Interference management for concurrent multiple node transmission in wireless network

Abstract

This disclosure provides methods, components, devices and systems for interference management in multiple user wireless local area network (WLAN) systems. Some aspects more specifically relate to a method for wireless communication at a wireless node. In some examples, the method includes estimating interference associated with concurrent transmissions by multiple wireless nodes; identifying pairs of transmitting and receiving wireless nodes that meet one or more conditions for enabling a concurrent multi-node transmission; and performing one or more actions based on the pairs of transmitting and receiving wireless nodes and the estimated interference.

Description

INTERFERENCE MANAGEMENT FOR CONCURRENT MULTIPLE NODE TRANSMISSION IN WIRELESS NETWORKCROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

[0001] This application claims benefit of and priority to India Patent Application No. 202341053955, filed August 11, 2023, which is hereby incorporated by reference in their entireties.TECHNICAL FIELD

[0001] This disclosure relates generally to wireless communication, and more specifically, to interference management for concurrent multiple node transmission in wireless networks.DESCRIPTION OF THE RELATED TECHNOLOGY

[0002] Wireless communications systems are widely deployed to provide various telecommunication services such as telephony, video, data, messaging, broadcasts, or other similar types of services. These wireless communications systems may employ multiple-access technologies capable of supporting communications with multiple users by sharing available wireless communications system resources with those users.

[0003] One example of a wireless communication system is a wireless local area network (WLAN). A WLAN may be formed by one or more wireless access points (APs) that provide a shared wireless communication medium for use by multiple client devices also referred to as wireless stations (STAs). The basic building block of a WLAN conforming to the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 family of standards is a Basic Service Set (BSS), which is managed by an AP. Each BSS is identified by a Basic Service Set Identifier (BSSID) that is advertised by the AP. An AP periodically broadcasts beacon frames to enable any STAs within wireless range of the AP to establish or maintain a communication link with the WLAN.

[0004] In some WLANs, wireless interference limits the capacity of the network to reliably meet latency and throughput targets, such as demanded by use cases including augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR), gaming, and the like which require high throughput and very low latency.SUMMARY

[0005] The systems, methods and devices of this disclosure each have several innovative aspects, no single one of which is solely responsible for the desirable attributes disclosed herein.

[0006] One innovative aspect of the subject matter described in this disclosure can be implemented in a method for wireless communication at a wireless node. The method includes estimating interference associated with concurrent transmissions by multiple wireless nodes; identifying pairs of transmitting and receiving wireless nodes that meet one or more conditions for enabling a concurrent multi-node transmission; and performing one or more actions based on the pairs of transmitting and receiving wireless nodes and the estimated interference.

[0007] Another innovative aspect of the subject matter described in this disclosure can be implemented in a wireless node. The wireless node includes memory storing computer executable instructions thereon. The wireless node includes one or more processors configures to execute the computer executable instructions and cause the wireless node to estimate interference associated with concurrent transmissions by multiple wireless nodes; identify pairs of transmitting and receiving wireless nodes that meet one or more conditions for enabling a concurrent multi-node transmission; and perform one or more actions based on the pairs of transmitting and receiving wireless nodes and the estimated interference.

[0008] Another innovative aspect of the subject matter described in this disclosure can be implemented in an apparatus. The apparatus includes means for estimating interference associated with concurrent transmissions by multiple wireless nodes; means for identifying pairs of transmitting and receiving wireless nodes that meet one or more conditions for enabling a concurrent multi-node transmission; and means for performing one or more actions based on the pairs of transmitting and receiving wireless nodes and the estimated interference.

[0009] Another innovative aspect of the subject matter described in this disclosure can be implemented in a computer readable medium comprising computer executable code stored thereon. The computer executable code includes code for estimating interference associated with concurrent transmissions by multiple wireless nodes; code for identifying pairs of transmitting and receiving wireless nodes that meet one or more conditions for enabling a concurrent multinode transmission; and code for performing one or more actions based on the pairs of transmitting and receiving wireless nodes and the estimated interference.

[0010] Details of one or more implementations of the subject matter described in this disclosure are set forth in the accompanying drawings and the description below. Other features,aspects, and advantages will become apparent from the description, the drawings and the claims.Note that the relative dimensions of the following figures may not be drawn to scale.BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0011] Figure 1 shows a pictorial diagram of an example wireless communication network.

[0012] Figure 2 shows a pictorial diagram of an example MAP architecture.

[0013] Figure 3 shows a call flow diagram of an example method for centralized interference management in a multiple node (multi-node) wireless communication network.

[0014] Figure 4 shows a pictorial diagram of an example use case for centralized interference management in a multi-node system.

[0015] Figure 5 shows a call flow diagram of an example method for distributed and autonomous interference management in a multi-node wireless communication network.

[0016] Figure 6 shows a pictorial diagram of an example use case for distributed interference management in a multi-node wireless communication network.

[0017] Figure 7 shows a pictorial diagram of an example use case for autonomous interference management in a multi-node wireless communication network.

[0018] Figure 8 shows a flowchart illustrating an example process performable by or at a wireless node that supports interference management in a multi-node wireless communication network.

[0019] Figure 9 shows a block diagram of an example wireless communication device that supports interference management in a multi-node wireless communication network.

[0020] Like reference numbers and designations in the various drawings indicate like elements.DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0021] The following description is directed to some examples for the purposes of describing innovative aspects of this disclosure. However, a person having ordinary skill in the art will readily recognize that the teachings herein can be applied in a multitude of different ways. Some or all of the described examples may be implemented in any device, system or network that is capable of transmitting and receiving radio frequency (RF) signals according to one or more of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 standards, the IEEE 802.15standards, the Bluetooth® standards as defined by the Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG), or the Long Term Evolution (LTE), 3G, 4G or 5G (New Radio (NR)) standards promulgated by the 3rdGeneration Partnership Project (3GPP), among others. The described examples can be implemented in any device, system or network that is capable of transmitting and receiving RF signals according to one or more of the following technologies or techniques: code division multiple access (CDMA), time division multiple access (TDMA), orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM), frequency division multiple access (FDMA), orthogonal FDMA (OFDMA), single-carrier FDMA (SC-FDMA), spatial division multiple access (SDMA), ratesplitting multiple access (RSMA), multi-user shared access (MUSA), single-user (SU) multipleinput multiple-output (MIMO) and multi-user (MU)-MIMO (MU-MIMO). The described examples also can be implemented using other wireless communication protocols or RF signals suitable for use in one or more of a wireless personal area network (WPAN), a wireless local area network (WLAN), a wireless wide area network (WWAN), a wireless metropolitan area network (WMAN), or an internet of things (IOT) network.

[0022] Various aspects relate generally to interference management for concurrent multinode transmission in wireless networks. In a WLAN, the multiple wireless nodes may include APs and non-AP STAs. In some aspects, the wireless nodes may transmit concurrently and the concurrent transmission may cause interference to other wireless nodes. For example, in a multiple AP (MAP) concurrent transmission, a first AP may transmit downlink signals to one of its associated STAs and the downlink transmission may cause interference to a downlink transmission by a second AP to a second STA associated with the second AP.

[0023] It should be understood that while some aspects of the disclosure are described with respect to concurrent MAP transmissions, interference may be caused by uplink transmissions of non-AP STAs, by transmissions between STAs, or various combinations thereof. Further, while some aspects of the disclosure are described with respect to concurrent MU transmissions in a WLAN, the interference management may be for concurrent multi-node transmissions in other networks, such as a WWAN (e.g., 5GNR networks).

[0024] To detect the interference caused by concurrent transmissions by multiple users, wireless nodes can perform signal quality measurements, such as signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and / or receive signal strength indicator (RSSI) measurements. In some aspects, the signal quality measurements are based on request-to-send (RTS) and clear-to-send (CTS) messages. In someaspects, APs can measure signal quality of STAs that are not associated with that AP (e.g., that are associated with different APs).

[0025] In some aspects, the signal quality measurements are used to estimate interference associated with concurrent MU transmissions. Based on the interference estimations, feasible links clusters can be identified. Feasible link clusters may include pairs of transmitting devices and receiving devices that can perform concurrent MU transmissions that meet one or more target quality-of-service (QoS) criteria. In some aspects, a feasible link cluster includes a set of APs that do not interfere the STAs of any other APs in the feasible link cluster. In some aspects, a feasible link cluster includes a set of links that do not interfere any other links in the feasible link cluster. In some aspects, one or more access constraints can be applied to a wireless node in order to reduce interference caused by the wireless node, such that the wireless node can be added to feasible link cluster.

[0026] One or more actions, such as scheduling, resource assignments, transmit power adaptation, de-sensing, modulation and coding scheme (MCS) selection, antenna chain configuration, channel frequency selection, and / or time division multiplexing (TDM) scheduling, can be taken based on the interference estimation and identification of the feasible link clusters.

[0027] Some aspects relate to centralized real-time interference management for concurrent transmissions in an MU WLAN system. In some aspects, the centralized real-time interference management may include APs reporting signal quality measurements and associated STA identifiers (IDs) to a central network controller. Based on the measurement reporting, the network controller can estimate the interference associated with concurrent MU transmissions and, based on the interference estimations, the network controller can identify feasible links clusters and perform one or more actions. The centralized real-time interference management for concurrent MU channel access may provide interference control for efficient network utilization and QoS guarantees.

[0028] Some aspects relate to distributed real-time interference management in an MU WLAN system. In some aspects, for distributed real-time interference management, APs measure signal quality and estimate interference of links between the APs and STAs detected by the APs. The APs may select an MCS that satisfies a target QoS criteria (e.g., latency and / or throughput) based on the interference estimate. The APs can then exchange information in order to estimate a signal-to-interference ratio (SIR) for concurrent MU transmission and perform one or more actions.

[0029] Some aspects relate to autonomous real-time interference management in an MU WiFi system. In autonomous real-time interference management, wireless nodes can independently manage interference based on the links it detects. In multi-band capable Wi-Fi systems, the realtime interference management could run autonomously on each of the radio bands.

[0030] In some aspects, the interference management may be a hybrid of central, distributed, and / or autonomous interference management.

[0031] In some aspects, the one or more actions includes selecting or scheduling transmitting and receiving wireless nodes for concurrent transmissions, adapting a transmit power MCS, frequency, time division duplexing (TDD) configuration, or other parameters of one or more transmitting wireless nodes.

[0032] Particular aspects of the subject matter described in this disclosure can be implemented to realize one or more of the following potential advantages. In some examples, by selecting feasible link clusters and adapting parameters the described techniques can be used to mitigate or avoid interference, increase network utilization efficiency, guarantee target QoS (and / or target throughput and / or target latency) thereby improving user experience, save power, and / or aid in real time system diagnostics.

[0033] Figure 1 shows a pictorial diagram of an example wireless communication network 100. According to some aspects, the wireless communication network 100 can be an example of a WLAN such as a Wi-Fi network. For example, the wireless communication network 100 can be a network implementing at least one of the IEEE 802.11 family of wireless communication protocol standards (such as defined by the IEEE 802.11-2020 specification or amendments thereof including, but not limited to, 802. Hay, 802.1 lax, 802.11 az, 802.11ba, 802.11bd, 802.11be, 802.11bf, and 802.11bn). In some other examples, the wireless communication network 100 can be an example of a cellular radio access network (RAN), such as a 5G or 6G RAN that implements one or more cellular protocols such as those specified in one or more 3 GPP standards. In some other examples, the wireless communication network 100 can include a WLAN that functions in an interoperable or converged manner with one or more cellular RANs to provide greater or enhanced network coverage to wireless communication devices within the wireless communication network 100 or to enable such devices to connect to a cellular network’s core, such as to access the network management capabilities and functionality offered by the cellular network core.

[0034] The wireless communication network 100 may include numerous wireless communication devices including at least one wireless AP 102 and any number of wireless STAs 104. While only one AP 102 is shown in Figure 1, the wireless communication network 100 can include multiple APs 102. The AP 102 can be or represent various different types of network entities including, but not limited to, a home networking AP, an enterprise-level AP, a singlefrequency AP, a dual -band simultaneous (DBS) AP, a tri -band simultaneous (TBS) AP, a standalone AP, a non-standalone AP, a software-enabled AP (soft AP), and a multi-link AP (also referred to as an AP multi-link device (MLD)), as well as cellular (such as 3GPP, 4G LTE, 5G or 6G) base stations or other cellular network nodes such as a Node B, an evolved Node B (eNB), a gNB, a transmission reception point (TRP) or another type of device or equipment included in a radio access network (RAN), including Open-RAN (O-RAN) network entities, such as a central unit (CU), a distributed unit (DU) or a radio unit (RU).

[0035] Each of the STAs 104 also may be referred to as a mobile station (MS), a mobile device, a mobile handset, a wireless handset, an access terminal (AT), a user equipment (UE), a subscriber station (SS), or a subscriber unit, among other examples. The STAs 104 may represent various devices such as mobile phones, other handheld or wearable communication devices, netbooks, notebook computers, tablet computers, laptops, Chromebooks, augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR), mixed reality (MR) or extended reality (XR) wireless headsets or other peripheral devices, wireless earbuds, other wearable devices, display devices (for example, TVs, computer monitors or video gaming consoles), video game controllers, navigation systems, music or other audio or stereo devices, remote control devices, printers, kitchen appliances (including smart refrigerators) or other household appliances, key fobs (for example, for passive keyless entry and start (PKES) systems), Internet of Things (loT) devices, and vehicles, among other examples.

[0036] A single AP 102 and an associated set of STAs 104 may be referred to as a basic service set (BSS), which is managed by the respective AP 102. Figure 1 additionally shows an example coverage area 108 of the AP 102, which may represent a basic service area (BSA) of the wireless communication network 100. The BSS may be identified by STAs 104 and other devices by a service set identifier (SSID), as well as a basic service set identifier (BSSID), which may be a medium access control (MAC) address of the AP 102. The AP 102 may periodically broadcast beacon frames (“beacons”) including the BSSID to enable any STAs 104 within wireless range of the AP 102 to “associate” or re-associate with the AP 102 to establish a respective communication link 106 (hereinafter also referred to as a “Wi-Fi link”), or to maintain acommunication link 106, with the AP 102. For example, the beacons can include an identification or indication of a primary channel used by the respective AP 102 as well as a timing synchronization function (TSF) for establishing or maintaining timing synchronization with the AP 102. The AP 102 may provide access to external networks to various STAs 104 in the wireless communication network 100 via respective communication links 106.

[0037] To establish a communication link 106 with an AP 102, each of the STAs 104 is configured to perform passive or active scanning operations (“scans”) on frequency channels in one or more frequency bands (for example, the 2.4 GHz, 5 GHz, 6 GHz, 45 GHz, or 60 GHz bands). To perform passive scanning, a STA 104 listens for beacons, which are transmitted by respective APs 102 at periodic time intervals referred to as target beacon transmission times (TBTTs). To perform active scanning, a STA 104 generates and sequentially transmits probe requests on each channel to be scanned and listens for probe responses from APs 102. Each STA 104 may identify, determine, ascertain, or select an AP 102 with which to associate in accordance with the scanning information obtained through the passive or active scans, and to perform authentication and association operations to establish a communication link 106 with the selected AP 102. The selected AP 102 assigns an association identifier (AID) to the STA 104 at the culmination of the association operations, which the AP 102 uses to track the STA 104.

[0038] As a result of the increasing ubiquity of wireless networks, a STA 104 may have the opportunity to select one of many BSSs within range of the STA 104 or to select among multiple APs 102 that together form an extended service set (ESS) including multiple connected BSSs. For example, the wireless communication network 100 may be connected to a wired or wireless distribution system that may enable multiple APs 102 to be connected in such an ESS. As such, a STA 104 can be covered by more than one AP 102 and can associate with different APs 102 at different times for different transmissions. Additionally, after association with an AP 102, a STA 104 also may periodically scan its surroundings to find a more suitable AP 102 with which to associate. For example, a STA 104 that is moving relative to its associated AP 102 may perform a “roaming” scan to find another AP 102 having more desirable network characteristics such as a greater received signal strength indicator (RS SI) or a reduced traffic load.

[0039] In some cases, STAs 104 may form networks without APs 102 or other equipment other than the STAs 104 themselves. One example of such a network is an ad hoc network (or wireless ad hoc network). Ad hoc networks may alternatively be referred to as mesh networks or peer-to-peer (P2P) networks. In some cases, ad hoc networks may be implemented within a largernetwork such as the wireless communication network 100. In such examples, while the STAs 104 may be capable of communicating with each other through the AP 102 using communication links 106, STAs 104 also can communicate directly with each other via direct wireless communication links 110. Additionally, two STAs 104 may communicate via a direct communication link 110 regardless of whether both STAs 104 are associated with and served by the same AP 102. In such an ad hoc system, one or more of the STAs 104 may assume the role filled by the AP 102 in a BSS. Such a STA 104 may be referred to as a group owner (GO) and may coordinate transmissions within the ad hoc network. Examples of direct wireless communication links 110 include Wi-Fi Direct connections, connections established by using a Wi-Fi Tunneled Direct Link Setup (TDLS) link, and other P2P group connections.

[0040] In some networks, the AP 102 or the STAs 104, or both, may support applications associated with high throughput or low-latency requirements, or may provide lossless audio to one or more other devices. For example, the AP 102 or the STAs 104 may support applications and use cases associated with ultra-low-latency (ULL), such as ULL gaming, or streaming lossless audio and video to one or more personal audio devices (such as peripheral devices) or AR / VR / MR / XR headset devices. In scenarios in which a user uses two or more peripheral devices, the AP 102 or the STAs 104 may support an extended personal audio network enabling communication with the two or more peripheral devices. Additionally, the AP 102 and STAs 104 may support additional ULL applications such as cloud-based applications (such as VR cloud gaming) that have ULL and high throughput requirements.

[0041] As indicated above, in some implementations, the AP 102 and the STAs 104 may function and communicate (via the respective communication links 106) according to one or more of the IEEE 802.11 family of wireless communication protocol standards. These standards define the WLAN radio and baseband protocols for the physical (PHY) and MAC layers. The AP 102 and STAs 104 transmit and receive wireless communications (hereinafter also referred to as “WiFi communications” or “wireless packets”) to and from one another in the form of PHY protocol data units (PPDUs).

[0042] Each PPDU is a composite structure that includes a PHY preamble and a payload that is in the form of a PHY service data unit (PSDU). The information provided in the preamble may be used by a receiving device to decode the subsequent data in the PSDU. In instances in which a PPDU is transmitted over a bonded or wideband channel, the preamble fields may be duplicated and transmitted in each of multiple component channels. The PHY preamble may include both alegacy portion (or “legacy preamble”) and a non-legacy portion (or “non-legacy preamble”). The legacy preamble may be used for packet detection, automatic gain control and channel estimation, among other uses. The legacy preamble also may generally be used to maintain compatibility with legacy devices. The format of, coding of, and information provided in the non-legacy portion of the preamble is associated with the particular IEEE 802.11 wireless communication protocol to be used to transmit the payload.

[0043] The APs 102 and STAs 104 in the WLAN 100 may transmit PPDUs over an unlicensed spectrum, which may be a portion of spectrum that includes frequency bands traditionally used by Wi-Fi technology, such as the 2.4 GHz, 5 GHz, 6 GHz, 45 GHz, and 60 GHz bands. Some examples of the APs 102 and STAs 104 described herein also may communicate in other frequency bands that may support licensed or unlicensed communications. For example, the APs 102 or STAs 104, or both, also may be capable of communicating over licensed operating bands, where multiple operators may have respective licenses to operate in the same or overlapping frequency ranges. Such licensed operating bands may map to or be associated with frequency range designations of FR1 (410 MHz - 7.125 GHz), FR2 (24.25 GHz - 52.6 GHz), FR3 (7.125 GHz - 24.25 GHz), FR4a or FR4-1 (52.6 GHz - 71 GHz), FR4 (52.6 GHz - 114.25 GHz), and FR5 (114.25 GHz - 300 GHz).

[0044] Each of the frequency bands may include multiple sub-bands and frequency channels (also referred to as subchannels). For example, PPDUs conforming to the IEEE 802.1 In, 802.1 lac, 802.1 lax, 802.11be and 802.11bn standard amendments may be transmitted over one or more of the 2.4 GHz, 5 GHz, or 6 GHz bands, each of which is divided into multiple 20 MHz channels. As such, these PPDUs are transmitted over a physical channel having a minimum bandwidth of 20 MHz, but larger channels can be formed through channel bonding. For example, PPDUs may be transmitted over physical channels having bandwidths of 40 MHz, 80 MHz, 160 MHz, 240 MHz, 320 MHz, 480 MHz, or 640 MHz by bonding together multiple 20 MHz channels.

[0045] Transmitting and receiving devices AP 102 and STA 104 may support the use of various MCSs to transmit and receive data in WLAN 100 so as to optimally take advantage of wireless channel conditions, for example, to increase throughput, reduce latency, or enforce various QoS parameters. For example, existing technology (such as IEEE 802.1 lax standard amendment protocols) supports the use of up to 1024-QAM, where a modulated symbol carries 10 bits. To further improve peak data rate, each of the AP 102 or the STA 104 may employ useof 4096-QAM (also referred to as “4k QAM”), which enables a modulated symbol to carry 12 bits.

[0046] Access to the shared wireless medium is generally governed by a distributed coordination function (DCF). With a DCF, there is generally no centralized master device allocating time and frequency resources of the shared wireless medium. On the contrary, before a wireless communication device, such as an AP 102 or a STA 104, is permitted to transmit data, it may wait for a particular time and then contend for access to the wireless medium. The DCF is implemented through the use of time intervals (including the slot time (or “slot interval”) and the inter-frame space (IFS). IFS provides priority access for control frames used for proper network operation. Transmissions may begin at slot boundaries. Different varieties of IFS exist including the short IFS (SIFS), the distributed IFS (DIFS), the extended IFS (EIFS), and the arbitration IFS (AIFS). The values for the slot time and IFS may be provided by a suitable standard specification, such as one or more of the IEEE 802.11 family of wireless communication protocol standards.

[0047] In some examples, the wireless communication device (such as the AP 102 or the STA 104) may implement the DCF through the use of carrier sense multiple access (CSMA) with collision avoidance (CA) (CSMA / CA) techniques. According to such techniques, before transmitting data, the wireless communication device may perform a clear channel assessment (CCA) and may determine (for example, identify, detect, ascertain, calculate, or compute) that the relevant wireless channel is idle. The CCA includes both physical (PHY-level) carrier sensing and virtual (MAC-level) carrier sensing. Physical carrier sensing is accomplished via a measurement of the received signal strength of a valid frame, which is then compared to a threshold to determine (for example, identify, detect, ascertain, calculate, or compute) whether the channel is busy. For example, if the received signal strength of a detected preamble is above a threshold, the medium is considered busy. Physical carrier sensing also includes energy detection. Energy detection involves measuring the total energy the wireless communication device receives regardless of whether the received signal represents a valid frame. If the total energy detected is above a threshold, the medium is considered busy.

[0048] Virtual carrier sensing is accomplished via the use of a network allocation vector (NAV), which effectively serves as a time duration that elapses before the wireless communication device may contend for access even in the absence of a detected symbol or even if the detected energy is below the relevant threshold. The NAV is reset each time a valid frame is received that is not addressed to the wireless communication device. When the NAV reaches0, the wireless communication device performs the physical carrier sensing. If the channel remains idle for the appropriate IFS, the wireless communication device initiates a backoff timer, which represents a duration of time that the device senses the medium to be idle before it is permitted to transmit. If the channel remains idle until the backoff timer expires, the wireless communication device becomes the holder (or “owner”) of a transmit opportunity (TXOP) and may begin transmitting. The TXOP is the duration of time the wireless communication device can transmit frames over the channel after it has “won” contention for the wireless medium. The TXOP duration may be indicated in the U-SIG field of a PPDU. If, on the other hand, one or more of the carrier sense mechanisms indicate that the channel is busy, a MAC controller within the wireless communication device will not permit transmission.

[0049] In some other examples, the wireless communication device (for example, the AP 102 or the STA 104) may contend for access to the wireless medium of WLAN 100 in accordance with an enhanced distributed channel access (EDCA) procedure. A random channel access mechanism such as EDCA may afford high-priority traffic a greater likelihood of gaining medium access than low-priority traffic. The wireless communication device using EDCA may classify data into different access categories. Each AC may be associated with a different priority level and may be assigned a different range of random backoffs (RBOs) so that higher priority data is more likely to win a TXOP than lower priority data (such as by assigning lower RBOs to higher priority data and assigning higher RBOs to lower priority data).

[0050] Some APs and STAs (for example, the AP 102 and the STAs 104 described with reference to Figure 1) may implement techniques for spatial reuse that involve participation in a coordinated communication scheme. According to such techniques, an AP 102 may contend for access to a wireless medium to obtain control of the medium for a TXOP. The AP that wins the contention (hereinafter also referred to as a “sharing AP”) may select one or more other APs (hereinafter also referred to as “shared APs”) to share resources of the TXOP. The sharing and shared APs may be located in proximity to one another such that at least some of their wireless coverage areas at least partially overlap. Some examples may specifically involve coordinated AP TDMA or OFDMA techniques for sharing the time or frequency resources of a TXOP. To share its time or frequency resources, the sharing AP may partition the TXOP into multiple time segments or frequency segments each including respective time or frequency resources representing a portion of the TXOP. The sharing AP may allocate the time or frequency segments to itself or to one or more of the shared APs. For example, each shared AP may utilize a partialTXOP assigned by the sharing AP for its uplink or downlink communications with its associated STAs.

[0051] In some examples of such TDMA techniques, each portion of a plurality of portions of the TXOP includes a set of time resources that do not overlap with any time resources of any other portion of the plurality of portions of the TXOP. In such examples, the scheduling information may include an indication of time resources, of multiple time resources of the TXOP, associated with each portion of the TXOP. For example, the scheduling information may include an indication of a time segment of the TXOP such as an indication of one or more slots or sets of symbol periods associated with each portion of the TXOP such as for multi-user TDMA.

[0052] In some examples of OFDMA techniques, each portion of the plurality of portions of the TXOP includes a set of frequency resources that do not overlap with any frequency resources of any other portion of the plurality of portions. In such examples, the scheduling information may include an indication of frequency resources, of multiple frequency resources of the TXOP, associated with each portion of the TXOP. For example, the scheduling information may include an indication of a bandwidth portion of the wireless channel such as an indication of one or more subchannels or resource units associated with each portion of the TXOP such as for multi-user OFDMA.

[0053] In this manner, the sharing AP’s acquisition of the TXOP enables communication between one or more additional shared APs and their respective BSSs, subject to appropriate power control and link adaptation. For example, the sharing AP may limit the transmit powers of the selected shared APs such that interference from the selected APs does not prevent STAs associated with the TXOP owner from successfully decoding packets transmitted by the sharing AP. Such techniques may be used to reduce latency because the other APs may not need to wait to win contention for a TXOP to be able to transmit and receive data according to conventional CSMA / CA or enhanced distributed channel access (EDC A) techniques. Additionally, by enabling a group of APs 102 associated with different BSSs to participate in a coordinated AP transmission session, during which the group of APs may share at least a portion of a single TXOP obtained by any one of the participating APs, such techniques may increase throughput across the BSSs associated with the participating APs and also may achieve improvements in throughput fairness. Furthermore, with appropriate selection of the shared APs and the scheduling of their respective time or frequency resources, medium utilization may be maximized or otherwise increased while packet loss resulting from OBSS interference is minimized or otherwise reduced. Variousimplementations may achieve these and other advantages without requiring that the sharing AP or the shared APs be aware of the STAs 104 associated with other BSSs, without requiring a preassigned or dedicated master AP or preassigned groups of APs, and without requiring backhaul coordination between the APs participating in the TXOP.

[0054] In some examples in which the signal strengths or levels of interference associated with the selected APs are relatively low (such as less than a given value), or when the decoding error rates of the selected APs are relatively low (such as less than a threshold), the start times of the communications among the different BSSs may be synchronous. Conversely, when the signal strengths or levels of interference associated with the selected APs are relatively high (such as greater than the given value), or when the decoding error rates of the selected APs are relatively high (such as greater than the threshold), the start times may be offset from one another by a time period associated with decoding the preamble of a wireless packet and determining, from the decoded preamble, whether the wireless packet is an intra-BSS packet or is an OBSS packet. For example, the time period between the transmission of an intra-BSS packet and the transmission of an OBSS packet may allow a respective AP (or its associated STAs) to decode the preamble of the wireless packet and obtain the BSS color value carried in the wireless packet to determine whether the wireless packet is an intra-BSS packet or an OBSS packet. In this manner, each of the participating APs and their associated STAs may be able to receive and decode intra-BSS packets in the presence of OBSS interference.

[0055] In some examples, the sharing AP may perform polling of a set of un-managed or non- co-managed APs that support coordinated reuse to identify candidates for future spatial reuse opportunities. For example, the sharing AP may transmit one or more spatial reuse poll frames as part of determining one or more spatial reuse criteria and selecting one or more other APs to be shared APs. According to the polling, the sharing AP may receive responses from one or more of the polled APs. In some specific examples, the sharing AP may transmit a coordinated AP TXOP indication (CTI) frame to other APs that indicates time and frequency of resources of the TXOP that can be shared. The sharing AP may select one or more candidate APs upon receiving a coordinated AP TXOP request (CTR) frame from a respective candidate AP that indicates a desire by the respective AP to participate in the TXOP. The poll responses or CTR frames may include a power indication, for example, a receive (RX) power or RSSI measured by the respective AP. In some other examples, the sharing AP may directly measure potential interference of a service supported (such as UL transmission) at one or more APs, and select the shared APs based on the measured potential interference. The sharing AP generally selects the APs to participate incoordinated spatial reuse such that it still protects its own transmissions (which may be referred to as primary transmissions) to and from the STAs in its BSS. The selected APs may then be allocated resources during the TXOP as described above.

[0056] APs and STAs (for example, the AP 102 and the STAs 104 described with reference to Figure 1) that include multiple antennas may support various diversity schemes. For example, spatial diversity may be used by one or both of a transmitting device (such as either AP 102 or STA 104) or a receiving device (such as either AP 102 or STA 104) to increase the robustness of a transmission. For example, to implement a transmit diversity scheme, a transmitting device may transmit the same data redundantly over two or more antennas.

[0057] APs 102 and STAs 104 that include multiple antennas also may support space-time block coding (STBC). With STBC, a transmitting device also transmits multiple copies of a data stream across multiple antennas to exploit the various received versions of the data to increase the likelihood of decoding the correct data. More specifically, the data stream to be transmitted is encoded in blocks, which are distributed among the spaced antennas and across time. Generally, STBC can be used when the number NTxof transmit antennas exceeds the number Nssof spatial streams. The Nssspatial streams may be mapped to a number NSTSof space-time streams, which are then mapped to NTxtransmit chains.

[0058] APs 102 and STAs 104 that include multiple antennas also may support spatial multiplexing, which may be used to increase the spectral efficiency and the resultant throughput of a transmission. To implement spatial multiplexing, the transmitting device divides the data stream into a number Nssof separate, independent spatial streams. The spatial streams are then separately encoded and transmitted in parallel via the multiple NTxtransmit antennas.

[0059] APs 102 and STAs 104 that include multiple antennas also may support beamforming. Beamforming generally refers to the steering of the energy of a transmission in the direction of a target receiver. Beamforming may be used both in a single-user (SU) context, for example, to improve a signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), as well as in a multi-user (MU) context, for example, to enable MU-MIMO transmissions (also referred to as spatial division multiple access (SDMA)). In the MU-MIMO context, beamforming may additionally or alternatively involve the nulling out of energy in the directions of other receiving devices. To perform SU beamforming or MU- MIMO, a transmitting device, referred to as the beamformer, transmits a signal from each of multiple antennas. The beamformer configures the amplitudes and phase shifts between the signals transmitted from the different antennas such that the signals add constructively alongparticular directions towards the intended receiver (referred to as the beamformee) or add destructively in other directions towards other devices to mitigate interference in a MU-MIMO context. The manner in which the beamformer configures the amplitudes and phase shifts depends on channel state information (CSI) associated with the wireless channels over which the beamformer intends to communicate with the beamformee.

[0060] To obtain the CSI necessary for beamforming, the beamformer may perform a channel sounding procedure with the beamformee. For example, the beamformer may transmit one or more sounding signals (for example, in the form of a null data packet (NDP)) to the beamformee. An NDP is a PPDU without any data field. The beamformee may then perform measurements for each of the NTxx NRxsub-channels corresponding to all of the transmit antenna and receive antenna pairs associated with the sounding signal. The beamformee generates a feedback matrix associated with the channel measurements and, typically, compresses the feedback matrix before transmitting the feedback to the beamformer. The beamformer may then generate a precoding (or “steering”) matrix for the beamformee associated with the feedback and use the steering matrix to precode the data streams to configure the amplitudes and phase shifts for subsequent transmissions to the beamformee. The beamformer may use the steering matrix to determine (for example, identify, detect, ascertain, calculate, or compute) how to transmit a signal on each of its antennas to perform beamforming. For example, the steering matrix may be indicative of a phase shift, power level, etc. to use to transmit a respective signal on each of the beamformer’ s antennas.

[0061] When performing beamforming, the transmitting beamforming array gain is logarithmically proportional to the ratio of NTxto Nss. As such, it is generally desirable, within other constraints, to increase the number NTxof transmit antennas when performing beamforming to increase the gain. It is also possible to more accurately direct transmissions or nulls by increasing the number of transmit antennas. This is especially advantageous in MU transmission contexts in which it is particularly important to reduce inter-user interference.

[0062] To increase an AP 102’s spatial multiplexing capability, an AP 102 may need to support an increased number of spatial streams (such as up to 16 spatial streams). However, supporting additional spatial streams may result in increased CSI feedback overhead. Implicit CSI acquisition techniques may avoid CSI feedback overhead by taking advantage of the assumption that the UL and DL channels have reciprocal impulse responses (that is, that there is channel reciprocity). For example, the CSI feedback overhead may be reduced using an implicit channel sounding procedure such as an implicit beamforming report (BFR) technique (such as whereSTAs 104 transmit NDP sounding packets in the UL while the AP 102 measures the channel) because no BFRs are sent. Once the AP 102 receives the NDPs, it may implicitly assess the channels for each of the STAs 104 and use the channel assessments to configure steering matrices. In order to mitigate hardware mismatches that could break the channel reciprocity on the UL and DL (such as the baseband-to-RF and RF-to-baseband chains not being reciprocal), the AP 102 may implement a calibration method to compensate for the mismatch between the UL and the DL channels. For example, the AP 102 may select a reference antenna, transmit a pilot signal from each of its antennas, and estimate baseband-to-RF gain for each of the non-reference antennas relative to the reference antenna.

[0063] In some examples, multiple APs 102 may simultaneously transmit signaling or communications to a single STA 104 utilizing a distributed MU-MIMO scheme. Examples of such a distributed MU-MIMO transmission include coordinated beamforming (CBF) and joint transmission (JT). With CBF, signals (such as data streams) for a given STA 104 may be transmitted by only a single AP 102. However, the coverage areas of neighboring APs may overlap, and signals transmitted by a given AP 102 may reach the STAs in OBSSs associated with neighboring APs as OBSS signals. CBF allows multiple neighboring APs to transmit simultaneously while minimizing or avoiding interference, which may result in more opportunities for spatial reuse. More specifically, using CBF techniques, an AP 102 may beamform signals to in-BSS STAs 104 while forming nulls in the directions of STAs in OBSSs such that any signals received at an OBSS STA are of sufficiently low power to limit the interference at the STA. To accomplish this, an inter-BSS coordination set may be defined between the neighboring APs, which contains identifiers of all APs and STAs participating in CBF transmissions.

[0064] With JT, signals for a given STA 104 may be transmitted by multiple coordinated APs 102. For the multiple APs 102 to concurrently transmit data to a STA 104, the multiple APs 102 may all need a copy of the data to be transmitted to the STA 104. Accordingly, the APs 102 may need to exchange the data among each other for transmission to a STA 104. With JT, the combination of antennas of the multiple APs 102 transmitting to one or more STAs 104 may be considered as one large antenna array (which may be represented as a virtual antenna array) used for beamforming and transmitting signals. In combination with MU-MIMO techniques, the multiple antennas of the multiple APs 102 may be able to transmit data via multiple spatial streams. Accordingly, each STA 104 may receive data via one or more of the multiple spatial streams.

[0065] In some implementations, the AP 102 and STAs 104 can support various multi-user communications; that is, concurrent transmissions from one device to each of multiple devices (for example, multiple simultaneous downlink communications from an AP 102 to corresponding STAs 104), or concurrent transmissions from multiple devices to a single device (for example, multiple simultaneous uplink transmissions from corresponding STAs 104 to an AP 102). As an example, in addition to MU-MIMO, the AP 102 and STAs 104 may support OFDMA. OFDMA is in some aspects a multi-user version of OFDM.

[0066] In OFDMA schemes, the available frequency spectrum of the wireless channel may be divided into multiple resource units (RUs) each including multiple frequency subcarriers (also referred to as “tones”). Different RUs may be allocated or assigned by an AP 102 to different STAs 104 at particular times. The sizes and distributions of the RUs may be referred to as an RU allocation. In some examples, RUs may be allocated in 2 MHz intervals, and as such, the smallest RU may include 26 tones consisting of 24 data tones and 2 pilot tones. Consequently, in a 20 MHz channel, up to 9 RUs (such as 2 MHz, 26-tone RUs) may be allocated (because some tones are reserved for other purposes). Similarly, in a 160 MHz channel, up to 74 RUs may be allocated. Other tone RUs also may be allocated, such as 52 tone, 106 tone, 242 tone, 484 tone and 996 tone RUs. Adjacent RUs may be separated by a null subcarrier (such as a DC subcarrier), for example, to reduce interference between adjacent RUs, to reduce receiver DC offset, and to avoid transmit center frequency leakage.

[0067] For UL MU transmissions, an AP 102 can transmit a trigger frame to initiate and synchronize an UL OFDMA or UL MU-MIMO transmission from multiple STAs 104 to the AP 102. Such trigger frames may thus enable multiple STAs 104 to send UL traffic to the AP 102 concurrently in time. A trigger frame may address one or more STAs 104 through respective association identifiers (AIDs), and may assign each AID (and thus each STA 104) one or more RUs that can be used to send UL traffic to the AP 102. The AP also may designate one or more random access (RA) RUs that unscheduled STAs 104 may contend for.

[0068] Some wireless communication devices (including both APs and STAs such as, for example, AP 102 and STAs 104 described in Figure 1) are capable of multi-link operation (MLO). In some examples, MLO supports establishing multiple different communication links (such as a first link on the 2.4 GHz band, a second link on the 5 GHz band, and the third link on the 6 GHz band) between the STA 104 and the AP 102 and exchanging packets on one or more communications links concurrently and dynamically. Each communication link may support oneor more sets of channels or logical entities. In some cases, each communication link associated with a given wireless communication device may be associated with a respective radio of the wireless communication device, which may include one or more transmit / receive (Tx / Rx) chains, include or be coupled with one or more physical antennas, or include signal processing components, among other components. An MLO-capable device may be referred to as a multilink device (MLD). An MLD may include a single upper MAC layer, and can include, for example, three independent lower MAC layers and three associated independent PHY layers for respective links in the 2.4 GHz, 5 GHz, and 6 GHz bands. This architecture may enable a single association process and security context. An AP MLD may include multiple APs each configured to communicate on a respective communication link with a respective one of multiple STAs 104 of a non-AP MLD (also referred to as a “STA MLD”). The STA MLD may communicate with the AP MLD over one or more of the multiple communication links at a given time. MLDs may independently contend for access on each of the communication links, which achieves latency reduction by enabling the MLD to transmit its packets on the first communication link that becomes available.

[0069] Another feature of MLO is Traffic Steering and QoS characterization, which achieves latency reduction and other QoS enhancements by mapping traffic flows having different latency or other requirements to different links. For example, traffic with low latency requirements can be mapped to wireless links operating in the 6 GHz band and more latency -tolerant flows can be mapped to wireless links operating in the 2.4 GHz or 5 GHz bands.

[0070] One type of MLO is alternating multi-link, in which a MLD may listen to two different high performance channels at the same time. When an MLD has traffic to send, it may use the first channel with an access opportunity (such as TXOP). While the MLD may only use one channel to receive or transmit at a time, having access opportunities in two different channels provides low latency when networks are congested.

[0071] Another type of MLO is multi-link aggregation (MLA), where traffic associated with a single STA 104 is simultaneously transmitted across multiple communication links in parallel to maximize the utilization of available resources to achieve higher throughput. This is akin to carrier aggregation in the cellular space. That is, during at least some duration of time, transmissions or portions of transmissions may occur over two or more links in parallel at the same time. In some examples, the parallel wireless communication links may support synchronized transmissions. In some other examples, or during some other durations of time,transmissions over the links may be parallel, but not be synchronized or concurrent. In some examples or durations of time, two or more of the links may be used for communications between the wireless communication devices in the same direction (such as all uplink or all downlink). In some other examples or durations of time, two or more of the links may be used for communications in different directions. For example, one or more links may support uplink communications and one or more links may support downlink communications. In such examples, at least one of the wireless communication devices operates in a full duplex mode. Generally, full duplex operation enables bi-directional communications where at least one of the wireless communication devices may transmit and receive at the same time.

[0072] MLA may be implemented in a number of ways. In some examples, MLA may be packet-based. For packet-based aggregation, frames of a single traffic flow (such as all traffic associated with a given traffic identifier (TID)) may be sent concurrently across multiple communication links. In some other examples, MLA may be flow-based. For flow-based aggregation, each traffic flow (such as all traffic associated with a given TID) may be sent using a single one of multiple available communication links. As an example, a single STA MLD may access a web browser while streaming a video in parallel. The traffic associated with the web browser access may be communicated over a first communication link while the traffic associated with the video stream may be communicated over a second communication link in parallel (such that at least some of the data may be transmitted on the first channel concurrently with data transmitted on the second channel).

[0073] In some other examples, MLA may be implemented as a hybrid of flow-based and packet-based aggregation. For example, an MLD may employ flow-based aggregation in situations in which multiple traffic flows are created and may employ packet-based aggregation in other situations. The determination to switch among the MLA techniques or modes may additionally or alternatively be associated with other metrics (such as a time of day, traffic load within the network, or battery power for a wireless communication device, among other factors or considerations).

[0074] To support MLO techniques, an AP MLD and a STA MLD may exchange supported MLO capability information (such as supported aggregation type or supported frequency bands, among other information). In some examples, the exchange of information may occur via a beacon signal, a probe request or probe response, an association request or an association response frame, a dedicated action frame, or an operating mode indicator (OMI), among other examples.In some examples, an AP MLD may designate a given channel in a given band as an anchor channel (such as the channel on which it transmits beacons and other management frames). In such examples, the AP MLD also may transmit beacons (such as ones which may contain less information) on other channels for discovery purposes.

[0075] MLO techniques may provide multiple benefits to a WLAN 100. For example, MLO may improve user perceived throughput (UPT) (such as by quickly flushing per-user transmit queues). Similarly, MLO may improve throughput by improving utilization of available channels and may increase spectral utilization (such as increasing the bandwidth-time product). Further, MLO may enable smooth transitions between multi-band radios (such as where each radio may be associated with a given RF band) or enable a framework to set up separation of control channels and data channels. Other benefits of MLO include reducing the ON time of a modem, which may benefit a wireless communication device in terms of power consumption. Another benefit of MLO is the increased multiplexing opportunities in the case of a single BSS. For example, multi-link aggregation may increase the number of users per multiplexed transmission served by the multilink AP MLD.Interference Management for Concurrent Multi-Node Transmissions in Wireless Networks

[0076] According to certain aspects, concurrent transmissions by transmitting wireless nodes to receiving wireless node in a wireless node interfere transmissions by other transmitting wireless nodes to other receiving wireless nodes in the wireless network. One example is concurrent multiple user (MU) transmissions in a wireless local area network (WLAN).

[0077] In a WLAN, an access point (AP) may connect devices, such as laptops, smart phones, and other devices that are a few meters distance from the AP, the actual coverage depending on the propagation characteristics of the environment in which the WLAN is deployed. In some scenarios, such as for large office buildings, apartment complexes, etc., a single AP does not suffice, and multiple APs are installed, each covering a part of the building.

[0078] In multiple access point (MAP) systems, multiple APs are strategically placed throughout an area to provide overlapping coverage and ensure a better distribution of Wi-Fi signals. Figure 2 shows a pictorial diagram of an example MU architecture 200. By using multiple transmitting wireless nodes (e.g., multiple APs in an MAP system), such as the transmitting wireless node 202, 204, and 206, the Wi-Fi network can accommodate a larger number of client devices (e.g., STAs), such as receiving wireless nodes 210, 212, and 214, and improve overall network coverage. The transmitting wireless nodes 202, 204, and 206 may worktogether to form a single logical network, allowing receiving wireless nodes 210, 212, and 214 to seamlessly roam between transmitting wireless nodes 202, 204, and 206 without experiencing interruptions in connectivity. This helps to maintain a consistent and reliable Wi-Fi experience as users move around the coverage area. Coordination and management of transmitting wireless nodes 202, 204, and 206 in a MU architecture 200 may be handled by a central network controller 208 to enable seamless handoffs between transmitting wireless nodes 202, 204, and 206. Figure 2 is merely illustrative of an example MU architecture, it should be understood that an MAP architecture may include fewer or more APs, fewer or STAs, and / or other devices.

[0079] In WLAN systems, the available bandwidth may be organized into channels, with each AP being assigned to one of the channels. If neighboring transmitting wireless nodes are assigned to the same channel or overlapping channels they will interfere, leading to poor performance. As shown in the example MU architecture of Figure 2, the receiving wireless node 210 is associated with the transmitting wireless node 202, the receiving wireless node 212 is associated with the transmitting wireless node 204, and the receiving wireless node 214 is associated with the transmitting wireless node 206. The transmitting wireless nodes 202, 204, and 206 are associated with the network controller 208. As shown, the receiving wireless node 210 is further detected by, and potentially interfered by, the transmitting wireless nodes 204 and 206, and the receiving wireless node 210 is further detected by, and potentially interfered by, the transmitting wireless node 204. Although interfering downlink transmissions by APs are shown in Figure 2, transmissions by any wireless nodes may interfere. For example, uplink transmissions by STAs and transmissions between STAs may also interfere other concurrent transmissions.

[0080] According to certain aspects, wireless nodes in a WLAN system may perform centralized, distributed, autonomous, or hybrid real-time interference management of concurrent MU transmissions.

[0081] Figure 3 shows a call flow diagram of an example method 300 for centralized interference management in a multi-node system. The example method 300 for centralized interference management is described with respect to the MU architecture 200 with reference to Figure 2.

[0082] In the method 300 for centralized interference management, wireless nodes perform signal quality of measurements and report the measurements to the network controller. In some aspects, the signal quality measurements are based on request-to-send (RTS) and clear-to-send (CTS) messaging. Before a transmitting wireless node transmits a data frame, it can first send anRTS frame to the receiving wireless node. The RTS frame includes information about the upcoming transmission, such as the duration of the transmission and the size of the data frame. The RTS frame is broadcasted to all devices within range. Upon receiving an RTS frame, the intended recipient and other devices within range may respond with a CTS frame. The CTS frame indicates that the channel will be reserved for the duration specified in the RTS frame, allowing the transmitting wireless node to proceed with its data transmission.

[0083] As shown in Figure 3, at step 306, the receiving wireless node 214 broadcasts CTS, which is detected by transmitting wireless nodes 204 and 206 which potentially interfere. While Figure 3 depicts CTS by receiving wireless node 214 for the transmitting wireless nodes 202 and 204, it should be understood that the transmitting wireless nodes may also transmit CTS to reserve the channel for uplink transmissions by receiving wireless nodes.

[0084] The transmitting wireless nodes 204 and 206 can measure the CTS and report the signal quality measurements to the network controller 208, at steps 308 and 310, respectively. In some aspects, the measure of signal quality may be SNR, RS SI, SIR, channel quality indicator (CQI), and / or other signal quality measurements. The transmitting wireless nodes 204 and 206 may report the signal quality measurements over a backhaul with the network controller 208. In some aspects, the transmitting wireless nodes report the receiving wireless node IDs and the associated signal quality measurements. In some aspects, the RTS / CTS exchange is performed multiple times during a monitoring window. For example, the RTS / CTS exchange may be performed at least once each transmit opportunity during a monitoring window. In some aspects, the transmitting wireless nodes report the average signal quality measurement for each receiving wireless node detected by the transmitting wireless node (e.g., from which a CTS was received) during the monitoring window.

[0085] The network controller 208 can use the reported feedback to estimate the interference to an intended recipient caused by potentially interfering concurrent transmission by another transmitting wireless node. As shown, at step 312, the network controller 208 estimates SIR associated with concurrent MU transmissions. In some aspects, the SIR is estimated per-tone. In some aspects, the SIR for concurrent transmissions by transmitting wireless nodes, for example APi and APk, SIRAPi.APk, is estimated based on the signal quality measurements by the transmitting wireless nodes and the transmit power of the transmitting wireless nodes. For example, the SIR for concurrent transmissions by APi and APk to an intended receiving wireless node, for example STAj, may be the difference (A) between the signal quality measurements [(STAj — > APi CTSSNR) - (STAj — > APk CTS SNR)] summed with the difference in transmit power of the transmitting wireless nodes (APi Tx power - APk Tx power). In some aspects, the SIR estimation of multiple interferers can be performed using the strongest interferer to obtain a conservative SIR estimate. For uplink, SINR at the receiver is known, and interference can be controlled by triggered access.

[0086] At step 314, the network controller 208 identifies feasible link clusters. Identification a feasible link cluster may include identifying a set of pairs of transmitting wireless nodes and receiving wireless nodes that satisfy criteria for concurrent MU transmissions. For example, a feasible link cluster may be pairs of transmitting and receiving wireless nodes whose concurrent transmissions meet a target QoS, a target throughput, a target latency, and / or other criteria. In some cases, the criteria may be determined based on the application, a configuration, and / or over- the-air (OTA) signaling.

[0087] According to certain aspects, the network controller 208 identifies feasible link clusters at step 314 using a conservative approach in which feasible link clusters include sets of pairs of transmitting and receiving wireless nodes whose concurrent transmissions do not interfere. For example, a feasible link cluster may include APs that do not interfere any STAs associated with any other APs in the same feasible link cluster. In some aspects, a wireless node is determined to interfere when the interfering transmission by the wireless node degrades a link between another pair of wireless nodes such that an MCS, a latency, a throughput, a coverage, or other criteria for the link between the pair of wireless nodes cannot be met. In some aspects, the criteria for link is configurable based on a topology of the network, a network environment, or other condition. In some aspects, each of the transmitting wireless nodes, and / or the network controller, can determine an MCS, without interference, for each of its associated clients. For example, the MCS may be determined from channel state information (CSI) feedback from the clients, using sounding, RRSI measurements, pathloss measurements, or the like. In some aspects, learning techniques (e.g., machine learning) can be used to predict the MCS. A transmission by a wireless node may be determined to interference another pair of transmitting and receiving wireless nodes when the determined MCS cannot be met in the presence of the interfering transmission.

[0088] In some aspects, each transmitting wireless node, and / or the network controller 208 for each transmitting wireless node, may maintain for each client (e.g., each active client) a state matrix (e.g., a graph) of whether each co-channel transmitting wireless node interferes with theclient. For example, the state matrix for a client of an AP may include a bit for each co-channel AP indicating whether or not that co-channel AP interferes the client. In some aspects, the cochannel transmitting wireless node is determined to interfere when an SIR level satisfies a threshold SIR. For example, the co-channel AP may be determined to interfere when the SIR is such that the transmit power of the AP is insufficient to meet the current MCS in the presence of the co-channel AP. The co-channel transmitting wireless node may be determined to not interfere when the SIR is such that the transmit power of the transmitting wireless node is sufficient to meet the current MCS in the presence of the co-channel transmitting wireless node and / or when the co-channel transmitting wireless node does not receive any CTS from that client. In the state matrix, transmitting wireless nodes (or co-channel receiving wireless nodes) may be represented by nodes. Any two nodes are connected by an edges in the state matrix when they do not interfere with any of each other’s associated clients.

[0089] To identify feasible link clusters, maximal cliques may be found in the state matrix. In some aspects, each maximal clique in the state matrix is a set of nodes that each have an edge between each of the other nodes in the maximal clique. In some cases, the number of feasible link clusters may be restricted to reduce overhead. For example, the run time for finding feasible link clusters may be limited to a specified duration and / or the number of feasible link clusters may limited to a specified number. In some cases, a single node in the state matrix can be identified as a maximal clique.

[0090] In some aspects, the maximal cliques may be identified as primary feasible link clusters and additional secondary (or conditional) feasible link clusters may be identified. The secondary feasible link clusters may be found by identifying a node that is not a member of a primary feasible link clusters and enforcing an access constraint on the node. The access constraint may improve the SIR, such that the node does not interfere any of the clients of any of the nodes of a primary feasible link cluster. Accordingly, where the resulting SIR (lower bound) at any one or more of the active clients of the non-primary node is sufficient to sustain a configurable criteria threshold, the primary feasible link cluster and the non-primary node with the access constraint are identified as a secondary feasible link cluster. In some aspects, the access constraint is a transmit power constraint, a channel frequency constraint, a time division multiplexing (TDM) scheduling constraint, or other access constraint.

[0091] According to certain aspects, the network controller 208 identifies feasible link clusters at step 314 using another approach in which feasible link clusters include links that donot interfere any links in the same feasible link cluster. In the example illustrated in Figure 3, the network controller 208 may determine that transmissions by transmitting wireless node 204 interfere transmission from transmitting wireless node 202 to receiving wireless node 214, but that transmissions by transmitting wireless node 206 do not interference transmission from transmitting wireless node 202 to receiving wireless node 214. Accordingly, the network controller 208 may identify the pair of transmitting wireless node 202 and receiving wireless node 214 and the pairs of transmitting wireless node 206 and its associated receiving wireless nodes as a feasible link cluster.

[0092] In some aspects, each transmitting wireless node, and / or the network controller 208 for each transmitting wireless node, may maintain for each link between the transmitting wireless nodeand a client (e.g., each active client) a state matrix. For example, the state matrix for a link may include a bit for each co-channel link indicating whether or not that co-channel link interferes the client. In the state matrix, the links may be represented by nodes. Any two nodes are connected by an edges in the state matrix when they do not interfere with any of each other’s associated links (e.g., when the SIR in presence of concurrent co-channel transmission of the other link is such that the link can sustain a target QoS criteria).

[0093] To identify feasible link clusters, maximal cliques may be found in the state matrix. In some aspects, each maximal clique in the state matrix is a set of nodes that each have an edge between each of the other nodes in the maximal clique. In some cases, the number of feasible link clusters may be restricted to reduce overhead. For example, the run time for finding feasible link clusters may be limited to a specified duration and / or the number of feasible link clusters may limited to a specified number. In some cases, a single node in the state matrix can be identified as a maximal clique.

[0094] In some aspects, after estimation of the interference and identification of the feasible link clusters, one or more actions may be performed to manage interference by concurrent MU transmission. As shown in Figure 3, at steps 316 and 318, the network controller 208 may schedule the feasible clusters for concurrent MU transmission. The scheduling may include adapting the transmit power (e.g., increasing or decreasing the transmit power), determining a receive de-sensing level, configuring antenna chains, adapting MCS, assigning time and / or frequency resources, channel frequency selection (e.g., steering to other bands), TDM scheduling, and / or adapting the number of spatial streams (NSS), for one or more of the participating wireless nodes of the concurrent MU transmission. For example, the transmit power may be adapted toadjust the SIR headroom against the estimated SIR. The SIR may be estimated after adjusting the transmit power to determine the receive de-sensing level.

[0095] Figure 4 shows a pictorial diagram of an example headset mounted virtual reality (VR) use case for centralized interference management in an MU WLAN system 400. The headset mounted VR 410 may be in communication with a video Tenderer device 404, such as a personal computer or a server, that provides the VR content to the headset mounted VR 410 via AP 402.

[0096] The headset mounted VR 410 may have a high data throughput requirement (e.g., around 86 Mbps) and a very low latency requirement (e.g., around 18 ms mean round-triptime (RTT)). Interference from other wireless nodes, such as interfering AP 406 and interfering STA 414, impacts the VR application data rate and latency. Further, with a headset mount VR 410, the user may move around, which impacts the link RS SI as the user moved away from the AP 402.

[0097] APs 402 and 406 are also in communication with network controller 408 (e.g., via a wired connection). Measurements of the interference (e.g., RSSI) from AP 406 and STA 414 (e.g., outside the basic service set (OBSS)) are reported to the network controller 408. The network controller 408 estimates the SNR of the link between the AP 402 and headset mounted VR 410 in the presence of the interference from the AP 406 and the STA 414 (e.g., 12 dB), at determines an optimal MCS (e.g., MCS 1, NSS 2). In some aspects, the network controller 408 may determine a headroom available with SNR of 12 dB for the MCS 1 and, based on the headroom, adjust transmit power by 2 dB. In some aspects, the network controller 408 further determines a receive de-sensing level.

[0098] Figure 5 shows a call flow diagram of an example method 500 for distributed and autonomous interference management in a multi-node system. While the interference management in method 500 is shown by distributed transmitting wireless nodes 204 and 206, it should be understood that the autonomous interference management may be performed by any wireless node, including APs and STAs. The example method 500 for centralized interference management is described with respect to the MU architecture 200 with reference to Figure 2.

[0099] In the autonomous and distributed interference management scheme the wireless nodes may measure signal quality, estimate SIR of links between the transmitting and receiving wireless nodes, select an MCS that satisfies target QoS criteria based on the SIR estimate, identify feasible link clusters, and take one or more actions. In some aspects, the wireless nodes measure and determine link RSSI on a link based on incoming packet measurements from other interferers(e.g., interference RSSI). As shown, at step 506, transmitting wireless nodes 204 and 206 each detects and measures CTS transmitted by the receiving wireless node 214. At steps 508 and 510, the transmitting wireless nodes 204 and 206, respectively, estimate link level SIR based on the CTS from the receiving wireless node 214.

[0100] At steps 512 and 514, the transmitting wireless nodes 204 and 206, respectively, determine an optimal MCS for the respective link. In some aspects, the optimal MCS is an MCS that satisfies one or more QoS criteria for the link in the presence of the interfering transmissions.

[0101] At steps 518 and 520, the transmitting wireless nodes 204 and 206 estimate SIR for concurrent MU transmissions based on the determined MCS. In some aspects, for distributed interference management, the transmitting wireless nodes exchange information, at step 516, in order to estimate the SIR for concurrent MU transmission. For example, the transmitting wireless nodes 204 and 206 may exchange signal quality estimates, the determined MCS, the estimated link SIR, and / or SIR headroom. Thus, the transmitting wireless nodes 204 and 206 can estimate the SIR for the current MU transmission further based on the information received from the other transmitting wireless nodes.

[0102] In some aspects, the wireless nodes in the distributed and autonomous interference management systems may further identify feasible link clusters and perform one or more actions, as described above with respect to the centralized interference management, based on the estimated SIR for the concurrent MU transmission. As shown, at 526 and 528, the transmitting wireless nodes 204 and 206, respectively, perform one or more actions based on the estimated SIR for the concurrent MU transmission.

[0103] In some aspects, in a fully distributed interference management approach, link criteria (e.g., throughput, latency, coverage, etc.) may be configured by a network management system. In a semi-distributed, hybrid approach, wireless nodes in the network may autonomously evaluate link interference. The link criteria may be trained in the cloud and the actions may be fed back to the wireless nodes.

[0104] Figure 6 shows a pictorial diagram of an example use case for distributed interference management in an MU WLAN system 600 with multiple augmented reality devices 606 and 608. As shown, the AR device 606 (e.g., wearable AR glasses) communicates with the UE 602 (e.g., the smartphone of the user of the AR device 606). The AR device 606 may have a downlink data throughput requirement of 50 Kbps and an uplink data throughput requirement of 20 Kbps as well as a latency requirement of under 13 ms end-to-end RTT. The link quality between theUE 602 and the AR device 606 may depend on the relative positioning of the devices. For example, the link RSSI may be around -45 dBm when the UE 602 is in direct line-of-sight of the AR device 606 but may be around -65 dBm when the UE 602 is located in the user’s back pocket. In addition, interference from concurrent transmission by other devices affects the link quality. For example, as shown, the link between the UE 602 and the AR device 606 may be interfered by the UE 604 (e.g., transmitting to the UE 602 or the AR device 608) and the AR device 608 (e.g., transmitting to the UE 602 or the UE 604).

[0105] For the distributed interference management, wireless nodes may each determine link quality, interference, and optimal MCS. In the example illustrated in Figure 6, the UE 602 may determine the RSSI of the link with the AR device 606 at -45 dBm, with interference RSSI of - 70 dBm, and based on the link quality and interference determine an optimal MCS 4 (e.g., and NSS 2; the AR device 606 may determine the RSSI of the link with the UE 602 at -45 dBm, with interference RSSI of -65 dBm, and based on the link quality and interference determine an optimal MCS 3 (e.g., and NSS 2); the UE 604 may determine the RSSI of the link with the AR device 608 at -55 dBm, with interference RSSI of -65 dBm, and based on the link quality and interference determine an optimal MCS 0 (e.g., and NSS 2); and the AR device 608 may determine the RSSI of the link with the UE 604 at -55 dBm, with interference RSSI of -65 dBm, and based on the link quality and interference determine an optimal MCS 0 (e.g., and NSS 1).

[0106] The devices may exchange the link quality, interference RSSI, and / or the optimal link MCS with the other devices. Based on the information, the devices may estimate SIR and determine one or more actions. In the example illustrated in Figure 6, the UE 602 estimates 15 dB SIR and determine to adapt transmit power by 5 dB and de-sensing as -70 dBm; the AR device 606 estimates 15 dB SIR and determine to adapt transmit power by 5 dB and de-sensing as -70 dBm; the UE 604 estimates 10 dB SIR and determines no headroom to adapt transmit power and de-sensing as -65 dBm; and the AR device 608 estimates 5 dB SIR and determines to adapt transmit power by 5 dB and de-sensing as -62 dBm.

[0107] Figure 7 shows a pictorial diagram of an example use case for autonomous interference management in an MU WLAN system 700 with a gaming controller 704. As shown, the gaming controller 704 is communication via a link with a gaming console 702. The link is interfered by an AP 710 and UEs 706 and 708. The gaming controller 704 may require a relatively low data throughput of 300 Kbps and a very low one way latency from the gaming controller 704 of under 2 ms. Any packet deferral due to OBSS interference can adversely affect the latenciesand, therefore, the user’s gaming experience. The gaming controller 704 autonomously manages interference by evaluating the link quality, determining an optimal MCS for the link, and taking actions to manage the interference. In the example illustrated in Figure 7, the gaming controller 704 measures the link RSSI -70 dBm from the interfering AP 710, the link RSSI -65 dBm from the interfering UE 706, and the link RSSI -55 dBm from the interfering UE 708. The gaming controller 704 estimates the SNR of the link with the gaming console in the presence of interference from the UE 706 at 25 dB and, based on the SNR, determines the optimal MCS 0 (and NSS 1) for the link with the gaming console 702. The gaming controller 704 then determines 20 dB headroom available with the 25 dB SNR and the requirements for the MCS 0 (NSS 1), for a 5% packet error rate (PER). The gaming controller determines a 10 dB transmit power adjustment and a de-sensing level of -62 dBm.

[0108] In some aspects, QoS criteria for a link, for a concurrent MU transmission, for MCS determination, and the link may be determined for application data. In some aspects, the QoS criteria are estimated based on application feedback, a semi-static configuration, an over-the-air (OTA) exchange with a peer device, and / or based on channel loading.

[0109] In some aspects, the interference management (e.g., the method 300 or 500) is performed repeatedly. For example, the interference management may be performed at least during each monitoring window (e.g., a periodic monitoring window) or each transmit opportunity.

[0110] In some aspects, the interference management (e.g., the method 300 or 500) is performed based on one or more triggers. For example, the interference management may be triggered based on a trigger for attempting packet transmission. For example, when a wireless node is triggered to attempt packet transmission, the wireless node may trigger the interference management. In some aspects, the interference management is performed based on a periodic trigger. In some aspects, the interference management is performed based on an application-based trigger. In some aspects, the triggers are independently configurable. For example, in a factory of hundreds of smart meters and mobile robots connected to a wireless network, the triggers could be based on a combination on device location and density.

[0111] Figure 8 shows a flowchart illustrating an example process 800 performable by or at a wireless node, such as a wireless AP, a wireless STA, a wireless client device, a wireless non- AP STA, and / or a network controller that supports interference management in MU WLAN systems. For example, the process 800 may be performed by a wireless communication device,such as the wireless communication device 900 described with reference to Figure 9, operating as or within a wireless node, such as a wireless AP, a wireless STA, a wireless client device, a wireless non-AP STA, and / or a network controller. In some examples, the process 800 may be performed by a wireless AP such as one of the APs 102 described with reference to Figure 1, a client device, such as an STA 104 described with reference to Figure 1, or a network controller, such as the network controller 208 described with reference to Figure 2.

[0112] In some examples, in block 802, the wireless node optionally obtains, from each of a plurality of transmitting wireless nodes of the pairs, at least one signal quality measurement associated with at least one receiving wireless node of the pairs.

[0113] In some aspects, the obtaining in block 802 comprises obtaining from a first transmitting wireless node a signal quality measurement associated with at least one receiving wireless node that is associated with a second transmitting wireless node.

[0114] In some aspects, the at least one signal quality measurement is based on one or more signal quality measurements over one or more transmit occasions in a time window.

[0115] In some aspects, the obtaining the at least one signal quality measurement associated with the at least one receiving wireless node of the pairs in block 802, comprises obtaining, from a first transmitting wireless node, a first signal quality measurement associated with a first receiving wireless node; and obtaining, from one or more other transmitting wireless nodes, one or more signal quality measurements associated with the first receiving wireless node.

[0116] In some examples, in block 804, the wireless node optionally xchanges at least one of: the estimated first interference, the selected action, a measurement of signal quality and interference, or a signal-to-interference (SIR) headroom with one or more transmitting wireless nodes of the pairs,

[0117] In some examples, in block 806, the wireless node estimates interference associated with concurrent transmissions by multiple wireless nodes.

[0118] In some aspects, the estimation of the interference associated with the concurrent transmissions by the multiple wireless nodes in block 806 is based on the at least one signal quality measurement.

[0119] In some aspects, the estimation of the interference associated with the concurrent transmissions by the multiple wireless nodes in block 806 comprises estimating interference associated with a transmission by a first transmitting wireless node, the transmission being inpresence of at least one transmission by one or more other transmitting wireless nodes of the multiple wireless nodes.

[0120] In some aspects, the estimation of the interference comprises a signal-to-interference ratio (SIR) or a received signal strength indicator (RSSI).

[0121] In some aspects, the estimation of the interference associated with the concurrent transmissions in block 806 is based on at least one of: the first signal quality measurement, the one or more signal quality measurements, a first transmit power of the first transmitting wireless node, or one or more transmit powers of the one or more other transmitting wireless nodes.

[0122] In some aspects, the estimation of the interference associated with the concurrent transmissions by the multiple transmitting wireless nodes in block 806 comprises: measuring a signal quality of one or more links between the wireless node and one or more other wireless nodes; estimating first interference to the one or more links based on the measured signal quality; selecting an action that, subject to the first interference, satisfies one or more quality-of-service (QoS) criteria; and estimating the interference associated with the concurrent transmissions by the multiple transmitting wireless nodes based on the selected action.

[0123] In some aspects, the estimation of the interference for the concurrent transmissions by the multiple transmitting wireless nodes in block 806 is further based on the at least one of: the estimated first interference, the selected action, the measured signal quality, or the SIR headroom.

[0124] In some examples, in block 808, the wireless node optionally generates a graph, wherein vertices of the graph represent transmitting wireless nodes of the pairs, and wherein an edge between two of the transmitting wireless nodes in the graph represents that transmissions by the two transmitting wireless nodes do not interfere with any of receiving wireless nodes associated with the two transmitting wireless nodes.

[0125] In some examples, in block 810, the wireless node optionally generates a graph, wherein vertices of the graph represent the communication links, wherein an edge between two vertices in the graph represents the corresponding communication links do not interfere with each other, and wherein the sets of communication links comprise communication links having edges between each pair of corresponding vertices in the graph.

[0126] In some examples, in block 812, the wireless node optionally for a particular transmitting wireless node that is not a member of any primary pair, enforces one or more access constraints on the particular transmitting wireless node such that a level of interference, to eachreceiving wireless node associated with at least one other transmitting wireless node that is a member of a primary pair, is less than an interference threshold; and identifies the particular transmitting wireless node, the receiving wireless node associated with the particular transmitting wireless node, the primary pair that the at least one other transmitting wireless node is a member of, and the one or more access constraints as being associated with secondary pairs of transmitting and receiving wireless nodes, wherein the identified pairs comprise the primary pairs and the secondary pairs.

[0127] In some aspects, the one or more access constraints comprise at least one of: a transmit power, a channel frequency, or a time division multiplexing (TDM) configuration.

[0128] In some examples, in block 814, the wireless node identifies pairs of transmitting and receiving wireless nodes that meet one or more conditions for enabling a concurrent multi-node transmission.

[0129] In some aspects, the identification of the pairs of transmitting and receiving wireless nodes in block 814 comprises identifying one or more sets of transmitting wireless nodes, wherein each transmitting wireless node in a particular set of transmitting wireless nodes interferes with none of the receiving wireless nodes that are associated with each of the other transmitting wireless nodes in the particular set of transmitting wireless nodes, and wherein each identified pair of a transmitting wireless node of the set of transmitting wireless nodes and a receiving wireless node corresponds to a primary pair of transmitting and receiving wireless nodes.

[0130] In some aspects, a transmitting wireless node in the particular set of transmitting wireless nodes interferes a receiving wireless node of the receiving wireless nodes associated with another transmitting wireless node in the particular set of transmitting wireless nodes when a signal quality between the receiving wireless node and the other transmitting wireless node is such that at least one or more criteria are not met.

[0131] In some aspects, the one or more criteria comprise at least one of: a target latency, a target throughput, a target modulation and coding scheme (MCS), or a target coverage.

[0132] In some aspects, the one or more criteria are based on at least one of: a network topology, or a network environment.

[0133] In some aspects, identifying the pairs of transmitting and receiving wireless nodes in block 814 comprises: identifying one or more sets of transmitting wireless nodes in the graph, each set of the one or more sets comprising transmitting wireless nodes having edges between thetransmitting wireless nodes in the set; and identifying each transmitting wireless node in the one or more sets and the receiving wireless node associated with the transmitting wireless node as corresponding to primary pairs .

[0134] In some aspects, the identification of the pairs of transmitting and receiving wireless nodes in block 814 comprise identifying sets of communication links between transmitting wireless nodes and receiving wireless nodes, wherein each communication link in a particular set of the sets of communication links does not interfere with any other communication link within the particular set of communication links.

[0135] In some examples, in block 816, the wireless node performs one or more actions based on the pairs of transmitting and receiving wireless nodes and the estimated interference.

[0136] In some aspects, the performance of the one or more actions in block 816 comprises adapting a transmit power associated with one or more of the pairs of transmitting and receiving wireless nodes. In some aspects, the wireless node adapts a receive de-sensing level associated with the concurrent multi-node transmission, said adapting being based on the adapted transmit power.

[0137] In some aspects, the performance of the one or more actions in block 816 comprise adapting a receive de-sensing level of one or more of the pairs of transmitting and receiving wireless nodes.

[0138] In some aspects, the performance of the one or more actions in block 816 comprise selecting at least one of: an MCS, an antenna chain configuration, or a resource assignment for one or more of the pairs of transmitting and receiving wireless nodes.

[0139] In some aspects, the selection of the action comprises at least one of: increasing or decreasing a transmit power, steering at least one of the wireless node or one or more other wireless nodes to a channel frequency, planning channel assignments, adapting to a modulation and coding scheme (MCS), or adapting a time division multiplexing (TDM) configuration.

[0140] In some aspects, the one or more QoS criteria comprise at least one of: a target latency, a target throughput, a target coverage, or a target modulation and coding scheme (MCS).

[0141] In some aspects, the one or more QoS criteria are based on at least one of: application feedback, a semi-static configuration, an over-the-air (OTA) exchange, or wireless channel loading.

[0142] In some aspects, the estimation of the interference associated with the concurrent transmissions by the multiple transmitting wireless nodes and the identification of the pairs of transmitting and receiving wireless nodes in blocks 806 and 814 are initiated in response to at least one of: a triggered packet transmission attempt, a periodic trigger, a trigger based on expiry of a timer, a trigger based on a location of the wireless node, a trigger based on a capability of the wireless node, or an application based trigger.

[0143] In some aspects, the wireless node optionally configures at least two of the triggers independently.

[0144] Figure 9 shows a block diagram of an example wireless communication device 900 that supports interference management in MU WLAN systems. In some examples, the wireless communication device 900 is configured to perform the process 800 described with reference to Figure 8. The wireless communication device 900 may include one or more chips, SoCs, chipsets, packages, components or devices that individually or collectively constitute or comprise a processing system. The processing system may interface with other components of the wireless communication device 900, and may generally process information (such as inputs or signals) received from such other components and output information (such as outputs or signals) to such other components. In some aspects, an example chip may include a processing system, a first interface to output or transmit information and a second interface to receive or obtain information. For example, the first interface may refer to an interface between the processing system of the chip and a transmission component, such that the wireless communication device 900 may transmit the information output from the chip. In such an example, the second interface may refer to an interface between the processing system of the chip and a reception component, such that the wireless communication device 900 may receive information that is then passed to the processing system. In some such examples, the first interface also may obtain information, such as from the transmission component, and the second interface also may output information, such as to the reception component.

[0145] The processing system of the wireless communication device 900 includes processor (or “processing”) circuitry in the form of one or multiple processors, microprocessors, processing units (such as central processing units (CPUs), graphics processing units (GPUs) or digital signal processors (DSPs)), processing blocks, application-specific integrated circuits (ASIC), programmable logic devices (PLDs) (such as field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs)), or other discrete gate or transistor logic or circuitry (all of which may be generally referred to hereinindividually as “processors” or collectively as “the processor” or “the processor circuitry”). One or more of the processors may be individually or collectively configurable or configured to perform various functions or operations described herein. The processing system may further include memory circuitry in the form of one or more memory devices, memory blocks, memory elements or other discrete gate or transistor logic or circuitry, each of which may include tangible storage media such as random-access memory (RAM) or read-only memory (ROM), or combinations thereof (all of which may be generally referred to herein individually as “memories” or collectively as “the memory” or “the memory circuitry”). One or more of the memories may be coupled with one or more of the processors and may individually or collectively store processor-executable code that, when executed by one or more of the processors, may configure one or more of the processors to perform various functions or operations described herein. Additionally or alternatively, in some examples, one or more of the processors may be preconfigured to perform various functions or operations described herein without requiring configuration by software. The processing system may further include or be coupled with one or more modems (such as a Wi-Fi (for example, IEEE compliant) modem or a cellular (for example, 3GPP 4G LTE, 5G or 6G compliant) modem). In some implementations, one or more processors of the processing system include or implement one or more of the modems. The processing system may further include or be coupled with multiple radios (collectively “the radio”), multiple RF chains or multiple transceivers, each of which may in turn be coupled with one or more of multiple antennas. In some implementations, one or more processors of the processing system include or implement one or more of the radios, RF chains or transceivers.

[0146] In some examples, the wireless communication device 900 can be configurable or configured for use in an AP, such as the AP 102 described with reference to Figure 1, a client device, such as an STA 104 described with reference to Figure 1, or a network controller, such as the network controller 208 described with reference to Figure 2. In some other examples, the wireless communication device 900 includes a processing system and other components including multiple antennas. The wireless communication device 900 is capable of transmitting and receiving wireless communications in the form of, for example, wireless packets. For example, the wireless communication device 900 can be configurable or configured to transmit and receive packets in the form of physical layer PPDUs and MPDUs conforming to one or more of the IEEE 802.11 family of wireless communication protocol standards. In some other examples, the wireless communication device 900 can be configurable or configured to transmit and receive signals and communications conforming to one or more 3GPP specifications including those for5G NR or 6G. In some examples, the wireless communication device 900 also includes or can be coupled with one or more application processors which may be further coupled with one or more other memories. In some examples, the wireless communication device 900 further includes at least one external network interface coupled with the processing system that enables communication with a core network or backhaul network that enables the wireless communication device 900 to gain access to external networks including the Internet.

[0147] The wireless communication device 900 includes an estimation component 902, an identification component 904, a performance component 906, an obtaining component 908, a generation component 910, an enforcement component 912, a measurement component 914, a selection component 916, an exchange component 918, and an adaption component 920. Portions of one or more of the components 902-920 may be implemented at least in part in hardware or firmware. In some examples, portions of one or more of the components 902-920 may be implemented at least in part by a processor and software in the form of processor-executable code stored in a memory.

[0148] The estimation component 902 is configurable or configured to estimate interference associated with concurrent transmissions by multiple wireless nodes.

[0149] The estimation component 902 is configurable or configured to estimate first interference to the one or more links based on the measured signal quality.

[0150] The estimation component 902 is configurable or configured to estimate the interference associated with the concurrent transmissions by the multiple transmitting wireless nodes based on the selected action.

[0151] The identification component 904 is configurable or configured to identify pairs of transmitting and receiving wireless nodes that meet one or more conditions for enabling a concurrent multi-node transmission.

[0152] The performance component 906 is configurable or configured to perform one or more actions based on the pairs of transmitting and receiving wireless nodes and the estimated interference.

[0153] The obtaining component 908 is configurable or configured to obtain, from each of a plurality of transmitting wireless nodes of the pairs, at least one signal quality measurement associated with at least one receiving wireless node of the pairs.

[0154] The generation component 910 is configurable or configured to generate a graph, wherein vertices of the graph represent transmitting wireless nodes of the pairs, and wherein an edge between two of the transmitting wireless nodes in the graph represents that transmissions by the two transmitting wireless nodes do not interfere with any of receiving wireless nodes associated with the two transmitting wireless nodes.

[0155] The generation component 910 is configurable or configured to generate a graph, wherein vertices of the graph represent the communication links, wherein an edge between two vertices in the graph represents the corresponding communication links do not interfere with each other, and wherein the sets of communication links comprise communication links having edges between each pair of corresponding vertices in the graph

[0156] The enforcement component 912 is configurable or configured to enforce one or more access constraints on the particular transmitting wireless node such that a level of interference, to each receiving wireless node associated with at least one other transmitting wireless node that is a member of a primary pair, is less than an interference threshold.

[0157] The measurement component 914 is configurable or configured to measure a signal quality of one or more links between the wireless node and one or more other wireless nodes.

[0158] The selection component 916 is configurable or configured to select an action that, subject to the first interference, satisfies one or more quality-of-service (QoS) criteria.

[0159] The exchange component 918 is configurable or configured to exchange at least one of the estimated first interference, the selected action, a measurement of signal quality and interference, or a signal-to-interference (SIR) headroom with one or more transmitting wireless nodes of the pairs.

[0160] The adaption component 920 is configurable or configured to adapt a receive desensing level associated with the concurrent multi-node transmission, said adapting being based on the adapted transmit power.

[0161] In some aspects, means for estimating, means for identifying, means for performing, means for adapting, means for obtaining, means for generating, means for enforcing, and / or means for exchanging may comprise one or more processors and / or may be implemented as one of the components illustrated in FIG. 9.

[0162] Implementation examples are described in the following numbered clauses:

[0163] Clause 1 : A method for wireless communication at a wireless node, comprising: estimating interference associated with concurrent transmissions by multiple wireless nodes; identifying pairs of transmitting and receiving wireless nodes that meet one or more conditions for enabling a concurrent multi-node transmission; and performing one or more actions based on the pairs of transmitting and receiving wireless nodes and the estimated interference.

[0164] Clause 2: The method of Clause 1, wherein the performance of the one or more actions comprises adapting a transmit power associated with one or more of the pairs of transmitting and receiving wireless nodes.

[0165] Clause 3: The method of Clause 2, further comprising adapting a receive de-sensing level associated with the concurrent multi-node transmission, said adapting being based on the adapted transmit power.

[0166] Clause 4: The method of any combination of Clauses 1-3, wherein the one or more actions comprise adapting a receive de-sensing level of one or more of pairs of transmitting and receiving wireless nodes.

[0167] Clause 5: The method of any combination of Clauses 1-4, wherein the one or more actions comprise selecting at least one of: an MCS, an antenna chain configuration, or a resource assignment for one or more of the pairs of transmitting and receiving wireless nodes.

[0168] Clause 6: The method of any combination of Clauses 1-5, further comprising obtaining, from each of a plurality of transmitting wireless nodes of the pairs, at least one signal quality measurement associated with at least one receiving wireless node of the pairs, wherein the estimation of the interference associated with the concurrent transmissions by the multiple wireless nodes is based on the at least one signal quality measurement.

[0169] Clause 7: The method of Clause 6, wherein the obtaining comprises obtaining from a first transmitting wireless node a signal quality measurement associated with at least one receiving wireless node that is associated with a second transmitting wireless node.

[0170] Clause 8: The method of any combination of Clauses 6-7, wherein the at least one signal quality measurement is based on one or more signal quality measurements over one or more transmit occasions in a time window.

[0171] Clause 9: The method of any combination of Clauses 6-8, wherein the estimation of the interference associated with the concurrent transmissions by the multiple wireless nodes comprises estimating interference associated with a transmission by a first transmitting wirelessnode, the transmission being in presence of at least one transmission by one or more other transmitting wireless nodes of the multiple wireless nodes.

[0172] Clause 10: The method of Clause 9, wherein the estimation of the interference comprises a signal-to-interference ratio (SIR) or a received signal strength indicator (RSSI).

[0173] Clause 11 : The method of any combination of Clauses 6-10, wherein: the obtaining the at least one signal quality measurement associated with the at least one receiving wireless node of the pairs comprises: obtaining, from a first transmitting wireless node, a first signal quality measurement associated with a first receiving wireless node; and obtaining, from one or more other transmitting wireless nodes, one or more signal quality measurements associated with the first receiving wireless node; and the estimation of the interference associated with the concurrent transmissions is based on at least one of: the first signal quality measurement, the one or more signal quality measurements, a first transmit power of the first transmitting wireless node, or one or more transmit powers of the one or more other transmitting wireless nodes.

[0174] Clause 12: The method of any combination of Clauses 1-11, wherein the identification of the pairs of transmitting and receiving wireless nodes comprises identifying one or more sets of transmitting wireless nodes, wherein each transmitting wireless node in a particular set of transmitting wireless nodes interferes with none of the receiving wireless nodes that are associated with each of the other transmitting wireless nodes in the particular set of transmitting wireless nodes, and wherein each identified pair of a transmitting wireless node of the set of transmitting wireless nodes and a receiving wireless node corresponds to a primary pair of transmitting and receiving wireless nodes.

[0175] Clause 13: The method of Clause 12, wherein a transmitting wireless node in the particular set of transmitting wireless nodes interferes a receiving wireless node of the receiving wireless nodes associated with another transmitting wireless node in the particular set of transmitting wireless nodes when a signal quality between the receiving wireless node and the other transmitting wireless node is such that at least one or more criteria are not met.

[0176] Clause 14: The method of Clause 13, wherein the one or more criteria comprise at least one of: a target latency, a target throughput, a target modulation and coding scheme (MCS), or a target coverage.

[0177] Clause 15: The method of any combination of Clauses 13-14, wherein the one or more criteria are based on at least one of: a network topology, or a network environment.

[0178] Clause 16: The method of any combination of Clauses 1-15, further comprising generating a graph, wherein vertices of the graph represent transmitting wireless nodes of the pairs, and wherein an edge between two of the transmitting wireless nodes in the graph represents that transmissions by the two transmitting wireless nodes do not interfere with any of receiving wireless nodes associated with the two transmitting wireless nodes.

[0179] Clause 17: The method of Clause 16, wherein identifying the pairs of transmitting and receiving wireless nodes comprises: identifying one or more sets of transmitting wireless nodes in the graph, each set of the one or more sets comprising transmitting wireless nodes having edges between the transmitting wireless nodes in the set; and identifying each transmitting wireless node in the one or more sets and the receiving wireless node associated with the transmitting wireless node as corresponding to primary pairs.

[0180] Clause 18: The method of any combination of Clauses 12-17, further comprising: for a particular transmitting wireless node that is not a member of any primary pair, enforcing one or more access constraints on the particular transmitting wireless node such that a level of interference, to each receiving wireless node associated with at least one other transmitting wireless node that is a member of a primary pair, is less than an interference threshold; and identifying the particular transmitting wireless node, the receiving wireless node associated with the particular transmitting wireless node, the primary pair that the at least one other transmitting wireless node is a member of, and the one or more access constraints as being associated with secondary pairs of transmitting and receiving wireless nodes, wherein the identified pairs comprise the primary pairs and the secondary pairs.

[0181] Clause 19: The method of Clause 18, wherein the one or more access constraints comprise at least one of: a transmit power, a channel frequency, or a time division multiplexing (TDM) configuration.

[0182] Clause 20: The method of any combination of Clauses 1-19, wherein the identification of the pairs of transmitting and receiving wireless nodes comprise identifying sets of communication links between transmitting wireless nodes and receiving wireless nodes, wherein each communication link in a particular set of the sets of communication links does not interfere with any other communication link within the particular set of communication links.

[0183] Clause 21 : The method of Clause 20, further comprising generating a graph, wherein vertices of the graph represent the communication links, wherein an edge between two vertices in the graph represents the corresponding communication links do not interfere with each other,and wherein the sets of communication links comprise communication links having edges between each pair of corresponding vertices in the graph.

[0184] Clause 22: The method of any combination of Clauses 1-21, wherein the estimation of the interference associated with the concurrent transmissions by the multiple transmitting wireless nodes comprises: measuring a signal quality of one or more links between the wireless node and one or more other wireless nodes; estimating first interference to the one or more links based on the measured signal quality; selecting an action that, subject to the first interference, satisfies one or more quality-of-service (QoS) criteria; and estimating the interference associated with the concurrent transmissions by the multiple transmitting wireless nodes based on the selected action.

[0185] Clause 23: The method of Clause 22, wherein the selection of the action comprises at least one of: increasing or decreasing a transmit power, steering at least one of the wireless node or one or more other wireless nodes to a channel frequency, planning channel assignments, adapting to a modulation and coding scheme (MCS), or adapting a time division multiplexing (TDM) configuration.

[0186] Clause 24: The method of any combination of Clauses 22-23, wherein the one or more QoS criteria comprise at least one of: a target latency, a target throughput, a target coverage, or a target modulation and coding scheme (MCS).

[0187] Clause 25: The method of any combination of Clauses 22-24, wherein the one or more QoS criteria are based on at least one of: application feedback, a semi-static configuration, an over-the-air (OTA) exchange, or wireless channel loading.

[0188] Clause 26: The method of any combination of Clauses 22-25, further comprising exchanging at least one of: the estimated first interference, the selected action, a measurement of signal quality and interference, or a signal-to-interference (SIR) headroom with one or more transmitting wireless nodes of the pairs, wherein the estimation of the interference for the concurrent transmissions by the multiple transmitting wireless nodes is further based on the at least one of: the estimated first interference, the selected action, the measured signal quality, or the SIR headroom.

[0189] Clause 27: The method of any combination of Clauses 1-26, wherein the estimation of the interference associated with the concurrent transmissions by the multiple transmitting wireless nodes and the identification of the pairs of transmitting and receiving wireless nodes are initiated in response to at least one of: a triggered packet transmission attempt, a periodic trigger,a trigger based on expiry of a timer, a trigger based on a location of the wireless node, a trigger based on a capability of the wireless node, or an application based trigger.

[0190] Clause 28: The method of Clause 27, further comprising configuring at least two of the triggers independently.

[0191] Clause 29: A wireless node, comprising: a memory comprising computer-executable instructions and one or more processors configured to execute the executable instructions, the computer-executable instructions executable to cause the wireless node to perform a method in accordance with any one of Clauses 1-28.

[0192] Clause 30: An apparatus, comprising means for performing a method in accordance with any one of Clauses 1-28.

[0193] Clause 31 : A non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising executable instructions that, when executed by one or more processors of an apparatus, cause the apparatus to perform a method in accordance with any one of Clauses 1-28.

[0194] Clause 32: A computer program product embodied on a computer-readable storage medium comprising code for performing a method in accordance with any one of Clauses 1-28.

[0195] Clause 33: A wireless node, comprising: at least one transceiver; a memory comprising instructions; and one or more processors configured to execute the instructions and cause the wireless node to perform a method in accordance with any one of Clauses 1-13, wherein the interference estimation is based on signals received via the at least one transceiver.

[0196] As used herein, the term “determine” or “determining” encompasses a wide variety of actions and, therefore, “determining” can include calculating, computing, processing, deriving, estimating, investigating, looking up (such as via looking up in a table, a database, or another data structure), inferring, ascertaining, or measuring, among other possibilities. Also, “determining” can include receiving (such as receiving information), accessing (such as accessing data stored in memory) or transmitting (such as transmitting information), among other possibilities. Additionally, “determining” can include resolving, selecting, obtaining, choosing, establishing and other such similar actions.

[0197] As used herein, a phrase referring to “at least one of’ or “one or more of’ a list of items refers to any combination of those items, including single members. As an example, “at least one of: a, b, or c” is intended to cover: a, b, c, a-b, a-c, b-c, and a-b-c. As used herein, “or” is intended to be interpreted in the inclusive sense, unless otherwise explicitly indicated. Forexample, “a or b” may include a only, b only, or a combination of a and b. Furthermore, as used herein, a phrase referring to “a” or “an” element refers to one or more of such elements acting individually or collectively to perform the recited function(s). Additionally, a “set” refers to one or more items, and a “subset” refers to less than a whole set, but non-empty.

[0198] As used herein, “based on” is intended to be interpreted in the inclusive sense, unless otherwise explicitly indicated. For example, “based on” may be used interchangeably with “based at least in part on,” “associated with,” “in association with,” or “in accordance with” unless otherwise explicitly indicated. Specifically, unless a phrase refers to “based on only ‘a,’” or the equivalent in context, whatever it is that is “based on ‘a,’” or “based at least in part on ‘a,’” may be based on “a” alone or based on a combination of “a” and one or more other factors, conditions, or information.

[0199] The various illustrative components, logic, logical blocks, modules, circuits, operations, and algorithm processes described in connection with the examples disclosed herein may be implemented as electronic hardware, firmware, software, or combinations of hardware, firmware, or software, including the structures disclosed in this specification and the structural equivalents thereof. The interchangeability of hardware, firmware and software has been described generally, in terms of functionality, and illustrated in the various illustrative components, blocks, modules, circuits and processes described above. Whether such functionality is implemented in hardware, firmware or software depends upon the particular application and design constraints imposed on the overall system.

[0200] Various modifications to the examples described in this disclosure may be readily apparent to persons having ordinary skill in the art, and the generic principles defined herein may be applied to other examples without departing from the spirit or scope of this disclosure. Thus, the claims are not intended to be limited to the examples shown herein, but are to be accorded the widest scope consistent with this disclosure, the principles and the novel features disclosed herein.

[0201] Additionally, various features that are described in this specification in the context of separate examples also can be implemented in combination in a single implementation. Conversely, various features that are described in the context of a single implementation also can be implemented in multiple examples separately or in any suitable subcombination. As such, although features may be described above as acting in particular combinations, and even initially claimed as such, one or more features from a claimed combination can in some cases be excisedfrom the combination, and the claimed combination may be directed to a subcombination or variation of a subcombination.

[0202] Similarly, while operations are depicted in the drawings in a particular order, this should not be understood as requiring that such operations be performed in the particular order shown or in sequential order, or that all illustrated operations be performed, to achieve desirable results. Further, the drawings may schematically depict one or more example processes in the form of a flowchart or flow diagram. However, other operations that are not depicted can be incorporated in the example processes that are schematically illustrated. For example, one or more additional operations can be performed before, after, simultaneously, or between any of the illustrated operations. In some circumstances, multitasking and parallel processing may be advantageous. Moreover, the separation of various system components in the examples described above should not be understood as requiring such separation in all examples, and it should be understood that the described program components and systems can generally be integrated together in a single software product or packaged into multiple software products.

Claims

CLAIMSWhat is claimed is:

1. An apparatus for wireless communication, comprising: at least one memory comprising computer-executable instructions; and one or more processors configured to execute the computer-executable instructions and cause the apparatus to: estimate interference associated with concurrent transmissions by multiple wireless nodes; identify pairs of transmitting and receiving wireless nodes that meet one or more conditions for enabling a concurrent multi-node transmission; and perform one or more actions based on the pairs of transmitting and receiving wireless nodes and the estimated interference.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the performance of the one or more actions comprises adapting a transmit power associated with one or more of the pairs of transmitting and receiving wireless nodes.

3. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to execute the computer-executable instructions and cause the apparatus to adapt a receive desensing level associated with the concurrent multi-node transmission, said adapting being based on the adapted transmit power.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the one or more actions comprise adapting a receive de-sensing level of one or more of the pairs of transmitting and receiving wireless nodes.

5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the one or more actions comprise selecting at least one of: an MCS, an antenna chain configuration, or a resource assignment for one or more of the pairs of transmitting and receiving wireless nodes.

6. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to execute the computer-executable instructions and cause the apparatus to obtain, from each of a plurality of transmitting wireless nodes of the pairs, at least one signal quality measurementassociated with at least one receiving wireless node of the pairs, wherein the estimation of the interference associated with the concurrent transmissions by the multiple wireless nodes is based on the at least one signal quality measurement.

7. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein the obtaining comprises obtaining from a first transmitting wireless node a signal quality measurement associated with at least one receiving wireless node that is associated with a second transmitting wireless node.

8. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein the at least one signal quality measurement is based on one or more signal quality measurements over one or more transmit occasions in a time window.

9. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein the estimation of the interference associated with the concurrent transmissions by the multiple wireless nodes comprises estimating interference associated with a transmission by a first transmitting wireless node, the transmission being in presence of at least one transmission by one or more other transmitting wireless nodes of the multiple wireless nodes.

10. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the estimation of the interference comprises a signal- to-interference ratio (SIR) or a received signal strength indicator (RSSI).

11. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein: the obtaining the at least one signal quality measurement associated with the at least one receiving wireless node of the pairs comprises: obtaining, from a first transmitting wireless node, a first signal quality measurement associated with a first receiving wireless node; and obtaining, from one or more other transmitting wireless nodes, one or more signal quality measurements associated with the first receiving wireless node; and the estimation of the interference associated with the concurrent transmissions is based on at least one of: the first signal quality measurement, the one or more signal quality measurements, a first transmit power of the first transmitting wireless node, or one or more transmit powers of the one or more other transmitting wireless nodes.

12. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the identification of the pairs of transmitting and receiving wireless nodes comprises identifying one or more sets of transmitting wireless nodes, wherein each transmitting wireless node in a particular set of transmitting wireless nodes interferes with none of the receiving wireless nodes that are associated with each of the other transmitting wireless nodes in the particular set of transmitting wireless nodes, and wherein each identified pair of a transmitting wireless node of the set of transmitting wireless nodes and a receiving wireless node corresponds to a primary pair of transmitting and receiving wireless nodes.

13. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein a transmitting wireless node in the particular set of transmitting wireless nodes interferes a receiving wireless node of the receiving wireless nodes associated with another transmitting wireless node in the particular set of transmitting wireless nodes when a signal quality between the receiving wireless node and the other transmitting wireless node is such that at least one or more criteria are not met.

14. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the one or more criteria comprise at least one of: a target latency, a target throughput, a target modulation and coding scheme (MCS), or a target coverage.

15. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the one or more criteria are based on at least one of: a network topology, or a network environment.

16. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to execute the computer-executable instructions and cause the apparatus to generate a graph, wherein vertices of the graph represent transmitting wireless nodes of the pairs, and wherein an edge between two of the transmitting wireless nodes in the graph represents that transmissions by the two transmitting wireless nodes do not interfere with any of receiving wireless nodes associated with the two transmitting wireless nodes.

17. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein identifying the pairs of transmitting and receiving wireless nodes comprises:identifying one or more sets of transmitting wireless nodes in the graph, each set of the one or more sets comprising transmitting wireless nodes having edges between the transmitting wireless nodes in the set; and identifying each transmitting wireless node in the one or more sets and the receiving wireless node associated with the transmitting wireless node as corresponding to primary pairs .

18. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to execute the computer-executable instructions and cause the apparatus to: for a particular transmitting wireless node that is not a member of any primary pair, enforce one or more access constraints on the particular transmitting wireless node such that a level of interference, to each receiving wireless node associated with at least one other transmitting wireless node that is a member of a primary pair, is less than an interference threshold; and identify the particular transmitting wireless node, the receiving wireless node associated with the particular transmitting wireless node, the primary pair that the at least one other transmitting wireless node is a member of, and the one or more access constraints as being associated with secondary pairs of transmitting and receiving wireless nodes, wherein the identified pairs comprise the primary pairs and the secondary pairs.

19. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein the one or more access constraints comprise at least one of: a transmit power, a channel frequency, or a time division multiplexing (TDM) configuration.

20. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the identification of the pairs of transmitting and receiving wireless nodes comprise identifying sets of communication links between transmitting wireless nodes and receiving wireless nodes, wherein each communication link in a particular set of the sets of communication links does not interfere with any other communication link within the particular set of communication links.

21. The apparatus of claim 20, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to execute the computer-executable instructions and cause the apparatus to generate a graph, wherein vertices of the graph represent the communication links, wherein an edge between two vertices in the graph represents the corresponding communication links do not interfere with eachother, and wherein the sets of communication links comprise communication links having edges between each pair of corresponding vertices in the graph.

22. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the estimation of the interference associated with the concurrent transmissions by the multiple transmitting wireless nodes comprises: measuring a signal quality of one or more links between the wireless node and one or more other wireless nodes; estimating first interference to the one or more links based on the measured signal quality; selecting an action that, subject to the first interference, satisfies one or more quality-of- service (QoS) criteria; and estimating the interference associated with the concurrent transmissions by the multiple transmitting wireless nodes based on the selected action.

23. The apparatus of claim 22, wherein the selection of the action comprises at least one of: increasing or decreasing a transmit power, steering at least one of the wireless node or one or more other wireless nodes to a channel frequency, planning channel assignments, adapting to a modulation and coding scheme (MCS), or adapting a time division multiplexing (TDM) configuration.

24. The apparatus of claim 22, wherein the one or more QoS criteria comprise at least one of: a target latency, a target throughput, a target coverage, or a target modulation and coding scheme (MCS).

25. The apparatus of claim 22, wherein the one or more QoS criteria are based on at least one of: application feedback, a semi-static configuration, an over-the-air (OTA) exchange, or wireless channel loading.

26. The apparatus of claim 22, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to execute the computer-executable instructions and cause the apparatus to exchange at least one of: the estimated first interference, the selected action, a measurement of signal quality and interference, or a signal-to-interference (SIR) headroom with one or more transmitting wireless nodes of the pairs, wherein the estimation of the interference for the concurrent transmissions bythe multiple transmitting wireless nodes is further based on the at least one of: the estimated first interference, the selected action, the measured signal quality, or the SIR headroom.

27. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the estimation of the interference associated with the concurrent transmissions by the multiple transmitting wireless nodes and the identification of the pairs of transmitting and receiving wireless nodes are initiated in response to at least one of: a triggered packet transmission attempt, a periodic trigger, a trigger based on expiry of a timer, a trigger based on a location of the wireless node, a trigger based on a capability of the wireless node, or an application based trigger.

28. A method for wireless communication at a wireless node, comprising: estimating interference associated with concurrent transmissions by multiple wireless nodes; identifying pairs of transmitting and receiving wireless nodes that meet one or more conditions for enabling a concurrent multi-node transmission; and performing one or more actions based on the pairs of transmitting and receiving wireless nodes and the estimated interference.

29. A wireless node: at least one transceiver; at least one memory comprising computerexecutable instructions; and one or more processors configured to execute the computerexecutable instructions and cause the apparatus to: estimate interference, based on signals received via the at least one transceiver, associated with concurrent transmissions by multiple wireless nodes; identify pairs of transmitting and receiving wireless nodes that meet one or more conditions for enabling a concurrent multi-node transmission; and perform one or more actions based on the pairs of transmitting and receiving wireless nodes and the estimated interference.

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