Communication device, communication method and integrated circuit

Abstract

A communication device (100) comprises: a circuit (11) that sets a first value to an association ID (AID) 12 subfield of the first field of a trigger frame requesting an extremely high throughput (EHT) trigger-based (TB) physical layer protocol data unit (PPDU); and a transmitter (12) that transmits the trigger frame. The first value indicates that the first field contains information to be shared for the transmission of the EHT TB PPDU.

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] The present disclosure relates to a communication device and a communication method. [Background technology]

[0002] The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) is currently studying the IEEE 802.11be (hereinafter referred to as "11be") standard for next-generation wireless local area networks (LANs), which will be the successor to the IEEE 802.11ax (hereinafter referred to as "11ax"). IEEE 802.11ax is also known as "High Efficiency (HE)," and IEEE 802.11be is also known as "Extremely High Throughput (EHT)." [Prior art documents] [Non-patent literature]

[0003] [Non-Patent Document 1] IEEE P802.11ax / D7.0, 2020-09 [Non-patent document 2] 802.11-20 / 0764r2, Trigger Consideration, 2020-05 [Non-patent document 3] 802.11-20 / 0831r1, Trigger Frame for Frequency-domain A-PPDU Support, 2020-05 [Non-patent document 4] 802.11-20 / 1429r1, Enhanced Trigger Frame for EHT Support, 2020-09 Summary of the Invention

[0004] However, there is room for further study on the format of the control signal that instructs uplink transmission, which can reduce the amount of reception processing at the terminal.

[0005] Non-limiting embodiments of the present disclosure contribute to providing a communication device and a communication method that can reduce the amount of reception processing at a terminal depending on the format of a control signal that instructs uplink transmission, for example.

[0006] A communication device according to one embodiment of the present disclosure includes a circuit for setting a first value in an Association ID (AID) 12 subfield of a first field of a trigger frame requesting an Extremely High Throughput (EHT) trigger base (TB) physical layer protocol data unit (PPDU), and a transmitter for transmitting the trigger frame, wherein the first value indicates that the first field contains information commonly used to transmit the EHT TB PPDU.

[0007] These comprehensive or specific aspects may be realized as a system, an apparatus, a method, an integrated circuit, a computer program, or a recording medium, or may be realized as any combination of a system, an apparatus, a method, an integrated circuit, a computer program, and a recording medium.

[0008] According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the amount of reception processing at a terminal can be reduced depending on the format of a control signal that instructs uplink transmission.

[0009] Further advantages and benefits of an embodiment of the present disclosure will become apparent from the specification and drawings. Such advantages and / or benefits may be provided by some of the embodiments and features described in the specification and drawings, respectively, but not necessarily all of them may be provided to obtain one or more identical features. [Brief explanation of the drawings]

[0010] [Figure 1] An example of the trigger frame format [Figure 2] A diagram showing an example of the format of the Common info field [Figure 3] A diagram showing an example of the format of the User info field [Figure 4] A diagram showing an example of the value (AID; Association ID) set in the AID12 subfield of the User info field and its explanation. [Figure 5] Block diagram showing a partial configuration example of an AP (Access Point) [Figure 6] Block diagram showing an example of the partial configuration of a terminal [Figure 7] Block diagram showing an example of an AP configuration [Figure 8] Block diagram showing an example of a terminal configuration [Figure 9] A diagram showing an example of the User Info field in the EHT / EHT+ format compared with the HE format [Figure 10] A diagram showing an example of a Specific AID table in operation example 1-1 [Figure 11] A diagram showing an example of the User info List layout in Operation Example 1-1 [Figure 12] A diagram showing an example of a Specific AID table in operation example 1-2 [Figure 13] A diagram showing an example of the User info List layout in Operation Example 1-2 [Figure 14] A diagram showing an example of a Specific AID table in operation example 1-3. [Figure 15] A diagram showing an example of the User info List layout in Operation Example 1-3 [Figure 16] FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an example of the layout of a User Info List according to a modified example of Operation Examples 1-1 to 1-3. [Figure 17] An example of an extended Common field for EHT [Figure 18] A diagram showing an example of User Info List layout when the common field in Figure 17 is applied. [Figure 19] A diagram showing an example of User Info List layout when multiple reserved fields are used in a common field. [Figure 20] FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an example of a method for arranging RUs (Resource Units) in a User Info List according to Operation Example 2-1. [Figure 21] FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an example of a method for arranging RUs in a User Info List according to Operation Example 2-2. [Figure 22] A diagram showing an example of a Specific AID table in operation example 2-2 [Figure 23] FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an example of a method for arranging RUs in a User Info List according to Operation Example 2-3. [Figure 24] A diagram showing an example of a Specific AID table in operation example 2-3 [Figure 25] FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an example of a method for arranging RUs in a User Info List according to Operation Example 2-4. [Figure 26] A diagram showing an example of a Specific AID table in operation example 2-4 [Figure 27] A diagram showing an example of the User Info field of the EHT / EHT+ format in operation example 2-5 in comparison with the HE format. [Figure 28] A diagram showing an example of a Specific AID table in operation example 2-5 [Figure 29] A diagram showing an example of the User info List layout in Operation Example 2-5 [Figure 30] A diagram showing the modified User Info field of the EHT / EHT+ format compared with the HE format [Figure 31] A diagram showing the modified User Info field of the EHT / EHT+ format compared with the HE format [Figure 32] A diagram showing the modified User Info field of the EHT / EHT+ format compared with the HE format [Figure 33]A diagram showing the modified User Info field of the EHT / EHT+ format compared with the HE format DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0011] Hereinafter, embodiments of the present disclosure will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

[0012] [Embodiment 1] 11ax specifies the introduction of uplink Orthogonal Frequency-Division Multiple Access (OFDMA). An access point (AP, also called a "base station") transmits a control signal (e.g., a "trigger frame") to multiple terminals (also called "STAs") accommodated by the AP, instructing them to transmit uplink OFDMA signals. Note that "notification" may be interpreted as "instruction."

[0013] For example, as shown in FIG. 1, a Common Info field and a User Info List field are defined in the Trigger frame (see, for example, Non-Patent Document 1). The Common Info field includes information common to multiple HE terminals (11ax terminals) multiplexed by OFDMA. The User Info List field includes one or more User Info fields, and the User Info field may include information specific to each HE terminal multiplexed by OFDMA. FIG. 2 shows an example of the configuration of the Common Info field, and FIG. 3 shows an example of the configuration of the User Info field (see, for example, Non-Patent Document 1).

[0014] The AID12 subfield of the User Info field is used, for example, to notify the Association ID (AID), which is a terminal-specific ID assigned to the terminal at the time of association. In the current IEEE 802.11 standard, values ​​from 1 to 2007 are used as AIDs, and other values ​​are unused (reserved) as AIDs. Hereinafter, the method of allocating frequency resources (RU: Resource Unit) to a specific terminal by notifying the terminal of the AID assigned to it will be referred to as "Individually Addressed RU." Note that transmission using Individually Addressed RUs is also called Scheduled Access.

[0015] In addition, in 11ax, as shown in Figure 4, for example, a specific AID (hereinafter sometimes referred to as a "Specific AID") selected from AIDs not used for individually designated RUs (hereinafter sometimes referred to as "unused AIDs" or "spare AIDs") is used as the value of the AID12 subfield to notify RUs that are not individually designated RUs.

[0016] For example, by setting AID=0 or AID=2045, which is a Specific AID, as the value of the AID12 subfield, the terminal is informed that the RU indicated by the RU Allocation subfield, which is RU allocation information in the User Info field, is a Random Access RU (hereinafter, sometimes referred to as an "RA-RU") (see, for example, Non-Patent Document 1). Also, by setting AID=2046 in the Specific AID, the terminal is informed that the RU indicated by the RU Allocation subfield in the User Info field is an unallocated RU (also called an unassigned RU).

[0017] In 11be (EHT) and its next-generation version, beyond 11be (hereinafter sometimes referred to as "EHT+"), it is being considered to reuse the 11ax (HE) trigger frame as a control signal that instructs multiple terminals to transmit uplink OFDMA signals (see, for example, Non-Patent Documents 2, 3, and 4).

[0018] For EHT, the following three requirements are being considered for the new trigger frame for EHT. The first is that a single trigger frame must be able to control a combination of HE terminals, EHT terminals, and EHT+ terminals. The second is backward compatibility, in other words, the new trigger frame must not affect the operation of HE terminals (for example, HE terminals must be able to receive the new trigger frame). The third is forward compatibility, in other words, the new trigger frame must be easy to extend to EHT+.

[0019] However, in addition to the above requirements, there is room for further study on the new Trigger frame transmission method that takes into account the reception processing volume of the terminal and the overhead of the Trigger frame. There is also room for further study on the allocation order of individually designated RUs, RA-RUs, and unallocated RUs.

[0020] In the following, an efficient trigger frame transmission method will be described that takes into consideration the requirements for the new trigger frame described above, as well as the amount of reception processing by the terminal and the overhead of control signals.

[0021] [Wireless communication system configuration] The wireless communication system according to the first embodiment includes AP 100 and terminal 200. AP 100 and terminal 200 are examples of wireless communication devices. AP 100 may be considered an example of a wireless transmission device, and terminal 200 may be considered an example of a wireless reception device.

[0022] For example, AP 100 transmits a Trigger frame to terminal 200 to instruct the transmission of an uplink signal (which may also be referred to as "uplink transmission"). Terminal 200, for example, receives the Trigger frame and transmits an uplink signal (for example, an OFDMA signal) to AP 100 using resources instructed by the Trigger frame. Note that the uplink signal transmitted by terminal 200 may include, for example, a data signal, an RA signal, or the like.

[0023] Here, terminal 200 may be any of an HE terminal, an EHT terminal, and an EHT+ terminal. AP 100 may transmit one Trigger frame to multiple terminals of different versions (hereinafter also referred to as "terminal versions") and may receive uplink signals from each terminal 200. AP 100 separates the uplink signals of each terminal 200 allocated to the resources allocated to each terminal 200 from the received signal and decodes them. Note that AP 100 may be an AP that supports EHT or EHT+ in addition to HE, for example.

[0024] FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing a partial configuration example of AP 100 according to this embodiment, and FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing a partial configuration example of terminal 200 according to this embodiment.

[0025] 5, a control unit (or a control circuit) 11 generates, for example, a control signal (for example, a trigger frame) that instructs the terminal 200 to transmit an uplink signal. A transmission unit (or a transmission circuit) 12 transmits, for example, the control signal (trigger frame).

[0026] The processing of the control unit 11 (e.g., generation of a control signal) may include, for example, associating information regarding the format of the terminal information field in a control signal instructing the transmission of an uplink signal with unused identification information in the terminal identification information assigned to an individually specified terminal, depending on the terminal version.

[0027] For example, the control unit 11 may set a specific ID (Specific AID) selected from unused IDs that are not used as terminal IDs assigned to individually specified terminals in the Trigger frame. This Specific AID may be associated with (or assigned with) a definition regarding the format of a terminal information field (which may also be referred to as a "user information field"). The control unit 11 may, for example, assign different meanings to the Specific AID depending on the terminal version. In other words, the interpretation of the Specific AID by the terminal 200 may be different depending on the terminal version.

[0028] On the other hand, in the terminal 200 shown in FIG. 6, the receiving unit (or receiving circuit) 21 receives, for example, a control signal (for example, a Trigger frame) that instructs the terminal 200 to transmit an uplink signal.

[0029] The control unit (or control circuit) 22 transmits an uplink signal based on a control signal that instructs transmission of the uplink signal. The control unit 22 also determines the terminal information field to receive based on, for example, association according to the terminal version, between information on the format of the terminal information field in the control signal that instructs transmission of the uplink signal and unused identification information in the terminal identification information assigned to the individually designated terminal. The receiving unit 21 performs reception processing for the determined terminal information field.

[0030] For example, the control unit 22 interprets the definition of the format of the terminal information field based on the Specific AID detected in the Trigger frame, and the receiving unit 21 performs receiving processing according to the interpretation.

[0031] [AP configuration] Fig. 7 is a block diagram showing an example of the configuration of an AP 100 according to this embodiment. As shown in Fig. 7, the AP 100 may include, for example, a scheduling unit 101, a terminal information acquisition unit 102, a Common Info generation unit 103, an AID control unit 104, a User Info generation unit 105, a Trigger frame generation unit 106, an error correction coding unit 107, a modulation unit 108, a wireless transmission / reception unit 109, a demodulation unit 110, and an error correction decoding unit 111.

[0032] Note that part or all of the scheduling unit 101, the terminal information acquisition unit 102, the Common Info generation unit 103, the AID control unit 104, the User Info generation unit 105, and the Trigger frame generation unit 106 may constitute, for example, an access control (Medium Access Control, MAC) unit (e.g., corresponding to the control unit 11 in FIG. 5). Also, the wireless transmission / reception unit 109 may correspond to, for example, the transmission unit 12 in FIG. 5.

[0033] Scheduling section 101 determines the radio resources of uplink signals for each terminal 200 and the format of the User Info field to be applied, for example, based on terminal information (for example, information such as the terminal version and radio quality for each predetermined band) output from terminal information acquisition section 102. Note that the radio resources of uplink signals may include information or parameters such as an allocated band, a modulation method and coding rate (MCS: Modulation and Coding Scheme), and a target reception level. Furthermore, the radio resource information and the format of the User Info field for terminal 200 determined in scheduling section 101 are output to, for example, User Info generation section 105 and Common Info generation section 103.

[0034] The Common Info generating unit 103 generates a Common Info field by reusing the HE format illustrated in FIG. 2, for example, and outputs the generated field to the Trigger frame generating unit 106. The size of the Common Info field may be the same as that of the HE format, for example. This ensures backward compatibility. Here, the AP 100 may notify the terminal 200 of information for EHT and / or EHT+ terminals using a reserved field of Common Info (details will be described later).

[0035] The AID control unit 104 holds, for example, information (for example, a table (hereinafter, sometimes referred to as the "Specific AID table")) that defines the interpretation of the User info field for each Specific AID and each terminal version, and outputs the Specific AID table to the User Info generation unit 105. The Specific AID table may be defined as a standard. Furthermore, a portion of the Specific AID table may be determined for each AP 100 and notified to the associated terminal 200.

[0036] The User Info generation unit 105 generates a User Info List in which one or more User Info fields are arranged, and outputs the User Info List to the Trigger frame generation unit 106. The User Info field may have the same size as the HE format illustrated in FIG. 3, for example. This ensures backward compatibility. In addition to the HE format illustrated in FIG. 3 (which may also be referred to as an HE-specific User Info field), the User Info field may also use an EHT / EHT+ format (which may also be referred to as an EHT-specific User Info field or an EHT+-specific User Info field) newly defined for EHT / EHT+. Note that the " / " in an expression such as "A / B" means "and / or" or "at least one of (A and B)."

[0037] The EHT format and the EHT+ format may each be a format that includes, for example, a field (Common Info field) containing information (Common info) common between terminals 200, and a field (User Info field) containing information (User Info) specific to terminal 200, similar to HE.

[0038] In order to indicate the identification information of these formats to the EHT / EHT+ terminal, the User Info generation unit 105 generates a User Info field including a Specific AID and a User Info field to which each format is applied, for example, based on the definition of the Specific AID table from the AID control unit 104. A part of the value of the Specific AID (for example, 2045) may be used to represent a special User Info field including common information for EHT / EHT+ (also referred to as EHT-specific common information or EHT+-specific common information), and the special User Info field may be used as a delimiter indicating the arrangement of the User Info field for EHT / EHT+. The EHT / EHT+ terminal 200 holds, for example, the same Specific AID table as the AP 100, and interprets the format definition of the User Info field in the received Trigger frame using the definition of the Specific AID table (details will be described later).

[0039] Here, the Common Info field to which the EHT / EHT+ format is applied may include, for example, a UL BW subfield (uplink transmission bandwidth). HE supports a maximum bandwidth of 160 MHz, while EHT may support, for example, a maximum bandwidth of 320 MHz. Therefore, the EHT / EHT+ terminal 200 may acquire the uplink transmission bandwidth from the UL BW subfield included in the Common information of the EHT / EHT+ format included in the User info field in addition to (or instead of) the UL BW subfield included in the Common Info field of the HE format. Note that the term "acquire" may be interchangeably read as, for example, "recognize," "understand," "identify," or "specify."

[0040] Furthermore, the User info field to which the EHT / EHT+ format is applied may have a different size for the RU allocation subfield (information on the uplink transmission band position and bandwidth) compared to the HE format. For example, since the User info field addressed to the EHT / EHT+ terminal 200 indicates a range of up to 320 MHz, the RU allocation subfield in the EHT / EHT+ format may have a larger size than the RU Allocation subfield (8 bits) in the HE format.

[0041] 1, the trigger frame generation unit 106 generates a trigger frame by adding a MAC header, padding, and a frame check sequence (FCS) to the Common Info field from the Common Info generation unit 103 and a set of User Info Lists (plurality of User Info fields) from the User Info generation unit 105. The generated trigger frame is output to, for example, the error correction coding unit 107.

[0042] The error correction coding section 107 receives as input, for example, a transmission data signal including a trigger frame, performs error correction coding on the input signal, and outputs the coded signal to the modulation section 108.

[0043] Modulation section 108, for example, performs modulation processing on the signal input from error correction coding section 107, and outputs the modulated data signal to radio transmission / reception section 109. Note that if the modulated data signal is an Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) signal, AP 100 (for example, modulation section 108) may form an OFDM signal by mapping the modulated signal to a predetermined frequency resource, performing an Inverse Fast Fourier Transform (IFFT) process to convert it into a time waveform, and adding a cyclic prefix (CP).

[0044] Radio transmitting / receiving section 109 applies radio transmission processing such as D / A (digital to analog) conversion and up-conversion to a carrier frequency to the modulated signal output from modulation section 108, and transmits the signal after radio transmission processing via an antenna to terminal 200. Radio transmitting / receiving section 109 also receives a signal transmitted from terminal 200 via an antenna, applies radio reception processing such as down-conversion to baseband and A / D (analog to digital) conversion to the received signal, and outputs the signal after radio reception processing to demodulation section 110.

[0045] The demodulation unit 110, for example, performs demodulation processing on the input signal and outputs the obtained signal to the error correction decoding unit 111. Note that if the input signal is an OFDM signal, the AP 100 (for example, the demodulation unit 110) may apply CP removal processing and Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) processing to the OFDM signal.

[0046] The error correction decoding unit 111 decodes, for example, the signal input from the demodulation unit 110 to obtain a received data signal from the terminal 200. If the decoded received data includes the above-mentioned terminal information, the terminal information is output to, for example, the terminal information acquisition unit 102.

[0047] [Device configuration] Fig. 8 is a block diagram showing an example configuration of terminal 200 according to this embodiment. Terminal 200 shown in Fig. 8 may include, for example, radio transceiver 201, demodulator 202, error correction decoder 203, common info acquirer 204, AID controller 205, user info acquirer 206, data generator 207, error correction encoder 208, and modulator 209.

[0048] Note that the Common Info acquisition unit 204, the AID control unit 205, the User Info acquisition unit 206, and part or all of the data generation unit 207 may constitute, for example, an access control (MAC) unit (e.g., corresponding to the control unit 22 in FIG. 6). Also, the wireless transmission / reception unit 201 may correspond to, for example, the reception unit 21 in FIG. 6.

[0049] The radio transmitting / receiving unit 201 receives a reception signal via an antenna, performs radio reception processing such as down-conversion and A / D conversion on the reception signal, and outputs the obtained reception signal to the demodulation unit 202.

[0050] Demodulation section 202, for example, performs demodulation processing on the received signal input from radio transmission / reception section 201, and outputs the demodulated signal to error correction decoding section 203. If the input signal is an OFDM signal, terminal 200 (for example, demodulation section 202) may, for example, apply CP removal processing and FFT processing to the OFDM signal.

[0051] The error correction decoding unit 203, for example, decodes the demodulated signal input from the demodulation unit 202 and outputs the decoded signal as a received data signal. Furthermore, the error correction decoding unit 203 outputs, for example, a trigger frame from the received data signal to the common info acquisition unit 204 and the user info acquisition unit 206.

[0052] The Common Info acquisition unit 204 extracts, for example, information in the Common Info field from the Trigger frame output from the error correction decoding unit 203, and acquires terminal common information for generating an uplink signal (for example, information such as the type of data to be transmitted and the duration of the uplink signal). The acquired terminal common information is output to, for example, the User Info acquisition unit 206.

[0053] The AID control unit 205 may operate in the same manner as, for example, the AID control unit 104 in the AP 100. For example, the AID control unit 205 may output to the User Info acquisition unit 206 a Specific AID and a Specific AID table that defines the interpretation of the User info field for each terminal version.

[0054] The User Info acquisition unit 206 extracts, for example, a User Info List (plurality of User Info fields) from the Trigger frame output from the Common Info acquisition unit 204, and performs reception processing of the User Info fields in the order of arrangement while determining the format of the User Info field using the Specific AID table from the AID control unit 205. When it is determined that an individually designated RU or an RA-RU has been allocated, the User Info acquisition unit 206 outputs, for example, terminal common information and terminal individual information to be used for data generation to the data generation unit 207.

[0055] For example, the User Info acquisition unit 206 may compare the AID of the terminal 200 assigned by the AP 100 at the time of association with the AID included in the AID12 subfield of the User Info field, and if these AIDs match, may determine that an individually designated RU has been assigned by the AP 100. In response to this determination, the terminal 200 may perform reception processing of the remaining terminal-specific information used to generate an uplink signal (e.g., information such as RU placement information, MCS, spatial multiplexing information, and uplink target power information) based on, for example, the format of the User Info field.

[0056] Even if the AIDs do not match, when an access opportunity is obtained using an AID indicating an RA-RU (e.g., 0 or 2045), terminal 200 may perform reception processing of the remaining terminal-specific information (e.g., information such as RU placement information, MCS, and uplink target power information) required for generating an uplink random access signal based on a predetermined format. Furthermore, when terminal 200 detects an AID indicating an unallocated RU, it may stop receiving subsequent User info fields. Furthermore, when terminal 200 detects an AID indicating the start of padding, it may stop receiving subsequent subfields.

[0057] The data generating unit 207 generates data of a predetermined type and a predetermined size based on, for example, the terminal common information and terminal individual information from the user information acquiring unit 206 , and outputs the data to the error correction coding unit 208 .

[0058] The error correction coding unit 208 receives, for example, a data signal from the data generation unit 207, performs error correction coding on the transmission data based on the terminal common information and terminal individual information from the User Info acquisition unit 206, and outputs the coded signal to the modulation unit 209.

[0059] The modulation unit 209 modulates, for example, the signal input from the error correction encoding unit 208, and outputs the modulated signal to the wireless transmission / reception unit 201 based on the terminal common information and the terminal individual information from the User Info acquisition unit 206. When the modulated signal is an OFDM signal, the terminal 200 (for example, the modulation unit 209) may form an OFDM signal by, for example, mapping the modulated signal to a frequency resource, performing IFFT processing, and then adding a CP.

[0060] The wireless transmission / reception unit 201 applies wireless transmission processing such as up-conversion and D / A conversion to the input signal from the modulation unit 209, and transmits the signal after the wireless transmission processing from the antenna.

[0061] <Operations of the AID control unit 205 and the User Info acquisition unit 206> Hereinafter, an example of the Specific AID table generated by the AID control unit 205 of the terminal 200 and an example of a method for determining the format of the User Info field using the Specific AID table in the User Info acquisition unit 206 will be described.

[0062] The Specific AID table held by the AID control unit 205 indicates that the definition of the format of the terminal information field associated with a specific ID "Specific AID" selected from unused IDs not used for the terminal ID assigned to the individually specified terminal 200 is changed according to the terminal version such as HE, EHT, or EHT+.

[0063] By using the Specific AID table, in addition to the three aforementioned requirements (for example, that combinations of HE terminals, EHT terminals, and EHT+ terminals can be indicated in one Trigger frame, ensuring backward compatibility, and ensuring forward compatibility), it is possible to reduce the reception processing amount of the terminal 200 and reduce the overhead of the Trigger frame.

[0064] In addition, by changing the meaning of the Specific AIDs (0, 2045, 2046, 4095) defined in HE shown in Figure 4 to EHT and EHT+, there is no need to introduce new Specific AIDs, which reduces the consumption of unused AIDs. Therefore, the system can be expanded in the future.

[0065] An example of the User Info field of the EHT / EHT+ format is shown in the bottom of Figure 9 in comparison with the HE format. Compared to the User Info field of the HE format (same as in Figure 3) shown in the top of Figure 9, the size of the RU allocation subfield in the User Info field of the EHT / EHT+ format may be expanded (for example, expanded by one bit from 8 bits to 9 bits). This expansion makes it possible to accommodate an increase in the range of supported allocation bands (for example, an expansion from 160 MHz to 320 MHz).

[0066] Furthermore, in EHT, whether or not DCM (Dual subCarrier Modulation) is applied may be included in the MCS table. Therefore, the UL DCM subfield (1 bit) illustrated in the upper part of Fig. 9 may be deleted as illustrated in the lower part of Fig. 9. Furthermore, in EHT+, the maximum number of supported SSs (Spatial streams) may be extended (for example, increased from 8 to 16). Therefore, as illustrated in the lower part of Fig. 9, the size of the SS Allocation / RA-RU Information subfield may be extended (increased) by 1 bit from 6 bits to 7 bits. Furthermore, Reserved (1 bit) illustrated in the upper part of Fig. 9 may be deleted in the lower part of Fig. 9. This allows the size of the User Info field to be adjusted to match the size of the HE format, ensuring backward compatibility.

[0067] Next, a non-limiting example will be described below in which the relationship (which may be read as "association" or "semantics") between a Specific AID and the definition of the User Info field format including the Specific AID is varied depending on the terminal version.

[0068] (Example 1-1) FIG. 10 shows an example of a Specific AID table in operation example 1-1. In FIG. 10, as a non-limiting example, AID=4094, 4093 may be newly defined as Specific AIDs. In FIG. 10, "undefined (spare)" means that it is not defined as a Specific AID. Specific AIDs (0, 2045, 2046) specified or defined in HE may have the same meaning for EHT / EHT+ terminals 200. On the other hand, Specific AID=4095 has a different meaning for HE terminals 200 and EHT / EHT+ terminals 200. For terminals 200 of each generation of HE / EHT / EHT+, a value that is not defined as either an AID or a Specific AID may be ignored as undefined (spare), but may be defined as a Specific AID in a future generation.

[0069] When the HE terminal 200 detects AID=4095, it may interpret this as the start of padding based on the HE regulations and stop receiving any subsequent bit information. When interpreting this as the start of padding, the HE terminal 200 assumes that there is no information after the AID12 subfield of the User Info field, in other words, that all bits in the subsequent information are 1 until the end, and does not need to consider the breaks in the User Info field after the AID12 subfield.

[0070] On the other hand, when the EHT / EHT+ terminal 200 detects AID=4095, it may interpret the User Info field in which it detected AID=4095 as, for example, the format of Common Info for EHT. In other words, the EHT / EHT+ terminal 200 may interpret the bit information following the AID12 subfield as extended signaling indicating the format of Common Info for EHT. In this way, the Trigger frame for EHT may use a part of the User Info field having a Specific AID in addition to (or instead of) the Common Info field to notify common information. The special User Info field used for this purpose is also called the extended Common Info field, and the extended Common Info field having AID=4095 is also called the extended Common Info field for EHT.

[0071] Furthermore, HE terminal 200 does not need to perform any special processing when it detects AID=4094. For example, HE terminal 200 is instructed to start padding by the previously received User Info field (AID=4095), so it is assumed that it will not detect AID=4094.

[0072] On the other hand, when the EHT terminal 200 detects AID=4094, it may interpret the User Info field in which AID=4094 is detected as the start of padding, and may stop receiving the bit information thereafter. Also, when the EHT+ terminal 200 detects AID=4094, it may interpret the User Info field in which AID=4094 is detected as, for example, a format of extended Common Info for EHT+. In other words, the EHT+ terminal 200 may interpret the bit information following the AID12 subfield (AID=4094) as extended signaling indicating the format of Common Info for EHT+.

[0073] Furthermore, HE / EHT terminal 200 does not need to perform any special processing when it detects AID=4093. HE / EHT terminal 200 is instructed to start padding by the previously received User Info field (AID=4095 or 4094), so it is assumed that it will not detect AID=4093. On the other hand, when EHT+ terminal 200 detects AID=4093, it may interpret the User Info field in which AID=4093 was detected as the start of padding, and may stop receiving any subsequent bit information.

[0074] The contents of the Specific AID table are not limited to the example shown in Fig. 10. For example, by changing the meaning of the format definition of the User Info field for the Specific AID to a meaning different from that shown in Fig. 10, it is possible to flexibly specify the User Info field to be received and processed by each of the terminals 200 with different terminal versions. This also applies to the Specific AID tables in other operation examples described below.

[0075] (Example of User info list placement) An example of the arrangement of the User Info List in Operation Example 1-1 is shown in Fig. 11. As shown in Fig. 11, the User Info format for HE is arranged in the User Info field between the Common Info format for HE and the extended Common Info format for EHT (in other words, the start of the Padding for EHT indicated by AID=4095).

[0076] The User Info format for EHT is placed in the User Info field between the Extended Common Info format for EHT and the Extended Common Info format for EHT+ (in other words, the start of Padding for EHT indicated by AID=4094). Similarly, the User Info format for EHT+ is placed in the User Info field between the Extended Common Info format for EHT+ and the start of Padding for EHT+ (AID=4093).

[0077] With this arrangement, a format according to the terminal version can be specified by one Trigger frame for a combination of terminals 200 with different versions, so that the requirements for backward compatibility and forward compatibility can be met.

[0078] 11, the User Info field to be received can be distinguished for each terminal version, thereby reducing the amount of reception processing in the terminal 200. Furthermore, the User Info field that instructs the start of padding for each terminal version is also used to notify Common Info for different terminal versions, thereby suppressing an increase in the overhead of the Trigger frame.

[0079] Note that the Common Info field for HE (see, for example, FIG. 2) is received by all HE / EHT / EHT+ terminals 200 regardless of terminal version. The EHT / EHT+ terminal 200 may overwrite the Common Info for HE with information included in the extended Common Info field for EHT / EHT+ (for example, information such as UL BW).

[0080] (Example 1-2) FIG. 12 shows an example of a Specific AID table in operation example 1-2. In FIG. 12, as a non-limiting example, AID=2044, 2043 may be newly defined as Specific AIDs. In FIG. 12, "undefined (spare)" means that it is not defined as a Specific AID. Specific AIDs (0, 2045, 4095) specified or defined in HE may have the same meaning in EHT / EHT+ terminal 200. On the other hand, Specific AID=2046 has a different meaning in HE terminal 200 and EHT / EHT+ terminal 200. For terminal 200 of each generation of HE / EHT / EHT+, a value that is not defined as either an AID or a Specific AID may be ignored as undefined (spare), but may be defined as a Specific AID in a future generation.

[0081] When HE terminal 200 detects AID=2046, it may interpret this as an unallocated RU notification and may stop receiving the User Info field thereafter. If it interprets this as an unallocated RU notification, subfields other than the RU Allocation subfield become reserved, and therefore HE terminal 200 may stop receiving the User Info field thereafter.

[0082] On the other hand, when the EHT / EHT+ terminal 200 detects AID=2046, it may interpret the User Info field in which AID=2046 was detected as being in the format of an extended Common Info field for EHT, for example. In other words, the EHT / EHT+ terminal 200 changes the semantic interpretation of the User Info field of the AID12 subfield.

[0083] Furthermore, HE terminal 200 does not need to perform any special processing when it detects AID=2044 or AID=2043. Because HE terminal 200 is instructed to notify an unallocated RU by the previously received User Info field (AID=2046), it is assumed that it will not detect AID=2044 or AID=2043.

[0084] On the other hand, when the EHT terminal 200 detects AID=2044, it may interpret the User Info field in which AID=2044 is detected as an unallocated RU notification, and may stop receiving the User Info field thereafter. Also, when the EHT+ terminal 200 detects AID=2044, it may interpret the User Info field in which AID=2044 is detected as having the format of the extended Common Info field for EHT+. In other words, the EHT+ terminal 200 may change the semantic interpretation of the User Info field itself of the AID12 subfield (AID=2044).

[0085] Furthermore, HE / EHT terminal 200 does not need to perform any special processing when it detects AID=2043. HE / EHT terminal 200 is instructed to notify an unallocated RU by the previously received User Info field (AID=2046 or 2044), so it is assumed that it will not detect AID=2043. On the other hand, when EHT+ terminal 200 detects AID=2043, it may interpret the User Info field in which AID=2043 was detected as an unallocated RU notification, and may stop receiving subsequent User Info fields.

[0086] The above-described operational example 1-2 provides the same effect as that of operational example 1-1.

[0087] (Example of User info list placement) An example of the arrangement of the User Info List in Operation Example 1-2 is shown in Fig. 13. As shown in Fig. 13, the User Info format for HE is arranged in the User Info field between the Common Info format for HE and the extended Common Info format for EHT (in other words, the unallocated RU notification indicated by AID=2046).

[0088] The User Info format for EHT is placed in the User Info field between the Extended Common Info format for EHT and the Extended Common Info format for EHT+ (in other words, the Unallocated RU notification for EHT indicated by AID=2044). Similarly, the User Info format for EHT+ is placed in the User Info field between the Extended Common Info format for EHT+ and the Unallocated RU notification for EHT+ (AID=2043).

[0089] With this arrangement, a format according to the terminal version can be specified by one Trigger frame for a combination of terminals 200 with different versions, so that the requirements for backward compatibility and forward compatibility can be met.

[0090] 13, the User Info field to be received can be distinguished for each terminal version, reducing the amount of reception processing in terminal 200. Furthermore, the User Info field indicating unallocated RUs for each terminal version is also used for reporting Common Info for different terminal versions, preventing an increase in overhead for the Trigger frame.

[0091] Note that the Common Info field for HE (see, for example, FIG. 2) is received by all HE / EHT / EHT+ terminals 200 regardless of terminal version. The EHT / EHT+ terminal 200 may overwrite the extended Common Info for HE with information included in the extended Common Info field for EHT / EHT+ (for example, information such as UL BW).

[0092] (Example 1-3) FIG. 14 shows an example of a Specific AID table in operation example 1-3. In FIG. 14, AID=4094 may be newly defined as a Specific AID, as in operation example 1-1. However, AID=4093 does not need to be defined. In FIG. 14, "undefined (spare)" means that it is not defined as a Specific AID. Specific AIDs (0, 2045, 2046) specified or defined in HE may have the same meaning for EHT / EHT+ terminals 200. On the other hand, Specific AID=4095 has a different meaning for HE terminals 200 and EHT / EHT+ terminals 200, as in operation example 1-1. For terminals 200 of each generation of HE / EHT / EHT+, a value that is not defined as either an AID or a Specific AID may be ignored as undefined (spare), but may be defined as a Specific AID in a future generation.

[0093] For example, when the HE terminal 200 detects AID=4095, it may interpret this as the start of padding and stop receiving the subsequent bit information. On the other hand, when the EHT / EHT+ terminal 200 detects AID=4095, it may interpret the User Info field in which AID=4095 was detected as, for example, the format of extended Common Info for EHT. In other words, the EHT / EHT+ terminal 200 may interpret the bit information following the AID12 subfield as extended signaling indicating the format of Common Info for EHT.

[0094] Furthermore, the HE terminal 200 does not need to perform any special processing when it detects, for example, AID=4094 for the first time. Since the HE terminal 200 is instructed to start padding by the previously received User Info field (AID=4095), it is assumed that it will not detect AID=4094.

[0095] On the other hand, when the EHT terminal 200 detects AID=4094 for the first time, it may interpret the User Info field in which it detected AID=4094 for the first time as the start of padding, and may stop receiving processing of subsequent bit information. Also, when the EHT+ terminal 200 detects AID=4094 for the first time, it may interpret the User Info field in which it detected AID=4094 for the first time as the format of extended Common Info for EHT+. In other words, the EHT+ terminal 200 may interpret the bit information following the AID12 subfield as extended signaling indicating the format of Common Info for EHT+.

[0096] Furthermore, HE / EHT terminal 200 does not need to perform any special processing when it detects AID=4094 for the second time. HE / EHT terminal 200 is instructed to start padding by the previously received User Info field, so it is assumed that it will not detect AID=4094 for the second time. On the other hand, when EHT+ terminal 200 detects AID=4094 for the second time, it may interpret the User Info field in which it detected AID=4094 for the second time as the start of padding, and may stop receiving any subsequent bit information.

[0097] The above-described Operation Example 1-3 provides the same effect as Operation Example 1-1. Furthermore, according to Operation Example 1-3, one Specific AID (for example, 4094) is reused for different terminal versions, so the number of newly introduced Specific AIDs can be reduced compared to Operation Examples 1-1 and 1-2. Therefore, the future expandability of the system can be maintained.

[0098] (Example of User info list placement) An example of the arrangement of the User Info List in Operation Example 1-3 is shown in Fig. 15. As shown in Fig. 15, the User Info format for HE is arranged in the User Info field between the Common Info format for HE and the extended Common Info format for EHT (in other words, the start of padding indicated by AID=4095).

[0099] The User Info format for EHT is placed in the User Info field between the Extended Common Info format for EHT and the Extended Common Info format for EHT+ (in other words, the start of Padding for EHT indicated by the first AID=4094). Similarly, the User Info format for EHT+ is placed in the User Info field between the Extended Common Info format for EHT+ and the start of Padding for EHT+ (the second AID=4094).

[0100] With this arrangement, a format according to the terminal version can be specified by one Trigger frame for a combination of terminals 200 with different versions, so that the requirements for backward compatibility and forward compatibility can be met.

[0101] 15, the User Info field to be received can be distinguished for each terminal version, thereby reducing the amount of reception processing by the terminal 200. Furthermore, the User Info field that instructs the start of padding for each terminal version is also used to notify Common Info for different terminal versions, thereby suppressing an increase in the overhead of the Trigger frame.

[0102] Note that the Common Info field for HE (see, for example, FIG. 2) is received by all HE / EHT / EHT+ terminals 200 regardless of terminal version. The EHT / EHT+ terminal 200 may overwrite the extended Common Info for HE with information included in the extended Common Info field for EHT / EHT+ (for example, information such as UL BW).

[0103] (Supplement to operation examples 1-1 to 1-3) The User Info field may be arranged in the time direction in order from the lowest (or oldest) terminal version to the highest (or newest) terminal version, as shown in, for example, FIGS.

[0104] In this case, for example, a Specific AID indicating a format for a new terminal version may mean that a User Info field for an older terminal version is not placed in a position earlier in time than the User Info field containing the Specific AID.

[0105] This allows, for example, terminal 200 to skip reception processing (e.g., decoding) of the User Info field for terminal 200 with a lower terminal version than terminal 200. For example, in Fig. 11, EHT / EHT+ terminal 200 can skip reception processing of the User Info field until AID=4095 is detected from Common Info.

[0106] For example, by changing the meaning of the format definition of the User Info field for a Specific AID, depending on the meaning, the User Info field may be arranged in the time direction in order from newer to older terminal versions, or in an order that is independent of the newness of the terminal version.

[0107] In addition, two or more of the above-described operation examples 1-1 to 1-3 may be implemented in combination. In other words, the Specific AID table may be configured by combining entries in two or more of the three Specific AID tables illustrated in Fig. 10, Fig. 12, and Fig. 14.

[0108] Furthermore, in the above-described operation examples 1-1 to 1-3, a User Info List in which User Info fields in the HE, EHT, and EHT+ formats are mixed is assumed as a non-limiting example, but the present invention is not limited to this. For example, as shown in Fig. 16, AP 100 may use the Specific AID table exemplified in operation example 1-1 (see Fig. 10) to generate a User Info List in a configuration in which a User Info field in the HE format does not exist. HE terminal 200 can stop receiving the User Info field because the beginning of the User Info field is a Specific AID (AID=4095) that indicates the start of padding.

[0109] Also, AP 100 may notify terminal 200 whether the Common Info field is the Common Info field of the HE format or the Common Info field of the EHT format, for example, by using a reserved field of the Common Info of the HE format (for example, B63 in FIG. 2).

[0110] For example, as shown in Fig. 17, by setting the reserved bit of the HE format to 1, the Common Info field of the EHT format is notified, and an EHT format is applied in which the UL BW subfield is increased by 1 bit and the UL STBC (Space-time block coding) subfield is reduced by 1 bit. This makes it possible to accommodate, for example, an increase in the bandwidth supported by EHT, and also reduces the impact on performance by using beamforming instead even if STBC is not supported.

[0111] When the Common Info field of this EHT format is applied, the format for EHT may be applied to the User Info field following the Common Info field. In this case, for example, as shown in Fig. 18, the AP 100 can generate a Trigger frame that does not include the Common Info field and User Info field of the HE format.

[0112] This makes it possible to reduce the overhead of the trigger frame when there is no HE terminal 200 among the terminals connected to the AP 100, or when the number of HE terminals 200 is relatively small.

[0113] Furthermore, AP 100 may use a reserved field in the UL HE-SI-A2 Reserved field in addition to (or instead of) the reserved field in the Common Info field to notify terminal 200 whether or not a User Info field in the EHT / EHT+ format is included. For example, when instructed that the EHT+ format is not included, EHT+ terminal 200 can stop receiving subsequent User Info Lists (User Info fields), thereby reducing the amount of reception processing.

[0114] 19 shows an example of the arrangement of the User Info List when the reserved field of the Common Info field and the reserved field of the UL HE-SI-A2 Reserved field are used for format notification. For example, a bit of each reserved field set to "10" may indicate that the User Info field of the EHT format is included and that the User Info field of the EHT+ format is not included. Also, a bit of each reserved field set to "11" may indicate that both the User Info fields of the EHT format and the EHT+ format are included.

[0115] <Operation example of Trigger frame generation unit 106> Next, the method of arranging the User Info field by the Trigger frame generation unit 106 of AP100 will be described.

[0116] In HE, for reducing the reception processing of the terminal 200, the arrangement order of the User Info field is defined in the order of individually specified RU (AID = 1 to 2007), RA-RU (AID = 0, 2045), and unassigned RU (AID = 2046). For example, when an individually specified RU is assigned (when the notification information of the AID12 subfield matches its own AID), the terminal 200 stops the reception processing of the subsequent User Info field and generates an uplink signal.

[0117] When an individually specified RU is not assigned and an opportunity to be assigned an RA-RU is obtained (for example, when the OBO (OFDMA Backoff Counter) becomes zero), the terminal 200 stops the reception processing of the subsequent User Info field and generates an uplink signal. And when an unassigned RU is detected, the terminal 200 stops the reception processing of the subsequent User Info field.

[0118] In this way, assuming the prescribed arrangement order, the terminal can reduce the reception processing by stopping the reception processing.

[0119] Here, for the User Info field for RA-RU and the User Info field for unassigned RU, similar to the User Info field for individually specified RU, it is conceivable to use the same EHT / EHT+ format as in FIG. 9 in order to arrange an RU allocation subfield extended for the HE format.

[0120] Also, for example, the EHT terminal 200 can obtain access opportunities via RA-RUs in HE and EHT formats, and the EHT+ terminal 200 can obtain access opportunities via RA-RUs in HE, EHT, and EHT+ formats. In this way, when different versions of RA-RU formats are mixed in one Trigger frame, one or more of the following rules may be applied.

[0121] (1) The EHT / EHT+ terminal 200 can access not only the RA-RU in the EHT / EHT+ format but also the RA-RU in the HE format. (2) The EHT / EHT+ terminal 200 can only access RA-RUs in EHT / EHT+ format.

[0122] Rule (1) may result in unequal access opportunities for the HE terminal 200 to the RA-RU compared to the EHT / EHT+ terminal 200, but rule (2) can improve fairness. Furthermore, when rule (1) is used, fairness can be improved by lowering the priority of the EHT / EHT+ terminal in the UORA (Uplink OFDMA Random Access) parameters (for example, by making the OCW (OFDMA contention window) larger than that of the HE).

[0123] An example of operation regarding the method of arranging individually designated RUs, RA-RUs, and unallocated RUs in the HE / EHT / EHT+ format will be described below.

[0124] (Example 2-1) As an operational example 2-1, FIG. 20 shows an example of a method for arranging individually designated RUs, RA-RUs, and unallocated RUs in the User Info List.

[0125] Figure 20 shows an example of arranging the User Info field in order of terminal version using the Specific AID table illustrated in Figure 10. Furthermore, for each terminal version, the arrangement order is individually designated RU, RA-RU, and unallocated RU.

[0126] Since the HE / EHT / EHT+ format can be determined by the definition of the Specific AID table, the Specific AID indicating an RA-RU in EHT / EHT+ format can reuse the same value as HE (0 or 2045). Similarly, the Specific AID indicating an unallocated RU in EHT / EHT+ format can reuse the same value as HE (2046).

[0127] According to the operational example 2-1, the same arrangement order as that of the HE can be applied in the User Info field of each terminal version for which the terminal 200 performs reception processing, so that the reception processing of the terminal 200 can be reduced.

[0128] (Example 2-2) As an operational example 2-2, FIG. 21 shows an example of a method for arranging individually designated RUs, RA-RUs, and unallocated RUs in the User Info List.

[0129] In operation example 2-2, for example, using the Specific AID table shown in FIG. 22, while mixing different terminal versions, the arrangement order is individually designated RU, RA-RU, and unallocated RU. In FIG. 22, "undefined (spare)" means that it is not defined as a Specific AID. Specific AIDs (0, 2045, 2046, 4095) specified or defined in the HE may have the same meaning in the EHT / EHT+ terminal 200. On the other hand, Specific AID=2008 has different meanings for the HE terminal 200 and the EHT / EHT+ terminal 200. For example, Specific AID=2008 means "individually designated AID" for the HE terminal 200, and means "EHT Common Info" for the EHT terminal 200. Also, in FIG. 22, Specific AID=2011 has different meanings for the HE / EHT terminal 200 and the EHT+ terminal 200. For example, Specific AID=2011 means "individual specification AID" for the HE / EHT terminal 200, and means "EHT+ Common Info" for the EHT+ terminal 200. For each generation of HE / EHT / EHT+ terminal 200, a value that is not defined as either an AID or a Specific AID may be ignored as undefined (spare), but may be defined as a Specific AID in a future generation.

[0130] As shown in Figure 22, for example, by adding a new Specific AID (e.g., AID = 2008) indicating EHT Common Info, a Specific AID (e.g., AID = 2009) indicating an RA-RU, and a Specific AID (e.g., AID = 2010) indicating an unallocated RU in the EHT, the format of the User Info field containing that AID can be specified.

[0131] In addition, in EHT+, by adding new Specific AIDs indicating EHT+ Common Info (e.g., AID=2011), RA-RU (e.g., AID=2012), and unallocated RU (e.g., AID=2013), it is possible to specify the format of the User Info field containing the AID.

[0132] In this way, according to operation example 2-2, the same arrangement order as that of the HE can be applied to each User Info List (in other words, multiple User Info fields) (in other words, the arrangement order can be maintained), thereby simplifying or reducing the reception processing of terminal 200.

[0133] (Example 2-3) In operation example 2-3, for example, the terminal version to be received in the trigger frame may be uniquely determined in advance (for example, at the time of association) between the AP 100 and the terminal 200 based on the capability of the terminal 200. The AP 100 recognizes the version supported by the terminal 200 based on the capability of the terminal 200, and notifies the terminal 200 of the version to be received in the trigger frame.

[0134] Note that the version recognition between the AP 100 and the terminal 200 does not necessarily have to be done at the time of association. For example, before transmitting a trigger frame, the AP 100 and the terminal 200 may separately negotiate to recognize the version.

[0135] The terminal 200 performs the reception process, for example, assuming a format of the User Info field that has been agreed upon in advance between the AP 100 and the terminal 200 .

[0136] As operation example 2-3, FIG. 23 shows an example of a method for arranging individually designated RUs, RA-RUs, and unallocated RUs in the User Info List. In operation example 2-3, for example, the Specific AID table shown in FIG. 24 is used, and different versions are mixed, and the arrangement order is individually designated RUs, RA-RUs, and unallocated RUs. In FIG. 24, the Specific AIDs (0, 2045, 2046, 4095) specified or defined in the HE may have the same meaning in the EHT / EHT+ terminal 200. On the other hand, Specific AID=2008 has a different meaning for the HE terminal 200 and the EHT / EHT+ terminal 200. For example, Specific AID=2008 means "individual designation AID" for the HE terminal 200, and means "EHT Common Info" for the EHT / EHT+ terminal 200. 24, Specific AID=2009 has different meanings for the HE / EHT terminal 200 and the EHT+ terminal 200. For example, Specific AID=2009 means "individual specification AID" for the HE / EHT terminal 200, and means "EHT+ Common Info" for the EHT+ terminal 200.

[0137] As shown in Fig. 24, a new Specific AID (e.g., AID=2008) is added for EHT to indicate EHT Common Info. Also, a new Specific AID (e.g., AID=2009) is added for EHT+ to indicate EHT+ Common Info. By adding these Specific AIDs, it is possible to specify the format of the User Info field containing that AID.

[0138] In this way, according to the operational example 2-3, the same arrangement order as in the HE can be applied to each of the User Info Lists (in other words, a plurality of User Info fields), so that the reception processing of the terminal 200 can be reduced.

[0139] Furthermore, in operation example 2-3, the format that terminal 200 should receive is determined in advance between AP 100 and terminal 200 (in other words, mutual recognition is aligned), which makes it possible to reduce the number of Specific AIDs that are additionally introduced compared to the example in Fig. 22. Therefore, future expandability can be maintained.

[0140] Furthermore, notification of the format of the User Info field for individual designation (SA; Scheduled access) is not required. Terminal 200 may perform reception processing assuming the format of its own terminal version. Furthermore, EHT / EHT+ terminal 200 can stop reception processing early if there is no Common field.

[0141] When determining in advance the format to be received by terminal 200, a trigger frame format corresponding to each version of HE, EHT, and EHT+ may be defined. In other words, a new trigger frame that does not include a mixture of multiple terminal versions within a single trigger frame may be newly defined for EHT and EHT+. AP 100 may instruct terminal 200 to perform uplink transmission using an aggregated-MPDU (MAC protocol data unit) that includes a mixture of these multiple trigger frames.

[0142] (Example 2-4) As an operational example 2-4, FIG. 25 shows an example of a method for arranging individually designated RUs, RA-RUs, and unallocated RUs in the User Info List.

[0143] In operation example 2-4, for example, the Specific AID table shown in FIG. 26 is used, and different versions are mixed, with the arrangement order being individually designated RU, RA-RU, and unallocated RU. Compared to the example in FIG. 22, the Specific AID indicating the EHT Common Info field and EHT+ Common Info field is changed from 2008 to 2007 and from 2009 to 2006, respectively. In other words, in the HE, a Specific AID for EHT / EHT+ terminal 200 is selected and applied from AID=1 to 2007, which are AIDs of individually designated RUs. In FIG. 26, "undefined (spare)" means that it is not defined as a Specific AID. Specific AIDs (0, 2045, 2046, 4095) specified or defined in the HE may have the same meaning in the EHT / EHT+ terminal 200. On the other hand, Specific AID=2007 has different meanings in the HE terminal 200 and the EHT / EHT+ terminal 200. For example, Specific AID=2007 means "individual designation AID" for the HE terminal 200, and means "EHT Common Info" for the EHT / EHT+ terminal 200. Also, in Fig. 26, Specific AID=2006 has different meanings for the HE / EHT terminal 200 and the EHT+ terminal 200. For example, Specific AID=2006 means "individual designation AID" for the HE / EHT terminal 200, and means "EHT+ Common Info" for the EHT+ terminal 200.

[0144] In HE, in order to reduce the reception processing of terminal 200, there is a provision that in the User Info List, the User Info fields with AID=1 to 2007 used in individually specified RUs are not placed later in time than the User Info fields with AID=2008 or higher.

[0145] When terminal 200 detects an AID equal to or greater than AID=2008, it can determine that no individually designated RU has been allocated, and therefore terminal 200 that does not transmit an RA can stop processing (for example, transmission processing).

[0146] Furthermore, by using the Specific AID table illustrated in FIG. 26, the above-mentioned regulations regarding the arrangement order of the User Info field in the HE can be satisfied in versions after EHT, so that the reception processing of the EHT / EHT+ terminal 200 can also be reduced in the same way as the HE terminal 200.

[0147] Note that the value to be used for the Specific AID for the EHT / EHT+ terminal 200 from among AID=1 to 2007 may be determined, for example, by a standard. Alternatively, for example, the value to be used for the Specific AID from among AID=1 to 2007 may be determined for each AP 100. Then, the AP 100 may notify the terminal 200 of the determined Specific AID, for example, at the time of negotiation, or may be broadcast by a beacon.

[0148] (Example 2-5) Instead of defining a new Specific AID for notifying the RA-RU and unallocated RU for the above-mentioned EHT / EHT+ terminal 200, a reserved field in the User Info field may be used to indicate a format for EHT / EHT+.

[0149] An example of the User Info field for RA-RU notification in the EHT / EHT+ format is shown in the bottom part of Figure 27. Compared to the User Info field in the HE format (same as in Figure 3) shown in the top part of Figure 27, the size of the RU allocation subfield in the User Info field in the EHT / EHT+ format may be extended (for example, extended by 1 bit from 8 bits to 9 bits). This extension makes it possible to accommodate an increase in the range of supported allocation bands (for example, an extension from 160 MHz to 320 MHz).

[0150] In addition, in the User Info field of the EHT / EHT+ format, whether or not DCM is applied may be included in the MCS table, so the UL DCM subfield (1 bit) shown in the upper part of Figure 27 may be deleted as shown in the lower part of Figure 27.

[0151] Furthermore, the Reserved field (1 bit) in the HE format may be replaced with the Version Info field in the EHT / EHT+ format, as shown in Fig. 27. For example, as shown in Fig. 27, a value of 0 in the Version Info field may indicate the HE format for RA-RU, and a value of 1 in the Version Info field may indicate the EHT / EHT+ format for RA-RU.

[0152] By introducing the Version Info field, for example, it becomes unnecessary to introduce unused AIDs as new Specific AIDs. Therefore, for example, the Specific AID table shown in Fig. 26 can be reduced to the one shown in Fig. 28. Since the consumption of unused AIDs can be reduced, the scalability of the system can be maintained in the future.

[0153] An example of the arrangement of the User Info List in Operation Example 2-5 is shown in Figure 29. As shown in Figure 29, for example, the value of the Version Info field may be 0 to indicate the HE format for RA-RU, and the value of the Version Info field may be 1 to indicate the EHT / EHT+ format for RA-RU.

[0154] Alternatively, an EHT / EHT+ format may be defined that follows the position and size of the subfields of the HE format. An example of the EHT / EHT+ format is shown in the lower part of Figure 30. As shown in the lower part of Figure 30, the bit in the UL DCM subfield (upper part of Figure 29) that is unnecessary in EHT / EHT+ is set as an additional bit (e.g., the most significant bit (MSB) of 9 bits) in the RU Allocation field.

[0155] As a result, as described above, even when the Reserved field is used as the Version Info field of the User Info field for RA-RU, the position and size of the subfield can be made common to the HE format. Terminal 200 can acquire information on each subfield assuming the HE format regardless of the value of the Version Info field, which simplifies the reception process of terminal 200.

[0156] Note that the EHT / EHT+ format, which follows the position and size of the subfield of the HE format described above, is not limited to being used for RA-RU notification. For example, the EHT / EHT+ format may be applied to an individually designated RU notification in addition to or instead of the RA-RU notification.

[0157] Furthermore, in the EHT / EHT+ format, the bit in the reserved field (1 bit) position in the HE format may be used as an additional bit (for example, the MSB of 7 bits) in the SS Allocation / RA-RU Information field.

[0158] In the example of Fig. 30 (example of RA-RU), the size of the SS Allocation / RA-RU Information may be reduced by 1 bit compared to the example of Fig. 9 (example of individually designated RU), and the size of the HE format (e.g., 6 bits) may be applied. This is because, in individually designated RU, the information in the SS Allocation / RA-RU Information subfield indicates the spatial multiplexing number, which corresponds to the expansion of the spatial multiplexing number in EHT.

[0159] On the other hand, in the RA-RU, the information in the SS Allocation / RA-RU Information subfield indicates the number of consecutive RA-RUs (the spatial multiplexing number of RA-RUs can be fixed to 1). Although the allocation range is wider in EHT compared to HE, by limiting the number of consecutive RA-RUs to a range that can be expressed in 6 bits, the Reserved field can be used as the Version Info field as in the example of Figure 30.

[0160] (others) In the above example, the EHT format and the EHT+ format are notified by the User Info field to which a Specific AID is applied, but this is not limiting. For example, the HE format and formats of versions after EHT (e.g., the EHT format and the EHT+ format) may be notified by the User Info field to which a Specific AID is applied, and notification of formats after EHT may be made by providing a subfield indicating version information in the User Info field and explicitly notifying the version after EHT.

[0161] For example, as shown in Fig. 31, instead of the UL DCM subfield (1 bit) of the HE format, a Version Info subfield (1 bit) indicating either EHT or EHT+ may be provided. Furthermore, the format of other subfields (e.g., Trigger dependent Per User Info, etc.) may be changed depending on the Version Info field (depending on whether it is EHT or EHT+). This eliminates the need to introduce unused AIDs as new Specific AIDs, and allows the system to maintain its extensibility in the future.

[0162] Also, as shown in FIG. 32, for example, in addition to (or instead of) the reserved field of the User Info field, the Reserved field of the Trigger dependent User Info may be used to indicate a format for EHT / EHT+.

[0163] In the example of Fig. 32, the reserved field (1 bit) of the User Info field indicates whether the version is HE or a version other than HE. If the reserved field of the User Info field indicates a version other than HE, the Reserved field of the Trigger dependent User Info indicates whether the version is EHT or EHT+.

[0164] The PPDU format of the uplink signal indicated by the Trigger frame may be a PPDU format corresponding to the format of the User Info field of the Trigger frame. In other words, an uplink signal indicated by the User Info field of the HE format may be transmitted in the HE TB PPDU format. An uplink signal indicated by the User Info field of the EHT format may be transmitted in the EHT TB PPDU format. An uplink signal indicated by the User Info field of the EHT+ format may be transmitted in the EHT+ TB PPDU format. In this case, if the User Info field includes version information (e.g., a Version Info subfield), the Version Info field indicates the TB PPDU format to be requested for transmission.

[0165] The method of transmitting multiple versions including one Trigger frame in the above-described embodiment (referred to as Method A) and the method of transmitting Trigger frames of multiple formats defined for each version in Aggregated-MPDU (referred to as Method B) may be used in combination. For example, Method A may be used when the format to be received by terminal 200 is not (or has not been) determined in advance between AP 100 and terminal 200, and Method B may be used when the format to be received by terminal 200 is (or has been) determined in advance.

[0166] The format of the Trigger frame may be changed depending on the type of Multi-AP Operation. For example, the Common Info field may include the Multi-AP (MAP) type (Coordinated Spatial Reuse (C-SR), Coordinated Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (C-OFDMA), Joint Transmissions (JT), Coordinated Beamforming (CBF), etc.), and the User Info field may use a format according to the type. In this case, the method of this embodiment can be applied in the same way.

[0167] In the above-described embodiment, the size of the User Info field in the EHT format and EHT+ format is the same as that in the HE format to ensure backward compatibility, but the present invention is not limited to this.

[0168] For example, when a Specific AID indicating a version division is defined as in the User Info List illustrated in FIG. 11, the size of the User Info field in the EHT format and EHT+ format may be different from that in the HE format.

[0169] For example, the RU allocation subfield and SS Allocation subfield of the User Info field may be defined to be larger in size for the EHT format and EHT+ format, which have a wider allocation range and support a higher number of spatial multiplexes, than in the HE format. For example, the EHT / EHT+ format may include additional information to distinguish between multiple versions after EHT (EHT, EHT+, EHT++, etc.). The size and content of each subfield of the User Info field may then be changed depending on the version distinguished by the additional information.

[0170] If the Specific AID uses the value of the padding start for the older version (e.g., 4095 for HE) or the value of the unallocated RU notification (e.g., 2046 for HE), the older version terminal 200 will stop decoding the User Info field thereafter, ensuring backward compatibility.

[0171] Note that the method of indicating version information using the Reserved (1 bit) field in the User Info field as illustrated in Figure 27 or Figure 30 is not limited to the User Info field for RA-RUs. For example, it can be similarly applied to individually designated RUs or unallocated RUs.

[0172] In addition, in the examples of Figures 27 and 30, one bit is used to distinguish between HE and EHT or later versions, but additional information (called Further Version Info) may be added to distinguish between multiple versions such as EHT, EHT+, and EHT++.

[0173] For example, Figure 33 shows an example of a User Info Field with Further Version Info added. In the example of Figure 33, a Reserved field (1 bit) is used as the Version Info subfield, and information for distinguishing between HE and versions after EHT is included. If a version after EHT is indicated (for example, when the Version Info field = 1), information for distinguishing between multiple versions after EHT (EHT, EHT+, EHT++, etc.) may be included in the Further Version Info subfield (for example, 3 bits). To ensure backward compatibility and to match the size with the HE format, for example, the SS Allocation / RA-RU Information subfield (6 bits in the HE format) may be reduced.

[0174] In the case of RA-RU, the number of consecutive RA-RUs notified by this subfield may be reduced to 3 bits. For example, the number of consecutive RA-RUs may be limited to 1 to 7 and reduced to 3 bits. This is because when the RA-RU size is large, there is little need to indicate a large number of consecutive RA-RUs. Also, when the RA-RU size is small, it can be indicated as before using the HE format.

[0175] Alternatively, the degree of freedom for the number of consecutive RA-RUs may be limited to numbers that are powers of 2, and the size may be reduced by expressing an exponent of 2 in the RA-RU Information subfield. Also, the number of consecutive RA-RUs may be determined within a range that can be expressed by the applicable RA-RU size (e.g., 3 bits) without being limited to powers of 2. For example, the standard may determine a rule that subfield values ​​= 0, 1, 2, 3, ..., 7 represent consecutive RA-RU numbers = 1, 2, 8, 32, ..., 64, respectively.

[0176] Furthermore, in the case of individually designated RUs, the number of bits in the SS Allocation subfield may be reduced by limiting the number of spatial multiplexings in UL MU-MIMO. The restriction may be, for example, a rule that reduces the upper limit of the number of multiplexings that can be applied, or that limits the number of multiplexings that can be applied using a power of 2, as described above. Alternatively, for example, a rule may be that terminal 200 derives the starting stream number in spatial multiplexing included in the SS Allocation by decoding the RU allocation subfield from the User Info fields of all individually designated RUs included in the User Info List and determining how many times the same RU allocation has been specified. This makes it possible to reduce the size of the SS Allocation subfield.

[0177] The notation "... section" in the above-described embodiments may be replaced with other notations such as "... circuitry," "... device," "... unit," or "... module."

[0178] The present disclosure can be realized by software, hardware, or software linked to hardware. Each functional block used in the description of the above embodiments may be partially or entirely realized as an LSI, which is an integrated circuit, and each process described in the above embodiments may be partially or entirely controlled by a single LSI or a combination of LSIs. The LSI may be composed of individual chips, or may be composed of a single chip that includes some or all of the functional blocks. The LSI may have data input and output. Depending on the degree of integration, the LSI may be called an IC, system LSI, super LSI, or ultra LSI.

[0179] The integrated circuit method is not limited to LSI, but may be realized by a dedicated circuit, a general-purpose processor, or a dedicated processor. Also, a field programmable gate array (FPGA) that can be programmed after LSI manufacturing, or a reconfigurable processor that can reconfigure the connections and settings of circuit cells within the LSI, may be used. The present disclosure may be realized as digital processing or analog processing.

[0180] Furthermore, if an integrated circuit technology that can replace LSI emerges due to advances in semiconductor technology or other derivative technologies, it is natural that such technology can be used to integrate functional blocks. The application of biotechnology is also a possibility.

[0181] The present disclosure may be implemented in any type of apparatus, device, or system (collectively referred to as a communications apparatus) that has a communications function. The communications apparatus may include a wireless transceiver and processing / control circuitry. The wireless transceiver may include a receiver and a transmitter, or both functions. The wireless transceiver (transmitter and receiver) may include a radio frequency (RF) module and one or more antennas. The RF module may include an amplifier, an RF modulator / demodulator, or the like. Non-limiting examples of communication devices include telephones (e.g., cell phones, smartphones), tablets, personal computers (PCs) (e.g., laptops, desktops, notebooks), cameras (e.g., digital still / video cameras), digital players (e.g., digital audio / video players), wearable devices (e.g., wearable cameras, smartwatches, tracking devices), game consoles, digital book readers, telehealth / telemedicine devices, communication-enabled vehicles or mobile transportation (e.g., cars, airplanes, ships), and combinations of the above devices.

[0182] Communications equipment is not limited to portable or mobile equipment, but also includes non-portable or fixed equipment, devices, and systems of any kind, such as smart home devices (such as appliances, lighting equipment, smart meters or metering devices, control panels, etc.), vending machines, and any other "things" that may exist on an IoT (Internet of Things) network.

[0183] Communications include data communications via cellular systems, wireless LAN systems, communications satellite systems, etc., as well as data communications via combinations of these.

[0184] A communications apparatus also includes devices such as controllers and sensors connected or coupled to a communications device that performs the communications functions described in this disclosure, such as controllers and sensors that generate control and data signals used by the communications device to perform the communications functions of the communications apparatus.

[0185] The communication apparatus also includes infrastructure facilities, such as base stations, access points, and any other apparatus, device, or system that communicates with or controls the various apparatuses listed above, but are not limited to these.

[0186] A base station according to one embodiment of the present disclosure may include a control circuit that associates, according to a terminal version, information regarding the format of a terminal information field in a control signal that instructs the transmission of an uplink signal and unused identification information in terminal identification information assigned to an individually designated terminal, and a transmission circuit that transmits the control signal including the associated unused identification information.

[0187] In one embodiment of the present disclosure, the control circuit may associate the unused identification information with a format that indicates the start of padding for a first terminal version and a format that indicates information common to multiple terminals for a second terminal version.

[0188] In one embodiment of the present disclosure, the control circuit may associate the unused identification information with a format indicating unallocated resources for a first terminal version and a format indicating information common to multiple terminals for a second terminal version.

[0189] In one embodiment of the present disclosure, the control circuit may change the definition of the format of the terminal information field according to the arrangement order of the terminal information fields using the unused identification information among the multiple terminal information fields included in the control signal, depending on the terminal version.

[0190] In one embodiment of the present disclosure, the control circuit may arrange multiple terminal information fields included in the control signal according to terminal versions, and within one terminal version, arrange the terminal information fields in the order of individually designated resources, random access resources, and unallocated resources.

[0191] A terminal according to one embodiment of the present disclosure may include a control circuit that determines the terminal information field to receive based on an association according to the terminal version between information regarding the format of the terminal information field in a control signal that instructs the transmission of an uplink signal and unused identification information in the terminal identification information assigned to an individually designated terminal, and a receiving circuit that performs receiving processing of the determined terminal information field.

[0192] In a communication method according to one embodiment of the present disclosure, a base station may associate information regarding the format of a terminal information field in a control signal instructing the transmission of an uplink signal with unused identification information for terminal identification information assigned to an individually designated terminal according to the terminal version, and transmit the control signal including the associated unused identification information.

[0193] In a communication method according to one embodiment of the present disclosure, a terminal may determine the terminal information field to receive based on an association, according to the terminal version, between information regarding the format of the terminal information field in a control signal instructing the transmission of an uplink signal and unused identification information in the terminal identification information assigned to an individually designated terminal, and perform reception processing of the determined terminal information field.

[0194] A communication device according to one embodiment of the present disclosure includes a circuit for setting a first value in an Association ID (AID) 12 subfield of a first field of a trigger frame requesting an Extremely High Throughput (EHT) trigger base (TB) physical layer protocol data unit (PPDU), and a transmitter for transmitting the trigger frame, wherein the first value indicates that the first field contains information commonly used to transmit the EHT TB PPDU.

[0195] In a communication device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the first value may indicate that the trigger frame includes an EHT-directed user information field after the first field.

[0196] In a communication device according to one embodiment of the present disclosure, the first value may be interpreted by a High Efficiency (HE) station (STA) as an indication that the first field is intended for another STA.

[0197] In a communication device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the length of the first field may be equal to the length of a first user information field of the trigger frame.

[0198] A communication device according to one embodiment of the present disclosure is an EHT access point (AP), and the circuit may not set the first value in an AID12 subfield of each user field containing user-specific information for a STA associated with the EHT AP.

[0199] In a communication device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the first field may be located immediately after a common information field in the trigger frame.

[0200] In a communication device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure, a first user information field addressed to an EHT STA may follow the first field.

[0201] In a communication device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure, a common information field of the trigger frame may include information indicating whether the first field is present in the trigger frame.

[0202] In a communication device according to one embodiment of the present disclosure, the first user information field of the trigger frame may include a resource unit (RU) allocation subfield and a first subfield, and the RU allocation subfield, together with the first subfield, may indicate an RU for transmitting the EHT TB PPDU.

[0203] In a communication device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the trigger frame may request an HE TB PPDU according to a user information field of the trigger frame.

[0204] In a communication device according to one embodiment of the present disclosure, the trigger frame may include the first field, a user information field for EHT, and a user information field for HE, and the trigger frame may request the EHT TB PPDU and the HE TB PPDU.

[0205] In a communication device according to one embodiment of the present disclosure, the first field includes version information of the first field, and the version information may indicate one of an EHT version or a post-EHT version.

[0206] In the communication device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the transmission of the EHT TB PPDU may be random access.

[0207] A communication method according to one embodiment of the present disclosure includes the steps of: setting a first value in an Association ID (AID) 12 subfield of a first field of a trigger frame requesting an Extremely High Throughput (EHT) trigger base (TB) physical layer protocol data unit (PPDU); and transmitting the trigger frame, wherein the first value indicates that the first field contains information commonly used to transmit the EHT TB PPDU.

[0208] A communication device according to one embodiment of the present disclosure includes a receiver that receives a trigger frame requesting an Extremely High Throughput (EHT) trigger base (TB) physical layer protocol data unit (PPDU), and a transmitter that transmits the EHT TB PPDU, wherein a first value is set in an association ID (AID) 12 subfield of a first field of the trigger frame, and the first value indicates that the first field contains information commonly used to transmit the EHT TB PPDU.

[0209] In a communication device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the first value may indicate that the trigger frame includes an EHT-directed user information field after the first field.

[0210] In a communication device according to one embodiment of the present disclosure, the first value may be interpreted by a High Efficiency (HE) station (STA) as an indication that the first field is intended for another STA.

[0211] In a communication device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the length of the first field may be equal to the length of a first user information field of the trigger frame.

[0212] In a communication device according to one embodiment of the present disclosure, the trigger frame may be transmitted from an EHT access point (AP), and the EHT AP may not set the first value in the AID12 subfield of each user field containing user-specific information addressed to a STA associated with the EHT AP.

[0213] In a communication device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the first field may be located immediately after a common information field in the trigger frame.

[0214] In a communication device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure, a first user information field addressed to an EHT STA may follow the first field.

[0215] In a communication device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure, a common information field of the trigger frame may include information indicating whether the first field is present in the trigger frame.

[0216] In a communication device according to one embodiment of the present disclosure, the first user information field of the trigger frame may include a resource unit (RU) allocation subfield and a first subfield, and the RU allocation subfield, together with the first subfield, may indicate an RU for transmitting the EHT TB PPDU.

[0217] In a communication device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the trigger frame may request an HE TB PPDU according to a user information field of the trigger frame.

[0218] In a communication device according to one embodiment of the present disclosure, the trigger frame may include the first field, a user information field for EHT, and a user information field for HE, and the trigger frame may request the EHT TB PPDU and the HE TB PPDU.

[0219] In a communication device according to one embodiment of the present disclosure, the first field includes version information of the first field, and the version information may indicate one of an EHT version or a post-EHT version.

[0220] In the communication device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the transmission of the EHT TB PPDU may be random access.

[0221] A communication method according to one embodiment of the present disclosure includes the steps of receiving a trigger frame requesting an Extremely High Throughput (EHT) trigger base (TB) physical layer protocol data unit (PPDU), and setting a first value in an association ID (AID) 12 subfield of a first field of the trigger frame; and transmitting the EHT TB PPDU, wherein the first value indicates that the first field contains information commonly used to transmit the EHT TB PPDU.

[0222] The disclosures of the specification, drawings and abstract contained in Japanese Patent Application No. 2020-180361, filed on October 28, 2020, are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety. [Industrial Applicability]

[0223] One embodiment of the present disclosure is useful in wireless communication systems. [Explanation of symbols]

[0224] 11 Control section 12 Transmitter 21 Receiving unit 22 Control Unit 100 AP 101 Scheduling Department 102 Terminal information acquisition unit 103 Common Info generation part 104 AID control unit 105 User Info generation section 106 Trigger frame generation section 107 Error correction coding unit 108 Modulation section 109 Radio transmitter / receiver 110 Demodulation section 111 Error correction decoding unit 200 devices 201 Radio transmitter / receiver 202 Demodulation section 203 Error correction decoding unit 204 Common Info Acquisition Department 205 AID control unit 206 User Info acquisition section 207 Data Generation Unit 208 Error correction coding unit 209 Modulation section

Claims

1. a circuit for setting a first value in an association ID (AID) 12 subfield of a first field of a trigger frame requesting an Extremely High Throughput (EHT) trigger base (TB) physical layer protocol data unit (PPDU); a transmitter that transmits the trigger frame; the first value indicates that the first field contains information commonly used to transmit the EHT TB PPDU; a High Efficiency (HE) station (STA) interprets the first value as an indication that the first field is addressed to a particular STA; Communication equipment.

2. the first value indicates that the trigger frame includes an EHT-directed user information field after the first field; The communication device according to claim 1 .

3. the first value is interpreted by the HESTA as an indication that the first field is intended for another STA; The communication device according to claim 1 .

4. the length of the first field is equal to the length of the first user information field of the trigger frame; The communication device according to claim 1 .

5. the communication device is an EHT access point (AP), The circuit does not set the first value in an AID12 subfield of each user field containing user-specific information for a STA associated with the EHT AP. The communication device according to claim 1 .

6. the first field is located immediately after a common information field in the trigger frame; The communication device according to claim 1 .

7. a first user information field intended for the EHT STA follows the first field; The communication device according to claim 1 .

8. a common information field of the trigger frame including information indicating whether the first field is present in the trigger frame; The communication device according to claim 1 .

9. a first user information field of the trigger frame including a resource unit (RU) allocation subfield and a first subfield; The RU allocation subfield indicates, together with the first subfield, the RU for transmitting the EHT TB PPDU; The communication device according to claim 1 .

10. The trigger frame requests an HE TB PPDU according to a user information field of the trigger frame; The communication device according to claim 1 .

11. the trigger frame includes the first field, an EHT-oriented user information field, and an HE-oriented user information field; The trigger frame requests the EHT TB PPDU and the HE TB PPDU; The communication device according to claim 1 .

12. the first field includes version information of the first field; The version information indicates one of an EHT version or a post-EHT version. The communication device according to claim 1 .

13. The transmission of the EHT TB PPDU is random access; The communication device according to claim 1 .

14. The specific STA is an associated STA whose AID is equal to the first value. The communication device according to claim 1 .

15. The method of claim 1, wherein the first field does not include user-specific information; The HE STA interprets the first value as an indication that the first field contains the user-specific information. The communication device according to claim 1 .

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the first value indicates to an EHT STA that the first field does not contain user-specific information; the HE STA interprets the first value as an indication that the first field contains the user-specific information; The communication device according to claim 1 .

17. The information is commonly used by multiple STAs for transmitting the EHT TB PPDU. The communication device according to claim 1 .

18. setting a first value in an Association ID (AID) 12 subfield of a first field of a trigger frame requesting an Extremely High Throughput (EHT) trigger base (TB) physical layer protocol data unit (PPDU); transmitting the trigger frame; the first value indicates that the first field contains information commonly used to transmit the EHT TB PPDU; a High Efficiency (HE) station (STA) interprets the first value as an indication that the first field is addressed to a particular STA; Communication method.

19. A method of claim 19, comprising: setting a first value in an association ID (AID) 12 subfield of a first field of a trigger frame requesting an Extremely High Throughput (EHT) trigger-based (TB) physical layer protocol data unit (PPDU); transmitting the trigger frame; and the first value indicates that the first field contains information commonly used to transmit the EHT TB PPDU; a High Efficiency (HE) station (STA) interprets the first value as an indication that the first field is addressed to a particular STA; Integrated circuit.

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