Communication device and communication method for performing control signaling

Abstract

To provide a communication apparatus and communication method for control signaling.SOLUTION: A communication apparatus 300 comprises: a receiver which receives Extremely High Throughput (EHT) Physical layer Protocol Data Unit (PPDU) including U-SIG field having Universal Signal (U-SIG) 1 and U-SIG 2 each including the same number of data bits; and a circuit which processes the received EHT PPDU. The EHT PPDU has an EHT-SIG field including a common field and a user specific field which are referred to together as an EHT-SIG content channel. The fields exist in EHT PPDU to be transmitted to single or multiple STAs. When the EHT PPDU is transmitted to a single STA, the user specific field has a single user field.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 3A

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present disclosure relates to a communication device and a communication method for performing control signaling, and more particularly, to a communication device and a communication method for performing control signaling in an EHT WLAN (Extremely High Throughput Wireless Local Area Network).

Background Art

[0002] In the standardization of next-generation Wireless Local Area Networks (WLANs), a new wireless access technology having backward compatibility with IEEE 802.11a / b / g / n / ac / ax technologies has been under consideration in the IEEE 802.11 working group and is named Extremely High Throughput (EHT) WLAN.

[0003] In EHT WLAN, for the purpose of providing a large increase in peak throughput and capacity exceeding that of 802.11ax High Efficiency (HE) WLAN, it is desired to expand the maximum channel bandwidth from 160 MHz to 320 MHz, increase the maximum number of spatial streams from 8 to 16, and support multi-band operation. Furthermore, for the purpose of improving spectral efficiency compared to 11ax HE WLAN, it has been proposed to enable preamble puncturing of a Physical Layer Protocol Data Unit (PPDU) transmitted to one communication device.

Prior Art Documents

Non-Patent Documents

[0004]

Non-Patent Document 1

Summary of the Invention

Problems to be Solved by the Invention

[0005] However, communication devices and methods that perform control signaling, particularly support for efficient signaling of preamble puncturing of PPDUs transmitted to a single communication device in the context of EHT WLANs, have not been discussed until now.

[0006] Therefore, there is a need for communication devices and communication methods that provide feasible technical solutions for control signaling in the context of EHT WLANs. Furthermore, other desirable features and characteristics will become apparent by reading the following detailed description and the appended claims in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and the background art contained herein. [Means for solving the problem]

[0007] Non-limiting and exemplary embodiments facilitate the provision of communication devices and communication methods for performing control signaling in the context of an EHT WLAN.

[0008] According to one embodiment of the present disclosure, a communication device is provided comprising: a circuit that generates a transmit signal during operation, which includes a first signal field having a first part and a second part, each containing the same number of data bits; and a transmitter that transmits the generated transmit signal during operation, wherein the data bits of the second part of the first signal field do not include version-independent bits.

[0009] Another embodiment of the present disclosure provides a communication device comprising: a receiver that, when in operation, receives a transmission signal including a first signal having a first part and a second part, each containing the same number of data bits; and a circuit that, when in operation, processes the received transmission signal, wherein the data bits of the second part of the first signal field do not include version-independent bits.

[0010] A further embodiment of the present disclosure provides a communication method comprising the steps of: generating a transmit signal including a first signal field having a first portion and a second portion, each containing the same number of data bits; and transmitting the generated transmit signal, wherein the second portion of the first signal field does not contain version-independent bits.

[0011] It should be noted that general or specific embodiments can be implemented as systems, methods, integrated circuits, computer programs, storage media, or any selective combination thereof.

[0012] Further benefits and advantages of the disclosed embodiments will become apparent from this specification and the drawings. These benefits and / or advantages can be obtained individually by the various embodiments and features of this specification and the drawings, and it is not necessary to provide all of these features in order to obtain one or more of such benefits and / or advantages. [Brief explanation of the drawing]

[0013] Those with ordinary art in this field will be able to fully understand and easily grasp the embodiments of this disclosure by reading the following description, which is merely an example, with reference to the drawings. [Figure 1A] This diagram shows a schematic representation of single-user (SU) MIMO communication between an access point (AP) and a station (STA) in a multi-input, multi-output (MIMO) wireless network, including uplink and downlink communication. [Figure 1B] This diagram shows a schematic representation of downlink multi-user communication between an access point (AP) and multiple service stations (STAs) in a MIMO wireless network. [Figure 1C] This diagram shows a schematic representation of trigger-based uplink MU communication between an AP and multiple STAs in a MIMO wireless network. [Figure 1D]This diagram shows a schematic representation of trigger-based downlink multi-AP MIMO communication between multiple APs and STAs in a MIMO wireless network. [Figure 2A] This shows an example of the PPDU (Physical Layer Protocol Data Unit) format used for uplink and downlink SU communication between APs and STAs in an HE WLAN. [Figure 2B] This shows an example of the PPDU format used for downlink multi-user (MU) communication between an AP and multiple STAs in a HE WLAN. [Figure 2C] The HE-SIG-B field is shown in detail. [Figure 2D] This shows an example of the PPDU format used for trigger-based uplink MU communication between an AP and multiple STAs in an HE WLAN. [Figure 3A] This document outlines various embodiments of communication devices. The communication devices can be implemented as APs or STAs and can be configured to perform control signaling according to various embodiments of this disclosure. [Figure 3B] This diagram illustrates communication methods according to various embodiments. [Figure 4A] A flowchart illustrating downlink communication according to one embodiment is shown. [Figure 4B] A flowchart illustrating downlink communication according to another embodiment is shown. [Figure 5A] This shows an example of the EHT basic PPDU format for non-trigger-based communications. [Figure 5B] The U-SIG field is shown in detail. [Figure 5C] Two examples of the EHT-SIG field when an EHT basic PPDU is sent to a single STA are shown. [Figure 5D] Two examples of the EHT-SIG field when an EHT basic PPDU is sent to a single STA are shown. [Figure 5E] A table showing how the number of EHT - SIG content channels in various embodiments depends on the bandwidth and the value of L. [Figure 5F] A diagram showing the mapping of one or two EHT - SIG content channels when a 40 MHz EHT basic PPDU is transmitted to multiple STAs. [Figure 5G] A diagram showing the mapping of two EHT - SIG content channels when an 80 MHz EHT basic PPDU is transmitted to multiple STAs. [Figure 5H] A diagram showing the mapping of two EHT - SIG content channels when an 80 + 80 MHz or 160 MHz EHT basic PPDU is transmitted to multiple STAs. [Figure 5I] A diagram showing the mapping of two EHT - SIG content channels when a 160 + 160 MHz or 320 MHz EHT basic PPDU is transmitted to multiple STAs. [Figure 5J] Two examples of EHT - SIG content channels when an EHT basic PPDU is transmitted to multiple STAs are shown. [Figure 5K] Two examples of EHT - SIG content channels when an EHT basic PPDU is transmitted to multiple STAs are shown. [Figure 6] An example of the format of an EHT TB PPDU is shown. [Figure 7A] An example of the format of an EHT SU PPDU is shown. [Figure 7B] An example of the format of an EHT MU PPDU is shown. [Figure 7C] A diagram showing the mapping of two U - SIG content channels in a 40 MHz EHT SU PPDU or EHT MU PPDU. [Figure 7D] A diagram showing the mapping of two U - SIG content channels in an 80 MHz EHT SU PPDU or EHT MU PPDU. [Figure 7E] This diagram shows the mapping of two U-SIG content channels in an 80+80MHz or 160MHz EHT SU PPDU or EHT MU PPDU. [Figure 7F] This diagram shows the mapping of two U-SIG content channels in a 160+160MHz or 320MHz EHT SU PPDU or EHT MU PPDU. [Figure 7G] This provides a detailed description of U-SIG Content Channel 1. [Figure 7H] This provides a detailed explanation of U-SIG Content Channel 2. [Figure 7I] This shows an example of the EHT-SIG content channel for EHT MU PPDU. [Figure 8] This shows an example of another format for EHT TB PPDU. [Figure 9] This shows the configuration of a communication device according to various embodiments, such as an AP (Access Point). [Figure 10] This shows the configuration of a communication device according to various embodiments, such as an STA.

[0014] Those skilled in the art will understand that the elements in the figures are illustrated in a concise and clear manner and are not necessarily drawn to the correct scale. To aid in the accurate understanding of embodiments of the present invention, for example, the dimensions of some elements in the illustrations, block diagrams, or flowcharts may be exaggerated compared to other elements. [Modes for carrying out the invention]

[0015] Some embodiments of this disclosure will be described only as examples, with reference to the drawings. Similar reference numerals and letters in the drawings refer to similar or equivalent elements.

[0016] The following paragraphs describe specific exemplary embodiments, with particular reference to access points (APs) and stations (STAs) performing uplink or downlink control signaling in a multi-input, multi-output (MIMO) wireless network.

[0017] In the context of IEEE 802.11 (Wi-Fi) technology, a station (also known synonymously as an STA) is a communications device capable of using the 802.11 protocol. Based on the IEEE 802.11-2016 definition, an STA can be any device that includes IEEE 802.11-compliant media access control (MAC) and physical layer (PHY) interfaces to a wireless medium (WM).

[0018] An STA can be, for example, a notebook computer, desktop personal computer (PC), personal digital assistant (PDA), access point, or Wi-Fi phone within a wireless local area network (WLAN) environment. An STA can be stationary or mobile. In a WLAN environment, the terms "STA," "wireless client," "user," "user device," and "node" are often used synonymously.

[0019] Similarly, an AP (also known as a Wireless Access Point (WAP) in the context of IEEE 802.11 (Wi-Fi) technology) is a communication device that enables STAs within a WLAN to connect to a wired network. APs are typically connected to a router (via a wired network) as standalone devices, but APs can also be integrated with or used within a router.

[0020] As mentioned above, an STA within a WLAN can function as an AP in other cases, and vice versa. This is because a communication device in the context of IEEE 802.11 (Wi-Fi) technology can include both STA and AP hardware elements. In this way, the communication device can switch between STA mode and AP mode based on the actual WLAN conditions and / or requirements.

[0021] In MIMO wireless networks, "multiple" means multiple antennas used simultaneously for transmission through a wireless channel and multiple antennas used simultaneously for reception. In this sense, "multiple inputs" means multiple transmitter antennas that input wireless signals into the channel, and "multiple outputs" means multiple receiver antennas that receive wireless signals from the channel and input them into the receivers. For example, in an N×M MIMO network system, N is the number of transmitter antennas and M is the number of receiver antennas, and N may be equal to or unequal to M. For the sake of brevity, this disclosure does not further discuss the number of transmitter antennas and the number of receiver antennas.

[0022] MIMO wireless networks can deploy both single-user (SU) and multi-user (MU) communication between communication devices such as access points (APs) and service stations (STAs). MIMO wireless networks offer advantages such as spatial multiplexing and spatial diversity, which enable higher data rates and robustness by using multiple spatial streams. Depending on the embodiment, the term "spatial stream" may be used interchangeably with the term "spatiotemporal stream" (or STS).

[0023] Figure 1A shows a schematic diagram of a single-user (SU)-MIMO communication 100 between AP 102 and STA 104 in a MIMO radio network. As illustrated, a MIMO radio network can include one or more STAs (e.g., STA 104, STA 106, etc.). In SU-MIMO communication 100, AP 102 transmits multiple spatiotemporal streams using multiple antennas (e.g., four antennas as shown in Figure 1A), directing all spatiotemporal streams to a single communication device (i.e., STA 104). For simplicity, the multiple spatiotemporal streams directed to STA 104 are shown as a single data transmission arrow 108 directed to STA 104.

[0024] The SU-MIMO communication 100 can be configured for bidirectional transmission. As shown in Figure 1A, in the SU-MIMO communication 100, the STA 104 can transmit multiple spatiotemporal streams using multiple antennas (e.g., two antennas as shown in Figure 1A), directing all spatiotemporal streams towards the AP 102. For simplicity, the multiple spatiotemporal streams directed towards the AP 102 are shown as a single data transmission arrow 110 directed towards the AP 102.

[0025] As shown in Figure 1A, the SU-MIMO communication 100 enables both uplink SU transmission and downlink SU transmission in a MIMO wireless network.

[0026] Figure 1B shows a schematic diagram of downlink MU communication 112 between AP 114 and multiple STAs 116, 118, 120 in a MIMO radio network. A MIMO radio network can include one or more STAs (e.g., STA 116, STA 118, STA 120, etc.). In downlink MU communication 112, AP 114 uses multiple antennas via spatial mapping or precoding techniques to simultaneously transmit multiple streams to STAs 116, 118, 120 in the network using the same resource unit (RU) and / or different RUs. For example, two spatiotemporal streams can be directed to STA 118, another spatiotemporal stream to STA 116, and yet another spatiotemporal stream to STA 120. For the sake of brevity, the two spatiotemporal streams directed to STA 118 are shown as a single data transmission arrow 124, the spatiotemporal stream directed to STA 116 is shown as data transmission arrow 122, and the spatiotemporal stream directed to STA 120 is shown as data transmission arrow 126.

[0027] To enable uplink MU transmission, trigger-based communication is provided to the MIMO radio network. In this regard, Figure 1C shows a schematic diagram of trigger-based uplink MU communication 128 between AP 130 and several STAs 132, 134, 136 in the MIMO radio network.

[0028] Since multiple STA 132, 134, and 136 devices participate in trigger-based uplink MU communication, AP 130 needs to coordinate the simultaneous transmission of multiple STA 132, 134, and 136 devices.

[0029] To this end, as shown in Figure 1C, AP 130 simultaneously transmits trigger frames 139, 141, and 143 to STAs 132, 134, and 136, indicating user-specific resource allocation information available to each STA (e.g., the number of spatiotemporal streams, the starting STS number, and the allocated RUs). In response to the trigger frames, STAs 132, 134, and 136 can simultaneously transmit their respective spatiotemporal streams to AP 130 according to the user-specific resource allocation information shown in trigger frames 139, 141, and 143. For example, two spatiotemporal streams may be directed from STA 134 to AP 130, another spatiotemporal stream from STA 132 to AP 130, and yet another spatiotemporal stream from STA 136 to AP 130. For the sake of brevity, the two spatiotemporal streams from STA 134 to AP 130 are shown as a single data transmission arrow 140, the spatiotemporal stream from STA 132 to AP 130 is shown as data transmission arrow 138, and the spatiotemporal stream from STA 136 to AP 130 is shown as data transmission arrow 142.

[0030] Furthermore, trigger-based communication is provided to the MIMO radio network to enable downlink multi-AP communication. In this regard, Figure 1D shows a schematic diagram of downlink multi-AP communication 144 between STA 150 and multiple APs 146,148 in a MIMO radio network.

[0031] Because multiple APs 146 and 148 are participating in trigger-based downlink multi-AP MIMO communication, the master AP 146 needs to coordinate the simultaneous transmission of multiple APs 146 and 148.

[0032] To this end, as shown in Figure 1D, the master AP 146 simultaneously sends trigger frames 147 and 153 to AP 148 and STA 150, indicating AP-specific resource allocation information available to each AP (e.g., the number of spatiotemporal streams, the starting STS stream number, and the allocated RUs). In response to the trigger frames, multiple APs 146 and 148 can send their respective spatiotemporal streams to STA 150 according to the AP-specific resource allocation information shown in trigger frame 147. STA 150 can receive all spatiotemporal streams according to the AP-specific resource allocation information shown in trigger frame 153. For example, two spatiotemporal streams are directed from AP 146 to STA 150, and two other spatiotemporal streams are directed from AP 148 to STA 150. For the sake of brevity, the two spatiotemporal streams directed from AP 146 to STA 150 are shown as a single data transmission arrow 152, and the two spatiotemporal streams directed from AP 148 to STA 150 are shown as a single data transmission arrow 154.

[0033] In 802.11 WLANs, due to packet / PPDU (Physical Layer Protocol Data Unit) based transmission and distributed MAC (Media Access Control) schemes, there is no time scheduling (e.g., the allocation of periodic time slots for data transmission, such as in TDMA (Time Division Multiple Access)). Frequency and spatial resource scheduling is performed on a packet-by-packet basis. In other words, resource allocation information is PPDU-based.

[0034] Figure 2A shows an example of the format of PPDU 156 used for single-user communication between AP and STA in an HE WLAN. Such a PPDU 156 is referred to as HE SU PPDU 156. HE SU PPDU 156 may include a non-high-throughput short training field (L-STF), a non-high-throughput long training field (L-LTF), a non-high-throughput signal (L-SIG) field, a repeated L-SIG (RL-SIG) field, an HE signal A (HE-SIG-A) field 158, an HE short training field (HE-STF), an HE long training field (HE-LTF), a data field 170, and a packet extension (PE) field. The RL-SIG field is primarily used to identify the format of the HE PPDU. The HE-SIG-A field 158 contains control information necessary for decoding the data field, such as uplink / downlink, modulation coding scheme (MCS), and bandwidth (BW).

[0035] Figure 2B shows an example of a PPDU 160 format used for downlink MU communication between an AP and multiple STAs in an HE WLAN, such as OFDMA (Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access) transmission including MU-MIMO transmission in a single RU (Resource Unit) and full-bandwidth MU-MIMO transmission. Such a PPDU 160 is referred to as an HE MU PPDU 160. The HE MU PPDU has a format similar to the HE SU PPDU but can include an HE Signal B (HE-SIG-B) field 166. In particular, the HE MU PPDU 160 can include an L-STF field, an L-LTF field, an L-SIG field, an RL-SIG field, an HE-SIG-A field 162, an HE-SIG-B field 166, an HE-STF field, an HE-LTF field, a Data field 170, and a PE field. In the HE MU PPDU 160, the HE-SIG-B field 166 provides OFDMA and MU-MIMO resource allocation information so that the STA can identify the corresponding resource to be used in the Data field 170, as indicated by arrow 168. The HE-SIG-A field 162 contains the information necessary to decode the HE-SIG-B field 166 (e.g., the MCS of HE-SIG-B, the number of HE-SIG-B symbols), as indicated by arrow 164.

[0036] Figure 2C shows the HE-SIG-B field 166 in more detail. The HE-SIG-B field 166 includes (or consists of) a Common field 172 (if present) followed by a User Specific field 174, which together are referred to as the HE-SIG-B content channel. The HE-SIG-B field 166 includes an RU Allocation subfield that shows the RU information for each allocation. The RU information includes the location of the RU in the frequency domain, information indicating the RU allocated for non-MU-MIMO or MU-MIMO allocations, and the number of users in the MU-MIMO allocation. The Common field 172 is absent in the case of full-bandwidth MU-MIMO transmission. In this case, the RU information (e.g., the number of users in the MU-MIMO allocation) is signaled in the HE-SIG-A field 162.

[0037] The User Specific field 174 includes (or consists of) one or more User fields for non-MU-MIMO assignments and / or MU-MIMO assignments. The User field contains user information (i.e., user-specific assignment information) indicating a user-specific assignment. In the example shown in Figure 2C, the User Specific field 174 includes five User fields (User Field 0, ..., User Field 4), where User Specific assignment information for assignment 0 is provided by User Field 0, User Specific assignment information for a further assignment (Assignment 1, which includes three MU-MIMO users) is provided by User Field 1, User Field 2, and User Field 3, and User Specific assignment information for a further assignment (Assignment 2) is provided by User Field 4.

[0038] Figure 2D shows the format of a PPDU 180 used for uplink MU communication between an AP and multiple STAs in an HE WLAN. Such a PPDU 180 is referred to as an HE TB (trigger-based) PPDU 180. An HE TB PPDU can have a format similar to an HE SU PPDU. Specifically, an HE TB PPDU 180 may include an L-STF field, an L-LTF field, an L-SIG field, an RL-SIG field, an HE-SIG-A field 182, an HE-STF field, an HE-LTF field, a Data field, and a PE field. The HE-STF of an HE TB PPDU 180 has a duration of 8 μs. The HE TB PPDU 180 is used for uplink MU transmission in response to a trigger frame. Instead of using the HE-SIG-B field, the information required for uplink MU transmission from one or more STAs is conveyed by a trigger frame requesting this transmission. In a typical HE TB PPDU 180 transmission, HE-SIG-A related information is copied from the requested trigger frame to the HE-SIG-A field 182 of the HE TB PPDU 180.

[0039] In 11ax HE WLAN, only preamble puncturing of PPDUs transmitted to multiple STAs is permitted. With the maximum channel bandwidth increased from 160 MHz to 320 MHz and the maximum number of spatial streams increased from 8 to 16, the object of this disclosure is to substantially overcome the existing challenge of providing communication devices and methods that perform control signaling to enable preamble puncturing of PPDUs transmitted to a single STA in order to improve the spectral efficiency of EHT WLAN compared to 11ax HE WLAN.

[0040] According to various embodiments, the EHT WLAN supports non-trigger-based communication as shown in Figures 1A and 1B, and trigger-based communication as shown in Figures 1C and 1D. In non-trigger-based communication, a communication device sends a PPDU to one or more other communication devices without explicit request. In trigger-based communication, a communication device sends a PPDU to one or more other communication devices only after receiving a requested trigger frame.

[0041] Figure 3A shows a partially framed schematic diagram of the communication device 300 according to various embodiments. The communication device 300 can be implemented as an AP or STA according to various embodiments.

[0042] As shown in Figure 3A, the communication device 300 may include a circuit 314, at least one radio transmitter 302, at least one radio receiver 304, and at least one antenna 312 (only one antenna is shown in Figure 3A for illustrative purposes for simplicity). The circuit 314 may include at least one controller 306 for use in performing tasks designed to be performed by at least one controller 306, including controlling communication with one or more other communication devices in a MIMO radio network, with the assistance of software and hardware. The circuit 314 may further include at least one transmit signal generator 308 and at least one receive signal processor 310. At least one controller 306 can control at least one transmit signal generator 308 to generate PPDUs (e.g., PPDUs used for non-trigger-based communication or trigger-based multi-AP joint transmission if communication device 300 is an AP, and PPDUs used for non-trigger-based communication or trigger-based uplink transmission if communication device 300 is an STA), and can also control at least one receive signal processor 310 to process PPDUs (e.g., PPDUs used for non-trigger-based communication or trigger-based uplink transmission if communication device 300 is an AP, and PPDUs used for non-trigger-based communication or trigger-based multi-AP joint transmission if communication device 300 is an STA) received from one or more other communication devices via at least one radio receiver 304 under the control of at least one controller 306. At least one transmit signal generator 308 and at least one receive signal processor 310 can be a standalone module of the communication device 300, communicating with at least one controller 306 for the functions described above, as shown in Figure 3A.Alternatively, at least one transmit signal generator 308 and at least one receive signal processor 310 may be included in at least one controller 306. Those skilled in the art will understand that the arrangement of these functional modules is flexible and can vary according to actual needs and / or requirements. Data processing devices, storage devices, and other related control devices can be provided on a suitable circuit board and / or chipset. In various embodiments, at least one radio transmitter 302, at least one radio receiver 304, and at least one antenna 312 can be controlled by at least one controller 306 during operation.

[0043] The communication device 300, when in operation, provides the functions necessary for control signaling in non-trigger-based and trigger-based communications. For example, the communication device 300 may be an AP, and the circuit 314 (e.g., at least one transmit signal generator 308 of the circuit 314) can, when in operation, generate a transmit signal (e.g., a PPDU used for non-trigger-based communications, or a PPDU used for trigger-based multi-AP joint transmission), the transmit signal comprising a first signal field having a first part and a second part, each containing the same number of data bits, wherein the data bits of the second part of the first signal field do not include version-independent bits. The radio transmitter 302 can, when in operation, transmit the generated transmit signal to one or more other communication devices.

[0044] The communication device 300 may be an STA, and the radio receiver 304 may, when in operation, receive a transmit signal (e.g., a PPDU used for non-trigger-based communication or a PPDU used for trigger-based multi-AP joint transmission) from one other communication device (e.g., an AP), the transmit signal comprising a first signal field having a first part and a second part, each containing the same number of data bits, wherein the data bits of the second part of the first signal field do not include version-independent bits. Circuit 314 (e.g., at least one receive signal processor 310 of circuit 314) may, when in operation, process the received transmit signal.

[0045] Figure 3B shows a flowchart 316 illustrating a communication method for transmitting control signaling according to various embodiments. In step 318, a transmit signal is generated, the transmit including a first signal field having a first part and a second part, each containing the same number of data bits, wherein the data bits in the second part of the first signal field do not include version-independent bits. In step 320, the generated transmit signal is transmitted to one or more other communication devices.

[0046] In one embodiment, the first signal field of the transmit signal has a single format in non-trigger-based communication with one or more other communication devices (such as STAs). In another embodiment, the transmit signal includes a second signal field having a portion of version-dependent bits in non-trigger-based communication. In such embodiments, the second signal field has a format when the transmit signal is sent to one other communication device and a different format when the transmit signal is sent to multiple other communication devices. In one embodiment, when the transmit signal is sent to one other communication device, the second signal field may include a preamble puncturing bitmap. In yet another embodiment, the first signal field includes information for interpreting the second signal field. This enables preamble puncturing of the PPDU sent to one communication device, enabling support for more efficient signaling of EHT WLANs than 11ax HE WLANs, resulting in improved spectral efficiency, which is advantageous.

[0047] The following paragraphs describe specific exemplary embodiments with reference to an AP and multiple STAs that perform control signaling to enable preamble puncturing of PPDUs transmitted to a single communication device in non-trigger-based communication.

[0048] Figure 4A shows a flowchart 400 illustrating downlink communication according to one embodiment, where downlink communication is between AP 402 and a single communication device 404, or between AP 402 and multiple communication devices (STA 404, STA 406, etc.). A contention-based channel access procedure, such as an enhanced distributed channel access (EDCA) procedure, is shown by block 408, and a short interframe spacing (SIFS) 411 is shown. AP 402 can generate a transmit signal (e.g., EHT basic PPDU) 410 which includes a first signal field having a first part and a second part, each containing the same number of data bits, wherein the data bits in the second part of the first signal field do not include version-independent bits. The first signal field of the transmit signal 410 may have a single format regardless of whether the transmit signal 410 is sent to STA 404 or STA 404,406. In one embodiment, the transmit signal 410 may include a second signal field containing a portion of version-dependent bits. When communicating with multiple or more communication devices such as STA 404,406, the second signal field of the transmit signal 410 may have a different format than the format of the transmit signal 410 sent to a single communication device such as STA 404. In one embodiment, when the transmit signal 410 is sent to STA 404, the second signal field may include a preamble puncturing bitmap. In yet another embodiment, the first signal field contains information for interpreting the second signal field. The radio transmitter of AP 402 can transmit the generated transmit signal 410 to STA 404 or STA 404,406.

[0049] In an IEEE 802.11 network, SIFS is the time interval before an acknowledgment is sent by an STA. After the last symbol of transmit signal 410 is sent, SIFS 411 becomes active, and 412 means that when transmit signal 410 is sent to STA 404,406, the radio transmitters of STA 404,406 can simultaneously send their respective block acknowledgment (BA) frames 414,415, or when transmit signal 410 is sent to STA 404, the radio transmitter of STA 404 can send a BA frame 414.

[0050] According to this disclosure, the EHT basic PPDU can be used for non-trigger-based SU or MU communications. Figure 5A shows an example of the format of the EHT basic PPDU 500. The EHT basic PPDU 500 includes an L-STF field, an L-LTF field, an L-SIG field, an RL-SIG field, a universal signal (U-SIG) field 502, an EHT signal (EHT-SIG) field 504, an EHT-STF field, an EHT-LTF field, a Data field, and a PE field. The L-STF field, L-LTF field, L-SIG field, RL-SIG field, U-SIG field, and EHT-SIG field can be grouped as pre-EHT modulated fields, and the EHT-STF field, EHT-LTF field, Data field, and PE field can be grouped as EHT modulated fields. Both U-SIG field 502 and EHT-SIG field 504 are present in the EHT base PPDU sent to a single STA or multiple STAs.

[0051] According to various embodiments, the U-SIG field 502 has the duration of two OFDM (Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing) symbols. The data bits of the U-SIG field 502 are encoded and modulated together, similar to the HE-SIG-A field in 802.11ax. The modulated data bits of the U-SIG field 502 are mapped to 52 data tones each of the two OFDM symbols, similar to the HE-SIG-A field in 802.11ax, and duplicated every 20 MHz frequency segment. An example of transmitting the U-SIG field 502 when the bandwidth of the EHT basic PPDU 500 is 80 MHz is shown in Figure 5B.

[0052] In various embodiments, the U-SIG field 502 has the same format regardless of whether the EHT basic PPDU 500 is transmitted to a single STA or multiple STAs. The U-SIG field 502 comprises two parts, U-SIG1 and U-SIG2, each containing 26 data bits. The U-SIG field 502 includes all version-independent bits and some version-dependent bits. All version-independent bits are contained in U-SIG1, which has a static position and bit definition across different physical layer (PHY) versions, and the version-independent bits include a PHY version identifier (3 bits), an uplink / downlink (UL / DR) flag (1 bit), a basic service set (BSS) color (e.g., 6 bits), and a transmit opportunity (TXOP) duration (e.g., 7 bits). The PHY version identifier in the version-independent bits is used to identify the exact PHY version starting with 802.11be. The effect of including all version-independent bits in one part of the U-SIG field 502 (i.e., U-SIG1) is that legacy STAs only need to parse U-SIG1, thus improving their power efficiency. On the other hand, version-dependent bits may have variable bit definitions for each version of the PHY. The version-dependent bits included in the U-SIG field 502 may include the PPDU format, SU / MU flags, BW, as well as EHT-SIG related bits used to interpret the EHT-SIG field 504, and space reuse related bits used to coexist with unintended STAs.

[0053] Table 1 shows an example of the format of the U-SIG field 502. As mentioned above, the U-SIG field 502 consists of two parts, U-SIG1 and U-SIG2, each containing 26 data bits. U-SIG1 includes the PHY Version Identifier field, the UL / DL Flag field, the BSS Color field, the TXOP Duration field, the PPDU Format field, the SU / MU Flag field, and the BW field. U-SIG2 includes the EHT-SIG Compression field, the EHT-SIG EHT MCS field, the EHT-SIG Dual sub-Carrier Modulation (DCM) field, the Number of EHT-SIG Symbols or MU-MIMO Users field, the Spatial Reuse field, followed by spare bits, a Cyclic Redundancy Check (CRC) field for error detection, and a tail bit. Unless otherwise specified herein, it will be apparent to those with ordinary art in this field that the standard definitions, protocols, and functions of most of the U-SIG Field 502 fields listed in Table 1 are derived from the 802.11ax specification.

[0054] According to this disclosure, when the PHY Version Identifier field points to 802.11be, the PPDU Format field is set to "0" for EHT basic PPDUs and to "1" for EHT TB PPDUs. When the PPDU Format field is set to "0" pointing to an EHT basic PPDU, the SU / MU Flag field is set to "0" for EHT basic PPDUs sent to a single STA and to "1" for EHT basic PPDUs sent to multiple STAs. Preamble puncturing mode is permitted only when the PPDU bandwidth is 80 MHz or greater. Therefore, the BW field is set to "0" for 20MHz, "1" for 40MHz, "2" for 80MHz non-preamble puncturing mode, "3" for 160MHz and 80+80MHz non-preamble puncturing mode, "4" for 320MHz and 160+160MHz non-preamble puncturing mode, "5" for 80MHz preamble puncturing mode, "6" for 160MHz and 80+80MHz preamble puncturing mode, and "7" for 320MHz and 160+160MHz preamble puncturing mode. [Table 1]

[0055] Returning to Figure 5A, the EHT-SIG field 504 of the EHT Basic PPDU 500 can contain the remaining version-dependent bits. The EHT-SIG field 504 has a variable MCS and a variable length. The EHT-SIG field 504 has a Common field followed by a User Specific field, and these together are referred to as the EHT-SIG content channel. Unlike the U-SIG field 502, the format of the EHT-SIG field 504 depends on whether the EHT Basic PPDU 500 is sent to a single STA or to multiple STAs. The differences in the EHT-SIG format when sent to a single STA and when sent to multiple STAs are described below.

[0056] When an EHT basic PPDU is transmitted to a single STA, the Common field of the EHT-SIG field 504 contains a single Common field 1, and the User Specific field contains a single User field. Furthermore, regardless of the BW of the EHT basic PPDU, there is only one EHT-SIG content channel, which is duplicated for every 20 MHz frequency segment. The Common field and User Specific field can be encoded separately or together, resulting in two different EHT-SIG field format options. Figure 5C shows an example of the format of the EHT-SIG field 504 when the Common field 506 and User Specific field 508 are encoded separately when an EHT basic PPDU is transmitted to a single STA (Option 1). The Common field 506 contains one Common field 1 506a, and the User Specific field 508 contains one User field 508a. The Common field 506 and the User Specific field 508 are encoded separately. As a result, as shown in Figure 5C, the Common field 1 506a of the Common field 506 and the User field 508a of the User Specific field 508 are each given a CRC field and a tail bit.

[0057] Figure 5D shows an example of an alternative format for the EHT-SIG field 504 when the Common field 506 and user-specific field 508 are encoded together when the EHT basic PPDU is transmitted to a single STA (Option 2). In this embodiment, the EHT-SIG field 504 includes a single Common field 1 506a of the Common field 506, followed by a single User field 508a of the User-Specific field 508, and a CRC field and tail bit appended to field 508a. This format of the EHT-SIG field that is encoded together is advantageous because it reduces the number of CRC fields and tail bits used in the EHT-SIG field, thus reducing signaling overhead.

[0058] Examples of the format of Common Field 1 506a and User Field 508a when an EHT Basic PPDU 500 is transmitted to a single STA are shown in Tables 13 and 2, respectively. Common Field 1 506a may include the Low Density Parity Check (LDPC) Extra Symbol Segment subfield, Pre-FEC Padding Factor subfield, PE Disambiguity subfield, Space-Time Block Coding (STBC) subfield, Doppler subfield, GI-LTF Size subfield, EHT-LTF Mode subfield, Beam Change subfield, and Preamble Puncturing Bitmap subfield. The User field 508a can have a 22-bit field size and may include the STA Identifier (ID) field, EHT MCS field, DCM field, Number of Space-Time Streams (NSTS) and Midamble Periodicity field, Coding field, and Beamformed field. The STA ID is included in the User field so that unintended STAs can discard the remaining EHT base PPDU 500 to improve power efficiency.Unless otherwise specified herein, it will be apparent to those with the ordinary art that the standard definitions, protocols, and functions of most of the Common Field 1 506a and User Field 508a fields listed in Tables 13 and 2 are derived from the 802.11ax specification. [Table 2]

[0059] According to this disclosure, when an EHT basic PPDU 500 is transmitted to a single STA and the BW field of the U-SIG field 502 is set to "4", "5", "6", or "7", which refer to preamble puncturing modes of 80 MHz, 160 (or 80+80) MHz, or 320 (or 160+160) MHz, respectively, a Preamble Puncturing Bitmap field exists in the Common field 506 of the EHT-SIG field 504. The Preamble Puncturing Bitmap field has a variable bit width that depends on the bandwidth of the EHT basic PPDU 500.

[0060] The Preamble Puncturing Bitmap field can have two options. In Option 1, when the BW field refers to a preamble puncturing mode of 80MHz, 160(or 80+80)MHz, or 320(or 160+160)MHz, the Preamble Puncturing Bitmap field has 3 bits, 7 bits, or 15 bits, respectively. Each bit indicates whether a 20MHz frequency segment other than the primary 20MHz is being punctured. In Option 2, when the BW field refers to a preamble puncturing mode of 80MHz, 160(or 80+80)MHz, or 320(or 160+160)MHz, the Preamble Puncturing Bitmap field has 3 bits, 7 bits, or 7 bits, respectively. In particular, when the BW field points to the 80MHz or 160(or 80+80)MHz preamble puncturing mode, each bit indicates whether a 20MHz frequency segment other than the primary 20MHz is being punctured, and when the BW field points to the 320MHz or 160+160MHz preamble puncturing mode, each bit indicates whether a 40MHz frequency segment other than the primary 40MHz is being punctured. The effect of indicating the 40MHz frequency segment instead of the 20MHz in the 320MHz or 160+160MHz preamble puncturing mode is a trade-off between signaling overhead and spectral efficiency. The above characteristics enable preamble puncturing of PPDUs transmitted to a single STA using the EHT basic PPDU 500, which is advantageous.

[0061] Furthermore, the EHT-LTF Mode field of Common field 1 506a is set to "0" to indicate that subcarrier interleaved EHT-LTF symbols are not to be used, and to "1" to indicate that subcarrier interleaved EHT-LTF symbols may be used. An example of subcarrier interleaved EHT-LTF symbols is described in Non-Patent Literature 1. Such subcarrier interleaved EHT-LTF symbols can be used to maintain the number of EHT-LTF symbols, particularly when the number of spatiotemporal streams is nine or more.

[0062] According to various embodiments, the format of the EHT-SIG field when an EHT basic PPDU 500 is transmitted to multiple STAs differs from the format of the EHT-SIG field when it is transmitted to a single STA. In the case of an EHT basic PPDU 500 transmitted to multiple STAs, the Common field of the EHT-SIG field 504 includes two elements, Common field 1 and Common field 2, and the User Specific field includes one or more User fields, and these are collectively referred to as the EHT-SIG content channel. Furthermore, depending on the bandwidth of the EHT basic PPDU, there may be one or two EHT-SIG content channels. Specifically, the EHT-SIG field 504, including the Common field 510 and the User Specific field 512, is encoded separately for each L × 20 MHz frequency segment, with L = 1 or 2.

[0063] Figure 5E is a table showing how the number of EHT-SIG content channels depends on the bandwidth and the value of L in various embodiments. As shown in Figure 5E, when the bandwidth is 20 MHz, L can only be 1 because the EHT-SIG field is encoded every 20 MHz, and there is only one EHT-SIG content channel. In embodiments where the bandwidth is 40 MHz, the AP can assign either 1 or 2 as the value of L. If L is set to "1", there are two EHT-SIG content channels. If L is set to "2", there is only one EHT-SIG content channel. In embodiments where the bandwidth is 80 MHz, 80+80 MHz, 160 MHz, 160+160 MHz, or 320 MHz, there are two EHT-SIG content channels regardless of the value of L. Further details are described below.

[0064] Figure 5F shows a diagram of the mapping of one or two EHT-SIG content channels in a 40MHz EHT basic PPDU. The number of EHT-SIG content channels depends on the bandwidth and the value of L, as shown in Figure 5E. A 40MHz channel contains two 20MHz frequency segments. When L=1, there are two EHT-SIG content channels (i.e., EHT-SIG content channel 1 and EHT-SIG content channel 2), which are transmitted in the first and second 20MHz frequency segments, respectively. When L=2, there is only one EHT-SIG content channel.

[0065] Figure 5G shows the mapping of two EHT-SIG content channels (i.e., EHT-SIG content channel 1 and EHT-SIG content channel 2) in an 80MHz EHT basic PPDU. When L=1, in an 80MHz channel containing four 20MHz frequency segments, EHT-SIG content channel 1 is duplicated and transmitted in the first and third 20MHz frequency segments, and EHT-SIG content channel 2 is duplicated and transmitted in the second and fourth 20MHz frequency segments. When L=2, in an 80MHz channel containing two 40MHz frequency segments, EHT-SIG content channel 1 is transmitted in the first 40MHz frequency segment, and EHT-SIG content channel 2 is transmitted in the second 40MHz frequency segment.

[0066] Figure 5H shows the mapping of two EHT-SIG content channels in an 80+80MHz or 160MHz EHT basic PPDU. When L=1, in an 80+80MHz or 160MHz channel containing eight 20MHz frequency segments, EHT-SIG content channel 1 is duplicated and transmitted in the first, third, fifth, and seventh 20MHz frequency segments, and EHT-SIG content channel 2 is duplicated and transmitted in the second, fourth, sixth, and eighth 20MHz frequency segments. When L=2, in an 80+80MHz or 160MHz channel containing four 40MHz frequency segments, EHT-SIG content channel 1 is duplicated and transmitted in the first and third 40MHz frequency segments, and EHT-SIG content channel 2 is duplicated and transmitted in the second and fourth 40MHz frequency segments.

[0067] Figure 5I shows the mapping of two EHT-SIG content channels in a 160+160MHz or 320MHz EHT basic PPDU. When L=1, in a 160+160MHz or 320MHz channel containing 16 20MHz frequency segments, EHT-SIG content channel 1 is duplicated and transmitted in the first, third, fifth, seventh, ninth, eleventh, thirteenth, and fifteenth 20MHz frequency segments, and EHT-SIG content channel 2 is duplicated and transmitted in the second, fourth, sixth, eighth, tenth, twelfth, fourteenth, and sixteenth 20MHz frequency segments. When L=2, in a 160+160MHz or 320MHz channel containing eight 40MHz frequency segments, EHT-SIG content channel 1 is duplicated and transmitted in the first, third, fifth, and seventh 40MHz frequency segments, and EHT-SIG content channel 2 is duplicated and transmitted in the second, fourth, sixth, and eighth 40MHz frequency segments.

[0068] In various embodiments, for an EHT PPDU sent to multiple STAs, a User Specific field may consist of one or more User Block fields, each User Block field containing one or two User fields. For example, as shown in Figures 5J and 5K, a User Specific field 512 contains three User Block fields 1, 2, and 3, where User Block field 1 contains two User fields such as User field 1 and User field 2, User Block field 2 contains two User fields such as User field 3 and User field 4, and User Block field 3 contains one User field 5, with one or two User fields in each User Block field 1, 2, and 3 having an appended CRC field and tail bit for error detection. In one embodiment, the last user block may consist of one or two user fields, depending on the total number of user fields allowed in the user-specific field 512, which indicates odd or even.

[0069] However, the Common Fields, including Common Field 1 and Common Field 2, can be encoded together (Option 1) or separately (Option 2), resulting in two options for the EHT-SIG field format. Figure 5J shows an example of the format of EHT-SIG field 504 when Common Field 1 and Common Field 2 are encoded together (Option 1) in an EHT base PPDU sent to multiple STAs. In this embodiment, Common Field 510 has Common Field 1 510a followed by Common Field 2 510b, with one block of CRC field and tail bits appended to this field 510b. An advantage of such an EHT-SIG field format having Common Fields encoded together is that the number of CRC fields and tail bits used in the EHT-SIG field is reduced, and therefore signaling overhead can be reduced.

[0070] Figure 5K shows an example of the format of the EHT-SIG field 504 in an EHT base PPDU transmitted to multiple STAs, where the Common field 510 is encoded separately (Option 2). In this embodiment, the CRC field and tail bit can be included at the end of each separately encoded field (i.e., Common field 1 510a and Common field 2 510b).

[0071] However, in one embodiment, if the EHT-SIG Compression field of the U-SIG field 502 is set to "1" to indicate full-bandwidth MU-MIMO transmission, the Common field 2 may not be present. In this case, both option 1 and option 2 of the format of the EHT basic PPDU sent to multiple STAs will be the same. Table 3

[0072] Tables 3 and 14 show examples of the format of Common Field 1 510a and Common Field 2 510b when an EHT Basic PPDU 500 is sent to multiple STAs, respectively. Common Field 1 510a may include the LDPC Extra Symbol Segment subfield, Pre-FEC Padding Factor subfield, PE Disambiguity subfield, Doppler subfield, GI-LTF Size subfield, EHT-LTF Mode subfield, and Number of EHT-LTF Symbols and Midamble Periodicity subfield. Common Field 1 has a 12-bit field size and is the same across all EHT-SIG content channels. Common field 2 510b may include the RU Allocation field and the Center 26-Tone RU field. The RU Allocation subfield for one or more EHT-SIG content channels corresponding to 20 MHz frequency segments indicates the RU allocation, including the size of the RUs and their arrangement in the frequency domain, and may also indicate the preamble puncturing pattern. The RU Allocation subfield and the Center 26-Tone RU subfield have different field sizes depending on the BW of the EHT base PPDU. Also, Common field 2 may differ between EHT-SIG content channels depending on the RU allocation. Note that Common field 2 does not exist when the EHT-SIG Compression subfield of U-SIG field 502 is set to "1".

[0073] Tables 4 and 5 show examples of the format of the User field for non-MU MIMO assignments and MU MIMO assignments, respectively. For non-MU MIMO assignments, the User field may include the STA ID field, EHT MCS field, DCM field, NSTS field, Coding field, and Beamformed field, while for MU MIMO assignments, the User field may include the STA ID field, EHT MCS field, Spatial Configuration field, and Coding field. It will be apparent to those with ordinary art in this field that the standard definitions, protocols, and functions of all fields in Common Field 1, Common Field 2, and User field, as described in Tables 3-5 and Table 14, are derived from the 802.11ax specification unless otherwise specified herein. [Table 4] [Table 5]

[0074] Table 15 summarizes the different EHT-SIG field formats in an EHT base PPDU depending on how the EHT-SIG field is encoded according to various embodiments provided in this disclosure. When an EHT base PPDU is transmitted to a single STA, i.e., when the SU / MU Flag field of the U-SIG field is set to "0", the Common field of the EHT-SIG field includes a single Common field 1, and the User Specific field includes a single User field. The Common field and the User Specific field can be encoded separately (i.e., Option 1) or together (i.e., Option 2). On the other hand, when an EHT base PPDU is transmitted to multiple STAs, i.e., when the SU / MU Flag field of the U-SIG field is set to "1", the Common field and the User Specific field are encoded separately. The Common field includes Common Field 1, and if the EHT Compression field of the U-SIG field is set to "0", it also includes Common Field 2. Common Field 1 and Common Field 2 can be encoded together (i.e., Option 1) or separately (i.e., Option 2).

[0075] Figure 6 shows an example of the format of an EHT TB PPDU 600. The EHT TB PPDU 600 has a structure similar to the EHT basic PPDU 500, but lacks the EHT-SIG field 504. The EHT TB PPDU 600 can include an L-STF field, an L-LTF field, an L-SIG field, an FIF field, a U-SIG field 602, an EHT-STF field, an EHT-LTF field, a Data field, and a PE field. The L-STF field, L-LTF field, L-SIG field, RL-SIG field, and U-SIG field 602 can be grouped as pre-EHT modulation fields, and the EHT-STF field, EHT-LTF field, Data field, and PE field can be grouped as EHT modulation fields. The EHT TB PPDU can be used for trigger-based communication in response to a requested trigger frame. For example, as shown in Figure 4A, the EHT TB PPDU can be used when the EHT basic PPDU 410 is sent to STA 404,406 and contains one or more trigger frames, allowing STA 404,406 to send BA frames 414,415.

[0076] Table 6 shows an example of the format of the U-SIG field 602 of the EHT TB PPDU 600. Similar to the EHT base PPDU 500, the U-SIG field 602 consists of two parts, U-SIG1 and U-SIG2, each part containing 26 data bits. In this embodiment, all version-independent bits can be included in U-SIG1. The first part of the U-SIG field 602 (i.e., U-SIG1) includes the PHY Version Identifier field, the UL / DL Flag field, the BSS Color field, the TXOP Duration field, the PPDU Format field, and the BW field. The PHY Version Identifier field is used to identify the exact PHY version, starting with 802.11be. The second part of U-SIG field 602 (i.e., U-SIG2) includes Spatial Reuse fields 1 through 4, followed by the CRC field and tail bit. Information on some of the fields in U-SIG field 602 (e.g., the BW field and Spatial Reuse fields 1 through 4) can be copied from the corresponding trigger frame requesting the transmission of the EHT TB PPDU 600. It will be apparent to those with ordinary art in this field that the standard definitions, protocols, and functions of most of the fields in U-SIG field 602 of the EHT TB PPDU 600 are derived from the 802.11ax specification. [Table 6]

[0077] Figure 4B shows a flowchart 420 illustrating downlink communication according to another embodiment, where downlink communication is between AP 422 and a single communication device 424, or between AP 422 and multiple communication devices such as STA 424,426. A contention-based channel access procedure, such as the EDCA procedure, is shown by block 428, and SIFS 431 is shown. AP 422 can generate a transmit signal (e.g., EHT SU PPDU or EHT MU PPDU) 430, which includes a first signal field having a first part, a second part, and a third part, each containing the same number of data bits, wherein the data bits in the second and third parts of the first signal field do not include version-independent bits. The first part of the first signal field of the transmit signal 430 may have a single format regardless of whether the transmit signal 430 is sent to STA 424 or STA 424,426. The second or third portion of the first signal field of the transmit signal 430 may have a different format depending on whether the transmit signal 430 is transmitted to STA 424 or STA 424,426. In one embodiment, the transmit signal 430 may include a second signal field when the transmit signal 430 is transmitted to STA 424,426. In this case, the first signal field includes information for interpreting the second signal field. In one embodiment, the first signal field may include a preamble puncturing bitmap when the transmit signal 430 is transmitted to STA 424. The radio transmitter of AP 422 can transmit the generated transmit signal 430 to STA 424 or STA 424,426.

[0078] After the last symbol of the transmit signal 430 is transmitted, SIFS 431 is enabled, and in 432, the radio transmitters of STA 424 and 426 can simultaneously transmit their respective BA frames 434 and 435 when the transmit signal 430 is transmitted to STA 424 and 426, or the radio transmitter of STA 424 can transmit its own BA frame 434 when the transmit signal 430 is transmitted to STA 424.

[0079] According to this disclosure, EHT SU PPDU and EHT MU PPDU can be used for non-trigger-based communications. In particular, EHT SU PPDU is used when transmitting to a single STA, and EHT MU PPDU is used when transmitting to multiple STAs.

[0080] Figures 7A and 7B show examples of the formats for EHT SU PPDU 700 and EHT MU PPDU 704, respectively. The EHT MU PPDU 704 has a format similar to the EHT basic PPDU 500 and includes L-STF field, L-LTF field, L-SIG field, RL-SIG field, U-SIG field 702, EHT-SIG field 708, EHT-STF field, EHT-LTF field, Data field, and PE field. Note that the L-STF field, L-LTF field, L-SIG field, RL-SIG field, U-SIG field 702, and EHT-SIG field 708 can be grouped as pre-EHT modulation fields, and the EHT-STF field, EHT-LTF field, Data field, and PE field can be grouped as EHT modulation fields. On the other hand, the EHT SU PPDU 700 can include a format similar to the EHT Basic PPDU 500, but it does not have an EHT-SIG field. This reduces the signaling overhead of the EHT SU PPDU, which is advantageous.

[0081] The U-SIG field 702 includes all version-independent bits, plus all version-dependent bits in the case of EHT SU PPDU, and some version-dependent bits in the case of EHT MU PPDU. According to various embodiments, the U-SIG field 702 has the duration of two OFDM symbols. The data bits of the U-SIG field 702 are encoded and modulated together, similar to the HE-SIG-A field in 802.11ax. The modulated data bits of the U-SIG field 702 are mapped to 52 data tones for each of the two OFDM symbols, similar to the HE-SIG-A field in 802.11ax.

[0082] In this disclosure, the U-SIG field 702 includes one or two content channels, depending on the BW of the EHT SU PPDU 700 or EHT MU PPDU 704. Specifically, the U-SIG field 702 of a 20MHz EHT SU PPDU or EHT MU PPDU includes one U-SIG content channel, while the U-SIG field 702 of an EHT SU PPDU or EHT MU PPDU having a BW of 40MHz or higher includes two U-SIG content channels.

[0083] Figure 7C shows the mapping of two U-SIG content channels in a 40MHz EHT SU PPDU or EHT MU PPDU. The 40MHz channel contains two 20MHz frequency segments. The two U-SIG content channels (i.e., U-SIG content channel 1 and U-SIG content channel 2) are transmitted in the first and second 20MHz frequency segments, respectively. Figure 7D shows the mapping of two U-SIG-B content channels in an 80MHz EHT SU PPDU or EHT MU PPDU. The 80MHz channel contains four 20MHz frequency segments. U-SIG content channel 1 is duplicated and transmitted in the first and third 20MHz frequency segments, and U-SIG content channel 2 is duplicated and transmitted in the second and fourth 20MHz frequency segments.

[0084] Figure 7E shows a diagram of the mapping of two U-SIG content channels in an 80+80MHz or 160MHz EHT MU PPDU. The 80+80MHz or 160MHz channels consist of eight 20MHz frequency segments, with U-SIG content channel 1 duplicated and transmitted in the first, third, fifth, and seventh 20MHz frequency segments, and U-SIG content channel 2 duplicated and transmitted in the second, fourth, sixth, and eighth 20MHz frequency segments. Figure 7F shows a diagram of the mapping of two U-SIG content channels in a 160+160MHz or 320MHz EHT MU PPDU. For 160+160MHz or 320MHz channels, which contain 16 20MHz frequency segments, U-SIG content channel 1 is duplicated and transmitted in the first, third, fifth, seventh, ninth, eleventh, thirteenth, and fifteenth 20MHz frequency segments, and U-SIG content channel 2 is duplicated and transmitted in the second, fourth, sixth, eighth, tenth, twelfth, fourteenth, and sixteenth 20MHz frequency segments. When L=2, for 160+160MHz or 320MHz channels containing eight 40MHz frequency segments, U-SIG content channel 1 is duplicated and transmitted in the first, third, fifth, and seventh 40MHz frequency segments, and U-SIG content channel 2 is duplicated and transmitted in the second, fourth, sixth, and eighth 40MHz frequency segments.

[0085] According to this disclosure, the U-SIG field 702 includes three parts: U-SIG1 710, U-SIG2 712, and U-SIG3 714, each containing 26 data bits. U-SIG1 710 includes all version-independent bits and some version-dependent bits, while U-SIG2 712 and U-SIG3 714 include the remaining version-dependent bits. Figures 7G and 7H show examples of the format of U-SIG content channel 1 and U-SIG content channel 2, respectively. U-SIG content channel 1 may include U-SIG1 710 and U-SIG2 712, and U-SIG content channel 2 may include U-SIG1 710 and U-SIG3 714. In one embodiment, U-SIG content channel 1 includes version-dependent bits necessary for interpreting a 20MHz EHT SU PPDU or EHT MU PPDU. As a result of such a configuration in which U-SIG1 710 is included in both U-SIG content channels 1 and 2, legacy STAs can decode any U-SIG content channel to obtain version-independent information. [Table 7]

[0086] Table 7 shows an example of the U-SIG1 710 format for the U-SIG field of an EHT SU PPDU or EHT MU PPDU. The U-SIG1 710 may include the PHY Version Identifier field, the UL / DL Flag field, the BSS Color field, the TXOP Duration field, the PPDU Format field, the BW field, the LDPC Extra Symbol Segment field, the Pre-FEC Padding Factor field, and the Disambiguity field. When the PHY Version Identifier field points to 802.11be, the PPDU Format field is set to "0" for an EHT SU PPDU, "1" for an EHT MU PPDU, and "2" for an EHT TB PPDU. Preamble puncturing mode is only permitted if the PPDU's BW is 80MHz or higher. Based on this, the BW field is set to "0" for 20MHz, "1" for 40MHz, "2" for 80MHz non-preamble puncturing mode, "3" for 160MHz and 80+80MHz non-preamble puncturing mode, "4" for 320MHz and 160+160MHz non-preamble puncturing mode, "5" for 80MHz preamble puncturing mode, "6" for 160MHz and 80+80MHz preamble puncturing mode, and "7" for 320MHz and 160+160MHz preamble puncturing mode. [Table 8]

[0087] Table 8 shows an example of the U-SIG2 712 format for the U-SIG field when the PPDU Format field refers to an EHT MU PPDU. In this example, U-SIG2 may include the EHT-SIG Compression field, the EHT-SIG EHT MCS field, the EHT-SIG DCM field, the Number of EHT-SIG Symbols Or MU-MIMO Users field, the STBC field, the Doppler field, the GI-LTF Size field, the Number of EHT-LTF Symbols And Midamble Periodicity field, the CRC field, and the tail bit. Table 9 shows an example of the U-SIG2 712 format for the U-SIG field when the PPDU Format field refers to an EHT SU PPDU. In this example, U-SIG2 may include the EHT MCS field, DCM field, Beamformed field, Beam Change field, STBC field, Doppler field, GI-LTF Size field, NSTS and Midamble Periodicity field, CRC field, and tail bit. [Table 9]

[0088] Table 10 shows an example of the format of U-SIG3 714 of the U-SIG field when the PPDU Format field points to EHT SU PPDU. In this example, U-SIG3 may include the EHT-LTF Mode field, Spatial Reuse field, NSTS MSB (most significant bit) field, Preamble Puncturing Bitmap field, CRC field, and tail bit. Due to the fixed bit width of the U-SIG field, the Preamble Puncturing Bitmap field has a fixed bit width of 7 bits. In embodiments where the BW field in U-SIG1 points to a non-preamble puncturing mode of 20MHz, 40MHz, 80MHz, 160 / 80+80MHz, or 320 / 160+160MHz, the Preamble Puncturing Bitmap field is spare. When the BW field points to the 80MHz preamble puncturing mode, each of the first three bits indicates whether a 20MHz frequency segment other than the primary 20MHz is punctured, and the remaining four bits are spare. When the BW field points to the 160MHz and 80+80MHz preamble puncturing modes, each bit indicates whether a 20MHz frequency segment other than the primary 20MHz is punctured. When the BW field points to the 320MHz and 160+160MHz preamble puncturing modes, each bit indicates whether a 40MHz frequency segment other than the primary 40MHz is punctured. Thus, the above features allow for preamble puncturing of PPDUs transmitted to a single STA using the EHT SU PPDU, which is advantageous. [Table 10]

[0089] Table 11 shows an example of the U-SIG3 714 format for the U-SIG field when the PPDU Format field points to an EHT MU PPDU, i.e., when it is set to "1". In this example, U-SIG3 can include the EHT-LTF Mode field, Spatial Reuse field, Number of EHT-LTF Symbols MSB field, CRC field, and tail bit. The above examples of U-SIG3 for EHT SU PPDU and MU PPDU assume that the 20MHz EHT PPDU contains up to eight EHT-LTF symbols that are not subcarrier interleaved and that parameterized spatial reuse (PSR) based spatial reuse operation is not permitted. Therefore, U-SIG3 714 is not required to interpret the 20MHz EHT PPDU. It will be apparent to those with ordinary art in this field that the standard definitions, protocols, and functions of all U-SIG fields listed in Tables 10 to 14 are derived from the 802.11ax specification, unless otherwise specified herein. [Table 11]

[0090] Returning to Figure 7B, the EHT MU PPDU 704 includes the EHT-SIG field 708. The EHT-SIG field 708 can include the remaining version-dependent bits of the EHT MU PPDU 704. Similar to the EHT-SIG field 504, when the EHT base PPDU is transmitted to multiple STAs, the EHT-SIG field 708 has a variable MCS and a variable length. The EHT-SIG field 708 has a Common field and a User Specific field, which together are referred to as the EHT-SIG content channel. The Common field and User Specific field are encoded separately, and depending on the BW of the EHT MU PPDU 704, there may be one or two EHT-SIG content channels. The Common field 716 can include Common field 2. The User Specific field includes one or more User fields.

[0091] Figure 7I shows a more detailed example of the EHT-SIG content channel in the EHT MU PPDU 704. The Common field 716 includes Common field 2 716b, the CRC field, and the tail bit. Common field 2 716b can have the same format as Common field 2 506b of the EHT basic PPDU 500 shown in Figures 5J to 5K and Table 14. Similarly, the User Specific field 718 can consist of one or more User Block fields, each User Block field containing one or two User fields. For example, User Specific field 718 may contain three User Block fields 1, 2, and 3, where User Block field 1 contains two User fields such as User field 1 and User field 2, User Block field 2 contains two User fields such as User field 3 and User field 4, and User Block field 3 contains one User field 5, with one or two User fields in each User Block field 1 to 3 having an appended CRC field and tail bit for error detection. In one embodiment, the last User Block may consist of one or two User fields, depending on the total number of User fields allowed in User Specific field 718, which may point to an odd or even number. User fields for non-MU-MIMO assignment and MU-MIMO assignment may have the same format as the EHT Basic PPDU 500 shown in Tables 4 and 5, respectively.

[0092] Figure 8 shows an example of another format for the EHT TB PPDU 800. The EHT TB PPDU 800 has a structure similar to the EHT SU PPDU 700. The EHT TB PPDU 800 can include L-STF fields, L-LTF fields, L-SIG fields, RL-SIG fields, U-SIG fields 802, EHT-STF fields, EHT-LTF fields, a Data field, and a PE field. The L-STF fields, L-LTF fields, L-SIG fields, RL-SIG fields, and U-SIG fields 802 can be grouped as pre-EHT modulated fields, and the EHT-STF fields, EHT-LTF fields, a Data field, and a PE field can be grouped as EHT modulated fields. The EHT TB PPDU 800 is used for trigger-based communication in response to a requested trigger frame. For example, as shown in Figure 4B, the EHT TB PPDU can be used by STA 424,426 to transmit BA frames 434,435 when the EHT basic PPDU 430 is sent to STA 424,426 and contains one or more trigger frames.

[0093] The U-SIG field 802 of the EHT TB PPDU 800 contains one U-SIG content channel. The U-SIG field 802 consists of two parts, U-SIG1 and U-SIG2, each containing 26 data bits. Table 12 shows an example of the format of the U-SIG field 802 of the EHT TB PPDU 800. The first part of the U-SIG field 802, namely U-SIG1, can contain all version-independent bits and includes the PHY Version Identifier field, the UL / DL Flag field, the BSS Color field, the TXOP Duration field, the PPDU Format field, and the BW field. The PHY Version Identifier field is used to identify the exact PHY version, starting with 802.11be. The second part of U-SIG field 802, namely U-SIG2, includes the Spatial Reuse 1-4 fields, which are PPDU format-dependent information, followed by the CRC field and tail bit. Some of the information in U-SIG field 802 (e.g., the BW field and Spatial Reuse 1-4 fields) can be copied from the corresponding trigger frame requesting the transmission of the EHT TB PPDU 800. It will be apparent to those with common technical skills in this field that the standard definitions, protocols, and functions of most of the fields in U-SIG field 802 of the EHT TB PPDU 800 are derived from the 802.11ax specification. [Table 12]

[0094] Figure 9 shows the configuration of a communication device 900, e.g., an AP, according to various embodiments. Similar to the schematic example of the communication device 300 shown in Figure 3, the communication device 900 includes a circuit 902, at least one radio transmitter 910, at least one radio receiver 912, and at least one antenna 914 (only one antenna is shown in Figure 9 for simplicity). The circuit 902 may include at least one controller 908 for use in performing tasks designed for control signaling communication with the assistance of software and hardware. The circuit 902 may further include a transmit signal generator 904 and a receive signal processor 906. At least one controller 908 can control the transmit signal generator 904 and the receive signal processor 906. The transmit signal generator 904 may include a frame generator 922, a control signaling generator 924, and a PPDU generator 926. The frame generator 922 can generate MAC frames, e.g., data frames or trigger frames. The control signaling generator 924 can generate the control signaling fields of the generated PPDU (e.g., the U-SIG field and EHT-SIG field of the EHT base PPDU or EHT MU PPDU, or the U-SIG field of the EHT SU PPDU). The PPDU generator 926 can generate the PPDU (e.g., the EHT base PPDU, EHT SU PPDU, or EHT MU PPDU).

[0095] The receiving signal processor 906 may include a data demodulator / decoder 932 capable of demodulating and decoding the data portion of the received signal (e.g., the data field of an EHT basic PPDU, EHT SU PPDU, or EHT TB PPDU). The receiving signal processor 906 may further include a control demodulator / decoder 934 capable of demodulating and decoding the control signaling portion of the received signal (e.g., the U-SIG field of an EHT basic PPDU, EHT SU PPDU, or EHT TB PPDU, or the EHT-SIG field of an EHT basic PPDU). At least one controller 908 may include a control signal parser 942 and a scheduler 944. The scheduler 944 can determine RU information and user-specific assignment information for downlink SU or MU transmission assignments, as well as trigger information for uplink MU transmission assignments. The control signal parser 942 analyzes the control signaling portion of the received signal and trigger information for uplink MU transmission allocation shared by the scheduler 944, and can assist the data demodulator / decoder 932 in demodulating and decoding the data portion of the received signal.

[0096] Figure 10 shows the configuration of a communication device 1000 according to various embodiments, for example, an STA. Similar to the schematic example of the communication device 300 shown in Figure 3, the communication device 1000 includes a circuit 1002, at least one radio transmitter 1010, at least one radio receiver 1012, and at least one antenna 1014 (only one antenna is shown in Figure 10 for simplicity). The circuit 1002 may include at least one controller 1008 for use in performing tasks designed for control signaling communication with the assistance of software and hardware. The circuit 1002 may further include a transmit signal processor 1004 and a receive signal generator 1006. At least one controller 1008 can control the transmit signal processor 1004 and the receive signal generator 1006. The receive signal processor 1006 may include a data demodulator / decoder 1032 and a control demodulator / decoder 1034. The control demodulator / decoder 1034 can demodulate and decode the control signaling portion of the received signal (e.g., the U-SIG field and EHT-SIG field of the EHT basic PPDU or EHT MU PPDU, or the U-SIG field of the EHT SU PPDU). The data demodulator / decoder 1032 can demodulate and decode the data portion of the received signal (e.g., the data field of the ETH basic PPDU, EHT SU PPDU, or EHT MU PPDU) according to its own assigned RU information and user-specific assigned information.

[0097] At least one controller 1008 may include a control signal parser 1042, a scheduler 1044, and a trigger information parser 1046. The control signal parser 1042 can analyze the control signaling portion of the received signal (e.g., the U-SIG field and EHT-SIG field of the EHT basic PPDU or EHT MU PPDU, or the U-SIG field of the EHT SU PPDU) and assist the data demodulator / decoder 1032 in demodulating and decoding the data portion of the received signal (e.g., the data fields of the EHT basic PPDU, EHT SU PPDU, or EHT MU PPDU). The trigger information parser 1048 can analyze trigger information for its own uplink assignment from the received trigger frame contained in the data portion of the received signal. The transmit signal generator 1004 may include a control signaling generator 1024 capable of generating the control signaling field of the generated PPDU (e.g., the U-SIG field of the EHT basic PPDU, EHT SU PPDU, or EHT TB PPDU). The transmit signal generator 1004 may further include a PPDU generator 1026 that generates PPDUs (e.g., the EHT basic PPDU, EHT SU PPDU, or EHT TB PPDU). The transmit signal generator 1004 may further include a frame generator 1022 that generates MAC frames (e.g., data frames).

[0098] As described above, embodiments of the present disclosure provide advanced communication systems, communication methods, and communication devices for control signaling in very high throughput MIMO WLAN networks, thereby improving spectral efficiency in MIMO WLAN networks.

[0099] This disclosure can be implemented by software, by hardware, or by software working in conjunction with hardware. Each functional block used in the description of each embodiment above can be implemented in part or in whole by an LSI such as an integrated circuit, and each process described in each embodiment can be controlled in part or in whole by the same LSI or combination of LSIs. An LSI can be formed individually as multiple chips, or as a single chip containing some or all of the functional blocks. An LSI can include data input / output units coupled to itself. Depending on the degree of integration, LSIs are also called ICs, system LSIs, super LSIs, or ultra LSIs. However, the technology for implementing integrated circuits is not limited to LSIs and can be implemented using dedicated circuits, general-purpose processors, or dedicated processors. Furthermore, a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA), which can be programmed after the manufacture of the LSI, or a reconfigurable processor, which can reconfigure the connections and settings of circuit cells located inside the LSI, can also be used. This disclosure can be implemented as digital or analog processing. If future integrated circuit technology replaces LSIs as a result of advancements in semiconductor technology or other derivative technologies, then functional blocks can be integrated using that future integrated circuit technology. Biotechnology can also be applied.

[0100] This disclosure can be implemented by any type of device, apparatus, or system having communication capabilities, referred to as a communication apparatus.

[0101] A communication device may comprise a transceiver and a processing / control circuit. The transceiver may comprise a receiver and a transmitter, and / or may function as both a receiver and a transmitter. The transceiver (as both a transmitter and a receiver) may include an RF (radio frequency) module comprising an amplifier, an RF modulator / demodulator, and one or more antennas.

[0102] Some non-exclusive examples of such communication devices include telephones (e.g., mobile phones, smartphones), tablets, personal computers (PCs) (e.g., laptops, desktops, notebooks), cameras (e.g., digital still / video cameras), digital players (digital audio / video players), wearable devices (e.g., wearable cameras, smartwatches, tracking devices), game consoles, e-readers, telemedicine / telemedicine devices, vehicles providing communication capabilities (e.g., automobiles, airplanes, ships), and various combinations thereof.

[0103] Communication devices are not limited to portable or mobile devices, but may include any type of non-portable or fixed device, device, or system, such as smart home devices (e.g., appliances, lighting, smart meters, control panels), vending machines, and any other "things" in the "Internet of Things (IoT)" network.

[0104] Communication can include exchanging data through, for example, cellular systems, wireless LAN systems, satellite systems, and various combinations thereof.

[0105] A communication device may include devices such as controllers and sensors coupled to a communication device that performs the communication functions described in this disclosure. For example, a communication device may include a controller or sensor that generates control signals or data signals used by the communication device that performs the communication functions of the communication device.

[0106] Communication equipment may further include base stations, access points, and any other devices, devices, or systems that communicate with or control infrastructure equipment, such as the devices in the non-limiting examples above.

[0107] While some characteristics of various embodiments are described with reference to the device, the corresponding characteristics also apply to the methods of the various embodiments, and vice versa.

[0108] Those skilled in the art will understand that the disclosures shown in particular embodiments can be modified in numerous ways without departing from the broadly described spirit or scope of the disclosure. Therefore, the embodiments described herein are intended for illustrative purposes only and should not be considered limiting to the invention. [Table 13] [Table 14] [Table 15]

Claims

1. A communication device, A receiver that receives an Extremely High Throughput Physical Layer Protocol Data Unit (EHT PPDU) including a Universal Signal (U-SIG) field having a first portion (U-SIG1) and a second portion (U-SIG2), each containing the same number of data bits, wherein the data bits of U-SIG2 do not include version-independent bits, and the receiver A circuit that processes the received EHT PPDU, Equipped with, The aforementioned EHT PPDU further has an EHT signal (EHT-SIG) field which includes a common field and a user-specific field that are referenced together as an EHT-SIG content channel, Both the U-SIG field and the EHT-SIG field are present in the EHT PPDU transmitted to a single STA or multiple STAs. When the EHT PPDU is transmitted to the single STA, the user-specific field has a single user field, the EHT PPDU includes a single EHT content channel regardless of the bandwidth of the EHT PPDU, and the single EHT content channel is duplicated for every 20 MHz frequency segment. Communication device.

2. In non-trigger-based communication with one or more other STAs, the U-SIG field has a single format. The communication device according to claim 1.

3. In non-trigger-based communication, the EHT-SIG field includes a portion of the version-dependent bits, The communication device according to claim 1.

4. When the EHT PPDU is transmitted to the multiple STAs, the common field includes common field 1 and common field 2, which are individually encoded in the EHT content channel. The communication device according to claim 1.

5. When the EHT PPDU is transmitted to the single STA, the EHT-SIG field includes a preamble puncturing bitmap. The communication device according to claim 3.

6. The preamble puncturing bitmap has a variable bit width corresponding to the bandwidth of the EHT PPDU. The communication device according to claim 5.

7. The U-SIG field includes information for interpreting the EHT-SIG field. The communication device according to claim 3.

8. A communication method for communication devices, A step of receiving an Extremely High Throughput Physical Layer Protocol Data Unit (EHT PPDU) which includes a Universal Signal (U-SIG) field having a first part (U-SIG1) and a second part (U-SIG2), each containing the same number of data bits, wherein the data bits of U-SIG2 do not include version-independent bits. The steps include processing the received EHT PPDU, Includes, The aforementioned EHT PPDU further has an EHT signal (EHT-SIG) field which includes a common field and a user-specific field that are referenced together as an EHT-SIG content channel, Both the U-SIG field and the EHT-SIG field are present in the EHT PPDU transmitted to a single STA or multiple STAs. When the EHT PPDU is transmitted to the single STA, the user-specific field has a single user field, the EHT PPDU includes a single EHT content channel regardless of the bandwidth of the EHT PPDU, and the single EHT content channel is duplicated for every 20 MHz frequency segment. Communication method.

9. A process for receiving an Extremely High Throughput Physical Layer Protocol Data Unit (EHT PPDU) including a Universal Signal (U-SIG) field having a first part (U-SIG1) and a second part (U-SIG2), each containing the same number of data bits, wherein the data bits of U-SIG2 do not include version-independent bits, and the process includes a circuit that controls the process. A circuit for processing the EHT PPDU, Equipped with, The aforementioned EHT PPDU further has an EHT signal (EHT-SIG) field which includes a common field and a user-specific field that are referenced together as an EHT-SIG content channel, Both the U-SIG field and the EHT-SIG field are present in the EHT PPDU transmitted to a single STA or multiple STAs. When the EHT PPDU is transmitted to the single STA, the user-specific field has a single user field, the EHT PPDU includes a single EHT content channel regardless of the bandwidth of the EHT PPDU, and the single EHT content channel is duplicated for every 20 MHz frequency segment. Integrated circuit.

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