Communication devices, communication methods, and integrated circuits

Abstract

To provide a communication device and a communication method, for allocating a persistent .SOLUTION: A communication device comprises: a circuit which is a circuit that, in operation, generates a transmission signal containing a common field, a user specific field, and a data field, and in which the common field contains RU information on one or more allocations in the data field, the user specific field contain one or more user information, each indicating a user specific allocation among one or more allocations in the data field; and a transmission device that, in operation, transmits the generated transmission signal. Therein, the user specific field is free from at least one user information piece for a persistent allocation containing a recurring transmission among the one or more allocations.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 3B

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] This disclosure relates to communication devices and methods for persistent allocation (PA), also known as permanent allocation, continuous allocation, or static allocation, and more particularly to communication devices and methods for PA in an Extremely High Throughput Wireless Local Area Network (EHT WLAN). [Background technology]

[0002] In the standardization of next-generation wireless local area networks (WLANs), a novel wireless access technology backward compatible with IEEE 802.11a / b / g / n / ac / ax technologies was discussed in the IEEE 802.11 Working Group and named Extremely High Throughput (EHT) WLAN.

[0003] To provide a significant increase in peak throughput and capacity beyond 802.11ax High Efficiency (HE) WLAN, it is desirable to increase the maximum channel bandwidth from 160 MHz to 320 MHz, increase the maximum number of spatial streams from 8 to 16, and support multiband operation.

[0004] However, there was no discussion of communication equipment and methods for persistent allocation (PA) in the context of EHT WLAN.

[0005] Therefore, there is a need for communication apparatus and methods that provide feasible technical solutions for PAs in the context of EHT WLANs. Furthermore, other desirable features and characteristics will become apparent from the accompanying drawings and the following detailed description made relating to the background of this disclosure and the accompanying claims. [Overview of the project]

[0006] Non-limiting and exemplary embodiments facilitate providing a communication apparatus and a communication method for persistent allocation in the context of EHT WLAN.

[0007] According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, there is provided a circuit that generates a first transmission signal including user information of a plurality of users for a downlink MU-MIMO allocation each indicating a user-specific allocation during operation, and further generates a second transmission signal including a common field, a user-specific field, and a data field, wherein the data field includes transmission of a downlink MU-MIMO allocation, and a transmitter that transmits the first transmission signal and the second transmission signal during operation, and it is determined whether the user-specific allocation of the downlink MU-MIMO allocation is persistent.

[0008] According to another embodiment of the present disclosure, there is provided a communication method including generating a first transmission signal including user information of a plurality of users for a downlink MU-MIMO allocation each indicating a user-specific allocation, generating a second transmission signal including a common field, a user-specific field, and a data field, wherein the data field includes transmission of a downlink MU-MIMO allocation, and transmitting the first transmission signal and the second transmission signal, and it is determined whether the user-specific allocation of the downlink MU-MIMO allocation is persistent.

[0009] It should be noted that general or specific embodiments may be implemented as a system, a method, an integrated circuit, a computer program, a storage medium, or any selective combination thereof.

[0010] Additional benefits and effects of the disclosed embodiments will become apparent from the specification and the drawings. Benefits and / or effects may be individually obtained by various embodiments and features of the specification and the drawings, which are not necessarily provided to achieve one or more of such benefits and / or effects. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0011] The embodiments of this disclosure will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art, in conjunction with the drawings, and will be best understood from the description set forth below, which is merely illustrative.

[0012] [Figure 1A] This diagram shows a schematic representation of uplink and downlink single-user multiplexed input multiplexed output (MIMO) communication between an access point (AP) and a station (STA) in a MIMO wireless network. [Figure 1B] This diagram shows a schematic representation of downlink multi-user MIMO (MU-MIMO) between an access point (AP) and multiple service stations (STAs) in a MIMO wireless network. [Figure 1C] This diagram shows a schematic representation of uplink MU-MIMO communication between an AP and multiple STAs in a MIMO wireless network. [Figure 1D] This shows the format of PPDU (Physical Layer Protocol Data Unit) used for downlink multi-user communication between an AP and multiple STAs in a HE WLAN. [Figure 1E] The HE-SIG-B (HE SIGNAL B) field is shown in more detail. [Figure 1F] This shows the PPDU format used for uplink multi-user communication between an AP and multiple STAs in an HE WLAN. [Figure 2A] This indicates EHT MU PPDU. [Figure 2B] This shows the EHT TB (Trigger Based) PPDU. [Figure 3A] The following are schematic examples of communication devices according to various embodiments. The communication device may be implemented as an AP or STA according to various embodiments of this disclosure and is configured for user-specific persistent assignment (PA). [Figure 3B] A flowchart illustrating communication methods in various embodiments is shown. [Figure 3C] A flowchart illustrating communication methods in various embodiments is shown. [Figure 3D] A flowchart illustrating communication methods in various embodiments is shown. [Figure 3E] A flowchart illustrating communication methods in various embodiments is shown. [Figure 4A] This flowchart shows communication between an AP and multiple STAs using an uplink user-specific PA on a TXOP (Transmitting Opportunity) according to various implementations. [Figure 4B] This flowchart shows communication between an AP and multiple STAs using uplink user-specific PAs on two TXOPs, according to various implementations. [Figure 5A] The format of the EHT Basic Trigger frame used for uplink multi-user communication between an AP and multiple STAs in an EHT WLAN according to the first embodiment is shown. [Figure 5B] The format of the EHT Basic Trigger frame used for uplink multi-user communication between an AP and multiple STAs in an EHT WLAN according to the first embodiment is shown. [Figure 5C] This shows a PA Trigger frame used in uplink multi-user communication according to the first or third embodiment. [Figure 5D] This shows the data or management frame that carries the PA Control subfield used in uplink multi-user communication according to the first or third embodiment. [Figure 5E] This shows MU-MIMO allocations with three user-specific allocations based on various embodiments. [Figure 6A] A flowchart illustrating the processing of EHT Basic Trigger frames received in the STA according to the first embodiment is shown. [Figure 6B] A flowchart illustrating the processing of PA Trigger frames received in the STA according to the first embodiment is shown. [Figure 6C] A flowchart illustrating the processing of received data or management frames that carry the PA Control subfield received in the STA according to the first embodiment is shown. [Figure 7A] The format of the EHT Basic Trigger frame used for uplink multi-user communication between an AP and multiple STAs in an EHT WLAN according to the second embodiment is shown. [Figure 7B] The format of the EHT Basic Trigger frame used for uplink multi-user communication between an AP and multiple STAs in an EHT WLAN according to the second embodiment is shown. [Figure 7C] This shows a PA Trigger frame used in uplink multi-user communication according to the second or fourth embodiment. [Figure 7D] This shows the data or management frame that carries the PA Control subfield used in uplink multi-user communication according to the second or fourth embodiment. [Figure 8A] A flowchart illustrating the processing of EHT Basic Trigger frames received in the STA according to the second embodiment is shown. [Figure 8B] A flowchart illustrating the processing of PA Trigger frames received in the STA according to the second or fourth embodiment is shown. [Figure 8C] A flowchart illustrating the processing of received data or management frames that carry the PA Control field in the STA according to the second or fourth embodiment is shown. [Figure 9A] This flowchart shows communication between an AP and multiple STAs using an uplink user-specific PA on TXOP, according to various implementations. [Figure 9B] This flowchart shows communication between an AP and multiple STAs using uplink user-specific PAs on two TXOPs, according to various implementations. [Figure 10A] The format of the PA Announcement frame used for uplink or downlink multi-user communication between an AP and multiple STAs in an EHT WLAN according to the third embodiment is shown. [Figure 10B]The format of the EHT Basic Trigger frame used for uplink multi-user communication between an AP and multiple STAs in an EHT WLAN according to the third embodiment is shown. [Figure 11] A flowchart illustrating the processing of EHT Basic Trigger frames received in the STA according to the third embodiment is shown. [Figure 12] The format of the PA Announcement frame used for uplink or downlink multi-user communication between an AP and multiple STAs in an EHT WLAN according to the fourth embodiment is shown. [Figure 13] A flowchart illustrating the processing of EHT Basic Trigger frames received in the STA according to the fourth embodiment is shown. [Figure 14A] A flowchart illustrating communication between the AP and STA using a downlink user-specific PA according to the third or fourth embodiment is shown. [Figure 14B] A flowchart illustrating communication between the AP and STA using a downlink user-specific PA according to the third or fourth embodiment is shown. [Figure 15A] The configuration of the User Info field for a downlink user-specific PA with non-MU-MIMO assignment according to a third or fourth embodiment is shown. [Figure 15B] The configuration of the User Info field for the downlink user-specific PA of MU-MIMO assignment according to the third or fourth embodiment is shown. [Figure 16A] This table shows how the number of EHT-SIG-B content channels depends on the channel bandwidth (CBW) and the value of L. [Figure 16B] The diagram shows the mapping of one or two EHT-SIG-B content channels in a 40MHz EHT MU PPDU. [Figure 16C] This diagram shows the mapping of the two EHT-SIG-B content channels in an 80MHz EHT MU PPDU. [Figure 16D]The diagram shows the mapping of two EHT-SIG-B content channels in an 80+80MHz or 160MHz EHT MU PPDU. [Figure 16E] The diagram shows the mapping of two EHT-SIG-B content channels in a 160+160MHz or 320MHz EHT MU PPDU. [Figure 17A] The EHT-SIG-B field according to the third or fourth embodiment is shown. [Figure 17B] Figure 3B shows the EHT-SIG-B field according to the example shown. [Figure 18A] This shows the mapping between the PA Present subfield in the EHT SIGNAL A (EHT-SIG-A) field, the RU Allocation subfield in the EHT-SIG-B field, the Center 26-Tone RU subfield, and the PA Bitmap subfield. [Figure 18B] This shows the mapping between the PA Present subfield in the EHT SIGNAL A (EHT-SIG-A) field, the RU Allocation subfield in the EHT-SIG-B field, the Center 26-Tone RU subfield, and the PA Bitmap subfield. [Figure 19A] A first specific example of the encoding configuration of the Common field according to the third or fourth embodiment is shown. [Figure 19B] A second specific example of the encoding configuration of the Common field according to the third or fourth embodiment is shown. [Figure 19C] Figure 3B shows a first specific example of the encoding configuration of the Common field according to the embodiment. [Figure 19D] Figure 3B shows a second specific example of the encoding configuration of the Common field according to the embodiment shown. [Figure 19E] Figure 3C shows a first specific example of the encoding configuration of the Common field according to the embodiment shown. [Figure 19F]Figure 3C shows a second specific example of the encoding configuration of the Common field according to the embodiment shown. [Figure 20A] Figure 3C shows a diagram illustrating User Specific field overhead reduction according to the example shown. [Figure 20B] Figure 3C shows a diagram of User Specific field overhead reduction in another specific example, as shown in the embodiment. [Figure 20C] Figure 3C shows a diagram of User Specific field overhead reduction in another specific example, as shown in the embodiment. [Figure 21] A flowchart illustrating the processing of EHT MU PPDU received in the STA according to the third or fourth embodiment is shown. [Figure 22] A flowchart illustrating communication between the AP and STA using a downlink user-specific PA according to the fifth embodiment is shown. [Figure 23] The EHT-SIG-B field according to the fifth embodiment is shown. [Figure 24A] A first specific example of the encoding configuration of the Common field according to the fifth embodiment is shown. [Figure 24B] A second specific example of the encoding configuration of the Common field according to the fifth embodiment is shown. [Figure 25] The diagram shows User Specific field overhead reduction according to the fifth embodiment. [Figure 26] A flowchart illustrating the processing of the EHT MU PPDU received in the STA according to the fifth embodiment is shown. [Figure 27] The configuration of communication devices such as APs according to various embodiments is shown. [Figure 28] The configuration of communication devices such as STAs according to various embodiments is shown.

[0013] Those skilled in the art will recognize that elements in figures are shown for simplification and simplicity and do not necessarily need to be shown scaled. For example, the size of some elements in a figure, block diagram, or flowchart may be exaggerated relative to other elements to aid in a more accurate understanding of this embodiment. [Modes for carrying out the invention]

[0014] Some embodiments of this disclosure are described for illustrative purposes only with reference to the drawings. Similar reference numbers and letters in the drawings refer to similar elements or equivalents.

[0015] In the following paragraphs, specific exemplary embodiments are described with reference in particular to access points (APs) and stations (STAs) for uplink or downlink persistent allocation (PA) in MIMO (Multiple-Input Multiple-Output) wireless networks.

[0016] In the context of IEEE 802.11 (Wi-Fi) technology, a station referred to as an STA for compatibility 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 with wireless media (WM).

[0017] For example, an STA may be a laptop, desktop personal computer (PC), personal digital assistant (PDA), access point, or Wi-Fi phone in a wireless local area network (WLAN) environment. An STA may be stationary or mobile. In a WLAN environment, the terms "STA," "wireless client," "user," "user device," and "node" are often used interchangeably.

[0018] Similarly, an AP, which can be used interchangeably with a Wireless Access Point (WAP) in the context of IEEE 802.11 (Wi-Fi) technology, is a communication device that enables a STA in a WLAN to connect to a wired network. An AP typically connects to a router (via a wired network) as a standalone device, but it can also be integrated with a router or used within a router.

[0019] As mentioned above, an STA in a WLAN can operate as an AP on different occasions, and vice versa. This is because a communication device in the context of IEEE 802.11 (Wi-Fi) technology may include both STA hardware components and AP hardware components. In this way, the communication device can switch between STA mode and AP mode based on the actual WLAN conditions and / or requirements.

[0020] In a MIMO wireless network, "multiple" refers to multiple antennas used simultaneously for transmission and reception over a wireless channel. In this context, "multiple-input" refers to multiple transmitter antennas that input wireless signals into the channel, and "multiple-output" refers to multiple receiver antennas that receive wireless signals from the channel to 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, where N may be equal to or not equal to M. For simplicity, the number of transmitter antennas and receiver antennas is not further discussed in this disclosure.

[0021] In MIMO wireless networks, single-user and multi-user communication can be deployed for communication between communication devices such as APs and STAs.

[0022] Figure 1A shows a schematic diagram of single-user MIMO communication 100 between AP102 and STA104 in a MIMO radio network. As shown, the MIMO radio network may include one or more STAs (e.g., STA104, STA106, etc.). In single-user MIMO communication 100, AP102 transmits multiple spatial streams using multiple antennas (e.g., four antennas as shown in Figure 1A), and all of these spatial streams are directed to a single communication device, i.e., STA104. For simplicity, the multiple spatial streams directed to STA104 are shown as a grouped data transmission arrow 108 directed to STA104.

[0023] The single-user MIMO communication 100 can be configured for bidirectional transmission. As shown in Figure 1A, in the single-user MIMO communication 100, STA 104 transmits multiple spatial streams using multiple antennas (e.g., two antennas as shown in Figure 1A), and all of these spatial streams are directed to AP 102. For simplicity, the multiple spatial streams directed to AP 102 are shown as a grouped data transmission arrow 110 directed to AP 102.

[0024] Furthermore, the single-user MIMO communication 100 shown in Figure 1A enables both uplink single-user transmission and downlink single-user transmission in a MIMO wireless network.

[0025] Figure 1B shows a schematic diagram of downlink multi-user MIMO (MU-MIMO) communication 120 between AP122 and multiple STA124, 126, and 128 in a MIMO wireless network.

[0026] A MIMO wireless network may include one or more STAs (e.g., STA124, STA126, STA128, etc.). In downlink MU-MIMO communication 120, AP122 uses multiple antennas via spatial mapping or precoding techniques to simultaneously transmit multiple streams to STA124, 126, and 128 in the network. For example, two spatial streams may be directed to STA126, another spatial stream may be directed to STA124, and yet another spatial stream may be directed to STA128. For simplicity, the two spatial streams directed to STA126 are shown as a grouped data transmission arrow 132, the spatial stream directed to STA124 is shown as a data transmission arrow 130, and the spatial stream directed to STA128 is shown as a data transmission arrow 134.

[0027] Figure 1C shows a schematic diagram of uplink MU-MIMO communication 140 between AP142 and multiple STA144, 146, and 148 in a MIMO wireless network.

[0028] A MIMO wireless network may include one or more STAs (e.g., STA144, STA146, STA148, etc.). In uplink MU-MIMO communication 140, STA144, 146, and 148 simultaneously transmit their respective streams to AP142 in the network using their respective antennas via spatial mapping or precoding techniques. For example, two spatial streams may be directed from STA146 to AP142, another spatial stream from STA144 to AP142, and yet another spatial stream from STA148 to AP142. For simplification, the two spatial streams directed from STA146 to AP142 are shown as a grouped data transmission arrow 152, the spatial stream directed from STA144 to AP142 is shown as a data transmission arrow 150, and the spatial stream directed from STA148 to AP142 is shown as a data transmission arrow 154.

[0029] Due to packet / PPDU (Physical Layer Protocol Data Unit) based transmission and the distributed MAC scheme used in 802.11WLAN, 802.11WLAN does not have time scheduling (e.g., periodic time slot allocation for data transmission like TDMA (Time Division Multiple Access)). Frequency and spatial resource scheduling are performed on a packet basis. In other words, resource allocation information is PPDU-based.

[0030] Figure 1D shows the format of a PPDU160 used for downlink multi-user communication between an AP and multiple STAs in an HE WLAN, including OFDMA (Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access) transmissions, such as MU-MIMO transmissions in single RU (Resource Unit) and full-bandwidth MU-MIMO transmissions. Such a PPDU160 is referred to as HE MU PPDU160.

[0031] HE MU PPDU160 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 Field (L-SIG), a Repeated L-SIG (RL-SIG), an HE SIGNAL A (HE-SIG-A) field 162, an HE SIGNAL B (HE-SIG-B) field 166, an HE Short Training Field (HE-STF), an HE Long Training Field (HE-LTF), a Data field 170, and a Packet Extension (PE) field.

[0032] In the HE MU PPDU 160, the HE-SIG-B field 166 provides OFDMA and MU-MIMO resource allocation information, enabling the STA to retrieve the corresponding resource used in the Data field 170, as indicated by arrow 168. The HE-SIG-A field 162 contains information necessary to decode the HE-SIG-B field 166, such as the MCS of HE-SIG-B and the number of HE-SIG-B symbols, as indicated by arrow 164.

[0033] Figure 1E shows HE-SIG-B field 166 in more detail. HE-SIG-B field 166 includes (or consists of) a Common field 172 followed by a User Specific field 174, which, if present, is referenced together with the HE-SIG-B content channel.

[0034] The HE-SIG-B field 166 includes an RU Allocation subfield that shows RU information for each allocation. The RU information includes the RU location in the frequency domain, the indication of RUs 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.

[0035] The User Specific field 174 includes (or consists of) one or more User fields for non-MU-MIMO allocations and / or MU-MIMO allocations. The User fields contain user information indicating user-specific allocations (i.e., user-specific allocation information). In the example shown in Figure 1E, the User Specific field 174 includes five user fields (User field 0, ..., User field 4), where user-specific allocation information for allocation (Allocation 0) is provided by User field 0, user-specific allocation information for further allocations (Allocation 1 by three MU-MIMO users) is provided by User field 1, User field 2, and User field 3, and user-specific allocation information for yet further allocations (Allocation 2) is provided by User field 4. Note that the MU-MIMO allocation (Allocation 1) comprises three user-specific allocations, each indicated by User field 1, User field 2, and User field 3.

[0036] Figure 1F shows the format of a PPDU180 used for uplink multi-user communication between an AP and multiple STAs in an HE WLAN. Such a PPDU180 is referred to as an HE TB (Trigger Based) PPDU180.

[0037] HE TB PPDU180 may include L-STF, L-LTF, L-SIG, RL-SIG, HE-SIG-A field 182, HE-STF, HE-LTF, Data field, and PE field.

[0038] The HE TB PPDU 180 is used for uplink multi-user transmissions in response to frames carrying trigger information. Instead of using the HE-SIG-B field, the information required for an uplink multi-user transmission from one or more STAs is carried by the frame requesting this transmission. In a typical HE TB PPDU 180 transmission, HE-SIG-A related information is duplicated from the frame carrying the trigger information into the HE-SIG-A field 182 of the HE TB PPDU 180.

[0039] When a MIMO wireless network has extremely high throughput, such as an EHT WLAN, the multi-user PPDU used for downlink multi-user transmission may be referred to as EHT MU PPDU200 as shown in Figure 2A, and the multi-user PPDU used for uplink multi-user transmission may be referred to as EHT TB PPDU as shown in Figure 2B.

[0040] Figure 2A shows an EHT MU PPDU200. An EHT MU PPDU200 may include L-STF, L-LTF, L-SIG, Format Identification Field (FIF)201, EHT SIGNAL A (EHT-SIG-A) field 202, EHT SIGNAL B (EHT-SIG-B) field 206, EHT-STF, EHT-LTF, Data field 210, and PE field. It should be understood that if the IEEE 802.11 Working Group may use a new name instead of "EHT WLAN" for next-generation WLANs with extremely high throughput, the prefix "EHT" in the above fields may change accordingly. FIF201 is primarily used to identify the format of the EHT PPDU. The EHT-SIG-A field 202 contains information necessary to decode the EHT-SIG-B field 206, such as the MCS of EHT-SIG-B and the number of EHT-SIG-B symbols, as indicated by arrow 204. The EHT-SIG-B field 206 provides OFDMA and MU-MIMO resource allocation information, enabling the STA to find the corresponding resources used in the Data field 210, as indicated by arrow 208. Similar to Figure 1D, the EHT-SIG-B field 206 contains (or consists of) a Common field, followed by a User Specific field, if present, which together is referred to as the EHT-SIG-B content channel.

[0041] Due to the maximum number of spatial streams (16), the maximum channel bandwidth (CBW) of 320 MHz, and multiband operation in EHT WLANs, the number of assignments and / or users supported in an EHT MU PPDU can be significantly increased. As a result, an EHT MU PPDU can have a much larger signaling overhead than an HE MU PPDU. Apparatus and methods according to various embodiments can advantageously reduce signaling overhead, particularly when the CBW exceeds 20 MHz.

[0042] Figure 2B shows the format of EHT TB PPDU212. EHT TB PPDU212 may include L-STF, L-LTF, L-SIG, FIF, EHT-SIG-A field 214, EHT-STF, EHT-LTF, Data field, and PE field.

[0043] The EHT TB PPDU212 is used for uplink multi-user transmissions in EHT WLANs in response to frames carrying trigger information. Instead of using the EHT-SIG-B field, the information required for an uplink multi-user transmission from one or more STAs is carried by the frame requesting the transmission. In a typical EHT TB PPDU212 transmission, EHT-SIG-A related information is replicated from the frame carrying the trigger information to the EHT-SIG-A field 214 of the EHT TB PPDU212.

[0044] Due to the maximum number of spatial streams (16), the maximum CBW of 320 MHz, and multiband operation in EHT WLANs, the number of assignments and / or users supported in EHT TB PPDU can be significantly increased. As a result, frames requesting EHT TB PPDU transmission can have a much larger signaling overhead than frames requesting HE TB PPDU transmission. Apparatus and methods according to various embodiments can advantageously reduce signaling overhead, especially when the CBW exceeds 20 MHz.

[0045] According to various implementations, in addition to dynamic allocation, EHT WLAN also supports user-specific persistent allocation (PA). User-specific PA enables repeated transmission within a period with reduced control signaling requirements. User-specific PA is particularly well-suited for traffic such as VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol).

[0046] Figure 3A shows schematic partial cross-sectional views of the communication device 300 according to various embodiments. The communication device 300 may be implemented as an AP or STA according to various embodiments.

[0047] 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 (for simplicity, only one antenna is shown in Figure 3A for illustrative purposes). The circuit 314 may include at least one controller 306 for use in software and hardware-assisted execution of tasks designed to be performed by at least one controller 306, including control of communication with one or more other communication devices in a MIMO radio network. 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 has at least one transmit signal generator 308 for generating PPDUs (e.g., if communication device 300 is an AP, an EHT MU PPDU or PPDU including a PA Announcement frame, an EHT Basic Trigger frame, a PA Trigger frame, a frame carrying the PA Control subfield, or a Multi-STA BlockAck frame; for example, if communication device 300 is an STA, an EHT TB PPDU or PPDU including a BlockAck frame) and at least one transmit signal generator 308 for generating PPDUs (e.g., if communication device 300 is an AP, an EHT TB PPDU or PPDU including a BlockAck frame; for example, if communication device 300 is an STA, an EHT MU PPDU or PPDU including a BlockAck frame) that are received from one or more other communication devices via at least one radio receiver 304 under the control of at least one controller 306. It may also control at least one receive signal processor 310 for processing PPDU or PPDU.At least one transmit signal generator 308 and at least one receive signal processor 310 may be standalone modules 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 configuration of these functional modules is flexible and may change according to actual needs and / or requirements. Data processing, storage, and other related control devices may 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 may be controlled by at least one control device 306 during operation.

[0048] The communication device 300 provides the functions required for a downlink user-specific PA during operation. For example, the communication device 300 may also be an AP, and circuit 314 (e.g., at least one transmit signal generator 308 of circuit 314) may generate a transmit signal during operation that includes a Common field (e.g., in the EHT-SIG-B field of the EHT MU PPDU), a User Specific field (e.g., in the EHT-SIG-B field of the EHT MU PPDU), and a Data field (e.g., in the EHT MU PPDU), where the Common field includes RU information for one or more user-specific assignments in the Data field, and the User Specific field includes one or more user information, each indicating a user-specific assignment between one or more user-specific assignments in the Data field. The radio transmitter 302 may transmit the transmit signal generated during operation. The User Specific field may not include user information for a downlink user-specific PA, including the first or repeated transmissions between one or more user-specific assignments. In other words, user information for downlink user-specific PAs, including the first or repeated transmissions between one or more user-specific assignments, does not need to be included in the User Specific field. For example, only user information for downlink non-user-specific PAs may be included in the User Specific field. This can favorably reduce communication overhead.

[0049] The communication device 300 may be an STA, and the wireless receiver 304 may receive a transmission signal (e.g., EHT MU PPDU) during operation that includes a Common field, a User Specific field, and a Data field, the Common field containing RU information for one or more user-specific assignments in the Data field, and the User Specific field containing one or more user information, each indicating a user-specific assignment between one or more user-specific assignments in the Data field. The circuit 314 may process the received transmission signal during operation. The User Specific field may not contain user information for downlink user-specific PAs, including the first or repeated transmission between one or more user-specific assignments.

[0050] The communication device 300 provides the functions required by the uplink user-specific PA during operation. For example, the communication device 300 may be an AP, and circuit 314 (e.g., at least one transmit signal generator 308 of circuit 314) may generate a transmit signal during operation that includes a frame for requesting EHT TB PPDU transmission from one or more STAs, the frame including one or more user-specific resource allocation pieces, each indicating the user-specific allocation in the Data field of the requested EHT TB PPDU. The radio transmitter 302 may transmit the transmit signal generated during operation. The frame may not include user-specific resource allocation information for the uplink user-specific PA, including initial or repeated transmissions. In other words, user-specific resource allocation information for the uplink user-specific PA, including initial or repeated transmissions, may not be included in the frame. For example, only user-specific resource allocation information for non-uplink user-specific PAs may be included in the frame. This can favorably reduce communication overhead.

[0051] For example, the communication device 300 may be an STA, and the wireless receiver 304 may receive a transmission signal during operation (e.g., a frame requesting the transmission of an EHT TB PPDU from one or more STAs). The transmission signal includes one or more user-specific resource allocation pieces, each indicating the user-specific allocation in the Data field of the requested EHT TB PPDU. Circuit 314 may process the transmission signal received during operation. The frame may not include user-specific resource allocation information for uplink user-specific PAs, including initial or repeated transmissions. In other words, user-specific resource allocation information for uplink user-specific PAs, including initial or repeated transmissions, may not be included in the frame. For example, the frame may only include user-specific resource allocation information for uplink non-user-specific PAs. This can favorably reduce communication overhead.

[0052] For example, the communication device 300 may be an AP, and the circuit 314 (for example, at least one transmit signal generator 308 of the circuit 314) may generate a first transmit signal during operation that includes user information for multiple users for downlink MU-MIMO assignments, each indicating a user-specific assignment, and further generate a second transmit signal that includes a Common field, a User Specific field, and a Data field, which includes the transmission of the downlink MU-MIMO assignment. The wireless transmitter 302 may transmit the first transmit signal and the second transmit signal during operation, where it is determined whether the user-specific assignment for the downlink MU-MIMO assignment is persistent or not.

[0053] Figure 3B shows a flowchart 330 illustrating communication methods according to various embodiments. In 332, a transmit signal may be generated. The transmit signal may include a Common field, a User Specific field, and a Data field, where the Common field includes RU information for one or more assignments in the Data field, and the User Specific field includes one or more user information, each indicating a user-specific assignment between one or more assignments in the Data field. In 334, the generated transmit signal may be transmitted. The User Specific field may be omitted for at least one user information for persistent assignments, including repeated transmissions between one or more assignments.

[0054] According to various embodiments, the communication method may include receiving a transmission signal that includes a Common field, a User Specific field, and a Data field, wherein the Common field includes RU information for one or more assignments in the Data field, the User Specific field includes one or more user information entries, each indicating a user-specific assignment between one or more assignments in the Data field, and the User Specific field may be missing at least one user information entry for persistent assignments that include repeated transmissions between one or more assignments.

[0055] Figure 3C shows a flowchart 350 illustrating communication methods according to various embodiments. In step 352, a transmit signal may be generated. The transmit signal may include at least one signal field content channel and a data field, each of which includes a repeat transmit bitmap subfield consisting of N fields and N bitmaps (N=1, 2, 4, or 8), where each of the N fields of the RU assignment subfield indicates RU information for one or more assignments within the corresponding tone range in the Data field, and the nth bitmap (n=1, 2, ..., N) of the repeat transmit bitmap subfield indicates whether each of the one or more assignments indicated by the nth field of the RU assignment subfield includes repeat transmit. In step 354, the generated transmit signal is transmitted.

[0056] Figure 3D shows a flowchart 360 illustrating communication methods according to various embodiments. In step 362, a frame containing identification information for identifying the uplink PA may be generated. In step 364, the generated frame is transmitted.

[0057] Figure 3E shows a flowchart 390 illustrating communication methods according to various embodiments. In step 392, a first transmission signal is generated containing user information for multiple users for downlink MU-MIMO assignments, each indicating a user-specific assignment. In step 394, a second transmission signal is generated containing a Common field, a User Specific field, and a Data field, which includes the transmission of the downlink MU-MIMO assignment. In step 396, the first and second transmission signals are transmitted, and it is determined whether the user-specific assignment for the downlink MU-MIMO assignment is persistent.

[0058] Figure 4A shows a flowchart 400 illustrating communication between AP402 and multiple STAs (404, 406) via TXOP (Transmission Opportunity) using an uplink user-specific PA in various embodiments. A competing base channel access procedure, such as an Enhanced Distributed Channel Access (EDCA) procedure, is shown by block 408, and Short Interframe Spacings (SIFS) 410 are shown. AP402 may generate a first frame 412 containing complete information about the uplink user-specific PA to request the initial transmission of the uplink user-specific PA to STA406. The complete PA information may include identification information and user-specific resource allocation information. In one embodiment, the identification information may be the PA identifier (PAID) of the uplink user-specific PA. In another embodiment, the identification information may be RU allocation information and user identification information for the uplink user-specific PA. In yet another embodiment, the identification information may be RU allocation information and spatial stream (SS) allocation information for the uplink user-specific PA. The first frame 412 may also contain complete information about the uplink user-specific PA to request the first transmission of the uplink user-specific PA for STA404. AP402 may transmit the generated first frame 412 to STA404 and 406.

[0059] In 414, STA406 may receive the first frame 412, store complete information about the uplink user-specific PA (i.e., identification information and user-specific resource allocation information for the uplink user-specific PA intended for STA406), and accordingly transmit an EHT TB PPDU 418 to AP402. STA404 may also receive and store complete information about the uplink user-specific PA (i.e., identification information and user-specific resource allocation information for the uplink user-specific PA intended for STA404), and accordingly transmit an EHT TB PPDU 416 to AP402. EHT TB PPDUs 416 and 418 may be in the same format as EHT TB PPDU 212 shown in Figure 2B. AP402 may receive EHT TB PPDUs 416 and 418 and transmit a Multi-STA BlockAck (block acknowledgment) frame 420 to STA404 and 406. Subsequently, AP402 may request repeated transmission of the uplink user-specific PA for STA404 and repeated transmission of the uplink user-specific PA for STA406 by transmitting a second frame 422. The second frame 422 may carry identification information for the uplink user-specific PA for STA404 and identification information for the uplink user-specific PA for STA406. In various embodiments, the identification information for the uplink user-specific PA is included in the frame body of the second frame 422 to request repeated transmission of the uplink user-specific PA, and the second frame 422 does not contain user-specific resource allocation information for the uplink user-specific PA. In various embodiments, the identification information is included in the MAC header of the second frame 422 to request repeated transmission of the uplink user-specific PA, and the second frame 422 does not contain user-specific resource allocation information for the uplink user-specific PA.

[0060] In 424, STA406 may prepare an EHT TB PPDU 428 based on a stored user-specific resource allocation for the uplink user-specific PA and transmit the EHT TB PPDU 428 to AP402. The EHT TB PPDU 428 includes repeated transmissions of the uplink user-specific PA for STA406. STA404 may also prepare an EHT TB PPDU 426 based on a stored user-specific resource allocation for the uplink user-specific PA and transmit the EHT TB PPDU 426 to AP402. The EHT PPDU 426 includes repeated transmissions of the uplink user-specific PA for STA404. The EHT TB PPDU 426 and 428 may be in the same format as the EHT TB PPDU 212 shown in Figure 2B. AP402 may receive the EHT TB PPDU 426 and 428 and transmit a Multi-STA BlockACK frame 430 to STA404 and 406. As shown in Figure 4A, repeated transmissions of uplink user-specific PAs may occur within the same TXOP as the initial transmission of the uplink user-specific PA. Repeat transmissions may also occur in a different TXOP than the initial transmission of the uplink user-specific PA, as shown in Figure 4B. That is, in one example, the uplink user-specific PA may exist until the end of the current TXOP. In another example, the uplink user-specific PA may exist for a determined number of service periods or beacon intervals. In Figure 4B, the second frame 422 is transmitted by AP 402 in a different TXOP than the first frame 412, and therefore, repeated transmissions requested by the second frame 422 (e.g., uplink user-specific PA transmissions included in EHT TB PPDU 426 and 428) also occur in a different TXOP than the first frame 412. It can be understood that the transmission of the second frame 422 occurs within the period in which uplink user-specific PAs for STA 404 and 406 exist.

[0061] Figures 5A and 5B show the format of an EHT Basic Trigger frame 500 used for uplink multi-user communication between an AP and multiple STAs in an EHT WLAN according to a first embodiment. The EHT Basic Trigger frame 500 is a variation of an existing Trigger frame and may be used as the first frame 412 in Figures 4A and 4B. The EHT Basic Trigger frame 500 identifies the uplink user-specific PA using the PAID of the uplink user-specific PA. The EHT Basic Trigger frame 500 may include a Frame Control field, a Duration field, an RA (Recipient STA Address) field, a TA (Transmitting STA Address) field, one or more User Info fields such as Common Info field 502 and User Info field 504, a Padding field, and an FCS (Frame Check Sequence) field. The Frame Control field, Duration field, RA field, and TA field may be grouped in the MAC header of the EHT Basic Trigger frame 500. The Common Info field 502, one or more User Info fields 504, and the Padding field may be grouped into the frame body of the EHT Basic Trigger frame 500.

[0062] Figure 5A also shows the Common Info field 502 in more detail. The Common Info field 502 contains common parameters for all STAs involved in the EHT TB PPDU transmission requested by the EHT Basic Trigger frame 500. The Common Info field 502 includes (or consists of) the Trigger Type field 506, the UL (Uplink) Length field, the More TF (Trigger Frame) field, the CS (Carrier Sense) Required field, the UL BW (Bandwidth) field, the GI (Guard Interval) and LTF Type field, the MU-MIMO LTF Mode field, the Number of HE-LTF Symbols and Midamble Periodicity field, the UL STBC (Space Time Block Coding) field, the LDPC (Low Density Parity Check) Extra Symbol Segment field, the AP TX (Transmission) Power field, the Pre-FEC (Forward Error Correction) Padding Factor field, the PE Disambiguity field, the Doppler field, the UL HE-SIG-A2 Reserved field, and the Trigger Dependent Common Info field 508. The Trigger Dependent Common Info field 508 may include (or consist of) a Number of PAIDs field and a PAID Tuples field. The Number of PAIDs field indicates the number of PAID subfields included in the PAID Tuples field. Alternatively, the Trigger Dependent Common Info field 508 may include a Starting PAID field, a PAID Bitmap Size field, and a PAID Bitmap field. The PAID Bitmap Size field indicates the bit width of the PAID Bitmap field.The Starting PAID field contains the starting PAID from the PAID Bitmap field. The PAID Bitmap field, together with the Starting PAID field, displays the PAID. The EHT Basic Trigger frame 500 uses its PAID, contained in the Trigger Dependent Common Info field 508, to request repeated transmission of the uplink user-specific PA. The Trigger Type field 506 may be assigned an arbitrary value to indicate that the Trigger frame 500 is an EHT Basic Trigger frame. In the various embodiments below, the Trigger Type field 506 is assigned an arbitrary value of 8 to indicate that the Trigger frame 500 is an EHT Basic Trigger frame.

[0063] Figure 5B shows the User Info field 504 in more detail. The User Info field 504 includes the AID12 field, RU Allocation field, UL FEC Coding Type field, UL MCS (Modulation and Coding Scheme) field, UL DCM (Dual Carrier Modulation) field, SS Allocation field, UL Target RSSI (Receive Signal Strength Indicator) field, and Trigger Dependent User Info field 512. The Trigger Dependent User Info field 512 may include (or consist of) a 1-bit PA Flag subfield, a PAID subfield 516, an MPDU MU Spacing Factor subfield, a TID (Traffic Identifier) ​​Aggregation Limit subfield, and a Preferred AC (Access Category) subfield. Alternatively, the Trigger Dependent User Info field 512 may include (or consist of) a PAID subfield 516, an MPDU MU Spacing Factor subfield, a TID Aggregation Limit subfield, and a Preferred AC (Access Category) subfield. The RU Allocation field, UL FEC Coding Type field, UL MCS field, UL DCM field, SS Allocation field, UL Target RSSI field, MPDU MU Spacing Factor subfield, TID Aggregation Limit subfield, and Preferred AC subfield constitute the user-specific resource allocation information 514 of the User Info field 504.User-specific resource allocation information 514 may be acquired and stored by the STA for the first or subsequent uplink user-specific PA transmission, and the EHT TB PPDU based on the stored user-specific resource allocation information 514 is transmitted to the AP requesting the uplink user-specific PA transmission.

[0064] As described above, the User Info field 504 may include a PA Flag subfield and a PAID subfield 516. The PA Flag subfield (e.g., 1 bit) indicates whether the User Info field 504 corresponds to an uplink user-specific PA, and the PAID subfield 516 (e.g., 7 bits) indicates the PAID of the uplink user-specific PA. A User Info field with the PA Flag subfield set to 0 indicates that the User Info field does not correspond to an uplink user-specific PA. In this case, the PAID subfield 516 is reserved. On the other hand, a User Info field with the PA Flag subfield set to 1 indicates that the User Info field corresponds to an uplink user-specific PA. In this case, the PAID subfield 516 indicates the PAID of the uplink user-specific PA. Furthermore, the PA Flag subfield of a User Info field for random access is set to 0. That is, uplink user-specific PAs for random access are not permitted.

[0065] Alternatively, the User Info field 504 may include a PAID subfield 516 (e.g., 8 bits) indicating that User Info field 504 corresponds to an uplink user-specific PA, or that the PAID of the uplink user-specific PA corresponding to the User Info field is indicated. A User Info field with PAID subfield 516 set to 0 indicates that the User Info field does not correspond to an uplink user-specific PA. A User Info field with PAID subfield 516 set to any other value (e.g., 1 to 255) indicates the PAID of an uplink user-specific PA. Furthermore, the PAID subfield of a User Info field for random access is set to 0; that is, uplink user-specific PAs for random access are not permitted.

[0066] In an EHT Basic Trigger frame, only one User Info field, not for random access, addresses a single STA. The User Info field for random access is placed after the User Info field for random access. STAs with uplink user-specific PAs indicated in the Common Info field are not addressed by the User Info field for random access. Furthermore, one or fewer uplink user-specific PAs assigned to a single STA are indicated in the Common Info field. Effectively, this reduces the complexity of processing EHT Basic Trigger frames received by the STA.

[0067] The first frame 412 may be in the format of an EHT Basic Trigger frame 500. For example, in 414, STA406 may receive the first frame 412 in the format of an EHT Basic Trigger frame 500. STA406 may store identification information and user-specific resource allocation information for the uplink user-specific PA intended for STA406. The identification information (e.g., PAID) may be extracted from the PAID subfield 516 of the User Info field, where the AID12 subfield value matches the AID (Association Identifier) ​​of STA406. User-specific resource allocation information may also be extracted from the User Info field. STA406 may then send an EHT TB PPDU 418 to AP402 based on the stored user-specific resource allocation information.

[0068] Similarly, STA404 may also receive the first frame 412 in the form of an EHT Basic Trigger frame 500. STA404 may store identification information and user-specific resource allocation information for the uplink user-specific PA intended for STA404. Identification information (e.g., PAID) may be extracted from the PAID subfield of the User Info field where the AID12 subfield value matches the AID of STA404. User-specific resource allocation information may also be extracted from the User Info field. STA404 may then transmit an EHT TB PPDU 416 to AP402 based on the stored user-specific resource allocation information.

[0069] The second frame 422 may also be in the format of an EHT Basic Trigger frame 500. For example, STA406 may receive the second frame 422 in the format of an EHT Basic Trigger frame 500. STA406 may obtain common parameters from the Common Info field 502 of the EHT Basic Trigger frame 500 and determine whether the PAID stored by STA406 in 414 matches any PAID subfield value in the Trigger Dependent Common Info field 508 of the Common Info field 502. If they match, STA406 may prepare an EHT TB PPDU 428 in 424 based on the user-specific resource allocation information stored by STA406 in 414 and send the prepared EHT TB PPDU 428 to AP402.

[0070] Similarly, STA404 may receive a second frame 422 in the format of the EHT Basic Trigger frame 500. STA404 may obtain common parameters from the Common Info field 502 of the EHT Basic Trigger frame 500 and determine in 414 whether the PAID stored by STA404 matches any PAID subfield value in the Trigger Dependent Common Info field 508 of the Common Info field 502. If they match, STA404 may prepare the EHT TB PPDU 426 in 414 based on the user-specific resource allocation information stored by STA404 and send the prepared EHT TB PPDU 426 to AP402.

[0071] The second frame 422 may also be in the form of the PA Trigger frame 520 according to the first embodiment, as shown in Figure 5C. The PA Trigger frame 520 may include (or be composed of) a Frame Control field, a Duration field, an RA field, a TA field, a Common Info field, a Padding field, and an FCS field. The Common Info field may include (or be composed of) a Trigger Type field, a More TF field, a CS Required field, and a Trigger Dependent Common Info field 522. The Trigger Dependent Common Info field 522 may include (or be composed of) a Number of PAIDs field and a PAID Tuples field. The Number of PAIDs field indicates the number of PAID subfields contained in the PAID Tuples field. Alternatively, the Trigger Dependent Common Info field 522 may include a Starting PAID field, a PAID Bitmap Size field, and a PAID Bitmap field. The PAID Bitmap Size field indicates the bit width of the PAID Bitmap field. The Starting PAID field contains the starting PAID of the PAID Bitmap field. The PAID Bitmap field, along with the Starting PAID field, indicates the PAID of the uplink user-specific PA. The PA Trigger frame 520 requests repeated transmission of the uplink user-specific PA using its PAID contained in the Trigger Dependent Common Info field 522. In the PA Trigger frame, one or fewer uplink user-specific PAs assigned to a single STA are indicated in the Common Info field. Effectively, this reduces the complexity in processing PA Trigger frames received at the STA.

[0072] The PA trigger frame 520 is used solely to request the re-transmission of one or more uplink user-specific PAs, such as EHT TB PPDU 426 and 428. The Common Info field of the PA Trigger frame 520 contains only a few common parameters (e.g., the More TF subfield and the CS Required subfield) because other common parameters are not modified before the expiration of one or more uplink user-specific PAs and can be obtained from the first frame 412. Furthermore, user-specific resource allocation information required for one or more uplink user-specific PAs is not included in the PA Trigger frame because it can also be obtained from the first frame 412. Advantageously, this reduces the channel overhead for the re-transmission of one or more uplink user-specific PAs.

[0073] The second frame 422 may be in the form of a data or management frame 530 carrying the PA Control subfield according to the first embodiment, as shown in Figure 5D. The data or management frame 530 may include (or consist of) a Frame Control field, a Duration / ID field, four Address fields, a Sequence Control field, a QoS (Quality of Service) field, an HT Control field, a Frame Body field, and an FCS field. The HT Control field may be a 32-bit HE variant HT Control field that includes (or consists of) a VHT field (set to 1), an HE field (set to 1), a Control ID field (a value determined to indicate that the HT Control field of the data or management frame 530 includes the PA Control subfield, e.g., set to 7), and a Control Information field 532. The 26-bit Control Information field may include (or consist of) an 8-bit PAID subfield and several common parameters 534, such as a 10-bit UL Length subfield, a 5-bit DL TX Power subfield, and a 3-bit Number of HE-LTF Symbols subfield. It can be understood that other common parameters are either predetermined or implicitly communicated. The data or management frame 530 requests repeated transmission of the uplink user-specific PA using its PAID contained in the Control Information field 532. Similar to the PA Trigger frame 520, the user-specific resource allocation information required for the uplink user-specific PA is not included in the data or management frame 530, as it may be obtained from the first frame 412. Advantageously, this reduces the channel overhead for repeated transmission of the uplink user-specific PA.

[0074] As described above, the channel overhead of the first embodiment can be further reduced. In the first frame, two or more user-specific PAs in a MU-MIMO assignment may include the same PAID, which can be notified in the second frame to request repeated transmissions from two or more STAs involved in the MU-MIMO assignment. In one example, the first frame may be used to assign the same PAID, the same RU, and their respective spatial streams to two or more user-specific PAs in a MU-MIMO assignment. In another example, two or more first frames may be used to assign the same PAID, the same RU, and their respective spatial streams to two or more user-specific PAs in a MU-MIMO assignment. Alternatively, in the first frame, the same PAID may be assigned to a group of user-specific PAs, which can be notified in the second frame to request repeated transmissions from each user-specific PA in the group of user-specific PAs. However, assigning the same PAID to two or more user-specific PAs may reduce scheduling flexibility because the second frame notifying the same PAID requests repeated transmissions to all user-specific PAs with the same PAID.

[0075] In the first embodiment described above, the uplink user-specific PA may exist for a period of time after the transmission of the first frame requesting the first transmission of the uplink user-specific PA. In one example, the uplink user-specific PA may exist until the end of the current TXOP. In another example, the uplink user-specific PA may exist for a determined number of service periods or beacon intervals. In yet another example, the Common Info field of the first frame may include signaling to indicate the period during which the first transmission requested by the first frame is transmitted for uplink user-specific PAs that exist after the transmission of the first frame. In such an example, uplink user-specific PAs having the first transmission requested by the first frame may have the same expiration date. Alternatively, the User Info field corresponding to the uplink user-specific PA in the first frame may include signaling to indicate the period during which the uplink user-specific PA exists after the transmission of the first frame. In yet another example, uplink user-specific PAs having the first transmission requested by the first frame may have different expiration dates.

[0076] In the first embodiment described above, the AP may send a first frame to update the user-specific resource allocation information of an uplink user-specific PA before it expires. If the user-specific resource allocation information of the uplink user-specific PA is updated before it expires and the intended STA does not receive the updated information, there will be a mismatch in the information of the uplink user-specific PA between the AP and the intended STA. The AP may be able to identify such a mismatch if it does not receive an EHT TB PPDU as a response to the first frame it sent. When the STA receives a first frame containing complete information about the uplink user-specific PA, which is one of the intended STAs, the STA starts or resets the timer for the uplink user-specific PA and stores or updates information about the uplink user-specific PA. Similarly, the STA may store or update common parameters in the Common Info field through this process. Advantageously, this allows the AP to perform error recovery from information mismatches.

[0077] In the example above, the RU allocation is addressed to one or more STAs. An RU allocation is a non-MU-MIMO allocation if it is addressed to a single STA, and a MU-MIMO allocation if it is addressed to a group of STAs. An RU allocation (i.e., a non-MU-MIMO allocation or a MU-MIMO allocation) contains one or more user-specific allocations. A non-MU-MIMO allocation contains a single user-specific allocation. A MU-MIMO allocation contains two or more user-specific allocations.

[0078] As described above, individual user-specific assignments for MU-MIMO assignments can be persistent or non-persistent. Individual user-specific PAs for MU-MIMO assignments may have different expiration dates and are independently renewable. Advantageously, user-specific PAs offer increased scheduling flexibility compared to RU-based PAs where all user-specific assignments for MU-MIMO assignments are persistent or non-persistent.

[0079] In the example shown in Figure 5E, the MU-MIMO allocation includes three user-specific allocations 574 (user-specific allocation 1, ..., user-specific allocation 3), where user-specific allocation 1 is a user-specific PA with PAID=2, user-specific allocation 2 is a user-specific PA with PAID=5, and user-specific allocation 3 is not a user-specific PA.

[0080] Figure 6A shows a flowchart 600 illustrating the processing of an EHT Basic Trigger frame 500 received by the STA according to the first embodiment. Processing may begin at 602. At 604, common parameters are obtained from the Common Info field 502. At 606, it is determined whether the stored PAID matches any PAID subfield value in the Common Info field 502. If the stored PAID matches any PAID subfield value in the Common Info field 502, processing may proceed to step 608. If the stored PAID does not match any PAID subfield value in the Common Info field 502, processing may proceed to step 614. At 608, it is determined whether a timer for the uplink user-specific PA with the matching PAID is running. If a timer for the uplink user-specific PA is running, processing may proceed to step 610. Otherwise, processing may end at step 636. At 610, the user-specific resource allocation information stored by the STA is extracted. In step 614, the number of User Info fields is calculated. In step 616, the User Info field counter is initialized to zero. In step 620, it is determined whether the STA's AID matches the AID12 subfield value of the User Info field in EHT Basic Trigger frame 500. If the STA's AID matches the AID12 subfield value, the process may proceed to step 622. If the STA's AID does not match the AID12 subfield value, the process may proceed to step 628. In step 622, it is determined whether the User Info field corresponds to an uplink user-specific PA by checking the PA Flag subfield or the PAID subfield. If the User Info field does not correspond to an uplink user-specific PA, the process may proceed to step 626. If the User Info field corresponds to an uplink user-specific PA, the process may proceed to step 624.In step 626, user-specific resource allocation information 514 is retrieved from the User Info field whose AID12 subfield value matches the AID of the STA in order to prepare the EHT TB PPDU. In step 624, the PAID 516 and user-specific resource allocation information 514 are retrieved and stored by the STA. In step 628, it is determined whether the AID12 subfield value of the User Info field indicates a User Info field for which it is eligible for random access (RA). If so, processing may proceed to step 630. Otherwise, processing may proceed to step 632. In step 630, the UORA (UL OFDMA-based Random Access) procedure is executed. In step 632, the User Info field counter is incremented by 1. In step 634, it is determined whether the User Info field counter is equal to the number of User Info fields in the EHT Basic Trigger frame 500. If the User Info field counter is not equal to the number of User Info fields in EHT Basic Trigger frame 500, processing may return to step 620. If the User Info field counter is equal to the number of User Info fields in EHT Basic Trigger frame 500, processing may terminate at 636. Steps 620, 628, 632, and 634 form a loop for the STA to iterate through and read all user information fields present in EHT Basic Trigger frame 500. At 612, the EHT TB PPDU is prepared based on common parameters (e.g., common parameters from Common Info field 502) and user-specific resource allocation information (e.g., user-specific resource allocation information stored by the STA if processing is from step 610 or 624, or user-specific resource allocation information 514 obtained from a User Info field where the AID12 subfield value matches the STA's AID if processing is from step 626). At 636, processing terminates.

[0081] Figure 6B shows a flowchart 640 illustrating the processing of a PA Trigger frame 520 received in the STA according to the first embodiment. Processing may begin in step 642. In 644, several common parameters are obtained from the Common Info field of the PA Trigger frame 520. In 646, it is determined whether the PAID to be stored matches any of the PAID subfield values ​​in the Trigger Dependent Common Info field 522 of the PA Trigger frame 520. If the PAID to be stored matches any of the PAID subfield values ​​in the Trigger Dependent Common Info field 522 of the PA Trigger frame 520, processing may proceed to step 648. If the PAID to be stored does not match any of the PAID subfield values, processing may end in step 654. In 648, it is determined whether a timer is running for the uplink user-specific PA with the matching PAID. If it is determined that the timer is running, processing may proceed to step 650. If it is determined that the timer is not running, the process may terminate in step 654. In step 650, user-specific resource allocation information and other common parameters stored by the STA are extracted. In step 652, an EHT TB PPDU is prepared based on the common parameters and user-specific resource allocation information.

[0082] Figure 6C shows a flowchart 660 illustrating the processing of received data or management frame 530 carrying the PA Control subfield at the STA, which is the intended receiving destination of frame 530 according to the first embodiment. Processing may begin in step 662. In 664, the common parameter 534 is obtained from the PA Control subfield of the data or management frame 530. In 666, it is determined whether a timer for the uplink user-specific PA having the PAID indicated in the PA Control subfield is running. If it is determined that the timer is running, processing may proceed to step 668. If it is determined that the timer is not running, processing may end in step 672. In 668, user-specific resource allocation information stored by the STA is extracted. In 670, an EHT TB PPDU is prepared based on the common parameter 534 obtained from the PA Control subfield of the data or management frame 530 and the extracted user-specific resource allocation information.

[0083] Figures 7A and 7B show the format of an EHT Basic Trigger frame 700 used for uplink multi-user communication between an AP and multiple STAs in an EHT WLAN according to a second embodiment. The EHT Basic Trigger frame 700 is a variation of an existing Trigger frame and may be used as the first frame 412 in Figures 4A and 4B. Unlike the EHT Basic Trigger frame 500, which identifies an uplink user-specific PA using the PAID of the uplink user-specific PA, the EHT Basic Trigger frame 700 identifies an uplink user-specific PA using the RU assignment information of the uplink user-specific PA as part of the identification information. In one example, the RU assignment information of the uplink user-specific PA is used to identify the uplink user-specific PA together with the user identification information (e.g., the user's AID) of the STA addressed by the uplink user-specific PA. In another example, the RU assignment information of the uplink user-specific PA is used to identify the uplink user-specific PA together with the SS assignment information (e.g., the start space stream) of the uplink user-specific PA. The RU assignment information includes the RU location in the frequency domain. The EHT Basic Trigger frame 700 may include a Frame Control field, a Duration field, an RA field, a TA field, a Common Info field 702, one or more User Info fields such as a User Info field 704, a Padding field, and an FCS field. The Frame Control field, Duration field, RA field, and TA field may be grouped in the MAC header of the EHT Basic Trigger frame 700. The Common Info field 702, one or more User Info fields 704, and the Padding field may be grouped in the frame body of the EHT Basic Trigger frame 700.

[0084] Figure 7A also shows the Common Info field 702 in more detail. The Common Info field 702 contains common parameters for all STAs involved in EHT TB PPDU transmission requested by the EHT Basic Trigger frame 700. The Common Info field 702 includes (or consists of) the Trigger Type field 706, UL Length field, More TF field, CS Required field, UL BW field, GI and LTF Type field, MU-MIMO LTF Mode field, Number of HE-LTF Symbols and Midamble Periodicity field, UL STBC field, LDPC Extra Symbol Segment field, AP TX Power field, Pre-FEC Padding Factor field, PE Disambiguity field, UL Spatial Reuse field, Doppler field, UL HE-SIG-A2 Reserved field, and Trigger Dependent Common Info field 708. Unlike the Trigger Dependent Common Info field 508 of the EHT Basic Trigger frame 500, the Trigger Dependent Common Info field 708 of the EHT Basic Trigger frame 500 may include (or consist of) a Number of RU Allocations field and an RU Allocation / AID12 Tuples field. The Number of RU Allocations field indicates the number of RU Allocation / AID12 subfields in the RU Allocation / AID12 Tuples field. The EHT Basic Trigger frame 700 may then request repeated transmission of the uplink user-specific PA using the RU allocation information and user identification information of the uplink user-specific PA shown in the Trigger Dependent Common Info field 708.Alternatively, the Trigger Dependent Common Info field 708 of the EHT Basic Trigger frame 700 may include (or consist of) a Number of RU Allocations field and an RU Allocation / SS Allocation Tuples field. The Number of RU Allocations field indicates the number of RU Allocation / SS Allocation subfields in the RU Allocation / SS Allocation Tuples field. The EHT Basic Trigger frame 700 may then request repeated transmission of the uplink user-specific PA using the RU allocation information and SS allocation information of the uplink user-specific PA shown in the Trigger Dependent Common Info field 708. The Trigger Type field 706 may be assigned an arbitrary value indicating that the Trigger frame 700 is an EHT Basic Trigger frame. In the following embodiments, the Trigger Type field 706 is assigned an arbitrary value of 8 indicating that the Trigger frame 700 is an EHT Basic Trigger frame.

[0085] Figure 7B shows the User Info field 704 in more detail. The User Info field 704 includes the AID12 field, the RU Allocation field 716, the UL FEC Coding Type field, the UL MCS field, the UL DCM field, the SS Allocation field, the UL Target RSSI field, and the Trigger Dependent User Info field 712. Unlike the EHT Basic Trigger frame 500, the Trigger Dependent User Info field 712 may include (or consist of) a 1-bit PA Flag subfield, an MPDU MU Spacing Factor subfield, a TID Aggregation Limit subfield, and a Preferred AC subfield. The RU Allocation field 716, the UL FEC Coding Type field, the UL MCS field, the UL DCM field, the SS Allocation field, the UL Target RSSI field, the MPDU MU Spacing Factor subfield, the TID Aggregation Limit subfield, and the Preferred AC subfield constitute the user-specific resource allocation information 714 of the User Info field 704. User-specific resource allocation information 714 may be acquired and stored by the STA for the first or subsequent uplink user-specific PA transmission, and the EHT TB PPDU based on the stored user-specific resource allocation information 714 is sent to the AP requesting the uplink user-specific PA transmission. Unlike the Trigger Dependent User Info field 512 of the EHT Basic Trigger frame 500, the Trigger Dependent User Info field 712 of the EHT Basic Trigger frame 700 does not include a PAID subfield.

[0086] As described above, the User Info field 704 may include a PA Flag subfield. The PA Flag subfield (e.g., 1 bit) indicates whether the User Info field 704 corresponds to an uplink user-specific PA. A User Info field with the PA Flag subfield set to 0 indicates that the User Info field does not correspond to an uplink user-specific PA. On the other hand, a User Info field with the PA Flag subfield set to 1 indicates that the User Info field corresponds to an uplink user-specific PA. In this case, the RU allocation information contained in the RU Allocation field of the User Info field (e.g., the RU Allocation field 716 of User Info field 704), together with the user identification information contained in the AID12 field of the User Info field (e.g., the AID12 field 718 of User Info field 704) or the SS allocation information contained in the SS Allocation field of the User Info field (e.g., the SS Allocation field 720 of User Info field 704), identifies the uplink user-specific PA. Furthermore, the PA Flag subfield of the User Info field for random access is set to 0. In other words, uplink user-specific PAs for random access are not permitted.

[0087] In an EHT Basic Trigger frame, only one or fewer User Info fields that are not for random access are addressed to a single STA. User Info fields for random access are placed after the User Info fields that are not for random access. STAs with uplink user-specific PAs advertised in the Common Info field are not addressed by the User Info fields that are not for random access. Furthermore, one or fewer uplink user-specific PAs assigned to a single STA are advertised in the Common Info field. Effectively, this reduces the complexity of processing EHT Basic Trigger frames received by STAs.

[0088] The first frame 412 may be in the form of an EHT Basic Trigger frame 700. For example, in 414, STA406 may receive the first frame 412 in the form of an EHT Basic Trigger frame 700. STA406 may store user-specific resource allocation information for the uplink user-specific PA intended for STA406. Note that identification information for the uplink user-specific PA, such as RU allocation information and SS allocation information, is part of the user-specific resource allocation information for the uplink user-specific PA. The user-specific resource allocation information may be extracted from the User Info field where the AID12 subfield value matches the AID of STA406. STA406 may then send an EHT TB PPDU 418 to AP402 based on the stored user-specific resource allocation information.

[0089] Similarly, STA404 may also receive the first frame 412 in the form of an EHT Basic Trigger frame 700. STA404 may store user-specific resource allocation information for the uplink user-specific PA intended for STA404. Note that identification information for the uplink user-specific PA, such as RU allocation information and SS allocation information, is part of the user-specific resource allocation information for the uplink user-specific PA. User-specific resource allocation information may be extracted from the User Info field where the AID12 subfield value matches the AID of STA404. STA404 may then send an EHT TB PPDU 416 to AP402 based on the stored user-specific resource allocation information.

[0090] The second frame 422 may also be in the form of an EHT Basic Trigger frame 700. For example, STA406 may receive the second frame 422 in the form of an EHT Basic Trigger frame 700. STA406 may obtain common parameters from the Common Info field 702 of the EHT Basic Trigger frame 700 and determine whether the RU allocation information and STA406 user identification information stored by STA406 in 414 match any RU Allocation / AID12 field value in the Trigger Dependent Common Info field 708 of the Common Info field 702, or whether the RU allocation information and SS allocation information stored by STA406 in 414 match any RU Allocation / SS Allocation field value in the Trigger Dependent Common Info field 708 of the Common Info field 702. If a match is found, STA may prepare an EHT TB PPDU 428 at 424 based on the user-specific resource allocation information stored by STA at 414, and send the prepared EHT TB PPDU 428 to AP402.

[0091] Similarly, STA404 may receive a second frame 422 in the form of an EHT Basic Trigger frame 700. STA404 may obtain common parameters from the Common Info field 702 of the EHT Basic Trigger frame 700 and determine whether the RU allocation information and STA404 user identification information stored by STA404 in 414 match any RU Allocation / AID12 field value in the Trigger Dependent Common Info field 708 of the Common Info field 702, or any RU Allocation / AID12 field value in the Trigger Dependent Common Info field 708 of the Common Info field 702, or whether the RU allocation information and SS allocation information stored by STA406 in 414 match any RU Allocation / SS Allocation field value in the Trigger Dependent Common Info field 708 of the Common Info field 702. If a match is found, the STA may prepare an EHT TB PPDU 426 based on the user-specific resource allocation information stored in 414 by the STA, and send the prepared EHT TB PPDU 426 to AP402.

[0092] The second frame 422 may also be in the form of a PA Trigger frame 720 according to the second embodiment, as shown in Figure 7C. The PA Trigger frame 720 may include (or consist of) a Frame Control field, a Duration field, an RA field, a TA field, a Common Info field, a Padding field, and an FCS field. The Common Info field may include (or consist of) a Trigger Type field, a More TF field, a CS Required field, and a Trigger Dependent Common Info field 722. The Trigger Dependent Common Info field 722 may include (or consist of) a Number of RU Allocations field and an RU Allocation / AID12 Tuples field. The Number of RU Allocations field indicates the number of RU Allocation / AID12 subfields in the RU Allocation / AID12 Tuples field. Unlike PA Trigger frame 520, which requests repeated transmission of uplink user-specific PAs using the PAID contained in the Trigger Dependent Common Info field 522, PA Trigger frame 720 may subsequently request repeated transmission of uplink user-specific PAs using the RU allocation information and user identification information contained in the Trigger Dependent Common Info field 722. Alternatively, the Trigger Dependent Common Info field 722 may include (or consist of) the Number of RU Allocations field and the RU Allocation / SS Allocation Tuples field.The Number of RU Allocations field indicates the number of RU Allocation / SS Allocation subfields in the RU Allocation / SS Allocation Tuples field. The PA Trigger frame 720 may then request repeated transmission of the uplink user-specific PA using the RU and SS allocation information of the uplink user-specific PA shown in the Trigger Dependent Common Info field 722. In the PA Trigger frame, one or fewer uplink user-specific PAs assigned to a single STA are shown in the Common Info field. Advantageously, this reduces the complexity in processing PA Trigger frames received at the STA.

[0093] PA Trigger frame 720 is used solely to request the retransmission of one or more PAs, such as EHT TB PPDU 426 and 428. Only some common parameters are present in the Common Info field of PA Trigger frame 720; other common parameters are not modified before one or more PAs expire and can be obtained from the first frame 412. Furthermore, other user-specific resource allocation information required for one or more PAs, except for the identification information of one or more PAs, is not included in the PA Trigger frame because it can be obtained from the first frame 412. Advantageously, this reduces channel overhead for the retransmission of one or more uplink user-specific PAs.

[0094] The second frame 422 may also be in the form of a data or management frame 730 carrying the PA Control subfield according to the second embodiment, as shown in Figure 7D. The data or management frame 730 may include (or consist of) a Frame Control field, a Duration / ID field, four Address fields, a Sequence Control field, a QoS Control field, an HT Control field, a Frame Body field, and an FCS field. The HT Control field may be a 32-bit HE variant HT Control field that includes (or consists of) a VHT field (set to 1), an HE field (set to 1), a Control ID field (set to a determined value, such as 7, to indicate that the HT Control field of the data or management frame 730 includes the PA Control subfield), and a Control Information field. The 26-bit Control Information field may include (or consist of) an 8-bit RU Allocation subfield and several common parameters 734, such as a 10-bit UL Length subfield, a 5-bit DL TX Power subfield, and a 3-bit Number of HE-LTF Symbols subfield. It can be understood that other common parameters are predetermined or implicitly notifiable. Unlike the data or management frame 530 which requests repeated transmission of the uplink user-specific PA using its PAID contained in the Control Information field 532, the data or management frame 730 may request repeated transmission of the uplink user-specific PA using its RU assignment information contained in the Control Information field 732 and the intended STA user identification information (e.g., MAC address) contained in one of the four Address fields.Similar to the PA Trigger frame 720, other user-specific resource allocation information required for the uplink user-specific PA may be obtained from the first frame 412 and therefore is not included in the data or management frame 530. Advantageously, this reduces channel overhead for repeated transmissions of the uplink user-specific PA.

[0095] In the second embodiment described above, the uplink user-specific PA may exist for a period of time after the first frame requesting the first transmission of the uplink user-specific PA has been transmitted. In one example, the uplink user-specific PA may exist until the end of the current TXOP. In another example, the uplink user-specific PA may exist for a determined number of service periods or beacon intervals. In yet another example, the Common Info field of the first frame may include signaling to indicate the period during which the first transmission requested by the first frame is transmitted for an uplink user-specific PA that exists after the first frame. In such an example, the first transmission requested by the first frame is an uplink user-specific PA with the same expiration date. Alternatively, the User Info field corresponding to the uplink user-specific PA in the first frame may include signaling to indicate the period during which the uplink user-specific PA exists after the first frame has been transmitted. In another example, the first transmission requested by the first frame is an uplink user-specific PA that may have a different expiration date.

[0096] In the second embodiment described above, the AP may send a first frame to update the user-specific resource allocation information, excluding the identification information of the uplink user-specific PA (e.g., RU allocation information and SS allocation information), before it expires. If the user-specific resource allocation information of the uplink user-specific PA is updated before it expires, and the intended STA does not receive the updated information, there will be a mismatch in the information of the uplink user-specific PA between the AP and the intended STA. The AP may be able to identify such a mismatch if it does not receive an EHT TB PPDU as a response to the first frame it sent. When the STA receives a first frame containing complete information about the uplink user-specific PA, which is the intended STA, it starts or resets the timer for the uplink user-specific PA and stores or updates the information about the uplink user-specific PA. Similarly, the STA may also store or update common parameters in the Common Info field through this process. Advantageously, this allows the AP to perform error recovery from the information mismatch.

[0097] Figure 8A shows a flowchart 800 illustrating the processing of an EHT Basic Trigger frame 700 received by an STA according to the second embodiment. Processing may start at 802. At 804, common parameters are obtained from the Common Info field 702. At 806, it is determined whether repeated transmission of the intended uplink user-specific PA is requested for the STA. This can be done by checking whether the STA's stored RU allocation information and user identification information matches any of the RU Allocation / AID12 subfield values ​​in the Common Info field 702, or whether the stored RU allocation information and SS allocation information matches any of the RU Allocation / SS Allocation subfield values ​​in the Common Info field 702. If repeated transmission of the intended uplink user-specific PA is requested for the STA, processing may proceed to step 808. Otherwise, processing may proceed to step 814. At 808, it is determined whether the timer for the uplink user-specific PA is running. If the timer for the uplink user-specific PA is running, the process may proceed to step 810. Otherwise, the process ends at step 836. At 810, the user-specific resource allocation information stored by the STA is extracted. At 814, the number of User Info fields is calculated. At 816, the User Info field counter is initialized to zero. At 820, it is determined whether the STA's AID matches the AID12 subfield value of the User Info field in the EHT Basic Trigger frame 700. If the STA's AID matches the AID12 subfield value, the process may proceed to step 822. If the STA's AID does not match the AID12 subfield value, the process may proceed to step 828. At 822, it is determined whether the PA Flag subfield is set to 1.If the PA Flag subfield is not set to 1, i.e., the User Info field does not correspond to an uplink user-specific PA, processing may proceed to step 826. If the PA Flag subfield is set to 1, i.e., the User Info field corresponds to an uplink user-specific PA, processing may proceed to 824. In 826, user-specific resource allocation information 714 is obtained from the User Info field. In 824, user-specific resource allocation information 714 is obtained from the User Info field and stored by the STA. In 828, it is determined whether the AID12 subfield value of the User Info field indicates a User Info field for which it is eligible. If so, processing may proceed to step 830. Otherwise, processing may proceed to 832. In 830, the UORA procedure is executed. In 832, the User Info field counter is incremented by 1. In 834, it is determined whether the User Info field counter is equal to the number of User Info fields in the EHT Basic Trigger frame 700. If the User Info field counter is not equal to the number of User Info fields in EHT Basic Trigger frame 700, processing may proceed again to step 820. If the User Info field counter is equal to the number of User Info fields in EHT Basic Trigger frame 700, processing may terminate at 836. Steps 820, 828, 832, and 834 can be understood as forming a loop for the STA to cycle through and read all User Info fields present in EHT Basic Trigger frame 700.In step 812, the EHT TB PPDU is prepared based on common parameters (e.g., common parameters from the Common Info field 702) and user-specific resource allocation information (e.g., user-specific resource allocation information stored by the STA if the process is from step 810 or 824, or user-specific resource allocation information 714 obtained from the User Info field if the process is from step 826). In step 836, the process ends.

[0098] Figure 8B shows a flowchart 840 illustrating the processing of a PA Trigger frame 720 received by an STA according to a second embodiment. Processing may start in step 842. In 844, some common parameters are obtained from the Common Info field of the PA Trigger frame 720. In 846, it is determined whether the STA is requested to repeatedly transmit the intended uplink user-specific PA. This can be done by checking whether the stored RU allocation information and the STA's user identification information match any of the RU Allocation / AID12 subfield values ​​in the Trigger Dependent Common Info field 722, or whether the stored RU allocation information and SS allocation information match any of the RU Allocation / SS Allocation subfield values ​​in the Trigger Dependent Common Info field 722. If the STA is requested to repeatedly transmit the intended uplink user-specific PA, processing may proceed to step 848. Otherwise, processing may end in step 854. In step 848, it is determined whether the timer for the uplink user-specific PA is running. If it is determined that the timer is running, the process may proceed to step 850. If it is determined that the timer is not running, the process may terminate in step 854. In step 850, the stored user-specific resource allocation information and other common parameters are extracted. In step 852, the EHT TB PPDU is prepared based on the common parameters and user-specific resource allocation information. In step 854, the process terminates.

[0099] Figure 8C shows a flowchart 860 illustrating the processing of received data or management frame 730 carrying the PA Control subfield at the STA, which is the intended recipient of frame 730 according to the second embodiment. Processing may start in step 862. In 864, the common parameter 734 is obtained from the PA Control subfield of the data or management frame 730. In 866, it is determined whether the timer for the uplink user-specific PA having RU allocation information shown in the PA Control subfield is running. If it is determined that the timer is running, processing may proceed to step 868. If it is determined that the timer is not running, processing may end in step 872. In 868, the user-specific resource allocation information stored by the STA is extracted. In 870, an EHT TB PPDU is prepared based on the common parameter 734 obtained from the PA Control subfield of the data or management frame 730 and the extracted user-specific resource allocation information. In 872, processing ends.

[0100] Figure 9A shows a flowchart 900 illustrating communication between AP902 and multiple STAs (904, 906) equipped with uplink user-specific PAs via TXOP according to various embodiments. A competition-based channel access procedure, e.g., an EDCA procedure, is shown by block 908, and SIFS 910 is shown. AP902 may generate a first frame 912. A complete description for the uplink user-specific PA is provided in the first frame 912. The complete PA information may include identification information and user-specific resource allocation information. In one embodiment, the identification information may be the PAID of the uplink user-specific PA. In another embodiment, the identification information may be RU allocation information and user identification information for the uplink user-specific PA. In yet another embodiment, the identification information may be RU allocation information and SS allocation information for the uplink user-specific PA. In various embodiments, the identification information, together with the user-specific resource allocation information, is included in the frame body of the frame to identify the uplink user-specific PA. Unlike the first frame 412 in Figure 4A, the first frame 912 does not request the initial transmission of the uplink user-specific PA. AP902 may transmit the generated first frame 912 to STA404 and 906.

[0101] At 914, STA906 may receive the first frame 912 and store complete information about the uplink user-specific PA (i.e., identification information and user-specific resource allocation information for the uplink user-specific PA intended for STA906). Unlike the embodiment shown in Figure 4A, the initial transmission is not requested by the first frame 912, so STA906 does not transmit the EHT TB PPDU to AP902. STA904 may also receive and store complete information about the uplink user-specific PA (i.e., identification information and user-specific resource allocation information for the uplink user-specific PA intended for STA904).

[0102] Subsequently, AP902 may request the transmission of an uplink user-specific PA for STA904 and an uplink user-specific PA for STA906 by transmitting a second frame 922. The second frame 922 may carry identification information for the uplink user-specific PA for STA904 to request the initial or repeated transmission of the uplink user-specific PA for STA904, and identification information for the uplink user-specific PA for STA906 to request the initial or repeated transmission of the uplink user-specific PA for STA906. In various embodiments, the identification information for the uplink user-specific PA is included in the frame body of the second frame 922 to request the transmission of the uplink user-specific PA, and the frame does not contain user-specific resource allocation information for the uplink user-specific PA. In various embodiments, the identification information is included in the MAC header of the second frame 922 to request the transmission of the uplink user-specific PA, and the frame does not contain user-specific resource allocation information for the uplink user-specific PA. Effectively, the channel overhead for transmitting uplink user-specific PAs can be reduced because the second frame does not contain user-specific resource allocation information for the uplink user-specific PAs.

[0103] In 924, STA406 may prepare an EHT TB PPDU 918 based on stored user-specific resource allocation information for the uplink user-specific PA and transmit the EHT TB PPDU 918 to AP902. The EHT TB PPDU 918 is the transmission of the uplink user-specific PA for STA906. STA904 may also prepare an EHT TB PPDU 916 based on stored user-specific resource allocation information for the uplink user-specific PA and transmit the EHT TB PPDU 916 to AP902. The EHT TB PPDU 916 is the transmission of the uplink user-specific PA for STA904. The EHT TB PPDU 916 and 918 may be in the same format as the EHT TB PPDU 212 shown in Figure 2B. AP902 receives the transmissions of the EHT TB PPDU 916 and 918 and may transmit a Multi-STA BlockAck frame 920 to STA904 and 906. As shown in Figure 9A, the initial or repeated transmission of an uplink user-specific PA may occur within the same TXOP as the first frame transmission. As shown in Figure 9B, the initial or repeated transmission may also occur in a different TXOP than the first frame transmission. That is, for example, the uplink user-specific PA may exist until the end of the current TXOP. In another example, the uplink user-specific PA may exist for a determined number of service periods or beacon intervals. In Figure 9B, the second frame 922 is transmitted by AP902 in a different TXOP than the first frame 912, and therefore the transmission requested by the second frame 922 (e.g., the uplink user-specific PA transmissions for EHT TB PPDU 916 and 918) also occurs in a different TXOP than the first frame 912. It can be understood that the transmission of the second frame 922 occurs within the period in which uplink user-specific PAs for STA 904 and 906 exist.

[0104] Figure 10A shows the format of a PA Announcement frame 1000 used for uplink or downlink multi-user communication between an AP and multiple STAs in an EHT WLAN according to a third embodiment. The PA Announcement frame 1000 contains complete information about one or more PAs and may be used as the first frame 912 in Figures 9A and 9B. The PA Announcement frame 1000 identifies the uplink user-specific PA using the PAID of the uplink user-specific PA. The PA Announcement frame 1000 may include a Frame Control field, a Duration field, an RA field, a TA field, a Common Info field, one or more User Info fields such as User Info field 1004, a Padding field, and an FCS field. The Frame Control field, Duration field, RA field, and TA field may be grouped in the MAC header of the PA Announcement frame 1000. The Common Info field, one or more User Info fields 1004, and the Padding field may be grouped in the frame body of the PA Announcement frame 1000.

[0105] Figure 10A also shows the User Info field 1004 in more detail. The User Info field 1004 includes the Direction field 1006, the AID 12 field, the PAID field 1002, the RU Allocation field, the UL FEC Coding Type field, the UL MCS field, the UL DCM field, the SS Allocation field, the UL Target RSSI field, the MPDU MU Spacing Factor subfield, the TID Aggregation Limit subfield, and the Preferred AC subfield. The RU Allocation field, the UL FEC Coding Type field, the UL MCS field, the UL DCM field, the SS Allocation field, the UL Target RSSI field, the MPDU MU Spacing Factor subfield, the TID Aggregation Limit subfield, and the Preferred AC subfield constitute the user-specific resource allocation information 1008 of the User Info field 1004.

[0106] As described above, the User Info field 1004 may include a Direction field 1006. The Direction field 1006 indicates whether the User Info field 1004 corresponds to an uplink user-specific PA or a downlink user-specific PA. For example, a Direction field value of 1 indicates a downlink user-specific PA, and a Direction field value of 0 indicates an uplink user-specific PA. In this embodiment, the Direction field 1006 is set to 0 to indicate that the User Info field 1004 corresponds to an uplink user-specific PA. The User Info field 1004 may also include a PAID field 1002 that indicates the PAID of the uplink user-specific PA corresponding to the User Info field 1004.

[0107] The first frame 912 may be in the form of a PA Announcement frame 1000. For example, in 914, STA906 may receive the first frame 912 in the form of a PA Announcement frame 1000. STA906 may store identification information and user-specific resource allocation information for the uplink user-specific PA intended for STA906. Identification information (e.g., PAID) may be extracted from the PAID subfield 1002 of the User Info field, where the AID12 subfield value matches the AID of STA906. User-specific resource allocation information may be extracted from the same User Info field.

[0108] Similarly, STA904 may receive the first frame 912 in the form of a PA Announcement frame 1000. STA904 may store identification information and user-specific resource allocation information for the uplink user-specific PA intended for STA904. Identification information (e.g., PAID) may be extracted from the PAID subfield 1002 of the User Info field, where the AID12 subfield value matches the AID of STA904. User-specific resource allocation information may also be extracted from the same User Info field.

[0109] Figure 10B shows the format of an EHT Basic Trigger frame 1010 used for uplink multi-user communication between an AP and multiple STAs in an EHT WLAN according to a third embodiment. The EHT Basic Trigger frame 1010 is a variation of an existing Trigger frame and may be used as the second frame 922 in Figures 9A and 9B. The EHT Basic Trigger frame 1010 identifies the uplink user-specific PA using the PAID of the uplink user-specific PA. The EHT Basic Trigger frame 1010 may include a Frame Control field, a Duration field, an RA field, a TA field, a Common Info field, one or more User Info fields such as User Info field 1016, a Padding field, and an FCS field. The Frame Control field, Duration field, RA field, and TA field may be grouped in the MAC header of the EHT Basic Trigger frame 1010. The Common Info field, one or more User Info fields 1016, and the Padding field may be grouped in the frame body of the EHT Basic Trigger frame 1010. The Common Info field (including all subfields of the Common Info field) of EHT Basic Trigger frame 1010 is the same as the Common Info field 502 (including all subfields of the Common Info field 502) of EHT Basic Trigger frame 500, as shown in Figure 5A. The User Info field 1016 may include (or consist of) the AID12 field, RU Allocation field, UL FEC Coding Type field, UL MCS field, UL DCM field, SS Allocation field, UL Target RSSI field, and Trigger Dependent User Info field 1012.The Trigger Dependent User Info field 1012 may include (or consist of) the MPDU MU Spacing Factor subfield, the TID Aggregation Limit subfield, and the Preferred AC subfield. The RU Allocation field, UL FEC Coding Type field, UL MCS field, UL DCM field, SS Allocation field, UL Target RSSI field, MPDU MU Spacing Factor subfield, TID Aggregation Limit subfield, and Preferred AC subfield constitute the user-specific resource allocation information 1014 of the User Info field 1016.

[0110] In an EHT Basic Trigger frame, one or fewer User Info fields that are not for random access are addressed to a single STA. User Info fields for random access are placed after the User Info fields that are not for random access. STAs with uplink user-specific PAs indicated in the Common Info field are not addressed by the User Info fields that are not for random access. Furthermore, one or fewer uplink user-specific PAs assigned to a single STA are advertised in the Common Info field. Advantageously, this reduces the complexity in processing EHT Basic Trigger frames received by the STA.

[0111] The second frame 922 may also be in the form of an EHT Basic Trigger frame 1010. For example, STA906 may receive the second frame 922 in the form of an EHT Basic Trigger frame 1010. STA906 may retrieve common parameters from the Common Info field of the EHT Basic Trigger frame 1010 and determine whether the PAID stored by STA906 in 914 matches any PAID subfield value in the Trigger Dependent Common Info field. If so, STA906 may prepare an EHT TB PPDU 918 in 924 based on the user-specific resource allocation information stored by STA906 in 914 and send the prepared EHT TB PPDU 918 to AP902.

[0112] Similarly, STA904 may receive a second frame 922 in the form of an EHT Basic Trigger frame 1010. STA904 may retrieve common parameters from the Common Info field of the EHT Basic Trigger frame 1010 and determine whether the PAID stored by STA904 matches any PAID subfield value in the Trigger Dependent Common Info field. If so, STA904 may prepare an EHT TB PPDU 916 based on the user-specific resource allocation information stored by STA904 and send the prepared EHT TB PPDU 916 to AP902.

[0113] The second frame 922 may be in the form of a PA Trigger frame 520 according to a third embodiment, as shown in Figure 5C. The PA Trigger frame 520 is used solely to request the transmission of one or more PAs, such as EHT TB PPDU 916 and 918. Only some common parameters are present in the Common Info field of the PA Trigger frame 520; other common parameters remain unchanged until one or more PAs expire and can be obtained from the first frame 912. Furthermore, user-specific resource allocation information required for one or more PAs is not included in the PA Trigger frame, as it can be obtained from the first frame 912. Advantageously, this reduces channel overhead for transmitting uplink user-specific PAs.

[0114] The second frame 922 may be in the form of a data or management frame 530 carrying the PA Control subfield according to the third embodiment, as shown in Figure 5D. The data or management frame 530 requests the transmission of the uplink user-specific PA using its PAID as shown in the Control Information field 532. Similar to the PA Trigger frame 520, the user-specific resource allocation information required for the uplink user-specific PA is not included in the data or management frame 530, as it may be obtained from the first frame 912. Advantageously, this reduces the channel overhead for transmitting the uplink user-specific PA.

[0115] As described above, the third embodiment can further reduce channel overhead. In the first frame, two or more user-specific PAs of an uplink MU-MIMO allocation may include the same PAID, which can be notified in the second frame to request transmissions from two or more STAs involved in the uplink MU-MIMO allocation. In one example, the first frame may be used to assign the same PAID, the same RU, and their respective spatial streams to two or more user-specific PAs of an uplink MU-MIMO allocation. In another example, two or more first frames may be used to assign the same PAID, the same RU, and their respective spatial streams to two or more user-specific allocations of an uplink MU-MIMO allocation. Alternatively, the first frame may assign the same PAID to a group of user-specific PAs, which can be notified in the second frame to request transmissions from each user-specific PA in the group of user-specific PAs.

[0116] In the third embodiment described above, the uplink user-specific PA may exist for a period after the first frame notifying the uplink user-specific PA is transmitted. In one example, the uplink user-specific PA may exist until the end of the current TXOP. In another example, the uplink user-specific PA may exist for a determined number of service periods or beacon intervals. In yet another example, the Common Info field in the first frame may include signaling to indicate the period during which the uplink user-specific PA notified by the first frame exists after the first frame is transmitted. In such an example, the uplink user-specific PA notified by the first frame has the same expiration date. Alternatively, the User Info field corresponding to the uplink user-specific PA in the first frame may include signaling to indicate the period during which the uplink user-specific PA exists after the first frame is transmitted. In another example, the uplink user-specific PA notified by the first frame may have different expiration dates.

[0117] Figure 11 shows a flowchart 1100 illustrating the processing of an EHT Basic Trigger frame 1010 received in an STA according to a third embodiment. Processing may start at 1102. At 1104, common parameters are obtained from the Common Info field of the EHT Basic Trigger frame 1010. At 1106, it is determined whether the stored PAID matches any of the PAID subfield values ​​in the Common Info field. If the stored PAID matches any of the PAID subfield values ​​in the Common Info field, processing may proceed to step 1108. If the stored PAID does not match any of the PAID subfield values ​​in the Common Info field, processing may proceed to step 1114. At 1108, it is determined whether a timer for the uplink user-specific PA with the matching PAID is running. If a timer for the uplink user-specific PA is running, processing may proceed to step 1110. Otherwise, processing may end at step 1130. In step 1110, user-specific resource allocation information stored by the STA is extracted. In step 1114, the number of User Info fields present in the EHT Basic Trigger frame 1010 is calculated. In step 1116, the User Info field counter is initialized to zero. In step 1118, it is determined whether the STA's AID matches the AID12 subfield value of the User Info field in the EHT Basic Trigger frame 1010. If the STA's AID matches the AID12 subfield value, the process may proceed to step 1120. If the STA's AID does not match the AID12 subfield value, the process may proceed to step 1122. In step 1120, user-specific resource allocation information is retrieved from the User Info field to prepare the EHT TB PPDU. In step 1122, it is determined whether the AID12 subfield value of the User Info field indicates a User Info field of an eligible RA. If so, the process may proceed to step 1124.Otherwise, processing may proceed to 1126. At 1124, the UORA procedure is executed. At 1126, the User Info field counter is incremented by 1. At 1128, it is determined whether the User Info field counter is equal to the number of User Info fields in EHT Basic Trigger frame 1010. If the User Info field counter is not equal to the number of User Info fields in EHT Basic Trigger frame 1010, processing may proceed again to step 1118. If the User Info field counter is equal to the number of User Info fields in EHT Basic Trigger frame 1010, processing may terminate at 1130. It can be understood that steps 1118, 1122, 1126, and 1128 form a loop for STA to cycle through and read all User Info fields present in EHT Basic Trigger frame 1010. In step 1112, the EHT TB PPDU is prepared based on common parameters (for example, common parameters from the Common Info field of the EHT Basic Trigger frame 1010) and user-specific resource allocation information (for example, user-specific resource allocation information stored by STA if the process starts from step 1110, or user-specific resource allocation information 1014 obtained from the User Info field if the process starts from step 1120). In step 1130, the process ends.

[0118] The processing of the PA Trigger frame 520 received in the STA according to the third embodiment is also shown in the flowchart 640 of Figure 6B.

[0119] The processing of received data or management frame 530 that carries the PA Control subfield in the STA, which is the intended recipient of frame 530 according to the third embodiment, is also shown in flowchart 660 of Figure 6C.

[0120] In the third embodiment described above, the AP may send a first frame to update the user-specific resource allocation information of an uplink user-specific PA before it expires. If the user-specific resource allocation information of the uplink user-specific PA is updated before it expires and the intended STA does not receive the updated information, there will be a mismatch in the information of the uplink user-specific PA between the AP and the intended STA. The AP can identify such a mismatch if it does not receive an EHT TB PPDU as a response to a second frame that has been sent. When the STA receives a first frame containing information about an uplink user-specific PA that is one of its intended recipients, it starts or resets the timer of the uplink user-specific PA and stores or updates the information about the uplink user-specific PA. Similarly, the STA may also store or update common parameters in the Common Info field through this process. Advantageously, this allows the AP to perform error recovery from the information mismatch.

[0121] Figure 12 shows the format of a PA Announcement frame 1200 used for uplink or downlink multi-user communication between an AP and multiple STAs in an EHT WLAN according to a fourth embodiment. The PA Announcement frame 1200 contains complete information about one or more PAs and may be used as the first frame 912 in Figures 9A and 9B. The PA Announcement frame 1200 may identify an uplink user-specific PA using the RU assignment information of the uplink user-specific PA and the user identification information of the STA addressed by the uplink user-specific PA. Alternatively, the PA Announcement frame 1200 may identify an uplink user-specific PA using the RU assignment information and SS assignment information (e.g., start space stream) of the uplink user-specific PA. The PA Announcement frame 1200 may include a Frame Control field, a Duration field, an RA field, a TA field, a Common Info field, one or more User Info fields such as User Info field 1204, a Padding field, and an FCS field. The Frame Control field, Duration field, RA field, and TA field may be grouped in the MAC header of the PA Announcement frame 1200. The Common Info field, one or more User Info fields 1204, and Padding field may be grouped in the frame body of the PA Announcement frame 1200.

[0122] Figure 12 also shows the User Info field 1204 in more detail. The User Info field 1204 includes the Direction field 1026, the AID field 12, the RU Allocation field 1202, the UL FEC Coding Type field, the UL MCS field, the UL DCM field, the SS Allocation field, the UL Target RSSI field, the MPDU MU Spacing Factor subfield, the TID Aggregation Limit subfield, and the Preferred AC subfield. The RU Allocation field, the UL FEC Coding Type field, the UL MCS field, the UL DCM field, the SS Allocation field, the UL Target RSSI field, the MPDU MU Spacing Factor subfield, the TID Aggregation Limit subfield, and the Preferred AC subfield constitute the user-specific resource allocation information 1208 of the User Info field 1204.

[0123] As described above, the User Info field 1204 may include a Direction field 1206. The Direction field 1206 indicates whether the User Info field 1204 corresponds to an uplink user-specific PA or a downlink user-specific PA. For example, a Direction field value of 1 indicates a downlink user-specific PA, and a Direction field value of 0 indicates an uplink user-specific PA. In this embodiment, the Direction field 1206 is set to 0 to indicate that the User Info field corresponds to an uplink user-specific PA. The User Info field 1204 may also include a RU Allocation field 1202 indicating RU allocation information, an SS Allocation field 1212 indicating SS allocation information, and an AID12 field 1214 indicating user identification information. Unlike PA Announcement frame 1000, which uses the PAID shown in PAID field 1002 to identify the uplink user-specific PA corresponding to User Info field 1004, PA Announcement frame 1200 may use the RU allocation information shown in RU Allocation field 1202 and the user identification information shown in AID12 field 1214 to identify the uplink user-specific PA corresponding to User Info field 1204. Alternatively, PA Announcement frame 1200 may use the RU allocation information shown in RU Allocation field 1202 and the SS allocation information shown in SS Allocation field 1212 to identify the uplink user-specific PA corresponding to User Info field 1204.

[0124] The first frame 912 may be in the form of a PA Announcement frame 1200. For example, in 914, STA906 may receive the first frame 912 in the form of a PA Announcement frame 1200. STA906 may store user-specific resource allocation information for the uplink user-specific PA intended for STA906. Note that identification information for the uplink user-specific PA, such as RU allocation information and SS allocation information, is part of the user-specific resource allocation information for the uplink user-specific PA. User-specific resource allocation information may be extracted from the User Info field where the AID12 subfield value matches the AID of STA906.

[0125] Similarly, STA904 may also receive the first frame 912 in the form of a PA Announcement frame 1200. STA904 may store user-specific resource allocation information for uplink user-specific PAs intended for STA904. Note that identification information for uplink user-specific PAs, such as RU allocation information and SS allocation information, is part of the user-specific resource allocation information for uplink user-specific PAs. User-specific resource allocation information may be extracted from the User Info field where the AID12 subfield value matches the AID of STA904.

[0126] The second frame 922 may be in the form of an EHT Basic Trigger frame used for uplink multi-user communication between an AP and multiple STAs in an EHT WLAN according to the fourth embodiment. The EHT Basic Trigger frame according to the fourth embodiment is a variation of an existing Trigger frame and may be used as the second frame 922 in Figures 9A and 9B. The EHT Basic Trigger frame according to the fourth embodiment may identify the uplink user-specific PA using RU assignment information and user identification information. Alternatively, the EHT Basic Trigger frame according to the fourth embodiment may identify the uplink user-specific PA using RU assignment information and SS assignment information. The EHT Basic Trigger frame according to the fourth embodiment may include a Frame Control field, a Duration field, an RA field, a TA field, a Common Info field, one or more User Info fields, a Padding field, and an FCS field. The Frame Control field, Duration field, RA field, and TA field may be grouped in the MAC header of the EHT Basic Trigger frame. The Common Info field, one or more User Info fields, and the Padding field may be grouped into the frame body of the EHT Basic Trigger frame according to the fourth embodiment. The Common Info field (including all subfields of the Common Info field) of the EHT Basic Trigger frame according to the fourth embodiment is the same as the Common Info field 702 (including all subfields of the Common Info field 702) of the EHT Basic Trigger frame 700, as shown in Figure 7A.The User Info field (including all subfields of the User Info field) of the EHT Basic Trigger frame according to the fourth embodiment is identical to the User Info field 1016 (including all subfields of the User Info field 1016) of the EHT Basic Trigger frame 1010, as shown in Figure 10B.

[0127] For example, STA906 may receive the second frame 922 in the form of an EHT Basic Trigger frame according to the fourth embodiment. STA906 may obtain common parameters from the Common Info field of the EHT Basic Trigger frame and determine in 914 whether the RU allocation information and user identification information stored by STA906 match any RU Allocation / AID12 subfield value in the Trigger Dependent Common Info field of the Common Info field, or whether the RU allocation information and SS allocation information stored by STA906 in 914 match any RU Allocation / SS Allocation subfield value in the Trigger Dependent Common Info field of the Common Info field. If so, STA906 may prepare an EHT TB PPDU 918 in 924 based on the user-specific resource allocation information stored by STA906 in 914, and send the prepared EHT TB PPDU 918 to AP902.

[0128] Similarly, STA904 may receive the second frame 922 in the form of an EHT Basic Trigger frame according to the fourth embodiment. STA904 may obtain common parameters from the Common Info field of the EHT Basic Trigger frame and determine whether the RU allocation information and user identification information stored by STA904 in 914 matches any RU Allocation / AID12 subfield value in the Trigger Dependent Common Info field of the Common Info field, or whether the RU allocation information and SS allocation information stored by STA904 in 914 matches any RU Allocation / SS Allocation subfield value in the Trigger Dependent Common Info field of the Common Info field. If so, STA904 may prepare an EHT TB PPDU 916 based on the user-specific resource allocation information stored by STA904 in 914 and send the prepared EHT TB PPDU 916 to AP902.

[0129] In an EHT Basic Trigger frame, one or fewer User Info fields that are not for random access are addressed to a single STA. User Info fields for random access are placed after the User Info fields that are not for random access. STAs with uplink user-specific PAs indicated in the Common Info field are not addressed by the User Info fields that are not for random access. Furthermore, one or fewer uplink user-specific PAs assigned to a single STA are advertised in the Common Info field. Advantageously, this reduces the complexity of processing EHT Basic Trigger frames received by the STA.

[0130] The second frame 922 may also be in the form of a PA Trigger frame 720 according to a second embodiment, as shown in Figure 7C.

[0131] The PA Trigger frame 720 is used solely to request the transmission of one or more uplink user-specific PAs, such as EHT TB PPDU916 and 918. Only some common parameters are present in the Common Info field of the PA Trigger frame 720; other common parameters remain unchanged before one or more PAs expire and can be obtained from the first frame 912. Furthermore, user-specific resource allocation information required for one or more PAs may also be obtained from the first frame 912 and is therefore not included in the PA Trigger frame, except for the identification information of one or more PAs. Advantageously, this reduces the channel overhead for transmitting one or more uplink user-specific PAs.

[0132] The second frame 922 may also be in the form of a data or management frame 730 carrying the PA Control subfield according to the fourth embodiment, as shown in Figure 7D. The data or management frame 730 requests the transmission of the uplink user-specific PA using its RU allocation information contained in the Control Info field 732 and user identification information (e.g., MAC address) contained in one of the four Address fields. Other user-specific resource allocation information required for the uplink user-specific PA is not included in the data or management frame 730, as it may be obtained from the first frame 912. Advantageously, this reduces the channel overhead for transmitting the uplink user-specific PA.

[0133] In the fourth embodiment described above, the uplink user-specific PA may exist for a period after the first frame notifying the uplink user-specific PA is transmitted. In one example, the uplink user-specific PA may exist until the end of the current TXOP. In another example, the uplink user-specific PA may exist for a determined number of service periods or beacon intervals. In yet another example, the Common Info field of the first frame may include signaling to indicate the period during which the uplink user-specific PA notified by the first frame exists after the first frame is transmitted. In such an example, the uplink user-specific PAs notified by the first frame have the same expiration date. Alternatively, the User Info field corresponding to the uplink user-specific PA in the first frame may include signaling to indicate the period during which the uplink user-specific PA exists after the first frame is transmitted. In another example, the uplink user-specific PAs notified by the first frame may have different expiration dates.

[0134] Figure 13 shows a flowchart 1300 illustrating the processing of an EHT Basic Trigger frame received by the STA according to a fourth embodiment. Processing may start at 1302. At 1304, common parameters are obtained from the Common Info field of the EHT Basic Trigger frame. At 1306, it is determined whether the STA is requested to transmit the intended uplink user-specific PA. This can be done by checking whether the stored RU allocation information and user identification information match any of the RU Allocation / AID12 subfield values ​​in the Common Info field, or whether the stored RU allocation information and SS allocation information match any of the RU Allocation / SS Allocation subfield values ​​in the Common Info field. If the STA is requested to transmit the intended uplink user-specific PA, processing may proceed to step 1308. Otherwise, processing may proceed to step 1314. At 1308, it is determined whether the timer for the uplink user-specific PA is running. If the timer for the uplink user-specific PA is running, the process may proceed to step 1310. Otherwise, the process may end at step 1330. In 1310, the user-specific resource allocation information stored by the STA is extracted. In 1314, the number of User Info fields present in the received EHT Basic Trigger frame is calculated. In 1316, the User Info field counter is initialized to zero. In 1318, it is determined whether the STA's AID matches the AID12 subfield value of the User Info field in the received EHT Basic Trigger frame. If the STA's AID matches the AID12 subfield value, the process may proceed to step 1320. If the STA's AID does not match the AID12 subfield value, the process may proceed to step 1322.In step 1320, user-specific resource allocation information is retrieved from the User Info field to prepare the EHT TB PPDU. In step 1322, it is determined whether the AID12 subfield value of the User Info field indicates a User Info field for which it is eligible. If so, processing may proceed to step 1324. Otherwise, processing may proceed to step 1326. In step 1324, the UORA procedure is executed. In step 1326, the User Info field counter is incremented by 1. In step 1328, it is determined whether the User Info field counter is equal to the number of User Info fields in the received EHT Basic Trigger frame. If the User Info field counter is not equal to the number of User Info fields in the received EHT Basic Trigger frame, processing may return to step 1318. If the User Info field counter is equal to the number of User Info fields in the received EHT Basic Trigger frame, processing may terminate at step 1330. Steps 1318, 1322, 1326, and 1328 form a loop for the STA to cycle through and read all user information fields present in the received EHT Basic Trigger frame. In 1312, the EHT TB PPDU is prepared based on common parameters (e.g., common parameters from the Common Info field of the received EHT Basic Trigger frame) and user-specific resource allocation information (e.g., user-specific resource allocation information stored by the STA if processing starts from step 1310, or user-specific resource allocation information obtained from the User Info field if processing starts from step 1320). In 1330, processing ends.

[0135] The processing of the PA Trigger frame 720 received in the STA according to the fourth embodiment is also shown in the flowchart 840 of Figure 8B.

[0136] The processing of the received data or management frame 730, which carries the PA Control subfield in the STA, the intended recipient of the data or management frame 730 according to the fourth embodiment, is also shown in flowchart 860 of Figure 8C.

[0137] In the fourth embodiment described above, the AP may send a first frame to update the user-specific resource allocation information, excluding the identification information of the uplink user-specific PA (e.g., RU allocation information and SS allocation information) before it expires. If the user-specific resource allocation information of the uplink user-specific PA is updated before it expires and the intended STA does not receive the updated information, there will be a mismatch between the AP and the intended STA regarding the information of the uplink user-specific PA. The AP can identify such a mismatch if it does not receive an EHT TB PPDU as a response to a second frame that has been sent. When the STA receives a first frame with complete information for the uplink user-specific PA, which is one of the intended recipients, it starts or resets a timer for the uplink user-specific PA and stores or updates the information about the uplink user-specific PA. Similarly, the STA may also store or update common parameters in the Common Info field by this process. Advantageously, this allows the AP to perform error recovery from information mismatches.

[0138] According to a third or fourth embodiment, an AP may transmit a PA Announcement frame to notify one or more STAs of a downlink user-specific PA. User-specific assignment information for the downlink user-specific PA is not included in the EHT-SIG-B field of the EHT MU PPDU, but RU information for the downlink user-specific PA is included in the EHT-SIG-B field of the EHT MU PPDU, which is available for the intended STA to identify the presence of the downlink user-specific PA in the EHT MU PPDU. That is, the initial or repeated transmission of a downlink user-specific PA is accompanied by partial control signaling (i.e., RU information for the PA). Advantageously, this can reduce the overhead of EHT-SIG-B.

[0139] Figures 14A and 14B show a flow diagram 1400 illustrating communication between STA1040 and AP1402, which have downlink user-specific PAs according to a third or fourth embodiment. The conflicting base channel access procedure is shown by block 1406, and SIFS 1408 is shown. AP1402 may transmit a PA Announcement frame 1410 which may contain downlink user-specific PA information for one or more STAs. In 1412, STA1402 may store or update RU information and user-specific assignment information for its own downlink user-specific PA. AP1402 may also transmit an EHT MU PPDU 1414 which may include the transmission of a downlink user-specific PA for the STA, and may also include the corresponding RU information but not the corresponding user-specific assignment information. In 1416, STA1404 may receive the transmission of a downlink user-specific PA using the stored RU information and user-specific assignment information for the downlink user-specific PA. STA1404 may then transmit BlockAck frame 1418. The PA Announcement frame and EHT MU PPDU may be transmitted using different TXOPs.

[0140] The PA Announcement frame 1410 may be in the form of a PA Announcement frame 1200 as shown in Figure 12. Figure 15A shows the configuration of the User Info field for a user-specific PA with downlink non-MU-MIMO assignment according to a third or fourth embodiment. Figure 15B shows the configuration of the User Info field for a user-specific PA with downlink MU-MIMO assignment according to a third or fourth embodiment. As can be seen from both figures, the Direction field is set to 1 to indicate a downlink user-specific PA.

[0141] According to a third or fourth embodiment, a downlink user-specific PA may exist for a period of time after a PA Announcement frame notifying a downlink user-specific PA is sent. In one example, the downlink user-specific PA may exist until the end of the current TXOP. In another example, the downlink user-specific PA may exist for a determined number of service periods or beacon intervals. In yet another example, the Common Info field of the PA Announcement frame may include signaling to indicate the period during which the downlink user-specific PA notified by the PA Announcement frame exists after the PA Announcement frame is sent. In such an example, the downlink user-specific PAs notified by the PA Announcement frame have the same expiration date. Alternatively, the User Info field corresponding to the downlink user-specific PA in the PA Announcement frame may include signaling to indicate the period during which the downlink user-specific PA exists after the PA Announcement frame is sent. In another example, the downlink user-specific PAs notified by the PA Announcement frame may have different expiration dates.

[0142] When an STA receives a PA Announcement frame notifying one or more downlink user-specific PAs for which the STA is intended recipient (it will be understood that an EHT MU PPDU is used for downlink multi-user transmission and each assignment in the EHT MU PPDU has one or more intended STAs), the STA may start or reset a timer for each of the one or more downlink user-specific PAs and store or update RU information and user-specific assignment information for the one or more downlink user-specific PAs.

[0143] If RU information and / or user-specific assignment information for a downlink user-specific PA is unavailable, the STA may not be able to properly receive the transmission of the downlink user-specific PA. Also, for error recovery, according to one embodiment, advantageously, the exemplary rule may include in the transmission of the downlink user-specific PA immediately preceding the most recently transmitted PA Announcement frame that announces the downlink user-specific PA at least one MPDU (MAC Protocol Data Unit) requiring acknowledgment. If the AP does not receive positive acknowledgment from the intended STA for the transmission of the downlink user-specific PA, the AP may know that the RU information and / or downlink user-specific assignment information for the downlink user-specific PA may not be available at the intended STA, and thereafter the AP may not schedule any further transmissions of the downlink user-specific PA and may retransmit the PA Announcement frame to announce the downlink user-specific PA.

[0144] According to the third and fourth embodiments, the EHT-SIG-B field of the EHT MU PPDU1414 is encoded separately on each L × 20 MHz subchannel, where L = 1 or 2. When the CBW exceeds 20 MHz, the L=1 EHT-SIG-B field may have better EHT-SIG-B decoding performance compared to the L=2 EHT-SIG-B field. This is because the channel estimation used to decode the EHT-SIG-B field is based on the L-LTF transmitted in a 20 MHz bandwidth. Interpolation-based channel estimation is required to decode the L=2 EHT-SIG-B field, which can degrade the decoding performance of the L=2 EHT-SIG-B field. On the other hand, compared to the L=1 EHT-SIG-B field, the L=2 EHT-SIG-B field may have less EHT-SIG-B overhead, especially for larger CBWs. Furthermore, if the intended STA of the EHT MU PPDU1414 includes at least one STA operating at 20 MHz, the EHT-SIG-B field with L=2 is not used because it cannot be decoded by the STA operating at 20 MHz. As a result, it is advantageous for the AP to determine the value of L at its discretion and to include signaling in the EHT-SIG-A field of the EHT MU PPDU1414 to indicate whether L takes the value of 1 or 2.

[0145] Figure 16A shows a table illustrating how the number of EHT-SIG-B content channels in various embodiments depends on the CBW and the value of L. As shown in Figure 16A, when the CBW is 20 MHz, the EHT-SIG-B field is encoded every 20 MHz, and since there is only one EHT-SIG-B content channel, L can simply be 1. In embodiments where the CBW is 40 MHz, L may be assigned a value of 1 or 2 by the AP. When L is set to 1, there are two EHT-SIG-B content channels. When L is set to 2, there is only one EHT-SIG-B content channel. In embodiments where the CBW is 80 MHz, 80+80 MHz, 160 MHz, 160+160 MHz, or 320 MHz, there are two EHT-SIG-B content channels regardless of the value of L. Further details are provided below.

[0146] Figure 16B shows a diagram of the mapping of one or two EHT-SIG-B content channels in a 40MHz EHT MU PPDU. The number of EHT-SIG-B content channels depends on the values ​​of CBW and L, as shown in Figure 16A. The 40MHz channel contains two 20MHz subchannels. When L=1, there are two EHT-SIG-B content channels transmitted on the first and second 20MHz subchannels, respectively. When L=2, there is only one EHT-SIG-B content channel.

[0147] Figure 16C shows the mapping of two EHT-SIG-B content channels (i.e., EHT-SIG-B content channel 1 and EHT-SIG-B content channel 2) in an 80MHz EHT MU PPDU. When L=1, in an 80MHz channel containing four 20MHz subchannels, EHT-SIG-B content channel 1 is duplicated and transmitted on the first and third 20MHz subchannels, and EHT-SIG-B content channel 2 is duplicated and transmitted on the second and fourth 20MHz subchannels. When L=2, in an 80MHz channel containing two 40MHz subchannels, EHT-SIG-B content channel 1 is transmitted on the first 40MHz subchannel, and EHT-SIG-B content channel 2 is transmitted on the second 40MHz subchannel.

[0148] Figure 16D shows the mapping of two EHT-SIG-B content channels in an 80+80MHz or 160MHz EHT MU PPDU. When L=1, in an 80+80MHz or 160MHz channel containing eight 20MHz subchannels, EHT-SIG-B content channel 1 is duplicated and transmitted on the 1st, 3rd, 5th and 7th 20MHz subchannels, and EHT-SIG-B content channel 2 is duplicated and transmitted on the 2nd, 4th, 6th and 8th 20MHz subchannels. When L=2, in an 80+80MHz or 160MHz channel containing four 40MHz subchannels, EHT-SIG-B content channel 1 is duplicated and transmitted on the 1st and 3rd 40MHz subchannels, and EHT-SIG-B content channel 2 is duplicated and transmitted on the 2nd and 4th 40MHz subchannels.

[0149] Figure 16E shows the mapping of two EHT-SIG-B content channels in a 160+160MHz or 320MHz EHT MU PPDU. When L=1, in a 160+160MHz or 320MHz channel containing 16 20MHz subchannels, EHT-SIG-B content channel 1 is duplicated and transmitted on 20MHz subchannels 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13 and 15, and EHT-SIG-B content channel 2 is duplicated and transmitted on 20MHz subchannels 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14 and 16. When L=2, in a 160+160MHz or 320MHz channel containing eight 40MHz subchannels, EHT-SIG-B content channel 1 is duplicated and transmitted on the 1st, 3rd, 5th and 7th 40MHz subchannels, and EHT-SIG-B content channel 2 is duplicated and transmitted on the 2nd, 4th, 6th and 8th 40MHz subchannels.

[0150] Figure 17 shows the EHT-SIG-B field 1700 according to a third or fourth embodiment. The EHT-SIG-B field 1700 includes (or consists of) a Common field 1702 followed by a User Specific field 1704, which, if present, is called together with the EHT-SIG-B content channel.

[0151] The Common field 1702 includes the RU Allocation subfield 1706, the Center 26-Tone RU subfield 1707, and the PA Bitmap subfield 1708. The RU Allocation subfield 1706 shows RU information for each allocation, including downlink user-specific PAs. The RU information includes the RU location in the frequency domain, a designation of the RU allocated for non-MU-MIMO or MU-MIMO allocations, and the number of users in the MU-MIMO allocation.

[0152] The RU Allocation subfield 1706 comprises N fields, the value of which depends on the values ​​of CBW and L. In various embodiments, N can be 1 only for CBW=20MHz. For CBW=40MHz, N=1 when L=1, and N=2 when L=2. Regardless of the value of L, N=2 for CBW=80MHz, N=4 for CBW=160MHz or 80+80MHz, and N=8 for CBW=320MHz or 160+160MHz. Each of the N fields of the RU Allocation subfield 1706 comprises 8-bit signaling for indicating RU allocation within the corresponding tone range. For example, when L=1 and CBW=80MHz, for EHT-SIG-B content channel 1, the corresponding tone ranges are [-500:-259] and [17:258] for the first and second fields of the RU Allocation subfield 1706, respectively. For EHT-SIG-B content channel 2, the corresponding tone ranges are [-258:17] and [259:500] for the first and second fields of the RU Allocation subfield 1706, respectively.

[0153] In another example, when L=2 and CBW=80MHz, for EHT-SIG-B content channel 1, the corresponding tone ranges are [-500:-259] and [-258:17] for the first and second fields of the RU Allocation subfield 1706, respectively. For EHT-SIG-B content channel 2, the corresponding tone ranges are [17:258] and [259:500] for the first and second fields of the RU Allocation subfield 1706, respectively. If a single RU in an 80MHz PPDU overlaps with two or more tone ranges [-500:-259], [-258:-17], [17:258], and [259:500], the allocation may be advertised by only one of the N fields of the RU Allocation subfield of a single EHT-SIG-B content channel corresponding to one of the tone ranges that the RU overlaps, in order to minimize EHT-SIG-B overhead.

[0154] The Center 26-Tone RU subfield 1707 contains an M bit, the value of which depends on the CBW. The Center 26-Tone RU subfield 1707 is present when the CBW is 80MHz or higher, so when the CBW is 20MHz or 40MHz, M=0. When the CBW is 80MHz, 80+80MHz, or 160MHz, M=1. When the CBW is 80MHz, the Center 26-Tone RU subfields of both EHT-SIG-B content channel 1 and EHT-SIG-B content channel 2 indicate whether the user is assigned to the Center 26-Tone RU. When the CBW is 80+80 or 160MHz, the Center 26-Tone RU subfield 1707 of EHT-SIG-B content channel 1 indicates whether the user is assigned to the lower frequency 80MHz Center 26-Tone RU, and the Center 26-Tone RU subfield 1707 of EHT-SIG-B content channel 2 indicates whether the user is assigned to the higher frequency 80MHz Center 26-Tone RU.

[0155] When the CBW is 160+160MHz or 320MHz, M=2. The first bit of the Center 26-Tone RU subfield 1707 in EHT-SIG-B content channel 1 indicates whether the user is assigned to a lower frequency 80MHz Center 26-Tone RU within the lower frequency 160MHz, and the first bit of the Center 26-Tone RU subfield 1707 in EHT-SIG-B content channel 2 indicates whether the user is assigned to a higher frequency 80MHz Center 26-Tone RU within the lower frequency 160MHz. The second bit of the Center 26-Tone RU subfield 1707 in EHT-SIG-B content channel 1 indicates whether the user is assigned to a lower frequency 80 MHz Center 26-Tone RU within the higher frequency 160 MHz, and the second bit of the Center 26-Tone RU subfield 1707 in EHT-SIG-B content channel 2 indicates whether the user is assigned to a higher frequency 80 MHz Center 26-Tone RU within the higher frequency 160 MHz.

[0156] The PA Bitmap subfield 1708 indicates whether each of the user-specific allocations specified by the RU Allocation subfield 1706 and the Center 26-Tone RU subfield 1707 (if applicable) is persistent. A bit in the PA Bitmap subfield 1708 is set to 1 to indicate that the user-specific allocation corresponding to that bit is persistent. A bit in the PA Bitmap subfield 1708 is set to 0 to indicate that the user-specific allocation corresponding to that bit is not persistent.

[0157] The PA Bitmap subfield 1708 contains N bitmaps, each corresponding to the N fields of the RU Allocation subfield 1706 in the same EHT-SIG-B content channel. As described above, when CBW = 80, 80+80, or 160 MHz, the 1-bit Center 26-Tone RU subfield 1707 is persistent in the Common field 1702. As shown in Figure 16A, for CBW = 80 MHz, the last bitmap in the PA Bitmap subfield 1708 (i.e., the second bitmap) indicates whether the user-specific allocation indicated by the Center 26-Tone RU subfield 1707 is persistent.

[0158] The EHT-SIG-A field may include a PA Presence subfield for each EHT-SIG-B content channel. The PA Presence subfield of the EHT-SIG-B content channel contains an N-bit bitmap, where the nth bit (N=1,2,...,N) indicates the presence of the nth bitmap of the PA Bitmap subfield of the EHT-SIG-B content channel. The nth bit of the PA Presence subfield of the EHT-SIG-A field is set to 0 to indicate that the nth bitmap of PA Bitmap subfield 1708 does not exist in the EHT-SIG-B content channel, and to 1 to indicate that the nth bitmap of PA Bitmap subfield 1708 exists in the EHT-SIG-B content channel. As shown in Figure 1820 of Figure 18A, for CBW=80MHz, the first and second bits of the PA Presence subfield of the EHT-SIG-A field are set to 1 to indicate that the first and second bitmaps of the PA Bitmap subfield 1708 are present in the EHT-SIG-B content channel. To minimize the overhead of the Common field, if all user-specific allocations indicated by the corresponding fields of the RU Allocation subfield 1706 and the Center 26-Tone RU subfield 1707 (if applicable) are not persistent, the bitmap in the PA Bitmap subfield 1708 may not exist.

[0159] When CBW = 80 + 80 or 160 MHz, the last bitmap (i.e., the fourth bitmap) of the PA Bitmap subfield 1708 of the EHT-SIG-B content channel also indicates whether the user-specific allocation indicated by the 1-bit Center 26-Tone RU subfield 1707 is persistent, as shown in Figure 1840 of Figure 18B. The first, second, third, and fourth bits of the PA Presence subfield of the EHT-SIG-A field are set to 1 to indicate that the first, second, third, and fourth bitmaps of the PA Bitmap subfield 1708 are present in the EHT-SIG-B content channel. The bitmap of the PA Bitmap subfield 1708 does not exist if all user-specific allocations indicated by the corresponding fields of the RU Allocation subfield 1706 and the Center 26-Tone RU subfield 1707 (if applicable) are not persistent.

[0160] As described above, when CBW = 160 + 160 or 320 MHz, a 2-bit Center 26-Tone RU subfield 1707 exists in the Common field 1702. In this case, the fourth bitmap of the PA Bitmap subfield 1708 also indicates whether the user-specific allocation indicated by the first bit of the Center 26-Tone RU subfield 1707 is persistent, and the last bitmap of the PA Bitmap subfield 1708 indicates whether the user-specific allocation indicated by the second bit of the Center 26-Tone RU subfield 1707 is persistent. To minimize the overhead of the Common field, the bitmap of the PA Bitmap subfield 1708 may be omitted if all user-specific allocations indicated by the corresponding fields of the RU Allocation subfield 1706 and the corresponding bits of the Center 26-Tone RU subfield 1707 (if applicable) are not persistent.

[0161] The Common field 1702 may not be present in the case of full-bandwidth MU-MIMO transmission. In this case, RU information for MU-MIMO allocation (e.g., the number of users in the MU-MIMO allocation) may be indicated in the EHT-SIG-A field. Whether each user-specific allocation of the MU-MIMO allocation is persistent may also be indicated in the EHT-SIG-A field.

[0162] Figure 19A shows a first example of the encoding structure of Common field 1702 according to a third or fourth embodiment. As described above, Common field 1702 includes the RU Allocation subfield 1706, Center 26-Tone RU subfield 1707, and PA Bitmap subfield 1708. In the first example, all subfields of Common field 1702 are encoded together. As described above, each of the N fields of RU Allocation subfield 1706 is an 8-bit signaling, and therefore RU Allocation subfield 1706 has N × 17 bits, where N = 1, 2, 4, or 8. Center 26-Tone RU subfield 1707 has M bits, where M = 0, 1, or 2. Each of the N fields of RU Allocation subfield 1706 can represent at most 17 user-specific allocations. Therefore, in the first example, each of the PA Bitmap subfields 1708 has a size of (N × 17 + M) bits.

[0163] The Common field 1702 has a CRC (Cyclic Redundancy Check) subfield 1722 and a Tail subfield 1724, which are added for BCC encoding / decoding purposes. The CRC subfield 1722 has a size of 4 bits, and the Tail subfield 1724 has a size of 6 bits. That is, the size of the Common field 1702 is the sum of the sizes of the RU Allocation subfield 1706, the Center 26-Tone RU subfield 1707, the PA Bitmap subfield 1708, the CRC subfield 1722, and the Tail subfield 1724. Therefore, in the first example, the size of the Common field 1702 can be determined after decoding the EHT-SIG-A field, since the values ​​of N and M can be derived from the values ​​of CBW and L, which are shown in the EHT-SIG-A field.

[0164] Figure 19B shows a second example of the encoded structure of Common field 1702 according to a third or fourth embodiment. Common field 1702 is divided into two Common Block fields, namely a first Common Block field 1710a and a second Common Block field 1710b, which are encoded separately. The first Common Block field 1710a includes the RU Allocation subfield 1706 and the Center 26-Tone RU subfield 1707. The size of the first Common Block field 1710a can be derived after decoding the EHT-SIG-A field, since the values ​​of N and M can be derived from the values ​​of CBW and L shown in the EHT-SIG-A field. The first Common Block field 1702a also includes a 4-bit CRC field 1722a and a 6-bit Tail field 1724a for BCC encoding / decoding purposes. The second Common Block field 1702b includes the PA Bitmap subfield 1708. The second Common Block field 1710b also includes a 4-bit CRC field 1722b and a 6-bit Tail field 1724b for BCC encoding / decoding purposes.

[0165] In the second example, PA Bitmap subfield 1708 is (Σ n=1 N L n It has a size of +M bits, L n This is equal to the number of user-specific allocations indicated by the nth field of the RU Allocation subfield 1706. The size of the second Common Block field 1710b can be determined after the first Common Block field 1710a has been decoded.

[0166] Compared with the first example as shown in FIG. 19A, the second example as shown in FIG. 19B has a higher implementation complexity regarding the decoding of the Common field 1702. Also, when the first example and the second example have the same Common field overhead, the first example is preferred.

[0167] As shown in FIGS. 19A and 19B, when comparing, Σ i=n N L n <If it is N×17−10, the second example has less Common field overhead than the first example. The following can be observed. · When N = 1, the second example may be better when L1 < 7. Otherwise, the first example is better. · When N = 2, the second example may be better when Σ n=1 2 L n <is < 24. Otherwise, the first example is better. · When N = 4, the second example may be better when Σ n=1 4 L n <is < 58. Otherwise, the first example is better. · When N = 8, the second example may be better when Σ n=1 8 L n <is < 126. Otherwise, the first example is better.

[0168] [[ID=�5]] Obviously, whether the first example or the second example is used in the Common field of the EHT MU PPDU should be at the discretion of the AP according to the CBW and RU allocation of the EHT MU PPDU. As a result, it is effective to add 1-bit signaling for each EHT-SIG-B content channel in the EHT-SIG-A field of the EHT MU PPDU to indicate whether the first example or the second example is used in the corresponding EHT-SIG-B content channel

[0169] In Figure 17, the User Specific field 1704 includes (or is composed of) one or more User fields for non-MU-MIMO assignments and / or MU-MIMO assignments, such as User field 0 (1710), User field 1 (1712), User field 2 (1714), User field 3 (1716), and User field 4 (1718).

[0170] The User field contains user information indicating user-specific allocations (i.e., user-specific allocation information). For non-MU-MIMO allocations, it may include the number of spatial streams (NSTS), transmit beamforming (TxBF) information, MCS, DCM information, and error control coding information. For MU-MIMO allocations, it may include NSTS, start spatial stream, MCS, and error control coding information. One User field may be addressed to the STA (similar to HE MU PPDUs, in EHT MU PPDUs, the STA can only be addressed by a single User field. As a result, when the STA receives an EHT MU PPDU, it stops parsing User Specific fields once it identifies its own User field). For example, User field 0 (1710) may provide user-specific allocation information for Allocation 0. For example, User fields 1 (1712), 2 (1714), and 3 (1716) may provide user-specific allocation information for Allocation 1 by three MU-MIMO users. For example, User field 4 (1718) may provide user-specific assignment information for Allocation 2.

[0171] Figure 19C shows a first example of the encoded structure of Common field 502 according to the embodiment shown in Figure 3B. As described above, Common field 1702 includes the RU Allocation subfield 1706, Center 26-Tone RU subfield 1707, and PA Bitmap subfield 1708. In the first example, all subfields of Common field 1702 are encoded together. As described above, each of the N fields of RU Allocation subfield 1706 is an 8-bit signaling, and therefore RU Allocation subfield 1706 has N × 17 bits, where N = 1, 2, 4, or 8. Center 26-Tone RU subfield 1707 has M bits, where M = 0, 1, or 2. Each of the N fields of RU Allocation subfield 1706 can notify at most 17 user-specific allocations. Therefore, in the first example, each of the PA Bitmap subfields 1708 has a size of (N × 9 + M) bits.

[0172] The Common field 1702 has a CRC (Cyclic Redundancy Check) subfield 1722 and a Tail subfield 1724, which are added for BCC encoding / decoding purposes. The CRC subfield 1722 has a size of 4 bits, and the Tail subfield 1724 has a size of 6 bits. That is, the size of the Common field 1702 is the sum of the sizes of the RU Allocation subfield 1706, the Center 26-Tone RU subfield 1707, the PA Bitmap subfield 1708, the CRC subfield 1722, and the Tail subfield 1724. Therefore, in the first example, the size of the Common field 1702 can be determined after decoding the EHT-SIG-A field, since the values ​​of N and M can be derived from the values ​​of CBW and L, which are shown in the EHT-SIG-A field.

[0173] Figure 19B shows a second example of the encoding structure of Common field 502 according to the embodiment shown in Figure 3B. Common field 1702 is divided into two Common Block fields, namely a first Common Block field 1710a and a second Common Block field 1710b, which are encoded separately. The first Common Block field 1710a includes the RU Allocation subfield 1706 and the Center 26-Tone RU subfield 1707. The size of the first Common Block field 1710a can be derived after decoding the EHT-SIG-A field, since the values ​​of N and M can be derived from the CBW and L values ​​shown in the EHT-SIG-A field. The first Common Block field 1702a also includes a 4-bit CRC field 1722a and a 6-bit Tail field 1724a for BCC encoding / decoding purposes. The second Common Block field 1702b includes the PA Bitmap subfield 1708. The second Common Block field 1710b also includes a 4-bit CRC field 1722b and a 6-bit Tail field 1724b for BCC encoding / decoding purposes.

[0174] In the second example, each of the Persistent Allocation Bitmap subfield 508 and the Recurring Transmission Bitmap subfield 509 is (Σ n=1 N L n +M) has a bit size, L n This is equal to the number of allocations indicated by the nth field of the RU Allocation subfield 506. The size of the second Common Block field 502b can be determined after the first Common Block field 502a has been decrypted.

[0175] Compared with the first example as shown in FIG. 19C, the second example as shown in FIG. 19D has a higher implementation complexity regarding the decoding of the Common field 1702. Also, when the first example and the second example have the same Common field overhead, the first example is preferred.

[0176] As shown in FIGS. 19C and 19D, when comparing, Σ i=n N L n <If it is N×9 - 5, the second example has less Common field overhead than the first example. The following can be observed. · When N = 1, the second example may be better when L1 < 4. Otherwise, the first example is better. · When N = 2, the second example may be better when Σ n=1 2 L n < 13. Otherwise, the first example is better. · When N = 4, the second example may be better when Σ n=1 4 L n < 31. Otherwise, the first example is better. · When N = 8, the second example may be better when Σ n=1 8 L n < 67. Otherwise, the first example is better.

[0177] Effectively, there is no User field for the downlink persistent allocation including repeated transmissions, and the overhead can be reduced.

[0178] Figure 19E shows a first example of the encoded structure of Common field 1702 according to the embodiment shown in Figure 3C. As described above, Common field 1702 includes the RU Allocation subfield 1706, Center 26-Tone RU subfield 1707, and PA Bitmap subfield 1708. In the first example, all subfields of Common field 1702 are encoded together. As described above, each of the N fields of RU Allocation subfield 1706 is an 8-bit signaling, and therefore RU Allocation subfield 1706 has N × 8 bits, where N = 1, 2, 4, or 8. Center 26-Tone RU subfield 1707 has M bits, where M = 0, 1, or 2. Each of the N fields of RU Allocation.

[0179] The Common field 1702 has a CRC (Cyclic Redundancy Check) subfield 1722 and a Tail subfield 1724, which are added for BCC encoding / decoding purposes. The CRC subfield 1722 has a size of 4 bits, and the Tail subfield 1724 has a size of 6 bits. That is, the size of the Common field 1702 is the sum of the sizes of the RU Allocation subfield 1706, the Center 26-Tone RU subfield 1707, the PA Bitmap subfield 1708, the CRC subfield 1722, and the Tail subfield 1724. Therefore, in the first example, the size of the Common field 1702 can be determined after decoding the EHT-SIG-A field, since the values ​​of N and M can be derived from the values ​​of CBW and L, which are shown in the EHT-SIG-A field.

[0180] Figure 19E shows a second example of the encoded structure of Common field 1702 according to the embodiment shown in Figure 3C. Common field 1702 is divided into two Common Block fields, namely a first Common Block field 1710a and a second Common Block field 1710b, which are encoded separately. The first Common Block field 1710a includes the RU Allocation subfield 1706 and the Center 26-Tone RU subfield 1707. The size of the first Common Block field 1710a can be derived after decoding the EHT-SIG-A field, since the values ​​of N and M can be derived from the CBW and L values ​​shown in the EHT-SIG-A field. The first Common Block field 1702a also includes a 4-bit CRC field 1722a and a 6-bit Tail field 1724a for BCC encoding / decoding purposes. The second Common Block field 1702b includes the PA Bitmap subfield 1708. The second Common Block field 1710b also includes a 4-bit CRC field 1722b and a 6-bit Tail field 1724b for BCC encoding / decoding purposes.

[0181] In the second example, PA Bitmap subfield 1708 is (Σ n=1 N L n +M) has a bit size, L n This is equal to the number of allocations indicated by the nth field of the RU Allocation subfield 1706. The size of the second Common Block field 1710b can be determined after the first Common Block field 1710a has been decoded.

[0182] Compared with the first example as shown in FIG. 19E, the second example as shown in FIG. 19F has a higher implementation complexity regarding the decoding of the Common field 1702. Also, when the first example and the second example have the same Common field overhead, the first example is preferred.

[0183] As shown in FIGS. 19E and 19F, by comparison, Σ i=n N L n <If it is N×9 - 10, the second example has less Common field overhead than the first example. The following can be observed. · When N = 1, the first example is better. · When N = 2, the second example may be better when Σ n=1 2 L n <is 8. Otherwise, the first example is better. · When N = 4, the second example may be better when Σ n=1 4 L n <is 26. Otherwise, the first example is better. · When N = 8, the second example may be better when Σ n=1 8 L n <is 62. Otherwise, the first example is better.

[0184] Obviously, whether the first example or the second example is used in the Common field of the EHT MU PPDU should be at the discretion of the AP according to the CBW and RU allocation of the EHT MU PPDU. As a result, it is effective to add 1-bit signaling for each EHT-SIG-B content channel in the EHT-SIG-A field of the EHT MU PPDU to indicate whether the first example or the second example is used in the corresponding EHT-SIG-B content channel.

[0185] In Figure 17, the User Specific field 1704 includes (or is composed of) one or more User fields for non-MU-MIMO assignments and / or MU-MIMO assignments, such as User field 0 (1710), User field 1 (1712), User field 2 (1714), User field 3 (1716), and User field 4 (1718).

[0186] The User field contains user information indicating user-specific allocation (i.e., user-specific allocation information). For non-MU-MIMO allocations, it may include the number of spatial streams (NSTS), transmit beamforming (TxBF) information, modulation coding scheme (MCS), dual-carrier modulation (DCM) information, and error control coding information. For MU-MIMO allocations, it may include NSTS, start spatial stream, MCS, and error control coding information. One User field may be addressed to the STA (similar to HE MU PPDUs, in EHT MU PPDUs, the STA can only be addressed by a single User field. As a result, when the STA receives an EHT MU PPDU, it stops parsing User Specific fields once it identifies its own User field). For example, User field 0 (1710) may provide user-specific allocation information for Allocation 0. For example, User field 1 (1712), User field 2 (1714), and User field 3 (1716) may provide user-specific allocation information for Allocation 1 by three MU-MIMO users. For example, User field 4 (1718) may provide user-specific allocation information for Allocation 2.

[0187] Table 1 shows the format of the User field for non-MU-MIMO assignments, where BCC is the Binary Convolutional Code and LDPC is the Low Density Parity Code. Table 2 shows the format of the User field for MU-MIMO assignments.

[0188] [Table 1]

[0189] [Table 2]

[0190] If the STA does not have RU information and / or user-specific assignment information for its own persistent assignment, it may not be able to properly receive repeated transmissions of persistent assignments. Also, for error recovery, according to one embodiment, one example rule may be that at least one MPDU (MAC (Medium Access Control) Protocol Data Unit) requiring acknowledgment may be included in the initial transmission of persistent assignments. The AP knows that if it has not received positive acknowledgment from the STA for the initial transmission of persistent assignments, the STA may not have RU information and / or user-specific assignment information for persistent assignments, and the AP does not have to schedule repeated transmissions of persistent assignments.

[0191] According to the third or fourth embodiment, the User field of the downlink user-specific PA is not in the User Specific field, which can reduce overhead.

[0192] Figure 20A shows the overhead reduction of the User Specific field in the third and fourth embodiments of Figure 2000. The PA Bitmap subfield 2002 is provided as 00101. User field 0(2006) of the User Specific field provides a non-MU-MIMO allocation 0 that is not persistent (because the first bit is 0 in the PA Bitmap subfield 2002), and User field 0(2006) is provided to the User Specific field. User field 1(2008), User field 2(2010), and User field 3(2012) provide three user-specific allocations of MU-MIMO allocation 1. The first user-specific allocation of MU-MIMO allocation 1 is not persistent (because the second bit is 0 in the PA Bitmap subfield 2002), and User field 1(2008) is provided to the User Specific field. The second user-specific allocation of MU-MIMO allocation 1 is persistent (due to the third bit being 1 in PA Bitmap subfield 2002), and User field 2 (2010) is not provided to the User Specific field. The third user-specific allocation of MU-MIMO allocation 1 is not persistent (due to the fourth bit being 0 in PA Bitmap subfield 2002), and User field 3 (2012) is provided to the User Specific field. User field 4 (2014) of the User Specific field provides a non-MU-MIMO allocation 2 that is persistent (due to the fifth bit being 1 in PA Bitmap subfield 2002), and User field 4 (2014) is not provided to the User Specific field, which advantageously reduces overhead.

[0193] Figure 20B shows the overhead reduction of the User Specific field in the third and fourth embodiments of Figure 2200. The PA Bitmap subfield 2002 is provided as 001. User field 0(2006) of the User Specific field provides Allocation 0, which is not persistent (because the first bit of PA Bitmap subfield 2002 is 0), and User field 0(2006) is provided to the User Specific field. User field 1(2008), User field 2(2010), and User field 3(2012) provide Allocation 1 by three non-persistent MU-MIMO users (because the second bit in PA Bitmap subfield 2002 is 0), and User field 1(2008), User field 2(2010), and User field 3(2012) are provided to the User Specific field. The third bit of the PA Bitmap subfield 2002 is 1, and therefore Allocation 2 is PA, and User field 4 (2014) is not provided to User Specific fields, effectively reducing overhead.

[0194] Figure 20C shows the overhead reduction of User Specific fields in other examples of the first to fourth embodiments. The PA Bitmap subfield 2002 is provided as 010. User field 0 (2056) of the User Specific field provides Allocation 0, which is not persistent (because the first bit of PA Bitmap subfield 2052 is 0), and User field 0 (2056) is provided to the User Specific field. User field 1 (2058), User field 2 (2060), and User field 3 (2062) provide Allocation 1 by three persistent MU-MIMO users (because the second bit of PA Bitmap subfield 2052 is 1), and User field 1 (2058), User field 2 (2060), and User field 3 (2062) are not provided to the User Specific field, effectively reducing overhead. The third bit of the PA Bitmap subfield 2052 is 0, and therefore Allocation 2 is PA, and User field 4 (2064) is provided to the User Specific field.

[0195] Figure 21 shows a flowchart 2100 illustrating the processing of an EHT MU PPDU received in an STA according to a third or fourth embodiment. Processing may start at 2102. At 2104, the EHT-SIG-A and EHT-SIG-B fields of the received EHT MU PPDU may be demodulated and decoded. At 2106, the assigned RU(s) may be determined, which can be done by checking the RU Allocation subfield and Center 26-Tone subfield (if present) of the EHT-SIG-B field. This step may be skipped in the case of full-bandwidth MU-MIMO transmission. At 2108, the number of User fields in the User Specific field may be calculated, and the PA Presence subfield of the EHT-SIG-A field and the PA Bitmap subfield of the EHT-SIG-B field may be considered to exclude User fields corresponding to downlink user-specific PAs. At 2110, the User field counter may be initialized to 0 (zero). In step 2112, it may be determined whether the STA ID of the STA matches the value of the STA-ID subfield. If the STA ID of the STA matches the value of the STA-ID subfield, the process may proceed to step 2116. If the STA ID of the STA does not match the value of the STA-ID subfield, the process may proceed to step 2122. In step 2116, user-specific assignment information may be obtained. In step 2120, the transmission of the corresponding assignment may be received in the Data field. In step 2122, the User field counter may be incremented by 1. In step 2124, it may be determined whether the User field counter is equal to the number of User fields in the User Specific field. If it is determined that the User field counter is equal to the number of User fields in the User Specific field, the process may proceed to step 2126.If it is determined that the User field counter is not equal to the number of User fields in the User Specific field, the process may return to step 2112. In 2126, it may be determined whether any timers for the downlink user-specific PAs are running. If it is determined that at least one timer for the downlink user-specific PAs is running, the process may proceed to step 2128. If it is determined that none of the timers for the downlink user-specific PAs are running, the process may terminate in step 2132. In 2128, it may be determined whether any of the allocated RUs for the downlink user-specific PAs match the stored RU information for the downlink user-specific PAs with running timers, and the allocated RUs for the downlink user-specific PAs can be determined by checking the PA Presence subfield of the EHT-SIG-A field and the PA Bitmap subfield of the EHT-SIG-B field. If it is determined that one of the RUs assigned to a downlink user-specific PA matches the stored RU information for a downlink user-specific PA with a running timer, the process may proceed to step 2130. If it is determined that none of the RUs assigned to a downlink user-specific PA match the stored RU information for any downlink user-specific PA with a running timer, the process may terminate at 2132. In step 2130, the most recent stored user-specific assignment information for the matching RU is extracted, and the process proceeds to step 2120. In 2132, the process terminates.

[0196] Figure 22 shows a flowchart illustrating communication between AP2202 and STA2204 using a downlink user-specific PA according to a fifth embodiment. The conflict base channel access procedure is shown by block 2206, and SIFS2208 is shown. AP2202 may include the initial transmission of the downlink user-specific PA for STA and may also transmit an EHT MU PPDU2210 which may include the corresponding RU information and user-specific assignment information. AP2202 may then include repeated transmissions of the downlink user-specific PA for STA and may also transmit an EHT MU PPDU2214 which may include the corresponding RU information but not the corresponding user-specific assignment information. In 2216, STA2204 receives the initial transmission of the downlink user-specific PA and may store the RU information and user-specific assignment information for the downlink user-specific PA. STA2204 may then transmit a BlockAck frame 2218. In 2220, STA2204 may receive repeated transmissions of downlink user-specific PAs using the stored RU information and user-specific assignment information for the downlink user-specific PA. Then, STA2204 may transmit a BlockAck frame 2222.

[0197] Figure 23 shows the EHT-SIG-B field 2300 according to the fifth embodiment. The EHT-SIG-B field 2300 includes (or consists of) a Common field 2302, together called the EHT-SIG-B content channel, and a User Specific field 2304, if present.

[0198] The Common field 2302 includes the RU Allocation subfield 2306, the Center 26-Tone RU subfield 2307, the PA Bitmap subfield 2308, and the Recurring Transmission Bitmap subfield 2309. The RU Allocation subfield 2306 shows RU information for each user-specific allocation, including downlink user-specific PAs.

[0199] The PA Bitmap subfield 2308 of Common field 2302 is the same as the PA Bitmap subfield 1708 of Common field 1702, as shown in Figure 17. The EHT-SIG-A field may also include a PA Bitmap Presence subfield for each EHT-SIG-B content channel.

[0200] The Recurring Transmission Bitmap subfield 2309 indicates whether each user-specific allocation specified by the RU Allocation subfield 2306 includes the first or repeating transmission. A bit in the Recurring Transmission Bitmap subfield 2309 is set to 0 to indicate that the user-specific allocation corresponding to that bit includes the first transmission. The first transmission represents either a non-user-specific PA transmission or the first transmission of a user-specific PA. If the user-specific allocation corresponding to that bit is not persistent, the bit in the Recurring Transmission Bitmap subfield 2309 is set to 0. A bit in the Recurring Transmission Bitmap subfield 2309 is set to 1 to indicate that the user-specific allocation corresponding to that bit includes repeating transmissions. When a bit in the Recurring Transmission Bitmap subfield 2309 is set to 1, the User field for the user-specific allocation corresponding to that bit does not exist in the User Specific field 2304.

[0201] The Recurring Transmission Bitmap subfield 2309 contains N bitmaps, each corresponding to one of the N fields in the RU Allocation subfield in the same EHT-SIG-B content channel. When CBW = 80, 80+80, or 160 MHz, the last bitmap of the Recurring Transmission Bitmap subfield 2309 also indicates whether the user-specific allocation, indicated by the 1-bit Center 26-Tone RU subfield 2307, includes recurring transmissions. When CBW = 160+160, or 320 MHz, the fourth bitmap of the Recurring Transmission Bitmap subfield 2309 also indicates whether the user-specific allocation, indicated by the first bit of the 2-bit Center 26-Tone RU subfield 2307, includes recurring transmissions, and the last bitmap of the Recurring Transmission Bitmap subfield 2309 also indicates whether the user-specific allocation, indicated by the second bit of the 2-bit Center 26-Tone RU subfield 2307, includes recurring transmissions. The bitmap for the Recurring Transmission Bitmap subfield 2309 does not exist if all user-specific allocations specified by the corresponding fields in the RU Allocation subfield 2306 and the corresponding bits (if applicable) in the Center 26-Tone RU subfield 2307 do not include recurring transmissions.

[0202] The Recurring Transmission Bitmap subfield 2309 is mapped to the RU Allocation subfield 2306 and the Center 26-Tone RU subfield 2307, similar to the PA Bitmap subfield 2308, as shown in Figures 18A and 18B.

[0203] Alternatively, an Initial Transmission Bitmap subfield may be provided in the Common field 2302, for example, to indicate whether each of the user-specific allocations specified by the RU Allocation subfield 2306 includes an initial or repeat transmission. The bit is set to 1 to indicate that the user-specific allocation corresponding to the bit includes an initial transmission. The bit is set to 0 to indicate that the user-specific allocation corresponding to the bit includes a repeat transmission.

[0204] The EHT-SIG-A field may include a Recurring Transmission Presence subfield for each EHT-SIG-B content channel. The Recurring Transmission Presence subfield for an EHT-SIG-B content channel includes an N-bit bitmap, where the nth (n=1,2,...,N) bit indicates the presence of the nth bitmap of the Recurring Transmission Bitmap subfield 2309 in the EHT-SIG-B content channel. The nth bit of the Recurring Transmission Presence subfield in the EHT-SIG-A field is set to 0 to indicate that the nth bitmap of the Recurring Transmission Bitmap subfield 2309 is not present in the EHT-SIG-B content channel, and is set to 1 to indicate that the nth bitmap of the Recurring Transmission Bitmap subfield 2309 is present in the EHT-SIG-B content channel. When the nth bit of the Persistent Allocation Presence subfield of the EHT-SIG-A field is set to 0, the nth bit of the Recurring Transmission Presence subfield in the same EHT-SIG-B content channel is also set to 0 (i.e., the nth bitmap of the Recurring Transmission Bitmap subfield 2309 also does not exist in the same EHT-SIG-B content channel).

[0205] The Common field 2302 may not be present in the case of full-bandwidth MU-MIMO transmission. In this case, RU information for the MU-MIMO allocation (e.g., the number of users in the MU-MIMO allocation) may be indicated in the EHT-SIG-A field. Furthermore, whether each user-specific allocation of the MU-MIMO allocation is persistent and whether each user-specific allocation of the MU-MIMO allocation includes repeated transmissions may also be indicated in the EHT-SIG-A field.

[0206] Figure 24A shows a first example of the encoded structure of Common field 2302 according to the fifth embodiment. As described in Figure 23, Common field 2302 includes the RU Allocation subfield 2306, Center 26-Tone RU subfield 2307, PA Bitmap subfield 2308, and Recurring Transmission Bitmap subfield 2309. In the first example, all subfields of Common field 2302 are encoded together. As described above, each of the N fields of RU Allocation subfield 2306 is an 8-bit signaling, and therefore RU Allocation subfield 2306 has N × 8 bits, where N = 1, 2, 4, or 8. Center 26-Tone RU subfield 2307 has M bits, where M = 0, 1, or 2. Each of the N fields of RU Allocation subfield 2306 can represent at most 17 allocations. Therefore, in the first example, each of the PA Bitmap subfield 2308 or the Recurring Transmission Bitmap subfield 2309 has a size of (N × 17 + M) bits.

[0207] The Common field 2302 has a CRC subfield 2322 and a Tail subfield 2324 that are added for the purpose of BCC encoding / decoding. The CRC subfield 2322 has a size of 4 bits, and the Tail subfield 2324 has a size of 6 bits. That is, the size of the Common field 2302 is the sum of the sizes of the RU Allocation subfield 2306, the Center 26-Tone RU subfield 2307, the PA Bitmap subfield 2308, the Recurring Transmission Bitmap subfield 2309, the CRC subfield 2322, and the Tail subfield 2324. Thus, in the first example, the size of the Common field 2302 can be determined after decoding the EHT-SIG-A field, since the values ​​of N and M can be derived from the values ​​of CBW and L, which are shown in the EHT-SIG-A field.

[0208] Figure 24B shows a second example of the encoded structure of Common field 2302 according to the fifth embodiment. Common field 2302 is divided into two Common Block fields, namely a first Common Block field 2320a and a second Common Block field 2320b, which are encoded separately. The first Common Block field 2320a includes the RU Allocation subfield 2306 and the Center 26-Tone RU subfield 2307. The size of the first Common Block field 2320a can be derived after decoding the EHT-SIG-A field, since the values ​​of N and M can be derived from the CBW and L values ​​shown in the EHT-SIG-A field. The first Common Block field 2320a also includes a 4-bit CRC field 2322a and a 6-bit Tail field 2324a for the purpose of BCC encoding / decoding. The second Common Block field 2320b includes the PA Bitmap subfield 2308 and the Recurring Transmission Bitmap subfield 2309. The second Common Block field 2320b also includes a 4-bit CRC field 2322b and a 6-bit Tail field 2324b for BCC encoding / decoding purposes.

[0209] In the second example, PA Bitmap subfield 2308 and Recurring Transmission Bitmap subfield 2309 are (Σ n=1 N L n +M) has a bit size, L n This is equal to the number of user-specific allocations indicated by the nth field of the RU Allocation subfield 2306. The size of the second Common Block field 2320b can be determined after the first Common Block field 2320a has been decoded.

[0210] Compared with the first example as shown in FIG. 24A, the second example as shown in FIG. 24B has a higher implementation complexity regarding the decoding of the Common field 2302. Also, when the first example and the second example have the same Common field overhead, the first example is preferred.

[0211] As shown in FIGS. 24A and 24B, when comparing, Σ i=n N L n If <N×17 - 5, the second example has less Common field overhead than the first example. The following can be observed. · When N = 1, the second example may be better when L1 < 12. Otherwise, the first example is better. · When N = 2, the second example may be better when Σ n=1 2 L n <29. Otherwise, the first example is better. · When N = 4, the second example may be better when Σ n=1 4 L n <63. Otherwise, the first example is better. · When N = 8, the second example may be better when Σ n=1 8 L n <131. Otherwise, the first example is better.

[0212] Obviously, whether the first example or the second example is used in the Common field of the EHT MU PPDU should be at the discretion of the AP according to the CBW and RU allocation of the EHT MU PPDU. As a result, it is effective to add 1-bit signaling for each EHT-SIG-B content channel in the EHT-SIG-A field of the EHT MU PPDU to indicate whether the first example or the second example is used in the corresponding EHT-SIG-B content channel.

[0213] The User Specific field 2304 contains (or consists of) one or more User fields for non-MU-MIMO assignments and / or MU-MIMO assignments. The User fields in User Specific field 2304 are the same as those in User Specific field 1704, as shown in Figure 17.

[0214] When the STA receives an EHT MU PPDU containing the first transmission of a downlink user-specific PA that is the intended recipient, the STA may start or reset a timer for the downlink user-specific PA and store or update RU information and user-specific assignment information for the downlink user-specific PA.

[0215] If RU information and / or user-specific assignment information for a downlink user-specific PA is unavailable, the STA may not be able to properly receive repeated transmissions of the downlink user-specific PA. Also, for error recovery, according to one embodiment, advantageously, the exemplary rule may include at least one MPDU requiring acknowledgment in the initial transmission of the downlink user-specific PA. If the AP does not receive positive acknowledgment from the STA for the initial transmission of the downlink user-specific PA, the AP knows that the STA may not have RU information and / or user-specific assignment information for the downlink user-specific PA, and thereafter the AP does not need to schedule repeated transmissions of the downlink user-specific PA.

[0216] Figure 25 shows the overhead reduction of the User Specific field according to the fifth embodiment. The Recurring Transmission Bitmap subfield 2504 is provided as 00101. User field 0 (2506) of the User Specific field provides non-MU-MIMO assignment 0, which is non-persistent (because the second bit of PA Bitmap subfield 2502 is 1), and User field 0 (2506) is provided to the User Specific field. User field 1 (2508) provides the first user-specific assignment of MU-MIMO assignment 1, which is persistent (because the second bit of PA Bitmap subfield 2502 is 1). Since the second bit of Recurring Transmission Bitmap subfield 2504 is 0, transmission by the first user-specific assignment of MU-MIMO assignment 1 is not a recurring transmission, and therefore User field 1 (2508) is provided to the User Specific field. User field 2 (2510) provides a second user-specific assignment of MU-MIMO assignment 1 that is persistent (due to the third bit of PA Bitmap subfield 2502 being 1). Since the third bit of Recurring Transmission Bitmap subfield 2504 is 1, transmissions by the second user-specific assignment of MU-MIMO assignment 1 are recurring transmissions, and therefore User field 2 (2510) is not provided in the User Specific field. User field 3 (2512) provides a third user-specific assignment of MU-MIMO assignment 1 that is non-persistent (due to the fourth bit of PA Bitmap subfield 2502 being 0), and therefore User field 3 (2512) is provided in the User Specific field. User field 4 (2514) of the User Specific field provides a non-MU-MIMO assignment 2 that is persistent (due to the fifth bit of PA Bitmap subfield 2502 being 1).Since the fifth bit of the Recurring Transmission Bitmap subfield 2504 is 1, indicating that transmissions by non-MU-MIMO assignment 2 are recurring transmissions, the User field 4 (2514) is not provided as a User Specific field, which effectively reduces overhead.

[0217] Figure 26 shows a flowchart 2600 illustrating the processing of an EHT MU PPDU received in an STA according to the fifth embodiment. Processing may start at 2602. At 2604, the EHT-SIG-A and EHT-SIG-B fields of the received EHT MU PPDU may be demodulated and decoded. At 2606, the allocated RU may be determined, which can be done by checking the RU Allocation subfield of the EHT-SIG-B field, and this step may be skipped in the case of full-bandwidth MU-MIMO transmission. At 2608, the number of User fields in the User Specific field may be calculated, and the Recurring Transmission Presence subfield of the EHT-SIG-A field and the Recurring Transmission Bitmap subfield of the EHT-SIG-B field may be considered to exclude User fields corresponding to repeated transmissions. At 2610, the User field counter may be initialized to 0 (zero). In step 2612, it may be determined whether the STA ID of the STA matches the value of the STA-ID subfield. The STA ID is an identifier for the STA and uniquely identifies the STA in the associated BSS (Basic Service Set). If the STA ID of the STA matches the value of the STA-ID subfield, the process may proceed to step 2614. If the STA ID of the STA does not match the value of the STA-ID subfield, the process may proceed to step 2622. In step 2614, it may be determined whether the User field corresponds to a downlink user-specific PA, which can be done by checking the PA Presence subfield of the EHT-SIG-A field and the PA Bitmap subfield of the EHT-SIG-B field. If it is determined that the User field corresponds to a downlink user-specific PA, the process may proceed to step 2616. If it is determined that the User field does not correspond to a downlink user-specific PA, the process may proceed to step 2618.In step 2616, user-specific assignment information may be acquired, RU information and user-specific assignment information may be stored or updated, and a timer for the downlink user-specific PA may be started or reset. In step 2618, user-specific assignment information may be acquired. In step 2620, a transmission of the corresponding assignment may be received in the Data field. In step 2622, the User field counter may be incremented by 1. In step 2624, it may be determined whether the User field counter is equal to the number of User fields in the User Specific field. If it is determined that the User field counter is equal to the number of User fields in the User Specific field, the process may proceed to step 2626. If it is determined that the User field counter is not equal to the number of User fields in the User Specific field, the process may return to step 2612. In step 2626, it may be determined whether any timer for the downlink user-specific PA is running. If it is determined that at least one timer for the downlink user-specific PA is running, the process may proceed to step 2628. If it is determined that none of the timers for the downlink user-specific PA are running, the process may terminate at step 2632. In 2628, it may be determined whether any of the RUs assigned for recurring transmission match the most recent stored RU information for any downlink user-specific PA with a running timer, and the RUs assigned for recurring transmission may be determined by checking the Recurring Transmission Presence subfield of the EHT-SIG-A field and the Recurring Transmission Bitmap subfield of the EHT-SIG-B field. If it is determined that one of the RUs assigned for recurring transmission matches a stored RU for a downlink user-specific PA with a running timer, the process may proceed to step 2630.If it is determined that none of the RUs assigned for repeated transmission match the stored RU information for any downlink user-specific PA with a running timer, processing may terminate at 2632. At 2630, stored user-specific assignment information for matching RUs is extracted, and processing may proceed to step 2620.

[0218] Figure 27 shows the configuration of a communication device 2700 according to various embodiments, for example, an access point (AP). Similar to the schematic example of a communication device shown in Figure 3A, the communication device 2700 in the schematic example of Figure 27 includes at least one radio transmitter 2728, at least one radio receiver 2704, a plurality of antennas 2702 (only one antenna is shown in Figure 27 for simplification) and circuitry 2730. Circuitry 2730 may include at least one controller 2712 for use in the software and hardware-assisted execution of tasks designed to be performed by the controller 2712, including control of communication with downlink or uplink user-specific PAs. Circuitry 2730 may further include a receive signal processor 2706 and a transmit signal generator 2720. The controller 2712 may control the receive signal processor 2706 and the transmit signal generator 2720.

[0219] The receiving signal processor 2706 may include a data demodulator / decoder 2710 capable of demodulating and decoding the data portion of the received signal. The receiving signal processor 2706 may further include a control demodulator / decoder 2708, which may include a control demodulator / decoder 2708 capable of demodulating and decoding the control signaling portion of the received signal (e.g., EHT TB PPDU or BlockAck frame).

[0220] The controller 2712 may include a control signal parser 2714 capable of analyzing the control signaling portion of the received signal. The controller 2712 may further include a scheduler 2716 capable of determining RU information and user-specific allocation information for allocation. The scheduler 2716 may include a persistent scheduling circuit that determines identification information and user-specific resource allocation information related to uplink user-specific PAs, along with RU information and user-specific allocation information related to downlink user-specific PAs.

[0221] The transmit signal generator 2720 may include an MPDU generator 2722, a control signaling generator 2724, and a PPDU generator 2726. The MPDU generator 2722 may generate an MPDU or an A-MPDU (Aggregated MPDU), such as a data frame and management frame that carry a PA Control subfield, an EHT Basic Trigger frame, a PA Trigger frame, or a PA Announcement frame. The control signaling generator 2724 may generate control signaling fields (e.g., EHT-SIG-A field and EHT-SIG-B field). The PPDU generator 1826 may generate a PPDU (e.g., an EHT MU PPDU).

[0222] FIG. 28 shows the configuration of a communication device 2800 according to various embodiments, e.g., a terminal, e.g., a station (STA). Similar to the schematic example of a communication device as shown in FIG. 3A, the communication device 2800 in the schematic example of FIG. 28 includes at least one wireless transmitter 2830, at least one wireless receiver 2804, one or more antennas 2802 (for simplicity, only one antenna is shown in FIG. 28), and a circuit 2832. The circuit 2832 may include at least one controller 2812 supported by software and hardware for tasks designed to be executed by the controller 2812, including control of communication with a downlink or uplink user-specific PA. The circuit 2832 may further include a received signal processor 2806 and a transmitted signal generator 2822. The controller 2812 may control the received signal processor 2806 and the transmitted signal generator 2822.

[0223] The received signal processor 2806 may include a data demodulator / decoder 2810 and a control demodulator / decoder 2808. The data demodulator / decoder 2810 may demodulate and decode the data portion of the received signal according to RU information and user-specific allocation information. The data portion of the received signal may include a Multi-STA BlockAck frame, a PA Announcement frame, an EHT Basic Trigger frame, a PA Trigger frame, or a frame carrying a PA Control subfield. The control demodulator / decoder 2808 may demodulate and decode the control signaling portion of the received signal (e.g., the EHT-SIG-A and EHT-SIG-B fields of an EHT MU PPDU).

[0224] The controller 2812 may include a control signaling parser 2814 and a scheduler 2818. The control signaling parser 2814 may analyze the control signaling part of the received signal and determine RU information and user-specific allocation information for the downlink user-specific PA. The control signaling parser 2814 may include a PA signaling parser 2816. The PA signaling parser 2816 may determine, store or update (e.g., in the memory 2820) the RU information and user-specific allocation information for the downlink user-specific PA, or extract (e.g., from the memory 2820) the user-specific allocation information for the downlink user-specific PA. The PA signaling parser 2816 may also determine, store or update (e.g., in the memory 2820) the identification information and user-specific resource allocation information for the uplink user-specific PA, or extract (e.g., from the memory 2820) the user-specific resource allocation information for the uplink user-specific PA.

[0225] The transmission signal generator 2822 may include a control signaling generator 2824, a PPDU generator 2826, and an MPDU generator 2828. The control signaling generator 2824 may generate a control signaling field (e.g., an EHT-SIG-A field). The PPDU generator 2826 may generate a PPDU (e.g., an EHT TB PPDU). The MPDU generator 2828 may generate an (A)-MPDU, e.g., a BlockAck frame.

[0226] As described above, the embodiments of the present disclosure provide an advanced communication system, communication method, and communication device that enable user-specific PAs in a very high-throughput MIMO WLAN network and improve the physical layer throughput in the MIMO WLAN network.

[0227] This disclosure can be implemented by software, hardware, or software that interacts with hardware. Each functional block used in the description of each embodiment described above can be partially or entirely implemented by an LSI such as an integrated circuit, and each process described in each embodiment may be partially or entirely controlled by the same LSI or a combination of LSIs. The LSI may be formed as individual chips, or a single chip may be formed to include some or all of the functional blocks. The LSI may include data inputs and outputs coupled thereto. Here, LSIs may be called ICs, system LSIs, super LSIs, or ultra LSIs depending on the degree of integration. However, the technology for realizing integrated circuits is not limited to LSIs and may be implemented using dedicated circuits, general-purpose processors, or application-specific processors. Furthermore, FPGAs (Field Programmable Gate Arrays) that can be programmed after manufacturing, or LSIs or reconfigurable processors in which the connections and settings of circuit cells arranged inside the LSI can be reconfigured, may be used. This disclosure can be implemented as digital or analog processing. As a result of advancements in semiconductor technology and other derivative technologies, if future integrated circuit technology replaces LSIs, functional blocks can be integrated using future integrated circuit technology. Biotechnology can also be applied.

[0228] This disclosure can be implemented by any type of device, apparatus, or system having communication capabilities, referred to as a communication apparatus.

[0229] Some non-exclusive examples of such communication devices include telephones (e.g., cell phones, smartphones), tablets, personal computers (PCs) (e.g., laptops, desktops, netbooks), cameras (e.g., digital still / video cameras), digital players (digital audio / video players), wearable devices (e.g., wearable cameras, smartwatches, tracking devices), game consoles, digital book readers, telehealth / telemedicine (remote health and telemedicine) devices, and vehicles providing communication capabilities (e.g., automobiles, airplanes, ships), as well as various combinations thereof.

[0230] Communication devices are not limited to being portable or mobile, and may include any type of device, device, or system that is non-portable or fixed, 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.

[0231] Communication may include, for example, the exchange of data via cellular systems, wireless LAN systems, satellite systems, and various combinations thereof.

[0232] The communication device may include devices such as controllers or sensors coupled to a communication device that performs the communication functions described in this disclosure. For example, the communication device may include controllers or sensors that generate control signals or data signals used by the communication device that performs the communication functions of the communication device.

[0233] The communication equipment may also include infrastructure facilities such as base stations and access points, and any other equipment, devices, or systems that communicate with or control such equipment as those in the non-limiting examples above.

[0234] While some features of various embodiments have been described with reference to the device, it will be understood that the corresponding features also apply to the methods of each embodiment, and vice versa.

[0235] It will be understood by those skilled in the art that numerous modifications and / or improvements can be made to the present disclosure, as shown in the specific embodiments, without departing from the spirit or scope of the present disclosure as broadly described. Accordingly, these embodiments should be considered in all respects to be illustrative and not restrictive.

[0236] 1. A circuit that generates a transmission signal during operation, comprising a common field, a user-specific field, and a data field, wherein the common field comprises RU information for one or more assignments in the data field, and the user-specific field comprises one or more user information, each indicating a user-specific assignment between the one or more assignments in the data field; A transmitter that transmits the generated transmission signal during operation, It has, A communication device in which the user-specific field does not contain at least one user piece of information for persistent assignments, including repeated transmissions between the one or more assignments.

[0237] 2. The communication device according to claim 1, wherein the transmission signal includes signaling for indicating the presence of at least one persistent assignment in the data field.

[0238] 3. The communication device according to claim 1, wherein the common signal includes signaling for notifying at least one persistent assignment in the data field.

[0239] 4. The communication device according to claim 1, wherein the transmission signal includes signaling for indicating the presence of at least one persistent assignment in the data field, including repeated transmission.

[0240] 5. The communication device according to claim 1, wherein the common field includes signaling for notifying at least one persistent assignment in the data field including repeated transmission.

[0241] 6. The communication device according to claim 1, wherein the persistent assignment exists for a period after transmission of the generated transmission signal.

[0242] 7. The communication device according to claim 1, wherein the user-specific field has no at least one user information for persistent assignment including the first transmission, and the user information for the persistent assignment is included in a control frame previously transmitted by the communication device.

[0243] 8. The communication device according to claim 7, wherein the persistent assignment exists for a period after transmission of the control frame.

[0244] 9. The communication device according to claim 8, wherein the period is determined or notified by signaling included in the control frame.

[0245] 10. A receiver that receives a transmission signal including a common field, a user-specific field, and a data field during operation, wherein the common field includes RU information of each of one or more assignments in the data field, the user-specific field includes one or more user information, and each indicates a user-specific assignment between the one or more assignments in the data field, a receiver, a circuit that processes the received transmission signal during operation, having, The communication device, wherein the user-specific field has no at least one user information for persistent assignment including repeated transmission between the one or more assignments.

[0246] 11. The communication device according to claim 10, wherein the transmission signal includes signaling for notifying the existence of at least one persistent assignment in the data field.

[0247] 12. The communication device according to claim 10, wherein the common signal includes signaling for notifying at least one persistent assignment in the data field.

[0248] 13. The communication device according to claim 10, wherein the transmission signal includes signaling for the presence of at least one persistent assignment in the data field, including repeated transmission.

[0249] 14. The communication device according to claim 10, wherein the common field includes signaling for notifying at least one persistent assignment in the data field, including repeated transmission.

[0250] 15. The communication device according to claim 10, wherein the persistent assignment exists for a period of time after the transmission of the generated transmission signal.

[0251] 16. The communication device according to claim 10, wherein the user-specific field does not contain at least one user piece of information for persistent assignment, including the initial transmission, and the user piece of information for persistent assignment is included in a control frame previously transmitted by the communication device.

[0252] 17. The communication device according to claim 16, wherein the persistent assignment exists for a period of time after the reception of the control frame.

[0253] 18. The communication device according to claim 17, wherein the period is determined or notified by signaling included in the control frame.

[0254] 19. A step of generating a transmission signal including a common field, a user-specific field, and a data field, wherein the common field includes RU information for one or more assignments in the data field, and the user-specific field includes one or more user information, each indicating a user-specific assignment between the one or more assignments in the data field; The steps include transmitting the generated transmission signal, It has, A communication method wherein the user-specific field does not contain at least one user piece of information for persistent assignments, including repeated transmissions between one or more assignments.

[0255] 20. Receiving a transmission signal comprising a common field, a user-specific field, and a data field, wherein the common field comprises RU information for one or more assignments in the data field, and the user-specific field comprises one or more user information, each indicating a user-specific assignment among the one or more assignments in the data field, A communication method wherein the user-specific field does not contain at least one user piece of information for persistent assignments, including repeated transmissions between one or more assignments.

[0256] 21. A circuit that generates a transmit signal during operation, comprising at least one signal field content channel and a data field, wherein each of the at least one signal field content channels comprises a Resource Unit (RU) allocation subfield consisting of N fields and a repeating transmit bitmap subfield consisting of N bitmaps, where N = 1, 2, 4, or 8. A transmitter that transmits the generated transmission signal during operation, It has, A communication device wherein each of the N fields of the RU assignment subfield indicates RU information for one or more assignments within the corresponding tone range in the data field, and the nth (n=1,2,...,N) bitmap of the repeat transmission bitmap subfield indicates whether each of the one or more assignments indicated by the nth field of the RU assignment subfield includes repeat transmission.

[0257] 22. The communication device according to claim 21, wherein the nth (n=1,2,...,N) bitmap of the repeat transmission bitmap subfield does not exist if the one or more assignments indicated by the nth field of the RU assignment subfield do not include the repeat transmission.

[0258] 23. The communication device according to claim 21, wherein the transmission signal includes an N-bit repeat transmission presence subfield for each of the at least one signal field content channels, and the nth (n=1,2,...,N) bit of the repeat transmission presence subfield indicates the presence of the nth bitmap of the repeat transmission bitmap subfield for each of the at least one signal field content channels.

[0259] 24. The communication device according to claim 21, wherein each of the at least one signal field content channels includes a persistent assignment bitmap subfield consisting of N bitmaps, the nth (n=1,2,...,N) bitmap of the persistent assignment bitmap subfield indicates whether each of the one or more assignments indicated by the nth field of the RU assignment subfield is persistent.

[0260] 25. The communication device according to claim 24, wherein the nth (n=1,2,...,N) bitmap of the persistent assignment bitmap subfield does not exist if one or more assignments indicated by the nth field of the RU assignment subfield are not persistent.

[0261] 26. The communication device according to claim 24, wherein the transmitted signal includes an N-bit persistent assignment presence subfield for each of the at least one signal field content channels, and the nth (n=1,2,...,N) bit of the N-bit persistent assignment presence subfield indicates the presence of the nth bitmap of the persistent assignment bitmap subfield for each of the at least one signal field content channels.

[0262] 27. The communication device according to claim 21, wherein the RU allocation subfield and the repeating transmission bitmap subfield are encoded separately, and the size of the nth (n=1,2,...,N) bitmap of the repeating transmission bitmap subfield depends on the number of the one or more allocations indicated by the nth field of the RU allocation subfield.

[0263] 28. The communication device according to claim 21, wherein the RU allocation subfield and the repeating bitmap subfield are encoded together, and the size of each bitmap in the repeating bitmap subfield depends on the maximum number of one or more allocations that can be notified by any field of the RU allocation subfield.

[0264] 29. The communication device according to claim 21, wherein the transmission signal includes signaling to indicate whether each of the RU assignment subfields and the repeat transmission bitmap subfields of the at least one signal field content channel are encoded separately or together.

[0265] 30. The communication device according to claim 21, wherein each of the at least one signal field content channels includes an M-bit center 26-tone RU subfield, where M=1 for CBW=80, 80+80, or 160 MHz and M=2 for CBW=160+160, or 320 MHz, and each bit of the M-bit center 26-tone RU subfield indicates whether or not a corresponding center 26-tone RU is assigned.

[0266] 31. When M=1, the last bitmap of the repeat transmission bitmap subfield indicates whether the allocation indicated by the M-bit center 26-tone RU subfield includes repeat transmission, according to claim 30.

[0267] 32. When M=2, the fourth bitmap of the repeat transmission bitmap subfield indicates whether the assignment indicated by the first bit of the M-bit center 26-tone RU subfield includes repeat transmission, and the last bitmap of the repeat transmission bitmap subfield indicates whether the assignment indicated by the second bit of the M-bit center 26-tone RU subfield includes repeat transmission, according to claim 30.

[0268] 33. The communication device according to claim 21, wherein each of the at least one signal field content channels is encoded on each L*20MHz with L=1 or 2, and the number of the at least one signal field content channels depends on the channel bandwidth (CBW) and the value of L.

[0269] 34. The communication device according to claim 33, wherein the transmission signal includes signaling for notifying the value of L.

[0270] 35. A step of generating a transmit signal comprising at least one signal field content channel and a data field, wherein each of the at least one signal field content channel comprises a Resource Unit (RU) allocation subfield consisting of N fields and a repeating transmit bitmap subfield consisting of N bitmaps, where N = 1, 2, 4, or 8. The steps include transmitting the generated transmission signal, It has, A communication method wherein each of the N fields of the RU assignment subfield indicates RU information for one or more assignments within the corresponding tone range in the data field, and the nth (n=1,2,...,N) bitmap of the repeat transmission bitmap subfield indicates whether each of the one or more assignments indicated by the nth field of the RU assignment subfield includes repeat transmission.

[0271] 36. A circuit that generates a frame containing identification information to identify an uplink persistent assignment (PA) during operation, A transmitter that transmits the generated frame during operation, A communication device having the following features.

[0272] 37. The communication device according to claim 36, wherein the identification information is the PA identifier (PAID) of the uplink PA.

[0273] 38. The communication device according to claim 36, wherein the identification information is the RU (Resource Unit) allocation information of the uplink PA.

[0274] 39. The communication device according to claim 36, wherein the identification information is included in the frame body of the frame in order to request transmission from the uplink PA, and the frame does not contain user-specific resource allocation information for the uplink PA.

[0275] 40. The communication device according to claim 36, wherein the identification information is included in the MAC header of the frame to request transmission from the uplink PA, and the frame does not contain user-specific resource allocation information for the uplink PA.

[0276] 41. The communication device according to claim 36, wherein the identification information and user-specific resource allocation information are included in the frame body of the frame in order to identify the uplink PA.

[0277] 42. The communication device according to claim 36, wherein the identification information and user-specific resource allocation information are included in the frame body of the frame in order to request the first transmission of the uplink PA.

[0278] 43. A step of generating a frame that includes identification information to identify an uplink persistent assignment (PA), The step of transmitting the generated frame, A communication method that includes [something].

[0279] 44. The communication method according to claim 43, wherein the identification information is the PA identifier (PAID) of the uplink PA.

[0280] 45. The communication method according to claim 43, wherein the identification information is Resource User (RU) assignment information for the uplink PA.

[0281] 46. ​​The communication method according to claim 43, wherein the identification information is included in the frame body of the frame in order to request transmission from the uplink PA, and the frame does not contain user-specific resource allocation information for the uplink PA.

[0282] 47. The communication method according to claim 43, wherein the identification information is included in the MAC header of the frame to request transmission from the uplink PA, and the frame does not contain user-specific resource allocation information for the uplink PA.

[0283] 48. The communication method according to claim 43, wherein the identification information and user-specific resource allocation information are included in the frame body of the frame in order to identify the uplink PA.

[0284] 49. The communication method according to claim 43, wherein the identification information and user-specific resource allocation information are included in the frame body of the frame in order to identify the uplink PA.

[0285] 50. During operation, a first transmit signal is generated that includes user information for multiple users of downlink MU-MIMO assignments, each indicating a user-specific assignment. A circuit further generates a second transmit signal including a common field, a user-specific field, and a data field, wherein the data field includes the transmit of the downlink MU-MIMO assignment. A transmitter that transmits the first transmission signal and the second transmission signal during operation, It has, A communication device in which the user-specific assignment of the downlink MU-MIMO assignment is determined to be persistent or not.

[0286] 51. The communication device according to claim 50, wherein the user-specific persistent assignment of the downlink MU-MIMO assignment in the data field of the second transmission signal is notified by the user information in the first transmission signal.

[0287] 52. The communication device according to claim 50, wherein the data field of the second transmission signal includes repeated transmission of a user-specific persistent assignment of the MU-MIMO assignment, the user-specific field does not contain user information for the user-specific persistent assignment.

[0288] 53. The communication device according to claim 50, wherein the common field of the second transmission signal includes signaling for notifying at least one user-specific persistent assignment in the data field of the second transmission signal.

[0289] 54. The communication device according to claim 50, wherein the common field of the second transmission signal includes signaling for notifying at least one user-specific persistent assignment in the data field of the second transmission signal, which includes repeated transmission.

[0290] 55. The communication device according to claim 50, wherein the user-specific persistent assignment exists for a period of time after the transmission of the first transmission signal.

[0291] 56. The communication device according to claim 55, wherein the period is determined or notified by signaling included in the first transmission signal.

[0292] 57. A step of generating a first transmit signal containing user information for multiple users of downlink MU-MIMO assignments, each indicating a user-specific assignment, A step of generating a second transmission signal including a common field, a user-specific field, and a data field, wherein the data field includes the transmission of the downlink MU-MIMO assignment, The steps include transmitting the first transmission signal and the second transmission signal, It has, A communication method for determining whether the user-specific assignment of the downlink MU-MIMO assignment is persistent.

[0293] 58. The communication method according to claim 57, wherein the user-specific persistent assignment of the downlink MU-MIMO assignment in the data field of the second transmission signal is notified by the user information in the first transmission signal.

[0294] 59. The communication method according to claim 57, wherein when the data field of the second transmission signal includes repeated transmission of a user-specific persistent assignment of the downlink MU-MIMO assignment, the user-specific field does not contain user information of the user-specific persistent assignment.

[0295] 60. The communication method according to claim 57, wherein the common field of the second transmit signal includes signaling for notifying at least one user-specific persistent assignment in the data field of the second transmit signal.

[0296] 61. The communication method according to claim 57, wherein the common field of the second transmission signal includes signaling for notifying at least one user-specific persistent assignment in the data field of the second transmission signal, which includes repeated transmission.

[0297] 62. The communication method according to claim 57, wherein the user-specific persistent assignment exists for a period of time after the transmission of the first transmission signal.

[0298] 63. The communication method according to claim 62, wherein the period is determined or notified by signaling included in the first transmission signal.

Claims

1. A first communication device, A receiver that receives a trigger frame from a second communication device within a transmission opportunity (TXOP), The TXOP includes a transmitter that transmits two or more physical layer protocol data units (PPDUs), The trigger frame includes a USER INFO field for the first communication device. The aforementioned USER INFO field includes the RESOURCE UNIT (RU) ALLOCATION subfield, The RU ALLOCATION subfield indicates information about the frequency resources from which the two or more PPDUs are transmitted. After the trigger frame is transmitted, no other trigger frame containing the USER INFO field for the first communication device is transmitted within the TXOP. The first communication device.

2. The trigger frame is transmitted to the first communication device and the third communication device within the TXOP. Other PPDUs are transmitted from the third communication device into the aforementioned TXOP. The first communication device according to claim 1.

3. The receiver receives block information relating to the two or more PPDUs within the TXOP. The first communication device according to claim 1.

4. The two or more PPDUs mentioned above do not overlap in the time axis. The first communication device according to claim 1.

5. Of the two or more PPDUs, the first PPDU transmitted is a response to the trigger frame, and of the two or more PPDUs, one or more PPDUs other than the first PPDU are not responses to the trigger frame. The first communication device according to claim 1.

6. The two or more PPDUs are transmitted to the second communication device. The first communication device according to claim 1.

7. The first communication device is a non-access point station, and the second communication device is an access point. The first communication device according to claim 1.

8. When the first communication device receives the trigger frame, the first communication device starts or resets the timer related to the TXOP. The first communication device according to claim 1.

9. The trigger frame is included in the EXTREMELY HIGH THROUGHPUT (EHT) multi-user (MU) PPDU. The first communication device according to claim 1.

10. The trigger frame is used to set information related to the TXOP contained in the two or more PPDUs. The first communication device according to claim 1.

11. The first communication device stores the information of the frequency resource included in the trigger frame and generates a second PPDU to be transmitted second among the two or more PPDUs based on the stored information of the frequency resource. The first communication device according to claim 1.

12. The first communication device is identified by the value of the AID12 subfield of the trigger frame. The first communication device according to claim 1.

13. A communication method for a first communication device, The process involves receiving a trigger frame from a second communication device within a transmission opportunity (TXOP), and The process includes transmitting two or more Physical Layer Protocol Data Units (PPDUs) within the TXOP, The trigger frame includes a USER INFO field for the first communication device. The aforementioned USER INFO field includes the RESOURCE UNIT (RU) ALLOCATION subfield, The RU ALLOCATION subfield indicates information about the frequency resources from which the two or more PPDUs are transmitted. After the trigger frame is transmitted, no other trigger frame containing the USER INFO field for the first communication device is transmitted within the TXOP. Communication method.

14. An integrated circuit for a first communication device, The process involves receiving a trigger frame from a second communication device within a transmission opportunity (TXOP), and The process of transmitting two or more Physical Layer Protocol Data Units (PPDUs) within the aforementioned TXOP, and the control thereof, The trigger frame includes a USER INFO field for the first communication device. The aforementioned USER INFO field includes the RESOURCE UNIT (RU) ALLOCATION subfield, The RU ALLOCATION subfield indicates information about the frequency resources from which the two or more PPDUs are transmitted. After the trigger frame is transmitted, no other trigger frame containing the USER INFO field for the first communication device is transmitted within the TXOP. Integrated circuit.

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