Special user information field for trigger frame

Abstract

The present invention provides a method, device, and system for wireless communication devices to request trigger-based (TB) physical layer protocol convergence protocol (PLCP) protocol data units (PPDUs). [Solution] In the method, the trigger frame received by the wireless communication device carries information that should be included in the physical layer (PHY) preamble of the TB PPDU requested by the trigger frame. The information indicates the values ​​of one or more subfields of the universal signaling field (U-SIG) associated with the non-legacy TB PPDU format. In response to receiving the trigger frame, the wireless communication device transmits the PPDU containing the physical layer (PHY) preamble over the wireless channel.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] Cross - reference to Related Applications

[0001] This patent application claims the priority of U.S. Patent Application No. 17 / 096,934, filed on November 12, 2020, entitled "SPECIAL USER INFORMATION FIELD FOR TRIGGER FRAME", which was assigned to the assignee of this application. The disclosure of all prior applications is considered part of this patent application and is incorporated herein by reference.

[0002]

[0002] This disclosure generally relates to wireless communication, and more particularly, to a special user information field for a trigger frame used in wireless communication.

Background Art

[0003]

[0003] A wireless local area network (WLAN) can be formed by one or more access points (APs) that provide a shared wireless communication medium for use by several client devices, also called stations (STAs). The basic building block of a WLAN compliant with the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 standard family is a basic service set (BSS) managed by an AP. Each BSS is identified by a basic service set identifier (BSSID) advertised by the AP. The AP periodically broadcasts beacon frames to enable any STA within the wireless range of the AP to establish or maintain a communication link with the WLAN.

[0004]

[0004] Existing versions of the IEEE 802.11 standard support trigger-based uplink communication. In particular, the IEEE 802.11ax revision of the IEEE 802.11 standard defines a trigger frame format that can be used to request one or more STAs to transmit trigger-based (TB) physical layer convergence protocol (PLCP) data units (PPDUs). The trigger frame allocates resources for transmitting the TB PPDU and indicates how the TB PPDU should be configured for transmission. New WLAN communication protocols are being developed to enable enhanced WLAN communication features, such as increased bandwidth and the number of spatial streams. As new WLAN communication protocols enable enhanced features, a new trigger frame format is required to support the new features and format of the TB PPDU. [Overview of the project]

[0005]

[0005] The systems, methods, and devices of the present disclosure each have several inventive embodiments, and no single embodiment of them may alone represent the desired attributes disclosed herein.

[0006]

[0006] One inventive aspect of the subject matter described herein may be implemented as a method of wireless communication. This method can be performed by a wireless communication device and involves receiving a trigger frame requesting a Physical Layer Convergence Protocol (PLCP) protocol data unit (PPDU) to be transmitted by the wireless communication device, wherein the trigger frame includes a medium access control (MAC) header, a common information field following the MAC header, and one or more user information fields following the common information field, wherein the common information field carries information common to each user associated with one or more user information fields, and determining that the first user information field among the one or more user information fields should carry information to be included in the physical layer (PHY) preamble of the PPDU based on the association identifier (AID) value associated with the first user information field, generating a PHY preamble based on the information carried in the first user information field, and in response to the reception of the trigger frame, wireless This may include sending a PPDU containing a PHY preamble on the channel.

[0007]

[0007] In some implementations, the AID value is a special AID value and is not assigned to wireless communication devices associated with the same basic service set (BSS) as the wireless communication device. In some implementations, the method further includes determining that a second user information field of one or more user information fields carries additional information to be included in the PHY preamble based on the AID value associated with the second user information field. In some implementations, the PHY preamble includes a legacy signal field (L-SIG), an L-SIG repeat immediately following the L-SIG (RL-SIG), and a universal signal field (U-SIG) immediately following the RL-SIG, which carry information for interpreting one or more subsequent fields of the PHY preamble.

[0008]

[0008] In some implementations, the generation of the PHY preamble includes determining values ​​for one or more subfields of the U-SIG based on information carried in a first user information field, wherein the one or more subfields include at least one of the following: a PPDU bandwidth subfield that carries information indicating the bandwidth of a wireless channel; a spatial reuse subfield that carries information indicating whether spatial reuse is permitted on one or more subchannels of the wireless channel; or a version identifier subfield that carries information indicating the version of the physical layer wireless communication protocol associated with the PPDU.

[0009]

[0009] In some implementations, the generation of the PHY preamble includes determining values ​​for one or more subfields of the U-SIG based on information carried in a first user information field, wherein one or more subfields include at least one of the following: an uplink or downlink (UL / DL) subfield that carries information indicating whether the PPDU is transmitted in the uplink direction or the downlink direction; a BSS color subfield that carries information indicating the BSS color associated with the PPDU; a TXOP subfield that carries information indicating the transmit opportunity (TXOP) duration associated with the PPDU; or a PPDU format and compression mode subfield that carries information indicating the format of the PPDU.

[0010]

[0010] In some implementations, the generation of the PHY preamble includes determining the number of reserved bits to be included in the U-SIG based on the information carried in the first user information field. In some implementations, the method further includes determining the version of the physical layer wireless communication protocol associated with the PPDU based on the AID value associated with the first user information field, and configuring the version identifier subfield of the U-SIG to carry information indicating the determined version of the physical layer wireless communication protocol.

[0011]

[0011] In some implementations, the method further includes determining whether puncturing should be performed on one or more subchannels of the wireless channel based on information carried in a first user information field or information carried in a common information field. In some implementations, the method further includes determining the format of a trigger frame based on information carried in a common information field, wherein the format is a legacy trigger frame format or a non-legacy trigger frame format, and based on the determined format of the trigger frame, one or more user information fields include the first user information field.

[0012]

[0012] In some implementations, the method further includes determining the version of the physical layer wireless communication protocol associated with one or more user information fields based on the information carried in at least one of the common information fields or the first user information fields, and interpreting the information carried in the first user information fields based on the determined PHY version, wherein the version of the physical layer wireless communication protocol is the same for each of the one or more user information fields.

[0013]

[0013] Another inventive aspect of the subject matter described herein may be implemented in a wireless communication device. In some implementations, the wireless communication device may include at least one modem, at least one processor communicatively coupled to at least one modem, and at least one memory communicatively coupled to at least one processor and storing processor-readable code. In some implementations, the execution of processor-readable code by at least one processor causes the wireless communication device to perform the following actions: receiving a trigger frame requesting a PPDU to be transmitted by the wireless communication device, wherein the trigger frame includes a MAC header, a common information field following the MAC header, and one or more user information fields following the common information field, wherein the common information field carries information common to each user associated with one or more user information fields; determining that a first user information field among the one or more user information fields will carry information to be included in the PHY preamble of the PPDU based on the AID value associated with the first user information field; generating a PHY preamble based on the information carried in the first user information field; and transmitting the PPDU containing the PHY preamble over the wireless channel in response to the reception of the trigger frame.

[0014]

[0014] Another inventive aspect of the subject matter described herein may be implemented as a method of wireless communication. This method may be implemented by a wireless communication device and may include determining information to be included in the PHY preamble of a trigger-based (TB) PPDU, and a receiving device transmitting a trigger frame on a wireless channel requesting a TB PPDU to be transmitted, wherein the trigger frame includes a MAC header, a common information field following the MAC header, and one or more user information fields following the common information field, wherein the common information field carries information common to each user associated with one or more user information fields, wherein one or more user information fields include a first user information field that carries information to be included in the PHY preamble of the TB PPDU.

[0015]

[0015] In some implementations, the first user information field is associated with a special AID value and is not assigned to a wireless communication device associated with the same BSS as the receiving device. In some implementations, the method may further include determining the special AID value based on the version of the physical layer wireless communication protocol associated with the TB PPDU. In some implementations, one or more user information fields further include a second user information field that carries additional information to be included in the PHY preamble. In some implementations, the PHY preamble includes an L-SIG, an RL-SIG immediately following the L-SIG, and a U-SIG immediately following the RL-SIG, which carry information for interpreting one or more subsequent fields of the PHY preamble.

[0016]

[0016] In some implementations, the information carried in the first user information field indicates values ​​for one or more subfields of the U-SIG, where one or more subfields include at least one of the following: a PPDU bandwidth subfield that carries information indicating the bandwidth of a wireless channel; a spatial reuse subfield that carries information indicating whether spatial reuse is permitted on one or more subchannels of the wireless channel; or a version identifier subfield that carries information indicating the version of the physical layer wireless communication protocol associated with the PPDU.

[0017]

[0017] In some implementations, the information carried in the first user information field indicates values ​​for one or more subfields of the U-SIG, where one or more subfields include at least one of the following: a UL / DL subfield that carries information indicating whether the PPDU is transmitted in the uplink direction or the downlink direction; a BSS color subfield that carries information indicating the BSS color associated with the PPDU; a TXOP subfield that carries information indicating the TXOP duration associated with the PPDU; or a PPDU format and compression mode subfield that carries information indicating the format of the PPDU.

[0018]

[0018] In some implementations, the information carried in the first user information field indicates the number of reserved bits to be included in the U-SIG. In some implementations, the method further includes determining whether puncturing should be performed on one or more subchannels of the wireless channel, wherein at least one of the common information field or the first user information field carries channel puncturing information indicating whether puncturing should be performed on one or more subchannels.

[0019]

[0019] In some implementations, the common information field carries information indicating the format of the trigger frame, where the format is either a legacy trigger frame format or a non-legacy trigger frame format. In some implementations, at least one of the common information field or the first user information field further carries information indicating the version of the physical layer wireless communication protocol associated with one or more user information fields, where the version of the physical layer wireless communication protocol is the same for each of the one or more user information fields.

[0020]

[0020] Another inventive aspect of the subject matter described herein may be implemented in a wireless communication device. In some implementations, the wireless communication device may include at least one modem, at least one processor communicatively coupled to the at least one modem, and at least one memory communicatively coupled to the at least one processor for storing processor-readable code. In some implementations, the execution of the processor-readable code by the at least one processor is performed in the wireless communication device, TB The system performs the following actions: determining the information to be included in the PHY preamble of the PPDU; and having the receiving device send a trigger frame requesting the TB PPDU to be transmitted over the wireless channel, wherein the trigger frame includes a MAC header, a common information field following the MAC header, and one or more user information fields following the common information field, wherein the common information field carries information common to each user associated with the one or more user information fields, and wherein the one or more user information fields include a first user information field that carries the information to be included in the PHY preamble of the TB PPDU.

[0021]

[0021] Details of one or more implementations of the subject matter described in this disclosure are set forth in the accompanying drawings and the following description. Other features, aspects, and advantages will become apparent from the description, the drawings, and the claims. Note that the relative dimensions of the following figures may not be drawn to scale.

Brief Description of the Drawings

[0022] [Figure 1]

[0022] Diagram of an exemplary wireless communication network. [Figure 2A]

[0023] Diagram showing an exemplary protocol data unit (PDU) that can be used for communication between an access point (AP) and one or more wireless stations (STAs). [Figure 2B]

[0024] Diagram showing exemplary fields in the PDU of FIG. 2A. [Figure 3]

[0025] Diagram showing an exemplary physical layer convergence protocol (PLCP) protocol data unit (PPDU) that can be used for communication between an AP and one or more STAs. [Figure 4]

[0026] Block diagram of an exemplary wireless communication device. [Figure 5A]

[0027] Block diagram of an exemplary AP. [Figure 5B]

[0028] Block diagram of an exemplary STA. [Figure 6]

[0029] Diagram showing an exemplary PPDU that can be used for communication between an AP and several STAs according to some implementations. [Figure 7A]

[0030] Diagram showing an exemplary frame structure for a trigger-based (TB) PPDU according to some implementations. [Figure 7B]

[0031] Diagram showing an exemplary frame structure for a single-user (SU) PPDU according to some implementations. [Figure 7C]

[0032] A diagram showing exemplary frame structures for multi-user (MU) PPDU in several implementation forms. [Figure 8]

[0033] A diagram illustrating exemplary frame structures of non-legacy PPDUs allocated across multiple subchannels of a wireless channel, depending on several implementation configurations. [Figure 9]

[0034] A diagram showing exemplary trigger frames that can be used for communication between an AP and several STAs, depending on the implementation configuration. [Figure 10]

[0035] A diagram showing an example user information field for a trigger frame formatted according to the legacy trigger frame format. [Figure 11A]

[0036] A diagram illustrating example special user information fields in several implementation configurations. [Figure 11B] A diagram illustrating example special user information fields in several implementation configurations. [Figure 11C] A diagram illustrating example special user information fields in several implementation configurations. [Figure 12]

[0037] A diagram showing common information fields for trigger frames formatted according to the legacy trigger frame format. [Figure 13]

[0038] A diagram showing another exemplary trigger frame that can be used for communication between an AP and several STAs, depending on the implementation configuration. [Figure 14]

[0039] A diagram showing another exemplary trigger frame that can be used for communication between an AP and several STAs, depending on the implementation configuration. [Figure 15]

[0040] A diagram showing another exemplary trigger frame that can be used for communication between an AP and several STAs, depending on the implementation configuration. [Figure 16]

[0041] A flowchart illustrating an exemplary process for wireless communication that supports a special user information field for trigger frames, using several implementation configurations. [Figure 17]

[0042] A flowchart illustrating an exemplary process for wireless communication that supports a special user information field for trigger frames, using several implementation configurations. [Figure 18]

[0043] Block diagrams illustrating various implementations of wireless communication devices. [Figure 19]

[0044] Block diagrams illustrating various implementations of wireless communication devices. [Modes for carrying out the invention]

[0023]

[0045] Similar reference numbers and symbols in various drawings indicate the same elements.

[0024]

[0046] The following description covers several implementations for the purpose of illustrating inventive aspects of the present disclosure. However, those skilled in the art will readily recognize that the teachings herein can be applied in numerous different ways. The implementations described may be implemented in any device, system, or network capable of transmitting and receiving radio frequency (RF) signals in accordance with one or more of the following standards: the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 standard, the IEEE 802.15 standard, the Bluetooth® standard as defined by the Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG), or the Long-Term Evolution (LTE®), 3G, 4G, or 5G (New Radio (NR)) standards published by the Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP®). The described implementations may be implemented in any device, system, or network capable of transmitting and receiving RF signals according to one or more of the following technologies or techniques: code division multiple access (CDMA), time division multiple access (TDMA), frequency division multiple access (FDMA), quadrature FDMA (OFDMA), single-carrier FDMA (SC-FDMA), single-user (SU) multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO), and multi-user (MU) MIMO. The described implementations may also be implemented using other wireless communication protocols or RF signals suitable for use in one or more of the following: wireless personal area networks (WPAN), wireless local area networks (WLAN), wireless wide area networks (WWAN), or Internet of Things (IoT) networks.

[0025]

[0047] Various embodiments relate to trigger-based communications supporting new wireless communication protocols, and more specifically, to trigger frame designs supporting the non-legacy trigger-based (TB) physical layer convergence protocol (PLCP) protocol data unit (PPDU) format. As used herein, the term “non-legacy” may refer to PPDU formats and communication protocols compliant with the IEEE 802.11 standard, the IEEE 802.11be revision, and future generations. In contrast, the term “legacy” may be used herein to refer to PPDU formats and communication protocols compliant with the IEEE 802.11 standard, the IEEE 802.11ax revision. In some embodiments, a trigger frame may carry information (referred herein to as “preamble information”) that should be included in the physical layer (PHY) preamble of the TB PPDU requested by the trigger frame. For example, the preamble information may indicate the values ​​of one or more subfields of the universal signaling field (U-SIG) associated with the non-legacy TB PPDU format. In some embodiments, preamble information may be carried in a special user information field of the trigger frame. For example, the special user information field may be identified by a special association identifier (AID) value, which is reserved in legacy versions of the IEEE 802.11 standard. The special AID value may differ from the AID value assigned to the wireless communication device in the Basic Service Set (BSS) associated with the TB PPDU.

[0026]

[0048] Certain implementations of the subject matter described herein may be implemented to achieve one or more of the following potential benefits: By requesting the transmission of non-legacy TB PPDUs, the trigger frame design of this disclosure may support data throughput gains achievable according to the IEEE 802.11 standard, the IEEE 802.11be revision, and future generations. For example, an aspect of this disclosure recognizes that several fields of the PHY preamble (such as the U-SIG) are configured for each 20 MHz subchannel. In other words, all wireless communication devices transmitting PPDUs concurrently on the same (or overlapping) 20 MHz subchannel must transmit equivalent information in the U-SIG of their respective PPDUs within that 20 MHz subchannel. By including preamble information in the trigger frame, an aspect of this disclosure may enable a receiving device to configure the U-SIG of the requested TB PPDU to match (or be equivalent to) the U-SIG of other PPDUs transmitted concurrently on the same 20 MHz subchannel. By providing preamble information in a special user information field (associated with a reserved AID value in the legacy version of the IEEE 802.11 standard), the trigger frame design of this disclosure can be adapted to both the legacy and non-legacy versions of the IEEE 802.11 standard.

[0027]

[0049] Figure 1 shows a block diagram of an exemplary wireless communication network 100. In some embodiments, the wireless communication network 100 may be an example of a wireless local area network (WLAN), such as a Wi-Fi® network (and hereafter referred to as WLAN 100). For example, WLAN 100 may be a network that implements at least one of the IEEE 802.11 wireless communication protocol standard family (such as the IEEE 802.11-2016 specification, or, but not limited to, those defined by revisions thereof, including 802.11ah, 802.11ad, 802.11ay, 802.11ax, 802.11az, 802.11ba, and 802.11be). WLAN 100 may include a number of wireless communication devices, such as access points (APs) 102 and multiple stations (STAs) 104. Although only one AP 102 is shown, the WLAN network 100 may also include multiple APs 102.

[0028]

[0050] Each of the STA104 may also be called, among other possibilities, a mobile station (MS), mobile device, mobile handset, wireless handset, access terminal (AT), user equipment (UE), subscriber station (SS), or subscriber unit. Among other possibilities, STA104 can represent a variety of devices, including mobile phones, personal digital assistants (PDAs), other handheld devices, netbooks, notebook computers, tablet computers, laptops, display devices (e.g., in particular TVs, computer monitors, navigation systems), music or other audio or stereo devices, remote control devices ("remote control devices"), printers, kitchen or other household appliances, and key fobs (e.g., for passive keyless entry and start (PKES) systems).

[0029]

[0051] A single associated set of AP102 and STA104 is sometimes called a Basic Service Set (BSS), managed by each AP102. Figure 1 further shows an exemplary coverage area 106 of AP102, which may represent the Basic Service Area (BSA) of WLAN100. The BSS may be identified to users by its Service Set Identifier (SSID) and to other devices by its Basic Service Set Identifier (BSSID), which may be the Media Access Control (MAC) address of AP102. AP102 periodically broadcasts beacon frames ("beacons") containing the BSSID to enable any STA104 within AP102's wireless range to "associate" with or reassociate with AP102 in order to establish or maintain their respective (hereinafter also called "Wi-Fi links") communication links 108 with AP102. For example, a beacon may include identification information for the primary channel used by each AP102, as well as a timing synchronization function for establishing or maintaining timing synchronization with the AP102. The AP102 may provide access to the external network to various STA104 in the WLAN via their respective communication links 108.

[0030]

[0052] AP102 and STA104 can function and communicate (via their respective communication links 108) in accordance with the IEEE 802.11 wireless communication protocol standard family (including, but not limited to, 802.11ah, 802.11ad, 802.11ay, 802.11ax, 802.11az, 802.11ba, and 802.11be, as defined by its revisions). These standards define WLAN radio and baseband protocols for the PHY layer and the Medium Access Control (MAC) layer. AP102 and STA104 transmit and receive wireless communication (hereinafter also referred to as "Wi-Fi communication") between themselves and each other in the form of Physical Layer Convergence Protocol (PLCP) protocol data units (PPDUs). AP102 and STA104 in WLAN100 may transmit PPDUs over unlicensed spectrum, which may be a portion of the spectrum including frequency bands conventionally used by Wi-Fi technology, such as the 2.4GHz, 5GHz, 60GHz, 3.6GHz, and 700MHz bands. Some implementations of AP102 and STA104 described herein may also communicate over other frequency bands, such as the 6GHz band, which may support both licensed and unlicensed communications. AP102 and STA104 may also be configured to communicate over other frequency bands, such as shared licensed frequency bands, where multiple operators may have licenses to operate on one or more of the same or overlapping frequency bands.

[0031]

[0053] Access to a shared wireless medium is generally governed by a Distributed Coordination Function (DCF). In a DCF, there is generally no centralized master device allocating the time and frequency resources of the shared wireless medium. Conversely, before a wireless communication device, such as an AP102 or STA104, is permitted to transmit data, it must wait for a certain period of time and then compete for access to the wireless medium. In some implementations, wireless communication devices may be configured to implement DCF by using carrier sense multiple access (CSMA) / collision avoidance (CA) techniques and timing intervals. Before transmitting data, a wireless communication device may perform a clear channel assessment (CCA) to determine if a suitable wireless channel is idle. CCA includes both physical (PHY-level) and virtual (MAC-level) carrier detection. Physical carrier detection is achieved through measuring the received signal strength of valid frames, which is then compared to a threshold to determine whether the channel is busy. For example, if the received signal strength of a detected preamble exceeds a threshold, the medium is considered busy. Physical carrier detection also includes energy detection. Energy detection involves measuring the total energy received by the wireless communication device, regardless of whether the received signal represents a valid frame. If the detected total energy exceeds a threshold, the medium is considered busy. Virtual carrier detection is achieved by using a network allocation vector (NAV), an indicator of how long the medium may next be idle. The NAV is reset each time an unaddressed valid frame is received by the wireless communication device. The NAV effectively acts as a duration that must elapse before the wireless communication device can compete for access, even in the absence of detected symbols or when the detected energy falls below a relevant threshold.

[0032]

[0054] Some APs and STAs may be configured to implement spatial reuse techniques. For example, APs and STAs configured for communications using IEEE 802.11ax or 802.11be may be configured with BSS colors. APs associated with different BSSs may be associated with different BSS colors. If an AP or STA detects a wireless packet from another wireless communication device while competing for access, the AP or STA may apply different competition parameters based on whether the wireless packet was transmitted by another wireless communication device within its BSS, or was transmitted to that wireless communication device, or whether it is from a wireless communication device from an overlapping BSS (OBSS) determined by the BSS color indication in the wireless packet's preamble. For example, if the BSS color associated with the wireless packet is the same as the BSS color of the AP or STA, the AP or STA may use a first Received Signal Strength Indicator (RSSI) detection threshold when performing a CCA on the wireless channel. However, if the BSS color associated with a wireless packet differs from the BSS color of the AP or STA, the AP or STA may use a second RSSI detection threshold instead of a first RSSI detection threshold when performing CCA on the wireless channel, and the second RSSI detection threshold is greater than the first RSSI detection threshold. In this way, the requirements for winning conflict are relaxed when interference transmission is associated with OBSS.

[0033]

[0055] Figure 2A shows an exemplary protocol data unit (PDU) 200 that can be used for wireless communication between AP102 and one or more STA104. For example, PDU 200 may be configured as a PPDU. As shown in the figure, PDU 200 includes a PHY preamble 202 and a PHY payload 204. For example, preamble 202 may include a legacy portion that itself includes a legacy short training field (L-STF) 206 which may consist of two BPSK symbols, a legacy long training field (L-LTF) 208 which may consist of two BPSK symbols, and a legacy signaling field (L-SIG) 210 which may consist of two BPSK symbols. The legacy portion of preamble 202 may be configured according to the IEEE 802.11a wireless communication protocol standard. The preamble 202 may also include a non-legacy portion containing one or more non-legacy fields 212 that conform to an IEEE wireless communication protocol, such as IEEE 802.11ac, 802.11ax, 802.11be, or a later wireless communication protocol.

[0034]

[0056] The L-STF206 generally allows the receiving device to perform automatic gain control (AGC) and coarse timing and frequency estimation. The L-LTF208 generally allows the receiving device to perform fine timing and frequency estimation and also perform initial estimation of the wireless channel. The L-SIG210 generally allows the receiving device to determine the duration of the PDU and use the determined duration to avoid transmitting on the PDU. For example, the L-STF206, L-LTF208, and L-SIG210 can be modulated according to a two-phase-shift keying (BPSK) modulation scheme. The payload 204 can be modulated according to a BPSK modulation scheme, a quadrature BPSK (Q-BPSK) modulation scheme, a quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) modulation scheme, or another suitable modulation scheme. The payload 204 may include a PSDU containing a data field (DATA) 214, which may carry higher-layer data, for example, in the form of a Media Access Control (MAC) protocol data unit (MPDU) or an aggregated MPDU (A-MPDU).

[0035]

[0057] Figure 2B shows an exemplary L-SIG210 in the PDU200 of Figure 2A. The L-SIG210 includes a data rate field 222, reserved bits 224, a length field 226, parity bits 228, and a tail field 230. The data rate field 222 indicates the data rate (note that the data rate indicated in the data rate field 212 may not be the actual data rate of the data carried in the payload 204). The length field 226 indicates the length of the packet, for example, in units of symbols or bytes. The parity bits 228 may be used to detect bit errors. The tail field 230 includes tail bits that may be used by the receiving device to terminate the operation of the decoder (e.g., a Viterbi decoder). The receiving device may utilize the data rate and length indicated in the data rate field 222 and the length field 226 to determine the duration of the packet, for example, in units of microseconds (μs) or other units of time.

[0036]

[0058] Figure 3 shows an exemplary PPDU 300 that can be used for communication between AP 102 and one or more STA 104. As described above, each PPDU 300 includes a PHY preamble 302 and a PSDU 304. Each PSDU 304 may represent (or "carry") one or more MAC protocol data units (MPDUs) 316. For example, each PSDU 304 may carry an A-MPDU 306 that includes an aggregation of multiple aggregate MPDU (A-MPDU) subframes 308. Each A-MPDU subframe 306 may include an MPDU frame 310 that includes a MAC delimiter 312 and a MAC header 314 before the accompanying MPDU 316, which includes the data portion ("payload" or "frame body") of the MPDU frame 310. Each MPDU frame 310 may also include a Frame Check Sequence (FCS) field 318 for error detection (for example, the FCS field may include a Cyclic Redundancy Check (CRC)) and padding bits 320. An MPDU 316 may carry one or more MAC Service Data Units (MSDUs) 316. For example, an MPDU 316 may carry an A-MSDU 322 containing multiple aggregate MSDU (A-MSDU) subframes 324. Each A-MSDU subframe 324 contains a corresponding MSDU 330, preceded by a subframe header 328 and, in some cases, followed by padding bits 332.

[0037]

[0059] Referring again to the MPDU frame 310, the MAC delimiter 312 acts as a marker for the start of the associated MPDU 316 and may indicate the length of the associated MPDU 316. The MAC header 314 may include several fields that contain information defining or indicating the characteristics or attributes of the data encapsulated within the frame body 316. The MAC header 314 includes a duration field that indicates the duration extending from the end of the PPDU to at least the end of the acknowledgment (ACK) or block ACK (BA) of the PPDU that should be transmitted by the receiving wireless communication device. The use of the duration field acts to reserve the wireless medium for the indicated duration, allowing the receiving device to establish its network allocation vector (NAV). The MAC header 314 also includes one or more fields that indicate the address of the data encapsulated within the frame body 316. For example, the MAC header 314 may include a combination of a source address, transmitter address, receiver address, or destination address. The MAC header 314 may further include a frame control field that contains control information. The frame control field may specify the frame type, such as a data frame, control frame, or management frame.

[0038]

[0060] Figure 4 shows a block diagram of an exemplary wireless communication device 400. In some implementations, the wireless communication device 400 may be an example of a device for use in an STA, such as one of the STA104 described with reference to Figure 1. In some implementations, the wireless communication device 400 may be an example of a device for use in an AP, such as AP102 described with reference to Figure 1. The wireless communication device 400 is capable of transmitting (or outputting for transmission) and receiving wireless communications (for example, in the form of wireless packets). For example, a wireless communication device may be configured to transmit and receive packets in the form of Physical Layer Convergence Protocol (PLCP) protocol data units (PPDUs) and Medium Access Control (MAC) protocol data units (MPDUs), compliant with the IEEE 802.11 wireless communication protocol standards, including, but not limited to, the IEEE 802.11-2016 specification, or those defined by its revisions, including 802.11ah, 802.11ad, 802.11ay, 802.11ax, 802.11az, 802.11ba, and 802.11be.

[0039]

[0061] The wireless communication device 400 may be, or include, a chip, system-on-a-chip (SoC), chipset, package, or device, including one or more modems 402, for example, Wi-Fi (IEEE 802.11 compliant) modems. In some implementations, one or more modems 402 (collectively, "modem 402") may also include a WWAN modem (for example, a 3GPP 4G LTE or 5G compliant modem). In some implementations, the wireless communication device 400 may also include one or more radios 404 (collectively, "radio 404"). In some implementations, the wireless communication device 406 may further include one or more processors, processing blocks, or processing elements 406 (collectively, "processor 406") and one or more memory blocks or elements 408 (collectively, "memory 408").

[0040]

[0062] The modem 402 may include, for example, intelligent hardware blocks or devices, such as application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs). The modem 402 is generally configured to implement the PHY layer. For example, the modem 402 is configured to modulate packets for transmission over a wireless medium and output the modulated packets to the radio 404. The modem 402 is similarly configured to take the modulated packets received by the radio 404 and demodulate the packets to provide demodulated packets. In addition to the modulator and demodulator, the modem 402 may further include digital signal processing (DSP) circuitry, automatic gain control (AGC), a coder, a decoder, a multiplexer, and a demultiplexer. For example, while in transmit mode, data taken from the processor 406 is provided to the coder, which encodes the data to provide encoded bits. The encoded bits are then mapped to points in the modulation constellation (using a selected MCS) to provide modulated symbols. The modulated symbols are then N SS N spatial streams or N STS It can be mapped to individual spatiotemporal streams. Each spatial stream or modulated symbol in a spatiotemporal stream can then be multiplexed, transformed via an inverse fast Fourier transform (IFFT) block, and subsequently provided to a DSP circuit for Tx windowing and filtering. The digital signal can then be provided to a digital-to-analog converter (DAC). The resulting analog signal can then be provided to a frequency upconverter and finally to the radio 404. In implementations with beamforming, the modulated symbols in each spatial stream are precoded via a steering matrix before being provided to the IFFT block.

[0041]

[0063] While in receive mode, the digital signal received from the radio 404 is supplied to a DSP circuit, which is configured to collect the received signal, for example, by detecting the presence of the signal and estimating the initial timing and frequency offset. The DSP circuit is further configured to digitally adjust the digital signal, for example, by using channel (narrowband) filtering, analog impairment conditioning (such as correcting I / Q imbalance), and by applying digital gain to finally acquire the narrowband signal. The output of the DSP circuit may then be supplied to an AGC, which is configured to use information extracted from the digital signal, for example, in one or more received training fields, to determine an appropriate gain. The output of the DSP circuit may also be coupled to a demodulator, which is configured to extract modulated symbols from the signal and calculate, for example, the log-likelihood ratio (LLR) for each bit position of each subcarrier in each spatial stream. The demodulator may also be coupled to a decoder, which is configured to process the LLR to provide the decoded bits. The decoded bits from all of the spatial stream are then fed to a demultiplexer for demultiplexing. The demultiplexed bits are then descrambled and can be provided to the MAC layer (processor 406) for processing, evaluation, or interpretation.

[0042]

[0064] The radio 404 generally includes at least one radio frequency (RF) transmitter (or “transmitter chain”) and at least one RF receiver (or “receiver chain”), which can be combined with one or more transceivers. For example, the RF transmitter and receiver may each include various DSP circuits, each including at least one power amplifier (PA) and at least one low-noise amplifier (LNA). The RF transmitter and receiver may be coupled to one or more antennas. For example, in some implementations, the wireless communication device 400 may include, or be coupled with, multiple transmitting antennas (each with a corresponding transmitting chain) and multiple receiving antennas (each with a corresponding receiving chain). Symbols output from the modem 402 are provided to the radio 404, which then transmits the symbols via the coupled antennas. Similarly, symbols received via the antennas are acquired by the radio 404, which then provides the symbols to the modem 402.

[0043]

[0065] The processor 406 may include intelligent hardware blocks or devices, such as processing cores, processing blocks, central processing units (CPUs), microprocessors, microcontrollers, digital signal processors (DSPs), application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs), programmable logic devices (PLDs) such as field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), discrete gate or transistor logic, discrete hardware components, or any combination thereof designed to perform the functions described herein. The processor 406 processes information received through the radio 404 and modem 402 and processes the information to be output through the modem 402 and radio 404 for transmission over a wireless medium. For example, the processor 406 may implement a control plane and a MAC layer configured to perform various operations related to the generation and transmission of MPDUs, frames, or packets. Among the operations or techniques, the MAC layer may perform or facilitate frame coding and decoding, spatial multiplexing, spatiotemporal block coding (STBC), beamforming, and OFDMA resource allocation. In some implementations, the processor 406 can generally control the modem 402 to cause the modem to perform the various operations described above.

[0044]

[0066] Memory 404 may include tangible storage media such as random access memory (RAM) or read-only memory (ROM), or a combination thereof. Memory 404 may also store non-temporary processor or computer executable software (SW) code that, when executed by processor 406, causes the processor to perform various operations for wireless communication described herein, including generating, transmitting, receiving, and interpreting MPDUs, frames, or packets. For example, various functions of the components disclosed herein, or various blocks or steps of the methods, operations, processes, or algorithms disclosed herein, may be implemented as one or more modules of one or more computer programs.

[0045]

[0067] Figure 5A shows a block diagram of an exemplary AP502. For example, AP502 may be an exemplary implementation of AP102 as described with reference to Figure 1. AP502 includes a wireless communications device (WCD) 510 (although AP502 itself is sometimes generally referred to as the wireless communications device as used herein). For example, the wireless communications device 510 may be an exemplary implementation of the wireless communications device 400 as described with reference to Figure 4. AP502 also includes a number of antennas 520 coupled with the wireless communications device 510 for transmitting and receiving wireless communications. In some implementations, AP502 also includes an application processor 530 coupled with the wireless communications device 510 and memory 540 coupled with the application processor 530. AP502 further includes at least one external network interface 550 that enables AP502 to communicate with a core network or backhaul network to gain access to an external network, including the Internet. For example, the external network interface 550 may include one or both of a wired (e.g., Ethernet®) network interface and a wireless network interface (such as a WWAN interface). Any of the components described above may communicate directly or indirectly with any other component on at least one bus. The AP502 further includes a housing that encloses a wireless communication device 510, an application processor 530, memory 540, at least a portion of an antenna 520, and the external network interface 550.

[0046]

[0068] Figure 5B shows a block diagram of an exemplary STA504. For example, STA504 may be an exemplary implementation of STA104 described with reference to Figure 1. STA504 includes a wireless communication device 515 (although STA504 itself may also be referred to as the wireless communication device as used herein). For example, the wireless communication device 515 may be an exemplary implementation of the wireless communication device 400 described with reference to Figure 4. STA504 also includes one or more antennas 525 coupled with the wireless communication device 515 for transmitting and receiving wireless communications. STA504 also includes an application processor 535 coupled with the wireless communication device 515 and a memory 545 coupled with the application processor 535. In some implementations, STA504 further includes a user interface (UI) 555 (such as a touchscreen or keypad) and a display 565 which can be integrated with the UI 555 to form a touchscreen display. In some implementations, the STA504 may further include one or more sensors 575, such as one or more inertial sensors, accelerometers, temperature sensors, pressure sensors, or altitude sensors. Any of the components described above can communicate directly or indirectly with other components on at least one bus. The STA504 further includes a housing that includes a wireless communication device 515, an application processor 535, memory 545, at least a portion of an antenna 525, a UI 555, and a display 565.

[0047]

[0069] As described above, the new WLAN communication protocol is being developed to enable enhanced WLAN communication features. Such enhanced features include, among other things, increased bandwidth (up to 320 MHz) and an increased number of spatial streams (up to 16 spatial streams), as well as support for multiple resource unit (M-RU) allocation. As the new wireless communication protocol enables enhanced features, a new preamble design is required to support signaling regarding features and resource allocation. Signaling refers to control fields or control information that can be used by wireless communication devices to interpret another field or portion of a packet. For some wireless communication techniques, such as OFDMA, a wireless channel may utilize multiple subchannels that can be divided or grouped in transmission to form different resource units (RUs). Signaling can indicate which RU contains data about a particular receiver. Other types of signaling include indicators of which subchannels carry further signaling or which subchannels are punctured. Furthermore, some signaling can indicate the length or availability of one or more fields or subfields within a data packet.

[0048]

[0070] Figure 6 shows an exemplary PPDU 600 usable for wireless communication between an AP and several STAs in several implementation forms. The PPDU 600 includes a PHY preamble, which includes a first part 602 and a second part 604. The PPDU 600 may further include a PHY payload 606 after the preamble, for example in the form of a PSDU carrying a data field 626. In some implementation forms, the PPDU 600 may be formatted as a non-legacy or extremely high-throughput (EHT) PPDU.

[0049]

[0071] The first part 602 of the PHY preamble includes L-STF608, L-LTF610, and L-SIG612. The second part 604 of the PHY preamble includes Repetitive Legacy Signal Field (RL-SIG)614, Universal Signal Field (U-SIG)616, Non-Legacy Short Training Field (EHT-STF)622, and several Non-Legacy Long Training Fields (EHT-LTF)624. In some implementations, the second part 604 may further include Non-Legacy Signal Field (EHT-SIG)618. In the IEEE 802.11 standard, the IEEE 802.11be revision, and future generations, new fields may be used to carry signaling information. For example, at least some of the new fields and signaling information may be included in U-SIG616. In addition, new field and signaling information may be included in EHT-SIG618 (or may overflow from U-SIG616 into EHT-SIG618).

[0050]

[0072] In some implementations, U-SIG616 may include signaling regarding the type or format of additional signal fields that may follow U-SIG616. Such signaling may be carried in one or more version-independent fields 632 and one or more version-dependent fields 634. Version-independent fields 632 may include, for example, a version identifier subfield that carries information indicating the version of the associated wireless communication protocol (starting from IEEE802.11be revision and later) and a PPDU bandwidth subfield that carries information indicating the bandwidth associated with PPDU600 (such as from 20 MHz to 320 MHz). Version-dependent fields 634 may carry information used to interpret other fields of U-SIG616 or EHT-SIG618. An exemplary version-dependent field 634 includes a PPDU format and EHT-SIG compression subfield that carries information indicating the format of the PPDU 600, and one or more spatial reuse subfields that carry information indicating whether spatial reuse is permitted on one or more subchannels of the wireless channel on which the PPDU 600 is transmitted.

[0051]

[0073] In some implementations, U-SIG616 may also include several reserved bits. Reserved bits represent unused bits that are reserved for future implementations of the IEEE 802.11 standard. In some embodiments, one or more reserved bits in a previous version or release of the IEEE 802.11 standard may be repurposed (to carry information) in a later version or release. For example, some reserved bits in U-SIG616 may be repurposed in a later version or release of the IEEE 802.11 standard to expand the range of values ​​that can be represented by existing fields in a previous version or release. Some other reserved bits in U-SIG616 may be repurposed in a later version or release of the IEEE 802.11 standard to carry information that is not related to the information carried in a previous version or release (or remain unused in a later version or release).

[0052]

[0074] In some embodiments, the EHT-SIG618 may include a common field 636. The common field 636 may include a U-SIG overflow representing one or more bits or fields that have overflowed from the U-SIG616, or an RU allocation subfield that carries information indicating the allocation of RUs for the intended recipient of the PPDU600. In some other embodiments, the EHT-SIG618 may also include a user-specific field 638. The user-specific field 638 may include several user fields that carry per-user information for the intended recipient of the PPDU600. As will be described in more detail with reference to Figures 7A to 7C, the content and availability of the EHT-SIG618 may depend on the format of the PPDU600. For example, in the single-user (SU) PPDU format and the multi-user (MU) PPDU format, the second part 604 of the PPDU600 may include the EHT-SIG618. On the other hand, EHT-SIG618 may be absent or omitted in the trigger-based (TB) PPDU format. Table 1 below shows the TB This shows a more detailed representation of the various fields and subfields of PPDU600 based on the PPDU format.

[0053] [Table 1]

[0054]

[0075] Figure 7A shows exemplary frame structures for TB PPDU700 in several implementation configurations. In some implementation configurations, TB PPDU700 may be an example of PPDU600 in Figure 6. For simplicity, only the pre-EHT portion of TB PPDU700 (corresponding to portion 650 of PPDU600) is shown in Figure 7A. TB PPDU700 includes L-STF701, L-LTF702, L-SIG703, RL-SIG704, and U-SIG705, which may correspond to L-STF608, L-LTF610, L-SIG612, RL-SIG614, and U-SIG616 of PPDU600, respectively. In exemplary TB PPDU formats, TB PPDU700 may not include EHT-SIG. As a result, the TB PPDU700 may not contain U-SIG overflow, RU allocation information, or other user-specific information (such as that provided in user-specific field 638 in Figure 6).

[0055]

[0076] Figure 7B shows exemplary frame structures for the SU PPDU710 in several implementation configurations. In some implementation configurations, the SU PPDU710 may be an example of the PPDU600 in Figure 6. For simplicity, only the portion of the SU PPDU710 prior to the EHT (corresponding to portion 650 of the PPDU600) is shown in Figure 7B. The SU PPDU710 includes L-STF711, L-LTF712, L-SIG713, RL-SIG714, U-SIG715, and EHT-SIG716, which may correspond to L-STF608, L-LTF610, L-SIG612, RL-SIG614, U-SIG616, and EHT-SIG616 of the PPDU600, respectively. In the PPDU format, EHT-SIG716 may contain only bits or field 717 that have overflowed from U-SIG715. More specifically, SU PPDU710 may not contain RU allocation information or other user-specific information (such as that provided in user-specific field 638 in Figure 6).

[0056]

[0077] Figure 7C shows exemplary frame structures for the MU PPDU720 in several implementation configurations. In some implementation configurations, the MU PPDU720 may be an example of the PPDU600 in Figure 6. For simplicity, only the portion of the MU PPDU720 prior to the EHT (corresponding to portion 650 of the PPDU600) is shown in Figure 7C. The MU PPDU720 includes L-STF721, L-LTF722, L-SIG723, RL-SIG724, U-SIG725, and EHT-SIG726, which may correspond to L-STF608, L-LTF610, L-SIG612, RL-SIG614, U-SIG616, and EHT-SIG616 of the PPDU600, respectively. Exemplary MU In the PPDU format, EHT-SIG726 may include a common field 727 and a user-specific field 728. Therefore, MU PPDU720 may include user-specific information (such as in the user-specific field 728) for one or more scheduled recipients of MU PPDU720.

[0057]

[0078] Figure 8 shows an exemplary frame structure of a non-legacy PPDU800 allocated across multiple subchannels of a wireless channel, in several implementations. In some implementations, the EHT PPDU800 may be an example of the PPDU600 in Figure 6. In the example in Figure 8, the EHT PPDU800 is shown to include L-STF, L-LTF, L-SIG, RL-SIG, U-SIG, and EHT-SIG, which are signaled or transmitted over multiple 20MHz subchannels (or frequency segments) of a 320MHz wireless channel. In some other implementations, the wireless channel may encompass any range of frequencies, including, but not limited to, 160MHz, 240MHz, 480MHz, or 640MHz frequency spectra. As shown in Figure 8, the 320MHz frequency spectrum includes 16 20MHz subchannels indexed from lowest to highest (e.g., from 1st to 16th).

[0058]

[0079] In the example in Figure 8, L-STF, L-LTF, L-SIG, and RL-SIG are duplicated or repeated in each 20 MHz subchannel across the entire 320 MHz frequency spectrum. In some implementations, U-SIG may be duplicated or repeated in each 20 MHz subchannel of each 80 MHz segment of the wireless channel. For example, the first four subchannels (1st to 4th) may share the same U-SIG field and value. The next four subchannels (5th to 8th) may share the same U-SIG field and value, but these may differ from the U-SIG field or value of the previous four subchannels. The next four subchannels (9th to 12th) may share the same U-SIG field and value, but these may differ from the U-SIG field or value of any of the previous eight subchannels. The next four subchannels (13th through 16th) may share the same U-SIG field and value, which may differ from the U-SIG field or value in any of the previous 12 subchannels. In other words, the U-SIG field or value may change every 80 MHz. This may allow for greater parallelization of U-SIG information across different subchannels.

[0059]

[0080] In some implementations, the EHT-SIG may signal on several content channels. Each content channel may be defined by a specific grouping of subchannels. For example, a first content channel may carry signaling information for all odd-numbered subchannels (such as the 1st, 3rd, 5th, 7th, 9th, 11th, 13th, and 15th 20MHz subchannels), and a second content channel may carry signaling information for all even-numbered subchannels (such as the 2nd, 4th, 6th, 8th, 10th, 12th, 14th, and 16th 20MHz subchannels). In some implementations, the EHT-SIG may be duplicated or repeated for each content channel. For example, the (odd-numbered) subchannels associated with a first content channel may share the same EHT-SIG fields and values. Subchannels (even-numbered) associated with a second content channel may share the same EHT-SIG field and value, but may differ from the EHT-SIG field or value of the first content channel.

[0060]

[0081] As explained above, existing versions of the IEEE 802.11 standard support trigger-based uplink communication. In particular, the IEEE 802.11ax revision of the IEEE 802.11 standard defines a trigger frame format that can be used to request one or more STAs to transmit a TB PPDU. The trigger frame is TB This section allocates resources for PPDU transmission and indicates how TB PPDU should be configured for transmission. As new WLAN communication protocols enable enhanced features, new trigger frame formats are required to support these new features in TB PPDU. For example, several fields in the PHY preamble (such as the U-SIG) of a non-legacy PPDU format are configured per 20MHz subchannel. In some embodiments, the U-SIG may be duplicated on multiple 20MHz subchannels (as described with reference to Figure 8). Consequently, all wireless communication devices transmitting PPDUs concurrently on the same (or overlapping) 20MHz subchannels must transmit equivalent information in the U-SIG of their respective PPDUs within such 20MHz subchannels. Therefore, a new trigger frame design is required to configure and request transmission of non-legacy TB PPDU, as described, for example, with reference to Figures 6-8.

[0061]

[0082] Various embodiments relate to trigger-based communications supporting new wireless communication protocols, and more specifically, to trigger frame designs supporting non-legacy TB PPDU formats. As used herein, the term “non-legacy” may refer to PPDU formats and communication protocols compliant with the IEEE 802.11 standard, the IEEE 802.11be revision, and future generations. In contrast, the term “legacy” may be used herein to refer to PPDU formats and communication protocols compliant with the IEEE 802.11 standard, the IEEE 802.11ax revision. In some embodiments, the trigger frame may carry information (referred to herein as “preamble information”) that should be included in the PHY preamble of the TB PPDU requested by the trigger frame. For example, the preamble information may indicate the values ​​of one or more subfields of the U-SIG associated with the non-legacy TB PPDU format. In some embodiments, the preamble information may be carried in a special user information field of the trigger frame. For example, a special user information field may be identified by a special AID value, which is reserved in legacy versions of the IEEE 802.11 standard. This special AID value may differ from the AID value assigned to the wireless communication device in the BSS associated with the TB PPDU.

[0062]

[0083] Certain implementations of the subject matter described herein may be implemented to achieve one or more of the following potential benefits: By requesting the transmission of non-legacy TB PPDUs, the trigger frame design of this disclosure may support data throughput gains achievable according to the IEEE 802.11 standard, the IEEE 802.11be revision, and future generations. As described above, a wireless communications device transmitting a non-legacy TB PPDU needs to ensure that one or more fields of the PHY preamble (such as the U-SIG) of the TB PPDU match the respective fields of other PPDUs transmitted concurrently on the same (or overlapping) 20 MHz subchannel. By including preamble information in the trigger frame, aspects of this disclosure may enable a receiving device to configure the U-SIG of the requested TB PPDU to match (or be equivalent to) the U-SIG of other PPDUs transmitted concurrently on the same 20 MHz subchannel. By providing preamble information in a special user information field (associated with a reserved AID value in the legacy version of the IEEE 802.11 standard), the trigger frame design of this disclosure can be adapted to both the legacy and non-legacy versions of the IEEE 802.11 standard.

[0063]

[0084] Figure 9 shows exemplary trigger frame 900 that can be used for communication between an AP and several STAs in several implementations. In some implementations, trigger frame 900 may be used to request a TB PPDU (such as legacy and non-legacy TB PPDUs) from one or more non-legacy STAs. For example, a non-legacy TB PPDU may be formatted according to the format of TB PPDU 700 in Figure 7A. In some other implementations, trigger frame 900 may be used to request a TB PPDU from one or more legacy STAs. In other words, trigger frame 900 may support backward compatibility with legacy trigger frame formats (such as those defined by the IEEE 802.11ax revision of the IEEE 802.11 standard).

[0064]

[0085] The trigger frame 900 includes a MAC header 910, a common information field 920, a user information list 930, zero or more padding bits 940, and an FCS 950. The MAC header 910 includes a frame control field, a duration field, a receiver address (RA) field, and a transmitter address (TA) field. The common information field 920 and the user information list 930 carry configuration information that can be used by the receiving device to configure a TB PPDU to be transmitted in response to the receipt of the trigger frame 900. More specifically, the user information list 930 may include one or more user information fields, each carrying user-specific information for each user. In contrast, the common information field 920 may carry information that is common to all receivers of the trigger frame 900 (such as any user associated with a user field in the user information list 930).

[0065]

[0086] In some implementations, the user information list 930 may include a special user information field 932. In some embodiments, the special user information field 932 may be the first user information field in a set of user information fields in the user information list 930. The special user information field 932 may carry preamble information that should be included in the PHY preamble of the TB PPDU. More specifically, the receiving device may determine how to generate or configure the PHY preamble of the TB PPDU based on the preamble information carried in the special user information field 932. In some implementations, the preamble information may include U-SIG content 938. For example, U-SIG content 938 may indicate values ​​for one or more subfields of the U-SIG in the PHY preamble of the TB PPDU. In some implementations, the special user information field 932 may be associated with a special AID12 value 936. The special AID value may be an AID value that is not assigned to an STA belonging to the BSS associated with the trigger frame 900. More specifically, a non-legacy receiving device may determine, based on a special AID value 936, that the special user information field 932 carries U-SIG content 938.

[0066]

[0087] Figure 10 shows an exemplary user information field 1000 for a trigger frame formatted according to the legacy trigger frame format (as defined by the IEEE 802.11ax revision of the IEEE 802.11 standard). Referring, for example, to Figure 9, the user information field 1000 may be an example of a user information field that may be included in the user information list 930. Each user information field is associated with its respective AID value. The AID value may be a 12-bit value carried in the AID12 subfield (at bit positions B0-B11) of the user information field. In some embodiments, the AID value may uniquely identify a particular STA (or user) in the BSS. For example, each STA may be assigned a unique AID value when associated with the BSS. However, embodiments of this disclosure recognize that some values ​​associated with the AID12 subfield are reserved in the legacy trigger frame format (e.g., 2008-2044 and 2047-4094). Therefore, in some implementations, the special user information field 932 may be assigned one or more of the reserved values ​​associated with the AID12 subfield. By using the reserved values ​​for the AID12 subfield of the special user information field 932, the special user information field 932 may be ignored by legacy STAs and interpreted by non-legacy STAs.

[0067]

[0088] As shown in Figure 10, each user information field is 40 bits long. When the AID12 subfield is set to a special AID value, the remaining 28 bits of the user information field (at bit positions B12-B39) can be repurposed to carry preamble information (such as U-SIG content 938). In some implementations, the user information list 930 may include one or more additional special user information fields 934 to carry additional preamble information or other information to be signaled to the receiving device, for example. In some implementations, special user information fields 932 and 934 may be associated with different releases or versions of the physical layer wireless communication protocol. In other words, the format or content of special user information field 932 may differ from the format or content of special user information field 934. Thus, the trigger frame 900 may carry preamble information for multiple releases or versions of the IEEE 802.11 standard. In some implementations, different releases or versions may be associated with different special AID values. In some other implementations, all special user information fields may be associated with the same special AID value. In such implementations, different releases or versions may be indicated by other information in the special user information fields.

[0068]

[0089] Figure 11A shows exemplary special user information field 1100 in several implementations. In some implementations, special user information field 1100 may be an example of special user information field 932 in Figure 9. Thus, special user information field 1100 may be configured to carry preamble information about the TB PPDU. Special user information field 1100 includes an AID12 subfield 1101 and several U-SIG content subfields 1102-1105. In some implementations, the AID12 subfield 1101 may be assigned a special AID value (such as one of the reserved AID values ​​in Figure 10). As described with reference to Figures 9 and 10, the special AID value is not assigned to an STA belonging to the BSS associated with the trigger frame below. In some implementations, the U-SIG content subfields 1102-1105 may carry preamble information that should be included in the U-SIG of the TB PPDU requested by the trigger frame.

[0069]

[0090] In the example in Figure 11A, the U-SIG content subfields 1102-1105 include the PPDU BW subfield 1102, the first spatial reuse (spatial reuse 1) subfield 1103, the second spatial reuse (spatial reuse 2) subfield 1104, and the reserved information subfield 1105. For example, referring to Table 1, PPDU The BW subfield 1102, the first spatial reuse subfield 1103, and the second spatial reuse subfield 1104 can carry information that should be included in the PPDU BW subfield, the spatial reuse 1 subfield, and the spatial reuse 2 subfield of the U-SIG, respectively. For example, the PPDU BW subfield 1102 is TB The PPDU may carry information indicating the bandwidth of the wireless channel on which it should be transmitted, and the spatial reuse subfields 1103 and 1104 may carry information indicating whether spatial reuse is permitted on one or more subchannels of the wireless channel. In some implementations, the reserved information subfield 1105 may carry information indicating the number (and location) of reserved bits to be included in the U-SIG.

[0070]

[0091] In some implementations, the special user information field 1100 may further include a version identifier subfield 1106. For example, referring to Table 1, the version identifier subfield 1106 may carry information that should be included in the U-SIG version identifier subfield. For example, the version identifier subfield 1106 may carry information indicating the version of the physical layer wireless communication protocol associated with the TB PPDU. In some other implementations, version information may be associated with the value of the AID12 subfield 1101. For example, as illustrated with reference to Figure 9, different versions of the IEEE 802.11 standard may be associated with different special AID values. In such implementations, the version identifier subfield 1106 may be absent or omitted from the special user information field 1100. For example, a receiving device may determine the version information (which may be carried in the version identifier subfield 1106) based on the value of the AID12 subfield 1101.

[0071]

[0092] In some implementations, when generating the PHY preamble for a TB PPDU, the receiving device may copy information from the U-SIG content subfields 1102, 1103, 1104, 1105, or 1106 to the respective subfields of the U-SIG. In other words, each value in subfields 1102-1106 may be equivalent to the value to be transmitted by the respective subfield of the U-SIG. For example, referring to Table 1, the PPDU BW subfield 1102 may carry 3 bits of information, the space reuse subfields 1103 and 1104 each may carry 4 bits of information, the reserved information subfield 1105 may carry up to 12 bits of information, and the version identifier subfield 1106 may carry 3 bits of information. In such an implementation, a total of 26 bits (or 23 bits if the version identifier subfield 1106 is omitted) are required to transmit the information in each of the U-SIG content subfields 1102 to 1106, which is less than the 28 bits available in the special user information field 1100.

[0072]

[0093] Aspects of this disclosure recognize that information associated with one or more subfields of the U-SIG may be derived locally by the receiving device. For example, referring to Table 1, the values ​​of the UL / DL subfield, the BSS color subfield, the TXOP subfield, and the PPDU format and EHT-SIG compression subfields may be set by the receiving device based on known parameters associated with the TB PPDU. Furthermore, the CRC and tail bits are derived based on the content of the TB PPDU. Thus, in some implementations, the trigger frame may not carry preamble information that may be derived locally by the receiving device. More specifically, in some aspects, the values ​​for the UL / DL subfield, the BSS color subfield, the TXOP subfield, and the PPDU format and EHT-SIG compression subfields may be omitted from the trigger frame.

[0073]

[0094] Aspects of this disclosure also recognize that the possibility of error is greater when deriving preamble information locally compared to copying preamble information directly from the trigger frame. Therefore, in some other implementations, the trigger frame may carry preamble information to be contained in each subfield of the U-SIG (including values ​​for subfields that may be derived locally by the receiving device). For example, referring to Table 1, a total of 16 bits are required to convey the values ​​for the UL / DL subfield, the BSS color subfield, the TXOP subfield, and the PPDU format and EHT-SIG compression subfields, which exceeds the number of bits available remaining in the special user information field 1100. Therefore, in some aspects, preamble information associated with one or more of these subfields may be carried in an additional special user information field.

[0074]

[0095] Figure 11B shows another exemplary special user information field 1110 in several implementations. In some implementations, the special user information field 1110 may be an example of the special user information field 932 in Figure 9. Thus, the special user information field 1110 may be configured to carry preamble information about the TB PPDU. The special user information field 1110 includes an AID12 subfield 1111 and several U-SIG content subfields 1112-1115. In some implementations, the AID12 subfield 1111 may be assigned a special AID value (such as one of the reserved AID values ​​in Figure 10). As described with reference to Figures 9 and 10, the special AID value is not assigned to an STA belonging to the BSS associated with the trigger frame below. In some implementations, the U-SIG content subfields 1112-1115 may carry preamble information that should be included in the U-SIG of the TB PPDU requested by the trigger frame.

[0075]

[0096] In the example in Figure 11B, the U-SIG content subfields 1112-1115 include the UL / DL subfield 1112, the BSS color subfield 1113, the TXOP subfield 1114, and the PPDU format and EHT-SIG compression subfield 1115. For example, referring to Table 1, the UL / DL subfield 1112, the BSS color subfield 1113, the TXOP subfield 1114, and the PPDU format and EHT-SIG compression subfield 1115 can carry information that should be included in the U-SIG's UL / DL subfield, BSS color subfield, TXOP subfield, and PPDU format and EHT-SIG compression subfield, respectively. For example, the UL / DL subfield 1112 can carry information indicating whether the TB PPDU is transmitted in the uplink direction or the downlink direction, and the BSS color subfield 1113 can carry information that the TB The PPDU may carry information indicating the BSS color associated with it (identifying the BSS), the TXOP subfield 114 may carry information indicating the TXOP duration associated with the TB PPDU, and the PPDU format and EHT-SIG compression subfield 1115 may carry information indicating the format of the PPDU.

[0076]

[0097] In some implementations, when generating the PHY preamble for a TB PPDU, the receiving device may copy information from the U-SIG content subfields 1112-1115 to the respective subfields of the U-SIG. In other words, each value in subfields 1112-1115 may be equivalent to the value to be transmitted by the respective subfield of the U-SIG. For example, referring to Table 1, the UL / DL subfield 1112 may carry 1 bit of information, the BSS color subfield 1113 may carry 6 bits of information, the TXOP subfield 114 may carry 7 bits of information, and the PPDU format and EHT-SIG compression subfields 1115 may carry 2 bits of information. In such implementations, a total of 16 bits are required to transmit the information in each of the U-SIG content subfields 1112-1115, which is considerably less than the 28 bits available in the special user information field 1110.

[0077]

[0098] In some implementations, one or more of the subfields 1112-1115 may be added to the U-SIG content subfield of the special user information field 1100 in Figure 11A. Similarly, one or more of the subfields 1102-1106 may be added to the U-SIG content subfield of the special user information field 1110. For example, this may free up additional unused bits in one of the special user information fields 1100 or 1110. In some implementations, the unused bits in one or more of the special user information fields 1100 or 1110 may be repurposed to carry additional information that may be relevant to the transmission of the TB PPDU or other communications involving a receiving device. In some other implementations, such additional information may be carried in one or more additional special user information fields.

[0078]

[0099] In some implementations, a wireless channel may be punctured to exclude one or more subchannels from PPDU transmissions, for example, to avoid interference on the punctured subchannel (such as from inconventional system transmissions). More specifically, channel puncturing may be specified in 20 MHz granularity. Referring to Figure 8, for example, channel puncturing information may indicate which of the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th, 11th, 12th, 13th, 14th, 15th, or 16th 20 MHz subchannels of a 320 MHz wireless channel (if any) is punctured. In some implementations, the trigger frame may further carry channel puncturing information, for example, to support such punctured channel indication. In some embodiments, channel puncturing information may also be carried in a special user information field which may also include one or more U-SIG content subfields. In some other embodiments, channel puncturing information may be carried in a separate, special user information field that does not carry preamble information.

[0079]

[0100] Figure 11C shows another exemplary special user information field 1120 in several implementations. In some implementations, the special user information field 1120 may be an example of the special user information field 932 in Figure 9. However, unlike the special user information fields 1100 and 1110 in Figures 11A and 11B, respectively, the special user information field 1120 may not be configured to carry preamble information about the TB PPDU. The special user information field 1120 includes an AID12 subfield 1121 and a channel puncturing subfield 1122. In some implementations, the AID12 subfield 1121 may be assigned a special AID value (such as one of the reserved AID values ​​in Figure 10). As described with reference to Figures 9 and 10, the special AID value is not assigned to an STA belonging to the BSS associated with the underlying trigger frame.

[0080]

[0101] The channel puncturing subfield 1122 may carry channel puncturing information associated with the wireless channel on which the TB PPDU (requested by the trigger frame) should be transmitted. In some implementations, the channel puncturing information may be represented by a 16-bit bitmap. For example, each bit of the 16-bit bitmap may be associated with each 20MHz subchannel of a 320MHz wireless channel. More specifically, the value of each bit of the 16-bit bitmap may indicate whether puncturing is performed on each 20MHz subchannel. For example, referring to Figure 8, the 16-bit bitmap may indicate which of the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th, 11th, 12th, 13th, 14th, 15th, or 16th 20MHz subchannels of the 320MHz wireless channel (if any) will be punctured.

[0081]

[0102] In some implementations, channel puncturing information may be condensed or compressed to reduce overhead. In some other implementations, channel puncturing information may be represented by an 8-bit bitmap plus a resolution bit. For example, the value of each bit in the 8-bit bitmap may indicate whether puncturing is performed on each subchannel of the wireless channel. The value of the resolution bit may indicate whether each bit in the 8-bit bitmap is associated with each 20MHz subchannel (such as in the case of an 80MHz wireless channel or segment) or each 40MHz subchannel (such as in the case of a 320MHz wireless channel).

[0082]

[0103] Aspects of this disclosure further recognize that channel puncturing information can be carried in other fields of the trigger frame, such as a common information field, by reducing the size of the bitmap. Figure 12 shows an exemplary common information field 1200 for a trigger frame formatted according to a legacy trigger frame format (as defined by the IEEE 802.11ax revision of the IEEE 802.11 standard). Referring to Figure 9, for example, the common field 1200 may be an example of a common field 920. As shown in Figure 12, the common field 1200 contains a total of 10 reserved bits (at bit positions B54–B63). In some implementations, nine of these reserved bits can be repurposed to carry channel puncturing information (such as an 8-bit bitmap + resolution bits).

[0083]

[0104] Figure 13 shows another exemplary trigger frame 1300 that can be used for communication between an AP and several STAs in several implementations. In some implementations, trigger frame 1300 may be an example of trigger frame 900 in Figure 9. In some embodiments, trigger frame 1300 may be used to request a TB PPDU (such as a legacy or non-legacy TB PPDU) from one or more non-legacy STAs. In some other embodiments, trigger frame 1300 may be used to request a TB PPDU from one or more legacy STAs.

[0084]

[0105] The trigger frame 1300 includes a MAC header 1310, a common information field 1320, a user information list 1330, zero or more padding bits 1340, and an FCS 1350. The MAC header 1310 includes a frame control field, a duration field, an RA field, and a TA field. The common information field 1320 and the user information list 1330 carry configuration information that can be used by the receiving device to configure a TB PPDU to be transmitted in response to the receipt of the trigger frame 1300. More specifically, the user information list 1330 may include one or more user information fields, each carrying user-specific information for each user. In contrast, the common information field 1320 may carry information that is common to all recipients of the trigger frame 1300 (such as any user associated with a user field in the user information list 1330).

[0085]

[0106] In some implementations, the common information field 1320 may carry channel puncturing information represented by a resolution bit 1322 and a bitmap 1324. The bitmap 1324 may indicate whether puncturing is performed on one or more subchannels of the wireless channel to which the TB PPDU should be transmitted. In some implementations, the bitmap 1324 may be an 8-bit bitmap. As described above, the value of each bit in the 8-bit bitmap may indicate whether puncturing is performed on each subchannel of the wireless channel. The value of the resolution bit 1322 may indicate whether each bit in the 8-bit bitmap is associated with each 20MHz subchannel or each 40MHz subchannel. In some implementations, the resolution bit 1322 and the bitmap 1324 may represent nine reserved bits in the common information field associated with a legacy trigger frame format (such as any of the reserved bits at bit positions B54-B63 in the common information field 1200).

[0086]

[0107] In some implementations, the user information list 1330 may include one or more special user information fields 1332 or 1334. In some implementations, special user information fields 1332 and 1334 may be examples of special user information fields 932 and 934, respectively, in Figure 9. For example, at least one of the special user information fields 1332 or 1334 may be configured to carry preamble information that should be included in the PHY preamble of the TB PPDU. More specifically, the receiving device may determine how to generate or configure the PHY preamble of the TB PPDU based on the preamble information carried in the special user information field 1332 or 1334. As described with reference to Figures 9 and 10, each of the special user information fields 1332 and 1334 may be associated with a special AID 12 value. The special AID value may be an AID value that is not assigned to an STA belonging to the BSS associated with the trigger frame 1300.

[0087]

[0108] By repurposing reserved bits in the common information field 1320 to carry channel puncturing information, aspects of the present disclosure can reduce the overhead associated with the trigger frame 1300. For example, referring to Figures 11A–11C, the user information list 1330 may include at least one less special user information field, which may be used to carry channel puncturing information (e.g., the special user information field 1120 in Figure 11C). In some other implementations, the common information field of the trigger frame may be configured to carry extended signaling associated with one or more user information fields in the user information list. In some aspects, the extended signaling may indicate the presence or availability of a special user information field in the user information list (as described with reference to Figure 14). In some other aspects, the extended signaling may indicate the version of the physical layer wireless communication protocol associated with each user information field in the user information list (as described with reference to Figure 15).

[0088]

[0109] Figure 14 shows another exemplary trigger frame 1400 that can be used for communication between an AP and several STAs in several implementations. In some implementations, trigger frame 1400 may be an example of trigger frame 900 in Figure 9. In some embodiments, trigger frame 1400 may be used to request a TB PPDU (such as a legacy or non-legacy TB PPDU) from one or more non-legacy STAs. In some other embodiments, trigger frame 1400 may be used to request a TB PPDU from one or more legacy STAs.

[0089]

[0110] The trigger frame 1400 includes a MAC header 1410, a common information field 1420, a user information list 1430, zero or more padding bits 1440, and an FCS 1450. The MAC header 1410 includes a frame control field, a duration field, an RA field, and a TA field. The common information field 1420 and the user information list 1430 carry configuration information that can be used by the receiving device to configure a TB PPDU to be transmitted in response to the receipt of the trigger frame 1400. More specifically, the user information list 1430 may include one or more user information fields, each carrying user-specific information for each user. In contrast, the common information field 1420 may carry information that is common to all recipients of the trigger frame 1400 (such as any user associated with a user field in the user information list 1430).

[0090]

[0111] In some implementations, the common information field 1420 may carry trigger format information 1422 indicating the format of the trigger frame 1400. More specifically, the trigger format information 1422 may include one or more bits indicating whether the trigger frame 1400 is configured according to a legacy trigger frame format or a non-legacy trigger frame format. In some implementations, the trigger format information 1422 may swap one or more reserved bits in the common information field associated with the legacy trigger frame format (such as any of the reserved bits at bit positions B54-B63 in the common information field 1200).

[0091]

[0112] In some embodiments, when the trigger format information 1422 indicates a legacy trigger frame format, the fields and subfields of the trigger frame 1400 may be equivalent to the fields and subfields of the trigger frame format defined by the IEEE 802.11ax revision of the IEEE 802.11 standard. For example, in such a configuration, the user information list 1430 may not include any special user information fields. In some other embodiments, when the trigger format information 1422 indicates a non-legacy trigger frame format, the trigger frame 1400 may include one or more new (or modified) fields or subfields that support extended WLAN communication features, such as those provided by the IEEE 802.11 standard, the IEEE 802.11be revision, and future generations. For example, in such a configuration, the user information list 1430 may include one or more special user information fields.

[0092]

[0113] In some implementations, the user information list 1430 may include one or more special user information fields 1432 or 1434. In some implementations, special user information fields 1432 and 1434 may be examples of special user information fields 932 and 934, respectively, in Figure 9. For example, at least one of the special user information fields 1432 or 1434 may be configured to carry preamble information that should be included in the PHY preamble of the TB PPDU. More specifically, the receiving device may determine how to generate or configure the PHY preamble of the TB PPDU based on the preamble information carried in the special user information field 1432 or 1434. As described with reference to Figures 9 and 10, each of the special user information fields 1432 and 1434 may be associated with a special AID 12 value. The special AID value may be an AID value that is not assigned to an STA belonging to the BSS associated with the trigger frame 1400.

[0093]

[0114] In some implementations, a receiving device receiving a trigger frame 1400 may determine, based on trigger format information 1422, whether to look for special user information fields 1432 or 1434 in the user information list 1430. For example, if the trigger format information 1422 indicates a non-legacy trigger frame format, the receiving device may compare the AID values ​​associated with each user information field in the user information list 1430 with one or more special AID values ​​to identify the special user information field. On the other hand, if the trigger format information 1422 indicates a legacy trigger frame format, the receiving device does not need to compare the special AID values ​​with the AID values ​​associated with each user information field in the user information list 1430, which can reduce the processing overhead of the receiving device.

[0094]

[0115] Figure 15 shows another exemplary trigger frame 1500 that can be used for communication between an AP and several STAs in several implementations. In some implementations, trigger frame 1500 may be an example of trigger frame 900 in Figure 9. In some embodiments, trigger frame 1500 may be used to request a TB PPDU (such as a legacy or non-legacy TB PPDU) from one or more non-legacy STAs. In some other embodiments, trigger frame 1500 may be used to request a TB PPDU from one or more legacy STAs.

[0095]

[0116] The trigger frame 1500 includes a MAC header 1510, a common information field 1520, a user information list 1530, zero or more padding bits 1540, and an FCS 1550. The MAC header 1510 includes a frame control field, a duration field, an RA field, and a TA field. The common information field 1520 and the user information list 1530 carry configuration information that can be used by the receiving device to configure a TB PPDU to be transmitted in response to the receipt of the trigger frame 1500. More specifically, the user information list 1530 may include one or more user information fields, each carrying user-specific information for each user. In contrast, the common information field 1520 may carry information that is common to all recipients of the trigger frame 1500 (such as any user associated with a user field in the user information list 1530).

[0096]

[0117] In some implementations, the common information field 1520 may include an extended (HE / EHT) format instruction 1522 indicating the version of the physical layer wireless communication protocol associated with the user information list 1530. More specifically, the extended format instruction 1522 may include one or more bits indicating whether the user information field in the user information list 1530 is associated with a legacy PPDU format or a non-legacy PPDU format. In some implementations, the extended format instruction 1522 may swap one or more reserved bits in the common information field associated with a legacy trigger frame format (such as any of the reserved bits at bit positions B54-B63 in the common information field 1200).

[0097]

[0118] In some embodiments, when the extended format instruction 1522 indicates a legacy PPDU format, each user information field in the user information list 1530 may be associated with a legacy PPDU format. More specifically, in such a configuration, the trigger frame 1500 may request a legacy TB PPDU to be sent by each user associated with each user information field in the user information list 1530. In some other embodiments, when the extended format instruction 1522 indicates a non-legacy PPDU format, each user information field in the user information list 1530 may be associated with a non-legacy PPDU format. More specifically, in such a configuration, the trigger frame 1500 may request a non-legacy TB PPDU to be sent by each user associated with each user information field in the user information list 1530.

[0098]

[0119] In some implementations, the user information list 1530 may include one or more special user information fields 1532 or 1534. In some implementations, special user information fields 1532 and 1534 may be examples of special user information fields 932 and 934, respectively, in Figure 9. For example, at least one of the special user information fields 1532 or 1534 may be configured to carry preamble information that should be included in the PHY preamble of the TB PPDU. More specifically, the receiving device may determine how to generate or configure the PHY preamble of the TB PPDU based on the preamble information carried in the special user information field 1532 or 1534. As described with reference to Figures 9 and 10, each of the special user information fields 1532 and 1534 may be associated with a special AID 12 value. The special AID value may be an AID value that is not assigned to an STA belonging to the BSS associated with the trigger frame 1500.

[0099]

[0120] In some implementations, a receiving device receiving a trigger frame 1500 may, based on the extended format instruction 1522, determine whether the information carried in the user information field should be interpreted or processed according to a legacy version or a non-legacy version of the physical layer wireless communication protocol. For example, if the extended format instruction 1522 indicates a legacy PPDU format, the receiving device may interpret the information in its user information field according to the IEEE 802.11 standard, specifically the IEEE 802.11ax revision, and transmit a legacy TB PPDU in response to receiving the trigger frame 1500. On the other hand, if the extended format instruction 1522 indicates a non-legacy PPDU format, the receiving device may interpret the information in its user information field according to the IEEE 802.11 standard, specifically the IEEE 802.11be revision, or a future generation, and transmit a non-legacy TB PPDU in response to receiving the trigger frame 1500.

[0100]

[0121] In some other implementations, the presence (or absence) of special user information fields in the user information list 1530 may signal that each user information field in the user information list 1530 is associated with a non-legacy PPDU format (or legacy PPDU format). In some embodiments, a receiving device may look for one or more special user information fields in the user information list 1530 to determine whether the information carried in the user information fields should be interpreted or processed according to the legacy version or the non-legacy version of the physical layer wireless communication protocol. For example, if the user information list 1530 does not contain any special user information fields, the receiving device may interpret the information in its user information fields according to the IEEE 802.11ax revision of the IEEE 802.11 standard and transmit a legacy TB PPDU in response to receiving the trigger frame 1500. On the other hand, if the user information list 1530 includes one or more special user information fields 1532 or 1534, the receiving device may interpret the information in its user information fields according to the IEEE 802.11 standard, the IEEE 802.11be revision, or future generations, and may transmit a non-legacy TB PPDU in response to receiving the trigger frame 1500.

[0101]

[0122] Figure 16 shows a flowchart illustrating an exemplary process 1600 for wireless communication supporting a special user information field for trigger frames, in several implementation configurations. In some implementation configurations, process 1600 may be carried out by a wireless communication device operating as or within a network node, such as one of the STA104 or 504 described above with reference to Figures 1 and 5B, respectively.

[0102]

[0123] In some implementations, process 1600 begins in block 1602 by receiving a trigger frame requesting a PPDU to be transmitted by a wireless communication device, the trigger frame comprising a MAC header, a common information field following the MAC header, and one or more user information fields following the common information field, where the common information field carries information common to each user associated with one or more user information fields. In block 1604, process 1600 proceeds to determine that a first user information field among the one or more user information fields will carry information to be included in the PHY preamble of the PPDU based on the AID value associated with the first user information field. In block 1606, process 1600 proceeds to generate a PHY preamble based on the information carried in the first user information field. In block 1608, in response to receiving the trigger frame, process 1600 proceeds to transmit the PPDU containing the PHY preamble over the wireless channel.

[0103]

[0124] In some implementations, the AID value may be a special AID value that is not assigned to wireless communication devices associated with the same BSS as the wireless communication device mentioned above.

[0104]

[0125] In some implementations, process 1600 may proceed after receiving the trigger frame in block 1602 and before generating the PHY preamble in block 1606 by determining that a second user information field among one or more user information fields will carry additional information to be included in the PHY preamble based on the AID value associated with the second user information field.

[0105]

[0126] In some implementations, the PHY preamble may include an L-SIG, an RL-SIG immediately following the L-SIG, and a U-SIG immediately following the RL-SIG, carrying information for interpreting one or more subsequent fields of the PHY preamble.

[0106]

[0127] In some implementations, the operation for generating the PHY preamble in block 1606 may include determining values ​​for one or more subfields of the U-SIG based on information carried in a first user information field, wherein one or more subfields include at least one of the following: a PPDU bandwidth subfield that carries information indicating the bandwidth of a wireless channel; a spatial reuse subfield that carries information indicating whether spatial reuse is permitted on one or more subchannels of the wireless channel; or a version identifier subfield that carries information indicating the version of the physical layer wireless communication protocol associated with the PPDU.

[0107]

[0128] In some implementations, the operation for generating the PHY preamble in block 1606 may include determining values ​​for one or more subfields of the U-SIG based on information carried in a first user information field, wherein the one or more subfields include at least one of the following: a UL / DL subfield that carries information indicating whether the PPDU is transmitted in the uplink direction or the downlink direction; a BSS color subfield that carries information indicating the BSS color associated with the PPDU; a TXOP subfield that carries information indicating the TXOP duration associated with the PPDU; or a PPDU format and compression mode subfield that carries information indicating the format of the PPDU.

[0108]

[0129] In some implementations, the operation for generating the PHY preamble in block 1606 includes determining the number of reserved bits to be included in the U-SIG based on the information carried in the first user information field.

[0109]

[0130] In some implementations, process 1600 may proceed after receiving the trigger frame in block 1602 and before transmitting the PPDU in block 1608 by determining the version of the physical layer wireless communication protocol associated with the PPDU based on the AID value associated with the first user information field, and by configuring the version identifier subfield of the U-SIG to carry information indicating the determined version of the physical layer wireless communication protocol.

[0110]

[0131] In some implementations, process 1600 may proceed after receiving the trigger frame in block 1602 by determining whether puncturing should be performed on one or more subchannels of the wireless channel, based on the information carried in the first user information field or the information carried in the common information field.

[0111]

[0132] In some implementations, process 1600 may proceed after receiving the trigger frame in block 1602 and before deciding in block 1604 that the first user information field carries the information that should be included in the PHY preamble of the PPDU, by determining the format of the trigger frame based on the information carried in the common information field, where the format is either a legacy trigger frame format or a non-legacy trigger frame format, and by determining that one or more user information fields contain the first user information field based on the determined format of the trigger frame, where the format is either a legacy trigger frame format or a non-legacy trigger frame format.

[0112]

[0133] In some implementations, process 1600 may proceed after the decision in block 1604 that the first user information field carries information to be included in the PHY preamble of the PPDU, and before the generation of the PHY preamble in block 1606, by determining the version of the physical layer wireless communication protocol associated with one or more user information fields based on the information carried in at least one of the common information fields or the first user information field, and by interpreting the information carried in the first user information field based on the determined PHY version, where the version of the physical layer wireless communication protocol is the same for each of the one or more user information fields.

[0113]

[0134] Figure 17 shows a flowchart illustrating an exemplary process 1700 for wireless communication supporting a special user information field for trigger frames, in several implementation configurations. In some implementation configurations, process 1600 may be carried out by a wireless communication device operating as or within a network node, such as one of the STA104 or 504 described above with reference to Figures 1 and 5B, respectively.

[0114]

[0135] In some implementations, process 1700 begins in block 1702 with determining the information to be included in the PHY preamble of the TB PPDU. In block 1704, process 1700 proceeds to the receiving device sending a trigger frame requesting a TB PPDU to be transmitted over the wireless channel, the trigger frame comprising a MAC header, a common information field following the MAC header, and one or more user information fields following the common information field, where the common information field carries information common to each user associated with one or more user information fields, where one or more user information fields include a first user information field that carries information to be included in the PHY preamble of the TB PPDU.

[0115]

[0136] In some implementations, the first user information field may be associated with a special AID value that is not assigned to wireless communication devices associated with the same BSS as the receiving device. In some implementations, process 1700 may proceed by determining the special AID value based on the version of the physical layer wireless communication protocol associated with the TB PPDU, after determining the information to be included in the PHY preamble in block 1702 and before transmitting the trigger frame in block 1704.

[0116]

[0137] In some implementations, one or more user information fields may further include a second user information field that carries additional information to be included in the PHY preamble.

[0117]

[0138] In some implementations, the PHY preamble may include an L-SIG, an RL-SIG immediately following the L-SIG, and a U-SIG immediately following the RL-SIG, carrying information for interpreting one or more subsequent fields of the PHY preamble.

[0118]

[0139] In some implementations, the information carried in the first user information field may represent values ​​for one or more subfields of the U-SIG, where one or more subfields include at least one of the following: a PPDU bandwidth subfield that carries information indicating the bandwidth of a wireless channel; a spatial reuse subfield that carries information indicating whether spatial reuse is permitted on one or more subchannels of the wireless channel; or a version identifier subfield that carries information indicating the version of the physical layer wireless communication protocol associated with the PPDU.

[0119]

[0140] In some implementations, the information carried in the first user information field may represent values ​​for one or more subfields of the U-SIG, where one or more subfields include at least one of the following: a UL / DL subfield that carries information indicating whether the PPDU is transmitted in the uplink direction or the downlink direction; a BSS color subfield that carries information indicating the BSS color associated with the PPDU; a TXOP subfield that carries information indicating the TXOP duration associated with the PPDU; or a PPDU format and compression mode subfield that carries information indicating the format of the PPDU.

[0120]

[0141] In some implementations, the information carried in the first user information field may indicate the number of reserved bits that should be included in the U-SIG.

[0121]

[0142] In some implementations, process 1700 may proceed by determining, after the determination of information to be included in the PHY preamble in block 1702 and before the transmission of the trigger frame in block 1704, whether puncturing should be performed on one or more subchannels of the wireless channel, where at least one of the common information field or the first user information field carries channel puncturing information indicating whether puncturing should be performed on one or more subchannels.

[0122]

[0143] In some implementations, the common information field may carry information indicating the format of the trigger frame, where the format is either a legacy trigger frame format or a non-legacy trigger frame format.

[0123]

[0144] In some implementations, at least one of the common information field or the first user information field may further carry information indicating the version of the physical layer wireless communication protocol associated with one or more user information fields, where the version of the physical layer wireless communication protocol is the same for each of the one or more user information fields.

[0124]

[0145] Figure 18 shows block diagrams of exemplary wireless communication device 1800 in several implementation forms. In some implementation forms, the wireless communication device 1800 is configured to perform process 1600 as described above with reference to Figure 16. The wireless communication device 1800 may be an exemplary implementation form of the wireless communication device 400 as described above with reference to Figure 4. For example, the wireless communication device 1800 may be a chip, SoC, chipset, package, or device including at least one processor and at least one modem (e.g., a Wi-Fi (IEEE 802.11) modem or a cellular modem).

[0125]

[0146] The wireless communication device 1800 includes a receiving component 1810, a communication manager 1820, and a transmitting component 1830. The communication manager 1820 further includes a special user information field identification component 1822 and a PHY preamble generation component 1824. One or more parts of components 1822 and 1824 may be implemented at least partially in hardware or firmware. In some implementations, at least a portion of component 1822 or 1824 is implemented at least partially as software stored in memory (such as memory 408). For example, one or more parts of components 1822 and 1824 may be implemented as non-transient instructions (or "code") that can be executed by a processor (such as processor 406) to perform the function or operation of each component.

[0126]

[0147] The receiving component 1810 is configured to receive an RX signal from one or more other wireless communication devices on the wireless channel. In some implementations, the RX signal may include a trigger frame requesting a PPDU to be transmitted by the wireless communication device 1800, where the trigger frame includes a MAC header, a common information field following the MAC header, and one or more user information fields following the common information field. The common information field may carry information common to each user associated with one or more user information fields. The transmitting component 1830 is configured to transmit a TX signal to one or more other wireless communication devices on the wireless channel. In some implementations, the TX signal may include a PPDU containing a PHY preamble. The communication manager 1120 is configured to control or manage communication with one or more other wireless communication devices. In some implementations, the special user information field identification component 1822 may determine that a first user information field among one or more user information fields carries information that should be included in the PPDU preamble based on the AID value associated with the first user information field, and the PHY preamble generation component 1824 may generate a PHY preamble based on the information carried in the first user information field.

[0127]

[0148] Figure 19 shows block diagrams of exemplary wireless communication device 1900 in several implementation configurations. In some implementation configurations, the wireless communication device 1900 is configured to perform process 1700 as described above with reference to Figure 17. The wireless communication device 1900 may be an exemplary implementation configuration of the wireless communication device 400 as described above with reference to Figure 4. For example, the wireless communication device 1900 may be a chip, SoC, chipset, package, or device including at least one processor and at least one modem (e.g., a Wi-Fi (IEEE 802.11) modem or a cellular modem).

[0128]

[0149] The wireless communication device 1900 includes a receiving component 1910, a communication manager 1920, and a transmitting component 1930. The communication manager 1920 further includes a PHY preamble decision component 1922. Parts of the PHY preamble decision component 1922 may be implemented at least partially in hardware or firmware. In some implementations, the PHY preamble decision component 1922 is implemented at least partially as software stored in memory (such as memory 408). For example, parts of the PHY preamble decision component 1922 may be implemented as non-transient instructions (or "code") that can be executed by a processor (such as processor 406) to perform the function or operation of each component.

[0129]

[0150] The receiving component 1910 is configured to receive an RX signal from one or more other wireless communication devices on a wireless channel. The communication manager 1920 is configured to control or manage communication with one or more other wireless communication devices. In some implementations, the PHY preamble determination component 1922 may determine the information that should be included in the PHY preamble of the TB PPDU. The transmitting component 1930 is configured to transmit a TX signal to one or more other wireless communication devices. In some implementations, the TX signal may include a trigger frame that requests a TB PPDU to be transmitted on the wireless channel by the receiving device, where the trigger frame includes a MAC header, a common information field following the MAC header, and one or more user information fields following the common information field. The common information field may carry information common to each user associated with one or more user information fields. In some implementations, one or more user information fields may include a first user information field that carries the information that should be included in the PHY preamble of the TB PPDU.

[0130]

[0151] As used herein, the phrases “at least one of” or “one or more of” the list of items refer to any combination of those items that includes a single member. For example, “at least one of a, b, or c” shall include the possibilities of a only, b only, c only, a and b combination, a and c combination, b and c combination, and a, b and c combination.

[0131]

[0152] The various exemplary components, logic, logic blocks, modules, circuits, operations, and algorithmic processes described herein in relation to the implementation forms disclosed herein may be implemented as electronic hardware, firmware, software, or a combination of hardware, firmware, or software, including the structures disclosed herein and their structural equivalents. The compatibility between hardware, firmware, and software is generally described in terms of functionality and is shown in the various exemplary components, blocks, modules, circuits, and processes described above. Whether such functionality is implemented in hardware, firmware, or software depends on the specific application and the design constraints imposed on the overall system.

[0132]

[0153] Various modifications to the implementations described herein may be readily apparent to those skilled in the art, and the general principles defined herein may be applied to other implementations without departing from the spirit or scope of this disclosure. Accordingly, the claims should not be limited to the implementations shown herein, but should be given the broadest scope consistent with this disclosure and the principles and novel features disclosed herein.

[0133]

[0154] Furthermore, various features described herein in the context of separate implementations may be implemented in combination in a single implementation. Conversely, various features described in relation to a single implementation may be implemented separately or in any preferred partial combination in multiple implementations. Thus, features are described above as working in a particular combination, and may even be initially claimed as such, but one or more features from the claimed combination may, in some cases, be removed from that combination, and the claimed combination may be a partial combination or a variation of a partial combination.

[0134]

[0155] Similarly, while actions are illustrated in a diagram in a specific order, this should not be understood as requiring that such actions be performed in a specific order or sequence shown, or that all illustrated actions must be performed, in order to achieve the desired result. Furthermore, a diagram may schematically illustrate another exemplary process in the form of a flowchart or flow chart. However, other actions not illustrated may be incorporated into the schematicly illustrated exemplary process. For example, one or more additional actions may be performed before, after, simultaneously with, or between any of the illustrated actions. In some situations, multitasking and parallel processing may be advantageous. Moreover, the separation of various system components in the implementation forms described above should not be understood as requiring such separation in all implementation forms, and it should be understood that the described program components and systems can generally be integrated with each other in a single software product or packaged in multiple software products.

Claims

1. A method for wireless communication carried out by a wireless communication device, Receiving a trigger frame requesting a Physical Layer Convergence Protocol (PLCP) protocol data unit (PPDU) to be transmitted by the wireless communication device, wherein the trigger frame includes a media access control (MAC) header, a common information field following the MAC header, and one or more user information fields following the common information field, and the common information field carries information common to each user associated with the one or more user information fields. The first user information field among the one or more user information fields is determined to carry information that should be included in the physical layer (PHY) preamble of the PPDU, based on the association identifier (AID) value associated with the first user information field. The PHY preamble is generated based on the information conveyed in the first user information field, A method comprising transmitting the PPDU, including the PHY preamble, on a wireless channel in response to the reception of the trigger frame.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the AID value is a special AID value and is not assigned to a wireless communication device associated with the same basic service set (BSS) as the wireless communication device.

3. The method according to claim 1, further comprising the fact that a second user information field among the one or more user information fields determines to carry additional information to be included in the PHY preamble based on the AID value associated with the second user information field.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein the PHY preamble includes a legacy signal field (L-SIG), a repeat of the L-SIG immediately following the L-SIG (RL-SIG), and a universal signal field (U-SIG) immediately following the RL-SIG, and carries information for interpreting one or more subsequent fields of the PHY preamble.

5. The generation of the PHY preamble is The method according to claim 4, comprising determining values ​​for one or more subfields of U-SIG based on the information carried in the first user information field, wherein the one or more subfields include at least one of a PPDU bandwidth subfield that carries information indicating the bandwidth of the wireless channel, a space reuse subfield that carries information indicating whether space reuse is permitted on one or more subchannels of the wireless channel, or a version identifier subfield that carries information indicating the version of the physical layer wireless communication protocol associated with the PPDU.

6. The generation of the PHY preamble is The method according to claim 4, comprising determining values ​​for one or more subfields of U-SIG based on the information carried in the first user information field, wherein the one or more subfields include at least one of the following: an uplink or downlink (UL / DL) subfield that carries information indicating whether the PPDU is transmitted in the uplink direction or the downlink direction; a BSS color subfield that carries information indicating the BSS color associated with the PPDU; a TXOP subfield that carries information indicating the transmit opportunity (TXOP) duration associated with the PPDU; or a PPDU format and compression mode subfield that carries information indicating the format of the PPDU.

7. The generation of the PHY preamble is The method according to claim 4, further comprising determining the number of reserved bits to be included in the U-SIG based on the information transported in the first user information field.

8. Based on the AID value associated with the first user information field, the version of the physical layer wireless communication protocol associated with the PPDU is determined, The method according to claim 4, further comprising configuring the version identifier subfield of the U-SIG to carry information indicating the determined version of the physical layer wireless communication protocol.

9. The method according to claim 1, further comprising determining whether puncturing should be performed on one or more subchannels of the wireless channel based on the information carried in the first user information field or the information carried in the common information field.

10. The format of the trigger frame is determined based on the information carried in the common information field, and the format is either a legacy trigger frame format or a non-legacy trigger frame format. The method according to claim 1, further comprising determining that one or more user information fields include the first user information field based on the determined format of the trigger frame.

11. Based on the information carried in at least one of the common information field or the first user information field, the version of the physical layer wireless communication protocol associated with one or more user information fields is determined, and the version of the physical layer wireless communication protocol is the same for each of the one or more user information fields. The method according to claim 1, further comprising interpreting the information transported in the first user information field based on the determined PHY version.

12. At least one modem and At least one processor communicatively coupled to the at least one modem, A wireless communication device comprising at least one memory that is communicatively coupled to at least one processor and stores processor-readable code, wherein the processor-readable code is executed by the at least one processor together with the at least one modem. Receiving a trigger frame requesting a Physical Layer Convergence Protocol (PLCP) protocol data unit (PPDU) to be transmitted by the wireless communication device, wherein the trigger frame includes a media access control (MAC) header, a common information field following the MAC header, and one or more user information fields following the common information field, and the common information field carries information common to each user associated with the one or more user information fields. The first user information field among the one or more user information fields is determined to carry information that should be included in the physical layer (PHY) preamble of the PPDU, based on the association identifier (AID) value associated with the first user information field. The PHY preamble is generated based on the information conveyed in the first user information field, A wireless communication device configured to transmit the PPDU, including the PHY preamble, on a wireless channel in response to the reception of the trigger frame.

13. The wireless communication device according to claim 12, wherein the PHY preamble includes a legacy signal field (L-SIG), a repeat of the L-SIG immediately following the L-SIG (RL-SIG), and a universal signal field (U-SIG) immediately following the RL-SIG, and carries information for interpreting one or more subsequent fields of the PHY preamble.

14. The generation of the PHY preamble is The wireless communication device according to claim 13, comprising determining values ​​for one or more subfields of U-SIG based on the information carried in the first user information field, wherein the one or more subfields include at least one of a PPDU bandwidth subfield that carries information indicating the bandwidth of the wireless channel, a space reuse subfield that carries information indicating whether space reuse is permitted on one or more subchannels of the wireless channel, or a version identifier subfield that carries information indicating the version of the physical layer wireless communication protocol associated with the PPDU.

15. The generation of the PHY preamble is The wireless communication device according to claim 13, comprising determining values ​​for one or more subfields of U-SIG based on the information carried in the first user information field, wherein the one or more subfields include at least one of the following: an uplink or downlink (UL / DL) subfield that carries information indicating whether the PPDU is transmitted in the uplink direction or in the downlink direction; a BSS color subfield that carries information indicating the BSS color associated with the PPDU; a TXOP subfield that carries information indicating the transmit opportunity (TXOP) duration associated with the PPDU; or a PPDU format and compression mode subfield that carries information indicating the format of the PPDU.

16. The generation of the PHY preamble is The wireless communication device according to claim 13, comprising determining the number of reserved bits to be included in the U-SIG based on the information carried in the first user information field.

17. The execution of the aforementioned processor-readable code Based on the AID value associated with the first user information field, the version of the physical layer wireless communication protocol associated with the PPDU is determined, The wireless communication device according to claim 13, further configured to configure the version identifier subfield of the U-SIG to carry information indicating the determined version of the physical layer wireless communication protocol.

18. The execution of the aforementioned processor-readable code is as follows: The wireless communication device according to claim 12, further configured to determine whether puncturing should be performed on one or more subchannels of the wireless channel based on the information carried in the common information field or the first user information field.

19. A method for wireless communication carried out by a wireless communication device, To determine the information that should be included in the physical layer (PHY) preamble of a trigger-based (TB) physical layer convergence protocol (PLCP) protocol data unit (PPDU), A method comprising: a receiving device transmitting a trigger frame on a wireless channel requesting the TB PPDU to be transmitted, the trigger frame comprising a media access control (MAC) header, a common information field following the MAC header, and one or more user information fields following the common information field, wherein the common information field carries information common to each user associated with the one or more user information fields, and the one or more user information fields include a first user information field that carries the information to be included in the PHY preamble of the TB PPDU.

20. The method according to claim 19, wherein the first user information field is not assigned to a wireless communication device associated with a special association identifier (AID) value and associated with the same basic service set (BSS) as the receiving device.

21. The method according to claim 20, further comprising determining the special AID value based on the version of the physical layer wireless communication protocol associated with the TB PPDU.

22. The method according to claim 19, wherein the one or more user information fields further include a second user information field that carries additional information to be included in the PHY preamble.

23. The method according to claim 19, wherein the PHY preamble includes a legacy signal field (L-SIG), a repeat of the L-SIG immediately following the L-SIG (RL-SIG), and a universal signal field (U-SIG) immediately following the RL-SIG, and carries information for interpreting one or more subsequent fields of the PHY preamble.

24. The method according to claim 23, wherein the information carried in the first user information field indicates a value for one or more subfields of U-SIG, and the one or more subfields include at least one of a PPDU bandwidth subfield that carries information indicating the bandwidth of the wireless channel, a space reuse subfield that carries information indicating whether space reuse is permitted on one or more subchannels of the wireless channel, or a version identifier subfield that carries information indicating the version of the physical layer wireless communication protocol associated with the PPDU.

25. The method according to claim 23, wherein the information carried in the first user information field indicates a value for one or more subfields of U-SIG, and the one or more subfields include at least one of the following: an uplink or downlink (UL / DL) subfield that carries information indicating whether the PPDU is transmitted in the uplink direction or in the downlink direction; a BSS color subfield that carries information indicating the BSS color associated with the PPDU; a TXOP subfield that carries information indicating the transmit opportunity (TXOP) duration associated with the PPDU; or a PPDU format and compression mode subfield that carries information indicating the format of the PPDU.

26. The method according to claim 23, wherein the information transported in the first user information field indicates the number of reserved bits to be included in the U-SIG.

27. The method according to claim 19, further comprising determining whether puncturing should be performed on one or more subchannels of the wireless channel, wherein at least one of the common information field or the first user information field carries channel puncturing information indicating whether puncturing should be performed on the one or more subchannels.

28. The method according to claim 19, wherein the common information field carries information indicating the format of the trigger frame, and the format is a legacy trigger frame format or a non-legacy trigger frame format.

29. The method according to claim 19, wherein at least one of the common information field or the first user information field further carries information indicating a version of a physical layer wireless communication protocol associated with one or more user information fields, and the version of the physical layer wireless communication protocol is the same for each of the one or more user information fields.

30. At least one modem and At least one processor communicatively coupled to the at least one modem, A wireless communication device comprising at least one memory that is communicatively coupled to at least one processor and stores processor-readable code, wherein the processor-readable code is executed by the at least one processor together with the at least one modem. To determine the information that should be included in the physical layer (PHY) preamble of a trigger-based (TB) physical layer convergence protocol (PLCP) protocol data unit (PPDU), A wireless communication device configured to transmit a trigger frame on a wireless channel requesting the TB PPDU to be transmitted, wherein the trigger frame includes a media access control (MAC) header, a common information field following the MAC header, and one or more user information fields following the common information field, wherein the common information field carries information common to each user associated with the one or more user information fields, and the one or more user information fields include a first user information field that carries the information to be included in the PHY preamble of the TB PPDU.

31. The wireless communication device according to claim 30, further comprising determining an association identifier (AID) value for the first user information field based on the version of the physical layer wireless communication protocol associated with the TB PPDU.

32. The wireless communication device according to claim 30, wherein the PHY preamble includes a legacy signal field (L-SIG), a repeat of the L-SIG immediately following the L-SIG (RL-SIG), and a universal signal field (U-SIG) immediately following the RL-SIG, and carries information for interpreting one or more subsequent fields of the PHY preamble.

33. The wireless communication device according to claim 32, wherein the information carried in the first user information field indicates a value for one or more subfields of U-SIG, and the one or more subfields include at least one of a PPDU bandwidth subfield that carries information indicating the bandwidth of the wireless channel, a space reuse subfield that carries information indicating whether space reuse is permitted on one or more subchannels of the wireless channel, or a version identifier subfield that carries information indicating the version of the physical layer wireless communication protocol associated with the PPDU.

34. The wireless communication device according to claim 32, wherein the information carried in the first user information field indicates a value for one or more subfields of U-SIG, and the one or more subfields include at least one of the following: an uplink or downlink (UL / DL) subfield that carries information indicating whether the PPDU is transmitted in the uplink direction or the downlink direction; a BSS color subfield that carries information indicating the BSS color associated with the PPDU; a TXOP subfield that carries information indicating the transmit opportunity (TXOP) duration associated with the PPDU; or a PPDU format and compression mode subfield that carries information indicating the format of the PPDU.

35. The wireless communication device according to claim 32, wherein the information carried in the first user information field indicates the number of reserved bits to be included in the U-SIG.

36. The execution of the aforementioned processor-readable code is as follows: The wireless communication device according to claim 30, further configured to determine whether puncturing should be performed on one or more subchannels of the wireless channel, wherein at least one of the common information field or the first user information field carries channel puncturing information indicating whether puncturing should be performed on the one or more subchannels.

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