Wireless communication method and related wireless communication device

Abstract

The present invention provides a method for communication by a wireless communication device over a channel, comprising: performing transmission of a first sub-burst included in a burst; transmitting a high priority trigger (HPT) frame over the channel after the transmission of the first sub-burst is completed to indicate that the transmission of the burst is interruptible; and detecting whether the channel is busy within a predetermined time interval after the transmission of the HPT frame is completed to determine whether to execute the transmission of a second sub-burst included in the burst.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This disclosure relates to wireless communication, and more particularly, to a method for performing high-priority trigger (HPT) frame transmission, a method for performing physical layer protocol data unit (PPDU) transmission of high-priority traffic, and related wireless communication apparatus. Background Technology

[0002] To reduce the transmission latency of Physical Layer Protocol Data Units (PPDUs) for high-priority traffic to below 5 milliseconds (ms) (i.e., allowing wireless communication devices with high-priority needs to compete for the channel earlier), existing methods configure smaller transmission opportunity (TXOP) limits for the basic service set (BSS). However, this approach has drawbacks, including reduced overall peak throughput and longer backoff procedures, leading to higher overhead and lower transmission efficiency.

[0003] Another existing method utilizes a preemption mechanism to interrupt TXOPs to perform high-priority traffic transmission, thereby improving the latency of high-priority traffic. The drawback of this method is that after a wireless communication device with high-priority needs (e.g., a station (STA)) sends a preemption request, the receiving device (e.g., an access point (AP)) needs to perform multiple rounds of polling / triggering. Furthermore, invalid polling occurs if the AP cannot identify which STA sent the preemption request, increasing overhead. Additionally, this method may use reserved bits in data frames or block acknowledgment (BA) frames for preemptibility indication. However, for some conventional STAs, data / BA frames containing reserved bits may be directly ignored, limiting its applicability. Summary of the Invention

[0004] Therefore, one of the objectives of this disclosure is to provide a method for performing the transmission of burst and high-priority triggered (HPT) frames, a method for performing the transmission of physical layer protocol data units (PPDUs) with high-priority traffic, and a related wireless communication apparatus to solve the above-mentioned problems.

[0005] According to one embodiment of this disclosure, a method for communication by a wireless communication device through a channel is provided. The method includes: performing the transmission of a first sub-burst contained in a burst; after the transmission of the first sub-burst is completed, transmitting an HPT frame through the channel to indicate that the transmission of the burst is interruptible; and, within a predetermined time interval after the transmission of the HPT frame is completed, detecting whether the channel is busy to determine whether to perform the transmission of a second sub-burst contained in the burst.

[0006] In one embodiment of this disclosure, the predetermined time interval is the Point Coordination Function Inter-Frame Interval (PIFS).

[0007] In one embodiment of this disclosure, the HPT frame is implemented as a Clear Transmit (CTS) frame. The HPT frame includes a frame control field and a receiver address (RA) field; and one or more bits included in the frame control field and the RA field are used to indicate that the transmission of the burst is interruptible. The frame control field includes a further fragment subfield and a further data subfield, and bits corresponding to any field in the further fragment subfield and the further data subfield are used to indicate that the transmission of the burst is interruptible. The RA field is set to the media access control (MAC) address of the wireless communication device. Specifically, the MAC address includes an organization unique identifier (OUI) field, and bits in the OUI field indicating globally unique or locally managed information are used to indicate that the transmission of the burst is interruptible.

[0008] In one embodiment of this disclosure, the first sub-burst and the network allocation vector (NAV) of the HPT frame are preserved to extend to the beginning of the second sub-burst.

[0009] In one embodiment of this disclosure, the step of detecting whether the channel is busy within the predetermined time interval after the completion of the transmission of the HPT frame to determine whether to perform the transmission of the second sub-burst includes: terminating the transmission of the burst in response to detecting that the channel is busy within the predetermined time interval; and determining to perform the transmission of the second sub-burst in response to not detecting that the channel is busy within the predetermined time interval.

[0010] In one embodiment of this disclosure, the method further includes: when performing the transmission of the first sub-burst, in response to the wireless communication device anticipating the transmission of a PPDU of high-priority traffic, after the transmission of the first sub-burst is completed, terminating the transmission of the burst and performing an operation to serve the PPDU of the high-priority traffic.

[0011] According to one embodiment of this disclosure, a method for communication by a wireless communication device through a channel is provided. The method includes: determining whether an HPT frame is received through the channel in response to a PPDU (Presenting Per Second) of high-priority traffic expected to be transmitted, wherein the HPT frame indicates that a burst transmission performed through the channel is interruptible; transmitting a Send Request (RTS) frame through the channel in response to receiving the HPT frame, wherein the preamble of the RTS frame is generated based on parameters specifically for high-priority traffic; and transmitting the PPDU of the high-priority traffic through the channel in response to receiving a CTS (Content Transfer Request) frame corresponding to the RTS frame through the channel.

[0012] In one embodiment of this disclosure, the HPT frame is further used to indicate the NAV end time; and the method further includes: in response to receiving the HPT frame through the channel, determining whether the HPT frame has a correct Frame Check Sequence (FCS) value, and determining whether the NAV end time of the wireless communication device is not greater than the sum of the NAV end time indicated by the HPT frame and a predetermined time value.

[0013] In one embodiment of this disclosure, the method further includes: in response to the HPT frame having a correct FCS value and the NAV end time of the wireless communication device not being greater than the sum of the NAV end time indicated by the HPT frame and the predetermined time value, clearing the NAV of the wireless communication device and transmitting the RTS frame.

[0014] In one embodiment of this disclosure, the method further includes: applying an extended interframe spacing (EIFS) in response to the successful detection of a preamble of any RTS frame on the channel and the incorrect FCS value of the arbitrary RTS frame.

[0015] In one embodiment of this disclosure, the RTS frame has a non-high-throughput (non-HT) format and a data rate determined by parameters dedicated to high-priority traffic.

[0016] According to one embodiment of this disclosure, a wireless communication device is provided. The wireless communication device includes a wireless transceiver circuit and a processor, the processor being coupled to the wireless transceiver circuit and configured to communicate via a channel through the wireless transceiver circuit. For example, operations performed by the processor include: performing the transmission of a first sub-burst contained in a burst; after the transmission of the first sub-burst is completed, transmitting an HPT frame through the channel to indicate that the transmission of the burst is interruptible; and, within a predetermined time interval after the completion of the transmission of the HPT frame, detecting whether the channel is busy to determine whether to perform the transmission of a second sub-burst contained in the burst.

[0017] According to one embodiment of this disclosure, the predetermined time interval is PIFS.

[0018] According to one embodiment of this disclosure, the HPT frame is implemented by a CTS frame.

[0019] According to one embodiment of this disclosure, the processor is further configured to: terminate the transmission of the burst in response to detecting that the channel is busy within the predetermined time interval; and determine to perform the transmission of the second sub-burst in response to not detecting that the channel is busy within the predetermined time interval.

[0020] According to one embodiment of this disclosure, the processor is further configured to: when performing the transmission of the first sub-burst, in response to the wireless communication device anticipating the transmission of a physical layer protocol data unit (PPDU) of high-priority traffic, terminate the transmission of the burst after the transmission of the first sub-burst is completed, and perform operations to serve the PPDU of the high-priority traffic.

[0021] The methods and related wireless communication devices disclosed herein can transmit a high-priority trigger (HPT) frame after the transmission of a sub-burst contained in a burst is completed, to notify other wireless communication devices that the burst transmission performed by the interruptible burst (IB) initiator is interruptible, which can improve the latency of high-priority traffic with minimal impact on peak throughput.

[0022] These and other objects of the invention will be readily understood by those skilled in the art upon reading the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments illustrated in the accompanying drawings. A detailed description will be given in the following embodiments with reference to the accompanying drawings. Attached Figure Description

[0023] A more complete understanding of the invention can be obtained by reading the following detailed description and referring to the examples given in the accompanying drawings.

[0024] Figure 1 This is a schematic diagram illustrating a wireless communication device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0025] Figure 2 This is a schematic diagram illustrating the HPT frame format according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0026] Figure 3 This is a schematic diagram illustrating multiple subfields within the frame control field of an HPT frame according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0027] Figure 4 This is a schematic diagram illustrating the MAC address format of the RA field of an HPT frame according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0028] Figure 5 This is a schematic diagram illustrating an IB initiator performing an uninterrupted burst transmission according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0029] Figure 6 This is a schematic diagram illustrating an embodiment of the present disclosure whereby an IB initiator performs a burst transmission and is interrupted by itself.

[0030] Figure 7 This is a schematic diagram illustrating, according to an embodiment of the present disclosure, that an IB initiator performs a burst transmission and is interrupted by at least one non-IB initiator.

[0031] Figure 8 This is a schematic diagram illustrating an example of a burst transmission and HPT frame application scenario according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0032] Figure 9 This is a flowchart illustrating a method for communication by a wireless communication device through a channel according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0033] Figure 10 This is a flowchart illustrating a method for communication by a wireless communication device through a channel according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0034] In the following detailed description, numerous specific details are set forth for illustrative purposes so that those skilled in the art can more thoroughly understand the embodiments of the invention. However, it will be apparent that one or more embodiments may be practiced without these specific details, and different embodiments may be combined as needed, and should not be limited to the embodiments illustrated in the accompanying drawings. Detailed Implementation

[0035] The following description illustrates preferred embodiments of the present invention and is intended only to exemplify the technical features of the invention, not to limit the scope of the invention. Throughout this specification and claims, certain terms are used to refer to specific elements. Those skilled in the art should understand that manufacturers may use different names for the same element. Therefore, this specification and claims do not distinguish elements by differences in name, but rather by differences in function. The terms "element," "system," and "device" used in this invention can refer to computer-related entities, where the computer can be hardware, software, or a combination of hardware and software. The terms "comprising" and "including" as used in the following description and claims are open-ended terms and should be interpreted as "comprising, but not limited to...". Furthermore, the term "coupled" refers to an indirect or direct electrical connection. Therefore, if a device is described as coupled to another device, it means that the device can be directly electrically connected to the other device, or indirectly electrically connected to the other device through other devices or connection means.

[0036] Unless otherwise indicated, the corresponding numbers and symbols in the various figures generally refer to the corresponding parts. The figures are drawn to clearly illustrate the relevant parts of the embodiments and are not necessarily drawn to scale.

[0037] The terms "basically" or "roughly" as used in this document mean that, within an acceptable range, a person skilled in the art can solve the technical problem to be solved and basically achieve the desired technical effect. For example, "roughly equal to" means a method that a person skilled in the art can accept with a certain margin of error from "exactly equal to" without affecting the correctness of the result.

[0038] Figure 1 This is a schematic diagram of a wireless communication device 100 according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. For example, the wireless communication device 100 can operate according to embodiments of the present disclosure. Furthermore, the wireless communication device 100 can be implemented as an access point (AP) or a non-AP station (STA), depending on the actual design requirements. Figure 1 As shown, the wireless communication device 100 may include a wireless transceiver circuit 102 (e.g., one or more transceivers), at least one antenna 104, and a processor 106. The processor 106 is configured to communicate via a channel through the wireless transceiver circuit 102 according to embodiments of this disclosure. For example, the wireless transceiver circuit 102 may receive wireless signals from a wireless transmission channel CHL (hereinafter referred to as "channel CHL") via at least one antenna 104 and process the wireless signals to obtain received frames / packets. The wireless transceiver circuit 102 may also process frames / packets to be transmitted to obtain corresponding signals as wireless signals and transmit the wireless signals via at least one antenna 104.

[0039] In this embodiment, the wireless communication device 100 can be an interruptible burst (IB) initiator, and more specifically, it can employ an IB mechanism. For example, after successfully competing for the channel CHL and starting to transmit data through the channel CHL following a backoff procedure, the wireless communication device 100 can perform burst transmission through the channel CHL. This burst can include multiple sub-bursts, each of which can include operations involving the transmission of data frames (e.g., Physical Layer Protocol Data Units (PPDUs)) and Receive Block Acknowledgment (BA) frames. It should be noted that the first sub-burst executed by the wireless communication device 100 may optionally include an exchange operation with a request-to-send (RTS) / clear-to-send (CTS) frame from the target device. Understandably, it is permissible to transmit multiple sub-bursts within a single transmission opportunity (TXOP). The transmission of these sub-bursts is collectively referred to as the transmission of the burst, wherein the burst is interruptible after the transmission of a sub-burst is completed. Each sub-burst includes at least one frame exchange sequence (FES), such as transmitting a PPDU and receiving an acknowledgment frame (e.g., a BA frame).

[0040] In the IEEE 802.11 standard, the Enhanced Distributed Channel Access (EDCA) mechanism provides multiple access categories (ACs) to determine the priority of data transmission based on the urgency and importance of traffic. Examples include background AC_BK (AC0), best effort AC_BE (AC1), video AC_VI (AC2), and voice AC_VO (AC3). For the purposes of this disclosure, high-priority traffic can be traffic classified into access category AC3 as defined in the EDCA mechanism, and low-priority traffic can be traffic not classified into access category AC3, but this disclosure is not limited to these categories.

[0041] In some embodiments, high-priority traffic can be traffic classified as a higher version of AC3 (e.g., AC3+, which can be considered a new access class with a higher access priority than AC3). That is, low-priority traffic can be traffic not classified as a higher version of AC3 (e.g., AC3+).

[0042] In some embodiments, if another STA has an urgent traffic requirement (e.g., the STA needs to transmit an expiring PPDU via the same CHL channel), the STA can also be considered a high-priority STA. That is, depending on the use case, a PPDU carrying a specific type of traffic can be defined as a high-priority traffic PPDU. For example, a specific type of traffic could be traffic with the highest access priority among multiple access classes (ACs), traffic with a latency requirement less than that of low-latency traffic, and / or traffic urgently needed for transmission, etc. In summary, the traffic in a high-priority traffic PPDU differs from that in a regular PPDU in parameters / requirements such as access class or latency requirements.

[0043] When the wireless communication device 100 performs burst transmission through the channel CHL, the wireless communication device 100 can transmit a high-priority trigger (HPT) frame to notify / indicate that the burst transmission is interruptible (note that in embodiments of this disclosure, the HPT frame can also be referred to as an interruptible-notification frame), and give at least one other wireless communication device with high-priority traffic demand the opportunity to begin competing for the channel CHL after receiving the HPT frame. For example, the wireless communication device 100 can perform the transmission of the HPT frame after a sub-burst ends (e.g., at a point in time between the transmissions of two sub-bursts contained in the burst), and then detect whether the channel CHL is busy to perform subsequent operations.

[0044] Specifically, after the transmission of an HPT frame is completed, the wireless communication device 100 can detect whether the channel CHL is busy within a predetermined time interval. For example, this predetermined time interval can be the point coordination function interframe space (PIFS), which is slightly longer than the short interframe space (SIFS) and is defined as SIFS plus a time slot. In response to the absence of a busy channel CHL detected during the PIFS, the wireless communication device 100 can begin transmitting the next sub-burst. In response to the detection of a busy channel CHL during the PIFS, the wireless communication device 100 terminates the burst transmission and re-executes the backoff procedure to compete for the channel CHL.

[0045] Figure 2This is a schematic diagram illustrating the HPT frame format according to an embodiment of the present disclosure, wherein the HPT frame can be implemented using a CTS frame, but the present disclosure is not limited thereto. For example, the HPT frame can be implemented using a QoS null frame. For ease of explanation and understanding, the present disclosure uses a CTS frame to implement an HPT frame as an example. Figure 2 As shown, an HPT frame may include a frame control field of two octets, a duration field of two octets, a receiver address (RA) field of six octets, and a frame check sequence (FCS) field of four octets. In this embodiment, the RA field of the HPT frame may be set to the media access control (MAC) address of the IB initiator, and one or more bits contained in the frame control field and / or the RA field may be used to indicate that the burst transmission performed by the IB initiator through the CHL channel is interruptible.

[0046] Specifically, please see Figure 3 and Figure 4 . Figure 3 This is a schematic diagram illustrating multiple subfields within the frame control field of an HPT frame according to an embodiment of this disclosure. For example... Figure 3As shown, the frame control field of an HPT frame may include a protocol version sub-field with two bits (B0–B1), a type sub-field with two bits (B2–B3), a subtype sub-field with four bits (B4–B7), a to DS sub-field with one bit (B8), a from DS sub-field with one bit (B9), a more fragments sub-field with one bit (B10), a retry sub-field with one bit (B11), a power management sub-field with one bit (B12), a more data sub-field with one bit (B13), a protected frame sub-field with one bit (B14), and a +HTC sub-field with one bit (B15). It should be noted that the meaning of each subfield is well known to those skilled in the art, and therefore will not be repeated here for the sake of brevity. In this embodiment, the bits corresponding to any field in the More fragments subfield and More data subfield can be set to default values ​​(e.g., logical value "1") to indicate that burst transmissions are interruptible.

[0047] In embodiments of this disclosure, the RA field of the HPT frame can be set according to the MAC address of the IB initiator. Figure 4 This is a schematic diagram illustrating the MAC address format of the RA field in an HPT frame according to an embodiment of this disclosure. Figure 4As shown, a MAC address can be a six-byte address, where the first three bytes constitute the Organizationally Unique Identifier (OUI) field, and the last three bytes constitute the Network Interface Controller (NIC) Specific Field. In this embodiment, the bit b1 (often also called the local bit) within the OUI field, used to indicate globally unique or locally administered, can be set to a default / specific value (e.g., a logical value "1") to indicate that burst transmissions are interruptible.

[0048] Therefore, one or more bits included in the HPT frame can be used to indicate that a burst transmission performed by the IB initiator via the CHL channel is interruptible, wherein the one or more bits can be bits corresponding to more fragment subfields, bits corresponding to more data subfields, and / or bits in the OUI field used to indicate globally unique or locally managed information. That is, at least one of the above three bits can be set to a default / specific value (e.g., a logical value "1") to indicate that the burst transmission is interruptible. However, this disclosure is not limited thereto. For example, other bits in the HPT frame can also be used to indicate that the burst transmission is interruptible.

[0049] Figure 5 This is a schematic diagram illustrating an embodiment of the present disclosure of an IB initiator 500 performing an uninterrupted burst transmission, wherein the IB initiator 500 can be... Figure 1 The wireless communication device 100 shown is implemented. For example, in response to IB initiator 500 being implemented as an AP, the target device 550 of IB initiator 500 can be a STA. Similarly, in response to IB initiator 500 being implemented as a STA, the target device 550 can be an AP. For example, suppose IB initiator 500 has low-priority traffic demand (e.g., IB initiator 500 needs to transmit low-priority traffic PPDUs, such as multiple PPDUs 506 and 512). After IB initiator 500 performs a backoff procedure and successfully competes for the channel CHL, IB initiator 500 can begin to perform burst transmission (e.g., allocated to low-priority traffic) through the channel CHL at time t0, wherein the burst may include at least two sub-bursts, i.e., during the TXOP time, IB initiator 500 is allowed to perform transmission of at least two sub-bursts.

[0050] exist Figure 5In the illustrated embodiment, the burst includes sub-bursts SUB_B1 and SUB_B2. Sub-burst SUB_B1 may include operations of transmitting RTS frame 502, receiving CTS frame 504, transmitting PPDU 506, and receiving BA frame 508; while sub-burst SUB_B2 may include operations of transmitting PPDU 512 and receiving BA frame 514. In one example, the IB initiator receiving the BA frame can be considered as the completion of the sub-burst. For example, at time point t1, the transmission of sub-burst SUB_B1 is completed.

[0051] After completing the transmission of sub-burst SUB_B1 at time t1 and waiting for SIFS, wireless communication device 100 transmits HPT frame 510 through channel CHL to notify / indicate that the burst transmission performed by IB initiator 500 through channel CHL is interruptible. At time t2, the transmission of HPT frame 510 is completed, and IB initiator 500 begins to detect whether channel CHL is busy during the subsequent PIFS (equal to SIFS plus one time slot). In this exemplary embodiment, channel CHL busy is not detected during the subsequent PIFS. Therefore, IB initiator 500 can continue to perform the transmission of the next sub-burst SUB_B2 at time t7 without being interrupted.

[0052] It should be noted that the network allocation vector (NAV) reservation for each sub-burst (e.g., sub-burst SUB_B1) and the NAV reservation for subsequent HPT frames (e.g., HPT frame 510) can extend to the beginning of the next sub-burst (e.g., sub-burst SUB_B2). For example, for sub-burst SUB_B1 and HPT frame 510, the NAV reservation for RTS frame 502 (in...) Figure 5 The NAV is marked as "NAV_1" in CTS frame 504 and reserved (in Figure 5 The NAV of PPDU 506 is reserved (marked as "NAV_2" in the middle). Figure 5 The NAV reserved in BA frame 508 (marked as "NAV_3") is preserved. Figure 5 The NAV reserved in the 510 HPT frame (marked as "NAV_4") and the NAV reserved in the 510 HPT frame (in Figure 5 The end time of each NAV indicated in the data (marked as "NAV_5") can be located between the start and end times of the operation of PPDU 512 contained in the transmission subburst SUB_B2 (in Figure 5(marked as "navEndTimeOfSubFes"). In this case, for devices that cannot successfully recognize HPT frame 510 (e.g., conventional wireless communication devices), the NAV end time indicated by HPT frame 510 can ensure that the device will not perform any transmission operations before that NAV end time.

[0053] In addition, two time limits, IB_PpduTimeLimit and IB_BurstPeriodLimit, can be provided. IB_PpduTimeLimit refers to the maximum allowed duration of a single PPDU transmission within an interruptible burst (IB), while IB_BurstPeriodLimit refers to the maximum allowed duration during the entire interruptible burst. In other words, during an interruptible burst, the transmission time for each PPDU must not exceed the time limit IB_PpduTimeLimit (e.g., 1.5 milliseconds), and the transmission time during the burst itself must not exceed the time limit IB_BurstPeriodLimit (e.g., 6 milliseconds). For example, in... Figure 5 In the example embodiment, the time interval from the start of transmitting RTS frame 502 at time t0 to the reception of BA frame 514 at time t8 is required to be no greater than 6 milliseconds. Therefore, this ensures that high-priority traffic can be transmitted in a timely manner with a shorter delay.

[0054] Figure 6 This is a schematic diagram illustrating, according to an embodiment of the present disclosure, that the IB initiator 500 performs a burst transmission and is interrupted by itself. Figure 5 and Figure 6 The difference between the embodiments shown is that, in Figure 6 During the execution of subburst SUB_B1 transmission, IB initiator 500 suddenly has high-priority traffic (e.g., high-priority traffic PPDU 600, in...). Figure 6 (The part marked "HP PPDU") needs to be served. For example, during the operation of transmitting PPDU 506 (e.g., at time t3), IB initiator 500 has a high priority request (in... Figure 6 (This is marked as "HP traffic arrived"). The IB initiator 500 can terminate the burst transmission after completing the transmission of sub-burst SUB_B1, wait for SIFS (i.e., the time interval from time point t1 to time point t4), and then begin performing the operation of serving PPDU 600, for example, transmitting PPDU 600 to target device 550 and receiving BA frame 602 from target device 550. In this way, during the transmission of a burst allocated to low-priority traffic, the IB initiator 500 can directly transmit PPDU 600 for high-priority traffic without re-executing the backoff procedure.

[0055] Figure 7 This is a schematic diagram illustrating, according to an embodiment of the present disclosure, that an IB initiator 500 performs a burst transmission and is interrupted by at least one non-IB initiator (e.g., non-IB initiator 700), wherein the non-IB initiator 700 can be any wireless communication device with high priority requirements, such as the target device 550 of the IB initiator 500 with high priority requirements, or a third-party device different from the IB initiator 500 and the target device 550. Figure 5 and Figure 7 The difference between the embodiments shown is that, in Figure 7 During the transmission of subburst SUB_B1, non-IB initiator 700 has high-priority traffic that needs to be served (e.g., PPDU 706 for high-priority traffic). Figure 7 (marked as "HP PPDU"). For example, during the operation of transmitting PPDU 506 (e.g., at time point t3), non-IB initiator 700 has a high priority requirement (in... Figure 7 (marked as "HP trafficarrived").

[0056] Therefore, at time t2, i.e., when the transmission of HPT frame 510 is complete, in response to receiving HPT frame 510 through channel CHL, non-IB initiator 700 can determine whether the received HPT frame 510 has a correct Frame Check Sequence (FCS) value, whether the non-IB initiator 700's NAV end time is not greater than the sum of a predetermined time value and the NAV end time indicated by HPT frame 510, and whether the non-IB initiator 700 needs to serve high-priority traffic, where the predetermined time value is greater than or equal to zero. If so (i.e., the received HPT frame 510 has a correct FCS value, the non-IB initiator 700's NAV end time is not greater than the sum of the predetermined time value and the NAV end time indicated by HPT frame 510, and the non-IB initiator 700 needs to serve high-priority traffic), then the non-IB initiator 700's NAV can be cleared. That is, the non-IB initiator 700 will not be subject to the restriction of being prohibited from performing any transmission operations during the NAV end time indicated by HPT frame 510. After waiting for one SIFS (e.g., from time point t2 to time point t5), the non-IB initiator 700 can begin employing the high-priority EDCA mechanism (e.g., at time point t5). More specifically, the non-IB initiator 700 can utilize the RTS / CTS frame switching mechanism and special characteristics associated with the RTS frame to reduce the probability of collisions and improve the transmission latency of PPDUs for high-priority traffic, wherein the preamble of the RTS frame is generated based on parameters specifically for high-priority traffic. In particular, the RTS frame employed by the high-priority EDCA mechanism has a non-high throughput (non-HT) format and a data rate determined by parameters specifically for high-priority traffic.

[0057] Specifically, before transmitting the high-priority traffic PPDU 706, the non-IB initiator 700 can transmit an RTS frame 702 to the corresponding target device 750 in advance to determine whether the target device 750 can receive the PPDU 706. Then, after receiving the CTS frame 704 from the target device 750, it transmits the PPDU 706 to the target device 750. In the case where another non-IB initiator wishes to transmit low-priority traffic PPDUs through the CHL channel, due to specific characteristics associated with the RTS frame, this other non-IB initiator with low-priority requirements can apply an extended interframe space (EIFS) to prevent competition with the high-priority non-IB initiator 700 for the CHL channel. The EIFS has a longer interframe space compared to SIFS and PIFS.

[0058] For example, the concept of parameters dedicated to high-priority traffic is introduced, and the preamble of the RTS frame is generated based on these parameters. Therefore, the preambles of multiple RTS frames associated with high-priority traffic generated by different wireless communication devices based on the same parameters are identical. In this embodiment, at time point t5, the RTS frames associated with high-priority traffic (e.g., RTS frame 702 transmitted by a non-IB initiator 700 and at least one other RTS frame transmitted by an additional non-IB initiator with high-priority requirements that received the HPT frame 510) include a preamble and a MAC portion. The preamble is generated based on the same parameters dedicated to high-priority traffic, and the preambles of any two of these RTS frames are identical. For example, an additional AP can broadcast / announce parameters dedicated to high-priority traffic to all STAs in the Basic Service Set (BSS) in a beacon frame to generate the same preamble for RTS frames associated with high-priority traffic. In another example, parameters dedicated to high-priority traffic can be determined based on the preamble of the last PPDU received through the channel CHL (e.g., the PPDU containing HPT frame 510).

[0059] In one embodiment, parameters dedicated to high-priority traffic may indicate the format of the RTS frames associated with the high-priority traffic, wherein the RTS frames associated with the high-priority traffic have a non-high-throughput (non-HT) format and a specific data rate. Therefore, the RTS frames associated with high-priority traffic transmitted by non-IB initiator 700 / at least one additional non-IB initiator have a non-HT format and the same data rate. Furthermore, the parameters dedicated to high-priority traffic may also indicate the carrier frequency used for transmitting the preamble of the RTS frames associated with high-priority traffic. Therefore, the carrier frequencies used for transmitting the preamble of the RTS frames associated with high-priority traffic are the same. For example, the carrier frequency offset (CFO) of the preamble of the RTS frames associated with high-priority traffic meets specific requirements. Therefore, before transmitting RTS frame 702, non-IB initiator 700 may generate the preamble of RTS frame 702 according to the parameters dedicated to high-priority traffic. Similarly, at least one additional non-IB initiator may generate the preamble of at least one additional RTS frame according to the parameters dedicated to high-priority traffic. In this embodiment, the preamble of RTS frame 702 is the same as the preamble of at least one additional RTS frame.

[0060] The identical preamble in each RTS frame associated with high-priority traffic indicates the end of the RTS frame's transmission time. Furthermore, due to the identical preamble in the RTS frames, any device in a receiving state (e.g., a STA) can successfully decode the preamble of an RTS frame but detect an FCS error in the MAC portion of the RTS frame (i.e., the FCS value of the RTS frame is incorrect). Also, devices that do not have high-priority traffic PPDUs to transmit at that moment, or devices that successfully decoded the preamble but detected an FCS error, apply Extended Interframe Spacing (EIFS) at the end of the RTS frame's transmission time to prepare for the next transmission. During the application of EIFS, devices are prohibited from performing any backoff procedures. For example, after completing the operation of PPDU 706 serving high-priority traffic, if other wireless communication devices that received HPT frame 510 are still transmitting RTS frames associated with high-priority traffic to compete for the channel CHL, and if a non-IB initiator 700 has low-priority requirements or successfully decoded the preamble but detected an FCS error associated with the RTS frame, the non-IB initiator 700 can also apply EIFS at the end of the transmission time of these RTS frames.

[0061] In this way, during a retry operation, the device executing the backoff procedure is limited to those associated with high-priority traffic demands. Specifically, only the device associated with the last collision event can compete for the CHL channel during a single retry operation, which allows collision events to converge rapidly. Since the focus of this disclosure is not on the collision transition mechanism used when multiple devices simultaneously compete for the CHL channel, but rather on how burst and HPT frame transmission can be combined with a collision transition mechanism, further description is omitted here for brevity.

[0062] For IB initiator 500, at time t2 after the transmission of HPT frame 510 is completed, IB initiator 500 begins to detect whether channel CHL is busy during the subsequent PIFS period. In this embodiment, channel CHL is detected as busy during the subsequent PIFS period. Therefore, IB initiator 500 can terminate the transmission of the burst, for example, if the burst is a low-priority (also known as low AC) IB. Therefore, the originally scheduled sub-burst SUB_B2 was not transmitted, and IB initiator 500 can re-execute the backoff procedure.

[0063] Figure 8 This is a schematic diagram illustrating applicable scenarios for the transmission of burst and HPT frames according to embodiments of this disclosure. Figure 8As shown, each of AP 800 and STA 806 can be implemented by a wireless communication device 100 capable of operating according to embodiments of this disclosure, and each conventional STA 802 and 804 can be a STA that does not support the features of the disclosed embodiments, wherein AP 800 can employ the above-described HPT frame transmission mechanism, and STA 806 can successfully identify the received HPT frame. For example, each of AP 800 and STA 806 can be an ultra-high reliability (UHR) AP / STA conforming to Wi-Fi 8th generation (e.g., UHR generation) or later Wi-Fi generations, but this disclosure is not limited thereto.

[0064] In this embodiment, AP 800 can be an IB initiator and, after successfully acquiring channel CHL, can perform low-priority IB (e.g., labeled "low AC IB" in the figure) transmissions with conventional STA 804 via channel CHL. Conventional STA 802 and STA 806 both have high-priority requirements (e.g., labeled "High AC traffic" in the figure). For example, at the transmission time point between two sub-bursts of a low-priority IB, AP 800 can transmit an HPT frame via channel CHL to notify the STAs with high-priority requirements (i.e., conventional STA 802 and STA 806) that the data transmission performed by AP 800 via channel CHL is interruptible. For STA 806, after receiving the HPT frame and waiting for SIFS, the aforementioned high-priority EDCA mechanism can be used to interrupt the low-priority IB transmission and begin accessing channel CHL. For conventional STA 802, after receiving the HPT frame, conventional STA 802 will be subject to the restriction that no transmission operations are allowed during the NAV period indicated by the HPT frame.

[0065] Figure 9 This is a flowchart illustrating a method for communication by a wireless communication device via a channel CHL according to an embodiment of this disclosure. It is assumed that the results are substantially the same, and the steps do not need to be followed. Figure 9 The exact order of execution is shown. For example, Figure 9 The method shown can be derived from Figure 1 The wireless communication device 100 shown (e.g., Figure 5 The IB initiator 500 shown is adopted.

[0066] In step S900, the transmission of the first sub-burst contained in the burst is performed. For example, the first sub-burst could be... Figure 5 The subburst shown is SUB_B1.

[0067] In step S902, after the transmission of sub-burst SUB_B1 is completed, HPT frames are transmitted through channel CHL (e.g., Figure 5 The HPT frame 510 shown indicates that the burst transmission is interruptible.

[0068] For example, the HPT frame can be implemented using a CTS frame. The HPT frame may include a frame control field and an RA field, and one or more bits included in the frame control field and the RA field are used to indicate that the transmission of the burst is interruptible. The frame control field includes a more fragment subfield and a more data subfield, and bits corresponding to any field in the more fragment subfield and the more data subfield are used to indicate that the transmission of the burst is interruptible. The RA field is set to the MAC address of the wireless communication device 100. The MAC address includes an OUI field, and bits in the OUI field used to indicate globally unique or locally managed information are used to indicate that the transmission of the burst is interruptible.

[0069] In addition, the NAV reservation of subburst SUB_B1 and the HPT frame extends to the beginning of subburst SUB_B2.

[0070] In step S904, within a predetermined time interval (e.g., PIFS) after the completion of the transmission of the HPT frame, it is detected whether the channel CHL is busy to determine whether to execute the transmission of a second sub-burst contained in the burst. For example, the second sub-burst could be... Figure 5 The subburst shown is SUB_B2.

[0071] For example, in response to the detection that the channel is busy within the predetermined time interval, the transmission of the burst is terminated. In response to the detection that the channel is not busy within the predetermined time interval, the transmission of sub-burst SUB_B2 is determined to be performed.

[0072] Furthermore, when transmitting sub-burst SUB_B1, in response to the wireless communication device 100 anticipating the transmission of a PPDU for high-priority traffic, after the transmission of sub-burst SUB_B1 is completed, the transmission of the burst is terminated, and the operation of serving the PPDU for the high-priority traffic is performed.

[0073] Since those skilled in the art can easily understand the details of the steps after reading the above paragraphs, further descriptions are omitted here for the sake of brevity.

[0074] Figure 10 This is a flowchart illustrating a method for communication by a wireless communication device via a channel CHL according to an embodiment of this disclosure. It is assumed that the results are substantially the same, and the steps do not need to be followed. Figure 10 The exact order of execution is shown. For example, Figure 10 The method shown can be derived from Figure 1 The wireless communication device 100 shown (e.g., Figure 7 The non-IB initiator 700 shown is adopted.

[0075] In step S1000, in response to the expected transmission of a PPDU of high-priority traffic, it is determined whether an HPT frame is received through the channel CHL, wherein the HPT frame indicates that the burst transmission performed through the channel CHL is interruptible.

[0076] In step S1002, in response to receiving the HPT frame, an RTS frame is transmitted through the CHL channel, wherein the preamble of the RTS frame is generated based on parameters dedicated to high-priority traffic. For example, the RTS frame has a non-HT format and a data rate determined by parameters dedicated to high-priority traffic.

[0077] In one embodiment, the HPT frame further indicates the NAV end time. In response to receiving the HPT frame via the CHL channel, it is determined whether the HPT frame has a correct FCS value, and whether the NAV end time of the wireless communication device 100 is not greater than the sum of the NAV end time indicated by the HPT frame and a predetermined time value. In response to the HPT frame having a correct FCS value and the NAV end time of the wireless communication device 100 not being greater than the sum of the NAV end time indicated by the HPT frame and the predetermined time value, the NAV of the wireless communication device 100 is cleared and the RTS frame is transmitted.

[0078] In addition, EIFS is applied in response to the successful detection of the preamble of any RTS frame on the CHL channel and the incorrect FCS value of that RTS frame.

[0079] In step S1004, in response to receiving a CTS frame corresponding to the RTS frame via the CHL channel, the PPDU of the high-priority traffic is transmitted via the CHL channel.

[0080] Since those skilled in the art can easily understand the details of the steps after reading the above paragraphs, further descriptions are omitted here for the sake of brevity.

[0081] In summary, the various methods and related wireless communication devices of this disclosure can, after the completion of the transmission of one sub-burst contained in a burst, transmit an HPT frame between two sub-bursts contained in the burst by an IB initiator to notify other wireless communication devices (e.g., devices with high priority requirements) that the burst transmission performed by the IB initiator is interruptible. This can improve the latency of high-priority traffic with minimal impact on peak throughput. This mechanism is applicable to various scenarios, such as downlink (DL) transmission, uplink (UL) transmission, or trigger-based UL transmission. For STAs with high priority requirements, this mechanism can be combined with RTS / CTS frame switching mechanisms and specific functions associated with RTS frames to reduce the probability of collisions, thereby eliminating the need for APs to perform polling or triggering. Furthermore, this mechanism does not affect the original data transmission and reception behavior of conventional STAs, as conventional STAs can still suspend any transmission operation according to the NAV time period indicated by the HPT frame and the sub-burst, thus ensuring the broader applicability of this disclosure.

[0082] While the invention has been described by way of example and according to preferred embodiments, it should be understood that the invention is not limited to the disclosed embodiments. Rather, it is intended to cover various variations and similar structures (as will be apparent to those skilled in the art), such as combinations or substitutions of different features in different embodiments. Therefore, the scope of the appended claims should be given the broadest interpretation to cover all such variations and similar structures.

Claims

1. A method of communicating by a wireless communication device over a channel, comprising: performing transmission of a first sub-burst included in a burst; transmitting, after completion of the transmission of the first sub-burst, a high priority trigger (HPT) frame over the channel to indicate that the transmission of the burst is interruptible; and detecting, within a predetermined time interval after completion of the transmission of the HPT frame, whether the channel is busy to determine whether to perform transmission of a second sub-burst included in the burst.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein, The predetermined time interval is a point coordination function interframe space (PIFS).

3. The method of claim 1, wherein, The HPT frame is implemented by a clear to send (CTS) frame.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein, The HPT frame includes a frame control field and a receiver address (RA) field; and one or more bits included in the frame control field and the RA field are used to indicate that the transmission of the burst is interruptible.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein, The frame control field includes a more fragments subfield and a more data subfield, and bits corresponding to any of the more fragments subfield and the more data subfield are used to indicate that the transmission of the burst is interruptible.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein, The RA field is set to a media access control (MAC) address of the wireless communication device.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein, The MAC address includes an organization unique identifier (OUI) field, and bits in the OUI field used to indicate globally unique or locally administered are used to indicate that the transmission of the burst is interruptible.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein, A network allocation vector (NAV) reservation of the first sub-burst and the HPT frame extends to a start of the second sub-burst.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein, The step of detecting, within the predetermined time interval after completion of the transmission of the HPT frame, whether the channel is busy to determine whether to perform transmission of the second sub-burst includes: terminating the transmission of the burst in response to detecting that the channel is busy within the predetermined time interval; and determining to perform transmission of the second sub-burst in response to not detecting that the channel is busy within the predetermined time interval.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein, The method further includes: terminating the transmission of the burst after completion of the transmission of the first sub-burst and performing an operation to serve a physical layer protocol data unit (PPDU) of high priority traffic in response to the wireless communication device expecting to transmit the PPDU of the high priority traffic while performing the transmission of the first sub-burst.

11. A method of communicating by a wireless communication device over a channel, comprising: determining whether a high priority trigger (HPT) frame is received over the channel in response to expecting to transmit a physical layer protocol data unit (PPDU) of high priority traffic, wherein the HPT frame indicates that a burst transmission performed over the channel is interruptible; transmitting, in response to receiving the HPT frame over the channel, a request to send (RTS) frame over the channel, wherein a preamble of the RTS frame is generated based on parameters dedicated for high priority traffic; and transmitting, in response to receiving a clear to send (CTS) frame corresponding to the RTS frame over the channel, the PPDU of the high priority traffic.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein, The HPT frame is further used to indicate a network allocation vector (NAV) end time; and the method further includes: In response to receiving the HPT frame over the channel, it is determined whether the HPT frame has a correct frame check sequence (FCS) value and whether a network allocation vector (NAV) end time of the wireless communication device is not greater than a sum of a NAV end time indicated by the HPT frame and a predetermined time value.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein, The method further includes: In response to the HPT frame having the correct FCS value and the NAV end time of the wireless communication device being not greater than the sum of the NAV end time indicated by the HPT frame and the predetermined time value, clearing the NAV of the wireless communication device and transmitting the RTS frame.

14. The method of claim 11, wherein, The method further includes: In response to successfully detecting a preamble of any RTS frame over the channel and a frame check sequence (FCS) value of the any RTS frame being incorrect, applying an extended interframe space (EIFS).

15. The method of claim 11, wherein, The RTS frame has a non-high throughput format and has a data rate determined by parameters specific to high priority traffic.

16. A wireless communication device comprising: wireless transceiver circuitry, and a processor coupled to the wireless transceiver circuitry and configured to communicate via the wireless transceiver circuitry over a channel, wherein the communication includes: performing transmission of a first sub-burst included in a burst; after completion of the transmission of the first sub-burst, transmitting a high priority trigger (HPT) frame over the channel to indicate that transmission of the burst is interruptible; and within a predetermined time interval after completion of the transmission of the HPT frame, detecting whether the channel is busy to determine whether to perform transmission of a second sub-burst included in the burst.

17. The wireless communication device of claim 16, wherein, The predetermined time interval is a point coordination function interframe space (PIFS).

18. The wireless communication device of claim 16, wherein, The HPT frame is implemented by a clear to send (CTS) frame.

19. The wireless communication device of claim 16, wherein, The processor is further configured to: in response to detecting that the channel is busy within the predetermined time interval, terminate transmission of the burst; and in response to not detecting that the channel is busy within the predetermined time interval, determine to perform transmission of the second sub-burst.

20. The wireless communication device of claim 16, wherein, The processor is further configured to: while performing transmission of the first sub-burst, in response to the wireless communication device expecting to transmit a physical layer protocol data unit (PPDU) of high priority traffic, after completion of the transmission of the first sub-burst, terminate transmission of the burst and perform operations on the PPDU serving the high priority traffic.

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