EHT Link Adaptation in WLAN

Abstract

A method and apparatus for very high throughput (EHT) link adaptation (ELA) are described herein. A station (STA) may receive a first physical layer protocol data unit (PPDU) including a first primary secondary (PS) 160 subfield and a high efficiency (HE) / EHT subfield. The HT / EHT subfield may indicate whether a second PPDU transmitted by the STA is based on HE-related parameters or EHT-related parameters. The first PS 160 subfield may indicate a primary 160 MHz channel or a secondary 160 MHz channel. The STA may transmit a second PPDU including a second PS 160 subfield, an EHT-MCS subfield, and a number of spatial streams (NSS) subfield based on the HE / EHT subfield. The second PS 160 subfield may indicate a 160 MHz channel determined based on an indication of the first PS 160 subfield. The index of the EHT-MCS subfield and the value of the NSS subfield may be determined based on measurements of the determined 160 MHz channel.

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] (CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS) This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 63 / 307,141, filed February 6, 2022, U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 63 / 318,650, filed March 10, 2022, U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 63 / 320,917, filed March 17, 2022, and U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 63 / 415,786, filed October 13, 2022, the contents of each of which are incorporated by reference herein. [Background technology]

[0002] IEEE 802.11 Extremely High Throughput (EHT) (or IEEE 802.11be) is developed to explore the possibility of further increasing the peak throughput and improving the efficiency of IEEE 802.11 networks. The list of features to achieve the targeted peak throughput increase and efficiency improvement may include, but is not limited to, multiple access points (multi-AP), multiple bands / multiple links, 320 MHz bandwidth, 16 spatial streams, Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request (HARQ), AP cooperation, and / or new designs for 6 GHz channel access. Link adaptation has been proven to be an effective way to improve the overall system throughput without incurring extra overhead. However, the current 802.11be (EHT) does not include a mechanism for EHT link adaptation, e.g., using the A-control field. Summary of the Invention

[0003] A method and apparatus for very high throughput (EHT) link adaptation (ELA) in a wireless local area network (WLAN) are described herein. A station (STA) may receive a first physical layer protocol data unit (PPDU) from another STA, the PPDU including a first aggregated-control (A-control) field including a High Efficiency (HE) / very high throughput (EHT) subfield and a first primary secondary (PS) 160 subfield. The HT / EHT subfield may indicate whether a second PPDU transmitted by the STA is based on HE-related parameters or EHT-related parameters. The first PS 160 subfield may indicate a primary 160 MHz channel or a secondary 160 MHz channel that the STA will measure. The STA may transmit a second PPDU to another STA, the second PPDU including a second A-control field including a second PS160 subfield, an EHT modulation and coding scheme (MCS) subfield, and a number of spatial streams (NSS) subfield based on the HE / EHT subfield. The second PS160 subfield may indicate a 160 MHz channel determined based on an indication of the first PS160 subfield. An index in the EHT-MCS subfield and a value in the NSS subfield may be determined based on measurements of the determined 160 MHz channel. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0004] A more detailed understanding may be had from the following description, given by way of example in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which like reference numbers indicate similar elements and in which: [Figure 1A] FIG. 1A is a system diagram illustrating an example communication system in which one or more disclosed embodiments may be implemented. [Figure 1B] FIG. 1B is a system diagram illustrating an example wireless transmit / receive unit (WTRU) that may be used within the communications system illustrated in FIG. 1A, according to one embodiment. [Figure 1C] FIG. 1C is a system diagram illustrating an example radio access network (RAN) and an example core network (CN) that may be used within the communication system illustrated in FIG. 1A, according to one embodiment. [Figure 1D] FIG. 1D is a system diagram illustrating a further exemplary RAN and a further exemplary CN that may be used within the communications system illustrated in FIG. 1A, according to one embodiment. [Diagram 2] FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an exemplary Medium Access Control (MAC) frame format. [Diagram 3] FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example aggregation control (A-control) sub-field format of a high-efficiency (HE) variant of the high-throughput (HT) control field format. [Figure 4] FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example control subfield format. [Diagram 5] FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating an example control information subfield format within a High Efficiency (HE) Link Adaptation (HLA) control subfield. [Figure 6] FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example MCS request (MRQ) sequence identifier (MSI) / partial PPDU parameters subfield format when the Unsolicited MCS Feedback (MFB) subfield is set to 1. [Figure 7] FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating an example HE MAC capability information field format. [Figure 8]FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating an example trigger frame format in 802.11ax. [Figure 9] FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating an exemplary common information field in a trigger frame. [Figure 10] FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating an exemplary user information field in a trigger frame. [Figure 11] FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating an exemplary Block Ack (BA). [Figure 12] FIG. 12 is a diagram illustrating an example BA information field format (Compressed BlockAck). [Figure 13] FIG. 13 is a diagram illustrating an example block acknowledgement start sequence control subfield format. [Figure 14] FIG. 14 is a diagram illustrating an example BA information field format (Multi_STA BlockAck). [Figure 15] FIG. 15 is a diagram illustrating an example Association Identifier (AID)·Traffic Identifier (TID) information subfield format. [Figure 16] FIG. 16 is a diagram illustrating an example BA information field format (Multi_TID BlockAck). [Figure 17] FIG. 17 is a diagram illustrating an exemplary per TID Info subfield format. [Figure 18] FIG. 18 is a diagram illustrating an example control information subfield format within an Extra High Throughput (EHT) Link Adaptation (ELA) control subfield. [Figure 19] FIG. 19 is a diagram illustrating an example MSI / Partial PPDU parameters subfield format when the Unsolicited MFB subfield is one. [Figure 20] FIG. 20 is a diagram illustrating an example control information subfield format within an ELA control subfield (without bandwidth (BW)). [Figure 21] FIG. 21 is a diagram illustrating an example extended EHT MAC capability information field format. [Figure 22] FIG. 22 is a diagram illustrating an exemplary HLA information field EHT transformation. [Figure 23A] FIG. 23A is a diagram illustrating an example solicited MCS feedback (MFB) operation procedure. [Figure 23B] FIG. 23B is a diagram illustrating an example unsolicited MFB operation procedure. [Figure 24A] FIG. 24A is a diagram illustrating another example solicited MCS feedback (MFB) operation procedure. [Figure 24B] FIG. 24B is a diagram illustrating another example of an unsolicited MFB operation procedure. [Diagram 25] FIG. 25 is a diagram illustrating an example link adaptation extended BA control field. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0005] 1A is a diagram illustrating an example communications system 100 in which one or more disclosed embodiments may be implemented. Communications system 100 may be a multiple access system that provides content, such as voice, data, video, messaging, broadcasts, etc., to multiple wireless users. Communications system 100 may enable multiple wireless users to access such content through sharing of system resources, including wireless bandwidth. For example, the communications system 100 may use one or more channel access methods such as code division multiple access (CDMA), time division multiple access (TDMA), frequency division multiple access (FDMA), orthogonal FDMA (OFDMA), single-carrier FDMA (SC-FDMA), zero-tail unique-word discrete Fourier transform Spread OFDM (ZT-UW-DFT-S-OFDM), unique word OFDM (UW-OFDM), resource block filtered OFDM, filter bank multicarrier (FBMC), and the like.

[0006] 1A, communications system 100 may include wireless transmit / receive units (WTRUs) 102a, 102b, 102c, 102d, a radio access network (RAN) 104, a core network (CN) 106, a public switched telephone network (PSTN) 108, the Internet 110, and other networks 112, although it will be understood that the disclosed embodiments contemplate any number of WTRUs, base stations, networks, and / or network elements. Each of WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c, 102d may be any type of device configured to operate and / or communicate in a wireless environment. By way of example, the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c, 102d, any of which may be referred to as a station (STA), may be configured to transmit and / or receive wireless signals and may include user equipment (UE), mobile stations, landline or mobile subscriber units, subscription-based units, pagers, mobile phones, personal digital assistants (PDAs), smartphones, laptops, netbooks, personal computers, wireless sensors, hotspots or Mi-Fi devices, Internet of Things (IoT) devices, watches or other wearables, head-mounted displays (HMDs), vehicles, drones, medical devices and applications (e.g., remote surgery), industrial devices and applications (e.g., robots and / or other wireless devices operating in industrial and / or automated processing chain contexts), consumer electronics devices, devices operating in commercial and / or industrial wireless networks, etc. Any of the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c, and 102d may be interchangeably referred to as a UE.

[0007] The communications system 100 may also include a base station 114a and / or a base station 114b. Each of the base stations 114a, 114b may be any type of device configured to wirelessly interface with at least one of the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c, 102d to facilitate access to one or more communications networks, such as the CN 106, the Internet 110, and / or other networks 112. By way of example, the base stations 114a, 114b may be a base transceiver station (BTS), a Node B, an eNode B (eNB), a home Node B, a home eNode B, a next generation Node B such as a gNode B (gNB), a new radio (NR) Node B, a site controller, an access point (AP), a wireless router, etc. Although the base stations 114a, 114b are each illustrated as a single element, it will be appreciated that the base stations 114a, 114b may include any number of interconnected base stations and / or network elements.

[0008] The base station 114a may be part of the RAN 104, which may also include other base stations, such as a base station controller (BSC), a radio network controller (RNC), relay nodes, and / or network elements (not shown). The base station 114a and / or the base station 114b may be configured to transmit and / or receive wireless signals on one or more carrier frequencies, which may be referred to as cells (not shown). These frequencies may be licensed spectrum, unlicensed spectrum, or a combination of licensed and unlicensed spectrum. A cell may provide wireless service coverage for a particular geographic area, which may be relatively fixed or may change over time. A cell may be further divided into cell sectors. For example, the cell associated with the base station 114a may be divided into three sectors. Thus, in one embodiment, the base station 114a may include three transceivers, i.e., one transceiver for each sector of the cell. In one embodiment, the base station 114a may employ multiple-input multiple output (MIMO) technology and may utilize multiple transceivers for each sector of the cell, for example, using beamforming to transmit and / or receive signals in a desired spatial direction.

[0009] The base stations 114a, 114b may communicate with one or more of the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c, 102d via an air interface 116, which may be any suitable wireless communication link (e.g., radio frequency (RF), microwave, centimeter wave, micrometer wave, infrared (IR), ultraviolet (UV), visible light, etc.). The air interface 116 may be established using any suitable radio access technology (RAT).

[0010] More specifically, as noted above, the communications system 100 may be a multiple access system, but may use one or more channel access schemes, such as CDMA, TDMA, FDMA, OFDMA, SC-FDMA, etc. For example, the base stations 114a and the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c of the RAN 104 may implement a radio technology such as Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) Terrestrial Radio Access (UTRA), which may establish the air interface 116 using wideband CDMA (WCDMA). WCDMA may include communications protocols such as High-Speed ​​Packet Access (HSPA) and / or Evolved HSPA (HSPA+). HSPA may include High-Speed ​​Downlink (DL) Packet Access (HSDPA) and / or High-Speed ​​Uplink (UL) Packet Access (HSUPA).

[0011] In one embodiment, the base station 114a and the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c may implement a radio technology such as Evolved UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access (E-UTRA), which may establish the air interface 116 using Long Term Evolution (LTE) and / or LTE-Advanced (LTE-A) and / or LTE-Advanced Pro (LTE-A Pro).

[0012] In one embodiment, the base station 114a and the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c may implement a radio technology such as NR radio access, which may establish the air interface 116 using NR.

[0013] In one embodiment, the base station 114a and the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c may implement multiple radio access technologies. For example, the base station 114a and the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c may implement LTE radio access and NR radio access together, e.g., using dual connectivity (DC) principles. Thus, the air interface utilized by the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c may be characterized by multiple types of radio access technologies and / or transmissions sent to and from multiple types of base stations (e.g., eNBs and gNBs).

[0014] In other embodiments, the base station 114a and the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c may implement a wireless technology such as IEEE 802.11 (i.e., Wireless Fidelity, WiFi), IEEE 802.16 (i.e., Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access, WiMAX), CDMA2000, CDMA2000 1X, CDMA2000 EV-DO, Interim Standard 2000 (IS-2000), Interim Standard 95 (IS-95), Interim Standard 856 (IS-856), Global System for Mobile communications (GSM), Enhanced Data rates for GSM Evolution (EDGE), GSM EDGE (GERAN), or the like.

[0015] 1A may be, for example, a wireless router, a Home NodeB, a Home eNodeB, or an access point, and may utilize any suitable RAT to facilitate wireless connectivity in a localized area, such as an office, a home, a vehicle, a campus, an industrial facility, an air corridor (e.g., for use by drones), a road, etc. In one embodiment, the base station 114b and the WTRUs 102c, 102d may implement a radio technology, such as IEEE 802.11, to establish a wireless local area network (WLAN). In one embodiment, the base station 114b and the WTRUs 102c, 102d may implement a radio technology, such as IEEE 802.15, to establish a wireless personal area network (WPAN). In yet another embodiment, the base station 114b and the WTRUs 102c, 102d may establish a picocell or a femtocell utilizing a cellular-based RAT (e.g., WCDMA, CDMA2000, GSM, LTE, LTE-A, LTE-A Pro, NR, etc.). As shown in FIG. 1A, the base station 114b may have a direct connection to the Internet 110. Thus, the base station 114b may not need to access the Internet 110 via the CN 106.

[0016] The RAN 104 may communicate with the CN 106, which may be any type of network configured to provide voice, data, application, and / or voice over internet protocol (VoIP) services to one or more of the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c, 102d. The data may have various quality of service (QoS) requirements, such as, for example, different throughput requirements, latency requirements, error tolerance requirements, reliability requirements, data throughput requirements, mobility requirements, etc. The CN 106 may provide call control, charging services, mobile location-based services, prepaid calling, Internet connectivity, video distribution, etc., and / or perform high-level security functions such as user authentication. Although not shown in FIG. 1A, it will be understood that the RAN 104 and / or the CN 106 may communicate directly or indirectly with other RANs that use the same RAT as the RAN 104 or a different RAT. For example, in addition to being connected to the RAN 104, which may utilize NR radio technology, the CN 106 may also communicate with another RAN (not shown) employing GSM, UMTS, CDMA2000, WiMAX, E-UTRA, or WiFi radio technology.

[0017] The CN 106 may also serve as a gateway for the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c, 102d to access the PSTN 108, the Internet 110, and / or other networks 112. The PSTN 108 may include a circuit-switched telephone network providing plain old telephone service (POTS). The Internet 110 may include a global system of interconnected computer networks and devices that use common communication protocols, such as the transmission control protocol (TCP), the user datagram protocol (UDP), and / or the internet protocol (IP) of the TCP / IP Internet protocol suite. The networks 112 may include wired and / or wireless communication networks owned and / or operated by other service providers. For example, the networks 112 may include another CN connected to one or more RANs that may use the same RAT as the RAN 104 or a different RAT.

[0018] Some or all of the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c, 102d in the communications system 100 may include multi-mode capabilities (e.g., the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c, 102d may include multiple transceivers for communicating with different wireless networks over different wireless links). For example, the WTRU 102c shown in FIG. 1A may be configured to communicate with a base station 114a, which may use a cellular-based wireless technology, and a base station 114b, which may use an IEEE 802 wireless technology.

[0019] 1B is a system diagram illustrating an example WTRU 102. As shown in FIG. 1B, the WTRU 102 may include, among other things, a processor 118, a transceiver 120, a transmit / receive element 122, a speaker / microphone 124, a keypad 126, a display / touchpad 128, non-removable memory 130, removable memory 132, a power source 134, a global positioning system (GPS) chipset 136, and / or other peripherals 138. It will be understood that the WTRU 102 may include any sub-combination of the foregoing elements while remaining consistent with an embodiment.

[0020] The processor 118 may be a general purpose processor, a special purpose processor, a conventional processor, a digital signal processor (DSP), multiple microprocessors, one or more microprocessors associated with a DSP core, a controller, a microcontroller, an Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA), any other type of integrated circuit (IC), a state machine, etc. The processor 118 may perform signal coding, data processing, power control, input / output processing, and / or any other functionality that enables the WTRU 102 to operate in a wireless environment. The processor 118 may be coupled to the transceiver 120, which may be coupled to the transmit / receive element 122. Although FIG. 1B illustrates the processor 118 and the transceiver 120 as separate components, it will be understood that the processor 118 and the transceiver 120 may be integrated together in an electronic package or chip.

[0021] The transmit / receive element 122 may be configured to transmit or receive signals to or from a base station (e.g., base station 114a) over the air interface 116. For example, in one embodiment, the transmit / receive element 122 may be an antenna configured to transmit and / or receive RF signals. In one embodiment, the transmit / receive element 122 may be an emitter / detector configured to transmit and / or receive IR, UV, or visible light signals, for example. In yet another embodiment, the transmit / receive element 122 may be configured to transmit and / or receive both RF and light signals. It will be appreciated that the transmit / receive element 122 may be configured to transmit and / or receive any combination of wireless signals.

[0022] 1B as a single element, the WTRU 102 may include any number of transmit / receive elements 122. More specifically, the WTRU 102 may use MIMO technology. Thus, in one embodiment, the WTRU 102 may include two or more transmit / receive elements 122 (e.g., multiple antennas) for transmitting and receiving wireless signals over the air interface 116.

[0023] The transceiver 120 may be configured to modulate signals transmitted from the transmit / receive element 122 and demodulate signals received at the transmit / receive element 122. As mentioned above, the WTRU 102 may have multi-mode capabilities. Thus, the transceiver 120 may include multiple transceivers to enable the WTRU 102 to communicate via multiple RATs, such as, for example, NR and IEEE 802.11.

[0024] The processor 118 of the WTRU 102 may be coupled to and may receive user-entered data from a speaker / microphone 124, a keypad 126, and / or a display / touchpad 128 (e.g., a liquid crystal display (LCD) display unit or an organic light-emitting diode (OLED) display unit). The processor 118 may also output user data to the speaker / microphone 124, the keypad 126, and / or the display / touchpad 128. In addition, the processor 118 may access information from and store data in any type of suitable memory, such as non-removable memory 130 and / or removable memory 132. The non-removable memory 130 may include random-access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), a hard disk, or any other type of memory storage device. The removable memory 132 may include a subscriber identity module (SIM) card, a memory stick, a secure digital (SD) memory card, etc. In other embodiments, the processor 118 may access information from and store data in memory that is not physically located on the WTRU 102, such as on a server or a home computer (not shown).

[0025] The processor 118 may receive power from the power source 134 and may be configured to distribute and / or control the power to other components in the WTRU 102. The power source 134 may be any suitable device for providing power to the WTRU 102. For example, the power source 134 may include one or more dry batteries (e.g., nickel-cadmium (NiCd), nickel-zinc (NiZn), nickel metal hydride (NiMH), lithium-ion (Li-ion), etc.), solar cells, fuel cells, etc.

[0026] The processor 118 may also be coupled to a GPS chipset 136, which may be configured to provide location information (e.g., longitude and latitude) regarding a current location of the WTRU 102. In addition to, or instead of, information from the GPS chipset 136, the WTRU 102 may receive location information from base stations (e.g., base stations 114a, 114b) over the air interface 116 and / or determine the location of the WTRU 102 based on the timing of signals being received from two or more nearby base stations. It will be appreciated that the WTRU 102 may obtain location information by way of any suitable location determination method while remaining consistent with an embodiment.

[0027] The processor 118 may further be coupled to other peripherals 138, which may include one or more software and / or hardware modules that provide additional features, functionality, and / or wired or wireless connectivity. For example, the peripherals 138 may include an accelerometer, an electronic compass, a satellite transceiver, a digital camera (for photos and / or videos), a universal serial bus (USB) port, a vibration device, a television transceiver, a hands-free headset, a Bluetooth® module, a frequency modulated (FM) radio unit, a digital music player, a media player, a video game player module, an Internet browser, a virtual reality and / or augmented reality (VR / AR) device, an activity tracker, and the like. The peripherals 138 may include one or more sensors. The sensor may be one or more of a gyroscope, an accelerometer, a Hall effect sensor, a magnetometer, an orientation sensor, a proximity sensor, a temperature sensor, a time sensor, a geolocation sensor, an altimeter, a light sensor, a touch sensor, a magnetometer, a barometer, a gesture sensor, a biometric sensor, a humidity sensor, and the like.

[0028] The WTRU 102 may include a full-duplex radio where the transmission and reception of some or all of the signals (e.g., associated with a particular subframe of both the UL (e.g., for transmission) and DL (e.g., for reception)) may be simultaneous and / or together. The full-duplex radio may include an interference management unit to reduce and or substantially eliminate self-interference via either hardware (e.g., a choke) or signal processing via a processor (e.g., via a separate processor (not shown) or via processor 118). In one embodiment, the WTRU 102 may include a half-duplex radio where the transmission and reception of some or all of the signals (e.g., associated with a particular subframe of either the UL (e.g., for transmission) or DL ​​(e.g., for reception)) may be simultaneous and / or together.

[0029] 1C is a system diagram illustrating the RAN 104 and the CN 106, according to one embodiment. As mentioned above, the RAN 104 may use E-UTRA radio technology to communicate with the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c over the air interface 116. The RAN 104 may also communicate with the CN 106.

[0030] The RAN 104 may include eNodeBs 160a, 160b, 160c, although it will be understood that the RAN 104 may include any number of eNodeBs while remaining consistent with an embodiment. The eNodeBs 160a, 160b, 160c may each include one or more transceivers for communicating with the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c over the air interface 116. In one embodiment, the eNodeBs 160a, 160b, 160c may implement MIMO technology. Thus, the eNodeB 160a may, for example, use multiple antennas to transmit wireless signals to and / or receive wireless signals from the WTRU 102a.

[0031] Each of the eNodeBs 160a, 160b, 160c may be associated with a particular cell (not shown) and may be configured to handle radio resource management decisions, handover decisions, scheduling of users in the UL and / or DL, etc. As shown in FIG 1C, the eNodeBs 160a, 160b, 160c may communicate with one another via an X2 interface.

[0032] 1C may include a mobility management entity (MME) 162, a serving gateway (SGW) 164, and a packet data network (PDN) gateway (PGW) 166. Although the foregoing elements are illustrated as part of the CN 106, it will be understood that any of these elements may be owned and / or operated by an entity other than the CN operator.

[0033] The MME 162 may be connected to each of the eNodeBs 162a, 162b, 162c in the RAN 104 via an S1 interface and may function as a control node. For example, the MME 162 may be responsible for authenticating users of the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c, activating / deactivating bearers, selecting a particular serving gateway during initial attachment of the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c, etc. The MME 162 may provide a control plane function for switching between the RAN 104 and other RANs (not shown) that employ other radio technologies, such as GSM and / or WCDMA.

[0034] The SGW 164 may be connected to each of the eNodeBs 160a, 160b, 160c in the RAN 104 via an S1 interface. The SGW 164 may generally route and forward user data packets to and from the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c. The SGW 164 may perform other functions, such as anchoring the user plane during handover between eNodeBs, triggering paging when DL data is available to the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c, and managing and storing the context of the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c.

[0035] The SGW 164 may be connected to a PGW 166, which may provide the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c with access to packet-switched networks, such as the Internet 110, to facilitate communications between the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c and IP-enabled devices.

[0036] The CN 106 may facilitate communications with other networks. For example, the CN 106 may provide the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c with access to circuit-switched networks, such as the PSTN 108, to facilitate communications between the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c and traditional land-line communications devices. For example, the CN 106 may include or communicate with an IP gateway (e.g., an IP multimedia subsystem (IMS) server) that serves as an interface between the CN 106 and the PSTN 108. In addition, the CN 106 may provide the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c with access to other networks 112, which may include other wired and / or wireless networks owned and / or operated by other service providers.

[0037] Although the WTRU is depicted in FIGS. 1A-1D as a wireless terminal, in certain representative embodiments, it is contemplated that such a terminal may use a wired communications interface (e.g., temporarily or permanently) with the communications network.

[0038] In an exemplary embodiment, the other network 112 may be a WLAN.

[0039] A WLAN in infrastructure Basic Service Set (BSS) mode may have an access point (AP) of the BSS and one or more stations (STAs) associated with the AP. The AP may have access or interface to a Distribution System (DS) or another type of wired / wireless network that carries traffic within the BSS and / or outside the BSS. Traffic originating from outside the BSS to a STA may arrive through the AP and be delivered to the STA. Traffic originating from a STA to a destination outside the BSS may be sent to the AP to be delivered to the respective destination. Traffic between STAs within the BSS may be sent, for example, through the AP, where a source STA may send traffic to the AP, which may deliver the traffic to the destination STA. Traffic between STAs within the BSS may be considered and / or referred to as peer-to-peer traffic. Peer-to-peer traffic may be sent using a direct link setup (DLS) between a source STA and a destination STA (e.g., directly between them). In certain representative embodiments, the DLS may use 802.11e DLS or 802.11z tunneled DLS (TDLS). A WLAN using an Independent BSS (IBSS) mode may not have an AP, and STAs (e.g., all of the STAs) within or using the IBSS may communicate directly with each other. The IBSS mode of communication may be referred to herein as an "ad-hoc" communication mode.

[0040] When using an 802.11ac infrastructure mode of operation or a similar mode of operation, an AP may transmit a beacon on a fixed channel, such as a primary channel. The primary channel may be a fixed width (e.g., a 20 MHz wide bandwidth) or a dynamically configured width. The primary channel may be the operating channel of the BSS, but may be used by STAs to establish a connection with the AP. In certain representative embodiments, carrier sense multiple access with collision avoidance (CSMA / CA) may be implemented, for example, in an 802.11 system. With CSMA / CA, STAs (e.g., all STAs), including the AP, may sense the primary channel. If the primary channel is sensed / detected and / or determined to be busy by a particular STA, that particular STA may back off. One STA (e.g., only one station) may transmit at any given time in a given BSS.

[0041] A High Throughput (HT) STA may use a 40 MHz wide channel for communication, which may be formed, for example, by a combination of a primary 20 MHz channel and adjacent or non-adjacent 20 MHz channels.

[0042] A Very High Throughput (VHT) STA may support 20 MHz, 40 MHz, 80 MHz, and / or 160 MHz wide channels. A 40 MHz and / or 80 MHz channel may be formed by combining multiple contiguous 20 MHz channels. A 160 MHz channel may be formed by combining eight contiguous 20 MHz channels or by combining two non-contiguous 80 MHz channels, which may be referred to as an 80+80 configuration. For the 80+80 configuration, after channel encoding, the data may pass through a segment parser that may split the data into two streams. Inverse Fast Fourier Transform (IFFT) processing and time domain processing may be performed separately on each stream. The streams may be mapped to two 80 MHz channels and the data may be transmitted from the transmitting STA. At the receiver of the receiving STA, the above operations of the 80+80 configuration may be reversed and the combined data may be sent to the Medium Access Control (MAC).

[0043] Sub-1 GHz operating modes are supported by 802.11af and 802.11ah. Channel operating bandwidths and carriers are reduced in 802.11af and 802.11ah compared to those used in 802.11n and 802.11ac. 802.11af supports 5 MHz, 10 MHz, and 20 MHz bandwidths in TV White Space (TVWS) spectrum, and 802.11ah supports 1 MHz, 2 MHz, 4 MHz, 8 MHz, and 16 MHz bandwidths using non-TVWS spectrum. According to a representative embodiment, 802.11ah may support Meter Type Control / Machine-Type Communication (MTC), such as MTC devices in macro coverage areas. MTC devices may have limited capabilities, including certain capabilities, for example, support for (e.g., support only for) certain and / or limited bandwidths. The MTC device may include a battery that has a battery life above a threshold (eg, to maintain a very long battery life).

[0044] WLAN systems that may support multiple channels and channel bandwidths, such as 802.11n, 802.11ac, 802.11af, and 802.11ah, include a channel that may be designated as a primary channel. The primary channel may have a bandwidth equal to the maximum common operating bandwidth supported by all STAs in the BSS. The bandwidth of the primary channel may be configured and / or limited by the STAs among all STAs operating in the BSS that support the smallest bandwidth operating mode. In an 802.11ah embodiment, the primary channel may be 1 MHz wide for STAs (e.g., MTC-type devices) that support (e.g., only) the 1 MHz mode, even if the AP and other STAs in the BSS support 2 MHz, 4 MHz, 8 MHz, 16 MHz, and / or other channel bandwidth operating modes. Carrier sensing and / or Network Allocation Vector (NAV) configuration may depend on the status of the primary channel. For example, if the primary channel is busy due to a STA (that only supports 1 MHz mode of operation) transmitting to the AP, all of the available frequency bands may be considered busy even if most of the available frequency bands remain idle.

[0045] In the United States, the available frequency band that can be used by 802.11ah is 902MHz to 928MHz. In South Korea, the available frequency band is 917.5MHz to 923.5MHz. In Japan, the available frequency band is 916.5MHz to 927.5MHz. The total bandwidth available for 802.11ah is 6MHz to 26MHz, depending on the country's laws.

[0046] 1D is a system diagram illustrating the RAN 104 and the CN 106, according to one embodiment. As mentioned above, the RAN 104 may use NR radio technology to communicate with the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c over the air interface 116. The RAN 104 may also communicate with the CN 106.

[0047] The RAN 104 may include gNBs 180a, 180b, 180c, although it will be understood that the RAN 104 may include any number of gNBs while remaining consistent with the embodiments. The gNBs 180a, 180b, 180c may each include one or more transceivers for communicating with the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c over the air interface 116. In an embodiment, the gNBs 180a, 180b, 180c may implement MIMO technology. For example, the gNBs 180a, 108b may utilize beamforming to transmit signals to and / or receive signals from the gNBs 180a, 180b, 180c. Thus, the gNB 180a may transmit and / or receive wireless signals to and from the WTRU 102a, for example, using multiple antennas. In one embodiment, the gNBs 180a, 180b, 180c may implement carrier aggregation technology. For example, the gNB 180a may transmit multiple component carriers to the WTRU 102a (not shown). A subset of these component carriers may be on an unlicensed spectrum, while the remaining component carriers may be on a licensed spectrum. In one embodiment, the gNBs 180a, 180b, 180c may implement Coordinated Multi-Point (CoMP) technology. For example, the WTRU 102a may receive coordinated transmissions from the gNBs 180a and 180b (and / or gNB 180c).

[0048] The WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c may communicate with the gNBs 180a, 180b, 180c using transmissions associated with scalable numerology. For example, the OFDM symbol spacing and / or OFDM subcarrier spacing may vary for different transmissions, different cells, and / or different portions of the wireless transmission spectrum. The WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c may communicate with the gNBs 180a, 180b, 180c using subframes or transmission time intervals (TTIs) of varying or scalable lengths (e.g., including varying numbers of OFDM symbols and / or varying lengths of absolute time durations).

[0049] The gNBs 180a, 180b, 180c may be configured to communicate with the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c in a standalone configuration and / or a non-standalone configuration. In a standalone configuration, the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c may communicate with the gNBs 180a, 180b, 180c without accessing another RAN (e.g., eNodeBs 160a, 160b, 160c, etc.). In a standalone configuration, the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c may utilize one or more of the gNBs 180a, 180b, 180c as mobility anchor points. In a standalone configuration, the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c may communicate with the gNBs 180a, 180b, 180c using signals in unlicensed spectrum. In a non-standalone configuration, the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c may communicate with and connect to a gNB 180a, 180b, 180c while also communicating with and connecting to another RAN, such as an eNodeB 160a, 160b, 160c. For example, the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c may implement DC principles to communicate with one or more gNBs 180a, 180b, 180c and one or more eNodeBs 160a, 160b, 160c substantially simultaneously. In a non-standalone configuration, the eNodeBs 160a, 160b, 160c may act as mobility anchors for the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c, and the gNBs 180a, 180b, 180c may provide additional coverage and / or throughput for serving the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c.

[0050] Each of the gNBs 180a, 180b, 180c may be associated with a particular cell (not shown) and may be configured to handle radio resource management decisions, handover decisions, scheduling of users in UL and / or DL, support for network slicing, DC, interworking between NR and E-UTRA, routing of user plane data to User Plane Functions (UPFs) 184a, 184b, routing of control plane information to Access and Mobility Management Functions (AMFs) 182a, 182b, etc. As shown in FIG. 1D, the gNBs 180a, 180b, 180c may communicate with each other via an Xn interface.

[0051] 1D may include at least one AMF 182a, 182b, at least one UPF 184a, 184b, at least one Session Management Function (SMF) 183a, 183b, and possibly a Data Network (DN) 185a, 185b. Although the foregoing elements are illustrated as part of the CN 106, it will be understood that any of these elements may be owned and / or operated by an entity other than the CN operator.

[0052] The AMF 182a, 182b may be connected to one or more of the gNBs 180a, 180b, 180c in the RAN 104 via an N2 interface and may function as a control node. For example, the AMF 182a, 182b may be responsible for user authentication of the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c, support for network slicing (e.g., handling different protocol data unit (PDU) sessions having different requirements), selection of a particular SMF 183a, 183b, management of registration areas, termination of non-access stratum (NAS) signaling, mobility management, etc. Network slicing may be used by the AMF 182a, 182b to customize the CN support of the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c based on the type of service utilizing the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c. For example, different network slices may be established for different use cases, such as services relying on ultra-reliable low latency (URLLC) access, services relying on enhanced massive mobile broadband (eMBB) access, services for MTC access, etc. The AMF 182a, 182b may provide a control plane function for switching between the RAN 104 and other RANs (not shown) that employ other radio technologies, such as LTE, LTE-A, LTE-A Pro, and / or non-3GPP access technologies, such as WiFi.

[0053] The SMFs 183a, 183b may be connected to the AMFs 182a, 182b in the CN 106 via an N11 interface. The SMFs 183a, 183b may also be connected to the UPFs 184a, 184b in the CN 106 via an N4 interface. The SMFs 183a, 183b may select and control the UPFs 184a, 184b and configure the routing of traffic through the UPFs 184a, 184b. The SMFs 183a, 183b may perform other functions, such as managing and assigning UE IP addresses, managing PDU sessions, controlling policy enforcement and QoS, providing DL data notification, etc. The PDU session type may be IP-based, non-IP-based, Ethernet-based, etc.

[0054] The UPFs 184a, 184b may be connected to one or more of the gNBs 180a, 180b, 180c in the RAN 104 via an N3 interface, which may provide the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c with access to packet-switched networks, such as the Internet 110, to facilitate communications between the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c and IP-enabled devices. The UPFs 184, 184b may perform other functions, such as routing and forwarding packets, enforcing user plane policy, supporting multi-homed PDU sessions, handling user plane QoS, buffering DL packets, providing mobility anchoring, etc.

[0055] The CN 106 may facilitate communication with other networks. For example, the CN 106 may include or communicate with an IP gateway (e.g., an IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) server) that serves as an interface between the CN 106 and the PSTN 108. In addition, the CN 106 may provide the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c with access to other networks 112, which may include other wired and / or wireless networks owned and / or operated by other service providers. In one embodiment, the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c may be connected to the local DNs 185a, 185b through the UPFs 184a, 184b via an N3 interface to the UPFs 184a, 184b and an N6 interface between the UPFs 184a, 184b and the DNs 185a, 185b.

[0056] 1A-1D and the corresponding description thereof, one or more or all of the functions described herein with respect to one or more of the WTRUs 102a-102d, base stations 114a-114b, eNodeBs 160a-160c, MME 162, SGW 164, PGW 166, gNBs 180a-180c, AMFs 182a-182b, UPFs 184a-184b, SMFs 183a-183b, DNs 185a-185b, and / or any other devices described herein may be performed by one or more emulation devices (not shown). The emulation devices may be one or more devices configured to emulate one or more or all of the functions described herein. For example, the emulation devices may be used to test other devices and / or to simulate network and / or WTRU functions.

[0057] The emulation device may be designed to implement one or more tests of other devices in a lab environment and / or an operator network environment. For example, one or more emulation devices may perform one or more or all functions while fully or partially implemented and / or deployed as part of a wired and / or wireless communication network to test other devices in the communication network. One or more emulation devices may perform one or more or all functions while temporarily implemented / deployed as part of a wired and / or wireless communication network. The emulation device may be directly coupled to another device for the purpose of testing and / or performing tests using over-the-air wireless communication.

[0058] The one or more emulation devices may perform one or more functions, inclusive, while not being implemented / deployed as part of a wired and / or wireless communication network. For example, the emulation devices may be utilized in test scenarios in a test lab and / or in an undeployed (e.g., test) wired and / or wireless communication network to implement testing of one or more components. The one or more emulation devices may be test equipment. Direct RF coupling and / or wireless communication via RF circuitry (which may include, for example, one or more antennas) may be used by the emulation devices to transmit and / or receive data.

[0059] A WLAN in infrastructure Basic Service Set (BSS) mode has an Access Point (AP) in the BSS and one or more stations (STAs) associated with the AP. The AP typically has access or interface to a Distribution System (DS) or another type of wired / wireless network that carries traffic within and / or outside the BSS. Traffic originating from outside the BSS to a STA arrives through the AP and is delivered to the STA. Traffic from a STA to a destination outside the BSS is sent to the AP and delivered to the respective destination. Traffic between STAs within the BSS may also be sent through the AP, with the source STA sending traffic to the AP and the AP delivering the traffic to the destination STA.

[0060] Using the 802.11ac infrastructure mode of operation, an AP may transmit beacons on a fixed channel, such as a primary channel. This channel may be 20 MHz wide and is the operating channel of the BSS. This channel is also used by STAs to establish connections with the AP. The basic channel access mechanism in 802.11 systems is Carrier Sense Multiple Access with Collision Avoidance (CSMA / CA). In this mode of operation, all STAs, including the AP, may sense the primary channel. If the channel is detected as busy, the STAs may back off. Therefore, one STA (e.g., only one STA) may transmit at any given time in a given BSS.

[0061] High Throughput (HT) STAs may also use 40 MHz wide channels for communication, which may be accomplished by combining a primary 20 MHz channel with an adjacent 20 MHz channel to form a 40 MHz wide contiguous channel.

[0062] In 802.11ac, Very High Throughput (VHT) STAs may support channels of 20 MHz, 40 MHz, 80 MHz, and 160 MHz width. The 40 MHz and 80 MHz channels are formed by combining consecutive 20 MHz channels, similar to 802.11n above. A 160 MHz channel may be formed by combining eight consecutive 20 MHz channels or by combining two non-consecutive 80 MHz channels. This may also be referred to as an 80+80 configuration. For the 80+80 configuration, the data, after channel coding, is passed through a segment parser and split into two streams. IFFT and time domain processing may be accomplished separately for each stream. The streams are then mapped to two channels and the data is transmitted. At the receiver, this mechanism is reversed and the combined data is transmitted to the MAC.

[0063] To improve spectral efficiency, 802.11ac introduced the concept of downlink Multi-User MIMO (MU-MIMO) transmission to multiple STAs within the same symbol time frame, e.g., during a downlink OFDM symbol. The possible use of downlink MU-MIMO is currently also being considered for 802.11ah. It is important to note that since downlink MU-MIMO uses the same symbol timing for multiple STAs, as used in 802.11ac, interference between waveform transmissions to multiple STAs is no longer an issue. However, all STAs involved in MU-MIMO transmission with the AP may need to use the same channel or band. This may limit the operating bandwidth to the minimum channel bandwidth supported by the STAs involved in the MU-MIMO transmission with the AP.

[0064] A STA may suitably construct a subset of frames for transmission and decode a (potentially different) subset of frames upon verification after reception. The particular subset of frames that a STA constructs and decodes may be determined by the features supported by that particular STA. A STA may verify each received frame using a frame check sequence (FCS) and may interpret several fields from the MAC header of every frame.

[0065] FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an exemplary media access control (MAC) frame format 200, which may be used in combination with any of the other embodiments described herein. The MAC frame format 200 may include a set of fields that occur in a fixed order in every frame. Specifically, as illustrated in FIG. 2, the MAC frame 200 may include a MAC header that includes a frame control field 202, a duration / ID field 204, an address 1 field 206, an address 2 field 208, an address 3 field 210, a sequence control field 212, an address 4 field 214, a QoS control field 216, and a high throughput (HT) control field 218. The MAC frame 200 may further include a frame body 220 and a frame check sequence (FCS) 222. A STA may transmit a frame using the frame format described in FIG. 2. FIG. 2 illustrates a general MAC frame format for a protocol version 0 (PV0) MPDU as an example.

[0066] The HT Control field 218 may be present in control wrapper frames, and may be present in QoS Data frames, (802.11ax) QoS Null frames, and management frames, as determined by the +HTC subfield of the frame control field 202.

[0067] For example, the HT control field 218 transmitted from a non-China Millimeter-Wave Multi-Gigabit (non-CMMG) STA may include three variants, namely, HT variant, VHT variant, and HE variant. The variant formats are differentiated by the values ​​of B0 and B1, as described in Table 1.

[0068] [Table 1]

[0069] 3 is a diagram illustrating an example Aggregation Control (A-Control) subfield format 300 of the High Efficiency (HE) variant HT control field format, which may be used in combination with any of the other embodiments described herein. As illustrated in FIG. 3, the A-Control subfield 300 may include a control list subfield 305 and padding 310. The A-Control subfield 300 may be 30 bits long. The control list subfield 305 may include one or more control subfields.

[0070] 4 is a diagram illustrating an example control subfield format 400, which may be used in combination with any of the other embodiments described herein. The format of each control subfield 400 is shown in FIG. 4. For example, the control subfield 400 may include a control ID subfield 405 and a control information subfield 410, as illustrated in FIG.

[0071] The Control ID subfield 405 may indicate the type of information carried in the Control Information subfield 410. The length of the Control Information subfield 410 may be fixed for each value of the Control ID subfield 405 other than reserved. The values ​​of the Control ID subfield 405 and the associated lengths of the Control Information subfield 410 are defined in Table 2.

[0072] [Table 2]

[0073] 5 is a diagram illustrating an example control information subfield format 500 within a High Efficiency (HE) Link Adaptation (HLA) control subfield, which may be used in combination with any of the other embodiments described herein. The control information subfield 500 within the HLA control subfield may include information related to HE Link Adaptation (HLA) or HLA procedures. The format of the control information subfield 500 is illustrated in FIG. 5. In one embodiment, the HLA control subfield 500 may be defined in Table 3.

[0074] [Table 3-1]

[0075] [Table 3-2]

[0076] 6 is a diagram illustrating an example MCS Request (MRQ) Sequence Identifier (MSI) / Partial PPDU parameters subfield format 600 when the Unsolicited MCS Feedback (MFB) subfield is 1 or true, which may be used in combination with any of the other embodiments described herein. As illustrated in FGI.6, the MSI / Partial PPDU parameters subfield 600 may include a PPDU Format subfield 605 and a Coding Type subfield 610.

[0077] The PPDU Format subfield 605 may indicate the format of the PPDU from which the unsolicited MCS feedback (MFB) was inferred; For HE SU PPDUs it is set to 0, Set to 1 for HE MU PPDU, Set to 2 for HE ER SU PPDU, and For HE TB PPDU it is set to 3.

[0078] The coding type subfield 610 may contain coding information of the PPDU from which the unsolicited MFB was inferred; It is set to 0 for Binary Convolutional Codes (BCC), and Set to 1 for Low-Density Parity-Check (LDPC).

[0079] A STA or HE STA can declare that it is an HE STA by transmitting an HE Capability element. Figure 7 is a diagram illustrating an example HE MAC Capability Information field format 700, which can be used in combination with any of the other embodiments described herein. The HE Capability element may include, but is not limited to, Element ID, Length, Element ID Extension, HE MAC Capability Information 700, HE PHY Capability Information, Supported HE-MCS and NSS Sets, and PHY Packet Extension (PPE) Threshold (optional) subfields. As illustrated in FIG. 7, the format of the HE MAC capability information field 700 may include: +HTC HE support 702, TWT requester support 704, TWT responder support 706, dynamic fragmentation support 708, maximum number of fragmented MSDUs / A-MSDUs exponent 710, minimum fragment size 712, trigger frame MAC padding duration 714, multiple TID aggregate receive support 716, HE link adaptation support 718, full acknowledgement support 720, TRS support 722, BSR support 724, broadcast TWT support 726, 32txt BA bitmap support 728, MU cascading support 730, acknowledgement enabled aggregation support 732, reservations 734, OM control support 736, OFDMA RA support 738, maximum A-MPDU length exponent extension 740, A-MSDU fragmentation support 742, flexible TWT schedule support 744, receive control frames to multiple BSSs 746, BSRP BORP The subfields may include A-MPDU aggregation 748, QTP support 750, BQR support 752, PSR responder 754, NDP feedback reporting support 756, OPS support 758, A-MSDU support not under BA in A-MPDU with acknowledgement enabled 760, multiple TID aggregation transmission support 762, HE subchannel selective transmission support 764, UL 2x996 tone RU support 766, OM controlled UL MU data disable receive support 768, HE dynamic SM power saving 770, punctured sounding support 772, and HT and VHT trigger frame receive support 774.

[0080] The HE Link Adaptation Support subfield 718 of the HE MAC Capability Information field 700 may be provided in Table 4.

[0081] [Table 4]

[0082] Link adaptation using the HLA control subfield is described herein. The occurrence of two or more instances of the HLA control subfield with an MCS request (MRQ) field equal to one in a single PPDU may be interpreted by the receiver as a single request for link adaptation feedback.

[0083] The MFB requester, e.g., a transmitter, may specify the RU index and BW for which link adaptation feedback is requested. Upon receiving an HLA control subfield with an MRQ subfield equal to 1, the MFB responder, e.g., a receiver, may calculate the HE-MCS, Nss, and DCM for the RU and BW specified in the MRQ. These estimates may be based on the same RU of the PPDU carrying the MRQ. The PPDU carrying the MRQ may include the RU requested for the MFB. The MFB responder may label the result of this calculation with the MRQ sequence identifier (MSI) value from the HLA control subfield in the received frame carrying the MRQ. The MFB responder may include the received MSI value in the MSI field of the corresponding response frame. In case of a delayed response, this allows the MFB requester to associate the MFB with the requested MRQ.

[0084] A STA may provide feedback on link adaptation to another STA without solicitation (i.e., MCS request). For example, the estimates of unsolicited HE-MCS, Nss, DCM, BW, and RU reported in an HLA control subfield sent by a STA may be calculated based on the most recent PPDU received at the STA that matches the descriptions indicated by the PPDU format, transmit beamforming, and coding type subfields in the same HLA control subfield.

[0085] FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating an example trigger frame format 800, which may be used in combination with any of the other embodiments described herein. Trigger frames were first introduced in 802.11ax. Trigger frames may be used to allocate resources and trigger single-user or multi-user access. As illustrated in FIG. 8, the trigger frame may include, but is not limited to, a frame control field 802, a duration field 804, an RA field 806, a TA field 808, a common information field 810, a user information field 812, padding 814, and a frame control sequence (FCS) field 816.

[0086] 9 is a diagram illustrating an example common information field 900 in a trigger frame, which may be used in combination with any of the other embodiments described herein. As illustrated in FIG. 9, the common information field 900 may include, but is not limited to, the following subfields: Trigger Type 302, UL Length 904, More TF 906, CS Required 908, UL BW 910, GI and HE-LTF Type 912, MU-MIMO HE-LTF Mode 914, Number of HE-LTF Symbols and Midamble Period 916, UL STBC 918, LDPC Additional Symbol Segment 920, AP Transmit Power 922, Pre-FEC Padding Factor 924, PE Ambiguity Resolution 926, UL Spatial Reuse 928, Doppler 930, UL HE SIG-A2 Reserved 932, Reserved 934, and Trigger Dependent Common Information 936.

[0087] The trigger type subfield 302 in the common information field 900 may have possible values ​​as shown in Table 5.

[0088] [Table 5]

[0089] FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating an example user information field 1000 in a trigger frame, which may be used in combination with any of the other embodiments described herein. The user information field 1000 for all trigger types other than the Null Feedback Report Poll (NFRP) trigger may be illustrated in FIG. 10. As illustrated in FIG. 10, the user information field 1000 may include, but is not limited to, an AID12 subfield 1002, a RU allocation subfield 1004, a UL FEC coding type subfield 1006, a UL DCM subfield 1010, a SS allocation / RA-RU information subfield 1012, a UL target received power subfield 1014, a reserved subfield 1016, and a trigger-dependent user information subfield 1018.

[0090] 11 is a diagram illustrating an example block acknowledgement (BA) control field format 1100, which may be used in combination with any of the other embodiments described herein. As illustrated in FIG. 11, the BA control field 1100 may include, but is not limited to, a BA acknowledgement policy subfield 1105, a BA type subfield 1110, a reserved subfield 1115, and a TID_INFO (TID information) subfield 1120.

[0091] The BA type subfield 1110 in the BA control field 1100 may indicate a block acknowledgment frame variant as defined in Table 6.

[0092] [Table 6]

[0093] 12 is a diagram illustrating an example BA information field format 1200 (for a compressed block acknowledgement frame), which may be used in combination with any of the other embodiments described herein. As illustrated in FIG. 12, the BA information field 1200 may include, but is not limited to, a block acknowledgement start sequence control subfield 1205 and a block acknowledgement bitmap subfield 1210.

[0094] 13 is a diagram illustrating an example block acknowledgement start sequence control subfield format 1300, which may be used in combination with any of the other embodiments described herein. As illustrated in FIG. 13, the block acknowledgement start sequence control subfield 1300 may include, but is not limited to, a fragment number (0) subfield 1305 and a start sequence number 1310.

[0095] The TID_INFO subfield of the BA control field of the compressed block acknowledgement frame may contain the TID for which this block acknowledgement frame is being sent. The BA information field 1200 of the compressed block acknowledgement frame is shown in Figure 12. The block acknowledgement start sequence control subfield 1300 is shown in Figure 13. The start sequence number subfield 1310 of the block acknowledgement start sequence control subfield 1300 may contain the sequence number of the first MSDU or A-MSDU for which this block acknowledgement frame is sent.

[0096] Multi-STA block acknowledgement variants are found herein: Multi-STA block acknowledgement frames may be supported when either UL MU or multi-TID A-MPDU operation is supported and when acknowledging MPDUs carried in an HE TB PPDU or multi-STA multi-TID, multi-STA single-TID, or single-STA multi-TID A-MPDUs.

[0097] 14 is a diagram illustrating an example BA information field format (Multi_STA BlockAck) 1400, which may be used in combination with any of the other embodiments described herein. As illustrated in FIG. 14, the BA information field 1400 may include, but is not limited to, a per-AID·TIM information subfield 1405. The BA information field 1400 of the multi-STA block acknowledgement frame may include one or more per-AID·TID information subfields 1405, as illustrated in FIG.

[0098] 15 is a diagram illustrating an example Association Identifier (AID) and Traffic Identifier (TID) information subfield format 1500, which may be used in combination with any of the other embodiments described herein. As illustrated in FIG. 15, the AID and TID information subfield 1500 may include, but is not limited to, an AID11 subfield 1505, an acknowledgement type subfield 1510, and a TID subfield 1515.

[0099] FIG. 16 is a diagram illustrating an example BA information field format (Multi_TID BlockAck) 1600, which may be used in combination with any of the other embodiments described herein. As illustrated in FIG. 16, the BA information field 1600 may include, but is not limited to, a Per-TID information subfield 1605, a block acknowledgement start sequence control subfield 1610, and a block acknowledgement bitmap subfield 1615. FIG. 17 is a diagram illustrating an example Per-TID information subfield 1700, which may be used in combination with any of the other embodiments described herein. As illustrated in FIG. 17, the Per-TID information subfield 1700 may include, but is not limited to, a reserved subfield 1705 and a TID value subfield 1710. The TID_INFO subfield 1700 of the BA control field 1600 of the multi-TID block acknowledgement frame may include the number of TIDs minus one, which information is reported in the BA information field. The BA information field of a multi-TID block acknowledgement frame may include one or more instances of the Per-TID information 1605, block acknowledgement start sequence control 1610, and block acknowledgement bitmap 1615 subfields, as shown in Figure 16. The Per-TID information subfield 1700 is shown in Figure 17, and the block acknowledgement start sequence control subfield is shown in Figure 13.

[0100] IEEE 802.11 Very High Throughput (EHT) can be considered as the next major revision of the IEEE 802.11 standard following 802.11ax. EHT is developed to explore the possibility of further increasing peak throughput and improving the efficiency of IEEE 802.11 networks. The main use cases and applications that will be addressed may include, but are not limited to, high throughput and low latency applications such as video over WLAN, augmented reality (AR), and virtual reality (VR).

[0101] The list of features to achieve the goals of increased peak throughput and improved efficiency may include, but is not limited to, multiple APs, multiple bands / multiple links, 320 MHz bandwidth, 16 spatial streams, HARQ, AP cooperation, and new designs for 6 GHz channel access.

[0102] Link adaptation is a mechanism for transmitters and receivers to communicate to establish optimal parameters, such as modulation and coding scheme (MCS), depending on the channel conditions or radio environment. MCS may include variables such as modulation and data rate on each spatial stream. The transmitter may need to get feedback from the receiver to determine the optimal MCS based on the channel conditions, and then continually adjust the MCS selection as conditions change due to interference, motion, attenuation, and other events. Link adaptation has been proven to be an effective way to improve overall system throughput without incurring extra overhead. However, current 802.11be (EHT) does not have a definition for EHT link adaptation, for example using the A control field. Due to many differences between EHT and HE features, such as different MCS combinations, operating BW, different Nss parameters, different PPDU types, etc., it is difficult to reuse the existing HLA control subfield to enable link adaptation for EHT devices. Therefore, it is necessary to define EHT link adaptation, for example using the A control field.

[0103] 802.11ax indicates that the estimates of unsolicited HE-MCS, Nss, DCM, BW, and RU reported in the HLA control subfield transmitted by the STA are calculated based on the most recent PPDU transmitted by the STA that matches the description indicated by the PPDU format, transmit beamforming, and coding type subfields in the same HLA control subfield. A PPDU format of 1 indicates an HE MU PPDU. Both OFDMA and MU-MIMO transmissions use the MU-PPDU format. However, the recommended MCS, Nss, and DCM may differ significantly between these two types of transmissions. Similar issues may exist for EHT devices. Therefore, an enhanced method is needed to distinguish the recommended HE-MCS, Nss, DCM, etc. for MU-MIMO or OFDMA transmissions for HE devices.

[0104] To optimize MU-MIMO link adaptation, it may require different MCS and Nss for different paired STAs (e.g., two or more STAs). In addition, if the recommended MCS and / or Nss are for different paired STAs, the overhead will increase dramatically. In the current 802.11ax / 802.11be, there is no such way to indicate which paired STA the recommended MCS and / or Nss is for in MU-MIMO transmission. Therefore, it is necessary to have an extended signaling to indicate the recommended MCS and / or Nss to different paired STAs.

[0105] The current acknowledgement or block acknowledgement simply feeds back one bit to indicate whether the packet was received correctly or not. There is no other information to indicate how well or badly the received PPDU was decoded. Therefore, there is a need to extend the current block acknowledgement mechanism so that the transmitter may have better knowledge of how the received PPDU is received, e.g., higher than required SNR or lower than required SNR.

[0106] The TRS control field in the A control subfield of the HE variant HT control field may be used for triggered response scheduling. The TRS control field may carry an 8-bit RU assignment subfield that is used to identify the RU assigned to the STA in 802.11ax. In 802.11be, since a wider bandwidth (e.g., 320 MHz) is supported, the 8-bit RU assignment subfield is not sufficient to uniquely define the RU. If the TRS control field is reused in 802.11be, a change is necessary.

[0107] An embodiment for EHT link adaptation using A-control field is described herein. The embodiment described herein can address a method for enabling EHT link adaptation using A-control. The embodiment described herein is based on EHT devices (e.g., AP and / or STA), but can be extended to devices belonging to next generation WiFi.

[0108] Embodiments of the EHT link adaptation control field are described herein. In one embodiment, the type of the control field to support EHT link adaptation may be included in the control information as shown in Table 7.

[0109] [Table 7]

[0110] FIG. 18 is a diagram illustrating an example control information subfield format 1800 within an EHT Link Adaptation (ELA) control subfield, which may be used in combination with any of the other embodiments described herein. The control information subfields within the EHT control subfield may include information or control information related to EHT Link Adaptation (ELA) or EHT Link Adaptation procedures. For example, as illustrated in FIG. 18, the control information subfields may include, but are not limited to, an Unsolicited MFB subfield 1802, an MRQ subfield 1804, an NSS subfield 1806, an EHT-MCS subfield 1808, an RU Allocation subfield 1810, a BW subfield 1812, a PS160 subfield 1814, an MSI / Partial PPDU Parameters subfield 1816, a Transmit Beamforming subfield 1818, and a UL EHT TB PPDU MFB subfield 1820. An example description of the ELA control subfields is shown in Table 8.

[0111] [Table 8-1]

[0112] [Table 8-2]

[0113] 19 is a diagram illustrating an example MSI / Partial PPDU parameters subfield format 1900 when the Unsolicited MFB subfield is 1, which may be used in combination with any of the other embodiments described herein. As illustrated in FIG. 19, the MSI / Partial PPDU parameters subfield 1900 may include, but is not limited to, a PPDU Format subfield 1905 and a Coding Type subfield 1910. In one example, the MSI / Partial PPDU parameters subfield 1900 illustrated in FIG. 19 is when the Unsolicited MFB subfield is 1.

[0114] The PPDU format subfield 1905 may indicate the format of the PPDU from which the unsolicited MFB was inferred. Set to 0 for EHT MU PPDU (DL OFDMA), Set to 1 for EHT MU PPDU (transmission to a single user or NDP) Set to 2 for EHT MU PPDU (DL MU-MIMO), and Set to 3 for EHT TB PPDU when UL EHT TB PPDU MFB is 1, and for UL EHT MU PPDU when UL EHT TB PPDU MFB is 0.

[0115] The NSS subfield (1806 in FIG. 18) may only be used to indicate the recommended NSS (up to eight values ​​of spatial stream number, e.g., 1-8, or any eight values ​​from 1, 2, 3, 4, 8, 12, 14, 16, or 1-16). Alternatively or additionally, the NSS subfield 1806 may be combined with the BW subfield 1812 to indicate a recommended number of spatial streams greater than eight. Table 9 illustrates an example definition of the recommended number of spatial streams using a combined indication of the BW subfield 1812 and the NSS subfield 1806.

[0116] [Table 9]

[0117] Alternatively or additionally, the control information subfields within the EHT control subfield may include information related to the ELA procedure as described in FIG. 20. FIG. 20 is a diagram illustrating an example control information subfield format 2000 within an ELA control subfield (e.g., without bandwidth (BW)), which may be used in combination with any of the other embodiments described herein. As illustrated in FIG. 20, the control information subfield 2000 may include, but is not limited to, an Unsolicited MFB subfield 2002, an MRQ subfield 2004, an NSS subfield 2006, an EHT-MCS subfield 2008, an RU allocation subfield 2010, a reserved subfield 2012, a PS160 subfield 2014, an MSI / partial PPDU parameters subfield 2016, a transmit beamforming subfield 2018, and a UL EHT TB PPDU MFB subfield 2020. In this example, bandwidth information may not be required and the NSS subfield 2006 may include multiple bits (e.g., 4 bits). The recommended number of spatial streams may be equal to the value of Nss+1, where Nss is a value between 0 and 15.

[0118] Embodiments of EHT capabilities are described herein. In one embodiment, EHT link adaptation support is included in the EHT MAC Capability Information field. FIG. 21 is a diagram illustrating an example extended EHT MAC Capability Information field format 2100, which may be used in combination with any of the other embodiments described herein. As illustrated in FIG. 21, the extended EHT MAC Capability Information field 2100 may include, but is not limited to, an EPC Priority Access Support subfield 2102, an EHT OM Control Support subfield 2104, a Triggered TXOP Sharing Mode 1 Support subfield 2106, a Triggered TXOP Sharing Mode 2 Support subfield 2108, a Limited TWT Support subfield 2110, an SCS Traffic Description Support subfield 2112, a Max MODU Length subfield 2114, an EHT Link Adaptation Support subfield 2116, and a Reserved subfield 2118.

[0119] Table 10 illustrates an example description of the EHT link adaptation support subfield 2116. Note that the encoding corresponding to the value of the EHT link adaptation support subfield 2116 may not be fixed as shown in Table 10. For example, if a STA can only receive and provide unsolicited EHT MFB and the value 2 is reserved, then the value of the EHT link adaptation support subfield 2116 may be set to 1.

[0120] [Table 10]

[0121] An embodiment for HT control field operation is described herein. In one embodiment, Table 11 illustrates an example condition for including the control subfield modification ELA.

[0122] [Table 11]

[0123] Embodiments for enhanced HLA (e.g., using HLA) are described herein. In one embodiment, the HE HLA control field may be modified for EHT link adaptation. FIG. 22 is a diagram illustrating an example HLA control field EHT variant (ELA) 2200, which may be used in combination with any of the other embodiments described herein. As illustrated in FIG. 22, the ELA 2200 may include, but is not limited to, an Unsolicited MFB subfield 2202, an MRQ subfield 2204, an EHT NSS encoding subfield 2206, an EHT-MCS subfield 2208, a PS160 subfield 2210, an EHT RU allocation subfield 2212, a BW subfield 2214, an MSI / partial PPDU parameters subfield 2216, a transmit beamforming subfield 2218, a UL EHT TB PPDU MFB subfield 2220, and an HE / EHT subfield 2222. A reserved bit in the HE HLA control field (e.g., in FIG. 5) may be used to indicate that this is an HLA control field EHT variant, for example using the HE / EHT subfield 2222. When this bit is set, the format of the HLA control field EHT variant (ELA) 2200 may be as shown in FIG. 22. Note that the number of bits allocated to each subfield may be an example and other numbers of bits are possible.

[0124] In one embodiment, the EHT NSS encoding subfield 2206 may be multiple bits (e.g., 4 bits) and may use a direct mapping to indicate the recommended Nss spatial stream (i.e., the value of this subfield is set to Nss-1). In one embodiment, 3 bits may be used for the EHT NSS encoding subfield 2206 and the selected Nss spatial stream may be recommended in the HLA control field. Table 12 shows an example encoding of the EHT NSS subfield.

[0125] [Table 12]

[0126] The EHT MCS 2208 subfield may indicate a recommended EHT MCS.

[0127] The PS160 subfield 2210 and the EHT RU allocation subfield 2212 may be used together to indicate the RU and / or multiple RUs (MRUs) for which the MCS / Nss is recommended or required. A PS160 subfield 2210 set to 1 may indicate an RU / MRU located or partially located in the primary 160 MHz subchannel. A PS160 subfield 2210 set to 0 may indicate an RU / MRU located or partially located in the secondary 160 MHz subchannel. The encoding of the PS160 subfield 2210 and the EHT RU allocation subfield 2212 may follow the PPDU type defined for the EHT trigger frame in 802.11be. The PPDU type may correspond to the recommended MCS and Nss. In one embodiment, the EHT RU allocation subfield 2212, the BW subfield 2214, and the PS160 subfield 2210 may identify the size and location of the RU / MRU.

[0128] In one embodiment, the BW subfield 2214 may be reserved in the EHT variant (ELA). Alternatively or additionally, the two bits may be used in other methods or procedures described in this disclosure.

[0129] In one embodiment, the MSI / Partial PPDU parameters subfield 2216 may indicate the parameters of the MCS and Nss recommended measured PPDU if it is solicited feedback (e.g., Unsolicited MFB 2202 is 0), or the MCS and Nss recommended PPDU if it is unsolicited feedback (e.g., Unsolicited MFB 2202 is 1). In one embodiment, if the Unsolicited MFB subfield 2202 is 1 or true, the MSI / Partial PPDU parameters subfield 2216 may include EHT PPDU Format and Coding Type subfields. The encoding of the first two bits of the MSI / Partial PPDU parameters subfield 2216 is given in Table 13.

[0130] [Table 13]

[0131] The UL EHT TB PPDU MFB subfield 2220 may indicate that the Nss, EHT-MCS, BW, and RU allocation fields represent a recommended MFB for an EHT TB PPDU transmitted from the STA. For example, if the Unsolicited MFB subfield 2202 is 1, then a value of 1 in the UL EHT TB PPDU MFB subfield 2220 may indicate that the EHT NSS coding subfield 2206, the EHT-MCS subfield 2208, the BW subfield 2214, and the EHT RU allocation subfield 2212 represent a recommended MCS feedback (MFB) for an EHT TB PPDU transmitted from the STA. When the Unsolicited MFB subfield 2202 is 1, a value of 0 in the UL EHT TB PPDU MFB subfield 2220 may indicate that the EHT NSS Coding subfield 2206, the EHT-MCS subfield 2208, the BW subfield 2214, and the EHT RU Allocation subfield 2212 represent a recommended MFB for an EHT MU PPDU transmitted from the STA.

[0132] The HE / EHT subfield 2222 may indicate whether it is an HE variant (HLA) or an EHT variant (ELA). In other words, the HE / EHT subfield 2222 may indicate whether the STA provides feedback (or PPDU) in HE format or EHT format. The HE / EHT subfield 2222 may also indicate whether the A-control field is HLA or ELA. For example, when the HE / EHT subfield 2222 is set to 0, it may indicate HLA. When the HE / EHT subfield 2222 is set to 1, it may indicate ELA. Alternatively or additionally, there may be N bits (N≧1) used to indicate different versions of link adaptation.

[0133] An embodiment for an extended unsolicited MCS feedback (MFB) requirement is described herein. In one embodiment, a STA may send an unsolicited MFB for a received PPDU within a certain time x μs (e.g., x μs=SIFS duration) after receiving a PPDU that is being measured / estimated for a recommended MCS / Nss, etc. Alternatively or additionally, a STA may send an unsolicited MFB for a received PPDU that is being measured / estimated in the same TXOP. Alternatively or additionally, a STA may send an unsolicited MFB when a measured PPDU is transmitted to a single user or upon a Null Data Packet (NDP) transmission. In other words, one bit in the MCS Request (MRQ) Sequence Identifier (MSI) / Partial PPDU Parameter subfield may be used to indicate that the estimated PPDU is an EHT MU PPDU or an EHT TB PPDU. For example, this bit may indicate that the estimated PPDU is an EHT MU PPDU if the bit is set to 1, and / or this bit may indicate that the estimated PPDU is an EHT TB PPDU if the bit is set to 0.

[0134] Embodiments for ELA operation are described herein. FIG. 23A is a diagram illustrating an exemplary solicited MCS feedback operation procedure 2300, which may be used in combination with any of the other embodiments described herein. FIG. 23B is a diagram illustrating an exemplary unsolicited MFB operation procedure 2350, which may be used in combination with any of the other embodiments described herein. These exemplary ELA operation procedures may use an ELA control subfield that includes a solicited MCS feedback (MFB) indication and / or an unsolicited MFB indication. In one embodiment, the frame exchange sequence may include a PPDU that includes a HE modified HT control field (i.e., an ELA control subfield). An exemplary ELA operation sequence using an ELA control subfield is described in FIG. 23A and FIG. 23B.

[0135] In the case of solicited MFB illustrated in FIG. 23A, the MFB requester STA1 2302 may send a PPDU 2310 to the MFB responder STA2 2304 specifying the RU index and BW for which link adaptation feedback is requested. Upon receiving an ELA control subfield with an MRQ subfield equal to 1, STA2 2304 may calculate the EHT-MCS and Nss for the RU and BW specified in the MRQ, and these estimates may be based on the same RU of the PPDU carrying the MRQ. The PPDU 2310 carrying the MRQ may include the RU requested for MFB. STA2 2304 may include the estimated EHT-MCS, Nss for the RU and BW specified in the received MRQ in the ELA control subfield carried in the PPDU 2315. The MFB responder STA2 2304 may label the result of this calculation with the MSI value from the ELA control subfield in the received frame carrying the MRQ. The MFB responder STA2 2304 may include the received MSI value in the MSI field of the corresponding response frame. For the unsolicited MFB illustrated in FIG. 23B, STA2 2354 may send an unsolicited MFB with an Unsolicited MFB subfield (in the ELA Control subfield) equal to 1. The estimates of the unsolicited EHT-MCS, Nss, BW, and RU reported in the ELA Control subfield transmitted from STA2 2354 may be calculated based on the most recent PPDU received at STA2 2354 (e.g., transmitted from STA1 2352) that matches the descriptions indicated in the PPDU Format, Transmit Beamforming, and Coding Type subfields in the ELA Control subfield. For example, STA2 2354 may determine estimates of EHT-MCS, Nss, BW, and RU based on a most recently received PPDU (e.g., PPDU 2360 received from STA1 2352) and report the estimates to the STA (e.g., STA1 2352) that transmitted the PPDU (e.g., PPDU 2360) within the ELA control subfield. The estimates of EHT-MCS, Nss, BW, and RU may be included in PPDU 2365.The PPDU 2365 transmitted from STA2 2364 may indicate the PPDU format, transmit beamforming, and coding type of the most recently received PPDU (e.g., PPDU 2360 received from STA1 2352).

[0136] In one embodiment, as illustrated in Figure 23A, STA1 2302 (i.e., MFB requestor) may transmit a first PPDU 2310 including an A control field with an ELA control subfield to STA2 2304 (i.e., MFB responder). The ELA control subfield may include an Unsolicited MFB subfield, an MRQ subfield, an EHT NSS encoding subfield, an EHT-MCS subfield, a PS160 subfield, an EHT RU allocation subfield, a BW subfield, an MSI / Partial PPDU parameters subfield, a Transmit Beamforming subfield, a UL EHT TB PPDU MFB subfield, and a HE / EHT subfield. STA1 2302 may set the Unsolicited MFB subfield to 0 (i.e., false), the MRQ subfield to 1 (i.e., true), and the HE / EHT subfield to 1 (i.e., true) to indicate to STA2 2304 that the first PPDU 2310 is to request / solicit ELA feedback from STA2 2304 for link adaptation. The EHT RU Assignment subfield of the first PPDU 2310 may include one or more RUs that STA2 2304 should measure for ELA feedback. The BW subfield of the first PPDU 2310 may include the BW that STA2 2304 should measure for ELA feedback. The PS160 subfield of the first PPDU 2310 may indicate whether STA2 2304 should measure the primary 160 MHz channel or the secondary 160 MHz channel for ELA feedback.

[0137] When STA2 2304 receives the first PPDU 2310 from STA1 2302, STA2 2304 may measure the channel condition / quality based on the EHT RU assignment subfield, the BW of the BW subfield, and / or one or more RUs of the 160 MHz channel indicated by the PS160 subfield. In one embodiment, STA2 2304 may identify the size and location of the RU / MRU based on these three subfields or at least one of these three subfields. STA2 2304 may then determine a recommended EHT-MCS and a recommended number of spatial streams (Nss) for ELA feedback to STA1 2302 based on the channel condition / quality. STA2 2304 may transmit a second PPDU 2315 with the recommended EHT-MCS and the recommended Nss to STA1 2302. Specifically, similar to the first PPDU 2310, the second PPDU 2315 may include an A control field with an ELA control subfield. The ELA control subfield may include an Unsolicited MFB subfield, an MRQ subfield, an EHT NSS coding subfield, an EHT-MCS subfield, a PS160 subfield, an EHT RU allocation subfield, a BW subfield, an MSI / partial PPDU parameters subfield, a transmit beamforming subfield, a UL EHT TB PPDU MFB subfield, and a HE / EHT subfield. STA2 2304 may set the EHT-MCS subfield and the EHT NSS coding subfield to the recommended EHT-MCS and recommended NSS, respectively. STA2 2304 may set the Unsolicited MFB subfield to 0 (i.e., false), the MRQ subfield to 0 (i.e., false), and the HE / EHT subfield to 1 (i.e., true) to indicate to STA1 2302 that the second PPDU 2315 is a response to the ELA feedback request from STA1 2302.

[0138] In one embodiment, as illustrated in FIG. 23B, STA2 2354 may transmit a PPDU 2365 including ELA feedback for link adaptation to STA1 2352 without any request / solicitation from STA1 2352. Specifically, STA2 2354 may receive a PPDU 2360 from STA1 2352. The PPDU 2360 may not include any indication of MFB and / or ELA request. Regardless of the received PPDU 2360, STA2 2354 may determine a primary / secondary 160 MHz channel, one or more RUs, and / or BW to measure the channel condition / quality. STA2 2304 may then determine a recommended EHT-MCS and a recommended number of spatial streams (Nss) for ELA feedback to STA1 2352 based on the channel condition / quality. STA2 2354 may transmit a PPDU 2365 with a recommended EHT-MCS and recommended Nss to STA1 2352. Specifically, the PPDU 2365 may include an A control field with an ELA control subfield. The ELA control subfield may include an Unsolicited MFB subfield, an MRQ subfield, an EHT NSS coding subfield, an EHT-MCS subfield, a PS160 subfield, an EHT RU allocation subfield, a BW subfield, an MSI / Partial PPDU parameters subfield, a Transmit Beamforming subfield, a UL EHT TB PPDU MFB subfield, and a HE / EHT subfield. STA2 2354 may set the EHT-MCS subfield and the EHT NSS coding subfield to the recommended EHT-MCS and recommended Nss, respectively. STA2 2354 may set the Unsolicited MFB subfield to 1 (i.e., true) to indicate to STA1 2352 that the PPDU 2365 is unsolicited ELA feedback. STA2 2354 may set the PS160 subfield to the determined 160 MHz channel, the EHT RU Assignment subfield to the determined one or more RUs, and the BW subfield to the determined BW for channel measurements.The PPDU 2365 may include these three subfields to indicate to STA1 2360 which portion of the channel was measured by STA2 2365. Specifically, STA2 2354 may use these three subfields to indicate to STA1 2352 the RU / MRU that STA2 2354 measured for the recommended EHT MCS and recommended Nss. Based on these three subfields, STA2 2354 may indicate the recommended EHT MCS and recommended Nss that correspond to the RU / MRU that STA2 2354 measured. STA2 2354 may provide the recommended EHT MCS and recommended Nss based on measurements of the most recently received PPDU or a previously received PPDU. STA2 2354 may provide the recommended EHT MCS and recommended Nss periodically or when STA2 2353 senses a change in channel condition / quality.

[0139] FIG. 24A is a diagram illustrating another example solicited MCS feedback (MFB) operation procedure 2400, which may be used in combination with any of the other embodiments described herein. In step 2405, a STA (i.e., a receiver or responder) may receive a first PPDU including an A control field. The A control field may include a control subfield, which may include an ELA control subfield. The ELA control subfield may include an unsolicited MFB subfield, an MRQ subfield, an EHT NSS encoding subfield, an EHT-MCS subfield, a PS160 subfield, an EHT RU allocation subfield, a BW subfield, an MSI / partial PPDU parameters subfield, a transmit beamforming subfield, a UL EHT TB PPDU MFB subfield, and a HE / EHT subfield, as illustrated in FIG. 22. The HT / EHT subfield may indicate whether a second PPDU transmitted from the STA is generated based on HE-related parameters or EHT-related parameters. The EHT-related parameters may include, but are not limited to, an EHT-MCS index, the number of spatial streams for EHT transmission, a primary / secondary 160 MHz channel indication, an EHT PPDU format, etc. The first PS160 subfield may indicate the primary 160 MHz channel or the secondary 160 MHz channel that the STA will measure. For example, the first PS160 subfield may include one bit indicating the primary 160 MHz channel or the secondary 160 MHz channel. The STA may determine the 160 MHz channel from among the primary 160 MHz channel and the secondary 160 MHz channel based on the PS160 subfield. In one embodiment, the STA may measure the channel quality of the determined 160 MHz channel. The STA that transmitted the first PPDU (i.e., the transmitter or solicitor) may be an access point (AP) or a non-AP STA.

[0140] In step 2410, the STA may determine the channel condition based on the PS160 subfield, the EHT RU allocation subfield, and the BW subfield in the ELA control subfield. Specifically, based on the BW indicated by the RU / MRU and BW subfields of the EHT RU allocation subfield, the STA may identify the size and location of one or more resources on which the STA will measure the channel condition. In conjunction with the PS160 subfield, the STA may determine that the one or more resources to be measured are located in the primary 160 MHz channel or the secondary 160 MHz channel. In one embodiment, the STA may read the preamble of the PPDU and measure the signal strength (e.g., RSRP, RSSI, RSRQ, etc.) or SINR of the PPDU to determine the channel condition. In step 2415, the STA may determine the MCS index and the number of spatial streams for link adaptation based on the channel condition. These MCS index and the number of spatial streams may be used by another STA to encode or transmit data. For solicited MFB operation, the MSI / Partial PPDU parameters subfield may include a sequence number range from 0 to 6 that identifies a particular EHT MCS feedback request. For example, the sequence number may indicate a PPDU that the STA received for an EHT MCS feedback request or a PPDU that the STA sent for an EHT MCS feedback response.

[0141] In step 2420, the STA may send a second PPDU with the determined MCS index and number of spatial streams. The second PPDU may include an A control field with an ELA control subfield. The ELA control subfield may include an Unsolicited MFB subfield, an MRQ subfield, an EHT NSS coding subfield, an EHT-MCS subfield, a PS160 subfield, an EHT RU allocation subfield, a BW subfield, an MSI / Partial PPDU parameters subfield, a Transmit Beamforming subfield, a UL EHT TB PPDU MFB subfield, and a HE / EHT subfield. The STA may set the EHT-MCS subfield to the MCS index and the EHT NSS coding subfield to the number of spatial streams. In the second PPDU, the PS160 subfield, the EHT RU allocation subfield, and the BW subfield may indicate to another STA which portion of the channel was measured by the STA. Specifically, the PS160 subfield may indicate that a primary or secondary 160 MHz channel is selected for measurement. The EHT RU allocation and BW may indicate the size and location of one or more resources measured on the selected 160 MHz channel.

[0142] FIG. 24B is a diagram illustrating another example unsolicited MFB operation procedure 2450, which may be used in combination with any of the other embodiments described herein. In step 2450, the STA may autonomously determine the channel condition based on one or more of the most recently received PPDU or the previously received PPDU. In step 2455, the STA may determine the MCS index and the number of spatial streams based on the channel condition. In step 2460, the STA may transmit a PPDU including an A control field. The A control field may include a control subfield, which may include an ELA control subfield. The ELA control subfield may include an unsolicited MFB subfield, an MRQ subfield, an EHT NSS encoding subfield, an EHT-MCS subfield, a PS160 subfield, an EHT RU allocation subfield, a BW subfield, an MSI / partial PPDU parameters subfield, a transmit beamforming subfield, a UL EHT TB PPDU MFB subfield, and a HE / EHT subfield, as illustrated in FIG. 22. The SAT may set the EHT-MCS subfield to the determined MCS index and the EHT NSS coding subfield to the determined number of spatial streams. The STA may set the HT / EHT subfield to a value / bit / indication indicating that the PPDU transmitted from the STA is generated based on EHT-related parameters. The EHT-related parameters may include, but are not limited to, EHT-MCS, number of spatial streams for EHT transmission, primary / secondary 160 MHz channel indication, EHT PPDU format, etc. The STA may set the PS160 subfield, the EHT RU allocation subfield, and the BW subfield to indicate to another STA the portion of the channel measured by the STA. In particular, the PS160 subfield may indicate whether the primary 160 MHz channel or the secondary 160 MHz channel is selected for measurement. The EHT RU allocation and BW may indicate the size and location of one or more resources measured by the STA on the selected 160 MHz channel.For unsolicited MFB operation, the STA may set the MSI / Partial PPDU parameters subfield to one or more values / bits / indications indicating the type / format of the PPDU measured by the STA and / or the coding type applied by the STA. For example, the PPDU type / format may be TB PPDU or MU PPDU. The coding type may be Binary Convolutional Code (BCC) and / or Low Density Parity Check (LDPC). The STA that transmitted the PPDU with the MCS index and number of spatial streams may be an Access Point (AP) or a non-AP STA.

[0143] An embodiment for an enhanced unsolicited MFB in HE devices is described herein. In this embodiment, it is described how to extend the current unsolicited MFB to differentiate MCS / SS feedback between MU-MIMO and OFDMA for HE devices. B25 in the control information subfield in the HLA control subfield may be used to indicate that the estimated PPDU is using MU-MIMO or OFDMA transmission. In other words, this bit may be used to indicate whether the recommended HE-MCS, Nss, DCM, BW, and RU estimates reported in the HLA control subfield are for the most recently received PPDU using OFDMA or MU-MIMO transmission when the unsolicited MFB subfield is equal to 1. For example, the case of unsolicited MFB (i.e., the unsolicited MFB subfield equals 1) may refer to an estimation based on a PPDU with MU-MIMO transmission when the PPDU format is HE_MU and B25 = 1, and may refer to an estimation based on a PPDU with OFDMA transmission when the PPDU format is HE_MU and B25 = 0. Note that the actual B25 value corresponding to a MU-MIMO or OFDMA transmission may be changed.

[0144] Embodiments for enhanced MU-MIMO link adaptation are described herein. In these embodiments, MU-MIMO link adaptation using feedback indication is described. In one embodiment, one bit (e.g., B25) in the control information subfield in the HLA control subfield may be used to indicate which group of STAs are paired with the receiving STA of the PPDU estimated in HE-MU format when the unsolicited MFB subfield is equal to 1. For example, in the case of unsolicited MFB (i.e., the unsolicited MFB subfield is equal to 1), if the most recently received PPDU format is HE_MU and B25=1, the receiver of the estimated PPDU, which is the sender of the estimated PPDU, may understand that the estimation is based on a PPDU with MU-MIMO transmission grouped by STAs belonging to group 1 and the unsolicited MFB transmitter, and if the most recently received PPDU format is HE_MU and B25=0, the receiver of the estimated PPDU, which is the sender of the estimated PPDU, may understand that the estimation is based on a PPDU with MU-MIMO transmission grouped by STAs belonging to group 0 and the unsolicited MFB transmitter. If the estimated PPDU format is HE_MU and the majority of the received PPDUs are with OFDMA transmission, B25 may be reserved. In other words, a receiver of the recommended MCS, Nss, DCM, BW, and RU that is the sender of the most recent PPDU may not ignore B25 when the estimated PPDU format is HE_MU and the PPDU most recently transmitted to the estimated sender is from an OFMDA transmission. Similar to the HE_MU in the control information subfield in the ELA control subfield (e.g., one reserved bit in FIG. 20), it may be used to indicate which group of STAs are paired with the receiving STA of the estimated PPDU having EHT-MU format when the Unsolicited MFB subfield is equal to 1.

[0145] An embodiment for extended acknowledgement transmission is described herein. In one embodiment, one or more bits in the acknowledgement frame may be used to indicate a proposed or requested increase and / or decrease in information related to MCS or link adaptation. This may be referred to as simple link adaptation. In one example, in a downlink transmission, the AP may transmit a frame to the STA using MCSn. By detecting that the DL transmission is successful and normal, the STA may propose to the AP to use MCSn+1 (i.e., one level higher) or a higher MCS, or MCSn-1 (i.e., one level lower) or a lower MCS in the next transmission in the acknowledgement frame. The AP may follow the proposal or reject the proposal in the next transmission.

[0146] In one embodiment, in a non-trigger-based (non-TB) uplink transmission, a non-AP STA may transmit a frame to the AP using MCSn. By detecting that the UL transmission is successful, the AP may propose / request the STA to use MCSn+1 (i.e., one level higher) or MCSn-1 (i.e., one level lower) in the acknowledgement frame. The STA may follow the proposal or reject the proposal in the next transmission.

[0147] The proposed MCS may be used for any TID transmission or the TID indicated in an acknowledgement frame, for example the TID information subfield in the BA control field in a block acknowledgement frame.

[0148] Embodiments for modified BA control fields are described herein. FIG. 25 is a diagram illustrating an example link adaptation extended BA control field 2500, which may be used in combination with any of the other embodiments described herein. As illustrated in FIG. 25, the extended BA control field may include, but is not limited to, a BA acknowledgement policy subfield 2505, a BA type subfield 2510, a Link Adaption Indication (LAI) subfield 215, a reserved subfield 2520, and a TID information subfield 2525. In one embodiment, the BA control field in the block acknowledgement frame may be modified as shown in FIG. 25. An LAI subfield 2515 may be included in the extended BA control field 2500. The LAI subfield 2515 may indicate that the BA frame carries link adaptation related information.

[0149] In one embodiment, the LAI subfield 2515 may be a 1-bit subfield. If the STA transmitting the BA frame may suggest to the BA receiving STA to increase the MCS in the next transmission, this subfield may be set to 1 (or 0). If the STA transmitting the BA frame may suggest to the BA receiving STA to reuse the same MCS in the next transmission, this subfield may be set to 0 (or 1).

[0150] In one embodiment, the LAI subfield 2515 may be a 1-bit subfield. If the STA transmitting the BA frame may suggest to the BA receiving STA to reduce the MCS in the next transmission, this subfield may be set to 1 (or 0). If the STA transmitting the BA frame may suggest to the BA receiving STA to reuse the same MCS in the next transmission, this subfield may be set to 0 (or 1).

[0151] In one embodiment, the LAI subfield 2515 may be a two-bit (or multi-bit) subfield with four or more possible values. If the STA transmitting the BA frame may suggest to the BA receiving STA to increase the MCS in the next transmission, this subfield may be set to a value of 1. If the STA transmitting the BA frame may suggest to the BA receiving STA to decrease the MCS in the next transmission, this subfield may be set to a value of 2. If the STA transmitting the BA frame may suggest to the BA receiving STA to reuse the same MCS in the next transmission, this subfield may be set to a value of 3.

[0152] In this embodiment, the LAI sub-field 2515 may be located within the BA control field that is carried in all block acknowledgement variants, and therefore, all block acknowledgement variants may be used for simple link adaptation.

[0153] An embodiment of a modified multi-STA block acknowledgement variant is described herein. In one embodiment, the multi-STA block acknowledgement frame may be modified to carry a link adaptation indication. For example, the AID·TID per information subfield in the BA information field for the multi-STA block acknowledgement variant when the AID11 subfield is not 2045 may be modified and a new combination of acknowledgement type subfield and TID subfield value may be used to carry the link adaptation indication. Table 14 shows an example where a new combination of acknowledgement type subfield=0 and TID subfield=14 may be used to indicate full acknowledgement context and suggest a higher MCS level for the next transmission. The existing combination of acknowledgement type subfield=1 and TID subfield=14 may be modified to indicate full acknowledgement context and suggest that the MCS is not changed for the next transmission. It should be noted that the combinations described here are only examples and other reserved combinations may be used for the same purpose.

[0154] [Table 14]

[0155] An embodiment of a modified compressed block acknowledgement is described herein. The BA information field of the compressed block acknowledgement variant of the block acknowledgement may include a block acknowledgement start sequence control subfield and a block acknowledgement bitmap subfield. The block acknowledgement start sequence control subfield may include a 4-bit (or multiple) fragment number subfield and a 12-bit (or multiple) start sequence number subfield. In one embodiment, one or more reserved values ​​in the fragment number subfield may be used to indicate simple link adaptation information. One or more of the methods described below may be used.

[0156] (1) A single reserved value in the Fragment Number subfield (e.g., [B0:B3] =

[1001] ) may indicate that a higher MCS level is proposed for the entire acknowledgement context and the next transmission. A single reserved value in the Fragment Number subfield (e.g., [B0:B3] =

[1011] ) may indicate that the same MCS level is proposed for the entire acknowledgement context and the next transmission. In either case, the Block Acknowledgement Bitmap field may not be present.

[0157] (2) One reserved value in the Fragment Number subfield (e.g., [B0:B3] =

[1001] ) may indicate that a higher MCS level is proposed for the next transmission. One reserved value in the Fragment Number subfield (e.g., [B0:B3] =

[1011] ) may indicate that the same MCS level is proposed for the next transmission. One reserved value in the Fragment Number subfield (e.g., [B0:B3] =

[1101] ) may indicate that a lower MCS level is proposed for the next transmission. In all cases, a Block Acknowledgement Bitmap field may be present. And / or (3) One reserved value in the fragment number subfield (e.g., [B0:B3]=

[1001] ) may indicate the entire acknowledgement context, and the block acknowledgement bitmap field may not be present.

[0158] An embodiment of a modified multiple TID block acknowledgement is described herein. The BA information field of the multiple TID block acknowledgement variant may include a two-octet per-TID information subfield, a two-octet block acknowledgement initiation sequence control subfield, and a block acknowledgement bitmap subfield. In one embodiment, the block acknowledgement initiation sequence control may be modified as described above. In one embodiment, the per-TID information subfield may be modified to carry simple link adaptation information. One or more of the methods described below may be used. (1) A reserved value of one in the Per TID Information subfield may indicate that the entire acknowledgement context and a higher MCS level are proposed for the next transmission with or without the TID identified in the TID Value subfield. A reserved value of one in the Per TID Information subfield may indicate that the entire acknowledgement context and the same MCS level are proposed for the next transmission with or without the TID identified in the TID Value subfield. In either case, the Block Acknowledgement Bitmap field may not be present. (2) One reserved value in the Per TID Information subfield may indicate that a higher MCS level is proposed for the next transmission with or without the TID identified in the TID Value subfield. One reserved value in the Per TID Information subfield may indicate that the same MCS level is proposed for the next transmission with or without the TID identified in the TID Value subfield. One reserved value in the Per TID Information subfield may indicate that a lower MCS level is proposed for the next transmission with or without the TID identified in the TID Value subfield. In all cases, a Block Acknowledgement Bitmap field may be present. And / or (3) One reserved value in the Per-TID Information subfield may indicate the entire acknowledgement context, and the Block Acknowledgement Bitmap field may not be present.

[0159] It should be noted that the full acknowledgement context described in this embodiment may be an acknowledgement for an A-MPDU that includes an MPDU requesting an immediate response, and all MPDUs included in the A-MPDU are successfully received.

[0160] Embodiments for enhanced triggered response scheduling are described herein. In one embodiment, existing HE TRS control fields can be modified and reused for EHT triggered response scheduling.

[0161] In one embodiment, a reserved bit in the HE TRS control field may be used to indicate whether the RU assignment subfield carried in the TRS control field is located primarily in the primary 160 MHz or the secondary 160 MHz. The bit may be denoted as the PS160 subfield. Using the RU assignment subfield and the PS160 subfield, the STA may be able to determine the RU and / or MRU assigned for the response transmission.

[0162] In one embodiment, the PS160 subfield may not be present in the TRS control field. Instead, the parameter PS160 of the RXVECTOR may be defined. The first STA may transmit the TRS control field in the EHT MU PPDU to the second STA. In the EHT MU PPDU, if the first STA uses a 4×996 tone RU, the second STA may set the parameter PS160 of the RXVECTOR to 0, which may indicate a primary 160 MHz or a lower frequency 160 MHz subchannel. Alternatively or additionally, the second STA may set the parameter PS160 of the RXVECTOR to 1, which may indicate a secondary 160 MHz or a higher frequency 160 MHz subchannel.

[0163] For another RU or MRU, the second STA may determine the number of subcarriers / tone within the RU / MRU in the primary (or lower) and secondary (or higher) 160 MHz subchannels, indicated by N_(p,160) and N_(s,160), respectively. If N_(p,160)>N_(s,160), the second STA may set the parameter PS160 of the RXVECTOR to 0, which may indicate the primary 160 MHz or lower frequency 160 MHz subchannel. If N_(p,160)<N_(s,160), the second STA may set the parameter PS160 of the RXVECTOR to 1, which may indicate the secondary 160 MHz or higher frequency 160 MHz subchannel. If N_(p,160)=N_(s,160), the second STA may set the parameter PS160 of the RXVECTOR to 0, which may indicate the primary 160 MHz or lower frequency 160 MHz subchannel. Alternatively or additionally, the second STA may set the parameter PS160 of the RXVECTOR to 1, which may indicate the secondary 160 MHz or higher frequency 160 MHz subchannel.

[0164] In an alternative or additional embodiment, the parameter PS160 of the RXVECTOR may not be defined. Instead, the parameter PS160 of the TXVECTOR may be defined. The second STA may set the parameter PS160 of the TXVECTOR directly based on the assigned RU / MRU and the values of Np,160 and Ns,160 according to the above rules.

[0165] In an alternative or additional embodiment, the PS160 subfield may not be present within the trigger-based response scheduling (TRS) control field. Instead, the parameter PS160 (or internal parameter PS160) of the RXVECTOR may be defined. Alternatively or additionally, the parameters N_P160 and N_S160 of the RXVECTOR may be defined. The first STA may transmit the TRS control field to the second STA in the EHT MU PPDU.

[0166] In an EHT MU PPDU, if the size of the RU / MRU carrying the TRS control subfield is 2×996 tones or less, the RXVECTOR parameter PS160 may be set to 0 if the RU / MRU is assigned to the primary 160 MHz channel. The RXVECTOR parameter PS160 may be set to 1 if the RU / MRU is assigned to the secondary 160 MHz channel. The RXVECTOR parameters N_P160 and N_S160 may be set to the number of tones of the RU / MRU carrying the TRS control subfield in the primary 160 MHz channel and the secondary 160 MHz channel, respectively.

[0167] In an EHT MU PPDU, if the size of the RU / MRU carrying the TRS control subfield exceeds 2×996 tones, then the parameters N_P160 (or the internal parameter N_P160) and N_S160 (or the internal parameter N_S160) of RXVECTOR may be set to the number of tones of the RU / MRU carrying the TRS control subfield in the lower 160 MHz channel and the upper 160 MHz channel, respectively. The parameter PS160 of RXVECTOR may be set to 0 if N_P160 is equal to or greater than N_S160. The parameter PS160 of RXVECTOR may be set to 1 if N_P160 is less than N_S160.

[0168] Alternatively or additionally, the parameter PS160 of RXVECTOR (or the internal parameter PS160) may be determined using Table 15. If the RU allocation subfield is not carried in the PPDU carrying the TRS control subfield, the receiver (e.g., the second STA) may determine the location of the RU / MRU by the BW field and the punctured channel information field carried in the U-SIG field of the PPDU. If the PPDU may be a legacy PPDU (e.g., any addendum before 802.11be), PS160 may be set to 0. In the future, if more RUs or MRUs are defined or allowed, the table may be expanded and the PS160 value may be uniquely determined by the location of the RU / MRU.

[0169] [Table 15]

[0170] The second STA may transmit an EHT TB PPDU in response to the frame with the TRS Control subfield. The second STA may set the TXVECTOR parameter RU_ALLOCATION to the value of the RU Allocation subfield of the TRS Control subfield. The second STA may set the TXVECTOR parameter PS160 to the value of the RXVECTOR parameter PS160. The second STA may use the TXVECTOR parameter RU_ALLOCATION parameter and the RXVECTOR parameter PS160 together to determine the assigned RU.

[0171] Alternatively or additionally, the second STA may set a first part (e.g., the first 8 bits) of the RU_ALLOCATION parameter of the TXVECTOR to the value of the RU Allocation subfield of the TRS Control subfield. The second STA may set a second part (e.g., the 9th bit) of the RU_ALLOCATION parameter of the TXVECTOR to the value of the PS160 parameter of the RXVECTOR (or the internal parameter PS160). Note that the bit index is described herein as an example. It may include any value, bit, or number representing one or more indexes. Alternatively or additionally, the second STA may set the RU_ALLOCATION parameter of the TXVECTOR based on the RU Allocation subfield of the TRS Control subfield and the PS160 parameter of the RXVECTOR (or the internal parameter PS160).

[0172] The above embodiment may be used for an EHT TB PPDU response to a frame carrying a TRS control field. In one embodiment, the parameter PS160 of TXVECTOR may be used in the procedure of an EHT TB PPDU response to a trigger frame. For example, a second STA may receive a trigger frame from a first STA. The second STA may set the parameter PS160 of TXVECTOR to the value of the PS160 subfield in the trigger frame. In another embodiment, the second STA may set a first portion (e.g., the first 8 bits) of the parameter RU_ALLOCATION of TXVECTOR to the value of the RU allocation subfield of the trigger frame. The second STA may set a second portion (e.g., the 9th bit) of the parameter RU_ALLOCATION of TXVECTOR to the value of the PS160 subfield of the trigger frame.

[0173] In one embodiment, the first STA may be an AP and the second STA may be a non-AP STA. In another embodiment, the first STA may be a non-AP STA and the second STA may be an AP. In another embodiment, the first STA may be a non-AP STA and the second STA may be another non-AP STA.

[0174] Although the features and elements of the invention are described in the preferred embodiments in specific combinations, each feature or element can be used alone without other features and elements of the preferred embodiments or can be used in various combinations, with or without other features and elements of the invention.

[0175] Although the embodiments described herein take into account the 802.11 specification protocol, it will be appreciated that the embodiments described herein are not limited to this scenario and are also applicable to other wireless systems.

[0176] Although SIFS is used to illustrate various interframe spacings in the design and procedural embodiments, any other interframe spacing such as RIFS, AIFS, DIFS, or any other allowable time interval can be applied to the same solution.

[0177] Although four RBs per triggered TXOP is shown as an example in some figures, the actual number of utilized RBs / channels / bandwidth may vary.

[0178] Certain bits are illustratively used to signal in-BSS / OBSS, although other bits may be used to signal this information.

[0179] Although the features and elements are described above in certain combinations, one skilled in the art will understand that each feature or element may be used alone or in any combination with the other features and elements. In addition, the methods described herein may be implemented in a computer program, software, or firmware embodied in a computer-readable medium for execution by a computer or processor. Examples of computer-readable media include electronic signals (transmitted over wired or wireless connections) and computer-readable storage media. Examples of computer-readable storage media include, but are not limited to, read-only memory (ROM), random-access memory (RAM), registers, cache memory, semiconductor memory devices, magnetic media such as internal hard disks and removable disks, magneto-optical media, and optical media such as CD-ROM disks and digital versatile disks (DVDs). A processor in association with software may be used to implement a radio frequency transceiver for use in a WTRU, UE, terminal, base station, RNC, or any host computer.

Claims

1. 1. A method for use in a station (STA), the method comprising: receiving a first physical layer protocol data unit (PPDU) from another STA, the first PPDU including a first aggregation control (A-control) field including a HE / EHT subfield indicating whether a second PPDU transmitted by the STA is based on high efficiency (HE) related parameters or very high throughput (EHT) related parameters, and a first Primary Secondary (PS) 160 subfield indicating a primary 160 MHz channel or a secondary 160 MHz channel; transmitting the second PPDU to the other STA, the second PPDU including a second A control field including a second PS160 subfield, an EHT modulation and coding scheme (MCS) subfield, and a Number of Spatial Streams (NSS) subfield based on the HE / EHT subfield, wherein the second PS160 subfield indicates a 160 MHz channel determined from among the primary 160 MHz channel and the secondary 160 MHz channel based on an indication of the first PS160 subfield, and an index in the EHT-MCS subfield and a value in the NSS subfield are determined based on measurements of the determined 160 MHz channel.

2. 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the second A-control field further includes an Unsolicited MCS Feedback (MFB) subfield, a Resource Unit (RU) Allocation subfield, a Bandwidth (BW) subfield, and an MCS Request Sequence Index (MSI) / Partial PPDU Parameters subfield.

3. determining a size and location of the one or more RUs in the 160 MHz channel based on the one or more RUs indicated in the RU Allocation subfield and the BW indicated in the BW subfield to measure channel quality; determining the index of the EHT-MCS subfield and the value of the NSS subfield for the transmission to the other STA based on the channel quality; The method of claim 2 further comprising:

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the one or more RUs in the RU Allocation subfield are one RU or multiple RUs (MRUs), the index is an EHT MCS index, and the value represents a number of spatial streams.

5. 3. The method of claim 2, wherein, under the condition that the Unsolicited MFB is zero (0) or false, the MSI / Partial PPDU parameters subfield includes a sequence number indicating a PPDU received by the STA for an EHT MCS feedback request or a PPDU transmitted by the STA for an EHT MCS feedback response.

6. 3. The method of claim 2, wherein, under the condition that the Unsolicited MFB is 1 or true, the MSI / Partial PPDU Parameters subfield includes a value indicating an EHT PPDU format and coding type for which the STA measured channel quality.

7. 7. The method of claim 6, wherein the EHT PPDU formats include an EHT multi-user (MU) PPDU and an EHT trigger-based (TB) PPDU, and the coding types include a binary convolutional code (BCC) and a low-density parity check (LDPC).

8. 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the HE / EHT subfield received in the first A-control field indicates to the STA that the EHT-related parameters are indicated in the second A-control field of the second PPDU.

9. 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the EHT-related parameters include the index, the value, a primary / secondary 160 MHz channel indication, and an EHT PPDU format.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the other STA is an access point (AP) or a non-AP STA.

11. A station (STA), a receiver configured to receive, from another STA, a first physical layer protocol data unit (PPDU), the first PPDU including a first aggregation control (A-control) field including a HE / EHT subfield indicating whether a second PPDU transmitted by the STA is based on high efficiency (HE) related parameters or very high throughput (EHT) related parameters, and a first Primary Secondary (PS) 160 subfield indicating a primary 160 MHz channel or a secondary 160 MHz channel; and a transmitter configured to transmit the second PPDU to the other STA based on the HE / EHT subfield, the second PPDU including a second A control field including a second PS160 subfield, an EHT modulation and coding scheme (MCS) subfield, and a number of spatial streams (NSS) subfield, wherein the second PS160 subfield indicates a 160 MHz channel determined from among the primary 160 MHz channel and the secondary 160 MHz channel based on an indication of the first PS160 subfield, and an index in the EHT-MCS subfield and a value in the NSS subfield are determined based on measurements of the selected 160 MHz channel.

12. 12. The STA of claim 11, wherein the second A-control field further includes an Unsolicited MCS Feedback (MFB) subfield, a Resource Unit (RU) Allocation subfield, a Bandwidth (BW) subfield, and an MCS Request Sequence Index (MSI) / Partial PPDU Parameters subfield.

13. The method further comprises: Determine a size and location of the one or more RUs in the 160 MHz channel based on the one or more RUs indicated in the RU Allocation subfield and the BW indicated in the BW subfield to measure channel quality; The STA of claim 12, configured to determine the index of the EHT-MCS subfield and the value of the NSS subfield for the transmission to the other STA based on the channel quality.

14. The STA of claim 13, wherein the one or more RUs in the RU Allocation subfield are one RU or multiple RUs (MRUs), the index is an EHT MCS index, and the value represents a number of spatial streams.

15. 13. The STA of claim 12, wherein, provided that the Unsolicited MFB is zero (0) or false, the MSI / Partial PPDU parameters subfield includes a sequence number indicating a PPDU the STA has received for an EHT MCS feedback request or a PPDU the STA has sent for an EHT MCS feedback response.

16. 13. The STA of claim 12, wherein, under the condition that the Unsolicited MFB is 1 or true, the MSI / Partial PPDU Parameters subfield includes a value indicating an EHT PPDU format and coding type for which the STA measured channel quality.

17. 17. The STA of claim 16, wherein the EHT PPDU formats include an EHT multi-user (MU) PPDU and an EHT trigger-based (TB) PPDU, and the coding types include a binary convolutional code (BCC) and a low-density parity check (LDPC).

18. 12. The STA of claim 11, wherein the HE / EHT subfield received in the first A-control field indicates to the STA that the EHT-related parameters are indicated in the second A-control field of the second PPDU.

19. The STA of claim 11 , wherein the EHT-related parameters include the index, the value, a primary / secondary 160 MHz channel indication, and an EHT PPDU format.

20. The STA of claim 11 , wherein the other STA is an access point (AP) or a non-AP STA.

Images