial reuse of transmission resources or a second indication that the first AP supports asymmetric coordinated beamforming (CBF) for transmission to a second AP; and outputting signaling to one or more stations (STAs) supported by the first AP for transmission without expecting to form a null value directed to other STAs supported by the second AP.

[0008] Another innovative aspect of the subject matter described in the present disclosure provides a method for wireless communication at a second AP. The method includes: obtaining an indication from a first AP that the second AP is selected to participate in an asymmetric CBF with the first AP; and participating in an asymmetric CBF with the first AP after obtaining the indication.

[0009] Other aspects provide: an apparatus operable to, configured to, or otherwise adapted to perform any one or more of the foregoing methods and / or those described elsewhere herein; a non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising instructions that, when executed by a processor of the apparatus, cause the apparatus to perform the foregoing methods and those described elsewhere herein; a computer program product embodied on a computer-readable storage medium, comprising code for performing the foregoing methods and those described elsewhere herein; and / or an apparatus comprising components for performing the foregoing methods and those described elsewhere herein. By way of example, an apparatus may include a processing system, a device having a processing system, or a processing system cooperating through one or more networks.

[0010] For purposes of illustration, the following description and drawings set forth certain features. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0011] In order to be able to understand in detail the manner in which the above-mentioned features of the present disclosure are achieved, a more specific description briefly summarized above can be obtained by reference to various aspects, some of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings. However, it should be noted that the accompanying drawings illustrate only certain typical aspects of the present disclosure and are therefore not to be considered as limiting the scope thereof, as the description may admit to other equally effective aspects.

[0012] Figure 1 An example wireless communication network is depicted.

[0013] Figure 2 is a block diagram conceptually illustrating designs of example access points (APs) and wireless stations (STAs) in accordance with certain aspects of the present disclosure.

[0014] Figure 3 Symmetric coordinated beamforming in accordance with certain aspects of the present disclosure is depicted.

[0015] Figure 4 Joint transmission and symmetric coordinated beamforming in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure are depicted.

[0016] Figure 5 Symmetric coordinated beamforming and asymmetric coordinated beamforming according to aspects of the present disclosure are depicted.

[0017] Figure 6A call flow is depicted where two APs perform asymmetric coordinated beamforming with two STAs in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure.

[0018] Figure 7 Depicted is a graph comparing percent network throughput gain for symmetric CBF to asymmetric CBF, in accordance with certain aspects of the present disclosure.

[0019] Figure 8 A flow chart illustrating an example method for wireless communications is depicted.

[0020] Fig. 9 A flow chart illustrating an example method for wireless communications is depicted.

[0021] Fig.10 A block diagram of an example wireless communication device is depicted. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0022] Aspects of the present disclosure provide apparatus, methods, processing systems, and computer-readable media for handling coordinated beamforming in a wireless communication system.

[0023] In a typical wireless communication system that utilizes spatial reuse of transmission resources, multiple access points (APs) can collaborate when transmitting beamformed signals to a station (STA). In joint transmission (TX), multiple APs coordinate their transmissions to transmit signals to one or more STAs. In coordinated beamforming (CBF), simultaneous transmissions across adjacent APs are allowed. APs use physical layer (PHY) nulling techniques to mitigate interference to adjacent basic service sets (BSSs) caused by their own transmissions. In typical CBF techniques, operations can be viewed as "symmetric", where both BSS and overlapping basic service set (OBSS) devices (e.g., APs) null the interference caused in their adjacent BSSs. The process of nulling interference reduces the total power that a device can use to transmit a desired signal. In addition, nulling interference can use the antenna of a device, thereby reducing the number of data streams that the device can send.

[0024] The present disclosure provides techniques for "asymmetric" CBF, where the BSS that wins a transmit opportunity (TxOP) does not resort to zeroing to mitigate interference to the OBSS, but the OBSS can share the TxOP by sending its own signal, as long as the OBSS creates nulls toward the BSS when sharing (e.g., transmitting during the TxOP). Asymmetric CBF can be viewed as an enhanced form of spatial reuse (SR), where the OBSS can reuse transmit resources used by the BSS. In such cases, the OBSS may not need to notify the BSS of the transmissions scheduled by the OBSS, as long as the OBSS forms nulls toward the BSS clients.

[0025] By enabling the OBSS to share the TxOP without nulling the BSS that wins the TxOP to mitigate interference in the OBSS, the total data throughput in the BSS and OBSS can be increased in some cases. This increase in throughput improves the utilization of transmit resources in the BSS and OBSS. In addition, since the OBSS can send data during the TxOP instead of waiting for the TxOP to end and then trying to win the next TxOP to send data, the latency in the OBSS can be reduced (i.e., improved).

[0026] Introduction to wireless communication networks

[0027] The various aspects of the present disclosure are described more fully below with reference to the accompanying drawings. However, the present disclosure can be embodied in many different forms, and should not be interpreted as being limited to any specific structure or function presented throughout the present disclosure. On the contrary, these aspects are provided so that the present disclosure will be thorough and complete, and the scope of the present disclosure will be fully conveyed to those skilled in the art. Based on the teachings of this article, it should be understood by those skilled in the art that the scope of the present disclosure is intended to cover any aspect of the disclosure disclosed herein, whether it is implemented independently or in combination with any other aspect of the present disclosure. For example, any number of aspects set forth herein can be used to implement a device or practice method. In addition, the scope of the present disclosure is intended to cover such a device or method that is practiced using other structures, functionality, or structure and functionality in addition to or different from the various aspects of the disclosure set forth herein. It should be understood that any aspect of the disclosure disclosed herein can be embodied by one or more elements of the claims.

[0028] The word “exemplary” is used herein to mean “serving as an example, instance, or illustration.” Any aspect described herein as “exemplary” is not necessarily to be construed as preferred or advantageous over other aspects.

[0029] Although specific aspects are described herein, numerous variations and arrangements of these aspects fall within the scope of the present disclosure. Although some benefits and advantages of preferred aspects are mentioned, the scope of protection of the present disclosure is not intended to be limited by specific benefits, uses or objects. More specifically, various aspects of the present disclosure are intended to be broadly applicable to different wireless technologies, system configurations, networks and transmission protocols, some of which are illustrated by way of example in the drawings and the following description of the preferred aspects. The specific embodiments and drawings are merely illustrative of the present disclosure and are not limiting. The scope of the present disclosure is defined by the appended claims and their equivalents.

[0030] The technology described herein can be used in various broadband wireless communication systems, including communication systems based on orthogonal multiplexing schemes. Examples of such communication systems include space division multiple access (SDMA), time division multiple access (TDMA), orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) systems, single carrier frequency division multiple access (SC-FDMA) systems, and the like. SDMA systems can make full use of different directions to simultaneously send data belonging to multiple user terminals. TDMA systems can allow multiple user terminals to share the same frequency channel by dividing the transmitted signal into different time slots, each of which is assigned to a different user terminal. OFDMA systems utilize orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM), which is a modulation technique that divides the entire system bandwidth into multiple orthogonal subcarriers. These subcarriers may also be referred to as tones, bins, and the like. With OFDM, each subcarrier can be independently modulated using data. SC-FDMA systems can use interleaved FDMA (IFDMA) to transmit on subcarriers distributed across the system bandwidth, use localized FDMA (LFDMA) to transmit on adjacent subcarrier blocks, or use enhanced FDMA (EFDMA) to transmit on multiple adjacent subcarrier blocks. Generally speaking, modulation symbols are transmitted in the frequency domain using OFDM and in the time domain using SC-FDMA. The techniques described herein can be used for any type of application to single carrier (SC) and SC-multiple input multiple output (MIMO) systems.

[0031] The teachings herein may be incorporated into (eg, implemented within or performed by) various wired or wireless devices (eg, nodes). In some aspects, a wireless node implemented in accordance with the teachings herein may comprise an access point or an access terminal.

[0032] An access point ("AP") may include, be implemented as, or be referred to as a Node B, a radio network controller ("RNC"), an evolved Node B (eNB), a base station controller ("BSC"), a base transceiver station ("BTS"), a base station ("BS"), a transceiver function ("TF"), a radio router, a radio transceiver, a basic service set ("BSS"), an extended service set ("ESS"), a radio base station ("RBS"), or some other terminology.

[0033] Access terminal ("AT") may include, be implemented as, or be referred to as a subscriber station, a subscriber unit, a mobile station, a remote station, a remote terminal, a user terminal, a user agent, a user device, a user equipment, a user station, or some other term. In some implementations, the access terminal may include a cellular phone, a cordless phone, a session initiation protocol ("SIP") phone, a wireless local loop ("WLL") station, a personal digital assistant ("PDA"), a handheld device with wireless connection capability, a wireless station ("STA"), or some other suitable processing device connected to a wireless modem. Therefore, one or more aspects of this paper teaching may be incorporated into the following: a phone (e.g., a cellular phone or a smart phone), a computer (e.g., a laptop computer), a portable communication device, a portable computing device (e.g., a personal data assistant), an entertainment device (e.g., a music or video device or a satellite radio), a global positioning system device, or any other suitable device configured to communicate via a wireless or wired medium. In some aspects, the node is a wireless node. For example, such a wireless node may provide connectivity for or to a network (e.g., a wide area network such as the Internet or a cellular network) via a wired or wireless communication link.

[0034] Example Wireless Communication System

[0035] Figure 1 is a diagram illustrating an example wireless communication system 100 having access points and wireless stations. Figure 1 Only one access point 110 is shown in the figure. An access point is generally a fixed station that communicates with each wireless station and may also be referred to as a base station or some other term. A wireless station may be fixed or mobile and may also be referred to as a mobile station, a wireless device, or some other term. An access point 110 may communicate with one or more wireless stations 120 on a downlink and an uplink at any given moment. A downlink (i.e., a forward link) is a communication link from an access point to a wireless station, and an uplink (i.e., a reverse link) is a communication link from a wireless station to an access point. A wireless station may also communicate peer-to-peer with another wireless station, for example via a direct link, such as a tunneled direct link setup (TDLS). A system controller 130 may communicate with the access point and provide coordination and control for the access point.

[0036] Although portions of the following disclosure will describe wireless stations 120 that are capable of communicating via spatial division multiple access (SDMA), for certain aspects, wireless stations 120 may also include some wireless stations that do not support SDMA. Thus, for such aspects, access point (AP) 110 may be configured to communicate with both SDMA wireless stations and non-SDMA wireless stations. This approach may facilitate allowing older versions of wireless stations ("legacy" stations) to remain deployed in an enterprise, thereby extending their useful life, while allowing newer SDMA wireless stations to be introduced where deemed appropriate.

[0037] System 100 uses multiple transmit antennas and multiple receive antennas to transmit data on the downlink and uplink. Access point 110 is equipped with N ap antennas, and represents multiple input (MI) for downlink transmission and multiple output (MO) for uplink transmission. The set of K selected wireless stations 120 collectively represents the multiple output for downlink transmission and the multiple input for uplink transmission. For pure SDMA, if the data symbol streams of the K wireless stations are not multiplexed in code, frequency, or time in some way, then it is expected that N ap ≥K≥1. K can be greater than N if the data symbol streams can be multiplexed using TDMA techniques, using different code channels of CDMA, using non-intersecting subband sets of OFDM, etc. ap Each selected wireless station sends user-specific data to the access point and / or receives user-specific data from the access point. Typically, each selected wireless station may be equipped with one or more antennas (ie, N sta ≥1). The K selected wireless stations may have the same or different numbers of antennas.

[0038] The system 100 may be a time division duplex (TDD) system or a frequency division duplex (FDD) system. For a TDD system, the downlink and uplink share the same frequency band. For an FDD system, the downlink and uplink use different frequency bands. The MIMO system 100 may also use a single carrier or multiple carriers for transmission. Each wireless station may be equipped with a single antenna or multiple antennas. If the wireless stations 120 share the same frequency channel by dividing the transmission / reception into different time slots, each time slot being assigned to a different wireless station 120, the system 100 may also be a TDMA system.

[0039] Figure 2 1 illustrates a block diagram of an access point 110 and two wireless stations 120m and 120x in a MIMO / MLO system 100. In certain aspects, the access point 110 and / or the wireless stations 120m and 120x may implement various techniques for handling direct link communications between wireless stations in an MLO system, such as those described herein with respect to Figure 4 to Figure 20 further described. For example, access point 110 and / or wireless stations 120m and 120x may include the Figure 1 The corresponding link manager described.

[0040] Access point 110 is equipped with an N ap The wireless station 120m is equipped with N antennas 224a to 224t. sta,m antennas 252ma to 252mu, and wireless station 120x is equipped with N sta,x Antennas 252xa to 252xu. Access point 110 is a transmitting entity for downlink and a receiving entity for uplink. Each wireless station 120 is a transmitting entity for uplink and a receiving entity for downlink. As used herein, a "transmitting entity" is an independently operated device or equipment capable of sending data via a wireless channel, and a "receiving entity" is an independently operated device or equipment capable of receiving data via a wireless channel. The term communication generally refers to sending, receiving, or both. In the following description, the subscript "DL" indicates downlink, the subscript "UL" indicates uplink, and N UL wireless stations are selected for simultaneous transmission on the uplink, N DL wireless stations are selected for simultaneous transmission on the downlink, N UL May or may not be equal to N DL , and N UL and N DL It may be a static value, or can change for each scheduling interval.Beam steering or some other spatial processing technique may be used at the access points and wireless stations.

[0041] On the uplink, at each wireless station 120 selected for uplink transmission, a TX data processor 288 receives traffic data from a data source 286 and control data from a controller 280. The TX data processor 288 processes (e.g., encodes, interleaves, and modulates) the traffic data for the wireless station based on a coding and modulation scheme associated with the rate selected for the wireless station and provides a data symbol stream. The TX spatial processor 290 performs spatial processing on the data symbol stream and transmits the data symbol stream to the N sta,m The antennas provide N sta,m Each transceiver (TMTR) 254 receives and processes (eg, converts to analog, amplifies, filters, and upconverts) a corresponding transmit symbol stream to generate an uplink signal. sta,m The transceivers 254 provide N sta,m Uplink signals for transmitting from N sta,m Antenna 252 transmits to the access point.

[0042] Scheduling NUL Each of these wireless stations performs spatial processing on its data symbol stream and sends its set of transmit symbol streams on the uplink to the access point.

[0043] At access point 110, N ap The antennas 224a to 224ap are connected to the entire N UL Each wireless station receives the uplink signal transmitted on the uplink. Each antenna 224 provides a received signal to a corresponding transceiver (RCVR) 222. Each transceiver 222 performs processing complementary to that performed by transceiver 254 and provides a received symbol stream. RX spatial processor 240 processes the N signals from the N wireless stations. ap N of transceivers 222 ap The receiver performs spatial processing on the received symbol streams and provides N UL Receiver spatial processing is performed based on channel correlation matrix inversion (CCMI), minimum mean square error (MMSE), soft interference cancellation (SIC), or some other technique. Each recovered uplink data symbol stream is an estimate of the data symbol stream sent by the corresponding wireless station. RX data processor 242 processes (e.g., demodulates, deinterleaves, and decodes) the stream according to the rate used for each recovered uplink data symbol stream to obtain decoded data. The decoded data for each wireless station can be provided to data sink 244 for storage and / or to controller 230 for further processing.

[0044] On the downlink, at access point 110, TX data processor 210 receives N data packets scheduled for downlink transmission from data source 208. DL The TX data processor 210 processes (e.g., encodes, interleaves, and modulates) the traffic data of each wireless station based on the rate selected for each wireless station. The TX data processor 210 processes (e.g., encodes, interleaves, and modulates) the traffic data of each wireless station based on the rate selected for each wireless station. DL The wireless stations provide N DL TX spatial processor 220 processes N DL The downlink data symbol streams are spatially processed (such as pre-coding or beamforming as described in the present disclosure) and are N ap The antennas provide N ap Each transceiver 222 receives and processes its own corresponding transmit symbol stream to generate a downlink signal. ap The transceiver 222 provides N ap downlink signal for Nap Antenna 224 transmits to the wireless station.

[0045] At each wireless station 120, N sta,m The antenna 252 receives N signals from the access point 110. ap Each transceiver 254 processes the received signal from an associated antenna 252 and provides a received symbol stream. The RX spatial processor 260 processes the received signal from the N sta,m N of transceivers 254 sta,m The RX data processor 270 performs receiver spatial processing on the received symbol streams and provides a recovered downlink data symbol stream for the wireless station. The receiver spatial processing is performed based on CCMI, MMSE, or some other technique. The RX data processor 270 processes (e.g., demodulates, deinterleaves, and decodes) the recovered downlink data symbol stream to obtain decoded data for the wireless station.

[0046] At each wireless station 120, a channel estimator 278 estimates the downlink channel response and provides a downlink channel estimate, which may include a channel gain estimate, an SNR estimate, a noise variance, etc. Similarly, the channel estimator 228 estimates the uplink channel response and provides an uplink channel estimate. The controller 280 of each wireless station is typically based on the wireless station's downlink channel response matrix H dn,m The controller 230 is based on the effective uplink channel response matrix H up,eff derive the spatial filter matrix for the access point. Controller 280 of each wireless station may transmit feedback information (e.g., downlink and / or uplink eigenvectors, eigenvalues, SNR estimates, etc.) to the access point. Controllers 230 and 280 also control the operation of various processing units at access point 110 and wireless station 120, respectively.

[0047] In some wireless communication networks (e.g., 802.11be networks), a multi-link device (MLD) may be a wireless communication device with multiple subordinate APs or STAs. The MLD may have a single medium access control (MAC) service access point (SAP) to the logical link control (LLC) layer. The MLD may also have a MAC address that uniquely identifies the MLD management entity. The MLD may support various multi-link operations (MLOs). In various aspects, the MLO may include multi-band aggregation, in which two or more channels at different frequency bands (e.g., 2.4 GHz, 5 GHz, and 6 GHz bands) are combined to achieve a higher transmission rate. In various aspects, the 6 GHz band may include a frequency range of 5.925 GHz-7.125 GHz. For example, a single frame may be split and sent simultaneously through different channels at different frequency bands, thereby reducing the frame transmission time or facilitating the transmission of larger aggregated frames. The MLO may include multi-band and multi-channel full-duplex communications, which is achieved by sending and receiving on different channels (in the same or different frequency bands) at the same time. MLO may include separation of data and control planes onto different channels (in the same or different frequency bands). In certain aspects, MLO may be implemented with a multi-link single radio (MLSR) architecture, where multiple subordinate APs or STAs of an MLD may be logical devices under a single radio component.

[0048] In a typical wireless communication system that utilizes spatial reuse of transmission resources, multiple access points (APs) can collaborate when sending beamformed signals to a station (STA). In joint transmission (TX), multiple APs coordinate their transmissions to send signals to STAs. In coordinated beamforming (CBF), simultaneous transmissions across adjacent APs are allowed. APs use physical layer (PHY) nulling techniques to mitigate interference to adjacent basic service sets (BSSs) caused by their own transmissions. In typical CBF techniques, operations can be viewed as "symmetric", where both BSS and overlapping basic service set (OBSS) devices (e.g., APs) null the interference caused in their adjacent BSSs. The process of nulling interference reduces the total power that a device can use to send a desired signal. In addition, nulling interference can use the antenna of a device, thereby reducing the number of data streams that the device can send.

[0049] Therefore, it is desirable to develop a technology that enables OBSSs to share TxOPs without nulling the BSS that wins the TxOP to mitigate interference in the OBSSs.

[0050] Example Asymmetric Coordinated Beamforming

[0051] Aspects of the present disclosure provide techniques that enable OBSSs to share a TxOP without nulling the BSS that wins the TxOP to mitigate interference in the OBSSs.

[0052] This disclosure describes techniques for "coordinated beamforming" (CBF) in which simultaneous transmissions across neighboring APs that experience devices employing PHY nulling techniques are allowed to mitigate interference to neighboring BSS transmissions.

[0053] Typical CBF techniques focus on "symmetric" scenarios, where both BSS and OBSS devices null interference to their neighboring BSSs.

[0054] Aspects of the present disclosure provide techniques for asymmetric CBF, where the BSS winning the TxOP does not use nulling to mitigate interference to the OBSS; however, the OBSS creates nulls toward the BSS in order to share the TxOP.

[0055] Figure 3 Symmetric coordinated beamforming in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure is depicted. Thus, as shown, AP1 in BSS1 transmits to STAs 320a and 320b while forming nulls toward BSS2 (e.g., toward STAs 320c and 320d in BSS2). Similarly, AP2 in BSS2 simultaneously transmits to STAs 320c and 320d while forming nulls toward BSS1 (e.g., toward STAs 320a and 320b in BSS1).

[0056] Figure 4 Joint transmission and symmetric coordinated beamforming according to various aspects of the present disclosure are depicted. In joint transmission, multiple APs (AP1 and AP2) transmit to STAs simultaneously. Therefore, as shown at 400, AP1 and AP2 transmit to STA 1 simultaneously. AP1 and AP2 are also illustrated as transmitting to STA2 simultaneously. Advantages of joint transmission include high capacity due to utilization of all streams on all APs. Disadvantages of joint transmission include that the APs typically need to be tightly synchronized in time and frequency offset. In addition, the backhaul network connecting the APs must be a high capacity network.

[0057] In symmetric coordinated beamforming, as shown at 450, each user receives data from only one AP. Thus, as shown, STA1 receives data from AP1, and STA2 receives data from AP2. Both APs create nulls toward the respective OBSS STAs. That is, AP1 creates nulls toward STA2, and AP2 creates nulls toward STA1. Advantages of coordinated beamforming over joint transmission include that the APs do not need to be as tightly synchronized, and further symmetric CBFs can be used in situations where the backhaul network has less capacity. Disadvantages of symmetric coordinated beamforming compared to joint transmission include having lower data network throughput than joint transmission.

[0058] Figure 5Symmetric coordinated beamforming and asymmetric coordinated beamforming according to aspects of the present disclosure are depicted. As shown at 500, STA1 receives data from AP1, and STA2 receives data from AP2. Both APs create nulls toward the respective OBSS STAs. That is, AP1 creates nulls toward STA2, and AP2 creates nulls toward STA1.

[0059] In the asymmetric coordinated beamforming shown at 550, the BSS (AP1) that wins the TxOP does not create any nulls and can freely allocate all streams of the AP for data transmission. AP1 may cause some interference to the neighboring OBSS. If AP2 creates a null (e.g., by pre-coding or beamforming the transmission from AP2) toward the STA being scheduled in the BSS that wins the TxOP (which is STA1), then AP2 in the OBSS is allowed to share the TxOP with AP1, as shown.

[0060] As described herein, an asymmetric CBF may have several advantages over a symmetric CBF.

[0061] The advantage of an asymmetric CBF is that the AP that wins the TxOP does not generate nulls. When the AP that wins the TxOP creates nulls, as in a symmetric CBF, the creation of nulls is at the expense of reducing the number of streams allocated by the AP for data. Reducing the number of streams is not always desirable, and therefore in an asymmetric CBF, the AP that wins the TxOP does not reduce the number of streams allocated for data in order to form nulls. If the AP that wins the TxOP is sending all the data available for the AP to send and unused streams are available, the AP that wins the TxOP can switch to using a symmetric CBF. Therefore, if the AP that wins the TxOP has the potential to allocate all streams in the BSS that wins the TxOP, an asymmetric CBF may be preferred. For example, the BSS may resort to DL multi-user multiple input multiple output (MU-MIMO) transmissions, or multi-stream single-user (SU) transmissions to a mesh AP.

[0062] In aspects of the present disclosure, an asymmetric CBF may outperform a symmetric CBF in high path loss situations.

[0063] Asymmetric CBF can be a natural extension of spatial reuse (SR) technology because there is no impact on the throughput of the BSS that wins the TxOP, and the OBSS can freely share the TxOP as long as the OBSS nulls the interference to the BSS link.

[0064] In various aspects of the present disclosure, there is less signaling overhead in an asymmetric CBF compared to a symmetric CBF. Signaling overhead is reduced in an asymmetric CBF because in a symmetric CBF, both involved BSSs need to be informed of the client being scheduled in the other BSS during each TxOP, but in an asymmetric CBF, the BSS does not need to know which client is being scheduled in the OBSS.

[0065] Figure 6 An example call flow of two APs performing asymmetric coordinated beamforming with two STAs in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure is depicted. As shown, AP1 may send a signal to AP2, thereby indicating to AP2 that AP2 is selected to participate in an asymmetric CBF with AP1. In the example call flow, AP1 sends a physical protocol data unit (PPDU) to STA1. As depicted, AP1's PPDU transmission to STA1 may cause interference to STA2. Optionally, AP2 may read the duration of the PPDU (e.g., by receiving and decoding a header of the PPDU) and determine a period for transmitting to STA2. Then, during the duration of the transmission performed by AP1, AP2 transmits to STA2 while forming a null value toward STA1 associated with AP1.

[0066] Figure 7 A graph showing the percentage network throughput gain of symmetric CBF and asymmetric CBF relative to enhanced distributed channel access (EDCA, e.g., traditional CSMA / CA) for a simple topology with 1 BSS and 1 OBSS is depicted. The graph assumes a 2-beam AP with one active single-antenna client STA per BSS or OBSS. The STA locations are picked uniformly randomly within each BSS. The graph also assumes fully buffered DL traffic. As shown, above a certain BSS_AP to OBSS_AP path loss (e.g., 114 decibels (dB)), asymmetric CBF outperforms (e.g., has higher gain than symmetric CBF relative to EDCA) symmetric CBF.

[0067] Example Operation of Access Point

[0068] Figure 8 A method for performing a first AP (such as Figure 1 and Figure 2 An example of a method 800 for performing wireless communications at an AP 110).

[0069] Method 800 begins at step 805, where at least one of a first indication that a first AP supports spatial reuse of transmission resources or a second indication that the first AP supports asymmetric coordination CBF is output for transmission to a second AP. In some cases, the operation of this step refers to as described in reference to Fig.10The described circuit for outputting and / or code for outputting, or can be executed by the circuit and / or the code.

[0070] Then, the method 800 proceeds to step 810, where signaling is output to one or more STAs supported by the first AP for transmission without expecting to form a null value directed to other STAs supported by the second AP. In some cases, the operation of this step refers to as described in reference Fig.10 The described circuit for outputting and / or code for outputting, or can be executed by the circuit and / or the code.

[0071] In some aspects, the method 800 further includes: outputting an indication that the first AP does not desire to perform symmetric CBF with the second AP for transmission to the second AP. In some cases, the operation of this step is referred to as referring to Fig.10 The described circuit for outputting and / or code for outputting, or can be executed by the circuit and / or the code.

[0072] In some aspects, the method 800 further includes: outputting an indication of each of the one or more STAs for transmission to the second AP. In some cases, the operation of this step refers to the same as in reference to Fig.10 The described circuit for outputting and / or code for outputting, or can be executed by the circuit and / or the code.

[0073] In some aspects, the method 800 further includes: determining a TxOP based on the CCA, wherein at least one of the first indication or the second indication is output for transmission to the second AP after the TxOP is determined, and wherein the signaling is output for transmission during the TxOP. In some cases, the operation of this step refers to reference Fig.10 The described circuits for determining and / or codes for determining may be performed by or may be executed by the circuits and / or the codes.

[0074] In some aspects, the method 800 further includes: estimating a distance or path loss to a second AP, wherein based on the value of the distance or path loss being greater than a threshold, outputting at least one of the first indication or the second indication for transmission to the second AP. In some cases, the operation of this step refers to as described in reference Fig.10 The described circuit for estimating and / or code for estimating may be or may be executed by the circuit and / or the code.

[0075] In some aspects, the method 800 further includes: outputting an indication that the second AP is selected to participate in the asymmetric CBF with the first AP for transmission to the second AP and zero or more other APs. In some cases, the operation of this step is referred to as reference Fig.10 The described circuit for outputting and / or code for outputting, or can be executed by the circuit and / or the code.

[0076] In one aspect, method 800 or any aspect related thereto may be performed by an apparatus such as Fig.10 The method 800 is performed by a communication device 1000 that includes various components operable, configured or adapted to perform the method 800. The communication device 1000 is described in more detail below.

[0077] Please note that Figure 8 This is merely one example of a method, and other methods including fewer, additional, or alternative steps may also be consistent with the present disclosure.

[0078] Fig. 9 A method for performing a second AP (such as Figure 1 and Figure 2 An example of a method 900 for performing wireless communications at an AP 110).

[0079] Method 900 begins at step 905, where an indication is obtained from a first AP that a second AP is selected to participate in an asymmetric CBF with the first AP. In some cases, the operation of this step refers to the operation described in reference to Fig.10 The described circuit for obtaining and / or code for obtaining, or can be executed by the circuit and / or the code.

[0080] Method 900 then proceeds to step 910, where after obtaining the indication, an asymmetric CBF with the first AP is engaged. In some cases, the operation of this step refers to or can be referred to as Fig.10 The described circuits for participating and / or codes for participating are performed.

[0081] In some aspects, participating in an asymmetric CBF with the first AP includes outputting signaling to one or more second STAs supported by the second AP for transmission while forming one or more null values ​​directed to one or more first STAs supported by the first AP.

[0082] In some aspects, the method 900 further includes determining, based on the one or more first CSIs and the one or more second CSIs, signaling scheduled to the one or more second STAs, wherein the first CSIs are associated with one or more first channels between the second AP and the one or more first STAs, and the one or more second CSIs are associated with one or more second channels between the second AP and the one or more second STAs. In some cases, the operation of this step refers to as described in reference Fig.10 The described circuit for deciding and / or code for deciding may be performed by the circuit and / or the code.

[0083] In some aspects, method 900 further includes measuring one or more first channels to generate a first measurement. In some cases, the operation of this step refers to the Fig.10 The described circuits for measuring and / or the code for measuring, or can be executed by the circuits and / or the code.

[0084] In some aspects, method 900 further includes determining one or more first CSIs based on the first measurement. In some cases, the operation of this step refers to referring to Fig.10 The described circuits for determining and / or codes for determining may be performed by or may be executed by the circuits and / or the codes.

[0085] In some aspects, the determination is also based on an amount of data available for transmission to one or more second STAs.

[0086] In some aspects, the method 900 further includes reading a duration of the PPDU sent by the first AP, wherein the second AP outputs signaling for transmission in a first period that is as short as or shorter than the duration. In some cases, the operation of this step refers to as described in reference Fig.10 The described circuit for reading and / or code for reading may be or may be executed by the circuit and / or the code.

[0087] In some aspects, the first period is based on a duration and a second period for an acknowledgement (ACK) of received signaling.

[0088] In one aspect, method 900 or any aspect related thereto may be performed by an apparatus such as Fig.10 The method 900 is performed by a communication device 1000 that includes various components operable, configured or adapted to perform the method 900. The communication device 1000 is described in more detail below.

[0089] Please note that Fig. 9 This is merely one example of a method, and other methods including fewer, additional, or alternative steps may also be consistent with the present disclosure.

[0090] Example Communication Device

[0091] Fig.10 Depicted are aspects of an example communications device 1000. In some aspects, the communications device 1000 is an AP, such as described above with respect to Figure 1 and Figure 2 Describe the AP 110.

[0092] The communication device 1000 includes a processing system 1005 coupled to a transceiver 1090 (e.g., a transmitter and / or a receiver). The transceiver 1090 is configured to transmit and receive signals for the communication device 1000 via an antenna 1092, such as various signals as described herein. The transceiver 1090 may be a reference Figure 2 Examples of various aspects of the transceiver 222 are described. The processing system 1005 may be configured to perform processing functions for the communication device 1000, including processing signals received and / or to be transmitted by the communication device 1000.

[0093] The processing system 1005 includes one or more processors 1010. In various aspects, the one or more processors 1010 may represent Figure 2 One or more of the RX data processor 242, TX data processor 210, TX spatial processor 220, or controller 230 of the AP 110 illustrated in FIG. The one or more processors 1010 are coupled to the computer readable medium / memory 1055 via the bus 1088. In certain aspects, the computer readable medium / memory 1055 is configured to store instructions (e.g., computer executable code) that, when executed by the one or more processors 1010, cause the one or more processors 1010 to perform: Figure 8 The method 800 described herein or any aspect related thereto; and / or Fig. 9 The described method 900 or any aspect related thereto. Note that references to a processor performing a function of the communication device 1000 may include one or more processors 1010 performing that function of the communication device 1000 .

[0094] In the depicted example, the computer-readable medium / memory 1055 stores code (e.g., processor-executable instructions), such as code 1060 for outputting, code 1065 for determining, code 1070 for estimating, code 1075 for obtaining, code 1080 for participating, code 1082 for deciding, code 1084 for measuring, and code 1086 for reading. The processing of code 1060 for outputting, code 1065 for determining, code 1070 for estimating, code 1075 for obtaining, code 1080 for participating, code 1082 for deciding, code 1084 for measuring, and code 1086 for reading may cause the communication device 1000 to perform: Figure 8 Method 800 described herein or any aspect related thereto; and / or Fig. 9 The described method 900 or any aspect related thereto.

[0095] The one or more processors 1010 include circuits configured to implement (e.g., execute) code stored in a computer-readable medium / memory 1055, including circuits such as circuits for outputting 1015, circuits for determining 1020, circuits for estimating 1025, circuits for obtaining 1030, circuits for participating 1035, circuits for deciding 1040, circuits for measuring 1045, and circuits for reading 1050. Processing using the circuits for outputting 1015, circuits for determining 1020, circuits for estimating 1025, circuits for obtaining 1030, circuits for participating 1035, circuits for deciding 1040, circuits for measuring 1045, and circuits for reading 1050 may cause the communication device 1000 to perform: Figure 8 Method 800 described herein or any aspect related thereto; and / or Fig. 9 The described method 900 or any aspect related thereto.

[0096] The various components of the communication device 1000 may provide means for performing the following: Figure 8 The method 800 described herein or any aspect related thereto; and / or Fig. 9 The method 900 described herein or any aspect related thereto. For example, a component for sending, transmitting, or outputting for sending may include Figure 2 The transmitter unit 222 or antenna 224 of the AP 110 is shown, and / or Fig.10 The transceiver 1090 and antenna 1092 of the communication device 1000 in FIG. In some aspects, the means for receiving or obtaining may include Figure 2 The receiver unit 222 or antenna 224 of the AP 110 illustrated in FIG. 1 , and / or Fig.10 The transceiver 1090 and the antenna 1092 of the communication device 1000 in FIG.

[0097] Sample Clauses

[0098] Specific implementation examples are described in the following numbered clauses:

[0099] Item 1: A method for wireless communication at a first access point (AP), the method comprising: outputting at least one of a first indication that the first AP supports spatial reuse of transmission resources or a second indication that the first AP supports asymmetric coordinated beamforming (CBF) for sending to a second AP; and outputting signaling to one or more stations (STAs) supported by the first AP for sending without expecting to form a null value pointing to other STAs supported by the second AP.

[0100] Clause 2: The method of clause 1, further comprising: outputting an indication that the first AP does not desire to perform symmetric CBF with the second AP for transmission to the second AP.

[0101] Clause 3: The method of any of clauses 1 and 2, further comprising: outputting an indication of each of the one or more STAs for sending to the second AP.

[0102] Clause 4: According to the method described in any one of clauses 1 to 3, the method further includes: determining a transmit opportunity (TxOP) based on a clear channel assessment (CCA), wherein at least one of the first indication or the second indication is output for sending to the second AP after determining the TxOP, and wherein the signaling is output for sending during the TxOP.

[0103] Clause 5: According to the method described in any one of clauses 1 to 4, the method further includes: estimating the distance or path loss to the second AP, wherein at least one of the first indication or the second indication is output for sending to the second AP based on the value of the distance or the path loss being greater than a threshold.

[0104] Clause 6: The method of any of clauses 1 to 5, further comprising: outputting an indication that the second AP is selected to participate in an asymmetric CBF with the first AP for sending to the second AP and zero or more other APs.

[0105] Clause 7: A method for wireless communication at a second AP, the method comprising: obtaining an indication from the first AP that the second AP is selected to participate in asymmetric coordinated beamforming (CBF) with the first AP; and participating in asymmetric CBF with the first AP after obtaining the indication.

[0106] Clause 8: The method of clause 7, wherein participating in an asymmetric CBF with the first AP comprises outputting signaling to one or more second STAs supported by the second AP for transmission while forming one or more null values ​​directed to one or more first STAs supported by the first AP.

[0107] Clause 9: The method according to Clause 8 further includes: determining the signaling to be scheduled to the one or more second STAs based on one or more first CSIs and one or more second CSIs, wherein the first CSIs are associated with one or more first channels between the second AP and the one or more first STAs, and the one or more second CSIs are associated with one or more second channels between the second AP and the one or more second STAs.

[0108] Clause 10: The method of clause 9, further comprising: measuring the one or more first channels to generate first measurements; and determining the one or more first CSIs based on the first measurements.

[0109] Clause 11: The method of clause 9, wherein the determining is further based on an amount of data available for transmission to the one or more second STAs.

[0110] Clause 12: The method according to Clause 8, further comprising: reading the duration of a physical protocol data unit (PPDU) sent by the first AP, wherein the second AP outputs the signaling for sending in a first period that is as short as or shorter than the duration.

[0111] Clause 13: The method of clause 12, wherein the first period is based on the duration and a second period for receiving an acknowledgement (ACK) of the signaling.

[0112] Clause 14: An apparatus comprising: a memory including processor-executable instructions; and a processor configured to execute the executable instructions and cause the apparatus to perform the method of any one of clauses 1 to 13.

[0113] Clause 15: An apparatus comprising means for performing the method according to any one of clauses 1 to 13.

[0114] Clause 16: A non-transitory computer readable medium comprising executable instructions which, when executed by a processor of an apparatus, cause the apparatus to perform the method of any one of clauses 1 to 13.

[0115] Clause 17: A computer program product embodied on a computer readable storage medium, the computer program product comprising code for performing the method according to any one of clauses 1 to 13.

[0116] Additional considerations

[0117] The preceding description is provided to enable any person skilled in the art to practice the various aspects described herein. Various modifications to these aspects will be apparent to those skilled in the art, and the general principles defined herein may be applied to other aspects. Therefore, the claims are not intended to be limited to the aspects shown herein, but to conform to the full scope consistent with the language claims, where, unless otherwise specified, the elements mentioned in the singular are not intended to represent "one and only one", but "one or more". Unless otherwise specified, the term "some" refers to one or more. All structural and functional equivalents of the elements of the various aspects described throughout the present disclosure that are known or will be known to a person of ordinary skill in the art are expressly incorporated herein by reference and are intended to be covered by the claims. In addition, nothing disclosed herein is intended to be dedicated to the public, regardless of whether such disclosure is explicitly stated in the claims. No element of a claim should be interpreted under the provisions of the sixth paragraph of 35 U.S.C. § 112, unless the element is explicitly stated using the phrase "a component for..." or in the case of a method claim, the element is stated using the phrase "a step for...".

[0118] The various operations of the above method can be performed by any suitable component capable of performing the corresponding function. The component may include various hardware and / or software components and / or modules, including but not limited to circuits, application specific integrated circuits (ASICs) or processors. Generally, in the case of the operations illustrated in the accompanying drawings, these operations may have corresponding corresponding components plus functional components.

[0119] The components for receiving may include Figure 2 The transceiver, receiver or at least one antenna and at least one receiving processor shown in . The component for sending, the component for transmitting or the component for outputting may include Figure 2 The transceiver, transmitter or at least one antenna and at least one transmit processor shown in . The means for communicating, the means for generating, the means for taking one or more actions, the means for selecting, the means for determining, the means for ignoring, the means for mapping and the means for relaying may include a processing system, which may include one or more processors, such as Figure 2 The processors 260m, 270m, 288m and / or 290m of the STA 120m, and / or the processors 210, 220, 240 and / or 242 of the AP 110 are shown in FIG.

[0120] In some cases, a device may have an interface (a component for outputting) for outputting a frame for transmission, rather than actually transmitting the frame. For example, a processor may output a frame to a radio frequency (RF) front end via a bus interface for transmission. Similarly, a device may have an interface (a component for obtaining) for obtaining a frame received from another device, rather than actually receiving the frame. For example, a processor may obtain (or receive) a frame from an RF front end for reception via a bus interface.

[0121] As used herein, the term "determining" encompasses a wide variety of actions. For example, "determining" may include calculating, computing, processing, deriving, investigating, searching (e.g., searching in a table, a database, or another data structure), ascertaining, and the like. Furthermore, "determining" may include receiving (e.g., receiving information) and accessing (e.g., accessing data in a memory), and the like. Furthermore, "determining" may include resolving, selecting, choosing, establishing, and the like.

[0122] As used herein, a phrase referring to "at least one of" a list of items refers to any combination of those items (including single members). As an example, "at least one of a, b, or c" is intended to cover a, b, c, ab, ac, bc, and abc, as well as combinations including multiples of one or more members (aa, aabb, aabbcc, bb, bbcc, and / or cc).

[0123] The various illustrative logical blocks, modules, and circuits described in conjunction with the present disclosure may be implemented or executed with a general purpose processor, a digital signal processor (DSP), an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a field programmable gate array (FPGA) or other programmable logic device (PLD), discrete gate or transistor logic components, discrete hardware components, or any combination thereof, designed to perform the functions described herein. A general purpose processor may be a microprocessor, but in an alternative, the processor may be any commercially available processor, controller, microcontroller, or state machine. The processor may also be implemented as a combination of computing devices, such as a combination of a DSP and a microprocessor, a plurality of microprocessors, one or more microprocessors combined with a DSP core, or any other such configuration.

[0124] The steps or algorithms of the methods described in conjunction with the present disclosure may be directly embodied in hardware, software modules executed by a processor, or a combination of the two. The software module may reside in any form of storage medium known in the art. Some exemplary storage media that may be used include: random access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), flash memory, EPROM memory, EEPROM memory, registers, hard disks, removable disks, CD-ROMs, and the like. The software module may include a single instruction, perhaps multiple instructions, and may be distributed over several different code segments, distributed between different programs, and distributed across multiple storage media. The storage medium may be coupled to the processor so that the processor can read information from the storage medium and write information to the storage medium. In an alternative, the storage medium may be integral with the processor.

[0125] The methods disclosed herein include one or more steps or actions for implementing the described methods. The steps and / or actions of the methods may be interchangeable with each other without departing from the scope of the claims. In other words, unless a specific order of steps or actions is specified, the order and / or use of specific steps and / or actions may be modified without departing from the scope of the claims.

[0126] The functions described may be implemented in hardware, software, firmware, or any combination thereof. If implemented in hardware, an example hardware configuration may include a processing system in a wireless node. The processing system may be implemented using a bus architecture. Depending on the specific application and overall design constraints of the processing system, the bus may include any number of interconnecting buses and bridges. The bus may link together various circuits including a processor, a machine-readable medium, and a bus interface. The bus interface may be used to connect a network adapter, etc., to the processing system via the bus. The network adapter may be used to implement signal processing functions at the PHY layer. In the wireless station 120 (see Figure 1 ), a user interface (e.g., a keypad, display, mouse, joystick, etc.) may also be connected to the bus. The bus may also link various other circuits, such as timing sources, peripherals, voltage regulators, power management circuits, and the like, which are well known in the art and will not be described further.

[0127] The processor may be responsible for managing the bus and general processing, including executing software stored on the machine-readable medium. The processor may be implemented using one or more general-purpose processors and / or special-purpose processors. Examples include microprocessors, microcontrollers, DSP processors, and other circuits that can execute software. Software should be broadly interpreted as meaning instructions, data, or any combination thereof, whether referred to as software, firmware, middleware, microcode, hardware description language, or other. For example, the machine-readable medium may include RAM (random access memory), flash memory, ROM (read-only memory), PROM (programmable read-only memory), EPROM (erasable programmable read-only memory), EEPROM (electrically erasable programmable read-only memory), registers, disks, optical disks, hard disks, or any other suitable storage medium, or any combination thereof. The machine-readable medium may be embodied in a computer program product. The computer program product may include packaging materials.

[0128] In a hardware implementation, the machine-readable medium may be a part of a processing system separate from the processor. However, as will be readily appreciated by those skilled in the art, the machine-readable medium or any part thereof may be outside the processing system. As an example, the machine-readable medium may include a transmission line, a carrier modulated by data, and / or a computer product separated from a wireless node, all of which may be accessed by the processor via a bus interface. Alternatively or in addition, the machine-readable medium or any part thereof may be integrated into a processor, such as with a cache and / or a general register file.

[0129] The processing system may be configured as a general processing system having one or more microprocessors providing processor functionality and an external memory providing at least a portion of a machine-readable medium, all of which are linked together with other support circuits via an external bus architecture. Alternatively, the processing system may be implemented using an ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit) having a processor, a bus interface, a user interface (in the case of an access terminal), support circuits, and at least a portion of a machine-readable medium integrated into a single chip, or implemented using one or more FPGAs (Field Programmable Gate Arrays), PLDs (Programmable Logic Devices), controllers, state machines, gated logic components, discrete hardware components, or any other suitable circuits or circuits capable of performing the various functionalities described throughout the present disclosure. Those skilled in the art will recognize how to best implement the functionality of the processing system depending on the specific application and the overall design constraints imposed on the entire system.

[0130] The machine-readable medium may include multiple software modules. These software modules include instructions that cause the processing system to perform various functions when executed by the processor. The software modules may include a sending module and a receiving module. Each software module may reside in a single storage device or be distributed across multiple storage devices. By way of example, when a triggering event occurs, the software module may be loaded from a hard drive into a RAM. During the execution of the software module, the processor may load some of the instructions into a cache to increase access speed. Then one or more cache lines may be loaded into a general register stack for execution by the processor. When the functionality of a software module is mentioned below, it will be understood that such functionality is implemented by the processor when executing instructions from the software module.

[0131] If implemented in software, each function can be stored on a computer-readable medium or sent by it as one or more instructions or codes.Computer-readable media includes both computer storage media and communication media, including any medium that facilitates the transmission of a computer program from one place to another.Storage media can be any available medium that can be accessed by a computer.By way of example and not limitation, such computer-readable media may include RAM, ROM, EEPROM, CD-ROM or other optical disk storage devices, disk storage devices or other magnetic storage devices, or may be used to carry or store desired program code in the form of an instruction or data structure and any other medium that can be accessed by a computer.In addition, any connection is appropriately referred to as a computer-readable medium.For example, if software is sent from a website, a server or other remote sources using a coaxial cable, an optical cable, a twisted pair, a digital subscriber line (DSL), or a wireless technology such as infrared (IR), radio, and microwaves, then the coaxial cable, optical cable, twisted pair, DSL, or a wireless technology such as infrared, radio, and microwaves are included in the definition of medium. As used herein, disk and disc include compact disc (CD), laser disc, optical disc, digital versatile disc (DVD), floppy disk and Optical disks, where magnetic disks typically reproduce data magnetically, and optical disks use lasers to reproduce data optically. Thus, in some aspects, computer-readable media may include non-transitory computer-readable media (e.g., tangible media). Additionally, for other aspects, computer-readable media may include transient computer-readable media (e.g., signals). Combinations of the above should also be included within the scope of computer-readable media.

[0132] Thus, certain aspects may include a computer program product for performing the operations presented herein. For example, such a computer program product may include a computer-readable medium having instructions stored (and / or encoded) thereon, which instructions can be executed by one or more processors to perform the operations described herein. For some aspects, the computer program product may include packaging materials.

[0133] In addition, it should be appreciated that the modules and / or other appropriate components for performing the methods and techniques described herein can be downloaded and / or otherwise obtained by the wireless station and / or access point where applicable. For example, such a device can be coupled to a server to facilitate the transmission of components for performing the methods described herein. Alternatively, the various methods described herein can be provided via a storage component (e.g., RAM, ROM, a physical storage medium such as a compact disc (CD) or a floppy disk, etc.) so that once the storage component is coupled to or provided to the device, the wireless station and / or access point can obtain the various methods. In addition, any other appropriate technology for providing the methods and techniques described herein to a device can be used.

[0134] It is to be understood that the claims are not limited to the precise configuration and components illustrated above. Various modifications, changes and variations may be made in the arrangement, operation and details of the methods and apparatus described above without departing from the scope of the claims.

Claims

1. A method for wireless communication at a first access point (AP), the method comprising: include: outputting at least one of a first indication that the first AP supports spatial reuse of transmission resources or a second indication that the first AP supports asymmetric coordinated beamforming (CBF) for transmission to a second AP; as well as Signaling is output to one or more stations (STAs) supported by the first AP for transmission without expecting to form a null value directed to other STAs supported by the second AP.

2. The method according to claim 1, further comprising: include: An indication that the first AP does not desire to perform symmetric CBF with the second AP is output for transmission to the second AP.

3. The method according to claim 1, further comprising: include: An indication of each of the one or more STAs is output for sending to the second AP.

4. The method according to claim 1, further comprising: include: A transmit opportunity (TxOP) is determined based on a clear channel assessment (CCA), wherein at least one of the first indication or the second indication is output for transmission to the second AP after determining the TxOP, and wherein the signaling is output for transmission during the TxOP.

5. The method according to claim 1, further comprising: include: A distance or a path loss to the second AP is estimated, wherein at least one of the first indication or the second indication is output for sending to the second AP based on a value of the distance or the path loss being greater than a threshold.

6. The method according to claim 1, further comprising: include: An indication that the second AP is selected to participate in an asymmetric CBF with the first AP is output for sending to the second AP and zero or more other APs.

7. A method for wireless communication at a second access point (AP), the method include: obtaining, from a first AP, an indication that the second AP is selected to participate in asymmetric coordinated beamforming (CBF) with the first AP; as well as After obtaining the indication, engaging in an asymmetric CBF with the first AP.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein participating in an asymmetric CBF with the first AP comprises outputting signaling to one or more second stations (STAs) supported by the second AP for transmission while forming one or more null values ​​directed to one or more first STAs supported by the first AP.

9. The method according to claim 8, further comprising: include: The signaling to be scheduled to the one or more second STAs is determined based on one or more first channel state information (CSI) and one or more second CSI, wherein the first CSI is associated with one or more first channels between the second AP and the one or more first STAs, and the one or more second CSI is associated with one or more second channels between the second AP and the one or more second STAs.

10. The method according to claim 9, further comprising: include: measuring the one or more first channels to generate first measurements; as well as The one or more first CSIs are determined based on the first measurement.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein the determining is further based on an amount of data available for transmission to the one or more second STAs.

12. The method according to claim 8, further comprising: include: A duration of a physical protocol data unit (PPDU) transmitted by the first AP is read, wherein the second AP outputs the signaling for transmission in a first period that is as short as or shorter than the duration.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the first period is based on the duration and a second period for receiving an acknowledgement (ACK) of the signaling.

14. A first access point (AP) configured for wireless communication, the first access point (AP) include: a memory including processor-executable instructions; and one or more processors configured to execute the processor-executable instructions and cause the first AP to: outputting at least one of a first indication that the first AP supports spatial reuse of transmission resources or a second indication that the first AP supports asymmetric coordinated beamforming (CBF) for transmission to a second AP; as well as Signaling is output to one or more stations (STAs) supported by the first AP for transmission without expecting to form a null value directed to other STAs supported by the second AP.

15. The first AP of claim 14, wherein the one or more processors are configured to execute the processor-executable instructions and further cause the first AP to: An indication that the first AP does not desire to perform symmetric CBF with the second AP is output for transmission to the second AP.

16. The first AP of claim 14, wherein the one or more processors are configured to execute the processor-executable instructions and further cause the first AP to: An indication of each of the one or more STAs is output for sending to the second AP.

17. The first AP of claim 14, wherein the one or more processors are configured to execute the processor-executable instructions and further cause the first AP to: A transmit opportunity (TxOP) is determined based on a clear channel assessment (CCA), wherein at least one of the first indication or the second indication is output for transmission to the second AP after determining the TxOP, and wherein the signaling is output for transmission during the TxOP.

18. The first AP of claim 14, wherein the one or more processors are configured to execute the processor-executable instructions and further cause the first AP to: A distance or a path loss to the second AP is estimated, wherein at least one of the first indication or the second indication is output for sending to the second AP based on a value of the distance or the path loss being greater than a threshold.

19. The first AP of claim 14, wherein the one or more processors are configured to execute the processor-executable instructions and further cause the first AP to: An indication that the second AP is selected to participate in an asymmetric CBF with the first AP is output for sending to the second AP and zero or more other APs.

20. A second access point (AP) configured for wireless communication, the second access point (AP) include: a memory including processor-executable instructions; and one or more processors configured to execute the processor-executable instructions and cause the second AP to: obtaining, from a first AP, an indication that the second AP is selected to participate in asymmetric coordinated beamforming (CBF) with the first AP; as well as After obtaining the indication, engaging in an asymmetric CBF with the first AP.

21. The second AP of claim 20, wherein the one or more processors are configured to execute the processor-executable instructions and cause the second AP to participate in an asymmetric CBF with the first AP comprises the one or more processors being configured to: Signaling is output to one or more second stations (STAs) supported by the second AP for transmission, while forming one or more null values ​​directed to one or more first STAs supported by the first AP.

22. The second AP of claim 21, wherein the one or more processors are configured to execute the processor-executable instructions and further cause the second AP to: The signaling to be scheduled to the one or more second STAs is determined based on one or more first channel state information (CSI) and one or more second CSI, wherein the first CSI is associated with one or more first channels between the second AP and the one or more first STAs, and the one or more second CSI is associated with one or more second channels between the second AP and the one or more second STAs.

23. The second AP of claim 22, wherein the one or more processors are configured to execute the processor-executable instructions and further cause the second AP to: measuring the one or more first channels to generate first measurements; and The one or more first CSIs are determined based on the first measurement.

24. The second AP of claim 22, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to: decide to schedule the signaling to the one or more second STAs further based on an amount of data available for transmission to the one or more second STAs.

25. The second AP of claim 21, wherein the one or more processors are configured to execute the processor-executable instructions and further cause the second AP to: reading a duration of a physical protocol data unit (PPDU) sent by the first AP; and The signaling is output for transmission in a first cycle which is as short as or shorter than the duration.

26. The second AP of claim 25, wherein the first period is based on the duration and a second period for receiving an acknowledgement (ACK) of the signaling.

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