A method for multi-AP cooperative overlapping target wake time operation

Abstract

A method for information exchange is disclosed. A requesting AP (AP2) can send a cooperation request frame to a responding AP (AP1). The cooperation request frame can include a cooperation element indicating proposed parameters. The proposed parameters can be an operating channel for system information exchange. The proposed parameter can be a start time of a cooperation period. AP2 can receive a cooperation response frame from AP1 using the proposed operating channel. AP1 can send an unsolicited cooperation response frame including a cooperation element to a third AP (AP3) using the proposed operating channel. AP1 can propose an operating channel different from the proposed operating channel to AP2. AP2 can agree to the proposed different operating channel. AP1 can send unsolicited cooperation response frames to AP2 and AP3 using the different operating channels.

Description

[Background technology]

[0001] CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 63 / 526,773, filed July 14, 2023, U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 63 / 502,516, filed May 16, 2023, U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 63 / 498,421, filed April 26, 2023, U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 63 / 491,870, filed March 23, 2023, and U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 63 / 486,828, filed February 24, 2023, the contents of all of which are incorporated herein by reference. Summary of the Invention [Means for solving the problem]

[0002] An access point (AP) is disclosed. The AP can include a processor configured to negotiate coordinated multiple AP target wake time (C-MAP TWT) parameters with another AP, the C-MAP TWT parameters including one or more of a TWT Tx power, a Tx slot, and / or a Tx subchannel, and a transceiver configured to transmit a beacon frame including a C-MAP TWT element including an indication of whether a TWT service period (SP) overlaps with a TWT SP of another AP and the C-MAP TWT parameters of the TWT SP. The processor and transceiver can be configured to communicate with a station (STA) during the TWT SP using the negotiated C-MAP TWT parameters transmitted in the beacon frame. In a further embodiment of the access point, the C-MAP TWT parameters of the TWT SP can include a MAP type. In a further embodiment of the access point, the MAP type can include at least one of coordinated spatial reuse (C-SR), coordinated orthogonal frequency division multiple access (C-OFDMA), coordinated time division multiple access (C-TDMA), coordinated beamforming (C-BF), and joint multiple input multiple output transmission (J-MIMO). In a further embodiment of the access point, in response to the MAP type being C-SR, the C-MAP TWT parameters can include an AP transmit power and an allowed transmit power from non-AP stations (STAs).In a further embodiment of the access point, in response to the MAP type being C-OFDMA, the C-MAP TWT parameters may include an operating channel width for each AP within a MAP TWT service period (SP) and a punctured channel indication for each AP and its associated STAs / TWT member STAs in the MAP TWT SP. In a further embodiment of the access point, in response to the MAP type being C-TDMA, the C-MAP TWT parameters may include a timeslot with an assigned MAP TWT SP for each AP and its associated STAs / TWT member STAs. In a further embodiment of the access point, the MAP TWT element may include at least one of a MAP indication field, a MAP type indication field, a MAP overlap TWT indication field, an AP allowed transmit power field, a maximum uplink target receiver power field, an operating channel width, a punctured channel indication, a temporal primary channel, and a timeslot field.

[0003] A method for coordinating target wake time (TWT) schedules is disclosed. In an embodiment, the method can include negotiating, by a first access point (AP), multi-AP coordinated target wake time (C-MAP TWT) parameters with another AP, where the C-MAP TWT parameters include one or more of a TWT Tx power, a Tx slot, and / or a Tx subchannel; transmitting, by the first AP, a beacon frame including a C-MAP TWT element including an indication of whether the TWT service period (SP) overlaps with a TWT SP of the other AP and the C-MAP TWT parameters of the TWT SP; and communicating, by the first AP, with a STA during the TWT SP using the negotiated C-MAP TWT parameters transmitted in the beacon frame. In a further embodiment of the method, the C-MAP TWT parameters of the TWT SP can include a MAP type. In a further embodiment of the method, the MAP type may include at least one of cooperative spatial reuse (C-SR), cooperative orthogonal frequency division multiple access (C-OFDMA), cooperative time division multiple access (C-TDMA), cooperative beamforming (C-BF), and joint multiple-input multiple-output transmission (J-MIMO). In a further embodiment of the method, in response to the MAP type being C-SR, the C-MAP TWT parameters may include an AP transmit power and an allowed transmit power from non-AP stations (STAs). In a further embodiment of the method, in response to the MAP type being C-OFDMA, the C-MAP TWT parameters may include an operating channel width for each AP within a MAP TWT service period (SP) and a punctured channel indication for each AP and its associated STAs / TWT member STAs in the MAP TWT SP. In a further embodiment of the method, in response to the MAP type being C-TDMA, the C-MAP TWT parameters may include a time slot with an assigned MAP TWT SP for each AP and its associated STAs / TWT member STAs.In a further embodiment of the method, the MAP TWT element may include at least one of a MAP indication field, a MAP type indication field, a MAP overlap TWT indication field, an AP allowed transmit power field, a maximum uplink target receiver power field, an operating channel width, a punctured channel indication, a temporary primary channel, and a timeslot field.

[0004] A method for coordinating target wake time (TWT) schedules is disclosed. The method can include negotiating coordinated multi-AP (C-MAP) TWT parameters between a first access point (AP) and a second AP. The parameters can include a MAP type. The MAP type can include at least one of cooperative spatial reuse (C-SR), cooperative orthogonal frequency division multiple access (C-OFDMA), cooperative time division multiple access (C-TDMA), cooperative beamforming (C-BF), and joint multiple-input multiple-output transmission (J-MIMO). Provided that the MAP type is C-SR, the parameters can include an AP transmit power and an allowed transmit power from non-AP stations (STAs). Provided that the MAP type is C-OFDMA, the parameters can include an operating channel width for each AP within a MAP TWT service period (SP) and a punctured channel indication for each AP and its associated STAs / TWT member STAs in the MAP TWT SP. Provided that the MAP type is C-TDMA, the parameters may include a time slot with an assigned MAP TWT SP for each AP and its associated STA / TWT member STA. The method may include transmitting a beacon frame including a MAP TWT element. The MAP TWT element may include a MAP indication field. The MAP TWT element may include a MAP type indication field. The MAP TWT element may include a MAP duplicate TWT indication field. The MAP TWT element may include a TWT element from other APs field. The MAP TWT element may include an AP allowed transmit power field. The MAP TWT element may include a maximum uplink target receiver power field. The MAP TWT element may include a MAP TWT operating channel width field. The MAP TWT element may include a MAP TWT punctured channel indication field.The MAP TWT element may include a Temporary Primary Channel in MAP TWT SP field. The MAP TWT element may include a Timeslot field.

[0005] A method for performing multi-AP cooperative (C-MAP) transmission in overlapped target wake time (TWT) service periods (SPs) is disclosed. The method may include setting a broadcast TWT identification (ID). The broadcast TWT ID may be unique within a multi-AP (MAP) group. A value for the broadcast TWT ID within a first range may indicate a TWT without MAP cooperation, and a value for the broadcast TWT ID within a second range may indicate a TWT with MAP cooperation. The method may include using the TWT ID and an AP ID to identify a TWT schedule in the MAP group. The method may include sending C-MAP TWT-related information in a beacon frame. The C-MAP TWT-related information in the beacon frame may be sent before the overlapping TWT SP. The C-MAP TWT-related information may include a TWT identification (ID) indicating a TWT schedule advertised by a transmitting AP. The C-MAP TWT-related information may include an overlapping TWT indication indicating a TWT SP identified by the TWT ID in a beacon interval identified by a next overlapping TWT field that overlaps with another TWT SP. The C-MAP TWT related information may include a next overlapping TWT in Unit of Target Beacon Transmit Time (TBTT), which indicates the number of TBTTs counted from the current or next TBTT in which the TWT SP identified by the TWT ID overlaps with one or more TWT SPs from other APs in the MAP group. The C-MAP TWT related information may include a Per-AP Info list, which includes one or more Per-AP Information (Info) fields.Each AP Info field may contain C-MAP TWT-related information for an AP in the MAP group that has a TWT schedule that can interact with the TWT schedule advertised by the transmitting AP. The C-MAP TWT-related information may include a MAP Action Info field that contains C-MAP-related information for overlapping TWT SPs.

[0006] A method and access point (AP) for non-overlapping TWT transmissions are disclosed. An AP can send an indication that the AP supports non-overlapping target wake time (TWT) operation. An AP can indicate whether an established or advertised TWT schedule allows overlapping basic service set (OBSS) transmissions. An AP can establish a TWT schedule that does not overlap with any existing TWT schedule. An AP can ignore a multi-AP (MAP) overlapping TWT field setting, provided the schedule was established by an AP that does not support non-overlapping TWT operation. An AP can terminate a transmit opportunity (TXOP) before an existing TWT schedule established by an AP that does not allow overlapping TWT transmissions and does not support non-overlapping TWT operation. APs can exchange information about MAP operation using a backhaul link. APs can monitor the wideband channel for beacon frames from other APs. An AP can receive a beacon frame that includes a MAP critical updated field, indicating that MAP-related information has been updated.

[0007] A method for information exchange is disclosed. A requesting AP (AP2) can send a cooperation request frame to a responding AP (AP1). The cooperation request frame can include a cooperation element indicating proposed parameters. The proposed parameter can be an operating channel for system information exchange. The proposed parameter can be a start time of a cooperation period. AP2 can receive a cooperation response frame from AP1 using the proposed operating channel. AP1 can send an unsolicited cooperation response frame including a cooperation element to a third AP (AP3) using the proposed operating channel. AP1 can propose an operating channel different from the proposed operating channel to AP2. AP2 can agree to the proposed different operating channel. AP1 can send unsolicited cooperation response frames to AP2 and AP3 using the different operating channels. [Brief explanation of the drawings]

[0008] A more detailed understanding may be had from the following description, given by way of example in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which like reference numerals indicate similar elements and in which:

[0009] [Figure 1A] FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary communication system in which one or more disclosed embodiments may be implemented. [Figure 1B] 1B illustrates an exemplary wireless transmit / receive unit (WTRU) for use within the communications system of FIG. 1A, according to one embodiment. [Figure 1C] 1B illustrates an exemplary radio access network (RAN) and core network (CN) used within the communication system of FIG. 1A, according to one embodiment. [Figure 1D] FIG. 1B illustrates a further exemplary RAN and CN that may be used within the communication system illustrated in FIG. 1A, according to one embodiment. [Figure 2] FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary individual TWT operation. [Figure 3] FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary broadcast TWT operation. [Figure 4] FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary procedure for MAP TWT transmission. [Figure 5] FIG. 1 illustrates an example of operating channel and punctured channel conditions for independent and coordinated AP operation. [Figure 6] FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary slot-based MAP TWT SP. [Figure 7] FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary cooperative MAP TWT operation with silent TWT SP. [Figure 8] FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary TWT schedule in which some TWT SPs are overlapped. [Figure 9] FIG. 10 illustrates an example of a cooperative start-up information exchange. [Figure 10] FIG. 10 illustrates an example of a cooperative start-up information exchange. [Figure 11] FIG. 1 is a flow diagram of an exemplary process. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0010] 1A is a system diagram illustrating an example communication system 100 in which one or more disclosed embodiments may be implemented. The communication system 100 may be a multiple-access system that provides content, such as voice, data, video, messaging, broadcast, etc., to multiple wireless users. The communication system 100 may enable the multiple wireless users to access such content through the sharing of system resources, including wireless bandwidth. For example, the communication system 100 may employ one or more channel access methods, such as code division multiple access (CDMA), time division multiple access (TDMA), frequency division multiple access (FDMA), orthogonal FDMA (OFDMA), single-carrier FDMA (SC-FDMA), zero-tail (ZT) unique-word (UW) discrete Fourier transform (DFT) spread OFDM (ZT UW DTS-s OFDM), unique word OFDM (UW-OFDM), resource block filtered OFDM, filter bank multicarrier (FBMC), etc.

[0011] 1A, communications system 100 may include wireless transmit / receive units (WTRUs) 102a, 102b, 102c, 102d, a radio access network (RAN) 104, a core network (CN) 106, a public switched telephone network (PSTN) 108, the Internet 110, and other networks 112, although it will be understood that the disclosed embodiments contemplate any number of WTRUs, base stations, networks, and / or network elements. Each of WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c, 102d may be any type of device configured to operate and / or communicate in a wireless environment. By way of example, the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c, 102d, any of which may be referred to as a “station” and / or “STA,” may be configured to transmit and / or receive wireless signals, and may include (or be) a user equipment (UE), a mobile station, a fixed or mobile subscriber unit, a subscription-based unit, a pager, a cellular phone, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a smartphone, a laptop, a netbook, a personal computer, a wireless sensor, a hotspot or Mi-Fi device, an Internet of Things (IoT) device, a watch or other wearable, a head-mounted display (HMD), a vehicle, a drone, a medical device and application (e.g., remote surgery), an industrial device and application (e.g., robots and / or other wireless devices operating in an industrial and / or automated processing chain context), a consumer electronics device, a device operating on a commercial and / or industrial wireless network, etc. Any of the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c, and 102d may be referred to interchangeably as a UE.

[0012] The communications system 100 may also include a base station 114a and / or a base station 114b. Each of the base stations 114a, 114b may be any type of device configured to wirelessly interface with at least one of the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c, 102d to facilitate access to one or more communications networks, such as, for example, the CN 106, the Internet 110, and / or the network 112. By way of example, the base stations 114a, 114b may be any of a base transceiver station (BTS), a Node B (NB), an eNodeB (eNB), a Home Node B (HNB), a Home eNodeB (HeNB), a gNode B (gNB), a NR Node B (NR NB), a site controller, an access point (AP), a wireless router, etc. Although the base stations 114a, 114b are each shown as a single element, it will be understood that the base stations 114a, 114b may include any number of interconnected base stations and / or network elements.

[0013] The base station 114a may be part of the RAN 104, which may also include other base stations and / or network elements (not shown), such as a base station controller (BSC), a radio network controller (RNC), relay nodes, etc. The base station 114a and / or base station 114b may be configured to transmit and / or receive wireless signals on one or more carrier frequencies, sometimes referred to as a cell (not shown). These frequencies may be licensed spectrum, unlicensed spectrum, or a combination of licensed and unlicensed spectrum. A cell may provide coverage for wireless services in a particular geographic area, which may be relatively fixed or may change over time. A cell may be further divided into cell sectors. For example, the cell associated with the base station 114a may be divided into three sectors. Thus, in one embodiment, the base station 114a may include three transceivers, i.e., one for each sector of the cell. In one embodiment, the base station 114a may employ multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) technology and utilize multiple transceivers for each or any sector of the cell. For example, beamforming may be used to transmit and / or receive signals in desired spatial directions.

[0014] The base stations 114a, 114b may communicate with one or more of the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c, 102d over an air interface 116, which may be any suitable wireless communication link (e.g., radio frequency (RF), microwave, centimeter wave, micrometer wave, infrared (IR), ultraviolet (UV), visible light, etc.). The air interface 116 may be established using any suitable radio access technology (RAT).

[0015] More particularly, as mentioned above, the communications system 100 may be a multiple-access system and may employ one or more channel access schemes such as CDMA, TDMA, FDMA, OFDMA, SC-FDMA, etc. For example, the base station 114a in the RAN 104 and the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c may implement a radio technology such as Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) Terrestrial Radio Access (UTRA), which may establish the air interface 116 using Wideband CDMA (WCDMA). WCDMA may include communication protocols such as High Speed ​​Packet Access (HSPA) and / or Evolved HSPA (HSPA+). HSPA may include High Speed ​​Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA) and / or High Speed ​​Uplink Packet Access (HSUPA).

[0016] In one embodiment, the base station 114a and the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c may implement a radio technology such as Evolved UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access (E-UTRA), which may establish the air interface 116 using Long Term Evolution (LTE) and / or LTE Advanced (LTE-A) and / or LTE Advanced Pro (LTE-A Pro).

[0017] In one embodiment, the base station 114a and the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c may implement a radio technology, such as New Radio (NR) radio access, which may establish the air interface 116 using NR.

[0018] In one embodiment, the base station 114a and the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c may implement multiple radio access technologies. For example, the base station 114a and the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c may jointly implement LTE radio access and NR radio access, e.g., using dual connectivity (DC) principles. Thus, the air interface utilized by the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c may be characterized by multiple types of radio access technologies and / or transmissions from / to multiple types of base stations (e.g., eNBs and gNBs).

[0019] In one embodiment, the base station 114a and the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c may implement a wireless technology such as IEEE 802.11 (i.e., Wireless Fidelity (Wi-Fi)), IEEE 802.16 (i.e., Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX)), CDMA2000, CDMA2000 1X, CDMA2000 EV-DO, Interim Standard 2000 (IS-2000), Interim Standard 95 (IS-95), Interim Standard 856 (IS-856), Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM), Enhanced Data Rates for GSM Evolution (EDGE), GSM EDGE (GERAN), or the like.

[0020] 1A may be, for example, a wireless router, a Home NodeB, a Home eNodeB, or an access point and may utilize any suitable RAT for facilitating wireless connectivity in a localized area, such as a business, a home, a vehicle, a campus, an industrial facility, an air corridor (e.g., for use by drones), a road, etc. In one embodiment, the base station 114b and the WTRUs 102c, 102d may implement a radio technology such as IEEE 802.11 to establish a wireless local area network (WLAN). In one embodiment, the base station 114b and the WTRUs 102c, 102d may implement a radio technology such as IEEE 802.15 to establish a wireless personal area network (WPAN). In one embodiment, the base station 114b and the WTRUs 102c, 102d may utilize a cellular-based RAT (e.g., WCDMA, CDMA2000, GSM, LTE, LTE-A, LTE-A Pro, NR, etc.) to establish either a small cell, a picocell, or a femtocell. 1A, the base station 114b may have a direct connection to the Internet 110. Thus, the base station 114b may not be required to access the Internet 110 through the CN 106.

[0021] The RAN 104 may be in communication with the CN 106, which may be any type of network configured to provide voice, data, application, and / or voice over internet protocol (VoIP) services to one or more of the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c, 102d. The data may have various quality of service (QoS) requirements, such as different throughput, latency, error resilience, reliability, data throughput, mobility, etc. The CN 106 may provide call control, billing services, mobile location-based services, prepaid calling, Internet connectivity, video distribution, etc., and / or perform high-level security functions, such as user authentication. Although not shown in FIG. 1A , it will be understood that the RAN 104 and / or CN 106 may be in direct or indirect communication with other RANs employing the same RAT as the RAN 104 or a different RAT. For example, in addition to being connected to the RAN 104, which may utilize NR radio technology, the CN 106 may also be in communication with another RAN (not shown) that employs any of GSM, UMTS, CDMA2000, WiMAX, E-UTRA, or Wi-Fi radio technologies.

[0022] The CN 106 may also serve as a gateway for the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c, 102d to access the PSTN 108, the Internet 110, and / or other networks 112. The PSTN 108 may include a circuit-switched telephone network providing plain old telephone service (POTS). The Internet 110 may include a global system of interconnected computer networks and devices that use common communication protocols, such as TCP, User Datagram Protocol (UDP), and / or IP in the Transmission Control Protocol / Internet Protocol (TCP / IP) Internet protocol suite. The network 112 may include wired and / or wireless communication networks owned and / or operated by other service providers. For example, the network 112 may include another CN connected to one or more RANs, which may employ the same RAT as the RAN 104 or a different RAT.

[0023] Some or all of the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c, 102d in the communications system 100 may include multi-mode capabilities (e.g., the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c, 102d may include multiple transceivers for communicating with different wireless networks over different wireless links). For example, the WTRU 102c shown in FIG. 1A may be configured to communicate with a base station 114a that may employ cellular-based wireless technology and may be configured to communicate with a base station 114b that may employ IEEE 802.11 wireless technology.

[0024] 1B is a system diagram illustrating an example WTRU 102. As shown in FIG. 1B, the WTRU 102 may include, among other things, a processor 118, a transceiver 120, a transmit / receive element 122, a speaker / microphone 124, a keypad 126, a display / touchpad 128, non-removable memory 130, removable memory 132, a power source 134, a global positioning system (GPS) chipset 136, and / or other elements / peripherals 138. It will be understood that the WTRU 102 may include any sub-combination of the above elements while remaining consistent with an embodiment.

[0025] The processor 118 may be a general-purpose processor, a special-purpose processor, a conventional processor, a digital signal processor (DSP), multiple microprocessors, one or more microprocessors associated with a DSP core, a controller, a microcontroller, an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a field programmable gate array (FPGA) circuit, any other type of integrated circuit (IC), a state machine, etc. The processor 118 may perform signal coding, data processing, power control, input / output processing, and / or any other functionality that enables the WTRU 102 to operate in a wireless environment. The processor 118 may be coupled to the transceiver 120, which may be coupled to the transmit / receive element 122. While FIG. 1B depicts the processor 118 and the transceiver 120 as separate components, it will be understood that the processor 118 and the transceiver 120 may be incorporated together, for example, in an electronic package or chip.

[0026] The transmit / receive element 122 may be configured to transmit signals to or receive signals from a base station (e.g., base station 114a) over the air interface 116. For example, in one embodiment, the transmit / receive element 122 may be an antenna configured to transmit and / or receive RF signals. In one embodiment, the transmit / receive element 122 may be an emitter / detector configured to transmit and / or receive IR, UV, or visible light signals, for example. In one embodiment, the transmit / receive element 122 may be configured to transmit and / or receive both RF and light signals. It will be understood that the transmit / receive element 122 may be configured to transmit and / or receive any combination of wireless signals.

[0027] 1B as a single element, the WTRU 102 may include any number of transmit / receive elements 122. For example, the WTRU 102 may employ MIMO technology. Thus, in one embodiment, the WTRU 102 may include two or more transmit / receive elements 122 (e.g., multiple antennas) for transmitting and receiving wireless signals over the air interface 116.

[0028] The transceiver 120 may be configured to modulate signals to be transmitted by the transmit / receive element 122 and demodulate signals received by the transmit / receive element 122. As mentioned above, the WTRU 102 may have multi-mode capabilities. Thus, the transceiver 120 may include multiple transceivers to enable the WTRU 102 to communicate via multiple RATs, such as, for example, NR and IEEE 802.11.

[0029] The processor 118 of the WTRU 102 may be coupled to and may receive user input data from a speaker / microphone 124, a keypad 126, and / or a display / touchpad 128 (e.g., a liquid crystal display (LCD) display unit or an organic light emitting diode (OLED) display unit). The processor 118 may also output user data to the speaker / microphone 124, the keypad 126, and / or the display / touchpad 128. Furthermore, the processor 118 may access information from and store data in any type of suitable memory, such as non-removable memory 130 and / or removable memory 132. The non-removable memory 130 may include random access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), a hard disk, or any other type of memory storage device. The removable memory 132 may include a subscriber identity module (SIM) card, a memory stick, a secure digital (SD) memory card, etc. In other embodiments, the processor 118 may access information from and store data in memory that is not physically located on the WTRU 102, such as on a server or home computer (not shown).

[0030] The processor 118 may receive power from the power source 134 and may be configured to distribute and / or control the power to other components in the WTRU 102. The power source 134 may be any suitable device for powering the WTRU 102. For example, the power source 134 may include one or more dry batteries (e.g., nickel-cadmium (NiCd), nickel-zinc (NiZn), nickel-metal hydride (NiMH), lithium-ion (Li-ion), etc.), solar cells, fuel cells, etc.

[0031] The processor 118 may also be coupled to a GPS chipset 136, which may be configured to provide location information (e.g., longitude and latitude) regarding the current location of the WTRU 102. In addition to, or instead of, information from the GPS chipset 136, the WTRU 102 may receive location information from base stations (e.g., base stations 114a, 114b) over the air interface 116 and / or determine its location based on the timing of when signals are received from two or more nearby base stations. It will be understood that the WTRU 102 may acquire location information via any suitable location determination method while remaining consistent with an embodiment.

[0032] The processor 118 may further be coupled to other peripherals 138, which may include one or more software and / or hardware modules / units that provide additional features, functionality, and / or wired or wireless connectivity. For example, the peripherals 138 may include an accelerometer, an electronic compass, a satellite transceiver, a digital camera (for photos and / or videos), a universal serial bus (USB) port, a vibration device, a television transceiver, a hands-free headset, a Bluetooth module, a frequency modulated (FM) radio unit, a digital music player, a media player, a video game player module, an internet browser, a virtual reality and / or augmented reality (VR / AR) device, an activity tracker, etc. The peripherals 138 may include one or more sensors, which may be one or more of a gyroscope, an accelerometer, a Hall effect sensor, a magnetometer, an orientation sensor, a proximity sensor, a temperature sensor, a time sensor, a geolocation sensor, an altimeter, a light sensor, a touch sensor, a magnetometer, a barometer, a gesture sensor, a biometric sensor, and / or a humidity sensor.

[0033] The WTRU 102 may include a full-duplex radio where transmission and reception of some or all of the signals (e.g., associated with a particular subframe for both the uplink (e.g., for transmission) and the downlink (e.g., for reception) may be parallel and / or simultaneous. The full-duplex radio may include an interference management unit for reducing and or substantially eliminating self-interference via either hardware (e.g., a choke) or signal processing via a processor (e.g., a separate processor (not shown) or via the processor 118). In one embodiment, the WTRU 102 may include a half-duplex radio that is for transmission and reception of some or all of the signals (e.g., associated with a particular subframe for either the uplink (e.g., for transmission) or the downlink (e.g., for reception)).

[0034] 1C is a system diagram illustrating the RAN 104 and the CN 106, according to one embodiment. As mentioned above, the RAN 104 may employ E-UTRA radio technology to communicate with the WTRUs 102a, 102b, and 102c over the air interface 116. The RAN 104 may also be in communication with the CN 106.

[0035] The RAN 104 may include eNodeBs 160a, 160b, and 160c, although it will be understood that the RAN 104 may include any number of eNodeBs while remaining consistent with an embodiment. The eNodeBs 160a, 160b, and 160c may each include one or more transceivers for communicating with the WTRUs 102a, 102b, and 102c over the air interface 116. In an embodiment, the eNodeBs 160a, 160b, and 160c may implement MIMO technology. Thus, the eNodeB 160a, for example, may use multiple antennas to transmit wireless signals to, and receive wireless signals from, the WTRU 102a.

[0036] Each of the eNodeBs 160a, 160b, and 160c may be associated with a particular cell (not shown) and may be configured to handle radio resource management decisions, handover decisions, scheduling of users in the uplink (UL) and / or downlink (DL), etc. As shown in FIG. 1C, the eNodeBs 160a, 160b, 160c may communicate with one another over an X2 interface.

[0037] 1C may include a mobility management entity (MME) 162, a serving gateway (SGW) 164, and a packet data network (PDN) gateway (PGW) 166. Although each of the above elements is shown as part of the CN 106, it will be understood that any one of these elements may be owned and / or operated by an entity other than the CN operator.

[0038] The MME 162 may be connected to each of the eNodeBs 160a, 160b, and 160c in the RAN 104 via an S1 interface and may act as a control node. For example, the MME 162 may be responsible for authenticating users of the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c, bearer activation / deactivation, selecting a particular serving gateway during initial attach of the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c, etc. The MME 162 may provide a control plane function for switching between the RAN 104 and other RANs (not shown) that employ other radio technologies, such as GSM and / or WCDMA.

[0039] The SGW 164 may be connected to each of the eNodeBs 160a, 160b, 160c in the RAN 104 via an S1 interface. The SGW 164 may generally route and forward user data packets to / from the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c. The SGW 164 may perform other functions such as anchoring the user plane during inter-eNodeB handover, triggering paging when DL data is available for the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c, managing and storing the context of the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c, etc.

[0040] The SGW 164 may be connected to a PGW 166, which may provide the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c with access to packet-switched networks, such as the Internet 110, to facilitate communication between the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c and IP-enabled devices.

[0041] The CN 106 may facilitate communication with other networks. For example, the CN 106 may provide the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c with access to circuit-switched networks, such as the PSTN 108, to facilitate communication between the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c and legacy landline communication devices. For example, the CN 106 may include or communicate with an IP gateway (e.g., an IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) server) that acts as an interface between the CN 106 and the PSTN 108. Additionally, the CN 106 may provide the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c with access to other networks 112, which may include other wired and / or wireless networks owned and / or operated by other service providers.

[0042] Although the WTRU is described in Figures 1A-1D as a wireless terminal, it is contemplated that in certain representative embodiments, such a terminal may use a wired communication interface with the communication network (e.g., temporarily or permanently).

[0043] In a representative embodiment, the other network 112 may be a WLAN.

[0044] A WLAN in infrastructure basic service set (BSS) mode may have an access point (AP) for the BSS and one or more stations (STAs) associated with the AP. The AP may have access to or interface with a distribution system (DS) or another type of wired / wireless network that carries traffic during and / or from the BSS. Traffic to the STA originating from outside the BSS may arrive through the AP and be delivered to the STA. Traffic originating from the STA to a destination outside the BSS may be sent to the AP for delivery to the respective destination. Traffic between STAs within the BSS may be sent through the AP, e.g., where a source STA may send traffic to the AP, and the AP may deliver the traffic to the destination STA. Traffic between STAs within the BSS may be considered and / or referred to as peer-to-peer traffic. Peer-to-peer traffic may be sent between (e.g., directly between) a source STA and a destination STA via a direct link setup (DLS). In some representative embodiments, the DLS may use 802.11e DLS or 802.11z tunneled DLS (TDLS). A WLAN using an Independent BSS (IBSS) mode may not have an AP, and the STAs within or using the IBSS (e.g., all of the STAs) can communicate directly with each other. The IBSS communication mode is sometimes referred to herein as an "ad hoc" communication mode.

[0045] When using the 802.11ac infrastructure mode of operation or a similar mode of operation, an AP can transmit beacons on a fixed channel, such as a primary channel. The primary channel can be a fixed width (e.g., a 20 MHz wide bandwidth) or a width dynamically set via signaling. The primary channel can be the operating channel of the BSS and can be used by STAs to establish a connection with the AP. In some representative embodiments, carrier sense multiple access with collision avoidance (CSMA / CA) can be implemented, for example, in an 802.11 system. In CSMA / CA, STAs (e.g., every STA), including the AP, can sense the primary channel. If the primary channel is sensed / detected and / or determined to be busy by a particular STA, the particular STA can back off. One STA (e.g., only one station) can transmit at any given time in a given BSS.

[0046] High-throughput (HT) STAs may use, for example, a 40 MHz wide channel for communication via a combination of a primary 20 MHz channel with adjacent or non-adjacent 20 MHz channels to form a 40 MHz wide channel.

[0047] A very high throughput (VHT) STA can support 20 MHz, 40 MHz, 80 MHz, and / or 160 MHz wide channels. A 40 MHz channel and / or an 80 MHz channel can be formed by combining contiguous 20 MHz channels. A 160 MHz channel can be formed by combining eight contiguous 20 MHz channels or by combining two non-contiguous 80 MHz channels, sometimes referred to as an 80+80 configuration. For the 80+80 configuration, after channel encoding, the data can be passed through a segment parser that can split the data into two streams. Inverse fast Fourier transform (IFFT) processing and time-domain processing can be performed separately for each stream. The streams can be mapped onto two 80 MHz channels, and the data can be transmitted by the transmitting STA. At the receiver of the receiving STA, the operations described above for the 80+80 configuration can be reversed, and the combined data can be sent to a medium access control (MAC) layer, entity, etc.

[0048] Sub-1 GHz operating modes are supported by 802.11af and 802.11ah. Channel operating bandwidths and carriers are reduced in 802.11af and 802.11ah relative to those used in 802.11n and 802.11ac. 802.11af supports 5 MHz, 10 MHz, and 20 MHz bandwidths in the TV white space (TVWS) spectrum, while 802.11ah supports 1 MHz, 2 MHz, 4 MHz, 8 MHz, and 16 MHz bandwidths using non-TVWS spectrum. According to a representative embodiment, 802.11ah can support meter-type control / machine-type communication (MTC), such as MTC devices in macro coverage areas. MTC devices can have limited capabilities, including, for example, support for some and / or limited bandwidths (e.g., only support for that). MTC devices can include batteries with above-threshold battery life (e.g., to maintain very long battery life).

[0049] WLAN systems that can support multiple channels and channel bandwidths, such as 802.11n, 802.11ac, 802.11af, and 802.11ah, include a channel that can be designated as a primary channel. The primary channel can have a bandwidth equal to the largest common operating bandwidth supported by all STAs in the BSS. The bandwidth of the primary channel can be set and / or limited by a STA, from among all STAs operating in the BSS, that supports the smallest bandwidth operating mode. In an 802.11ah example, the primary channel may be 1 MHz wide for a STA (e.g., an MTC-type device) that supports (e.g., only supports) the 1 MHz mode, even if the AP and other STAs in the BSS support 2 MHz, 4 MHz, 8 MHz, 16 MHz, and / or other channel bandwidth operating modes. Carrier sensing and / or network allocation vector (NAV) settings may depend on the status of the primary channel. For example, if a STA (that only supports 1 MHz operating mode) transmits to an AP such that the primary channel is busy, the entire available frequency band may be considered busy, even though most of the frequency band may remain idle and available for use.

[0050] In the United States, the available frequency bands that can be used by 802.11ah are 902 MHz to 928 MHz. In South Korea, the available frequency bands are 917.5 MHz to 923.5 MHz. In Japan, the available frequency bands are 916.5 MHz to 927.5 MHz. The total available bandwidth for 802.11ah is 6 MHz to 26 MHz, depending on the country code.

[0051] 1D is a system diagram illustrating the RAN 104 and the CN 106, according to one embodiment. As mentioned above, the RAN 104 may employ NR radio technology to communicate with the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c over the air interface 116. The RAN 104 may also be in communication with the CN 106.

[0052] The RAN 104 may include gNBs 180a, 180b, and 180c, although it will be understood that the RAN 104 may include any number of gNBs while remaining consistent with an embodiment. The gNBs 180a, 180b, and 180c may each include one or more transceivers for communicating with the WTRUs 102a, 102b, and 102c over the air interface 116. In an embodiment, the gNBs 180a, 180b, and 180c may implement MIMO technology. For example, the gNBs 180a and 180b may utilize beamforming to transmit signals to and / or receive signals from the WTRUs 102a, 102b, and 102c. Thus, the gNB 180a may, for example, use multiple antennas to transmit wireless signals to and / or receive wireless signals from the WTRU 102a. In one embodiment, the gNBs 180a, 180b, 180c may implement carrier aggregation technology. For example, the gNB 180a may transmit multiple component carriers to the WTRU 102a (not shown). A subset of these component carriers may be on an unlicensed spectrum, while the remaining component carriers may be on a licensed spectrum. In one embodiment, the gNBs 180a, 180b, 180c may implement coordinated multi-point (CoMP) technology. For example, the WTRU 102a may receive coordinated transmissions from the gNBs 180a and 180b (and / or 180c).

[0053] The WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c may communicate with the gNBs 180a, 180b, 180c using transmissions associated with scalable numerologies. For example, the OFDM symbol spacing and / or OFDM subcarrier spacing may be different for different transmissions, different cells, and / or different portions of the wireless transmission spectrum. The WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c may communicate with the gNBs 180a, 180b, 180c using subframes or transmission time intervals (TTIs) of varying or scalable lengths (e.g., including varying numbers of OFDM symbols and / or varying lengths of absolute time duration).

[0054] The gNBs 180a, 180b, 180c may be configured to communicate with the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c in a standalone configuration and / or a non-standalone configuration. In a standalone configuration, the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c can communicate with the gNBs 180a, 180b, 180c without accessing any other RAN (e.g., eNodeBs 160a, 160b, 160c). In a standalone configuration, the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c can utilize one or more of the gNBs 180a, 180b, 180c as mobility anchor points. In a standalone configuration, the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c can communicate with the gNBs 180a, 180b, 180c using signals in unlicensed bands. In a non-standalone configuration, the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c may communicate / connect with a gNB 180a, 180b, 180c while also communicating / connecting with another RAN, such as an eNodeB 160a, 160b, 160c. For example, the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c may implement the DC principle to communicate with one or more gNBs 180a, 180b, 180c and one or more eNodeBs 160a, 160b, 160c substantially simultaneously. In a non-standalone configuration, the eNodeBs 160a, 160b, 160c may act as mobility anchors for the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c, and the gNBs 180a, 180b, 180c may provide additional coverage and / or throughput for serving the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c.

[0055] Each of the gNBs 180a, 180b, 180c may be associated with a particular cell (not shown) and may be configured to handle radio resource management decisions, handover decisions, scheduling of users in the UL and / or DL, support for network slicing, dual connectivity, interworking between NR and E-UTRA, routing of user plane data to user plane functions (UPFs) 184a, 184b, routing of control plane information to access and mobility management functions (AMFs) 182a, 182b, etc. As shown in FIG. 1D, the gNBs 180a, 180b, 180c may communicate with one another via an Xn interface.

[0056] 1D may include at least one AMF 182a, 182b, at least one UPF 184a, 184b, at least one Session Management Function (SMF) 183a, 183b, and at least one Data Network (DN) 185a, 185b. While each of the above elements is shown as part of the CN 106, it will be understood that any of these elements may be owned and / or operated by an entity other than the CN operator.

[0057] The AMF 182a, 182b may be connected to one or more of the gNBs 180a, 180b, 180c in the RAN 104 via an N2 interface and may act as a control node. For example, the AMF 182a, 182b may be responsible for authenticating users of the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c, supporting network slicing (e.g., handling different protocol data unit (PDU) sessions with different requirements), selecting a particular SMF 183a, 183b, managing registration areas, terminating NAS signaling, mobility management, etc. Network slicing may be used by the AMF 182a, 182b to customize CN support for the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c, for example, based on the type of service being utilized by the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c. For example, different network slices may be established for different use cases, such as services relying on Ultra-Reliable Low Latency (URLLC) access, services relying on enhanced Massive Mobile Broadband (eMBB) access, services for MTC access, etc. The AMFs 182a, 182b may provide a control plane function for switching between the RAN 104 and other RANs (not shown) that employ other radio technologies such as LTE, LTE-A, LTE-A Pro, and / or non-3GPP access technologies such as Wi-Fi.

[0058] The SMFs 183a and 183b may be connected to the AMFs 182a and 182b in the CN 106 via an N11 interface. The SMFs 183a and 183b may also be connected to the UPFs 184a and 184b in the CN 106 via an N4 interface. The SMFs 183a and 183b may select and control the UPFs 184a and 184b and configure the routing of traffic through the UPFs 184a and 184b. The SMFs 183a and 183b may perform other functions, such as managing and allocating UE IP addresses, managing PDU sessions, controlling policy enforcement and QoS, providing downlink data notification, etc. The PDU session type may be IP-based, non-IP-based, Ethernet-based, etc.

[0059] The UPFs 184a, 184b may be connected to one or more of the gNBs 180a, 180b, 180c in the RAN 104 via an N3 interface, which may provide the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c with access to packet-switched networks such as the Internet 110, for example, to facilitate communications between the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c and IP-enabled devices. The UPFs 184a, 184b may perform other functions such as routing and forwarding packets, enforcing user plane policies, supporting multi-homed PDU sessions, handling user plane QoS, buffering downlink packets, providing mobility anchoring, etc.

[0060] The CN 106 may facilitate communication with other networks. For example, the CN 106 may include or communicate with an IP gateway (e.g., an IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) server) that acts as an interface between the CN 106 and the PSTN 108. Additionally, the CN 106 may provide the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c with access to other networks 112, which may include other wired and / or wireless networks owned and / or operated by other service providers. In one embodiment, the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c may be connected to local data networks (DNs) 185a, 185b through UPFs 184a, 184b via an N3 interface to the UPFs 184a, 184b and an N6 interface between the UPFs 184a, 184b and the DNs 185a, 185b.

[0061] 1A-1D and the corresponding description thereof, one or more, or all, of the functions described herein with respect to any of the WTRUs 102a-d, base stations 114a-b, eNodeBs 160a-c, MME 162, SGW 164, PGW 166, gNBs 180a-c, AMFs 182a-b, UPFs 184a-b, SMFs 183a-b, DNs 185a-b, and / or any other element / device(s) described herein may be performed by one or more emulation elements / devices (not shown). The emulation devices may be one or more devices configured to emulate one or more, or all, of the functions described herein. For example, the emulation devices may be used to test other devices and / or to simulate network and / or WTRU functionality.

[0062] The emulation device may be designed to implement one or more tests of other devices in a laboratory environment and / or in a carrier network environment. For example, one or more emulation devices may perform one or more, or all, functions while fully or partially implemented and / or deployed as part of a wired and / or wireless communication network to test other devices in the communication network. One or more emulation devices may perform one or more, or all, functions while temporarily implemented / deployed as part of a wired and / or wireless communication network. The emulation device may be directly coupled to another device for testing purposes and / or may perform testing using over-the-air wireless communication.

[0063] The one or more emulation devices may perform one or more functions, inclusive, while not being implemented / deployed as part of a wired and / or wireless communication network. For example, the emulation devices may be utilized in test labs and / or test scenarios in non-deployed (e.g., test) wired and / or wireless communication networks to implement testing of one or more components. The one or more emulation devices may be test equipment. Direct RF coupling and / or wireless communication via RF circuitry (which may, for example, include one or more antennas) may be used by the emulation devices to transmit and / or receive data.

[0064] An AP can transmit beacons on a fixed channel, such as a primary channel. This channel can be 20 MHz wide and can be the operating channel of the BSS. This channel can also be used by STAs to establish a connection with the AP. The channel access mechanism is Carrier Sense Multiple Access with Collision Avoidance (CSMA / CA). In this operating mode, every STA, including the AP, can sense the primary channel. If the channel is detected as busy, the STA can back off. Therefore, only one STA can transmit at any given time in a given BSS.

[0065] High-throughput (HT) STAs can also use 40 MHz wide channels for communication, which can be achieved by combining a primary 20 MHz channel with adjacent 20 MHz channels to form a 40 MHz wide contiguous channel.

[0066] Very High Throughput (VHT) STAs can support 20 MHz, 40 MHz, 80 MHz, and 160 MHz wide channels. 40 MHz and 80 MHz channels can be formed by combining contiguous 20 MHz channels.

[0067] A 160 MHz channel can be formed either by combining eight contiguous 20 MHz channels or by combining two non-contiguous 80 MHz channels, sometimes called an 80+80 configuration. In the case of an 80+80 configuration, after channel encoding, the data may be passed through a segment parser that can split it into two streams. An inverse discrete Fourier transform (IDFT) operation and time-domain processing may be performed separately on each stream. The streams may then be mapped to two channels, and the data may be transmitted. At the receiver, this procedure is reversed, and the combined data may be sent to the MAC.

[0068] In sub-1 GHz systems, channel operating bandwidths and carriers are reduced. For example, 5 MHz, 10 MHz, and 20 MHz bandwidths are supported in the TV white space (TVWS) spectrum, and 1 MHz, 2 MHz, 4 MHz, 8 MHz, and 16 MHz bandwidths are supported using non-TVWS spectrum. Meter-type control (MTC) devices may have limited capabilities, including only support for limited bandwidths, but may also include requirements for very long battery life.

[0069] Some WLAN systems support multiple channels and channel widths and may include a channel designated as the primary channel. The primary channel may, but is not necessarily, have a bandwidth equal to the largest common operating bandwidth supported by all STAs in the BSS. Thus, the bandwidth of the primary channel is limited by the STA supporting the smallest bandwidth operating mode among all STAs operating in the BSS. In one example, the primary channel may be 1 MHz wide if there are STAs (e.g., MTC-type devices) that only support 1 MHz mode, even if the AP and other STAs in the BSS can support 2 MHz, 4 MHz, 8 MHz, 16 MHz, or other channel bandwidth operating modes. All carrier sensing and NAV configuration depends on the status of the primary channel (i.e., if the primary channel is busy, e.g., because STAs supporting only 1 MHz mode are transmitting to the AP, the entire available frequency band is considered busy, even if most of it remains idle and available).

[0070] In the United States, the available frequency band is from 902 MHz to 928 MHz. In South Korea, the available band is from 917.5 MHz to 923.5 MHz, and in Japan, the available band is from 916.5 MHz to 927.5 MHz. The total available bandwidth is from 6 MHz to 26 MHz depending on the country code.

[0071] Target Wake Time (TWT) operations are designed to allow an AP and its associated STAs to negotiate a wake-up time period during which those STAs can transmit and receive traffic. In some systems, the use of TWT is extended to allow an AP to manage activity in a BSS to minimize contention between STAs and reduce the required amount of time STAs utilizing power management modes need to be awake. A TWT element is defined to carry information used to negotiate and advertise TWT-related information. Two types of TWT are defined: broadcast TWT and individual TWT.

[0072] An example of individual TWT operation is shown in FIG. 2. A TWT scheduled STA (i.e., STA1) can send a TWT request 220 to a TWT responding STA (e.g., an AP) to set up a trigger-enabled TWT agreement. At 210, the AP can respond accepting the TWT agreement. The AP can send an unsolicited TWT response to STA2 to set up a trigger-enabled TWT agreement with STA2. The AP can use a trigger frame 214 to initiate a trigger-enabled TWT service period (SP) that includes a multi-STA BlockAck 216 and a downlink multiple user physical layer protocol data unit (DL MU PPDU) 218. STA1 and STA2 can respond with a PS-Poll frame 222 and a QoS-Null frame 230, respectively, to indicate that they are awake and ready to communicate with the AP. The STAs can send their respective BlockAcks 224, 232 during the TWT SP.

[0073] An example of broadcast TWT operation is shown in FIG. 3. A TWT-scheduled STA (i.e., STA1) may negotiate 330, 310 with the TWT-scheduling AP for a first wake target beacon transmission time (TBTT) and listen for beacon frames. At 312, the AP may advertise a broadcast TWT element in the beacon. At 314, the AP may initiate a trigger-enabled TWT service period including a multi-STA BlockAck 316 and a DL MU PPDU 318, and STA1 and STA2 may respond with a PS-Poll frame 332 and a QoS Null frame 340, respectively, to indicate they are awake and ready to communicate with the AP. The STAs may send respective BlockAcks 334, 342 during the TWT SP. The AP may send subsequent beacons 320 during the listen interval and an additional beacon 322 at the end of the listen interval.

[0074] Multi-AP cooperative (C-MAP) transmission schemes can include: multi-AP cooperative OFDMA (co-OFDMA), multi-AP cooperative TDMA (co-TDMA), multi-AP cooperative spatial reuse (CSR), cooperative beamforming / nulling (CBF), and joint transmission (JTX).

[0075] In the context of multi-AP cooperation, the following terms can be used: Sharing AP: An EHT AP that obtains a TXOP and initiates multi-AP cooperation; Shared AP: An EHT AP that is coordinated for multi-AP transmission by the Sharing AP; and AP Candidate Set: A set of APs that can initiate or join multi-AP cooperation.

[0076] TWT coordination in C-MAP is described herein. Some target wake time (TWT) / restricted TWT (rTWT) schedules can carry important traffic, such as low-latency traffic, and therefore need to be protected from interference from overlapping BSS transmissions. Using C-MAP operation, a protection mechanism can be defined. With C-MAP, TWT operations can be better coordinated among APs in the same multi-AP (MAP) set to serve different purposes. With overlapping TWT / rTWT, some MAP schemes, such as cooperative spatial reuse and cooperative OFDMA, can use the medium more efficiently.

[0077] In the embodiments described herein, multiple APs can be coordinated together and transmit simultaneously to STAs. The following terminology is used herein: A MAP coordination (C-MAP) set is a set of several non-collocated APs (or AP MLDs) that can perform coordinated transmissions. A multi-AP service set (MAP SS) is a set of devices including APs and non-AP STAs that can communicate with the APs in the C-MAP set.

[0078] MAP TWT overlap indications and procedures are described herein. A subfield or field, sometimes referred to as a MAP overlap TWT subfield, in a TWT element, or another element / field containing MAP TWT schedule-related information, can be used to indicate whether there is at least one schedule announced by another AP in a MAP SS that overlaps or partially overlaps with the current schedule announced in the TWT element. Here, overlapping or partially overlapping means that the schedules overlap or partially overlap in both the time domain and the frequency domain. Two schedules are considered non-overlapping if they do not overlap in either the time domain or the frequency domain.

[0079] When this subfield is set to 0, it may indicate that there are no overlapping or partially overlapping TWT schedules in the same MAP SS; these TWT schedules may be referred to as MAP non-overlapping TWT schedules. In this scenario, STAs in the MAP SS that can understand this signaling, including AP STAs and non-AP STAs, may not transmit during the TWT duration; thus, the TWT schedule is protected from inter-BSS and intra-BSS transmissions. STAs in the MAP SS that can understand this signaling as TXOP holders, including AP STAs and non-AP STAs, can ensure that their TXOPs end before any TWTs with the MAP overlapping TWT subfield set to 0. In this way, the TWT schedule is protected from inter-BSS and intra-BSS transmissions.

[0080] In one embodiment, an AP can negotiate with other APs in a MAP SS to set a MAP non-overlapping TWT schedule for data or critical signaling transmissions with low latency and / or high reliability requirements. In one embodiment, an AP intending to create a new TWT schedule or modify an existing TWT schedule can examine the existing TWT schedules in the MAP SS and select a time-frequency resource or set of time-frequency resources that do not overlap with any existing TWT schedule, which sets the MAP overlapping TWT subfield to 0. In this embodiment, each AP in the MAP SS may need to know the existing non-overlapping TWT schedules. This information can be carried in a MAP-related element and exchanged between APs in the MAP SS. In one embodiment, all APs in the MAP SS can broadcast all non-overlapping TWT schedules in the MAP SS. The corresponding AP ID or address can be included in the broadcast transmission, so that non-AP STAs and other APs know the TWT scheduling AP for each non-overlapping TWT schedule. In an embodiment, STAs that support MAP overlapped TWT, including AP and non-AP STAs, may report this capability in a capabilities element carried in a management or control or data frame.

[0081] In one embodiment, a MAP overlap TWT subfield may be added to an existing TWT element using one or more reserved bits. For example, the control field defined in the TWT element may be modified as shown in Table 1. The MAP overlap TWT subfield may be added to the modified control field.

[0082] [Table 1]

[0083] In one embodiment, one or more reserved values ​​for the Broadcast TWT Recommendation subfield carried in the Request Type subfield in the Broadcast TWT parameter set may be used to indicate the TWT identified by the TWT parameter, and may be used to indicate a MAP overlap TWT or a combination of a MAP overlap TWT and other TWT recommendations.

[0084] In one embodiment, when the MAP Overlap TWT subfield is set to 0, it may indicate that the TWT / rTWT is protected from inter-BSS / intra-BSS transmissions from neighboring APs and STAs. An AP that supports MAP Overlap TWT indication may ensure that its TXOP ends before the start time of any active TWT SP advertised by itself or another AP in the MAP group when the MAP Overlap TWT subfield is set to 0 (or any other value to indicate that the TWT / rTWT is protected from inter-BSS / intra-BSS transmissions from neighboring APs and STAs). When the MAP Overlap TWT subfield is set to 1, it may indicate that the TWT / rTWT schedule may overlap with other TWT / rTWT schedules or transmissions.

[0085] In one embodiment, an AP may choose whether to support non-overlapping TWT operation (sometimes referred to as the overlapping basic service set (OBSS) TWT / rTWT protection mechanism). APs that can support non-overlapping TWT operation may respect non-overlapping TWT / rTWT schedules with respect to each other. APs that support non-overlapping TWT operation may follow the following rules: An AP may indicate its willingness to support the OBSS TWT / rTWT protection mechanism in a capabilities element, operations element, or other element / field. APs that support the OBSS TWT / rTWT protection mechanism may indicate whether established and / or advertised TWT / rTWT schedules allow overlapping OBSS transmissions. New TWT / rTWT schedules established by an AP shall not allow overlapping OBSS transmissions and shall not overlap with existing TWT / rTWT schedules established by APs that support OBSS TWT / rTWT protection. If an existing TWT / rTWT schedule was established by an AP that does not support OBSS TWT / rTWT protection, APs that support OBSS TWT / rTWT protection MAY ignore the MAP overlapping TWT field setting. APs MAY terminate their TXOPs or transmissions before an existing TWT / rTWT schedule established by an AP that does not allow overlapping OBSS transmissions and supports OBSS TWT / rTWT protection. If an existing TWT / rTWT schedule was established by an AP that does not support OBSS TWT / rTWT protection, APs that support OBSS TWT / rTWT protection MAY ignore the MAP overlapping TWT field setting.

[0086] MAP cooperative transmission in a TWT service period (SP) is described herein. The first procedure involves MAP cooperative TWT. In one embodiment, a MAP subfield can be added to the TWT element to indicate that the TWT SP is a MAP TWT SP. The TWT schedule may be referred to as a MAP TWT schedule. MAP TWT can enable MAP cooperative TWT transmission. For example, in the case of overlapping TWT SPs (which fully or partially overlap in both time and frequency), several C-MAP transmission schemes (e.g., cooperative spatial reuse (C-SR), cooperative OFDMA (C-OFDMA), cooperative TDMA (C-TDMA), cooperative beamforming (C-BF), joint MIMO transmission (J-MIMO), or a combination of several C-MAP transmission schemes) can be enabled. With C-SR, different APs in a MAP SS can communicate with their associated STAs / TWT member STAs simultaneously using coordinated transmit power. With C-OFDMA, different APs in a MAP SS can communicate with their associated STAs / TWT member STAs simultaneously using different subchannels / resource units. With C-OFDMA, different APs in a MAP SS can communicate with their associated STAs / TWT member STAs simultaneously using different time slots within the TWT SP. Coordination between APs in a MAP SS can be over a wired or wireless medium. APs can advertise the MAP TWT to STAs and APs in a MAP SS.

[0087] An exemplary procedure for MAP TWT transmission is shown in FIG. 4, which shows an AP1 beacon 410, an AP1 trigger 412, an AP1 DL MUL PPDU 414, an AP2 beacon 420, an AP2 trigger 422, and an AP2 DL MUL PPDU 424. In this example, AP1 and AP2 may be in a MAP SS and may coordinate on a TWT schedule. In an embodiment, AP1 and AP2 may negotiate MAP coordinated TWT parameters.

[0088] In an embodiment, an AP can negotiate a MAP type (e.g., C-SR, C-TDMA, or C-OFDMA) taking into account the capabilities and sounding results of the MAP TWT member STAs. For example, if all member STAs of TWT-scheduled AP1 report low interference levels from AP2, AP1 can inform AP2 that it can support C-SR. If AP1, AP2, and all member STAs support C-TDMA and the two TWT schedules are sufficiently synchronized, both APs can consider using C-TDMA. If AP1, AP2, and all member STAs support C-OFDMA and the two TWT schedules are sufficiently synchronized in the frequency domain, both APs can consider using C-OFDMA.

[0089] For C-SR transmission, the AP can negotiate the AP transmit power, which is the transmit power of each AP. In one embodiment, the same transmit power can be allocated for each AP. In one embodiment, each AP can have a different transmit power. The AP can negotiate the allowed transmit power from non-AP STAs, which is the maximum transmit power allowed by each non-AP STA that can transmit in the TWT. In one embodiment, the AP can negotiate the maximum allowed receive power on the AP side, so that the non-AP STA can calculate the maximum allowed transmit power on the non-AP STA side.

[0090] For C-OFMDA transmission, the AP may negotiate the operating channel width for each AP in the MAP TWT SP. The operating channel width for each AP in the MAP TWT SP may be smaller than or equal to the operating channel width announced by the AP in the beacon frame. The AP may negotiate the punctured channel indication for each AP and its associated STAs / TWT member STAs in the MAP TWT SP. The punctured channel in the MAP TWT SP may be the same as or a superset of the one indicated in the Disallowed Subchannel Bitmap indicated in the beacon frame transmitted by the AP. In one embodiment, the primary channel may not be punctured. In one embodiment, the primary channel may be punctured.

[0091] In the exemplary embodiment shown in FIG. 5, in scenario 510, AP1 can operate on 80 MHz channels with subchannel indices Ch1 through Ch8, where Ch5 is punctured (unused by AP1 and its associated STAs / TWT member STAs). Each subchannel is a 20 MHz channel in this example. AP2 can operate on 80 MHz channels with subchannel indices Ch5 through Ch12, where Ch6 is punctured. AP1 and AP2 are generally considered to be partially overlapping BSSs because they both operate on subchannels Ch5 through Ch8. Using C-OFDMA in MAP TWT, AP1 and AP2 can cooperate together to better utilize the occupied channel. In scenario 520, after AP negotiation, AP1 can operate on 80 MHz channels with subchannel indices Ch1 through Ch8, where Ch5 and Ch8 are punctured. AP2 may operate on 80 MHz channels with subchannel indices Ch5 through Ch12, where Ch6 and Ch7 are punctured (not used by AP1 and its associated STAs / TWT member STAs). In this way, the operating channels from AP1 and AP2 have no overlap within the MAP TWT SP, and they can transmit simultaneously without causing interference to the simultaneous transmissions. The same applies to the STAs associated with AP1 and AP2, respectively.

[0092] In an embodiment, for C-TDMA transmissions, the AP may negotiate the time slots within the MAP TWT SP allocated for each AP and its associated STAs / TWT member STAs.

[0093] Each AP may transmit beacon frames or other types of management frames, which may include a MAP TWT element. These frames may include a TWT element and other MAP-related elements / fields. In this way, a receiving STA may need to understand the TWT element and the MAP-related elements / fields to extract the necessary information about the next MAP TWT SP. The signaling included in the management frame may include, but is not limited to, the following fields / subfields: Several indications may be included in the TWT element and / or the MAP-related elements / fields, so that a non-AP STA can link them and extract the necessary information. For example, the TWT element may carry a field to indicate that the TWT element is MAP-related, and the receiver may need to examine the information carried in the MAP-related elements / fields. The MAP-related elements / fields may carry one or more TWT IDs, so that the receiver can know that the MAP-related elements / fields can apply to the TWT schedules identified by those TWT IDs.

[0094] The signaling included in the management frame may include a MAP indication field / subfield that may indicate a frame or element or a TWT element that carries MAP-related information. The MAP-related information may be used for TWT transmission. The TWT elements carried in the same frame may be referred to as MAP TWT elements.

[0095] The signaling included in the management frame may include a MAP type indication field / subfield that may indicate the type of MAP transmission involved in the TWT (e.g., C-SR, C-OFDMA, C-TDMA). In one embodiment, the MAP type indication field / subfield may be a bitmap, with each bit indicating a type of C-MAP transmission. In this way, two or more types of C-MAP transmission may be used simultaneously in the TWT.

[0096] The signaling included in the management frame may include a MAP overlapping TWT indication field / subfield that may indicate that the scheduled / advertised / negotiated TWT may have at least one overlapping TWT in the MAP SS. In one embodiment, this field / subfield may be used to indicate the presence of MAP-related information.

[0097] The signaling included in the management frame may include a TWT element from another AP, which may be a TWT element scheduled by another AP in the same MAP SS. This element may be present optionally. For example, it may be present when the MAP overlap TWT indication field / subfield is set to true or when the MAP indication field / subfield is set to true. This TWT element may include an AP ID / AP address to indicate the AP that scheduled the TWT. A broadcast TWT ID may be included in the TWT element to indicate a specific TWT. The broadcast TWT ID may be unique within the MAP SS. In one embodiment, one or more TWT elements from other APs may be included.

[0098] The signaling included in the management frame may include an AP Allowed Transmit Power field / subfield that may indicate the maximum allowed combined transmit power at the transmit antenna connectors of all antennas used to transmit in the MAP TWT SP. This field / subfield may be optionally present when the MAP Type indication is set to C-SR or indicates that C-SR is used in the MAP TWT SP. In one embodiment, the AP may be capable of transmitting using different transmit powers over different subchannels. In that case, the field / subfield may include the maximum allowed transmit power over each subchannel.

[0099] The signaling included in the management frame may include a Maximum UL Target Received Power field / subfield, which may indicate the maximum expected received signal power measured at the AP's antenna connector and averaged across antennas in a MAP TWT SP. This field / subfield may be optionally present when the MAP type indication is set to C-SR or indicates that C-SR is used in the MAP TWT SP. In one embodiment, the field / subfield may include the maximum allowed transmit power across each subchannel. In one embodiment, within a MAP TWT SP, the AP may transmit a trigger frame to trigger UL transmissions from one or more STAs. The AP may set the UL target receiver power for each STA in the trigger frame. The UL target receiver power in the trigger frame may not be greater than the value set in the Maximum UL Target Received Power field / subfield defined herein.

[0100] The signaling included in the management frame may include an Operating Channel Width in the MAP TWT field / subfield, which may indicate the operating channel width used in the MAP TWT. Any transmission in the MAP TWT SP should set the Bandwidth field in the PLCP header to less than or equal to the value indicated here. The operating channel width for each AP in the MAP TWT SP may be less than or equal to the operating channel width announced by the AP in the beacon frame. This field / subfield may be optionally present when the MAP Type indication is set to C-OFDMA or indicates that C-OFDMA is used in the MAP TWT SP.

[0101] The signaling included in the management frame may include a punctured channel indication in the MAP TWT field / subfield, which may be a bitmap to indicate that one or more subchannels may be punctured within the MAP TWT SP. The allowed punctured subchannel patterns may be more than those used for the Disallowed Subchannel Bitmap field in the beacon. The punctured channels in the MAP TWT SP may be the same as or a superset of those indicated in the Disallowed Subchannel Bitmap indicated in the beacon frame transmitted by the AP. This field / subfield may be optionally present when the MAP type indication is set to C-OFDMA or indicates that C-OFDMA is used in the MAP TWT SP. The receiving STA may combine the operating channel width in the MAP TWT subfield and the punctured channel indication in the MAP TWT subfield to identify the subchannel(s) used by the AP transmitting the message. When C-OFDMA is the only C-MAP scheme used in a MAP TWT SP, the subchannels used by different APs may not have overlap. When C-OFDMA and C-SR are used in a MAP TWT SP, the subchannels used by different APs may have overlap.

[0102] The signaling included in the management frame may include a temporary primary channel in the MAP TWT SP. The temporary primary channel in the MAP TWT SP may be the same as or different from the AP's primary channel carried in the beacon frame. In the MAP TWT SP, the AP and its member STAs can use the temporary primary channel in the same manner as the primary channel defined outside the MAP TWT SP. For example, control and management frames in the MAP TWT may be transmitted over the temporary primary channel. The AP and non-AP STAs can monitor the temporary primary channel to set and update their NAV(s). MAP TWT member STAs may need to always monitor the temporary primary channel in the MAP TWT SP. After the end of the MAP TWT SP, the AP(s) can help non-AP STAs recover their NAV settings on the primary channel. In one embodiment, each AP can broadcast its NAV setting to non-AP STAs on the primary channel. Thus, non-AP STAs can use this value to set their NAV. In another embodiment, each non-AP STA may wait for a predefined / predetermined / assigned duration before it can attempt to contend for the channel again. In another embodiment, the AP(s) may transmit a trigger frame or other type of control / management frame using the primary channel of the AP's BSS after the MAP TWT SP and a predetermined / predefined wideband channel transition delay period to solicit an immediate response from the MAP TWT member STAs that participated in the transmission in the MAP TWT SP. The transmission of the trigger frame or other type of control / management frame may be carried in an HE or EHT or EHT+ PPDU or a non-HT PPDU or a non-HT replicated PPDU.A MAP TWT member STA can respond with a frame in the HE / EHT / EHT+TB PPDU or non-HT duplicate PPDU to indicate that it has switched from the temporary primary channel to the primary channel. The wideband channel transition delay period is the time period for the STA to switch from the temporary primary channel to the primary channel. The wideband channel transition delay period may be limited by the hardware capabilities of the STA. The STA can report the required wideband channel transition delay period in its capability element / field.

[0103] In an embodiment, the AP and MAP TWT member STAs can arrange resource unit allocations in the MAP TWT Schedule / SP based on the resource allocation field, the operating channel width in the MAP TWT, the punctured channel indication in the MAP TWT, and the temporary primary channel in the MAP TWT SP.

[0104] The signaling included in the management frame may include a timeslot field that may define the timeslots within the MAP TWT SP. In one embodiment, the timeslots may be defined by a timeslot offset subfield and a timeslot duration subfield. The timeslot offset subfield may indicate the time offset between the first timeslot and the TWT SP start time. The timeslot duration subfield may indicate the duration of each timeslot. The timeslots may be used for C-TDMA transmission, and the field / subfield may be optionally present when the MAP type indication is set to C-TDMA or indicates that C-TDMA is used in the MAP TWT SP. Each AP may use one or more timeslots to communicate with its MAP TWT member STAs. The timeslots may be synchronized between APs that can participate in C-TDMA transmissions in the MAP TWT SP. An example is shown in FIG. 6, where the timeslots and the MAP TWT SP may be synchronized or not. The timeslot offset indicated by AP1 extends from the start time for SP1 to the first AP1 trigger 610. Two time slot durations later, a second AP1 trigger 612 is sent. The time slot offset indicated by AP2 extends from the start time for SP2 to the first AP2 trigger 620. A second AP2 trigger 622 is sent two time slot durations later. In the example shown in FIG. 6, there are two MAP TWT SPs advertised by two APs that are not perfectly synchronized, and the time slots may not be synchronized with the start time of either TWT SP. The time slot duration subfield may be the same between overlapping MAP TWT SPs. Each AP may indicate a time slot offset relative to its TWT SP start time. In this example, AP1 and AP2 may transmit within the MAP TWT SP using a TDMA scheme.AP1 can use time slots 1 and 3, and AP2 can use time slots 2 and 4. Each AP can be allowed to transmit only in its assigned time slot. For example, with a trigger-enabled TWT, an AP can transmit a trigger frame in its assigned time slot.

[0105] The signaling included in the management frame may include P2P support information. This field may be used to indicate whether the MAP TWT schedule / SP can be used for P2P transmissions. If it is supported, the STA that gains control of the MAP TWT schedule / SP may be enabled to transmit to a peer STA. Transmissions between peer STAs may be carried in PPDUs with a bandwidth up to the channel width indicated in the operating channel width in the MAP TWT field. Transmissions between peer STAs may not be on any of the punctured channels / subchannels indicated in the punctured channel indication in the MAP TWT field. The primary channel used in P2P transmissions may be indicated in the temporary primary channel in the MAP TWT SP field.

[0106] The signaling included in the management frame may include an overlapping TWT bitmap. The overlapping TWT bitmap field may indicate APs that have overlapping TWT SPs with the TWT identified by the TWT ID field. The size of the bitmap may be determined by the number of APs in the MAP group. Alternatively, the size of the bitmap may be fixed to the maximum number of APs in the MAP group. The number of significant bits in the bitmap may be determined by the number of APs in the current MAP group. Each bit in the bitmap may represent an AP. If the bit is set to 1, the AP may have overlapping TWT SPs / schedules to the transmitting AP. Otherwise, the AP may not have overlapping TWT SPs / schedules to the transmitting AP. The order of APs in the bitmap may be signaled explicitly or implicitly. In one method, the order of APs may follow the order of AP IDs in the MAP group, where the corresponding APs may be active in the MAP group. For example, bit position k in the bitmap may represent an AP with AP ID value f(k), where f(k) may be a predefined function. In one method, f(k) = k-1. In this method, the maximum supported number of APs in a MAP group is N, and the possible AP IDs can range from 0 to N-1. In a MAP group, the active APs are those with AP IDs 1, 3, 4, and 6. The bitmap can have size N, and the second, fourth, fifth, and seventh bits in the bitmap are significant and are used to indicate whether the TWT SP / schedule of the transmitting AP can have an overlapped TWT SP / schedule with an AP identified in the overlap TWT bitmap. In one embodiment, the bitmap can have size 4, and the first bit can represent the AP with AP ID 1, the second bit can represent the AP with AP ID 3, the third bit can represent the AP with AP ID 4, and the last bit can represent the AP with AP ID 6.The duplicate TWT bitmap size field may be carried in the same element or other related elements / fields.

[0107] A non-AP STA intending to join a MAP TWT SP can receive the beacon frame, extract the information carried in the TWT element and / or other MAP-related elements, and determine whether it can join based on the information conveyed therein (e.g., C-MAP type, Tx power, etc.).

[0108] In a MAP TWT SP, the AP and member STAs can communicate using the corresponding MAP scheme.

[0109] The TWT element can be modified to carry MAP related information.

[0110] The above procedure can be applied to overlapping TWT schedules or TWT schedules with several overlapping TWT SPs.

[0111] STAs that support MAP cooperative TWT, including AP and non-AP STAs, can report their capabilities in a capabilities element carried in a management frame, a control frame, or a data frame.

[0112] A TWT element design is described herein. MAP-related information can be included in an extended TWT element. In one embodiment, an extended TWT element can be modified from an existing TWT element by adding MAP-related information.

[0113] In one embodiment, a MAP TWT Present subfield (which may also be referred to as a MAP Duplicate TWT Indication subfield, or other similar names) may be added to an existing TWT element using one or more reserved bits. For example, the control field defined in the TWT element may be modified as shown in Table 2. The MAP TWT Present subfield may be added to the modified control field to indicate that the TWT element may contain MAP-related information. The MAP TWT Present subfield may indicate the presence of MAP-related information.

[0114] [Table 2]

[0115] In one embodiment, the MAP TWT Presence subfield may be added to the Broadcast TWT Parameter Set and / or Individual TWT Parameter Set subfields using reserved bits or reserved values ​​in one or more existing fields.

[0116] In one embodiment, when the MAP TWT Present bit is set, more detailed MAP-related information can be included in the TWT element. For example, as shown in Tables 3 and 4, the MAP Operation Info subfield can be present in the Broadcast TWT Parameter Set subfield and / or the Individual TWT Parameter Set subfield in the Extended TWT element. This subfield can optionally be present when the MAP TWT Present subfield is set to 1.

[0117] [Table 3]

[0118] [Table 4]

[0119] The MAP Operation Info field may carry C-MAP-related information to enable C-SR, C-OFDMA, C-TDMA, etc. in overlapped-MAP TWT / rTWT. An exemplary MAP Operation Info subfield format is shown in Table 5. The MAP Type subfield may indicate which C-MAP scheme is used. If the MAP Type indicates C-SR use, the C-SR Info subfield may be present. If the MAP Type indicates C-OFDMA use, the C-OFDMA Info subfield may be present. If the MAP Type indicates C-TDMA use, the C-TDMA Info subfield may be present. In one embodiment, the MAP Type subfield may be a bitmap, with each bit representing a C-MAP scheme. When a bit is set, the corresponding C-MAP Info subfield may be present. Although C-SR, C-OFDMA, and C-TDMA are used here as examples, other C-MAP schemes, such as C-BF, joint MIMO, etc., may be used. Furthermore, MAP channel sounding can be used as C-MAP type to indicate that TWT / rTWT can be used for MAP-related channel state information sounding.

[0120] [Table 5]

[0121] An exemplary C-SR Info subfield is shown in Table 6. The C-SR Allowed subfield may indicate that C-SR is allowed during the TWT / rTWT SP advertised or negotiated in the TWT element. The Max AP Transmit Power may be the AP's maximum transmit power during the TWT / rTWT SP advertised or negotiated in the TWT element. The Max Uplink Target Receive Power may be the AP's maximum allowed receive power during the TWT / rTWT SP advertised or negotiated in the TWT element.

[0122] [Table 6]

[0123] An exemplary C-OFDMA Info subfield is shown in Table 7. The C-OFDMA Allowed subfield may indicate that C-OFDMA is allowed during the TWT / rTWT SP advertised or negotiated in the TWT element. The Operating Channel Width may indicate the operating channel width used in the MAP TWT SP. The Punctured Channel Indication may indicate a punctured subchannel in the MAP TWT SP. The Temporary Primary Channel may indicate the primary channel in the MAP TWT SP.

[0124] [Table 7]

[0125] An exemplary C-TDMA Info subfield is shown in Table 8. The C-TDMA Allowed subfield may indicate that C-TDMA is allowed during the TWT / rTWT SP advertised or negotiated in the TWT element. The Timeslot Offset may indicate the time offset between the TWT / rTWT start time and the first timeslot boundary. The Timeslot Duration may indicate the duration of each timeslot.

[0126] [Table 8]

[0127] In one embodiment, the MAP operation information field may include other MAP-related information / field(s) / element(s). For example, it may include a Per-AP Info field, which may include basic information about another AP in the same MAP group as the transmitting AP. The Per-AP Info field may include an AP ID in the MAP group, an AP MLD address, an AP MAC address, AP operating channel information including channel operating width, an invalidation subchannel bitmap, and / or corresponding TWT elements operated by the AP. In one embodiment, the MAP operation information field may include any information mentioned in any procedure disclosed herein.

[0128] Further procedures include silenced TWT. In one embodiment, an AP may advertise that one or more TWT SPs in a series of TWT SPs may be silenced. One possible reason for silencing a TWT SP is that it may overlap with another TWT SP advertised by a neighboring AP in the same MAP SS. FIG. 7 shows an example of a silenced TWT procedure. In this example, two APs may have two TWT SP schedules that overlap with each other. Instead of two TWT schedules (each TWT schedule including a series of TWT SPs), the two APs may coordinate on a MAP TWT for each pair of overlapping TWT SPs. In the first overlapping TWT SP, the two APs may decide to implement the MAP TWT SPs 710, 720 as described above. In the second overlapping TWT SP, AP1 may have some significant traffic or may need to serve some TWT member STAs that may not support C-MAP transmission. Therefore, AP2 can advertise in its beacon frame that the overlapping TWT SP 722 may be muted for a fixed period or in the beacon interval following the beacon frame. In this way, the TWT SP 712 operated by AP1 is not affected by interference from AP2's BSS. The no-signal TWT SP indication can be included in the extended TWT element. When this field is set, non-AP STAs are aware that the TWT SP identified by the broadcast TWT ID may be muted for a fixed period or in the beacon interval following the beacon frame. However, the TWT SP identified by the broadcast TWT ID can remain active after that period. In the third overlapping TWT SP, AP1 can indicate that its TWT SP 714 is muted while the TWT SP 724 advertised by AP2 operates normally.In the fourth overlapping TWT SP, the two APs may decide to implement the MAP TWT SPs 716, 726 as described above.

[0129] In one embodiment, the TWT no-signal period can be explicitly signaled in the extended TWT element. For example, when a broadcast TWT parameter set may be silenced, the TWT parameter set can be identified by the broadcast TWT ID, and one or more subfields in the TWT parameter set field can be reused to indicate the no-signal period. Alternatively, an additional subfield / field can be added to the TWT parameter set to indicate the no-signal period. In one embodiment, the TWT no-signal period can be predefined. For example, the TWT no-signal period can be one beacon interval starting from the end of the frame carrying the TWT element. In one embodiment, a new element can be defined for the purpose of TWT no-signaling. This new element may be referred to as a TWT no-signaling element. The element may include one or more TWT SPs that should be silenced for a fixed period (e.g., a beacon interval). The broadcast TWT ID can be used in the element to indicate the TWT SPs that should be silenced. In this way, an AP can silence more than one TWT SP by using this element. In one embodiment, the TWT schedule can resume after a fixed period of no signal, with or without explicit signaling.

[0130] When an AP silences its TWT / rTWT SP(s), the AP can include a TWT / rTWT SP from another AP in the same MAP SS, so that non-AP STAs that may have traffic can switch to the other AP and participate in the TWT / rTWT. Each TWT parameter set can include an AP ID subfield or a MAP bitmap subfield, as shown in Table 9, that can indicate the AP(s) that will schedule the TWT. If the AP ID is set to a default value (e.g., 0) or the MAP bitmap is set to all 0s, the TWT identified by the TWT parameter set will be scheduled by the AP that transmits the TWT element. Otherwise, the TWT identified by the TWT parameter set can be scheduled by the AP identified by the AP ID or MAP bitmap subfield.

[0131] [Table 9]

[0132] For example, within one Broadcast TWT element, an AP may include two Broadcast TWT parameter sets: a first TWT parameter set may indicate that TWT SPs scheduled by the transmitting AP are to be silent for a given period of time, and a second TWT parameter set may indicate TWT SPs scheduled by another AP in the same MAP SS that may allow inter-BSS STAs to participate.

[0133] The above procedure can be applied to partially overlapping TWT schedules or to TWT schedules with several overlapping TWT SPs.

[0134] STAs that support signalless TWT, including APs and non-AP STAs, can report this capability in a capabilities element carried in a management, control, or data frame. APs that support carrying TWT elements from other APs in the same MAP SS can report this capability in a capabilities element carried in a management, control, or data frame.

[0135] The Capabilities element may include a TWT non-AP member STA, or a non-AP STA may transmit a frame (e.g., a TWT No Signaling Request frame) to request its associated AP to no-signal one or more TWT SPs for the STA or for the BSS if the STA observes overlapping BSS transmissions. In a TWT No Signaling Request frame, the STA may include the following fields, as described below:

[0136] The Capabilities element may include an Extended TWT element / field, and / or the TWT No Signaling element / field may indicate the TWT schedule of the participating STA and the no signaling period requested by the STA. The STA may indicate that it requests no signaling for the TWT SP or the entire TWT schedule. The STA may indicate that it requests no signaling for itself or for all member STAs. The STA may indicate the reason for the no signaling request. For example, one reason code may indicate that the STA can expect high interference during the TWT SP / schedule. One reason code may indicate that the STA can expect overlapping TWTs from the OBSS AP. One reason code may indicate that the OBSS AP can request the STA to relay its TWT-related information, so that MAP-coordinated TWT transmission can be achieved.

[0137] The Capabilities element may include an OBSS Operation element / field. If the STA can expect interference from the OBSS, the STA may include this element / field. The OBSS Operation element / field may include one or more of the following: OBSS AP ID / address, OBSS Operation Channel Width, OBSS Disabled Subchannel Bitmap, OBSS Primary Channel, and / or SINR / SNR / RSSI / Path Loss Report between the OBSS AP and the STA.

[0138] The Capabilities element may include an Overlapping TWT element. If the STA can expect interference from an OBSS TWT, the STA may include this element / field. The element may contain complete or partial information about overlapping TWTs from an OBSS AP.

[0139] The AP may respond with a frame (e.g., a TWT No Signaling Response frame) to indicate whether it will no-signal the TWT SP(s) for the STA or for the entire BSS. The response frame may include one or more of the following elements:

[0140] The response frame may include an extended TWT element / field and / or a TWT no signaling element / field that may indicate a TWT schedule and no signaling periods during which the AP may no signal.

[0141] The response frame may include an OBSS operation element / field, which may include one or more of the following: OBSS AP ID / address, OBSS operation channel width, OBSS disabled subchannel bitmap, OBSS primary channel, and / or SINR / SNR / RSSI / path loss report between the OBSS AP and the STA.

[0142] The response frame may include an overlapping TWT element. If the APs cooperate using OBSS TWTs, the AP may include an element that may contain complete or partial information about the overlapping TWTs from the OBSS AP.

[0143] In one embodiment, the AP may use the TWT information frame to indicate the non-signaling of one or more TWT SPs due to MAP operation.

[0144] C-MAP TWT elements are described herein. A TWT schedule may refer to a series of TWT SPs. An AP may be able to advertise a TWT schedule that includes a series of periodic or aperiodic TWT SPs.

[0145] In C-MAP TWT element embodiments, a TWT schedule can be negotiated between an AP and non-AP STAs without considering MAP cooperative transmissions. However, one or more TWT SPs in the TWT schedule may overlap with other TWT SPs operated by neighboring APs in the same MAP group. Embodiments disclosed herein can enable an AP to perform C-MAP transmissions on the overlapped TWT SPs.

[0146] Different periodic TWT schedules can have different periodicities. Periodic TWT schedules from non-colocated APs may sometimes, but not always, overlap with TWT SPs, as shown in FIG. 8 . In this example, AP1 and AP2 are two non-colocated APs. AP1 has periodic TWT schedules 810 and 814 with TWT ID equal to 1, and AP2 has periodic TWT schedules 820, 822, and 826 with TWT ID equal to 2. The two TWT schedules have different periodicity values. In this example, the first TWT SP 810 of TWT schedule 1 does not overlap with the first TWT SP 820 and second TWT SP 822 of TWT schedule 2. However, the last TWT SP 814 of TWT schedule 1 and the last TWT SP 826 of TWT schedule 2 do overlap. In this case, if both AP1 and AP2 support C-MAP TWT operation, they can cooperate and share overlapped resources using the methods described herein. Because the TWT schedules do not completely overlap, but do overlap occasionally, instead of being carried in the TWT element, C-MAP TWT related information can be carried in beacon frames 812, 824, or other types of frames prior to the overlapping TWT SP.

[0147] In one embodiment, APs with C-MAP TWT capability and intending to cooperate with each other can configure their broadcast TWT IDs in a way that makes them unique within the MAP group. For example, if one broadcast TWT ID is used by an AP in the MAP group and the corresponding TWT schedule is alive or active, other APs in the MAP group may not assign that value to their broadcast TWT IDs. Alternatively, or additionally, APs can exchange available broadcast TWT ID lists or exchange frames to report broadcast TWT ID collisions and request that broadcast TWT IDs be reassigned.

[0148] In one embodiment, values ​​of the Broadcast TWT ID subfield within a first range (i.e., range 1) (e.g., [a, b]) can be used to identify TWTs without MAP coordination, and values ​​of the Broadcast TWT ID subfield within a second range (i.e., range 2) (e.g., [0, a-1]) can be used to identify TWTs with MAP coordination.

[0149] In one embodiment, the TWT ID may be used in conjunction with an AP ID or other type of ID to uniquely identify a TWT schedule in a MAP group.

[0150] In one embodiment, each AP may carry information about its own TWT SP in the C-MAP TWT transmission, and thus, in this case, the TWT ID may not need to be unique among the MAP group.

[0151] In one embodiment, the C-MAP TWT related information may be carried in an element or field or frame, sometimes referred to as a C-MAP TWT element / field / frame. The C-MAP TWT element / field may be carried in a beacon frame or other type of frame. The C-MAP TWT frame may be transmitted before the overlapping TWT SP. The C-MAP TWT related information may include the following:

[0152] The C-MAP TWT-related information may include a TWT ID. This TWT ID field may indicate the TWT schedule advertised by the transmitting AP in the TWT element. In one embodiment, the TWT ID may refer to the broadcast TWT ID.

[0153] The C-MAP TWT-related information may include an overlapping TWT indication. The overlapping TWT indication field may indicate a TWT SP identified by a TWT ID in the current beacon interval, or a future beacon interval identified by a next overlapping TWT field may overlap with another TWT SP.

[0154] The C-MAP TWT-related information may include the next overlapping TWT in units of target beacon transmission time (TBTT). This field may indicate the number of TBTTs counted from the current or next TBTT during which the TWT SP identified by the TWT ID may overlap with one or more TWT SPs from other APs in the MAP group. In this way, the AP may indicate overlapping SPs that may occur in future beacon intervals. For example, a C-MAP TWT element / field / frame may be transmitted after beacon frame 1. The estimated TWT overlap may be in the third beacon interval, and the current beacon interval may be referred to as the first beacon interval. In that case, the next overlapping TWT in units of target beacon transmission time (TBTT) field may be set to 3.

[0155] The C-MAP TWT-related information may include an overlapping TWT bitmap. The overlapping TWT bitmap field may indicate the AP(s) that have overlapping TWT SPs with the TWT identified by the TWT ID field. The size of the bitmap may be determined by the number of APs in the MAP group. Alternatively, the size of the bitmap may be fixed to the maximum number of APs in the MAP group. However, the number of meaningful bits in the bitmap may be determined by the number of APs in the current MAP group. Each bit in the bitmap may represent an AP. If the bit is set to 1, the AP may have an overlapping TWT SP / schedule to the transmitting AP. Otherwise, the AP may not have an overlapping TWT SP / schedule to the transmitting AP. The order of APs in the bitmap may be explicitly or implicitly signaled. In one embodiment, the order of APs may follow the order of AP IDs in the MAP group, where the corresponding APs may be active in the MAP group. For example, bit position k in the bitmap may represent an AP with AP ID value f(k), where f(k) may be a predefined function. In one embodiment, where f(k)=k−1, the maximum supported number of APs in a MAP group is N, and the possible AP IDs can range from 0 to N−1. In a MAP group, the active APs are those with AP IDs 1, 3, 4, and 6. The bitmap can have size N, and the second, fourth, fifth, and seventh bits in the bitmap are significant and are used to indicate whether the TWT SP / schedule of the transmitting AP can have an overlapped TWT SP / schedule with an AP identified in the overlap TWT bitmap. In one embodiment, the bitmap can have size 4, and the first bit can represent the AP with AP ID 1, the second bit can represent the AP with AP ID 3, the third bit can represent the AP with AP ID 4, and the last bit can represent the AP with AP ID 6.Duplicate TWT Bitmap Size fields may be carried in the same element or other related elements / fields.

[0156] The C-MAP TWT-related information may include an AP-specific Info list. The AP-specific Info list may carry one or more AP-specific Info fields. Each AP-specific Info field may carry C-MAP TWT-related information for an AP in a MAP group, which may have a TWT schedule that can interact with the TWT schedule advertised by the transmitting AP. The AP-specific Info field may carry one or more of the following fields: (i) AP ID, which may be used to identify an AP in a MAP group. The AP identified by the AP ID may be referred to as the reported AP, and the AP that transmits the C-MAP TWT element / field / frame may be referred to as the reporting AP. (ii) TWT ID, which may indicate the TWT schedule advertised by the transmitting AP in the TWT element. The TWT ID may refer to the broadcast TWT ID. (iii) TBTT offset, which may indicate the time TBTT offset between the reporting AP and the reported AP. The receiving STA can use this information to estimate the TWT SP start time of the reported AP.

[0157] The C-MAP TWT related information may include MAP operation information. This field may carry C-MAP related information for overlapping TWT SPs. Details of this field are described above in connection with MAP cooperative transmission in TWT SP embodiments.

[0158] With C-MAP, an AP may need to monitor beacon or MAP-related transmissions from other APs. Beacon frames are typically transmitted on the primary 20 MHz subchannel, so STAs may need to operate on the primary 20 MHz subchannel to obtain the information carried in the beacon frames. However, in a MAP scenario, different APs do not always operate on the same primary 20 MHz subchannel, even though their operating channels may have overlap. Therefore, an AP may miss beacon frames from its neighboring APs in the same MAP SS.

[0159] Inter-AP transmissions are described herein. In embodiments disclosed herein, an AP may need to monitor beacon or other transmissions from other APs in the same MAP SS. Beacon frames are typically transmitted on a primary 20 MHz subchannel, and therefore, STAs may need to operate on the primary 20 MHz subchannel to obtain information carried in the beacon frames. However, in a MAP scenario, different APs do not always operate on the same primary 20 MHz subchannel. Thus, an AP may miss beacon frames from its neighboring APs in the same MAP SS.

[0160] If some APs in a MAP SS can be wired, the APs can exchange information through the wired connection.

[0161] If some APs in a MAP SS may not have a wired connection to other APs, the following method can be used to increase the chances that the APs can hear or monitor beacon transmissions from each other.

[0162] In the method, there may be a backhaul link for communication between APs. APs may use the backhaul link to exchange information necessary for MAP operation, such as a timing synchronization function (TSF), a TSF offset (e.g., between APs), a TBTT, a TBTT offset (e.g., between APs), an operating bandwidth, and a primary channel. In this way, APs in the same MAP SS may be synchronized.

[0163] In the method, the AP may need to monitor the wideband channel from time to time. The wideband channel may be the AP's entire operating channel or a channel with a channel width = min(x MHz, operating channel width) including the primary 20 MHz channel, where x may be, for example, 80, 160, 320, etc. When the AP is operating in the wideband channel, it may have a chance to monitor beacon frames from other APs. A MAP Critical Update field / subfield may be defined and carried in beacon frames or other management frames to indicate that MAP-related information has been critically updated, so that neighboring APs may need to monitor beacons from the reporting AP.

[0164] In the method, a MAP beacon frame can be defined. The MAP beacon frame can carry information necessary for MAP operation, such as the TSF, TSF offset, TBTT, TBTT offset, operating bandwidth, primary channel, etc. In this way, APs in the same MAP SS can be synchronized. It can also carry a MAP Critical Update field / subfield to indicate that the reporting AP's operating information has been definitively updated and that other APs may need to examine the beacon frame to capture the updated information. The MAP beacon frame can be coded, modulated, and repeatedly transmitted on each 20 MHz subchannel, so that neighboring APs whose primary 20 MHz subchannel overlaps with the 20 MHz subchannel carrying the MAP beacon frame can capture this information. The MAP beacon frame can be transmitted over its operating bandwidth, for example, using a non-HT duplicate (DUP) physical layer protocol data unit (PPDU).

[0165] In the method, each AP can carry MAP-related information of other APs or other neighboring APs in its beacon frames or other types of management frames or other types of frames, and this information can be captured by its associated STAs or STAs within its coverage range.

[0166] Procedures for information exchange between APs are described herein. A cooperative group of STAs or MLDs may have one or more of the following characteristics: APs in a cooperative group can cooperate with each other on a particular channel(s). Cooperation can exist in one or more forms, such as joint transmission, cooperative TDMA, cooperative FDMA, cooperative spatial reuse, and cooperative beamforming. STAs associated with an AP that belongs to an AP MLD can communicate with another AP that belongs to another AP MLD. STAs associated with an AP that belongs to an AP MLD can communicate with another AP that belongs to the same AP MLD.

[0167] Before APs form a cooperative group, these APs may have different primary channels and may not have established agreement on the communication channel (e.g., which channel will be used for communication between the APs). This communication may include system information exchange, data communication, etc. Therefore, a procedure must be designed to enable information exchange between these cooperative APs.

[0168] In one embodiment, prior to any cooperation between two APs or two AP MLDs, an AP can initiate a system information exchange with another AP, which may belong to another AP MLD, or a neighboring AP belonging to another AP MLD, using its own primary channel as one channel. This channel can be used as a dedicated channel for system information exchange between APs. Alternatively, the channel can be changed after negotiation and / or agreement between the APs is established. Alternatively, or additionally, a link can be allocated for the dedicated link for cooperative system information change. Alternatively, or additionally, different pairs of cooperating APs in the same cooperative group can use different dedicated channels (or links) for cooperative system information exchange.

[0169] A cooperation element can be included in a frame transmitted by the initiating AP and / or the responding AP. This element can be included in a management frame, an action frame, or a control frame, such as a beacon frame or a cooperation request / response frame transmitted by the initiating AP or the responding AP. The element can include one or more of the following information: a link or channel used for cooperative system information exchange between APs, associated STA information, a Tx power used in this transmission, a link or channel used for data frame exchange between APs, punctured channel information, an operating BW for the channel used for cooperative system information exchange between APs, an operating BW for the channel used for data frame exchange between APs, a cooperation start time, and a cooperation duration and / or period.

[0170] FIG. 9 illustrates an example of a cooperation initiation information exchange in which a responding AP accepts the cooperation operation (e.g., the operating channel used for system information) proposed by the requesting AP. In FIG. 9, the requesting AP (AP2) sends a cooperation request frame 920 to AP1, including a cooperation element indicating proposed parameters (e.g., using channel 1 for cooperative system information exchange, a start time of the cooperation period, etc.). AP1 agrees to the proposed parameters and transmits a cooperation response frame 910 to AP2 using channel 1. AP1 then sends an unsolicited cooperation response 912 (e.g., a cooperation response frame including a cooperation element on channel 1) to AP3. The cooperation period 914-916, during which AP1, AP2, and AP3 may cooperate with each other, begins at time 914, indicated in the agreed-upon parameters included in the cooperation element. AP1, AP2, and AP3 may need to abide by the cooperation agreement indicated in the cooperation element, which may be included in the most recently received cooperation response frame.

[0171] FIG. 10 illustrates an example of a cooperative initiation information exchange in which the responding AP does not accept the cooperative operation (e.g., the operating channel used for system information) proposed by the requesting AP. In FIG. 10, the requesting AP (AP2) sends a cooperation request frame 1020 to AP1, including a cooperation element indicating proposed parameters (e.g., using channel 1 for cooperative system information exchange, a start time for the cooperation period, etc.). AP1 does not agree to the proposed channel to be used for the cooperative system information exchange and proposes 1010 to use channel 2 for the cooperative system information exchange, which is agreed upon by the cooperation requesting AP, AP2. AP1 then transmits an unsolicited cooperation response frame 1012 to AP2 and AP3 using channel 2 to announce the cooperation agreement between AP1 and AP2. The cooperation period, during which AP1, AP2, and AP3 may cooperate with each other, begins at the time indicated in the agreed-upon parameters included in the cooperation element. AP1, AP2, and AP3 may need to abide by the cooperation agreement indicated in the cooperation element, which may be included in the most recently received cooperation response frame.

[0172] Alternatively, the cooperation request frame and / or the cooperation response frame may be transmitted over the transmitter's operating bandwidth using a non-HT DUP PPDU.

[0173] The responding AP can propose a different link for the cooperative system information exchange. A dedicated channel for the cooperative system information exchange can be applicable to the dedicated link for the cooperative system information exchange. The communication channel or link used during the cooperation period can be the same channel or link as that used for the cooperative system information exchange, or a different channel or link.

[0174] In one embodiment, if a responding AP punctures the primary channel of a cooperation-requesting AP, the responding AP may need to un-puncture this channel or monitor information transmitted on this channel. Similarly, if a cooperation-requesting AP punctures the primary channel of a cooperation-requesting AP, the requesting AP may need to un-puncture this channel or monitor information transmitted on this channel. Furthermore, cooperating APs may negotiate channels indicated as punctured in their own BSSs.

[0175] 11 illustrates an exemplary method for coordinating target wake time (TWT) schedules. In an embodiment, the method may include, at 1110, negotiating, by a first access point (AP), multi-AP coordinated target wake time (C-MAP TWT) parameters with another AP, where the C-MAP TWT parameters include one or more of a TWT Tx power, a Tx slot, and / or a Tx subchannel. At 1112, the first AP transmits a beacon frame including a C-MAP TWT element including an indication of whether the TWT service period (SP) overlaps with a TWT SP of another AP and the C-MAP TWT parameters of the TWT SP. At 1114, the first AP communicates with STAs during the TWT SP using the negotiated C-MAP TWT parameters transmitted in the beacon frame.

[0176] While the features and elements of the present invention are described in specific combinations in preferred embodiments, each feature or element can be used alone without other features and elements of the preferred embodiments, or in various combinations with or without other features and elements of the present invention. While the solutions described herein consider a specific protocol, it is understood that the solutions described herein are not limited to this scenario and are applicable to other wireless systems. While SIFS is used to indicate various inter-frame spacings in the design and procedural examples, all other inter-frame spacings, such as RIFS, AIFS, DIFS, or other agreed-upon time intervals, can be applied in the same solution. While four RBs per triggered TXOP are shown in some figures as an example, the actual number of utilized RBs / channels / bandwidth may vary.

[0177] Although features and elements have been described above in particular combinations, those skilled in the art will appreciate that each feature or element may be used alone or in any combination with the other features and elements. Furthermore, the methods described herein may be implemented in a computer program, software, or firmware embodied in a computer-readable medium for execution by a computer or processor. Examples of computer-readable media include electronic signals (transmitted via wired or wireless connections) and computer-readable storage media. Examples of computer-readable storage media include, but are not limited to, read-only memory (ROM), random-access memory (RAM), registers, cache memory, semiconductor memory devices, magnetic media such as internal hard disks and removable disks, magneto-optical media, and optical media such as CD-ROM disks and digital versatile disks (DVDs). A processor in association with software may be used to implement a radio frequency transceiver for use in a WTRU, UE, terminal, base station, RNC, or any host computer.

Claims

1. An access point (AP), a processor configured to negotiate Coordinated Multi-AP Target Wake Time (C-MAP TWT) parameters with another AP, the C-MAP TWT parameters including one or more of TWT Tx power, Tx slot, and / or Tx subchannel; a transceiver configured to transmit a beacon frame including a C-MAP TWT element including an indication of whether a TWT service period (SP) overlaps with a TWT SP of the other AP, and C-MAP TWT parameters of the TWT SP; Equipped with the processor and the transceiver are configured to communicate with a station (STA) during the TWT SP using the negotiated C-MAP TWT parameters transmitted in the beacon frame; Access point.

2. The access point of claim 1 , wherein the C-MAP TWT parameters of the TWT SP include a MAP type.

3. 3. The access point of claim 2, wherein the MAP types include at least one of cooperative spatial reuse (C-SR), cooperative orthogonal frequency division multiple access (C-OFDMA), cooperative time division multiple access (C-TDMA), cooperative beamforming (C-BF), and joint multiple-input multiple-output transmission (J-MIMO).

4. 4. The access point of claim 2, wherein, in response to the MAP type being C-SR, the C-MAP TWT parameters include an AP transmit power and an allowed transmit power from a non-AP station (STA).

5. 4. The access point of claim 2 or 3, wherein, in response to the MAP type being C-OFDMA, the C-MAP TWT parameters include: an operating channel width for each AP within a MAP TWT Service Period (SP); and a punctured channel indication for each AP and its associated STAs / TWT member STAs in the MAP TWT SP.

6. 4. The access point of claim 2 or 3, wherein, in response to the MAP type being C-TDMA, the C-MAP TWT parameters include a time slot with the MAP TWT SP allocated for each AP and its associated STA / TWT member STA.

7. 7. The access point of claim 1, wherein the MAP TWT element includes at least one of a MAP indication field, a MAP type indication field, a MAP overlap TWT indication field, an AP allowed transmit power field, a maximum uplink target receiver power field, an operating channel width, a punctured channel indication, a temporary primary channel, and a time slot field.

8. 1. A method for coordinating target wake time (TWT) schedules, comprising: negotiating, by a first access point (first AP), multiple AP cooperative target wake time (C-MAP TWT) parameters with another AP, the C-MAP TWT parameters including one or more of TWT Tx power, Tx slot, and / or Tx subchannel; transmitting, by the first AP, a beacon frame including a C-MAP TWT element including an indication of whether its TWT service period (SP) overlaps with a TWT SP of the other AP, and C-MAP TWT parameters of the TWT SP; communicating with a station (STA) during the TWT SP using the negotiated C-MAP TWT parameters transmitted in the beacon frame by the first AP; A method for providing

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein the C-MAP TWT parameters of the TWT SP include a MAP type.

10. 10. The method of claim 9, wherein the MAP type includes at least one of cooperative spatial reuse (C-SR), cooperative orthogonal frequency division multiple access (C-OFDMA), cooperative time division multiple access (C-TDMA), cooperative beamforming (C-BF), and joint multiple-input multiple-output transmission (J-MIMO).

11. The method of claim 9 or 10, wherein, in response to the MAP type being C-SR, the C-MAP TWT parameters include an AP transmit power and an allowed transmit power from a non-AP station (STA).

12. 11. The method of claim 9 or 10, wherein, in response to the MAP type being C-OFDMA, the C-MAP TWT parameters include: an operating channel width for each AP within a MAP TWT Service Period (SP); and a punctured channel indication for each AP and its associated STAs / TWT member STAs in the MAP TWT SP.

13. 11. The method of claim 9 or 10, wherein, in response to the MAP type being C-TDMA, the C-MAP TWT parameters include a time slot with the MAP TWT SP allocated for each AP and its associated STA / TWT member STA.

14. 14. The method of claim 8, wherein the MAP TWT element includes at least one of a MAP indication field, a MAP type indication field, a MAP overlap TWT indication field, an AP allowed transmit power field, a maximum uplink target receiver power field, an operating channel width, a punctured channel indication, a temporary primary channel, and a time slot field.

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