Mechanism using block acknowledgement as initial control response or generic feedback container

Abstract

Mechanisms are provided for using block acknowledgement as an initial control response or a generic feedback container. An apparatus includes an interface circuit; and a processor circuit coupled with the interface circuit, where the processor circuit is configured to: decode an initial control frame received from a station (STA) via the interface circuit; and in response to the initial control frame, encoding an initial control response (ICR) frame for transmission to the STA via the interface circuitry, where the ICR frame includes a block acknowledgement (BA) frame. Other embodiments are also protected and described.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] Embodiments of the present disclosure generally relate to wireless communication, and more particularly to mechanisms using block acknowledgments as initial control responses or using a generic feedback container. Background Art

[0002] Wireless devices are becoming widespread and increasingly demanding access to wireless channels. The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) is developing one or more standards to improve wireless performance. Summary of the Invention

[0003] One aspect of the present disclosure provides an apparatus, including: an interface circuit; and a processor circuit coupled to the interface circuit, wherein the processor circuit is configured to: decode an initial control frame received from a station (STA) via the interface circuit; and in response to the initial control frame, encode an initial control response (ICR) frame for transmission to the STA via the interface circuit, wherein the ICR frame includes a block acknowledgment (BA) frame.

[0004] One aspect of the present disclosure provides an apparatus, including: an interface circuit; and a processor circuit coupled to the interface circuit, wherein the processor circuit is configured to: encode an initial control frame for transmission to a station (STA) via the interface circuit; and decode an initial control response (ICR) frame received from the STA via the interface circuit, the ICR frame being in response to the initial control frame, wherein the ICR frame includes a block acknowledgment (BA) frame. Brief Description of the Drawings

[0005] In the drawings, embodiments of the present disclosure will be illustrated by way of example and not limitation, where like reference numerals refer to like elements.

[0006] Figure 1 is a network diagram showing an example network environment according to one or more example embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0007] Figure 2 shows a flowchart of a method for transmitting an initial control response frame according to some embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0008] Figure 3 shows a flowchart of a method for transmitting an initial control response frame according to some embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0009] Figure 4 shows an example of a portion of a C-BA frame.

[0010] Figure 5Shows an example of reusing a portion of an ICR frame from a C-BA frame according to some embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0011] Figure 6 Shows an example of a portion of a multi-STA BA frame.

[0012] Figure 7 Shows an example of reusing a portion of an ICR frame from a multi-STA BA frame according to some embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0013] Figure 8 Is a block diagram of a radio architecture according to some examples.

[0014] Figure 9 Shows an example front-end module circuit in a radio architecture for Figure 8 according to one or more example embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0015] Figure 10 Shows an example radio IC circuit in a radio architecture for Figure 8 according to one or more example embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0016] Figure 11 Shows an example baseband processing circuit in a radio architecture for Figure 8 according to one or more example embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0017] Figure 12 Shows a functional diagram of an exemplary communication station according to one or more example embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0018] Figure 13 Shows a block diagram of an example machine on which any one of one or more techniques (e.g., methods) can be performed according to one or more example embodiments of the present disclosure. Detailed Description

[0019] Various aspects of the illustrative embodiments will be described using terms commonly employed by those skilled in the art to convey the substance of the present disclosure to others skilled in the art. However, it will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art that many alternative embodiments can be practiced using portions of the described aspects. For purposes of explanation, specific numbers, materials, and configurations are set forth to provide a thorough understanding of the illustrative embodiments. However, it will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art that alternative embodiments can be practiced without these specific details. In other instances, well-known features are omitted or simplified to avoid obscuring the illustrative embodiments.

[0020] In addition, various operations will be described as multiple discrete operations in a manner that is most helpful in understanding the illustrative embodiments; however, the order of description should not be construed as implying that these operations must be order-dependent. In particular, these operations need not be performed in the order presented.

[0021] The phrases "in an embodiment", "in one embodiment", and "in some embodiments" are used repeatedly herein. This phrase generally does not refer to the same embodiment; however, it may refer to the same embodiment. Unless the context dictates otherwise, the terms "comprising", "having", and "including" are synonyms. The phrases "A, B, or C" and "A / B / C" mean "(A), (B), (C), (A and B), (A and C), (B and C), or (A, B, and C)".

[0022] Figure 1 is a network diagram showing an example network environment according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure. The wireless network 100 may include one or more user devices 120 and one or more access points (APs) 102, which may communicate according to the IEEE 802.11 communication standard. The user device 120 may be a non-fixed (e.g., does not have a fixed location) mobile device or may be a fixed device.

[0023] In some embodiments, the user device 120 and the AP 102 may include one or more computer systems, similar to Figure 12 the functional diagrams and / or Figure 13 as shown in the example machine / system of

[0024] One or more illustrative user devices 120 and / or AP 102 may be operated by one or more users 110. It should be noted that any addressable unit may be a station (STA). An STA may have multiple different characteristics, each of which shapes its functionality. For example, a single addressable unit may simultaneously be a portable STA, a quality of service (QoS) STA, a subordinate STA, and a hidden STA. One or more illustrative user devices 120 and AP 102 may be STAs. One or more illustrative user devices 120 and / or AP 102 may operate as a personal basic service set (PBSS) control point / access point (PCP / AP). User devices 120 (e.g., 124, 126, or 128) and / or AP 102 may include any suitable processor-driven device, including but not limited to mobile or non-mobile devices, such as static devices. For example, user devices 120 and / or AP 102 may include user equipment (UE), station (STA), access point (AP), software-enabled AP (SoftAP), personal computer (PC), wearable wireless devices (such as bracelets, watches, glasses, rings, etc.), desktop computers, mobile computers, laptop computers, ultrabooks TMComputers, notebook computers, tablet computers, server computers, handheld computers, handheld devices, Internet of Things (IoT) devices, sensor devices, PDA devices, handheld PDA devices, in-vehicle devices, non-vehicle devices, hybrid devices (e.g., combining cellular phone functionality with PDA device functionality), consumer devices, in-vehicle devices, non-vehicle devices, mobile or portable devices, non-mobile or non-portable devices, mobile phones, cellular phones, PCS devices, PDA devices incorporating wireless communication devices, mobile or portable GPS devices, DVB devices, relatively small computing devices, non-desktop computers, "Carry Light, Live Life" (CSLL) devices, ultra-mobile devices (UMDs), ultra-mobile PCs (UMPCs), mobile Internet devices (MIDs), "Origami" devices or computing devices, devices supporting dynamic combinatorial computing (DCC), context-aware devices, video devices, audio devices, A / V devices, set-top boxes (STBs), Blu-ray Disc (BD) players, BD recorders, Digital Video Disc (DVD) players, High-Definition (HD) DVD players, DVD recorders, HDDVD recorders, personal video recorders (PVRs), broadcast HD receivers, video sources, audio sources, video receivers, audio receivers, stereo tuners, broadcast radio receivers, flat panel displays, personal media players (PMPs), digital video cameras (DVCs), digital audio players, speakers, audio receivers, audio amplifiers, gaming devices, data sources, data receivers, digital still cameras (DSCs), media players, smartphones, televisions, music players, etc. Other devices, including smart devices such as lamps, climate control, automotive components, household components, appliances, etc., may also be included in this list.

[0025] As used herein, the term "Internet of Things (IoT) device" is used to refer to any object (e.g., appliance, sensor, etc.) that has an addressable interface (e.g., Internet Protocol (IP) address, Bluetooth identifier (ID), Near Field Communication (NFC) ID, etc.) and can transmit information to one or more other devices via a wired or wireless connection. The IoT device may have a passive communication interface, such as a Quick Response (QR) code, Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tag, NFC tag, etc., or an active communication interface, such as a modem, transceiver, transmitter-receiver, etc. The IoT device may have a set of specific attributes (e.g., device status, such as whether the IoT device is on or off, open or closed, idle or active, available for task execution or busy, etc., cooling or heating function, environmental monitoring or recording function, lighting function, sound generation function, etc.), which may be embedded in and / or controlled / monitored by a central processing unit (CPU), microprocessor, ASIC, etc., and is configured to connect to an IoT network, such as a local ad-hoc network or the Internet. For example, the IoT device may include, but is not limited to, a refrigerator, toaster, oven, microwave oven, freezer, dishwasher, tableware, hand tool, washing machine, dryer, stove, air conditioner, thermostat, television, lamp, vacuum cleaner, sprinkler, electricity meter, gas meter, etc., as long as these devices are equipped with an addressable communication interface for communicating with the IoT network. The IoT device may also include a mobile phone, desktop computer, laptop computer, tablet computer, personal digital assistant (PDA), etc. Thus, the IoT network may include a combination of "traditional" Internet-accessible devices (e.g., laptop or desktop computer, mobile phone, etc.) and devices that typically do not have Internet connectivity capabilities (e.g., dishwasher, etc.).

[0026] According to one or more IEEE 802.11 standards and / or 3GPP standards, the user equipment 120 and / or the AP 102 may also include, for example, a mesh station in a mesh network.

[0027] Any one of user equipment 120 (e.g., user equipment 124, 126, 128) and AP 102 may be configured to communicate with each other wirelessly or wired via one or more communication networks 130 and / or 135. User equipment 120 may also communicate peer-to-peer or directly with each other with or without AP 102. Any one of communication networks 130 and / or 135 may include, but is not limited to, a combination of any one of different types of suitable communication networks, such as broadcast networks, wired networks, public networks (e.g., the Internet), private networks, wireless networks, cellular networks, or any other suitable private and / or public networks. In addition, any communication network 130 and / or 135 may have any suitable communication range associated therewith, and may include, for example, a global network (e.g., the Internet), a metropolitan area network (MAN), a wide area network (WAN), a local area network (LAN), or a personal area network (PAN). In addition, any communication network 130 and / or 135 may include any type of medium that may carry network traffic, including but not limited to coaxial cables, twisted pair wires, optical fibers, hybrid fiber coaxial (HFC) media, microwave terrestrial transceivers, radio frequency communication media, white space communication media, ultra-high frequency communication media, satellite communication media, or any combination thereof.

[0028] Any one of user equipment 120 (e.g., user equipment 124, 126, 128) and AP 102 may include one or more communication antennas. The one or more communication antennas may be any suitable type of antenna corresponding to the communication protocol used by user equipment 120 (e.g., user equipment 124, 126, and 128) and AP 102. Some non-limiting examples of suitable communication antennas include Wi-Fi antennas, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 series standard compatible antennas, directional antennas, non-directional antennas, dipole antennas, folded dipole antennas, patch antennas, multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) antennas, omnidirectional antennas, quasi-omnidirectional antennas, etc. The one or more communication antennas may be communicatively coupled to radio components to transmit and / or receive signals, such as communication signals, to and / or from user equipment 120 and / or AP 102.

[0029] Any one of user equipment 120 (e.g., user equipment 124, 126, 128) and AP 102 may be configured to perform directional transmission and / or directional reception in combination with wireless communication in a wireless network. Any one of user equipment 120 (e.g., user equipment 124, 126, 128) and AP 102 may be configured to perform such directional transmission and / or reception using a set of multi-antenna arrays (e.g., DMG antenna arrays, etc.). Each of the multiple antenna arrays may be used for transmission and / or reception in a specific corresponding direction or range of directions. Any one of user equipment 120 (e.g., user equipment 124, 126, 128) and AP 102 may be configured to perform any given directional transmission to one or more defined transmission sectors. Any one of user equipment 120 (e.g., user equipment 124, 126, 128) and AP 102 may be configured to perform any given directional reception from one or more defined reception sectors.

[0030] MIMO beamforming in a wireless network may be implemented using RF beamforming and / or digital beamforming. In some embodiments, in performing a given MIMO transmission, user equipment 120 and / or AP 102 may be configured to perform MIMO beamforming using all or a subset of one or more of its communication antennas.

[0031] Any one of user equipment 120 (e.g., user equipment 124, 126, 128) and AP 102 may include any suitable radio device and / or transceiver for transmitting and / or receiving radio frequency (RF) signals in a bandwidth and / or channel corresponding to a communication protocol used by any one of user equipment 120 and AP 102 for mutual communication. The radio components may include hardware and / or software to modulate and / or demodulate communication signals according to a pre-established transmission protocol. The radio components may also have hardware and / or software instructions to communicate via one or more Wi-Fi and / or Wi-Fi Direct protocols, as standardized by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 standards. In some example embodiments, the radio components cooperating with the communication antenna may be configured to communicate via a 2.4 GHz channel (e.g., 802.11b, 802.11g, 802.11n, 802.11ax), a 5 GHz channel (e.g., 802.11n, 802.11ac, 802.11ax), or a 60 GHz channel (e.g., 802.11ad, 802.11ay), an 800 MHz channel (e.g., 802.11ah). The communication antenna may operate at 28 GHz and 40 GHz. It should be understood that the list of communication channels according to certain 802.11 standards is only a partial list, and other 802.11 standards (e.g., next-generation Wi-Fi or other standards) may be used. In some embodiments, non-Wi-Fi protocols may be used for communication between devices, such as Bluetooth, dedicated short-range communication (DSRC), ultra-high frequency (UHF) (e.g., IEEE 802.11af, IEEE 802.22), white space frequency (e.g., white space), or other packet radio communications. The radio components may include any known receivers and basebands suitable for communicating via a communication protocol. The radio components may also include a low-noise amplifier (LNA), additional signal amplifiers, an analog-to-digital (A / D) converter, one or more buffers, and a digital baseband.

[0032] In one embodiment, with reference to Figure 1, the user equipment 120 can communicate with one or more APs 102. For example, one or more APs 102 can implement an enhanced initial control response frame 142 with one or more user equipments 120. Each of the one or more APs 102 can include multiple individual APs (e.g., AP1, AP2, … APn, where n is an integer), and each of the one or more user equipments 120 can include multiple individual STAs (e.g., STA1, STA2, …, STAn). One or more (APs) and one or more (STAs) can establish one or more links (e.g., link 1, link 2, …, link n) between each individual AP and STA. It should be understood that the above description is for illustrative purposes and is not meant to be restrictive.

[0033] Wi-Fi 8 (IEEE 802.11bn or Ultra-High Reliability (UHR)) is the successor standard to the next-generation Wi-Fi and IEEE 802.11be (Wi-Fi 7) standards. Like all previous Wi-Fi standards, Wi-Fi 8 will strive to comprehensively improve wireless performance while introducing new innovative features to further drive the development of Wi-Fi technology.

[0034] In UHR / 11bn, it is recommended to add a lot of feedback information in the initial control frame (the first frame in the transmit opportunity (TxOP), such as the request to send (RTS)), the initial response frame (the response to the initial control frame, such as the clear to send (CTS)), and the control response frame (such as the block acknowledgment (BA)). These feedbacks can be related to, for example, link adaptation, availability / unavailability, coexistence, peer-to-peer (P2P) operation, power saving, buffer status, TxOP, physical layer protocol data unit (PPDU) parameters (such as bandwidth (BW), number of spatial streams (NSS), etc.), and other aspects, which are not limited in this disclosure.

[0035] Figure 2 A flowchart of a method 200 for transmitting an initial control response frame according to some embodiments of the present disclosure is shown. The method 200 can be executed by any STA, such as an AP STA, a non-AP STA, etc., which is not limited in this disclosure.

[0036] As Figure 2 shown, the method 200 can include operations 210 and 220. In operation 210, an initial control frame received from another STA (such as an AP STA, a non-AP STA, etc.) is decoded. In operation 220, in response to the initial control frame, an initial control response (ICR) frame is encoded for transmission to the other STA. The ICR frame includes a BA frame.

[0037] Figure 2 Method 200 is provided from the perspective of the sender for ICR frames. In contrast, Figure 3 FIG. 3 shows a flowchart of a method 300 for transmitting an initial control response frame according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. The method 300 is described from the perspective of the receiver for ICR frames. The method 300 can also be performed by any STA, such as, for example, an AP STA, a non-AP STA, etc., and the present disclosure is not limited in this regard.

[0038] As Figure 3 shown, the method 300 may include operations 310 and 320. In operation 310, an initial control frame is encoded for transmission to another STA (e.g., an AP STA, a non-AP STA, etc.). In operation 320, an ICR frame received from the other STA in response to the initial control frame is decoded. The ICR frame includes a BA frame.

[0039] As described above, the ICR frame can be implemented with a BA frame, such as, for example, a conventional BA (conventional BA) frame, a compressed BA (compressed BA, C-BA) frame, a multi-STA BA (Multi-STA BA) frame, a newly defined BA frame, and so on.

[0040] In some embodiments, the BA frame includes a field that is used to indicate that the purpose of the BA frame is for carrying feedback.

[0041] In some embodiments, the BA frame includes a field that is used to indicate the presence status of a feedback type. For example, a column of sub-fields of the BA frame can indicate the presence status of the corresponding feedback type.

[0042] In some embodiments, the BA frame includes a field that is used to carry feedback information for a feedback type. For example, a column of sub-fields of the BA frame can carry feedback information for the corresponding feedback type.

[0043] In some embodiments, the feedback type may include, but is not limited to: link adaptation feedback, availability / unavailability related feedback, coexistence feedback, P2P operation related feedback, power saving related feedback, buffer status feedback, TxOP related feedback, or PPDU parameter feedback.

[0044] In some embodiments, the BA frame includes a padding field, for example, for considering the processing delay of the receiver. For example, the padding field can be located at the end of the frame. However, the padding field can be located at any position, and the present disclosure is not limited in this regard.

[0045] In some embodiments, the BA frame includes a frame check sequence (FCS) field, for example, to allow the receiver to stop receiving.

[0046] In some embodiments, the initial control frame can be implemented with a trigger frame because the trigger frame is very flexible.

[0047] Some embodiments will be provided below to describe how to reuse the C-BA frame as an ICR frame.

[0048] Figure 4 An example of a part of the C-BA frame is shown. As shown, the C-BA frame includes a BA Control field 410, a Block Ack Starting Sequence Control field 420, a BlockAck Bitmap field 430, and some optional other fields (not shown).

[0049] In some embodiments, the C-BA frame can be reused as an ICR frame by modifying it, such as modifying it to not carry the reception status of the MAC service data unit (MSDU), carry feedback information, or include padding at the end.

[0050] In some embodiments, it is desirable to include a field that indicates that the purpose of the C-BA frame is to carry feedback information rather than the reception status of the MSDU. In one embodiment, a 1-bit reserved field in the BA Control field 410 in the C-BA frame can be used to indicate that the purpose of the C-BA frame is to carry feedback. This field can be used for the initial control response. For example, when this field is set to 1, it indicates that the C-BA frame is an ICR frame and carries feedback information; when this field is set to 0, it indicates otherwise; and vice versa.

[0051] In some embodiments, when the C-BA frame is reused as an ICR frame, its TID_INFO field is retained.

[0052] Figure 5 An example of a part of the ICR frame by reusing the C-BA frame according to some embodiments of the present disclosure is shown. In some embodiments, as Figure 5 shown, the Block Ack Starting Sequence Control field 420 of the C-BA frame can be 2 octets and can be renamed as the ICR Control field 520.

[0053] In some embodiments, the ICR control field 520 may include two sub-fields. One sub-field (e.g., a 4-bit sub-field) may be referred to as the ICR size field and is used to indicate the size of the block acknowledgment bitmap field (which may be renamed as the ICR Feedback field). The encoding definition of the ICR size field may be the same as that of the C-BA frame for ease of implementation. Another sub-field of the C-BA, called the Starting Sequence Number field (e.g., a 16-bit sub-field), may be renamed as the ICR Feedback Types Present field. The ICR Feedback Types Present field may include a series of presence sub-fields (e.g., a series of 1-bit sub-fields), each corresponding to a respective feedback type. For example, if a feedback type is present in the frame, the corresponding 1-bit sub-field may be set to 1; and vice versa.

[0054] Alternatively, in some embodiments, the 2-octet field renamed as the ICR control field 520 may be completely redesigned. For example, the size of the ICR frame may be fixed, such as always being 32 octets, and the ICR control field 520 may only include a series of ICR Feedback Types Present fields, each corresponding to a respective feedback type.

[0055] In some embodiments, as Figure 5 shown, the block acknowledgment bitmap field 430 of the C-BA frame may be renamed as the ICR feedback field 530. In some embodiments, the ICR feedback field 530 may include a series of feedback sub-fields, each for a feedback type. In some embodiments, a feedback sub-field corresponding to a respective feedback type will only appear in the ICR feedback field 530 when the presence sub-field in the ICR Feedback Types Present field indicates that the corresponding feedback type is present in the frame. In some embodiments, various feedback sub-fields are present in the ICR feedback field 530 regardless of whether their corresponding presence sub-fields indicate that the corresponding feedback type is present in the frame.

[0056] As described above, the feedback types may include, but are not limited to, link adaptation feedback, availability duration, unavailability period, P2P operations (e.g., P2P requests), power saving, TxOP, buffer status, PPDU parameters, etc. For example, the feedback field for link adaptation may be a recommended MCS field or the power margin of the recommended MCS field. For example, the feedback field for availability duration may be an Availability Duration field, which indicates the remaining time before the STA becomes unavailable. For example, the feedback field for unavailability period may be an UnavailabilityPeriod Start Time field or an Unavailability Duration field.

[0057] In some embodiments, the ICR frame may indicate a single feedback. In some embodiments, the ICR frame may indicate multiple feedbacks simultaneously. The present disclosure is not limited in this regard.

[0058] In some embodiments, as Figure 5 shown, the ICR frame may include a Padding field 540 at the end of the frame. In some embodiments, the padding field always exists.

[0059] Some embodiments will be provided below to describe how to reuse the multi-STA BA frame as an ICR frame.

[0060] Figure 6 An example of a part of the multi-STA BA frame is shown. As shown, the multi-STA BA frame includes a Per AID TID Info field 610 and some optional other fields (not shown). The Per AID TID Info field 610 includes an AID TID Info field 620, a Block Ack Starting Sequence Control field 630, and a BlockAck Bitmap field 640. The AID TID Info field 620 may include an AID11 subfield, an acknowledgment type subfield, and a TID subfield (not shown).

[0061] In some embodiments, the multi-STA BA frame can be reused as an ICR frame by modifying it. For example, if the frame is currently used to provide the reception status of MSDUs for multiple STAs, carry the reception status of MSDUs in the current manner, or if the frame is only used to provide feedback, do not carry the reception status of these MSDUs, but carry feedback information, include an additional FCS field before padding, or include padding at the end.

[0062] In some embodiments, a Feedback Special AID value may be defined and included in the AID11 field of the AID TID information field to indicate that each AID TID information field is for feedback, such as indicating the purpose of a frame, carrying feedback information, etc. For example, the Feedback Special AID value may be the value 2044.

[0063] In some embodiments, all feedback information may be carried in a single per-AID TID information field. In some embodiments, if the size of a single per-AID TID information field is not sufficient to carry all feedback information, multiple per-AID TID information fields with the Feedback Special AID value are allowed to be used one after another. Different feedback type fields are allowed to be used, or they may form a longer feedback field among multiple per-AID TID information fields (optimized to reduce some overhead).

[0064] In some embodiments, the acknowledgment type field and the TID field in the AID TID information field 620 may be reused to obtain the size of the block acknowledgment bitmap field 640 (renamed as the ICR feedback field as described above).

[0065] In some embodiments, the block acknowledgment start sequence control field 630 may be modified to be the ICR feedback type presence field as described above. In some embodiments, the block acknowledgment bitmap field 640 may be modified to be the ICR feedback field as described above and include a series of feedback type sub-fields for the corresponding feedback types.

[0066] The ICR feedback type presence field and the ICR feedback field in the ICR frame obtained by reusing the multi-STA BA frame may be designed in the same or similar manner as the ICR feedback type presence field and the ICR feedback field in the ICR frame obtained by reusing the C-BA frame, which will not be elaborated here.

[0067] Figure 7Shows an example of an ICR frame by reusing a part of a multi-STA BA frame according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. As shown, the ICR frame includes an enhanced Per AID TID Info field 710 and some optional other fields (not shown). The enhanced Per AID TID Info field 710 includes an enhanced AID TID Info field 720 (e.g., including the above-mentioned feedback-specific AID value), an ICR Feedback Type Present field 730, and an ICR Feedback field 740.

[0068] In some embodiments, the ICR feedback field (e.g., ICR feedback field 740) may also include an FCS field at the end. If there are multiple consecutive Per AID TID info fields for feedback, only the last field includes the FCS field. For example, this will allow the receiver to stop receiving and be able to perform PHY reconfiguration using the padding time. If the STA still wants to receive the frame, the PHY parameters that affect the rest of the received PPDU cannot be changed. Basically, for example, the operating BW of the STA cannot be changed.

[0069] In some embodiments, the feedback can be defined based on each STA. For example, the AID11 field can be set to the AID of a specific STA. In this case, to indicate that the Per AID TID info field is for feedback rather than the reception status of the MSDU, the TID field can be used and set to one of the reserved values (e.g., 13).

[0070] In some embodiments, the size of the Per AID TID info field can be fixed in the specification, or different reserved TID values can be used to indicate that it is for feedback, and different values indicate different possible sizes (e.g., TID13 indicates a 32-byte size, TID12 indicates a 16-byte size, TID11 indicates an 8-byte size, TID10 indicates a 4-byte size, etc.). Alternatively, in some embodiments, the size can be carried in a field in the BA start sequence control field, which can be reused as two fields: one called the BA bitmap size field (e.g., 4 bits); the other called the feedback type present field (e.g., 12 bits), which is the same as the embodiment of reusing the ICR frame of the C-BA frame described above.

[0071] In some embodiments, a Padding Special AID11 value (e.g., 2043) can be used to define the Padding Per AID TID Info field that serves as padding. In some embodiments, the size can be fixed in the specification, such as 4, 8, 16, or 32 (all fields are reserved and set to 0 or set to random values). In some embodiments, fields can be reserved to indicate the size of the Padding Per AID TID Info field, and the remaining fields are all reserved.

[0072] Some embodiments will be provided below to describe a new variant of the BA frame as an ICR frame. For example, this variant of the BA frame can be named the General Feedback Frame.

[0073] In some embodiments, reserved values in the Block Acknowledgment Type subfield can be used to indicate that the frame belongs to this type.

[0074] In some embodiments, the BA information field of the frame can include a variable number of General Feedback fields, an FCS field, a Padding field, and optionally some other fields.

[0075] In some embodiments, each General Feedback field can include a Control field and a Content field.

[0076] In some embodiments, the Control field can be responsible for indicating whether the General Feedback field is for a single STA (if the Receiver Address (RA) is set to broadcast) or for any receiver (for each receiver if RA is set to broadcast; or for the target receiver if RA is set to the address of the STA), which can be done through the AID field. Alternatively or additionally, in some embodiments, the Control field can be responsible for indicating whether the General Feedback field includes the reception status of the MSDU or includes feedback, which can be done through a field (e.g., a 1-bit field).

[0077] In some embodiments, if the Control field indicates that the content is for the reception status of the MSDU, the Control field can also include fields to indicate the TID, acknowledgment type, Block Acknowledgment Start Sequence Control, and the size of the Block Acknowledgment Bitmap field, and the Content field can be the Block Acknowledgment Bitmap field.

[0078] In some embodiments, if the Control field indicates that the content is for feedback, the Control field can include the Feedback Type Presence field as described above, the Control field can include a Content Size field (or the size is derived from the Feedback Type Presence field), and the Content field can include all feedback fields of the respective feedback type.

[0079] Considering the general design of future enhancements, the content field may include the sum of feedback fields. Each feedback field may include a feedback header indicating the feedback type, a feedback size field indicating the size of the feedback field, and the remaining fields for each feedback type. In this way, new feedback can be defined, and STAs that do not know the feedback type can still parse the frame.

[0080] In some embodiments, the padding field may include padding. In some embodiments, the padding field may be a single field having a certain size (eg, via notification) or may be a sum of padding fields of a fixed size.

[0081] The solutions and principles provided in the above embodiments of the present disclosure are not limited to ICR frames, but may also be applicable to other frames, which is not limited in the present disclosure. For example, in some embodiments, the control response frame may be implemented with a multi-STA BA frame. In some embodiments, the control response frame may be implemented with a C-BA frame. In some embodiments, the control response frame may be implemented with the above-mentioned new universal feedback frame.

[0082] By using the solutions and principles provided in the embodiments of the present disclosure, the ICR frame or other frames can be implemented by reusing the C-BA frame or the multi-STA BA frame or using a new universal feedback container, so that more feedback information can be carried.

[0083] Figure 8 It is based on Figure 1 105A, 105B is a block diagram of some embodiments of the radio architecture 105A, 105B implemented in any one of the example AP 102 and / or the example STA 120. The radio architecture 105A, 105B may include radio front end module (FEM) circuits 804a-b, radio IC circuits 806a-b, and baseband processing circuits 808a-b. The radio architecture 105A, 105B shown includes wireless local area network (WLAN) functionality and Bluetooth (BT) functionality, but the embodiments are not limited thereto. In the present disclosure, "WLAN" and "Wi-Fi" may be used interchangeably.

[0084] The FEM circuits 804a-b may include a WLAN or Wi-Fi FEM circuit 804a and a Bluetooth (BT) FEM circuit 804b. The WLAN FEM circuit 804a may include a receive signal path that includes circuitry configured to operate on WLAN RF signals received from one or more antennas 801, amplify the received signals, and provide an amplified version of the received signals to the WLAN radio IC circuit 806a for further processing. The BT FEM circuit 804b may include a receive signal path that may include circuitry configured to operate on BT RF signals received from one or more antennas 801, amplify the received signals, and provide an amplified version of the received signals to the BT radio IC circuit 806b for further processing. The FEM circuit 804a may further include a transmit signal path that may include circuitry configured to amplify the WLAN signals provided by the radio IC circuit 806a for wireless transmission by one or more of the antennas 801. Additionally, the FEM circuit 804b may further include a transmit signal path that may include circuitry configured to amplify the BT signals provided by the radio IC circuit 806b for wireless transmission by one or more antennas. In Figure 1 an embodiment of 1, although the FEMs 804a and 804b are shown as being different from each other, the embodiment is not limited thereto and includes within its scope the use of an FEM (not shown) that includes transmit paths and / or receive paths for both WLAN and BT signals, or the use of one or more FEM circuits where at least some of the FEM circuits share transmit and / or receive signal paths for both WLAN and BT signals.

[0085] The radio IC circuits 806a-b shown may include a WLAN radio IC circuit 806a and a BT radio IC circuit 806b. The WLAN radio IC circuit 806a may include a receive signal path that may include circuitry for down-converting a WLAN RF signal received from the FEM circuit 804a and providing a baseband signal to the WLAN baseband processing circuit 808a. The BT radio IC circuit 806b, in turn, may include a receive signal path that may include circuitry for down-converting a BT RF signal received from the FEM circuit 804b and providing a baseband signal to the BT baseband processing circuit 808b. The WLAN radio IC circuit 806a may further include a transmit signal path that may include circuitry for up-converting a WLAN baseband signal provided by the WLAN baseband processing circuit 808a and providing a WLAN RF output signal to the FEM circuit 804a for subsequent wireless transmission by one or more antennas 801. The BT radio IC circuit 806b may further include a transmit signal path that may include circuitry for up-converting a BT baseband signal provided by the BT baseband processing circuit 808b and providing a BT RF output signal to the FEM circuit 804b for subsequent wireless transmission by one or more antennas 801. In Figure 8 the example, although the radio IC circuits 806a and 806b are shown as being different from each other, embodiments are not limited thereto and include within their scope a radio IC circuit (not shown) that includes transmit signal paths and / or receive signal paths for both WLAN and BT signals, or that includes the use of one or more radio IC circuits where at least some of the radio IC circuits share transmit and / or receive signal paths for both WLAN and BT signals.

[0086] The baseband processing circuits 808a - b may include a WLAN baseband processing circuit 808a and a BT baseband processing circuit 808b. The WLAN baseband processing circuit 808a may include a memory, such as a set of RAM arrays in the fast Fourier transform or inverse fast Fourier transform block (not shown) of the WLAN baseband processing circuit 808a. Each of the WLAN baseband circuit 808a and the BT baseband circuit 808b may further include one or more processors and control logic. Each of the WLAN baseband circuit 808a and the BT baseband circuit 808b may further include interface circuitry to couple to the corresponding one or more processors or control logic. The one or more processors and control logic may process signals received via the interface circuitry from the corresponding WLAN or BT receive signal paths of the radio IC circuits 806a - b, and also generate corresponding WLAN or BT baseband signals for the transmit signal paths of the radio IC circuits 806a - b. Each of the baseband processing circuits 808a and 808b may further include a physical layer (PHY) and a media access control layer (MAC) circuit, and may further interface with a device for the generation and processing of baseband signals and for controlling the operation of the radio IC circuits 806a - b.

[0087] Still referring to Figure 8 ,According to the illustrated embodiment, the WLAN - BT coexistence circuit 813 may include logic that provides an interface between the WLAN baseband circuit 808a and the BT baseband circuit 808b to enable use cases that require WLAN and BT coexistence. Additionally, a switch 803 may be provided between the WLAN FEM circuit 804a and the BT FEM circuit 804b to allow switching between the WLAN and BT radios as needed by the application. Additionally, although the antenna 801 is depicted as being connected to the WLAN FEM circuit 804a and the BT FEM circuit 804b respectively, embodiments within its scope include sharing one or more antennas between the WLAN and BT FEMs, or providing more than one antenna connected to each FEM 804a or 804b.

[0088] In some embodiments, the front - end module circuits 804a - b, the radio IC circuits 806a - b, and the baseband processing circuits 808a - b may be disposed on a single radio card, such as the radio card 802. In other embodiments, one or more antennas 801, the FEM circuits 804a - b, and the radio IC circuits 806a - b may be disposed on a single radio card. In some other embodiments, the radio IC circuits 806a - b and the baseband processing circuits 808a - b may be disposed on a single chip or integrated circuit (IC), such as the IC 812.

[0089] In some embodiments, the radio card 802 may include a WLAN radio card and may be configured for Wi-Fi communication, but the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this regard. In some of these embodiments, the radio architectures 105A, 105B may be configured to receive and transmit orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) or orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) communication signals on a multi-carrier communication channel. The OFDM or OFDMA signals may include a plurality of orthogonal sub-carriers.

[0090] In some of these multi-carrier embodiments, the radio architectures 105A, 105B may be part of a Wi-Fi communication station (STA), such as a wireless access point (AP), a base station, or a mobile device including a Wi-Fi device. In some of these embodiments, the radio architectures 105A, 105B may be configured to send and receive signals according to specific communication standards and / or protocols, such as any Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) standards, including 802.11n-2009, IEEE 802.11-2012, IEEE 802.11-2016, 802.11n-2009, 802.11ac, 802.11ah, 802.11ad, 802.11ay, and / or 802.11ax standards and / or the 802.11ax standard and / or proposed WLAN specifications, but the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this regard. The radio architectures 105A, 105B may also be suitable for sending and / or receiving communications according to other technologies and standards.

[0091] In some embodiments, the radio architectures 105A, 105B may be configured for High-Efficiency Wi-Fi (HEW) communication according to the IEEE 802.11ax standard. In these embodiments, the radio architectures 105A, 105B may be configured to communicate according to OFDMA technology, but the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this regard.

[0092] In some other embodiments, the radio architectures 105A, 105B may be configured to send and receive signals transmitted using one or more other modulation techniques such as spread spectrum modulation (e.g., direct sequence code division multiple access (DS-CDMA) and / or frequency hopping code division multiple access (FH-CDMA)), time division multiplexing (TDM) modulation, and / or frequency division multiplexing (FDM) modulation, but the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this regard.

[0093] In some embodiments, as Figure 8 further shown, the BT baseband circuit 808b may comply with Bluetooth (BT) connection standards, such as Bluetooth, Bluetooth 8.0, or Bluetooth 6.0, or any other iteration of the Bluetooth standard.

[0094] In some embodiments, radio architectures 105A, 105B may include other radio cards, such as a cellular radio card configured for cellular (e.g., 5GPP such as LTE, LTE-Advanced, or 7G communication).

[0095] In some IEEE 802.11 embodiments, radio architectures 105A, 105B may be configured to communicate on various channel bandwidths, including bandwidths having center frequencies of approximately 900 MHz, 2.4 GHz, 5 GHz, and approximately 2 MHz, 4 MHz, 5 MHz, 5.5 MHz, 6 MHz, 8 MHz, 10 MHz, 20 MHz, 40 MHz, 80 MHz (with continuous bandwidth) or 80 + 80 MHz (160 MHz) (with discontinuous bandwidth). In some embodiments, a channel bandwidth of 920 MHz may be used. However, the scope of the embodiments is not limited to the above center frequencies.

[0096] Figure 9 A WLAN FEM circuit 804a according to some embodiments is shown. Although Figure 9 the examples are described in connection with the WLAN FEM circuit 804a, they may be described in connection with an example BT FEM circuit 804b ( Figure 8 ), although other circuit configurations may also be suitable. Figure 9 the examples, although other circuit configurations may also be suitable.

[0097] In some embodiments, the FEM circuit 804a may include a TX / RX switch 902 to switch between transmit mode and receive mode operations. The FEM circuit 804a may include a receive signal path and a transmit signal path. The receive signal path of the FEM circuit 804a may include a low noise amplifier (LNA) 906 to amplify the received RF signal 903 and provide an amplified received RF signal 907 as an output (e.g., provided to radio IC circuits 806a-b ( Figure 8 )). The transmit signal path of the circuit 804a may include a power amplifier (PA) to amplify an input RF signal 909 (e.g., provided by radio IC circuits 806a-b), and one or more filters 912, such as a bandpass filter (BPF), a low-pass filter (LPF), or other types of filters, to generate an RF signal 915 for subsequent transmission via an example duplexer 914 (e.g., via one or more antennas 801 ( Figure 8 )).

[0098] In some dual-mode embodiments for Wi-Fi communication, the FEM circuit 804a can be configured to operate in the 2.4 GHz spectrum or the 5 GHz spectrum. In these embodiments, the receive signal path of the FEM circuit 804a can include a receive signal path duplexer 904 to separate signals from each spectrum and provide a separate LNA 906 for each spectrum, as shown. In these embodiments, the transmit signal path of the FEM circuit 804a can also include a power amplifier 910 and a filter 912, such as a BPF, LPF, or other type of filter for each spectrum, and a transmit signal path duplexer 904 to provide the signal of one of the different spectrums onto a single transmit path for subsequent transmission by one or more antennas 801( Figure 8 ). In some embodiments, BT communication can utilize the 2.4 GHz signal path and can utilize the same FEM circuit 804a as used for WLAN communication.

[0099] Figure 10 A radio IC circuit 806a is shown in accordance with some embodiments. The radio IC circuit 806a is an example of a circuit that can be suitable for use as a WLAN or BT radio IC circuit 806a / 806b( Figure 8 ), but other circuit configurations may also be suitable. Alternatively, Figure 10 examples of

[0100] can be described in conjunction with an example BT radio IC circuit 806b. Figure 10Only a simplified version of the radio IC circuit is shown, and embodiments where each depicted circuit may include more than one component may be included (although not shown). For example, mixer circuit 1014 may include one or more mixers respectively, and filter circuits 1008 and / or 1012 may include one or more filters respectively, such as one or more BPFs and / or LPFs as required by the application. For example, when the mixer circuits are of the direct conversion type, they may each include two or more mixers.

[0101] In some embodiments, mixer circuit 1002 may be configured to down-convert the RF signal 907 received from the FEM circuits 804a-b ( Figure 8 ) based on the synthesized frequency 1005 provided by the synthesizer circuit 1004. The amplifier circuit 1006 may be configured to amplify the down-converted signal and the filter circuit 1008 may include an LPF configured to remove unwanted signals from the down-converted signal to generate the output baseband signal 1007. The output baseband signal 1007 may be provided to the baseband processing circuits 808a-b ( Figure 8 ) for further processing. In some embodiments, the output baseband signal 1007 may be a zero-frequency baseband signal, but this is not required. In some embodiments, mixer circuit 1002 may include a passive mixer, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this regard.

[0102] In some embodiments, mixer circuit 1014 may be configured to up-convert the input baseband signal 1011 based on the synthesized frequency 1005 provided by the synthesizer circuit 1004 to generate an RF output signal 909 for the FEM circuits 804a-b. The baseband signal 1011 may be provided by the baseband processing circuits 808a-b and may be filtered by the filter circuit 1012. The filter circuit 1012 may include an LPF or a BPF, but the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this regard.

[0103] In some embodiments, mixer circuit 1002 and mixer circuit 1014 may each include two or more mixers and may be arranged for quadrature down-conversion and / or up-conversion respectively with the help of the synthesizer 1004. In some embodiments, mixer circuit 1002 and mixer circuit 1014 may each include two or more mixers, each mixer being configured for image rejection (e.g., Hartley image rejection). In some embodiments, mixer circuit 1002 and mixer circuit 1014 may be arranged for direct down-conversion and / or direct up-conversion respectively. In some embodiments, mixer circuit 1002 and mixer circuit 1014 may be configured for superheterodyne operation, but this is not required.

[0104] According to one embodiment, mixer circuit 1002 may include: a quadrature passive mixer (e.g., for in-phase (I) and quadrature-phase (Q) paths). In such an embodiment, the RF input signal 907 from Figure 10 may be down-converted to provide I and Q baseband output signals to be sent to a baseband processor.

[0105] The quadrature passive mixer may be driven by zero-degree and ninety-degree time-varying LO switching signals provided by a quadrature circuit, which may be configured to receive an LO frequency (fLO) from a local oscillator or synthesizer, e.g., the LO frequency 1005 of synthesizer 1004 ( Figure 10 ). In some embodiments, the LO frequency may be a carrier frequency, while in other embodiments, the LO frequency may be a fraction of the carrier frequency (e.g., one-half of the carrier frequency, one-third of the carrier frequency). In some embodiments, the zero-degree and ninety-degree time-varying switching signals may be generated by a synthesizer, but the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this regard.

[0106] In some embodiments, the LO signal may differ in terms of duty cycle (the percentage of the LO signal that is high in one cycle) and / or offset (the difference between the starting points of the cycles). In some embodiments, the LO signal may have a duty cycle of 85% and an offset of 80%. In some embodiments, each branch of the mixer circuit (e.g., the in-phase (I) and quadrature-phase (Q) paths) may operate at a duty cycle of 80%, which may result in a significant reduction in power consumption.

[0107] The RF input signal 907 ( Figure 9 ) may include a balanced signal, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this regard. The I and Q baseband output signals may be provided to a low-noise amplifier, e.g., amplifier circuit 1006 ( Figure 10 ) or filter circuit 1008 ( Figure 10 ).

[0108] In some embodiments, the output baseband signal 1007 and the input baseband signal 1011 may be analog baseband signals, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this regard. In some alternative embodiments, the output baseband signal 1007 and the input baseband signal 1011 may be digital baseband signals. In these alternative embodiments, the radio IC circuit may include an analog-to-digital converter (ADC) and a digital-to-analog converter (DAC) circuit.

[0109] In some dual-mode embodiments, a separate radio IC circuit may be provided to process signals of each spectrum, or signals of other spectrums not mentioned here, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this regard.

[0110] In some embodiments, synthesizer circuit 1004 may be a fractional-N synthesizer or a fractional-N / N+1 synthesizer, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this regard as other types of frequency synthesizers may be suitable. For example, synthesizer circuit 1004 may be a delta-sigma synthesizer, a frequency multiplier, or a synthesizer including a phase-locked loop with a frequency divider. According to some embodiments, synthesizer circuit 1004 may include a digital synthesizer circuit. One advantage of using a digital synthesizer circuit is that, although it may still include some analog components, its footprint may be much smaller than that of an analog synthesizer circuit. In some embodiments, the frequency input to synthesizer circuit 1004 may be provided by a voltage-controlled oscillator (VCO), although this is not required. Depending on the desired output frequency 1005, the frequency divider control input may further be provided by baseband processing circuits 808a-b( Figure 8 ). In some embodiments, the frequency divider control input (e.g., N) may be determined based on the channel number and channel center frequency determined or indicated by example application processor 810, according to a look-up table (e.g., within a Wi-Fi card). Application processor 810 may include or otherwise be connected to one of example security signal converter 101 or example receive signal converter 103 (e.g., depending on which device the example radio architecture is implemented in).

[0111] In some embodiments, synthesizer circuit 1004 may be configured to generate a carrier frequency as output frequency 1005, while in other embodiments, output frequency 1005 may be a fraction of the carrier frequency (e.g., one-half of the carrier frequency, one-third of the carrier frequency). In some embodiments, output frequency 1005 may be the LO frequency (fLO).

[0112] Figure 11 A functional block diagram of baseband processing circuit 808a according to some embodiments is shown. Baseband processing circuit 808a is an example of a circuit that may be suitable for use as baseband processing circuit 808a( Figure 8 ), although other circuit configurations may also be suitable. Alternatively, Figure 10 examples of Figure 8 may be used to implement

[0113] example BT baseband processing circuit 808b. Figure 8 Baseband processing circuit 808a may include a receive baseband processor (RX BBP) 1102 for processing receive baseband signal 1009 provided by radio IC circuits 806a-b( Figure 8 ), and a transmit baseband processor (TX BBP) 1104 for generating transmit baseband signal 1011 for radio IC circuits 806a-b. Baseband processing circuit 808a may also include control logic 1106 for coordinating the operation of baseband processing circuit 808a.

[0114] In some embodiments (e.g., when exchanging analog baseband signals between baseband processing circuits 808a-b and radio IC circuits 806a-b), baseband processing circuit 808a may include an ADC 1110 to convert the analog baseband signal 1109 received from radio IC circuits 806a-b into a digital baseband signal for processing by RX BBP 1102. In these embodiments, baseband processing circuit 808a may also include a DAC 1112 to convert the digital baseband signal from TX BBP 1104 into an analog baseband signal 1111.

[0115] In some embodiments such as transmitting OFDM signals or OFDMA signals through baseband processor 808a, transmit baseband processor 1104 may be configured to generate an OFDM or OFDMA signal suitable for transmission by performing an inverse fast Fourier transform (IFFT). Receive baseband processor 1102 may be configured to process the received OFDM signal or OFDMA signal by performing an FFT. In some embodiments, receive baseband processor 1102 may be configured to detect the presence of an OFDM signal or OFDMA signal by performing autocorrelation to detect a preamble such as a short preamble, and to detect a long preamble by performing cross-correlation. The preamble may be part of a predetermined frame structure for Wi-Fi communication.

[0116] Return reference Figure 8 , in some embodiments, antennas 801( Figure 8 ) may each include one or more directional or omnidirectional antennas, including for example dipole antennas, monopole antennas, patch antennas, loop antennas, microstrip antennas or other types of suitable antennas for the transmission of radio frequency signals. In some multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) embodiments, the antennas may be effectively separated to utilize spatial diversity and the resulting different channel characteristics. Antennas 801 may each include a phased array antenna set, but the embodiments are not limited thereto.

[0117] Although radio architectures 105A, 105B are shown as having several separate functional elements, one or more of the functional elements may be combined and may be implemented by a combination of software-configured elements, such as processing elements including a digital signal processor (DSP) and / or other hardware elements. For example, some elements may include one or more microprocessors, DSPs, field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), application specific integrated circuits (ASICs), radio frequency integrated circuits (RFICs), and combinations of various hardware and logic circuits for performing at least the functions described herein. In some embodiments, the functional elements may refer to one or more processes operating on one or more processing elements.

[0118] Figure 12 FIG. shows a functional diagram of an exemplary communication station 1200 in accordance with one or more example embodiments of the present disclosure. In one embodiment, Figure 12 FIG. shows a functional block diagram of a communication station that can be suitable for use as an AP 102 ( Figure 1 ) or a user equipment 120 ( Figure 1 ). The communication station 1200 can also be suitable for use as a handheld device, a mobile device, a cellular phone, a smartphone, a tablet computer, a netbook, a wireless terminal, a laptop computer, a wearable computer device, a femtocell, a high data rate (HDR) user station, an access point, an access terminal, or other personal communication system (PCS) device.

[0119] The communication station 1200 can include a communication circuit 1202 and a transceiver 1210 for transmitting signals to and receiving signals from other communication stations using one or more antennas 1201. The communication circuit 1202 can include circuitry that can operate the following communications: physical layer (PHY) communications and / or media access control (MAC) communications for controlling access to the wireless medium, and / or any other communication layer for transmitting and receiving signals. The communication station 1200 can also include a processing circuit 1206 and a memory 1208, which are arranged to perform the operations described herein. In some embodiments, the communication circuit 1202 and the processing circuit 1206 can be configured to perform the operations detailed in the above figures, diagrams, and processes.

[0120] According to some embodiments, the communication circuit 1202 can be arranged to compete for the wireless medium and configure frames or packets for communication over the wireless medium. The communication circuit 1202 can be arranged for transmitting and receiving signals. The communication circuit 1202 can also include circuitry for modulation / demodulation, upconversion / downconversion, filtering, amplification, etc. In some embodiments, the processing circuit 1206 of the communication station 1200 can include one or more processors. In other embodiments, two or more antennas 1201 can be coupled to the communication circuit 1202 arranged for transmitting and receiving signals. The memory 1208 can store information that is used to configure the processing circuit 1206 to perform operations for configuring and transmitting message frames and for performing the various operations described herein. The memory 1208 can include any type of memory, including non-transitory memory, for storing information in a machine (e.g., computer) readable form. For example, the memory 1208 can include a computer readable storage device, a read only memory (ROM), a random access memory (RAM), a magnetic disk storage medium, an optical storage medium, a flash device, and other storage devices and media.

[0121] In some embodiments, communication station 1200 can be part of a portable wireless communication device, such as a personal digital assistant (PDA), a laptop or portable computer with wireless communication capabilities, a network tablet, a wireless phone, a smartphone, wireless headphones, a pager, an instant messaging device, a digital camera, an access point, a television, a medical device (e.g., a heart rate monitor, a blood pressure monitor, etc.), a wearable computer device, or other devices that can wirelessly receive and / or transmit information.

[0122] In some embodiments, communication station 1200 can include one or more antennas 1201. Antenna 1201 can include one or more directional or omnidirectional antennas, including, for example, dipole antennas, monopole antennas, patch antennas, loop antennas, microstrip antennas, or other types of antennas suitable for transmitting RF signals. In some embodiments, a single antenna with multiple apertures can be used instead of two or more antennas. In these embodiments, each aperture can be considered a separate antenna. In some multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) embodiments, the antennas can be effectively separated for spatial diversity and different channel characteristics that may occur between each antenna and the antennas of the transmitting station.

[0123] In some embodiments, communication station 1200 can include one or more of a keyboard, a display, a non-volatile memory port, multiple antennas, a graphics processor, an application processor, a speaker, and other mobile device elements. The display can be an LCD screen including a touch screen.

[0124] Although communication station 1200 is shown as having several separate functional elements, two or more functional elements can be combined and can be implemented by a combination of software-configured elements (such as processing elements including a digital signal processor (DSP)) and / or other hardware elements. For example, some elements can include one or more microprocessors, DSPs, field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), application specific integrated circuits (ASICs), radio frequency integrated circuits (RFICs), and combinations of various hardware and logic circuits for implementing at least the functions described herein. In some embodiments, the functional elements of communication station 1200 can refer to one or more processes operating on one or more processing elements.

[0125] Some embodiments may be implemented in one or a combination of hardware, firmware, and software. Other embodiments may also be implemented as instructions stored on a computer-readable storage device that can be read and executed by at least one processor to perform the operations described herein. The computer-readable storage device may include any non-transitory memory mechanism for storing information in a machine (e.g., computer) readable form. For example, the computer-readable storage device may include read-only memory (ROM), random access memory (RAM), magnetic disk storage media, optical storage media, flash memory devices, and other storage devices and media. In some embodiments, the communication station 1200 may include one or more processors and may be configured with instructions stored on a computer-readable storage device.

[0126] Figure 13 A block diagram of an example of a machine 1300 or system is shown on which any one or more of the techniques (e.g., methods) discussed herein may be executed. In other embodiments, the machine 1300 may operate as a stand-alone device or may be connected (e.g., networked) to other machines. In a networked deployment, the machine 1300 may operate in a server-client network environment as a server machine, a client machine, or both. In an example, the machine 1300 may act as a peer machine in a peer-to-peer (P2P) (or other distributed) network environment. The machine 1300 may be a personal computer (PC), a tablet PC, a set-top box (STB), a personal digital assistant (PDA), a mobile phone, a wearable computing device, a network device, a network router, a switch or bridge, or any machine capable of executing instructions (sequential or otherwise) that specify actions to be taken by that machine (e.g., a base station). Further, although only a single machine is shown, the term "machine" shall also be taken to include any collection of machines that individually or jointly execute a set (or multiple sets) of instructions to perform any one or more of the methods discussed herein, such as cloud computing, software as a service (SaaS), or other computer cluster configurations.

[0127] As described herein, an example can include logic or a plurality of components, modules, or mechanisms or can operate on logic or a plurality of components, modules, or mechanisms. A module is a tangible entity (e.g., hardware) capable of performing specified operations when operating. A module includes hardware. In one example, the hardware can be specifically configured to perform a particular operation (e.g., hard-wired). In another example, the hardware can include a configurable execution unit (e.g., transistors, circuitry, etc.) and a computer-readable medium that contains instructions, where the instructions configure the execution unit to perform a particular operation at runtime. The configuration can occur under the guidance of the execution unit or a loading mechanism. Thus, when the device is operating, the execution unit is communicatively coupled to the computer-readable medium. In this example, the execution unit can be a member of more than one module. For example, in operation, the execution unit can be configured by a first set of instructions to implement a first module at one point in time and reconfigured by a second set of instructions to implement a second module at a second point in time.

[0128] A machine (e.g., a computer system) 1300 can include a hardware processor 1302 (e.g., a central processing unit (CPU), a graphics processing unit (GPU), a hardware processor core, or any combination thereof), a main memory 1304, and a static memory 1306, some or all of which may communicate with each other via an interconnecting link (e.g., a bus) 1308. The machine 1300 may also include a power management device 1332, a graphics display device 1310, an alphanumeric input device 1312 (e.g., a keyboard), and a user interface (UI) navigation device 1314 (e.g., a mouse). In an example, the graphics display device 1310, the alphanumeric input device 1312, and the UI navigation device 1314 may be a touch screen display. The machine 1300 may also include a storage device (i.e., a drive unit) 1316, a signal generation device 1318 (e.g., a speaker), an enhanced ICR frame generation device 1319, a network interface device / transceiver 1320 coupled to an antenna 1330, and one or more sensors 1328, such as a global positioning system (GPS) sensor, a compass, an accelerometer, or other sensors. The machine 1300 may include an output controller 1334, such as a serial (e.g., universal serial bus (USB)), parallel, or other wired or wireless (e.g., infrared (IR), near field communication (NFC), etc.) connection to communicate with or control one or more peripheral devices (e.g., a printer, a card reader, etc.). Operations in accordance with one or more example embodiments of the present disclosure may be performed by a baseband processor. The baseband processor may be configured to generate corresponding baseband signals. The baseband processor may also include a physical layer (PHY) and a media access control layer (MAC) circuit, and may further interface with the hardware processor 1302 for the generation and processing of baseband signals and for controlling the operations of the main memory 1304, the memory device 1316, and / or the enhanced ICR frame generation device 1319. The baseband processor may be provided on a single radio card, a single chip, or an integrated circuit (IC).

[0129] The storage device 1316 may include a machine-readable medium 1322 on which is stored a set or multiple sets of data structures or instructions 1324 (e.g., software) that embody any one or more of the techniques or functions described herein or that are utilized by any one or more of the techniques or functions described herein. The instructions 1324 may also reside, completely or at least partially, within the main memory 1304, within the static memory 1306, or within the hardware processor 1302 during execution by the machine 1300. In an example, one or any combination of the hardware processor 1302, the main memory 1304, the static memory 1306, or the storage device 1316 may constitute a machine-readable medium.

[0130] The enhanced ICR frame generation device 1319 may perform or implement any of the operations and processes described and illustrated above.

[0131] It should be understood that the above is only a subset of the functions that the enhanced ICR frame generation device 1319 may be configured to perform, and other functions included throughout this disclosure may also be performed by the enhanced ICR frame generation device 1319.

[0132] Although the machine-readable medium 1322 is illustrated as a single medium, the term "machine-readable medium" may include a single medium or multiple media (e.g., a centralized or distributed database, and / or associated caches and servers) configured to store one or more instructions 1324.

[0133] Various embodiments may be implemented in whole or in part in software and / or firmware. The software and / or firmware may take the form of instructions contained in or on a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium. These instructions may then be read and executed by one or more processors to allow for the performance of the operations described herein. The instructions may be in any suitable form, such as but not limited to source code, compiled code, interpreted code, executable code, static code, dynamic code, etc. Such a computer-readable medium may include any tangible non-transitory medium for storing information in a form readable by one or more computers, such as but not limited to read-only memory (ROM); random access memory (RAM); magnetic disk storage media; optical storage media; flash memory, etc.

[0134] The term "machine-readable medium" may include any medium that can store, encode, or carry instructions for execution by a machine 1300 and that cause the machine 1300 to perform any one or more of the techniques of this disclosure, or that can store, encode, or carry data structures used by or associated with such instructions. Non-limiting examples of machine-readable media may include solid-state memories as well as optical and magnetic media. In one example, a mass machine-readable medium includes a machine-readable medium having a plurality of particles with rest mass. Specific examples of mass machine-readable media may include non-volatile memories such as semiconductor memory devices (e.g., electrically programmable read-only memory (EPROM) or electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM)) and flash memory devices; magnetic disks such as internal hard disks and removable disks; magneto-optical disks; CD-ROM and DVD-ROM disks.

[0135] Instruction 1324 can also be sent or received over communication network 1326 via network interface device / transceiver 1320 using a transmission medium, and the network interface device / transceiver 1320 utilizes any one of a variety of transmission protocols (e.g., Frame Relay, Internet Protocol (IP), Transmission Control Protocol (TCP), User Datagram Protocol (UDP), Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP), etc.). Example communication networks can include local area networks (LANs), wide area networks (WANs), packet data networks (e.g., the Internet), mobile telephone networks (e.g., cellular networks), plain old telephone (POTS) networks, wireless data networks (e.g., Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 series of standards, referred to as IEEE 802.16 series of standards, referred to as ), IEEE 802.15.4 series of standards, and peer-to-peer (P2P) networks, etc. In an example, network interface device / transceiver 1320 can include one or more physical jacks (e.g., Ethernet, coaxial, or telephone jacks) or one or more antennas to connect to communication network 1326. In an example, network interface device / transceiver 1320 can include multiple antennas to perform wireless communication using at least one of single input multiple output (SIMO), multiple input multiple output (MIMO), or multiple input single output (MISO) techniques. The term "transmission medium" should be understood to include any non-transitory medium that is capable of storing, encoding, or carrying instructions for execution by machine 1300, and includes digital or analog communication signals or other non-transitory media to facilitate the communication of such software.

[0136] The operations and processes described and illustrated above can be performed or implemented in any suitable order as needed in various embodiments. Additionally, in some embodiments, at least a portion of the operations can be performed in parallel. Additionally, in some embodiments, fewer or more operations than those described can be performed.

[0137] As used herein, the term "exemplary" means "serving as an example, instance, or illustration." Any embodiment described herein as "exemplary" is not necessarily to be construed as more preferred or advantageous than other embodiments. As used herein, the terms "computing device," "user device," "communication station," "station," "handheld device," "mobile device," "wireless device," and "user equipment" (UE) refer to a wireless communication device, such as a cellular phone, smartphone, tablet, netbook, wireless terminal, laptop computer, femtocell base station, high data rate (HDR) user station, access point, printer, point-of-sale device, access terminal, or other personal communication system (PCS) device. The device can be mobile or stationary.

[0138] As used in this document, the term "communicate" is intended to include sending or receiving, or both sending and receiving. This can be particularly useful in claims when describing the organization of data transmitted by one device and received by another device, but infringement of the claim requires only the functionality of one of these devices. Similarly, a two-way data exchange between two devices (the two devices sending and receiving during the exchange) can be described as "communicating" when only the functionality of one of these devices is required. The term "communicate" as used herein with respect to wireless communication signals includes transmitting wireless communication signals and / or receiving wireless communication signals. For example, a wireless communication unit capable of transmitting wireless communication signals can include a wireless transmitter that sends wireless communication signals to at least one other wireless communication unit, and / or a wireless communication receiver that receives wireless communication signals from at least one other wireless communication unit.

[0139] As used herein, unless otherwise indicated, use of the ordinal adjectives "first", "second", "third", etc. to describe a common object merely indicates different instances of the like objects being referred to, and is not intended to imply that the objects so described must be in a given order, whether temporal, spatial, ranking, or in any other manner.

[0140] The term "access point" (AP) as used herein can be a fixed station. An access point can also be referred to as an access node, a base station, an evolved Node B (eNodeB), or some other similar term known in the art. An access terminal can also be referred to as a mobile station, a user equipment (UE), a wireless communication device, or some other similar term known in the art. The embodiments disclosed herein generally relate to wireless networks. Some embodiments can relate to wireless networks operating in accordance with one of the IEEE 802.11 standards.

[0141] Some embodiments can be used in conjunction with a variety of devices and systems, such as personal computers (PCs), desktop computers, mobile computers, laptop computers, notebook computers, tablet computers, server computers, handheld computers, handheld devices, personal digital assistant (PDA) devices, handheld PDA devices, in-vehicle devices, non-vehicle devices, hybrid devices, in-vehicle devices, non-vehicle devices, mobile devices or portable devices, consumer devices, non-mobile or non-portable devices, wireless communication stations, wireless communication devices, wireless access points (APs), wired or wireless routers, wired or wireless modems, video devices, audio devices, audio-video (A / V) devices, wired or wireless networks, wireless local area networks, wireless video area networks (WVANs), local area networks (LANs), wireless local area networks (WLANs), personal area networks (PANs), wireless PANs (WPANs), etc.

[0142] Some embodiments may be used in conjunction with the following systems or devices: one-way and / or two-way radio communication systems, cellular radio-telephone communication systems, mobile phones, cellular phones, wireless phones, personal communication system (PCS) devices, PDA devices incorporating wireless communication devices, mobile or portable global positioning system (GPS) devices, devices incorporating a GPS receiver or transceiver or chip, devices incorporating RFID elements or chips, multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) transceivers or devices, single-input multiple-output (SIMO) transceivers or devices, multiple-input single-output (MISO) transceivers or devices, devices having one or more internal antennas and / or external antennas, digital video broadcast (DVB) devices or systems, multi-standard radio devices or systems, wired or wireless handheld devices (such as smart phones), wireless application protocol (WAP) devices, etc.

[0143] Some embodiments may be used in conjunction with one or more types of wireless communication signals and / or systems that follow one or more wireless communication protocols, e.g., radio frequency (RF), infrared (IR), frequency division multiplexing (FDM), orthogonal FDM (OFDM), time division multiplexing (TDM), time division multiple access (TDMA), extended TDMA (E-TDMA), general packet radio service (GPRS), extended GPRS, code division multiple access (CDMA), wideband CDMA (WCDMA), CDMA 2000, single-carrier CDMA, multi-carrier CDMA, multi-carrier modulation (MDM), discrete multi-tone (DMT), global positioning system (GPS), Wi-Fi, Wi-Max, ZigBee, ultra-wideband (UWB), global system for mobile communications (GSM), 2G, 2.5G, 3G, 3.5G, 4G, fifth-generation (5G) mobile networks, 3GPP, long term evolution (LTE), LTE-Advanced, enhanced data rates for GSM evolution (EDGE), etc. Other embodiments may be used in a variety of other devices, systems, and / or networks.

[0144] The following paragraphs describe examples of various embodiments.

[0145] Example 1 includes an apparatus comprising: an interface circuit; and a processor circuit coupled to the interface circuit, wherein the processor circuit is configured to: decode an initial control frame received from a station (STA) via the interface circuit; and in response to the initial control frame, encode an initial control response (ICR) frame for transmission to the STA via the interface circuit, wherein the ICR frame includes a block acknowledgment (BA) frame.

[0146] Example 2 includes the apparatus of Example 1, wherein the BA frame includes a field for indicating that the purpose of the BA frame is for carrying feedback.

[0147] Example 3 includes the apparatus described in Example 1 or 2, wherein the BA frame includes a field for indicating the presence status of a feedback type.

[0148] Example 4 includes the apparatus described in any one of Examples 1 to 3, wherein a series of sub-fields in the block acknowledgment start sequence control field of the BA frame are used to indicate the presence status of a corresponding feedback type.

[0149] Example 5 includes the apparatus described in any one of Examples 1 to 4, wherein the BA frame includes a field for carrying feedback information for a feedback type.

[0150] Example 6 includes the apparatus described in any one of Examples 1 to 5, wherein a series of sub-fields in the block acknowledgment bitmap field of the BA frame are used to carry feedback information for a corresponding feedback type.

[0151] Example 7 includes the apparatus described in any one of Examples 1 to 6, wherein the feedback type includes: link adaptation feedback, availability / unavailability related feedback, coexistence feedback, peer-to-peer (P2P) operation related feedback, power saving related feedback, buffer status feedback, transmit opportunity (TxOP) related feedback, or physical layer protocol data unit (PPDU) parameter feedback.

[0152] Example 8 includes the apparatus described in any one of Examples 1 to 7, wherein the BA frame includes a padding field.

[0153] Example 9 includes the apparatus described in any one of Examples 1 to 8, wherein the BA frame includes a frame check sequence (FCS) field.

[0154] Example 10 includes the apparatus described in any one of Examples 1 to 9, wherein the BA frame includes a compressed BA (C-BA) frame.

[0155] Example 11 includes the apparatus described in any one of Examples 1 to 10, wherein a reserved field in the BA control field of the C-BA frame is used to indicate that the purpose of the C-BA frame is to carry feedback.

[0156] Example 12 includes the apparatus described in any one of Examples 1 to 11, wherein the BA frame includes a multi-STA BA frame.

[0157] Example 13 includes the apparatus described in any one of Examples 1 to 12, wherein the AID11 field or the TID field in the AID TID information field of the multi-STA BA frame is used to indicate that the purpose of the multi-STA BA frame is to carry feedback.

[0158] Example 14 includes the apparatus described in any one of Examples 1 to 13, wherein the initial control frame includes a trigger frame.

[0159] Example 15 includes the apparatus according to any one of Examples 1 to 14, wherein the apparatus is applicable to an access point (AP) STA.

[0160] Example 16 includes the apparatus according to any one of Examples 1 to 15, wherein the apparatus is applicable to a non-access point (non-AP) STA.

[0161] Example 17 includes an apparatus, comprising: an interface circuit; and a processor circuit coupled to the interface circuit, wherein the processor circuit is configured to: encode an initial control frame for transmission to a station (STA) via the interface circuit; and decode an initial control response (ICR) frame received from the STA via the interface circuit, the ICR frame being in response to the initial control frame, wherein the ICR frame includes a block acknowledgment (BA) frame.

[0162] Example 18 includes the apparatus according to Example 17, wherein the BA frame includes a field for indicating that the purpose of the BA frame is for carrying feedback.

[0163] Example 19 includes the apparatus according to Example 17 or 18, wherein the BA frame includes a field for indicating the presence status of a feedback type.

[0164] Example 20 includes the apparatus according to any one of Examples 17 to 19, wherein a series of sub-fields in the block acknowledgment start sequence control field of the BA frame are for indicating the presence status of a corresponding feedback type.

[0165] Example 21 includes the apparatus according to any one of Examples 17 to 20, wherein the BA frame includes a field for carrying feedback information for a feedback type.

[0166] Example 22 includes the apparatus according to any one of Examples 17 to 21, wherein a series of sub-fields in the block acknowledgment bitmap field of the BA frame are for carrying feedback information for a corresponding feedback type.

[0167] Example 23 includes the apparatus according to any one of Examples 17 to 22, wherein the feedback type includes: link adaptation feedback, availability / unavailability related feedback, coexistence feedback, peer-to-peer (P2P) operation related feedback, power saving related feedback, buffer status feedback, transmit opportunity (TxOP) related feedback, or physical layer protocol data unit (PPDU) parameter feedback.

[0168] Example 24 includes the apparatus according to any one of Examples 17 to 23, wherein the BA frame includes a padding field.

[0169] Example 25 includes the apparatus according to any one of Examples 17 to 24, wherein the BA frame includes a Frame Check Sequence (FCS) field.

[0170] Example 26 includes the apparatus according to any one of Examples 17 to 25, wherein the BA frame includes a Compressed BA (C-BA) frame.

[0171] Example 27 includes the apparatus according to any one of Examples 17 to 26, wherein a reserved field in the BA control field of the C-BA frame is used to indicate that the purpose of the C-BA frame is to carry feedback.

[0172] Example 28 includes the apparatus according to any one of Examples 17 to 27, wherein the BA frame includes a multi-STA BA frame.

[0173] Example 29 includes the apparatus according to any one of Examples 17 to 28, wherein the AID11 field or the TID field in the AID TID information field of the multi-STA BA frame is used to indicate that the purpose of the multi-STA BA frame is to carry feedback.

[0174] Example 30 includes the apparatus according to any one of Examples 17 to 29, wherein the initial control frame includes a trigger frame.

[0175] Example 31 includes the apparatus according to any one of Examples 17 to 30, wherein the apparatus is applicable to an Access Point (AP) STA.

[0176] Example 32 includes the apparatus according to any one of Examples 17 to 31, wherein the apparatus is applicable to a non-Access Point (non-AP) STA.

[0177] Example 33 includes a method, comprising: decoding an initial control frame received from a Station (STA); and in response to the initial control frame, encoding an Initial Control Response (ICR) frame for transmission to the STA, wherein the ICR frame includes a Block Acknowledgment (BA) frame.

[0178] Example 34 includes the method according to Example 33, wherein the BA frame includes a field for indicating that the purpose of the BA frame is to carry feedback.

[0179] Example 35 includes the method according to Example 33 or 34, wherein the BA frame includes a field for indicating the presence status of a feedback type.

[0180] Example 36 includes the method according to any one of Examples 33 to 35, wherein a series of sub-fields in the Block Acknowledgment Start Sequence Control field of the BA frame is used to indicate the presence status of a corresponding feedback type.

[0181] Example 37 includes the method according to any one of Examples 33 to 36, wherein the BA frame includes a field for carrying feedback information for a feedback type.

[0182] Example 38 includes the method according to any one of Examples 33 to 37, wherein a series of sub-fields in the block acknowledgment bitmap field of the BA frame are used to carry feedback information for corresponding feedback types.

[0183] Example 39 includes the method according to any one of Examples 33 to 38, wherein the feedback type includes: link adaptation feedback, availability / unavailability related feedback, coexistence feedback, peer-to-peer (P2P) operation related feedback, power saving related feedback, buffer status feedback, transmit opportunity (TxOP) related feedback, or physical layer protocol data unit (PPDU) parameter feedback.

[0184] Example 40 includes the method according to any one of Examples 33 to 39, wherein the BA frame includes a padding field.

[0185] Example 41 includes the method according to any one of Examples 33 to 40, wherein the BA frame includes a frame check sequence (FCS) field.

[0186] Example 42 includes the method according to any one of Examples 33 to 41, wherein the BA frame includes a compressed BA (C-BA) frame.

[0187] Example 43 includes the method according to any one of Examples 33 to 42, wherein a reserved field in the BA control field of the C-BA frame is used to indicate that the purpose of the C-BA frame is to carry feedback.

[0188] Example 44 includes the method according to any one of Examples 33 to 43, wherein the BA frame includes a multi-STA BA frame.

[0189] Example 45 includes the method according to any one of Examples 33 to 44, wherein the AID11 field or the TID field in the AID TID information field of the multi-STA BA frame is used to indicate that the purpose of the multi-STA BA frame is to carry feedback.

[0190] Example 46 includes the method according to any one of Examples 33 to 45, wherein the initial control frame includes a trigger frame.

[0191] Example 47 includes the method according to any one of Examples 33 to 46, wherein the method is applicable to an access point (AP) STA.

[0192] Example 48 includes the method according to any one of Examples 33 to 47, wherein the method is applicable to a non-access point (non-AP) STA.

[0193] Example 49 includes a method comprising: encoding an initial control frame for transmission to a station (STA); and decoding an initial control response (ICR) frame received from the STA, the ICR frame being responsive to the initial control frame, wherein the ICR frame includes a block acknowledgment (BA) frame.

[0194] Example 50 includes the method of Example 49, wherein the BA frame includes a field for indicating that the purpose of the BA frame is for carrying feedback.

[0195] Example 51 includes the method of Example 49 or 50, wherein the BA frame includes a field for indicating the presence status of a feedback type.

[0196] Example 52 includes the method of any one of Examples 49 to 51, wherein a series of sub-fields in the block acknowledgment start sequence control field of the BA frame are used to indicate the presence status of a corresponding feedback type.

[0197] Example 53 includes the method of any one of Examples 49 to 52, wherein the BA frame includes a field for carrying feedback information for a feedback type.

[0198] Example 54 includes the method of any one of Examples 49 to 53, wherein a series of sub-fields in the block acknowledgment bitmap field of the BA frame are used to carry feedback information for a corresponding feedback type.

[0199] Example 55 includes the method of any one of Examples 49 to 54, wherein the feedback type includes: link adaptation feedback, availability / unavailability related feedback, coexistence feedback, peer-to-peer (P2P) operation related feedback, power saving related feedback, buffer status feedback, transmit opportunity (TxOP) related feedback, or physical layer protocol data unit (PPDU) parameter feedback.

[0200] Example 56 includes the method of any one of Examples 49 to 55, wherein the BA frame includes a padding field.

[0201] Example 57 includes the method of any one of Examples 49 to 56, wherein the BA frame includes a frame check sequence (FCS) field.

[0202] Example 58 includes the method of any one of Examples 49 to 57, wherein the BA frame includes a compressed BA (C-BA) frame.

[0203] Example 59 includes the method of any one of Examples 49 to 58, wherein a reserved field in the BA control field of the C-BA frame is used to indicate that the purpose of the C-BA frame is for carrying feedback.

[0204] Example 60 includes the method according to any one of Examples 49 to 59, wherein the BA frame includes a multi-STA BA frame.

[0205] Example 61 includes the method according to any one of Examples 49 to 60, wherein the AID11 field or the TID field in the AID TID information field of the multi-STA BA frame is used to indicate that the purpose of the multi-STA BA frame is for carrying feedback.

[0206] Example 62 includes the method according to any one of Examples 49 to 61, wherein the initial control frame includes a trigger frame.

[0207] Example 63 includes the method according to any one of Examples 49 to 62, wherein the method is applicable to an access point (AP) STA.

[0208] Example 64 includes the method according to any one of Examples 49 to 63, wherein the method is applicable to a non-access point (non-AP) STA.

[0209] Example 65 includes a device, comprising: a component for decoding an initial control frame received from a station (STA); and a component for encoding an initial control response (ICR) frame in response to the initial control frame for transmission to the STA, wherein the ICR frame includes a block acknowledgment (BA) frame.

[0210] Example 66 includes the device according to Example 65, wherein the BA frame includes a field for indicating that the purpose of the BA frame is for carrying feedback.

[0211] Example 67 includes the device according to Example 65 or 66, wherein the BA frame includes a field for indicating the presence status of a feedback type.

[0212] Example 68 includes the device according to any one of Examples 65 to 67, wherein a series of sub-fields in the block acknowledgment start sequence control field of the BA frame are used to indicate the presence status of a corresponding feedback type.

[0213] Example 69 includes the device according to any one of Examples 65 to 68, wherein the BA frame includes a field for carrying feedback information for a feedback type.

[0214] Example 70 includes the device according to any one of Examples 65 to 69, wherein a series of sub-fields in the block acknowledgment bitmap field of the BA frame are used to carry feedback information for a corresponding feedback type.

[0215] Example 71 includes the apparatus according to any one of Examples 65 to 70, wherein the feedback type includes: link adaptation feedback, availability / unavailability related feedback, coexistence feedback, peer-to-peer (P2P) operation related feedback, power saving related feedback, buffer status feedback, transmission opportunity (TxOP) related feedback, or physical layer protocol data unit (PPDU) parameter feedback.

[0216] Example 72 includes the apparatus according to any one of Examples 65 to 71, wherein the BA frame includes a padding field.

[0217] Example 73 includes the apparatus according to any one of Examples 65 to 72, wherein the BA frame includes a frame check sequence (FCS) field.

[0218] Example 74 includes the apparatus according to any one of Examples 65 to 73, wherein the BA frame includes a compressed BA (C-BA) frame.

[0219] Example 75 includes the apparatus according to any one of Examples 65 to 74, wherein a reserved field in a BA control field of the C-BA frame is used to indicate that the purpose of the C-BA frame is to carry feedback.

[0220] Example 76 includes the apparatus according to any one of Examples 65 to 75, wherein the BA frame includes a multi-STA BA frame.

[0221] Example 77 includes the apparatus according to any one of Examples 65 to 76, wherein an AID11 field or a TID field in an AID TID information field of the multi-STA BA frame is used to indicate that the purpose of the multi-STA BA frame is to carry feedback.

[0222] Example 78 includes the apparatus according to any one of Examples 65 to 77, wherein the initial control frame includes a trigger frame.

[0223] Example 79 includes the apparatus according to any one of Examples 65 to 78, wherein the apparatus is applicable to an access point (AP) STA.

[0224] Example 80 includes the apparatus according to any one of Examples 65 to 79, wherein the apparatus is applicable to a non-access point (non-AP) STA.

[0225] Example 81 includes an apparatus, comprising: a component for encoding an initial control frame to be sent to a station (STA); and a component for decoding an initial control response (ICR) frame received from the STA, the ICR frame being in response to the initial control frame, wherein the ICR frame includes a block acknowledgment (BA) frame.

[0226] Example 82 includes the apparatus described in Example 81, wherein the BA frame includes a field for indicating that the purpose of the BA frame is to carry feedback.

[0227] Example 83 includes the apparatus described in Example 81 or 82, wherein the BA frame includes a field for indicating the presence status of a feedback type.

[0228] Example 84 includes the apparatus described in any one of Examples 81 to 83, wherein a series of sub-fields in the block acknowledgment start sequence control field of the BA frame are used to indicate the presence status of a corresponding feedback type.

[0229] Example 85 includes the apparatus described in any one of Examples 81 to 84, wherein the BA frame includes a field for carrying feedback information for a feedback type.

[0230] Example 86 includes the apparatus described in any one of Examples 81 to 85, wherein a series of sub-fields in the block acknowledgment bitmap field of the BA frame are used to carry feedback information for a corresponding feedback type.

[0231] Example 87 includes the apparatus described in any one of Examples 81 to 86, wherein the feedback type includes: link adaptation feedback, availability / unavailability related feedback, coexistence feedback, peer-to-peer (P2P) operation related feedback, power saving related feedback, buffer status feedback, transmit opportunity (TxOP) related feedback, or physical layer protocol data unit (PPDU) parameter feedback.

[0232] Example 88 includes the apparatus described in any one of Examples 81 to 87, wherein the BA frame includes a padding field.

[0233] Example 89 includes the apparatus described in any one of Examples 81 to 88, wherein the BA frame includes a frame check sequence (FCS) field.

[0234] Example 90 includes the apparatus described in any one of Examples 81 to 89, wherein the BA frame includes a compressed BA (C-BA) frame.

[0235] Example 91 includes the apparatus described in any one of Examples 81 to 90, wherein a reserved field in the BA control field of the C-BA frame is used to indicate that the purpose of the C-BA frame is to carry feedback.

[0236] Example 92 includes the apparatus described in any one of Examples 81 to 91, wherein the BA frame includes a multi-STA BA frame.

[0237] Example 93 includes the apparatus according to any one of Examples 81 to 92, wherein the AID11 field or the TID field in the AID TID information field of the multi-STA BA frame is used to indicate that the purpose of the multi-STA BA frame is for carrying feedback.

[0238] Example 94 includes the apparatus according to any one of Examples 81 to 93, wherein the initial control frame includes a trigger frame.

[0239] Example 95 includes the apparatus according to any one of Examples 81 to 94, wherein the apparatus is applicable to an access point (AP) STA.

[0240] Example 96 includes the apparatus according to any one of Examples 81 to 95, wherein the apparatus is applicable to a non-access point (non-AP) STA.

[0241] Example 97 includes a computer-readable medium storing instructions, which when executed by a processing circuit cause the processing circuit to perform the method according to any one of Examples 33 - 48.

[0242] Example 98 includes a computer-readable medium storing instructions, which when executed by a processing circuit cause the processing circuit to perform the method according to any one of Examples 49 - 64.

[0243] Embodiments in accordance with the present disclosure are specifically disclosed in the appended claims directed to methods, storage media, devices, and computer program products, wherein any feature recited in one claim category (e.g., method) can also be claimed in another claim category (e.g., system). The dependencies or references in the appended claims are selected only for formality reasons. However, any subject matter resulting from a deliberate back-reference to any previous claim (in particular multiple dependencies) can also be claimed, such that any combination of the claims and their features is disclosed and can be claimed, regardless of the dependencies selected in the appended claims. The subject matter that can be claimed includes not only combinations of features listed in the appended claims, but also any other combinations of features in the claims, where each feature recited in the claims can be combined with any other feature or combination of features in the claims. Additionally, any embodiment and feature described or depicted herein can be claimed in a separate claim and / or in any combination with any embodiment or feature described or depicted herein or with any feature of the appended claims.

[0244] The foregoing description of one or more embodiments provides illustration and description, but is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the scope of the embodiments to the precise forms disclosed. Modifications and variations are possible in light of the above teachings, or may be acquired from practice of various embodiments.

[0245] The foregoing references have described certain aspects of the present disclosure in terms of block diagrams and flowcharts of systems, methods, apparatuses, and / or computer program products according to various embodiments. It should be understood that one or more blocks in the block diagrams and flowcharts, and combinations of blocks in the block diagrams and flowcharts, can be implemented by computer-executable program instructions. Similarly, according to some embodiments, some blocks in the block diagrams and flowcharts may not necessarily need to be executed in the order presented, or may not need to be executed at all.

[0246] These computer-executable program instructions can be loaded onto a special-purpose computer or other particular machine, a processor, or other programmable data processing device to produce a particular machine, such that the instructions executed on the computer, processor, or other programmable data processing device create means for implementing one or more of the functions specified in one or more of the flowchart blocks. These computer program instructions can also be stored in a computer-readable storage medium or memory, which can direct a computer or other programmable data processing device to operate in a particular manner, such that the instructions stored in the computer-readable storage medium produce an article of manufacture that includes instruction means for implementing one or more of the functions specified in the flowchart block or blocks. As an example, certain embodiments can provide a computer program product that includes a computer-readable storage medium having computer-readable program code or program instructions implemented therein, the computer-readable program code being adapted to be executed to implement one or more of the functions specified in one or more of the flowchart blocks. The computer program instructions can also be loaded onto a computer or other programmable data processing device, such that a series of operational elements or steps are executed on the computer or other programmable device, thereby producing a computer-implemented process, such that the instructions executed on the computer or other programmable device provide elements or steps for implementing one or more of the functions specified in one or more of the flowchart blocks.

[0247] Accordingly, the blocks of the block diagrams and flowcharts support combinations of means for performing the specified functions, combinations of elements or steps for performing the specified functions, and program instruction means for performing the specified functions. It will also be understood that each block of the block diagrams and flowcharts, and combinations of blocks in the block diagrams and flowcharts, can be implemented by a special-purpose, hardware-based computer system that performs the specified functions, elements, or steps, or by combinations of special-purpose hardware and computer instructions.

[0248] Conditional language, such as "may" or "might", unless otherwise expressly stated or otherwise understood in the context in which it is used, is generally intended to convey that certain embodiments may include, while other embodiments do not include, certain features, elements, and / or operations. Thus, such conditional language is generally not intended to imply that the features, elements, and / or operations are in any way required for one or more embodiments, or that one or more embodiments must include logic for determining whether such features, elements, and / or operations are included in or are to be performed in any particular embodiment, with or without user input or prompting.

[0249] Many modifications and other embodiments of the disclosure set forth herein will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art in view of the foregoing description and the associated drawings. Accordingly, it is to be understood that the disclosure is not limited to the specific embodiments disclosed, and that modifications and other embodiments are intended to be included within the scope of the appended claims. Although specific terms are employed herein, they are used in a generic and descriptive sense only and not for purposes of limitation.

Claims

1. A device comprising: Interface circuit; and a processor circuit coupled to the interface circuit, Wherein, the processor circuit is used for: decoding an initial control frame received from a station (STA) via the interface circuit; and in response to the initial control frame, encoding an initial control response (ICR) frame for transmission to the STA via the interface circuit, The ICR frame includes a block acknowledgement (BA) frame.

2. The device according to claim 1, wherein: The BA frame includes a field for indicating that the purpose of the BA frame is to carry feedback.

3. The device according to claim 1, wherein: The BA frame includes a field for indicating the existence status of the feedback type.

4. The device according to claim 3, wherein: A series of subfields in the block acknowledgment start sequence control field of the BA frame are used to indicate the existence status of the corresponding feedback type.

5. The device according to claim 1, wherein: The BA frame includes a field that carries feedback information for a feedback type.

6. The device according to claim 5, wherein: A series of subfields in the block acknowledgement bitmap field of the BA frame are used to carry feedback information for corresponding feedback types.

7. The device according to claim 5 or 6, wherein: The feedback types include: link adaptation feedback, availability / unavailability related feedback, coexistence feedback, peer-to-peer (P2P) operation related feedback, power saving related feedback, buffer status feedback, transmit opportunity (TxOP) related feedback, or physical layer protocol data unit (PPDU) parameter feedback.

8. The device according to claim 1, wherein: The BA frame includes a padding field.

9. The device according to claim 1, wherein: The BA frame includes a frame check sequence (FCS) field.

10. The device according to claim 1, wherein: The BA frame includes a compressed BA (C-BA) frame.

11. The device according to claim 10, wherein: The reserved field in the BA control field of the C-BA frame is used to indicate that the purpose of the C-BA frame is to carry feedback.

12. The device according to claim 1, wherein: The BA frame includes a multi-STA BA frame.

13. The device according to claim 12, wherein: The AID11 field or the TID field in the AID TID information field of the multi-STA BA frame is used to indicate that the purpose of the multi-STA BA frame is to carry feedback.

14. The device according to claim 1, wherein: The initial control frame includes a trigger frame.

15. The device according to claim 1, wherein: The device is suitable for an access point (AP) STA.

16. The device according to claim 1, wherein The apparatus is applicable to a non-access point (non-AP) STA.

17. An apparatus comprising: Interface circuit; and a processor circuit coupled to the interface circuit, Wherein, the processor circuit is used for: encoding an initial control frame for transmission to a station (STA) via the interface circuit; and decoding an initial control response (ICR) frame received from the STA via the interface circuit, the ICR frame being in response to the initial control frame, The ICR frame includes a block acknowledgement (BA) frame.

18. The device according to claim 17, wherein: The BA frame includes a field for indicating that the purpose of the BA frame is to carry feedback.

19. The device according to claim 17, wherein: The BA frame includes a field for indicating the existence status of the feedback type.

20. The device according to claim 17, wherein: The BA frame includes a field, which is used to carry feedback information for a feedback type.

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