Spatial reuse transmission in wireless local area networks

Abstract

A device, method, and system for parameterized spatial reuse (PSR). A parameterized spatial reuse receive (PSRR) physical layer protocol data unit (PPDU) including a trigger frame is received from an access point (AP). In response to the PSRR PPDU, a PSR opportunity is identified, and a PSR-based backoff procedure is initiated based on the PSR opportunity. A parameterized spatial reuse transmit (PSRT) PPDU is transmitted. A device, method, and system for enhanced spatial reuse (ESR). An enhanced spatial reuse receive (ESRR) physical protocol data unit PPDU is received, the ESRR PPDU including a trigger frame indicating that at least one subchannel may be punctured and a duration of the ESR operation. An enhanced spatial reuse transmit (ESRT) PPDU is transmitted on at least one punctured subchannel in an ESR opportunity based on the ESRR PPDU. A response to the ESRT PPDU is received on at least one punctured subchannel.

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] (CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS) This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 63 / 328,550, filed April 7, 2022, and U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 63 / 331,378, filed April 15, 2022, the contents of each of which are incorporated herein by reference. [Background technology]

[0002] A wireless local area network (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 originating from a STA to a destination outside the BSS is sent to the AP to be delivered to the respective destination. Traffic between STAs in 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. Summary of the Invention

[0003] Some embodiments provide devices, methods, and systems for parameterized spatial reuse (PSR). A parameterized spatial reuse reception (PSRR) physical layer protocol data unit (PPDU) including a trigger frame is received from an access point (AP). In response to the PSRR PPDU, a PSR opportunity is identified, and a PSR-based backoff procedure is initiated based on the PSR opportunity. A parameterized spatial reuse transmission (PSRT) PPDU is transmitted. Some embodiments provide devices, methods, and systems for enhanced spatial reuse (ESR). An enhanced spatial reuse reception (ESRR) physical protocol data unit PPDU is received, and the ESRR PPDU includes a trigger frame indicating that at least one subchannel may be punctured, and a duration of the ESR operation. An enhanced spatial reuse transmission (ESRT) PPDU is transmitted on at least one punctured subchannel in an ESR opportunity based on the ESRR PPDU, and a response to the ESRT PPDU is received on at least one punctured subchannel. [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] 1 is a system diagram illustrating an example communication system in which one or more disclosed embodiments may be implemented. [Figure 1B]1 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] 1 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] 1B is a system diagram illustrating a further exemplary RAN and a further exemplary CN that may be used within the communication system illustrated in FIG. 1A, according to one embodiment. [Diagram 2] FIG. 2 illustrates an exemplary trigger frame format. [Diagram 3] FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary common information field format. [Figure 4] FIG. 2 illustrates an exemplary user information field format. [Diagram 5] FIG. 2 illustrates an example backward compatible trigger frame. [Figure 6] 1 illustrates an example UL spatial reuse subfield format. [Figure 7] FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary PSR. [Figure 8] FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary PSR. [Figure 9] A diagram illustrating an exemplary CAS control subfield format. [Figure 10] FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary extended PSR procedure in which end points are synchronized. [Figure 11] FIG. 1 illustrates an example extended PSR procedure with delayed response. [Figure 12] 1 illustrates an example procedure involving a conditional delayed response transmission. [Figure 13]1 illustrates a procedure in which one PSRT PPDU is followed by multiple aggregate MAC protocol data units (A-MPDUs) from multiple STAs. [Figure 14] A diagram illustrating a procedure in which a PSRT PPDU is followed by multiple block acknowledgments. [Figure 15] A diagram illustrating a procedure in which a PSRT PPDU is followed by a trigger frame and a block acknowledgment. [Figure 16] 1 illustrates an example ESRT procedure on a punctured subchannel. [Figure 17] 1 illustrates an example procedure with PD-based enhanced spatial reuse; 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 communication system 100 may employ 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 UEs 102a, 102b, 102c, and 102d may be interchangeably referred to as a WTRU.

[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 (eNode B, eNB), a Home Node B, a home eNode B, a next generation Node B (eNode B, gNB, etc.), 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 depicted 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 an 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 employ 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 an 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 an 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 a dual connectivity (DC) principle. Thus, the radio 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 using 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 through 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, delay 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 appreciated 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), 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, which 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 employ a cellular-based wireless technology, and a base station 114b, which may employ an IEEE 802 wireless technology.

[0019] Figure 1B is a system diagram illustrating an example WTRU 102. As shown in Figure 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 depicts 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) via the wireless 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 employ 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 by the transmit / receive element 122 and demodulate signals received by 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 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 in lieu of, information from the GPS chipset 136, the WTRU 102 may receive location information from a base station (e.g., base stations 114a, 114b) via the air interface 116 and / or determine its location based on the timing of signals being received from two or more nearby base stations. It will be understood that the WTRU 102 may acquire 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 transmission and reception of some or all of the signals (e.g., associated with a particular subframe in both the UL (e.g., for transmission) and DL (e.g., for reception)) may occur in parallel and / or simultaneously. The full-duplex radio may include an interference management unit to reduce and or substantially eliminate self-interference either through 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 for transmission and reception of some or all of the signals (e.g., associated with a particular subframe in either the UL (e.g., for transmission) or DL ​​(e.g., for reception).

[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 employ 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 an 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 depicted 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 attach 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 inter-eNodeB handover, 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 illustrated in FIGS. 1A-1D as a wireless terminal, it is contemplated that in certain representative embodiments 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. STA-to-STA traffic 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 between (e.g., directly between) a source STA and a destination STA using a direct link setup (DLS). 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, the particular STA may back off. One STA (e.g., only one station) may transmit at any given time within a given BSS.

[0041] A High Throughput (HT) STA may use a 40 MHz wide channel for communication, which may be formed, for example, through 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 by the transmitting STA. At the receiver of the receiving STA, the operations described above for 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. The 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 the TV White Space (TVWS) spectrum, while 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 Communications (MTC), such as MTC devices, in macro coverage areas. MTC devices may have limited capabilities, including certain capabilities, for example, support for certain and / or limited bandwidths (e.g., only supporting these). 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) settings may depend on the state of the primary channel. For example, if a STA (that only supports 1 MHz mode of operation) transmitting to an AP has a busy primary channel, all of the available frequency bands may be considered busy even if most of the available frequency bands are idle.

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

[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 employ 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 an embodiment. 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 and receive signals to and from the gNBs 180a, 180b, 180c. Thus, the gNB 180a may transmit and receive wireless signals to and from the WTRU 102a, for example, using multiple antennas. In an 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 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 depicted 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. The 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, MMEs 162, SGWs 164, PGWs 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, including but not limited to, while not 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) of 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 originating from a STA to a destination outside the BSS is sent to the AP for delivery 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] In some implementations, for example using 802.11ac infrastructure mode of operation, an AP may transmit beacons on a fixed channel (usually a primary channel). This channel may be 20 MHz wide and may be the operating channel of the BSS. This channel may also be used by STAs to establish a connection with the AP. In some implementations, the channel access mechanism in an exemplary 802.11 system is carrier sense multiple access with collision avoidance (CSMA / CA). In some implementations, in this mode of operation, all STAs, including the AP, sense the primary channel. If the channel is detected to be busy, the STAs back off. Thus, in such implementations, only one STA may transmit at any given time within a given BSS.

[0061] In some implementations, for example in 802.11n, high throughput (HT) STAs may also use 40 MHz wide channels for communication. In some implementations, this is accomplished by combining a primary 20 MHz channel with an adjacent 20 MHz channel to form a 40 MHz wide contiguous channel.

[0062] In some embodiments, for example in 802.11ac, a Very High Throughput (VHT) STA may support 20 MHz, 40 MHz, 80 MHz, and 160 MHz wide channels. In some embodiments, the 40 MHz and 80 MHz channels are formed by combining consecutive 20 MHz channels, similar to 802.11n described above. In some embodiments, a 160 MHz channel can be formed by combining eight consecutive 20 MHz channels, or by combining two non-consecutive 80 MHz channels (which may also be referred to as an 80+80 configuration). In some embodiments, for the 80+80 configuration, the data, after channel encoding, passes through a segment parser and is split into two streams. IFFT and time domain processing may be performed separately for each stream. In some embodiments, the streams are then mapped to two channels and the data is transmitted. In some embodiments, at the receiver, this mechanism is reversed and the combined data is sent to the MAC.

[0063] Some embodiments may facilitate downlink Multi-User (MU) MIMO (MU-MIMO) transmission to multiple STAs within the same symbol time frame, for example within a downlink OFDM symbol. In some embodiments, this has the advantage of improving spectral efficiency. Some such embodiments are implemented in an 802.11ac or 802.11ah environment. In some embodiments, for example, downlink MU-MIMO may use the same symbol timing for multiple STAs, as used in 802.11ac, so interference of waveform transmissions to multiple STAs is not an issue. In some embodiments, however, all STAs involved in MU-MIMO transmission with the AP use the same channel or band. This may limit the operating bandwidth to the minimum channel bandwidth supported by the STAs participating in MU-MIMO transmission with the AP.

[0064] Some embodiments (e.g., 802.11ax) implement trigger frames, which in some embodiments are used to allocate resources and trigger single or multi-user access.

[0065] 2 is a diagram illustrating an example format of a trigger frame 200. The trigger frame includes frame control, duration, receiving address (RA), transmitting address (TA), common information, user information, padding, and / or frame check sequence (FCS) fields, with example lengths of each field represented in the figure in octets, and "variable" indicating that the length may be variable.

[0066] 3 is a diagram illustrating an example format of a common information field 300. The common information field 300 may correspond to the common information field of the trigger frame 200 shown and described with respect to FIG. The common information field 300 includes trigger type, UL length, more TF, CS required, UL bandwidth (BW), GI and HE-LTF type, MU-MIMO, HE-LTF mode, number of HE-LTF symbols and midamble periodicity, UL space-time block code (STBC), low-density parity-check (LDPC) extra symbol segment, AP transmit (Tx) power, forward error correction (FEC) padding factor packet extension (PE) disambiguation, uplink (UL) spatial reuse, Doppler, UL high-efficiency signaling A2 (HE-SIG-A2) reserved, reserved, and / or trigger-dependent common information fields, where an exemplary length of each field is represented in bits by the numbers below each field and an exemplary start and end bit position of each field is shown above each field.

[0067] Figure 4 is a diagram illustrating an example format of a user information field 400. The user information field 400 may correspond to the user information field of the trigger frame 200 shown and described with respect to Figure 2. In some implementations, the user information field 400 may be used with all trigger types except for the Null Feedback Report Poll (NFRP) trigger. The format of the user information field 400 includes AID12 (association ID of 12 LSBs), resource unit (RU) allocation, UL forward error correction (FEC) coding type, UL HE modulation and coding scheme (MCS), UL dual carrier modulation (DCM), spatial stream (SS) allocation / random access resource unit (RA-RU) information, UL target received power, reservation, and / or trigger dependent user information fields, with an exemplary length of each field represented in bits by the numbers below each field in the figure, and an exemplary start and end bit position of each field is shown above each field.

[0068] Table 1 includes example values ​​for the Trigger Type subfield (eg, the Trigger Type subfield of the common information field format 300 shown and described with respect to FIG. 3). In some implementations, the Trigger Type subfield indicates a type of trigger frame.

[0069] [Table 1]

[0070] The IEEE 802.11 Extremely High Throughput (EHT) Study Group (SG) was formed in September 2018. EHT is considered the next major revision in the IEEE 802.11 standard after 802.11ax, which is currently in the working group letter ballot stage. EHT is formed to explore the possibility of further increasing peak throughput and improving the efficiency of IEEE 802.11 networks. Following the EHT Study Group, an 802.11be Task Group (TG) was established to develop the 802.11 EHT standard. Key use cases and applications that will be addressed include high throughput and low latency applications such as video-over-WLAN, augmented reality (AR), and virtual reality (VR).

[0071] Exemplary features that may be associated with the EHT SG and 802.11be TG for achieving increased peak throughput and improved efficiency may include multiple APs, multiple bands / multiple links, 320 MHz bandwidth, 16 spatial streams, Hybrid Automatic Repeat ReQuest (HARQ), AP cooperation, and new designs for 6 GHz channel access.

[0072] In some implementations, the EHT may support larger BW, Multiple RU (MRU) allocation, extended MCS, and a higher number of spatial streams. In some implementations, the Trigger frame (TF) design may need to be modified to signal allocations from the AP for these extended features and signal new fields in the U-SIG of the TB-PPDU. In some implementations, resource units (RUs) may be allocated within the Trigger frame for the EHT-TB-PPDU.

[0073] In some embodiments, the EHT supports frequency domain aggregation of PPDUs to form an Aggregated PPDU (A-PPDU). In some embodiments, the A-PPDU includes multiple PPDUs. In some embodiments, the PPDU format combinations are limited to HE, EHT, or EHT+ for A-PPDUs, with other combinations to be determined (TBD). For PPDUs using HE formats, the PPDU BW is TBD, the number of PPDUs is TBD, and the A-PPDU is an R2 feature.

[0074] In some implementations, A-PPDUs in the UL from multiple STAs supporting different revisions may require a backward compatible trigger frame.

[0075] FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating an example communication 500 between an AP 502, an HE STA 504, an EHT STA1 506, and an EHT STA2 508, in which an example trigger frame 510 that is backward compatible with a legacy trigger frame is transmitted from the AP 502, and corresponding HE TB PPDU 512 and EHT TB PPDUs 514, 516 are transmitted from the HE STA 504, EHT STA1 506, and EHT STA2 508, respectively.

[0076] Some implementations (e.g., 802.11be implementations) support multi-link operations (MLO) where a STA may perform independent enhanced distributed channel access (EDCA) or triggered access on each link if the STA supports simultaneous transmit and receive (STR) over multiple links. In some implementations, the recipient of a trigger frame (TF) transmission may be a non-simultaneous transmit receive (NSTR) non-AP multi-link device (MLD) that may not be able to transmit and receive simultaneously over multiple links.

[0077] Some embodiments (e.g., 802.11be / 802.11be+ implementations) may support the following trigger frame transmission rules in MLO: An AP in an AP MLD shall not send a trigger frame with the CS required subfield set to 1 to a STA in a non-STR non-AP MLD when at least one PPDU from another STA belonging to the same non-STR non-AP MLD is scheduled to transmit before (aSIFSTime+aSignalExtention-aRxTxTurnaroundTime) expires after a PPDU containing a trigger frame. Note that in some embodiments, aRxTxTurnaroundTime is 4 μs above. Note also that in some embodiments, the end time of a first PPDU carrying a frame requesting an immediate response frame cannot be earlier than aRxTxTurnaroundTime of the end time of a second PPDU containing a trigger frame with the CS required subfield set to 1. Note further that in some embodiments, AP STAs still follow the CS required rules defined in 802.11ax. In some implementations, aSIFSTime refers to the nominal time (in microseconds) that the MAC and physical (PHY) layers require to receive to the end of a PPDU and respond with the start of the PPDU containing the earliest possible response frame, aSignalExtention is the duration of the signal extension (i.e., the period of dummy bit transmission, in microseconds) included immediately after some PPDU formats, and aRxTxTurnaroundTime is the maximum time (in microseconds) required for the PHY to switch from receiving to transmitting.

[0078] Some embodiments (e.g., 802.11be or 802.11be+ implementations) may support the following trigger frame transmission rules in MLO: When an AP MLD simultaneously triggers TB PPDUs from two or more STAs that belong to the same non-STR non-AP MLD and frames in the TB PPDUs are allowed to solicit control response frames from the AP MLD, the UL Length subfield value in the solicit trigger frames shall be set to the same value.

[0079] Some implementations (e.g., 802.11be implementations) may support the use of a padding procedure (e.g., of 802.11ax) when transmitting a trigger frame, e.g., to extend the frame length to meet the end time requirements of the PPDU carrying the trigger frame in MLO.

[0080] Some embodiments relate to spatial reuse: In some embodiments (e.g., 802.11ax implementations), a subfield of the trigger frame (e.g., a UL spatial reuse (SR) subfield of a common information field) includes one or more values ​​to be included in a spatial reuse field in the HE-SIG-A field of a requested HE TB PPDU.

[0081] 6 is a diagram illustrating an example format of a UL spatial reuse subfield 600. In the example UL spatial reuse subfield 600, each spatial reuse n subfield (1≦n≦4) is set to the same value as the corresponding subfield in the HE-SIG-A field of the HE TB PPDU. In some implementations, a UL spatial reuse trigger frame (e.g., for use in 802.11be) includes two EHT spatial reuse subfields with 4 bits in each subfield. In the UL spatial reuse subfield 600, an example length of each spatial reuse subfield is represented in bits by the numbers below each field, and an example start and end bit position of each subfield is shown above each field.

[0082] Some embodiments relate to a response transmission during a parameterized spatial reuse transmission (PSRT) transmit opportunity (TXOP).

[0083] FIG. 7 shows an example of an AP 702, a STA 704 in the BSS of the AP 702, and a STA OBSS-A 706 (STAs from an overlapping basic service set (OBSS) (OBSS-A)) and STA OBSS-B 7 illustrates an example parameterized spatial reuse (PSR) procedure 700 (e.g., as defined in 802.11ax) between STAs 708 (STAs from different OBSSs (OBSS-B)). In some embodiments, the PSR parameters include a PSR value carried in a transmission field, such as a spatial reuse subfield in a common information field or a specific user information field, a UL target received power in a user information field in a trigger frame, and / or other parameters.

[0084] In this example, the AP 702 transmits a parameterized spatial reuse reception (PSRR) PHY layer protocol data unit (PPDU) 710 carrying a trigger frame requesting a HE TB PPDU 714. The PSRR PPDU 710 is used by the STA to select the transmit power of the PSRT PPDU 712 so that parallel or simultaneous transmissions (e.g., the high-efficiency (HE) trigger-based (TB) PPDU 714 and the PSRT PPDU 712 in the figure) may be possible. OBSS-A The PSRR PPDU 710 may include or indicate PSR values ​​for overlapping basic service set (OBSS) STAs such as STA 706. In other words, the HE TB PPDU 714 does not experience significant interference from the transmission of the PSRT PPDU 712. The PSRR PPDU 710 may also indicate the duration of the HE TB PPDU 714 (e.g., in the UL Length subfield in the common information field of the trigger frame. This information may be provided, for example, to OBSS STAs (e.g., STA OBSS-A 706 and / or STA OBSS-B708) may be used to determine the duration of the TB PPDU. The duration is shown as duration 799. However, in some embodiments, the PSRT PPDU 712 may request an immediate acknowledgement (ACK) or an optional response PPDU. OBSS-B 708 may be unable to transmit a response frame (e.g., BlockAck 716) due to, for example, a power detection (PD) or PSR condition, and thus the STA OBSS-A 706 is PSRT PPDU is STA OBSS-B In some embodiments, the STA may determine that the received signal was not successfully received by the STA. OBSS-A 706 resets its clear channel assessment (CCA) using a PHY-CCARESET.request primitive as shown. Note that while procedure 700 illustrates a single HE TB PPDU 714 from a single STA 704 in the BSS of the AP 702, in some embodiments, more than one STA in the BSS of the AP 702 may transmit an HE TB PPDU in response to the PSRR PPDU 710. Note also that while the HE TB PPDU is used as an example, any suitable TB PPDU (e.g., EHT TB PPDU or EHT+TB PPDU) may be used. Some embodiments relate to enhanced spatial reuse with punctured subchannels. In some embodiments, 802.11be facilitates additional transmissions using punctured subchannels. To achieve more efficient spectrum usage, in some embodiments, punctured subchannels may be used by OBSS STAs. Detailed procedures that allow spatial reuse of punctured subchannels may be desirable.

[0085] Some embodiments relate to enhanced spatial reuse where multiple generations of Wi-Fi devices coexist. In spatial reuse operations, in some embodiments, a transmitted PSRT PPDU may request different types of response PPDUs, such as, for example, a HE TB PPDU, an EHT TB PPDU, or both, depending on, for example, the configuration of the PSRT PPDU (e.g., the values ​​of fields and / or subfields in the frame carried by the PSRT PPDU). In some embodiments, a mechanism may be desired to communicate the frame format of the PSRT PPDU and / or the frame format of the response PPDU to the OBSS STA, for example, so that the OBSS STA can obtain the spatial reuse information from the correct fields.

[0086] Some embodiments relate to an extension of the HE spatial reuse subfield of the trigger frame and / or the EHT spatial reuse subfield of the trigger frame. In some embodiments of HE spatial reuse, a scheme for determining a PSR value to be set in the UL spatial reuse subfield of the common information field of the trigger frame is not defined. In some embodiments of EHT spatial reuse, a scheme for determining a PSR value to be set in the EHT spatial reuse subfield of the specific user information field of the trigger frame is not defined. Therefore, it may be desirable to define a scheme in which a PSR value per 20 MHz subchannel may be set in the UL spatial reuse field of the HE variant common field of the trigger frame when the PPDU is larger than 80 MHz. In some embodiments, it may be desirable to define a scheme in which a PSR value per 20 MHz subchannel may be set in the EHT spatial reuse subfield of the trigger frame.

[0087] Some embodiments relate to response transmission to a PSRT TXOP. Some such embodiments may address issues regarding response transmission in a PSRT TXOP, for example, as described with respect to FIG. 7. For example, some embodiments may extend existing PSR operations. In some such embodiments, transmission to and from an AP that may transmit a PSRR PPDU may be considered a primary transmission. For example, transmission between OBSS STAs, including transmission of a PSRT PPDU and a corresponding response, may be considered a secondary transmission.

[0088] Some embodiments relate to power control response transmissions. For example, in some embodiments, the transmit power of a frame responsive to a PSRT PPDU may be limited or controlled such that interference to existing or primary transmissions in parallel with the frame responsive to the PSRT PPDU may be limited, mitigated, or avoided.

[0089] FIG. 8 shows an example of an AP 802, a STA 804 in the BSS of the AP 802, and a STA OBSS-A 806 (STA from OBSS (OBSS-A)) and STA OBSS-B 8 illustrates an example extended PSR procedure 800 between 808 (STA from a different OBSS (OBSS-B)).

[0090] In this example, an AP 802 (e.g., in BSS1) may transmit a PSRR PPDU 810 carrying a trigger frame requesting a TB PPDU 814. The AP 802 may, for example, set one or more fields (e.g., the spatial reuse field in the UL spatial reuse subfield in the common information field of the trigger frame and / or the spatial reuse subfield in the user specific information field of the trigger frame) to enable a PSRT TXOP in the OBSS. The PSRR PPDU 810 may also indicate the duration of the TB PPDU 814 (e.g., in the UL length subfield in the common information field of the trigger frame). This information may be sent, for example, to an OBSS STA (e.g., STA OBSS-A 806 and / or STA OBSS-B808) may be used to determine the duration of the TB PPDU. The duration is shown as duration 899. OBSS-A 806) may identify a PSR opportunity based on a trigger frame of the PSRR PPDU 810 and / or a Physical Layer Convergence Procedure (PLCP) header of the TB PPDU and may initiate a PSR-based backoff procedure. OBSS-A 806 resets its Clear Channel Assessment (CCA) using the PHY-CCARESET.request primitive as shown. OBSS-A The STA 806 may transmit a PSRT PPDU 812 after acquiring the medium (e.g., after its backoff counter reaches zero). The PSRT PPDU 812 may include power control information for a subsequent response frame (e.g., an acknowledgement frame). In some implementations, the power control information is OBSS_A The PSRT may indicate the minimum level of receive power required for the receiving STA of the PPDU 812 (STA in the exemplary extended PSR procedure 800). OBSS_B 808) may calculate its transmit power for the response PPDU (block acknowledgement 816 in this example) based on the power control information. OBSS_A 806 may be sufficient (e.g., may just be sufficient) to successfully decode the response frame. In some implementations, it may be advantageous for the STA OBSS_B In some embodiments, the transmissions from the STA may not cause significant interference to the primary transmission. OBSS_B The STA may also select the MCS level based on a transmission power limit. OBSS_B STA OBSS_A The MCS level may be selected based on signaling from

[0091] In some implementations, the power control information carried in the PSRT PPDU (e.g., the PSRR PPDU 810) includes the transmit power of the PSRT PPDU and the STA OBSS_A The expected received power or received signal strength indicator (RSSI) of the PSRT PPDU and the transmission power of the STA OBSS_A and the expected RSSI of the PSR value currently being used in the trigger frame and PPDU, and / or the power control information may be one or more values ​​per entire bandwidth, per 20 MHz subchannel, per 40 MHz subchannel, per 80 MHz subchannel, per 160 MHz subchannel, or having a mixed mode, and one or more bits of the field and / or subfield may indicate a subchannel resolution (e.g., per 80 MHz power control information, per 320 MHz power control information, etc.) or unit of the power control information, and the remaining bits may indicate a detailed value in that resolution or unit.

[0092] In some embodiments, the power control information may be indicated by or carried within PHY layer signaling and / or MAC layer signaling. In some embodiments, for example, if the power control information is indicated by or carried within PHY layer signaling, the power control information may be indicated by or carried within the PLCP header, for example, within the U-SIG field and / or the EHT SIG field, and / or the SERVICE field within the data field. In some embodiments, one bit within the U-SIG and / or EHT SIG field may be used to indicate that this is a PSRT PPDU. In some embodiments, if this bit is set, the spatial reuse subfield (e.g., within the EHT-SIG in the EHT MU PPDU or EHT TB PPDU) may be reused to carry power control information for the response frame.

[0093] In some implementations, for example, if power control information is indicated by or carried in MAC layer signaling, the power control information may be indicated by or carried in the MAC header. In some implementations, a Command And Status (CAS) control subfield in the A-control field of the HE modified HT control field in the MAC frame may be modified to indicate or carry the power control information.

[0094] FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating an example modified CAS control subfield format. In some embodiments, a field that may be referred to as, for example, a response power control information field may be included in the CAS control subfield element. In some embodiments, the field (i.e., a field that may be referred to as a response power control information field) may be 4 bits long and, in some embodiments, may use the same encoding as the TB PPDU spatial reuse field. In some embodiments, the control subfield may be defined within the A control field of the HE modified HT control field. In some embodiments, the control subfield may be defined within the A control field of the HE modified HT control field and may indicate or convey power control information as described herein.

[0095] In some embodiments, the PSRT PPDU is OBSS-B The signaled MCS level may carry MCS allocation information for the response PPDU transmission from the STA. OBSS-AIn the above, the MCS level information may correspond to the expected received power for successful decoding. The MCS level information may be carried in a Triggered Response Scheduling (TRS) control subfield in the A control subfield in the HE modified HT control field. The MCS level information may also be carried directly in a PHY signaling field, such as the U-SIG or EHT-SIG field. Alternatively, in some embodiments, the PSRT PPDU may carry an A-MPDU, where one MPDU may carry a trigger frame. The MCS allocation, power control information, and RU allocation may be included in the trigger frame. It should be noted that this method can be applied in combination with all the methods mentioned in this specification.

[0096] Some embodiments relate to end-point synchronized transmissions.

[0097] FIG. 10 illustrates, for example, a STA 1002 in a BSS of the AP 1002, a STA 1004 in a BSS of the AP 1002, and a STA OBSS-A 1006 (STA from OBSS (OBSS-A)) and STA OBSS-B 10 illustrates an example extended PSR procedure 1000 performed between 1008 (STA from a different OBSS (OBSS-B)).

[0098] In this example, an AP 1002 (e.g., in BSS1) may transmit a PSRR PPDU 1010 carrying a trigger frame requesting a TB PPDU 1014. The AP 1002 may, for example, set one or more fields (e.g., the spatial reuse field in the UL spatial reuse subfield in the common information field of the trigger frame and / or the spatial reuse subfield in the specific user information field of the trigger frame) to enable a PSRT TXOP in the OBSS. The PSRR PPDU 1010 also indicates the duration of the TB PPDU 1014 (e.g., in the UL length subfield in the common information field of the trigger frame). This information may be sent, for example, to an OBSS STA (e.g., STA OBSS-A 1006 and / or STAOBSS-B 1008) may be used to determine the duration of the TB PPDU. The duration is shown as duration 1099. OBSS-A 1006) can identify a PSR opportunity based on the trigger frame of the PSRR PPDU 1010 and initiate a PSR-based backoff procedure. OBSS-A 706 resets its Clear Channel Assessment (CCA) using the PHY-CCARESET.request primitive as shown. OBSS-A 1006 may transmit a PSRT PPDU 1012 after acquiring the medium (e.g., after the STA's backoff counter reaches zero). The PSRT PPDU 1012 may include padding 1013. Note that while the procedure 1000 illustrates a single TB PPDU 1014 from a single STA 1004 in the BSS of the AP 1002, in some embodiments, more than one STA in the BSS of the AP 1002 may transmit a TB PPDU in response to the PSRR PPDU 1010. Note also that while a TB PPDU is used as an example, any suitable TB PPDU (e.g., an EHT TB PPDU or an EHT+ TB PPDU) may be used.

[0099] In some implementations, the padding 1013 may be sized such that the end of the PSRT PPDU 1012 aligns with the end of the TB PPDU 1014 (e.g., as shown in FIG. 10). In this way, the response frame (e.g., Block Acknowledgement 1016) can be aligned with the acknowledgement frame (e.g., Acknowledgement / BA 1018 in this example) of the primary transmission (e.g., TB PPDU 1014 in this example). In some implementations, such padding advantageously prevents the Block Acknowledgement 1016 from overlapping with the TB PPDU 1014.

[0100] In some embodiments, when STA1 1004 is transmitting the TB PPDU 1014, STAOBSS_B If STA 1008 can successfully decode PSRT PPDU 1012, OBSS_B STA1 1008 and STA1 1004 may be hidden from each other (i.e., unable to interfere, e.g., as hidden nodes) or STA OBSS_B (In some embodiments, interference between STA1 1008 and STA1 1004 may be negligible.) In this situation, in some embodiments, OBSS_B The transmission of a response frame (eg, block acknowledgement 1016 in this example) from 1008 may not affect the receipt of the acknowledgement / BA 1018 by STA1 1004.

[0101] In some implementations, the transmission of the PSRT PPDU 1012 may be terminated by the end of the TB PPDU 1014 triggered by a trigger frame carried in the PSRR PPDU 1010 if the PSRT PPDU cannot be completed before the TB PPDU ends. The PSRT PPDU 1010 may be padded to align the end of the PPDU duration of the TB PPDU triggered by the trigger frame carried in the PSRR PPDU.

[0102] In some implementations, the padding 1013 may be or include any suitable padding field (e.g., an additional field in a trigger frame, A-MPDU padding after the end of frame (EOF), aggregating other MPDUs in the A-MPDU, or packet extension). In some implementations, the PSRT PPDU 1012 may indicate or carry power control information for a response transmission (e.g., block acknowledgement 1016 in this example) as described herein.

[0103] Some embodiments may include an indication (e.g., sometimes referred to as a same-RU allocation indication) that may indicate that the same RU allocation used for the TB PPDU may be used in a subsequent acknowledgement / BA transmission from the AP. For example, in some such embodiments, a STA (e.g., STA1 1004) may be assigned to transmit a TB PPDU (e.g., TB PPDU 1014) on RU / MRU k, and the STA may expect an acknowledgement / BA transmission (e.g., acknowledgement / BA 1018) from the AP (e.g., AP1 1002) to also be on RU / MRU k if the same-RU allocation indication is set accordingly. In some embodiments, the same-RU allocation indication may be indicated or carried in PHY layer signaling (e.g., such as a U-SIG or EHT-SIG in an EHT PPDU). In some embodiments, the same-RU allocation indication may be carried in MAC layer signaling, such as a trigger frame. Alternatively or in addition, in some embodiments, the primary transmitting AP may transmit a response frame (e.g., acknowledgement / BA) to the TB PPDU using the same RU / MRU that may be allocated to the STA for the TB PPDU transmission if ESR is allowed. In some embodiments, this setting may be used to transmit a response frame (e.g., acknowledgement / BA) to the PSRT PPDU (e.g., PSRT PPDU1012) to the STA. OBSS-B This may be used to limit or mitigate potential interference with block acknowledgements 1016 from 1008.

[0104] In some embodiments, a receiving STA of the PSRT PPDU (e.g., STA OBSS-BA PSRT PPDU (e.g., PSRT PPDU 1008) may transmit a response frame (e.g., block acknowledgement 1016) a certain time (e.g., time xIFS) after the end of the PSRT PPDU (e.g., PSRT PPDU 1012). xIFS is a predefined interframe spacing. xIFS can be any interframe spacing defined in 802.11, such as short interframe spacing (SIFS), distributed coordination function (DCF) interframe spacing (DIFS), point coordination function (PCF) interframe spacing (PIFS), etc.

[0105] Some embodiments include delayed acknowledgment transmission. For example, in some embodiments, a STA in an OBSS that identifies a PSR opportunity may OBSS-A STA OBSS-B In one embodiment, a delayed acknowledgment may be requested such that an acknowledgment from is not sent in response to a PSRT PPDU within the transmission time of a TB PPDU sent in response to a PSRR PPDU.

[0106] 11 is a diagram illustrating an example extended PSR procedure 1100 with delayed response. The procedure 1100 includes an AP 1102, a STA 1104 in the BSS of the AP 1102, and a STA OBSS-A 1106 (STA from OBSS (OBSS-A)) and STA OBSS-B 1108 (STA from a different OBSS (OBSS-B)).

[0107] In this example, an AP 1102 (e.g., in BSS1) may transmit a PSRR PPDU 1110 carrying a trigger frame requesting a TB PPDU 1114. The AP 1102 may set one or more fields (e.g., the spatial reuse field in the UL spatial reuse subfield in the common information field of the trigger frame and / or the spatial reuse subfield in the user specific information field of the trigger frame) to enable a PSRT TXOP in, for example, an OBSS. The PSRR PPDU 1110 may also indicate the duration of the TB PPDU 1114 (e.g., in the UL length subfield in the common information field of the trigger frame). This information may be sent to, for example, an OBSS STA (e.g., STA OBSS-A 1106 and / or STA OBSS-B 1108) may be used to determine the duration of the TB PPDU. The duration is shown as duration 1199. OBSS-A 1106) can identify a PSR opportunity based on the trigger frame of the PSRR PPDU 1110 and initiate a PSR-based backoff procedure. OBSS-A 706 resets its Clear Channel Assessment (CCA) using the PHY-CCARESET.request primitive as shown. OBSS-A 1106 may transmit a PSRT PPDU 1112 after acquiring the medium (e.g., after its backoff counter reaches zero). The PSRT PPDU 1112 may include an indication of the acknowledgement policy. Note that while the procedure 1100 illustrates a single TB PPDU 1114 from a single STA 1104 in the BSS of the AP 1102, in some embodiments, more than one STA in the BSS of the AP 1102 may transmit a TB PPDU in response to the PSRR PPDU 1110. Note also that while a TB PPDU is used as an example, any suitable TB PPDU (e.g., an EHT TB PPDU or an EHT+TB PPDU) may be used.

[0108] In some implementations, the indication of the acknowledgement policy may be indicated by or included within a subfield (which may be referred to, for example, as an acknowledgement policy indication subfield within the QoS control field). OBSS-B The STA 1106 is configured to take no action other than recording the decoding status in the scoreboard when it receives the PSRT PPDU 1112. OBSS-A 1108 may be set to a value that does not allow for an immediate response. OBSS-A 1106 may then send an acknowledgement request (e.g., block-ACK (BA) request (BAR) 1120) to trigger a delayed acknowledgement (e.g., delayed block acknowledgement (BA) 1122) of the PSRT PPDU 1112. Note that the indication may instead be set to a value that requests an immediate or typical acknowledgement (e.g., BA 1116) under, for example, suitable conditions or circumstances.

[0109] In some embodiments, for example, in location-aware communications, the STA OBSS-A 1106 is the STA for AP1102. OBSS-B Based on the information regarding the location of 1108, the acknowledgment policy indication may be set to delayed acknowledgment. OBSS-B If the distance between the AP 1108 and the AP 1102 is less than the threshold distance, and / or OBSS-A If the path loss (PL) between the STA 1106 and the AP 1102 is less than a given minimum PL, the STA OBSS-A 1106 may set the acknowledgement policy to delayed acknowledgement.

[0110] In some implementations, location-aware communications as described above may be enabled by location information (e.g., location information obtained by any suitable means). For example, in some implementations, location information may be obtained through GPS. In some implementations, location information may be obtained in a ranging session supported by the HE ranging feature. In some implementations, location information may be obtained through advanced PL calculations, which may be dynamically or statically updated based on, for example, the mobility capabilities of the STAs within the BSS or OBSS.

[0111] In some embodiments, the STA OBSS-A 1106 indicates the time required to send the PSRT PPDU 1212 (t PSRT ) and the time (t TB ), STAOBSS-A1106 uses the time difference Δt=t TB -t PSRT However, STA OBSS-B STA 1106 may determine that BA from 1108 is large enough to send an acknowledgement and that the acknowledgement will not interfere with the TB PPDU (i.e., STA 1106 may determine that BA from 1108 will not interfere with existing transmissions). OBSS-A 1106 may request an immediate response in this case. Otherwise, the STA OBSS-A 1106 is STA OBSS-B 1108 may request a delayed acknowledgement (eg, delayed BA 1122) from the BAR 1120.

[0112] Some implementations may include a conditional delayed response transmission.

[0113] 12 is a diagram illustrating an example extended PSR procedure 1200 including a conditional delayed response transmission. The procedure 1200 includes an AP 1202, a STA 1204 in the BSS of the AP 1202, and a STA OBSS-A 1206 (STA from OBSS (OBSS-A)) and STA OBSS-B1208 (STA from a different OBSS (OBSS-B)).

[0114] In the procedure 1200, the AP 1202 may transmit a PSRR PPDU 1210 to one or more associated STAs, including the STA 1204. The AP 1202 may, for example, set one or more fields (e.g., a spatial reuse field in the UL spatial reuse subfield in the common information field of the trigger frame and / or a spatial reuse subfield in the specific user information field of the trigger frame) to enable a PSRT TXOP in the OBSS. The PSRR PPDU 1210 may also indicate the duration of the TB PPDU 1214 (e.g., in a UL length subfield in the common information field of the trigger frame). This information may be sent, for example, to the OBSS STAs (e.g., STA OBSS-A 1206 and / or STA OBSS-B A TB PPDU duration (such as 1208) may be used to determine the duration of the TB PPDU. The duration is shown as duration 1299. The OBSS STA may monitor 1211 the PSRR PPDU 1210 to determine if a PSR opportunity exists, for example, by checking the PSR value and UL target received power subfields in the trigger frame carried by the PSRR PPDU. In some embodiments, the STA OBSS-A 1206 resets its Clear Channel Assessment (CCA) using the PHY-CCARESET.request primitive as shown. In this example, the STA OBSS-A 1206 identifies PSR opportunities. STA OBSS-A After the backoff counter of 1206 reaches 0, the STA OBSS-A 1206 may transmit a PSRT PPDU 1212. The PSRT PPDU 1212 may include an indication requesting a conditional response or acknowledgment (e.g., in a special BA policy or other indication). After receiving the PSRT PPDU 1212, the STA that may be the intended receiver of the PSRT PPDU 1212 may OBSS-BIf the STA 1208 determines a PSR opportunity during monitoring 1211 and has enough time to transmit a response / acknowledgement frame BA 1216 before the end of the parallel TB PPDU 1214 during the primary transmission, the STA OBSS-B 1208 may transmit BA 1216, for example, a time xIFS after the end of the PSRR PPDU 1210. Otherwise, the STA OBSS-B 1208 until it can acquire the channel later, or OBSS-A The AP 1202 may hold off on sending a delayed response / acknowledgement (delayed BA 1222) until receiving a request BAR 1220 (e.g., a polling frame or a trigger frame) from the AP 1206. Note that while the procedure 1200 illustrates a single TB PPDU 1214 from a single STA 1204 in the BSS of the AP 1202, in some embodiments, more than one STA in the BSS of the AP 1202 may transmit a TB PPDU in response to the PSRR PPDU 1210. Note also that while a TB PPDU is used as an example, any suitable TB PPDU (e.g., an EHT TB PPDU or an EHT+ TB PPDU) may be used.

[0115] In some embodiments, an indication in the QoS frame (e.g., a subfield such as the Acknowledgement Policy Indication subfield) may be set to a value to indicate conditional acknowledgment. In some embodiments, an indication (e.g., a bit) in the CAS Control subfield in the HT Control field may indicate conditional acknowledgment. In some embodiments, if this indication is set, the receiving STA may determine whether the receiving STA can send an immediate acknowledgment depending on one or more conditions, such as whether the STA receives a PSRR PPDU and whether the STA detects a PSR opportunity.

[0116] Some embodiments include power control for multiple response frames after the PSRT PPDU. For example, in some embodiments, multiple response frames are sent from multiple OBSS STAs after the PSRT PPDU is sent within the duration indicated in the PSRR PPDU. Examples are shown and described with respect to Figures 13, 14, and 15. In these examples, the PSRR PPDU occupies subchannel 1 and subchannel 2. In some embodiments, the PSR requirements apply to subchannel 1 and subchannel 2. In other words, the subchannels used by the PSRR PPDU are subchannel 1 and subchannel 2. The PSR requirements apply only to the subchannel in which the PSRR PPDU is transmitted.

[0117] 13 illustrates an example extended PSR procedure 1300 in which one PSRT PPDU 1310 (e.g., carrying one trigger frame) is followed by multiple A-MPDUs 1350 from multiple OBSS STAs. OBSS-A 1306, multiple A-MPDUs 1350 are sent to multiple STAs within a duration 1360 indicated in a PSRR PPDU 1310 sent from the AP 1302 (e.g., by a common information field of a trigger frame carried by the PSRR PPDU 1310). OBSS-B (STA OBSS-B1 1308, STA OBSS-B2 1309, ..., STA OBSS-Bn The PSRR PPDU 1310 is sent from the OBSS STA (e.g., STA 1311). The AP 1302 may, for example, set one or more fields (e.g., the spatial reuse field in the UL spatial reuse subfield in the common information field of the trigger frame and / or the spatial reuse subfield in the user specific information field of the trigger frame) to enable the PSRT TXOP in the OBSS. The PSRR PPDU 1310 also indicates the duration of the TB PPDU 1314 (e.g., in the UL length subfield in the common information field of the trigger frame). This information may be sent, for example, to the OBSS STA (e.g., STA OBSS-A 1206 and / or STA OBSS-B11308) may be used to determine the duration of the TB PPDU. The duration is shown as duration 1360. Note that while the procedure 1300 illustrates a single HE TB PPDU 1314 from a single STA 1304 in the BSS of the AP 1302, in some embodiments, more than one STA in the BSS of the AP 1302 may transmit an HE TB PPDU in response to the PSRR PPDU 1310. Note also that while the HE TB PPDU is used as an example, any suitable TB PPDU (e.g., EHT TB PPDU or EHT+TB PPDU) may be used.

[0118] To comply with the PSR power constraints, e.g., as indicated by PSRR PPDU1310, the STA OBSS-A 1306 indicates the power indication in the PSRT PPDU 1312 (e.g., the power of the STAs assigned to subchannel 1 and / or subchannel 2). OBSS-B The STA may reduce the value in the UL target received power subfield of the user information field addressed to the STA. OBSS-B In this example, STA OBSS-B1 1308 and STA OBSS-B2 1309. In some embodiments, the STA OBSS-A If the 1306 is an EHT or EHT Advanced device, the STA OBSS-A 1306, for example, in the specific user information field of the PSRT PPDU 1312, OBSS-B (STA OBSS-B1 1308, STA OBSS-B2 1309, ..., STA OBSS-Bn 1311) may indicate a power reduction in the transmission power from the STA. OBSS-A 1306 does not allocate any UL transmissions on subchannel 1 and subchannel 2. In some embodiments, the STA OBSS-A A multi-STA block acknowledgment 1330 sent from 1306 obeys the PSR constraints on sub-channel 1 and sub-channel 2 if it is sent within the duration 1360 set by the PSRR PPDU.

[0119] 14 illustrates an example extended PSR procedure 1400 in which one PSRT PPDU 1410 (e.g., carrying one trigger frame) is followed by multiple block acknowledgements. In the procedure 1400, multiple A-MPDUs with MU-BAR trigger frames 1450 are transmitted to the STAs on subchannel 1, subchannel_2, ..., subchannel_n, respectively. OBSS-A 1406 to STA OBSS-BN The multiple block acknowledgements 1470 are sent to multiple STAs within the duration 1460 indicated in the PSRR PPDU 1410 sent from the AP 1402 (e.g., by the common information field of the trigger frame carried by the PSRR PPDU 1410). OBSS-B (STA OBSS-B1 1408, STA OBSS-B2 1409, ..., STA OBSS-Bn The PSRR PPDU 1410 may also indicate the duration of the TB PPDU 1414 (e.g., in the UL Length subfield in the common information field of the trigger frame. This information may be sent, for example, to the OBSS STAs (e.g., STA OBSS-A 1406 and / or STA OBSS-B1 1408) may be used to determine the duration of the TB PPDU. The duration is shown as duration 1460. Note that while the procedure 1400 illustrates a single HE TB PPDU 1414 from a single STA 1404 in the BSS of the AP 1402, in some embodiments, more than one STA in the BSS of the AP 1402 may transmit an HE TB PPDU in response to the PSRR PPDU 1410. Note also that while the HE TB PPDU is used as an example, any suitable TB PPDU (e.g., EHT TB PPDU or EHT+TB PPDU) may be used. In some embodiments, the STAOBSS-A 806 resets its clear channel assessment (CCA) using the PHY-CCARESET.request primitive as shown.

[0120] For example, to comply with the PSR power constraints, as indicated by PSRR PPDU1410, the STA OBSS-A 1406 is a reduced transmission power indication (e.g., for STAs assigned to subchannel 1 and / or subchannel 2). OBSS-B The STA may set the UL target received power subfield of the user information field addressed to the STA. OBSS-B In this example, STA OBSS-B1 1308 and STA OBSS-B2 1309. In some embodiments, instead, e.g., STA OBSS-A If the 1406 is an EHT or EHT Advanced device, the STA OBSS-A 1406, for example, in a specific user information field (e.g., a specific user information field in a corresponding MU-BAR trigger frame 1450 sent on subchannel 1 and / or subchannel 2, respectively), OBSS-B (STA OBSS-B1 1408, STA OBSS-B2 1409, ..., STA OBSS-Bn 1411) may indicate a power reduction in the transmission power from the STA. OBSS-A 1406 does not allocate any UL transmissions on subchannel 1 and subchannel 2. In some embodiments, delayed block acknowledgment is applied on subchannel 1 and subchannel 2 instead.

[0121] 15 illustrates an exemplary extended PSR procedure 1500 in which a PSRT PPDU 1510 is followed by a MU-BAR trigger frame 1580 and multiple block acknowledgements 1570. In the procedure 1500, multiple A-MPDUs 1550 followed by a single MU-BAR trigger frame 1580 are sent to the STA. OBSS-A1406, multiple block acknowledgements 1570 are sent from the AP 1502 to multiple STAs within the duration 1560 indicated in the PSRR PPDU 1510 sent from the AP 1502 (e.g., by the common information field of the trigger frame carried by the PSRR PPDU 1510). OBSS-B (STA OBSS-B1 1508, STA OBSS-B2 1509, ..., STA OBSS-Bn The PSRR PPDU 1510 may also indicate the duration of the TB PPDU 1514 (e.g., in the UL Length subfield in the common information field of the trigger frame). This information may be sent, for example, to the OBSS STAs (e.g., STA OBSS-A 1506 and / or STA OBSS-B1 1508) may be used to determine the duration of the TB PPDU. The duration is shown as duration 1560. Note that while procedure 1500 illustrates a single HE TB PPDU 1514 from a single STA 1504 in the BSS of the AP 1502, in some embodiments, more than one STA in the BSS of the AP 1502 may transmit an HE TB PPDU in response to the PSRR PPDU 1510. Note also that while the HE TB PPDU is used as an example, any suitable TB PPDU (e.g., EHT TB PPDU or EHT+TB PPDU) may be used. In some embodiments, the STA OBSS-A 806 resets its clear channel assessment (CCA) using the PHY-CCARESET.request primitive as shown.

[0122] For example, to comply with the PSR power constraints, as indicated by PSRR PPDU1410, the STA OBSS-A1506 is a signal indicating a reduced power indication (e.g., a signal indicating a power reduction indication) in the MU-BAR trigger frame 1580 ... OBSS-B The STA may set the UL target received power (the value in the UL target received power subfield of the user information field addressed to the STA). OBSS-B In this example, STA OBSS-B1 1508 and STA OBSS-B2 1509. In some embodiments, the STA OBSS-A 1506 is, for example, STA OBSS-A If 1506 is an EHT or EHT Advanced device, the STA OBSS-B (STA OBSS-B1 1508, STA OBSS-B2 1509, ..., STA OBSS-Bn 1511) may indicate a power reduction for the transmission power from the STA. OBSS-A 1506 does not allocate any UL transmissions on subchannel 1 and subchannel 2. In some embodiments, delayed block acknowledgment is applied on subchannel 1 and subchannel 2 instead.

[0123] Some embodiments relate to enhanced spatial reuse with punctured subchannels. In some embodiments, enhanced spatial reuse (ESR) operation allows subchannels that are punctured in one BSS to be reused by another BSS. The terms enhanced spatial reuse opportunity, enhanced spatial reuse reception (ESRR) PPDU, and enhanced spatial reuse transmission (ESRT) PPDU are used herein as described below.

[0124] The term enhanced spatial reuse opportunity may refer to a spatial reuse opportunity established based on punctured subchannel information in the PHY layer signaling of a PPDU or MAC frame requesting a response transmission or a TB PPDU. The term ESRR PPDU may refer to a PPDU that includes an instruction to enable an ESR transmission. In some methods, the ESRR PPDU may carry the punctured subchannel information. The term ESRT PPDU may refer to a PPDU transmitted during an ESR opportunity.

[0125] In some embodiments, a STA that supports ESR-based ESRT PPDU transmission may indicate this by setting (e.g., to 1) the ESR-based SR Support subfield in the PHY (or MAC) Capability Information field in an existing or newly defined capability element that the STA transmits. In some embodiments, a STA that supports ESR-based ESRT PPDU reception may indicate this by setting (e.g., to 1) the ESR Responder subfield in the MAC (or PHY) Capability Information field in an existing or newly defined capability element that the STA transmits. In some embodiments, alternatively or in addition, a STA that supports ESR-based operation may set this in any capability field, subfield, or element that the STA transmits.

[0126] In some implementations, one or more BSS level signals (e.g., management frames between the AP and the STAs for signaling the settings to be used during a period) may be used to indicate whether ESR operation is allowed or not allowed. For example, an element (e.g., an extended spatial reuse parameter set element) may be defined and used (e.g., by setting a bit) to indicate whether ESR operation is allowed or not allowed. In some implementations, one or more bits in an existing element (e.g., a spatial reuse parameter set element) may be used to indicate whether ESR operation is allowed or not allowed. In some implementations, the AP may carry this BSS level signaling in a management frame, such as a beacon frame. In some implementations, STAs receiving an element from an associated AP, where the element has a particular value (e.g., a value of 1) in the ESR not allowed subfield, shall not perform ESR-based SR transmission.

[0127] It should be noted that the term "enhanced spatial reuse" may refer to spatial reuse with punctured subchannels.

[0128] FIG. 16 illustrates an example procedure 1600 for ESRT on a punctured subchannel. In the procedure 1600, an AP (e.g., AP1 1602) may acquire the wireless medium and determine to enable ESR operation by transmitting an Enhanced Spatial Reuse Receive (ESRR) PPDU 1610. In some implementations, the ESRR PPDU 1610 may carry a trigger frame, which may indicate that one or more subchannels may be punctured and that the trigger frame is used for ESR operation (perhaps a new trigger type is defined). In some implementations, the trigger frame may carry a field (e.g., a UL length field in a common information field) indicating a duration 1660 of the TB PPDU 1614. The duration 1660 of the TB PPDU 1614 may be considered as the duration of the ESR operation. In some implementations, the ESRR PPDU 1610 may carry a MAC frame that requests a response frame. In some embodiments, one or more subchannels may be punctured, and the ESRR PPDU 1610 and / or the MAC frame may include an indication of the punctured subchannels. In some embodiments, the MAC frame may include a field (e.g., a duration field or an ESRR duration field) that may indicate a duration of the ESR operation. In some embodiments, the duration of the ESR operation may indicate a time period during which the OBSS STAs may ignore the NAV setting on the primary 20 MHz channel and transmit on one or more punctured subchannels. It should be noted that while the procedure 1600 illustrates a single TB PPDU 1614 from a single STA 1604 in the BSS of the AP 1602, in some embodiments, two or more STAs in the BSS of the AP 1602 may transmit a TB PPDU in response to the PSRR PPDU 1610. It should also be noted that while a TB PPDU is used as an example, any suitable TB PPDU (e.g., an EHT TB PPDU or an EHT+TB PPDU) may be used.

[0129] In some implementations, AP1 1602 may indicate ESR_ALLOW and / or ESR_DISALLOW (e.g., by reusing the spatial reuse fields in the common information field and / or specific user information field in the trigger frame to values ​​indicating ESR_ALLOW and / or ESR_DISALLOW when the trigger type or other fields / subfields indicate that the trigger frame is used for ESR operation), where ESR_ALLOW indicates that ESR operation is allowed during the requested TB PPDU transmission, and ESR_DISALLOW indicates that ESR operation is not allowed during the requested TB PPDU transmission. Note that these may be indicated by other fields or in other manners in other implementations.

[0130] In procedure 1600, transmission and reception with AP1 1602 may be referred to as a primary transmission. In some embodiments, an OBSS STA (e.g., AP2 1690) may receive an ESRR PPDU 1610 carrying a trigger frame or other type of frame that may include punctured channel / subchannel information. Alternatively, in some embodiments, the ESRR PPDU 1610 may include a field (e.g., a PHY signaling field) that may indicate the punctured channel / subchannel information. In some embodiments, the OBSS STA (e.g., AP2 1690) may set a RXVECTOR parameter based on receipt of the ESRR PPDU 1610. For example, AP2 1690 may set the RXVECTOR parameter SPATIAL_REUSE to a value carried in the spatial reuse field in the common information field and / or the special user information field, and / or AP2 1690 may set the RXVECTOR parameter INACTIVE_SUBCHANNEL to indicate the punctured subchannel in the ESRR PPDU 1610.

[0131] In some implementations, an OBSS STA (e.g., AP2 1690) may identify an ESR opportunity if one or more of the following conditions are met: the OBSS STA receives a PHY-RXSTART indication corresponding to receipt of an ESRR PPDU identified as an inter-BSS PPDU by checking whether the RXVECTOR parameter BSS_COLOR is not zero or is the same as its own BSS color, the STA receives a PHY-RXSTART indication corresponding to receipt of an ESRR PPDU identified as having one or more punctured subchannels, and / or the STA has an ESRT PPDU in its queue for transmission and the destination STA is able to receive the ESRT PPDU.

[0132] In some embodiments, an OBSS STA with an identified ESR opportunity may choose not to perform a NAV update operation based on receipt of an ESRR PPDU. In some embodiments, a STA (e.g., AP2 1690) that identifies an ESR opportunity may be triggered by the trigger frame in an ESRR PPDU (e.g., ESRR PPDU 1610) and issue a PHY-CCARESET.request 1692 or a PHY-CCARESET.request on one or more punctured subchannels to ignore one or more TB PPDUs (e.g., TB PPDU 1614) that occur between the end of the last symbol of the transmission of the ESRR PPDU 1610 that contained the trigger frame and aSIFSTime+aRxPHYStartDelay+2×aSlotTime, if the value of the RXVECTOR parameter BSS_COLOR in the TB PPDU matches the BSS color of the ESRR PPDU.

[0133] In some embodiments, the OBSS STA (e.g., AP2 1690) may follow the ESR backoff procedure. For example, in some embodiments, the OBSS STA (e.g., AP2 1690) may maintain a single backoff procedure across the entire bandwidth. The OBSS STA (e.g., AP2 1690) may continue counting down the existing backoff procedure if an ESR opportunity is identified, provided that the medium conditions on the punctured subchannels are not otherwise indicated as BUSY. In some embodiments, the OBSS STA (e.g., AP2 1690) may acquire the medium when the backoff counter reaches zero. In some embodiments, the OBSS STA (e.g., AP2 1690) may maintain a backoff procedure on each subchannel. In some embodiments, the OBSS STA (e.g., AP2 1690) may continue counting down the existing backoff procedure if an ESR opportunity is identified, provided that the medium conditions on the punctured subchannels are not otherwise indicated as BUSY. In some embodiments, an OBSS STA (e.g., AP2 1690) may acquire the medium when all backoff counters reach zero. In some embodiments, an OBSS STA (e.g., AP2 1690) may transmit between aSIFSTime+aRxPHYStartDelay+2×aSlotTime (or aSIFSTime+aRxPHYStartDelay+2×aSlotTime) from the end of the last symbol of the transmission of an ESRR PPDU (e.g., ESRR PPDU 1610) that contained a trigger frame. In some embodiments, an OBSS STA (e.g., AP2 1690) may attempt to synchronize its transmission with a TB PPDU (e.g., TB PPDU 1614).

[0134] In some embodiments, an OBSS STA (e.g., AP2 1690) may transmit an ESRT PPDU 1694 on a punctured subchannel to another OBSS STA (e.g., STA2 1696). In some embodiments, the transmission of the ESRT PPDU 1694 may be terminated before the TB PPDU 1614 ends. In some embodiments, the transmission of the ESRT PPDU 1694 may be padded (e.g., padding 1698) to the end of the TB PPDU. In some embodiments, the ESRT PPDU 1694 may carry a MAC frame, where one or more bits of the MAC header may be used to indicate that the transmission is an ESRT PPDU 1694. For example, a bit in the A control field may indicate whether the transmission is an ESRT PPDU 1694. In some embodiments, the ESRT PPDU indication may alternatively or additionally be carried in the PHY signaling or SERVICE field.

[0135] In some embodiments, an OBSS STA (e.g., STA2 1696) that is the intended receiver of the ESRT PPDU 1694 may prepare a response transmission (e.g., block acknowledgement 1616). In some embodiments, STA2 1696 may determine that the ESRT PPDU 1694 is an ESRT PPDU by checking the ESRT PPDU PHY signaling, MAC header, or ESRT PPDU indication in the SERVICE field. In some embodiments, STA2 1696 may not transmit a response frame if any CCA, PSR, and PD requirements may not be met or it has a non-zero NAV setting. In some embodiments, the response frame may be transmitted on the subchannel or a subset of the subchannels (e.g., punctured subchannels) used by the ESRT PPDU 1694.

[0136] Some embodiments include signaling related modifications. For example, in some embodiments, a field (e.g., spatial reuse field) in the EHT MU PPDU and / or future versions of the PPDU and / or trigger frame may indicate or be modified to indicate whether ESR is allowed or not allowed. In some embodiments, a reserved value may be used to indicate whether ESR is allowed or not allowed. In some embodiments, several values ​​may be used to indicate a combination of ESR_DISALLOW or ESR_ALLOW with other spatial reuse schemes such as PSR, PD, etc. For example, Table 2 includes exemplary possible values ​​related to ESR operation.

[0137] [Table 2]

[0138] In some implementations, ESR_ALLOW and / or ESR_DISALLOW signaling may indicate whether a punctured subchannel may be reused by an OBSS STA and may be carried in PHY signaling (e.g., a Universal Signal (U-SIG) field and / or an Extremely High Throughput Signal (EHT-SIG) field) or a trigger frame. In some implementations, if ESR_ALLOW is signaled, an OBSS STA may be allowed to ignore the NAV setting and transmit on one or more punctured subchannels, which may or may not be the STA's primary subchannel or subchannels.

[0139] In some embodiments, the ESRT PPDU may be explicitly indicated in PHY signaling or MAC signaling. In some embodiments, if the ESRT PPDU is explicitly indicated by PHY signaling, a bit in a PHY signaling field (e.g., U-SIG and / or EHT SIG field) may be used to indicate whether the PPDU is an ESRT PPDU. In some embodiments, for example, if the ESRT PPDU is explicitly indicated by MAC signaling, a bit in the MAC header may be used to indicate whether the PPDU carrying the MAC frame is an ESRT PPDU. In some embodiments, the Command and Status (CAS) control subfield in the A control field of the HE modified HT control field in the MAC frame may be modified to carry the ESRT PPDU subfield.

[0140] Some embodiments relate to receiving STA behavior. For example, in some embodiments, an ESRT PPDU STA (e.g., STA_OBSS_B) may indicate that it has the capability to monitor and detect transmissions on non-primary channels. In some embodiments, an ESRT PPDU receiving STA may indicate to the AP the capability to receive ESRT PPDUs or the capability to receive PPDUs on non-primary subchannels when the STA associates with the AP.

[0141] In some implementations, in BSS level signaling, a STA may report to its associated AP a list of OBSS APs from which it may detect transmissions. In some implementations, an AP may broadcast a list of OBSS APs that may allow ESR operation in a broadcast frame, such as a beacon frame.

[0142] In some implementations, an OBSS STA may temporarily switch to monitoring the puncturing subchannel when the STA identifies an ESR opportunity. An exemplary STA_OBSS_B behavior is given as follows:

[0143] In some embodiments, STA_OBSS_B may receive a list of OBSS APs that may allow ESR operation from the AP associated with the STA (which may be referred to as an ESR-capable OBSS AP list). In some embodiments, STA_OBSS_B may detect an ESRR PPDU transmission from the OBSS AP / STA. In some embodiments, STA_OBSS_B may switch to monitoring a punctured subchannel, which may be a non-primary subchannel for STA_OBSS_B, if one or more (or all) of the following conditions are met: The BSS color carried in the ESRR PPDU may match the BSS color of an OBSS AP in the ESR-capable OBSS AP list, the transmit address (or receive address) field in the MAC frame carried by the ESRR PPDU may match the basic service set identifier (BSSID) of an AP in the ESR-capable OBSS AP list, one or more subchannels are punctured in the ESRR PPDU transmission, the duration field of the MAC frame carried in the ESRR PPDU may be longer than a predefined or predetermined threshold, the UL length field of the trigger frame carried in the ESRR PPDU may indicate a duration longer than a predefined or predetermined threshold, and / or ESR_ALLOW is indicated in the ESRR PPDU or the MAC frame carried in the ESRR PPDU. In some embodiments, the STA_OBSS_B may switch back to monitoring the STA's primary subchannel after the end of the duration identified by the ESRR PPDU for enhanced spatial sharing.

[0144] Some embodiments relate to power detection (PD) based enhanced spatial reuse. 17 is a diagram illustrating an example procedure 1700 with PD-based enhanced spatial reuse. The example procedure 1700 includes an AP 1702, a STA 1704 in the BSS of the AP 1702, and a STA OBSS-A1706 (STA from OBSS (OBSS-A)) and STA OBSS-B 1708 (STAs from a different OBSS (OBSS-B)). In the example of FIG. 17, AP 1702 may acquire the wireless medium and determine to allow ESR operation by transmitting a first frame, such as a modified MU-RTS frame 1710. The first frame or a PPDU carrying the first frame may carry one or more or all of the following fields: an indication that ESR operation is allowed for the OBSS STAs, punctured channel information (e.g., to inform the OBSS STAs of the punctured subchannels in the primary transmission), a BSS color or BSSID (e.g., to inform the OBSS STAs that a primary transmission may be from the OBSS STA), and / or a duration or TXOP duration field (e.g., to inform the OBSS STAs of the duration of the primary transmission (e.g., duration 1720)). Note that the exemplary transmission and reception with AP1 1702 may be referred to as a primary transmission.

[0145] In some implementations, a STA (e.g., STA 1704) that is the intended receiver of the first frame (e.g., modified MU-RTS frame 1710) may respond with a second frame (e.g., clear to send (CTS) frame 1730). The AP 1702 and STA 1704 may exchange frames (e.g., data frame 1720 and block acknowledgment frame 1799) following the modified MU-RTS and CTS frames using an unpunctured subchannel.

[0146] In some embodiments, the OBSS STA (e.g., STA OBSS-AAn OBSS STA (e.g., STA 1706) may receive a first frame (e.g., a modified MU-RTS frame 1710) and / or a second frame (e.g., a clear to send (CTS) frame 1730). The first frame (e.g., a modified MU-RTS frame 1710) and / or the second frame (e.g., a clear to send (CTS) frame 1730) may include punctured channel / subchannel information. OBSS-A For example, an OBSS STA (e.g., STA 1706) may set the RXVECTOR parameter based on receipt of a PPDU corresponding to either the first frame (e.g., a modified MU-RTS frame 1710) and / or the second frame (e.g., a clear to send (CTS) frame 1730). OBSS-A 1706), if the first frame carries a trigger frame, may set the RXVECTOR parameter SPATIAL_REUSE to a value carried in the spatial reuse field in the common information field and / or the special user information field, may set the RXVECTOR parameter SPATIAL_REUSE to a value carried in the SERVICE field in the PHY signaling field or data field, may set the RXVECTOR parameter INACTIVE_SUBCHANNEL to indicate a punctured subchannel in the control frame, and / or may set the TXVECTOR parameter SPATIAL_REUSE to ESR_ALLOW or another value indicating that spatial reuse is allowed on punctured subchannels.

[0147] In some embodiments, the OBSS STA (e.g., STA OBSS-A The OBSS STA (e.g., STA 1706) may identify an ESR opportunity in a punctured subchannel if one or more of the following conditions are met: OBSS-A1706) receiving a PHY-RXSTART indication corresponding to the reception of a PPDU identified as an inter-BSS PPDU by carrying the first and / or second frame and checking that the RXVECTOR parameter BSS_COLOR is not 0 or is the same as the STA's own BSS color; OBSS-A 1706) may receive a PHY-RXSTART indication corresponding to receipt of a PPDU carrying a first and / or second frame in which one or more subchannels are identified as being punctured, a received signal strength level measured in the punctured subchannels falling below a predefined or predetermined threshold, and / or an OBSS STA (e.g., STA OBSS-A 1706) has the PPDU in its queue for transmission and notifies the destination STA (e.g., STA OBSS-B 1708) has the capability to receive PD-based ESR PPDUs.

[0148] OBSS STAs that have identified ESR opportunities (e.g., STA OBSS-A 1706) may issue a PHY-CCARESET.request primitive 1792 and not perform a NAV update operation based on receipt of a PPDU carrying the first and / or second frames. OBSS-A In some implementations, the OBSS STA (e.g., STA 1706) may be capable of maintaining primitive and / or NAV updates within each sub-channel. OBSS-A 1706) may issue a PHY-CCARESET.request primitive 1792 and not perform a NAV update operation on the punctured subchannel based on the reception of the PPDU.

[0149] In some embodiments, a STA (e.g., a STA OBSS-A1706) may issue a PHY-CCARESET.request 1792 (in the punctured subchannel) to ignore associated PPDUs that may carry data frames between the end of the last symbol of the transmission of the second control frame (e.g., CTS frame 1730) and aSIFSTime+aRxPHYStartDelay+2×aSlotTime.

[0150] In some embodiments, the PHY-CCARESET.request primitive or a PHY-CCARESET.request primitive in the punctured subchannel 1792 may be issued at the end of a PPDU carrying a second control frame (eg, CTS frame 1730).

[0151] In some embodiments, the OBSS STA (e.g., STA OBSS-A In some embodiments, the OBSS STA (e.g., STA 1706) may follow the ESR backoff procedure. OBSS-A 1706) may maintain a single backoff procedure across the entire bandwidth. When an ESR opportunity is identified, an OBSS STA (e.g., STA OBSS-A The OBSS STA (e.g., STA 1706) may continue the countdown of the existing backoff procedure. OBSS-A In some implementations, an OBSS STA (e.g., STA 1706) may acquire the medium when the backoff counter reaches zero. OBSS-A 1706) may maintain a backoff procedure on each subchannel. When an ESR opportunity is identified, an OBSS STA (e.g., STA OBSS-A The OBSS STA (e.g., STA 1706) may continue the countdown of the existing backoff procedure. OBSS-A 1706) may acquire the medium when all backoff counters reach zero.OBSS-A 1706) may be transmitted within aSIFSTime+aRxPHYStartDelay+2×aSlotTime (or aSIFSTime+aRxPHYStartDelay+2×aSlotTime) from the end of the last symbol of the transmission of the PPDU that included the first and / or second frames.

[0152] In some embodiments, the OBSS STA (e.g., STA OBSS-A 1706) transmits a PPDU, which may carry a data frame 1750 (or other type of frame) on the punctured subchannel, to another OBSS STA (e.g., STA OBSS-B In some embodiments, the transmission of the PPDU carrying the data frame 1750 may be terminated before the end of the PPDU carrying the data frame 1714 in the primary transmission. In some embodiments, the transmission of the PPDU carrying the data frame 1750 may be terminated before the end of the PPDU carrying the data frame 1714 in the primary transmission. OBSS-B The transmission of the PPDU to another OBSS STA (e.g., STA 1708) on the punctured subchannel may be terminated prior to the end of the duration 1720 indicated in the duration field or the TXOP duration field in the first or second frame transmission in the primary transmission. OBSS-B The transmission of the PPDU to another OBSS STA (e.g., STA 1708) may be power controlled. The transmit power may be calculated based on existing OBSS PD operations. In some implementations, the data frame 1750 may be transmitted on the punctured subchannel to another OBSS STA (e.g., STA OBSS-B The PPDU conveyed in 1708) may carry a MAC frame, and one or more bits in the MAC header may be used to indicate that this is an ESR PPDU. For example, in the A control field, a bit may indicate whether the transmission is a PPDU. Alternatively or in addition, the PPDU indication may be conveyed in the PHY signaling or SERVICE field.

[0153] The OBSS STA (e.g., STA OBSS-B The STA 1708 (or other STA supporting ESR operation) may follow the following exemplary procedure: OBSS-B STA 1708 may monitor the first and / or second frames transmitted in the primary transmission. OBSS-B 1708 is STA OBSS-A ESR opportunities can be identified using the same procedures as in STA 1706. OBSS-B The STA 1708 may switch to monitor the punctured subchannel within the duration 1720 specified in the duration field and / or the TXOP duration field during the first and / or second control frame transmission. OBSS-B 1708 is STA OBSS-A The STA may detect the PPDU carrying the data frame 1714 transmitted by 1706 and determine whether it is an ESR transmission by checking the PPDU PHY signaling, MAC header, or ESR PPDU indication in the SERVICE field. OBSS-B STA 1708 may not transmit a response frame (e.g., block acknowledgement 1760) if any of the CCA, PSR, and PD requirements are not met, or if it has a non-zero NAV setting. OBSS-B 1708 may not transmit a response frame (e.g., block acknowledgement 1760) if the transmission of the response frame would end beyond the duration identified in the duration fields of the first and second frames or the TXOP duration field 1720. The response frame (e.g., block acknowledgement 1760) may be transmitted on a power controlled, punctured subchannel.

[0154] It should be noted that the MU-RTS frame 1710 and the CTS frame 1730 are used as examples of the first and second frames, and other control frames may be used in other embodiments. For example, the first control frame may be a BSRP trigger frame, and the second frame may be a TB PPDU with BSR. In some embodiments, information mentioned in the procedure such as punctured channel information, ESR indication, BSS color, ESR duration may be carried in the first or second MAC frame, or a PPDU carrying a MAC frame. In some embodiments, a STA supporting ESR operation or PD-based ESR operation may report the capability to the associated AP in a capability element / field in a management frame (or control / data frame).

[0155] Some embodiments relate to enhanced spatial reuse with multiple generations of WiFi devices coexisting. For example, in some embodiments, if the OBSS HE STA identifies a PSR opportunity and the PSRR PPDU is the trigger frame, the OBSS STA simply follows the spatial reuse subfield in the common field of the trigger frame. In some embodiments, if the OBSS_EHT_STA identifies a PSR opportunity and the PSRR_PPDU is the trigger frame, the OBSS_EHT_STA may have different options for acquiring PSR information. For example, an OBSS EHT STA may obtain a PSR value from the spatial reuse subfield in the common information field of a trigger frame if the trigger frame is an HE variant, may obtain a PSR value from the spatial reuse subfield in the specific user information field of a trigger frame if the trigger frame is an EHT variant, may obtain a PSR value from the spatial reuse subfield in the specific user information field of a trigger frame if B54 and B55 in the common information field of a trigger frame are equal to 0, otherwise, and / or may obtain a PSR value from the spatial reuse subfield in the specific user information field of a trigger frame if B55 in the common information field of a trigger frame is equal to 0, otherwise, the OBSS EHT STA may obtain a PSR value from the spatial reuse subfield in the specific user information field of a trigger frame.

[0156] Some embodiments relate to extending the HE spatial reuse subfield of the trigger frame and the EHT spatial reuse subfield of the trigger frame. With regard to extending the HE spatial reuse subfield of the trigger frame, in some embodiments, when a STA supporting HE PSR-based PSRT PPDU transmission identifies a PSR opportunity and the PSRR PPDU bandwidth is greater than 80 MHz, the STA may obtain a PSR value for each subchannel with bandwidth BW1 from the UL spatial reuse subfield of the HE variant common information field of the trigger frame (e.g., PSRR PPDU). In some embodiments, the STA may do so by performing one or more of options 1, 2, 3, and / or 4 as follows:

[0157] 1) Take the PSR value, convert the PSR value to the linear domain, and divide the linear domain value by a constant c1 (c1 is a function of BW1 and subchannel bandwidth BW2 defined for the PSR value in the UL spatial reuse subfield of the HE modified common information field, e.g., BW1=20 MHz, BW2=40 MHz, so that c1=(BW2 / BW1) 2 = 4) and convert the newly obtained linear domain value into the dB domain. For example, if the value obtained from the UL spatial reuse subfield of the HE modified common information field of the trigger frame (PSRR PPDU) is 10 (corresponding to a PSR value of -38 dB), then -38 dB is converted into 10 (-38 / 10) This linear value is then divided by c1 (c1=4) to obtain the normalized PSR value (in dB) per 20 MHz subchannel, expressed as 10log10(10 (-38 / 10) / c1)=10log10(10 (-38 / 10) / )=-44.0.

[0158] 2) Take the PSR number (in dB domain) and subtract a constant c2 from the PSR number (c2 is a function of BW1 and the subchannel bandwidth BW2 defined for the PSR value in the UL spatial reuse subfield of the HE modified common information field, e.g., BW1=20 MHz, BW2=40 MHz, c2=10log10((BW2 / BW1) 2 ) = 6 dB). For example, if the value obtained from the UL spatial reuse subfield of the HE modified common information field of the trigger frame (PSRR PPDU) is 10 (corresponding to a PSR value of -38 dB). The resulting normalized PSR value (in dB domain) per 20 MHz subchannel is -38-c2 = -38-6 = -44.

[0159] 3) Get a value from the UL spatial reuse subfield of the HE modified common information field of the trigger frame (PSRR PPDU) and subtract a constant c3 from this value (c3 is a function of BW1, the subchannel bandwidth BW2 defined for the PSR value in the UL spatial reuse subfield of the HE modified common information field, and the mapping table (mapping between values ​​in the UL spatial reuse subfield and PSR values) configuration). For example, BW1=20 MHz, BW2=40 MHz, 10log10((BW2 / BW1) 2 )=6 dBm, which corresponds to the difference between two rows in the table of spatial reuse field coding for HE TB PPDU, i.e., c3=2. The newly obtained value is mapped to a corresponding PSR value based on the table of spatial reuse field coding for HE TB PPDU, and this PSR value is a normalized value. For example, if the value obtained from the UL spatial reuse subfield of the HE modified common information field of the trigger frame (PSRR PPDU) is 10, c3 is subtracted from 10, i.e., 10-2=8. The corresponding PSR mapped to 8 is -44 dBm based on the mapping table (e.g., the table of spatial reuse field coding for HE TB PPDU). The normalized PSR value (in dB domain) per 20 MHz subchannel is then -44.

[0160] With regard to enhancing EHT spatial reuse of subfields of the trigger frame, in some embodiments, an AP with a parameter set to true (e.g., dot11EHTPSRSBasedSRImplemented) that transmits a trigger frame will use the calculated MAC parameters (PSR INPUT The value of the EHT spatial reuse subfield of the special user information field of each 20 MHz subchannel of a 20 MHz, 40 MHz, 80 MHz, 160 MHz, or 320 MHz PPDU may be set by selecting the row in the mapping table of the spatial reuse field coding having the highest numerical value (PSR value) that is less than or equal to the value of the PSR. INPUT may be a function of two parameters, e.g., the total transmit power Tx_PWR_AP (in dBm) at the AP antenna connector for the 20 MHz subchannel across all antennas used to transmit the PSRR PPDU containing the trigger frame, and the tolerable receiver interference level (in dBm) of the 20 MHz subchannel (referred to as the tolerable receiver interference level). For example, in some implementations, PSR INPUT can be expressed as follows:

[0161]

number

[0162] For example, if there are two EHT Spatial Reuse subfields: 1) if the PSRR PPDU bandwidth is 20 MHz or 40 MHz, the EHT Spatial Reuse 1 subfield applies to the lower 20 MHz subband, if the PSRR PPDU bandwidth is 80 MHz, the EHT Spatial Reuse 1 subfield applies to each 20 MHz subchannel of the lowest 40 MHz subband within the 80 MHz operating bandwidth, if the PSRR PPDU bandwidth is 160 MHz, the EHT Spatial Reuse 1 subfield applies to each 20 MHz subchannel of the lowest 80 MHz subband within the 160 MHz operating bandwidth, if the PSRR PPDU bandwidth is 320 MHz, the EHT Spatial Reuse 1 subfield applies to each 20 MHz subchannel of the lowest 160 MHz subband within the 320 MHz operating bandwidth. 2) if the PSRR PPDU bandwidth is 20 MHz, the value of the EHT Spatial Reuse 2 subfield is the same as that shown in the EHT Spatial Reuse 1 subfield. When the PSRR PPDU bandwidth is 40 MHz, the EHT Spatial Reuse 2 subfield applies to the 20 MHz subband with the highest frequency; when the PSRR PPDU bandwidth is 80 MHz, the EHT Spatial Reuse 2 subfield applies to each 20 MHz subchannel of the 40 MHz subband with the highest frequency within the 80 MHz operating bandwidth; when the PSRR PPDU bandwidth is 160 MHz, the EHT Spatial Reuse 2 subfield applies to each 20 MHz subchannel of the 80 MHz subband with the highest frequency within the 160 MHz operating bandwidth; when the PSRR PPDU bandwidth is 320 MHz, the EHT Spatial Reuse 2 subfield applies to each 20 MHz subchannel of the 160 MHz subband with the highest frequency within the 320 MHz operating bandwidth.

[0163] Alternatively, in some embodiments, an AP with a parameter set to true (e.g., dot11EHTPSRBasedSRImplemented) that transmits a trigger frame may set the value of the EHT spatial reuse subfield of the specific user information field for one 20 MHz subchannel for a 20 MHz, 40 MHz, 80 MHz PPDU, or for one 40 MHz in a 160 MHz or 320 MHz PPDU. The corresponding total transmit power Tx_PWR_AP (e.g., in dBm) at the AP antenna connector is defined for one 20 MHz subchannel for a 20 MHz, 40 MHz, or 80 MHz PPDU, or for a 40 MHz subchannel for a 160 MHz or 320 MHz PPDU, across all antennas used to transmit the PSRR PPDU that contains the trigger frame. Acceptable Receiver Interference Level (e.g., in dBm) Acceptable Receiver Interference Level AP is defined for a 20 MHz subchannel with a 20 MHz, 40 MHz or 80 MHz PPDU, or for a 40 MHz subchannel with a 160 MHz or 320 MHz PPDU. In this configuration, a similar normalization method as described for the extension of the HE spatial reuse subfield of the trigger frame can be used for EHT STAs to obtain a PSR value for a 20 MHz subchannel when the PSRR PPDU bandwidth is greater than 80 MHz.

[0164] Some embodiments provide a method for parameterized spatial reuse (PSR) implemented in a station (STA). A parameterized spatial reuse receive (PSRR) physical layer protocol data unit (PPDU) including a trigger frame is received from an access point (AP). Based on information in the PSRR PPDU, a parameterized spatial reuse transmit (PSRT) PPDU is transmitted. The PSRT PPDU includes at least one padding field.

[0165] In some embodiments, the padding field is configured to align the end of the PSRT PPDU with the end of a trigger-based (TB) PPDU transmitted by a station (STA) in a basic service set (BSS) of the AP. In some embodiments, the STA is not in the BSS of the AP. In some embodiments, the trigger frame includes an EHT spatial reuse subfield having a value based on a 20 megahertz (MHz) subchannel. In some embodiments, the trigger frame includes a spatial reuse subfield in a common information field. In some embodiments, the PSRT PPDU includes power control information for a subsequent response frame. In some embodiments, the power control information indicates a minimum receive power for successful reception of the subsequent response frame.

[0166] Some embodiments provide a station (STA) configured for parameterized spatial reuse (PSR). The STA includes circuitry configured to receive a parameterized spatial reuse receive (PSRR) physical layer protocol data unit (PPDU) from an access point (AP) that includes a trigger frame. The STA also includes circuitry configured to transmit a parameterized spatial reuse transmit (PSRT) PPDU based on information in the PSRR PPDU. The PSRT PPDU includes at least one padding field. In some embodiments, the padding field is configured to align an end of the PSRT PPDU with an end of a trigger-based (TB) PPDU transmitted by a station (STA) in a basic service set (BSS) of the AP. In some embodiments, the STA is not in a BSS of the AP. In some embodiments, the trigger frame includes an EHT spatial reuse subfield having a value based on a 20 megahertz (MHz) subchannel. In some embodiments, the trigger frame includes a spatial reuse subfield in a common information field. In some embodiments, the PSRT PPDU includes power control information for a subsequent response frame. In some implementations, the power control information indicates a minimum receive power for successful reception of a subsequent response frame.

[0167] Some embodiments provide a method for enhanced spatial reuse (ESR). An enhanced spatial reuse receive (ESRR) physical protocol data unit (PPDU) is received, the PPDU including a trigger frame indicating that at least one subchannel may be punctured and a duration of the ESR operation. An enhanced spatial reuse transmission (ESRT) PPDU is transmitted on the at least one punctured subchannel in an ESR opportunity based on the ESRR PPDU. A response to the ESRT PPDU on the at least one punctured subchannel.

[0168] In some embodiments, the duration is indicated in the common information field. In some embodiments, the ESRR PPDU carries a MAC frame that solicits a response frame. In some embodiments, the duration indicates a time frame during which the NAV setting on the primary channel may be ignored in order to transmit on at least one punctured subchannel. In some embodiments, if a STA that supports HE PSR-based PSRT PPDU transmission identifies a PSR opportunity and the PSRR PPDU bandwidth is greater than 80 MHz, the STA obtains a PSR value for each subchannel with bandwidth BW1 from the UL spatial reuse subfield of the HE variant common information field of the trigger frame. In some embodiments, the value of the EHT spatial reuse subfield of the specific user information field is set for each 20 MHz subchannel of a 20 MHz, 40 MHz, 80 MHz, 160 MHz, or 320 MHz PPDU by selecting a row in the mapping table of spatial reuse field encodings that has a numerical value (PSR value) that is the highest value less than or equal to the value of the calculated MAC parameter.

[0169] Some embodiments provide a method for parameterized spatial reuse (PSR) implemented in a station (STA). A parameterized spatial reuse receive (PSRR) physical layer protocol data unit (PPDU) including a trigger frame is received from an access point (AP). A parameterized spatial reuse transmit (PSRT) PPDU is transmitted based on information in the PSRR PPDU. The STA obtains information from a field in the PSRR PPDU selected based on a variant of the trigger frame. In some embodiments, the STA obtains information from at least one spatial reuse subfield in a common information field of the trigger frame in response to the trigger frame being a high efficiency (HE) variant trigger frame. In some embodiments, the STA obtains information from at least one special user information field of the trigger frame in response to the trigger frame being an very high throughput (EHT) variant trigger frame. In some embodiments, the information includes PSR information.

[0170] Some embodiments provide a method for parameterized spatial reuse (PSR) implemented in a station (STA). A parameterized spatial reuse receive (PSRR) physical layer protocol data unit (PPDU) including a trigger frame is received from an access point (AP). A parameterized spatial reuse transmit (PSRT) PPDU is transmitted based on information in the PSRR PPDU. The STA obtains information from a portion of the PSRR PPDU selected based on a value in the trigger frame.

[0171] In some embodiments, the value in the trigger frame includes a value in a common information field of the trigger frame. In some embodiments, the value in the trigger frame includes bits 54 and 55 of the common information field of the trigger frame. In some embodiments, the STA obtains information from a spatial reuse subfield in a specific user information field of the trigger frame in response to bits 54 and 55 being equal to zero in the common information field of the trigger frame. In some embodiments, the STA obtains information from a spatial reuse subfield in a common information field of the trigger frame in response to an HE variant trigger frame. In some embodiments, the STA obtains information from a spatial reuse subfield in a specific user information field of the trigger frame in response to an EHT variant trigger frame. In some embodiments, the STA obtains information from a spatial reuse subfield in a specific user information field of the trigger frame in response to bit 55 being equal to zero in the common information field of the trigger frame. In some embodiments, the information includes PSR information.

[0172] 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 parameterized spatial reuse (PSR) implemented in a station (STA), the method comprising: receiving a parameterized spatial reuse reception (PSRR) physical layer protocol data unit (PPDU) from an access point (AP) that includes a trigger frame; transmitting a parameterized spatial reuse transmission (PSRT) PPDU based on information in the PSRR PPDU; The PSRT PPDU includes at least one padding field.

2. 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the padding field is configured to align an end of the PSRT PPDU with an end of a trigger-based (TB) PPDU transmitted from a station (STA) in a basic service set (BSS) of the AP.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the STA is not present within the BSS of the AP.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the trigger frame includes an EHT spatial reuse subfield having a value based on a 20 megahertz (MHz) subchannel.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the trigger frame includes a spatial reuse subfield within a common information field.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the PSRT PPDU includes power control information for a subsequent response frame.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein the power control information indicates a minimum receive power for successful reception of the subsequent response frame.

8. A station (STA) configured for parameterized spatial reuse (PSR), the STA comprising: a circuit configured to receive, from an access point (AP), a parameterized spatial reuse reception (PSRR) physical layer protocol data unit (PPDU) including a trigger frame; and a circuit configured to transmit a parameterized spatial reuse transmission (PSRT) PPDU based on information in the PSRR PPDU; The PSRT PPDU includes at least one padding field.

9. 10. The STA of claim 8, wherein the padding field is configured to align an end of the PSRT PPDU with an end of a trigger-based (TB) PPDU transmitted from a station (STA) in a basic service set (BSS) of the AP.

10. The STA of claim 8 , wherein the STA is not present within the BSS of the AP.

11. 10. The STA of claim 8, wherein the trigger frame includes an EHT spatial reuse subfield having a value based on a 20 megahertz (MHz) subchannel.

12. The STA of claim 8 , wherein the trigger frame includes a spatial reuse subfield within a common information field.

13. The STA of claim 8 , wherein the PSRT PPDU includes power control information for a subsequent response frame.

14. The STA of claim 13 , wherein the power control information indicates a minimum receive power for successfully receiving the subsequent response frame.

15. 1. A method for enhanced spatial reuse (ESR), the method comprising: receiving an enhanced spatial reuse receive (ESRR) physical protocol data unit (PPDU) including a trigger frame indicating that at least one subchannel may be punctured and a duration of an ESR operation; transmitting an enhanced spatial reuse transmission (ESRT) PPDU on at least one punctured subchannel in an ESR opportunity based on the ESRR PPDU; receiving a response to the ESRT PPDU on the at least one punctured subchannel.

16. The method of claim 15 , wherein the duration is indicated in a common information field.

17. The method of claim 15 , wherein the ESRR PPDU carries a MAC frame that requests a response frame.

18. 16. The method of claim 15, wherein the duration indicates a time period during which a NAV setting on a primary channel may be ignored for transmission on the at least one punctured subchannel.

19. 16. The method of claim 15, wherein when a STA supporting HE PSR-based PSRT PPDU transmission identifies a PSR opportunity and a PSRR PPDU bandwidth is greater than 80 MHz, the STA obtains a PSR value for each subchannel having the bandwidth BW1 from a UL spatial reuse subfield of an HE variant common information field of the trigger frame.

20. 16. The method of claim 15, further comprising: setting a value of the EHT spatial reuse subfield of the special user information field of each 20 MHz subchannel of a 20 MHz, 40 MHz, 80 MHz, 160 MHz, or 320 MHz PPDU by selecting a row in a mapping table of spatial reuse field codings having a numeric or PSR value that is the highest value less than or equal to the value of the calculated MAC parameter.

21. 1. A method for parameterized spatial reuse (PSR) implemented in a station (STA), the method comprising: receiving a parameterized spatial reuse reception (PSRR) physical layer protocol data unit (PPDU) from an access point (AP) that includes a trigger frame; transmitting a parameterized spatial reuse transmission (PSRT) PPDU based on information in the PSRR PPDU; The STA obtains the information from a field in the PSRR PPDU selected based on a variant of the trigger frame.

22. 22. The method of claim 21, wherein the STA obtains the information from at least one spatial reuse subfield in a common information field of the trigger frame upon receipt of the trigger frame being a high efficiency (HE) modified trigger frame.

23. 22. The method of claim 21, wherein the STA obtains the information from at least one special user information field of the trigger frame upon receipt of the trigger frame being an Very High Throughput (EHT) modified trigger frame.

24. The method of claim 21 , wherein the information includes PSR information.

25. 1. A method for parameterized spatial reuse (PSR) implemented in a station (STA), the method comprising: receiving a parameterized spatial reuse reception (PSRR) physical layer protocol data unit (PPDU) from an access point (AP) that includes a trigger frame; transmitting a parameterized spatial reuse transmission (PSRT) PPDU based on information in the PSRR PPDU; The STA obtains the information from a portion of the PSRR PPDU selected based on a value in the trigger frame.

26. 26. The method of claim 25, wherein the value in the trigger frame comprises a value in a common information field of the trigger frame.

27. 26. The method of claim 25, wherein the values ​​in the trigger frame include bits 54 and 55 in a common information field of the trigger frame.

28. 26. The method of claim 25, wherein the STA obtains the information from a spatial reuse subfield in a specific user information field of the trigger frame in response to bits 54 and 55 of a common information field of the trigger frame being equal to zero.

29. 26. The method of claim 25, wherein the STA, in response to an HE modified trigger frame, obtains the information from a spatial reuse subfield in a common information field of the trigger frame.

30. 26. The method of claim 25, wherein the STA, in response to an EHT modified trigger frame, obtains the information from a spatial reuse subfield in a specific user information field of the trigger frame.

31. 26. The method of claim 25, wherein the STA obtains the information from a spatial reuse subfield in a specific user information field of the trigger frame in response to bit 55 of a common information field of the trigger frame being equal to zero.

32. The method of claim 25 , wherein the information includes PSR information.

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