Forward-compatible puncture display

Abstract

The present disclosure provides systems, methods, and apparatus for wireless communications that may be used for channel puncturing. A wireless station (STA) may receive an indication of a first puncturing pattern used to transmit or receive data on a wireless channel, the first puncturing pattern defined by a first wireless communications protocol release, and the STA configured to operate according to a second wireless communications protocol release. The STA may select a second puncturing pattern from a set of puncturing patterns defined by the second wireless communications protocol release, the second puncturing pattern including one or more unpunctured subchannels that are a subset of one or more corresponding unpunctured subchannels of the first puncturing pattern. The STA may transmit or receive one or more packets on the wireless channel using the second puncturing pattern.

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] Cross-reference of related applications This patent application claims priority to U.S. Patent Application No. 17 / 328,464, “FORWARD-COMPATIBLE PUNCTURING INDICATIONS,” filed on 24 May 2021, which has been assigned to the assignee of this application. All prior application disclosures are deemed to be part of this patent application and are incorporated into this patent application by reference.

[0002] This disclosure relates to wireless communications in general, and more specifically to wireless communications related to channel puncturing. [Background technology]

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

[0004] Channel puncturing is a wireless communication technique that allows a wireless communication device (such as an AP or STA) to transmit and receive wireless communications on a portion of a wireless channel, excluding a specific subchannel (referred to as the "punctured subchannel"). For example, if a wireless communication device detects that a 20 MHz subchannel of a 160 MHz wireless channel is occupied, it can use channel puncturing to utilize the remaining 140 MHz bandwidth while avoiding communications on the occupied subchannel. Accordingly, channel puncturing allows a wireless communication device to improve or maximize its throughput by utilizing more spectrum than is available.

[0005] New WLAN communication protocols are being developed to enable enhanced communication features, such as increased communication bandwidth. New channel puncturing patterns may also be specified to increase the flexibility that allows wireless communication devices to increase or maximize throughput on unoccupied subchannels of a wireless channel while avoiding transmitting or receiving data on occupied subchannels of a wireless channel. [Overview of the project] [Means for solving the problem]

[0006] The systems, methods, and devices of this disclosure each have several innovative aspects, and none of any single aspect alone embodies the desirable characteristics disclosed herein.

[0007] One innovative aspect of the subject matter described herein may be implemented as a method of wireless communication. The method may be performed by a wireless station (STA) and may include the step of receiving an indication of a first puncturing pattern used to transmit or receive data on a wireless channel. The first puncturing pattern may be defined by a first wireless communication protocol release. The STA may be configured to operate according to a second wireless communication protocol release different from the first wireless communication protocol release. The method may include the step of selecting a second puncturing pattern from a set of puncturing patterns defined by the second wireless communication protocol release, the second puncturing pattern including one or more unpunctured subchannels which are subsets of one or more corresponding unpunctured subchannels of the first puncturing pattern. The method may include the step of transmitting or receiving one or more packets on a wireless channel based on the second puncturing pattern. In some cases, the STA is not configured to operate in accordance with the first wireless communication protocol release, or is unable to decode the puncturing patterns defined by the first wireless communication protocol release.

[0008] In some implementations, the selection of a second puncturing pattern may be based on a match between the received bitmap and one or more stored bitmaps corresponding to a set of puncturing patterns defined by a second wireless communication protocol release. The second puncturing pattern may include an unpunctured 20 MHz subchannel corresponding to the primary channel of the access point (AP). In some examples, the second puncturing pattern may include a 320 MHz frequency bandwidth and zero or more punctured subchannels having a 40 MHz frequency bandwidth, an 80 MHz frequency bandwidth, or an 80+40 MHz frequency bandwidth. In other examples, the second puncturing pattern may include a 160 MHz frequency bandwidth and zero or more punctured subchannels having a 40 MHz frequency bandwidth or a 20 MHz frequency bandwidth. In some other examples, the second puncturing pattern may include an 80 MHz frequency bandwidth and zero or more punctured subchannels having a 20 MHz frequency bandwidth. In some other examples, the second puncturing pattern may include a 40 MHz frequency bandwidth without punctures or a 20 MHz frequency bandwidth without punctures.

[0009] In some implementations, the display may be a bitmap containing multiple bits, where each bit of the bitmap indicates whether the corresponding subchannel of the wireless channel is punctured by a first puncturing pattern. In some examples, the bitmap may be received within an ultra-high throughput (EHT) operating element of a beacon frame, association response frame, probe response frame, or action frame.

[0010] In some implementations, selecting a second puncturing pattern also includes the steps of identifying each of the puncturing patterns in a set of puncturing patterns defined by a second wireless communication protocol release that includes uncropped subchannels, which are subsets of one or more uncropped subchannels of the first puncturing pattern, and selecting the identified puncturing pattern that includes the most uncropped subchannels as the second puncturing pattern. In some examples, the method may also include the step of determining, in response to two or more of the identified puncturing patterns that include the most uncropped subchannels, which of the two or more identified puncturing patterns includes uncropped subchannels associated with relatively high frequencies of the wireless channel or relatively low frequencies of the wireless channel. The method may also include the step of selecting a second puncturing pattern based on the determination. In some other examples, the method may also include a step of determining, in response to two or more identified puncturing patterns containing the most punctured subchannels, which of the two or more identified puncturing patterns is associated with the bitmap having the highest binary index or the bitmap having the lowest binary index. The method may also include a step of selecting a second puncturing pattern based on the determination.

[0011] Another innovative aspect of the subject matter described herein may be implemented in a wireless communication device. The wireless communication device may include at least one modem, at least one processor communicatively coupled to the at least one modem, and at least one memory communicatively coupled to the at least one processor. In some implementations, the at least one memory may store processor-readable code, which, when executed by the at least one processor in conjunction with the at least one modem, is configured to receive a representation of a first puncturing pattern used to transmit or receive data over a wireless channel, the first puncturing pattern being defined by a first wireless communication protocol release. The wireless communication device may be configured to operate according to a second wireless communication protocol release different from the first wireless communication protocol release. The execution of processor-readable code may be configured to select a second puncturing pattern from a set of puncturing patterns defined by a second wireless communication protocol release, the second puncturing pattern comprising one or more unpunctured subchannels which are subsets of one or more corresponding unpunctured subchannels of a first puncturing pattern. The execution of processor-readable code may be configured to transmit or receive one or more packets on a wireless channel based on the second puncturing pattern. In some examples, the wireless communication device is not configured to operate according to the first wireless communication protocol release or is unable to decode the puncturing patterns defined by the first wireless communication protocol release.

[0012] In some implementations, the selection of a second puncturing pattern may be based on a match between the received bitmap and one or more stored bitmaps corresponding to a set of puncturing patterns defined by a second wireless communication protocol release. The second puncturing pattern may include an unpunctured 20 MHz subchannel corresponding to the primary channel of the AP. In some examples, the second puncturing pattern may include a 320 MHz frequency bandwidth and zero or more punctured subchannels having a 40 MHz frequency bandwidth, an 80 MHz frequency bandwidth, or an 80+40 MHz frequency bandwidth. In other examples, the second puncturing pattern may include a 160 MHz frequency bandwidth and zero or more punctured subchannels having a 40 MHz frequency bandwidth or a 20 MHz frequency bandwidth. In some other examples, the second puncturing pattern may include an 80 MHz frequency bandwidth and zero or more punctured subchannels having a 20 MHz frequency bandwidth. In some other examples, the second puncturing pattern may include a 40 MHz frequency bandwidth without punctures or a 20 MHz frequency bandwidth without punctures.

[0013] In some implementations, the display may be a bitmap containing multiple bits, where each bit of the bitmap indicates whether the corresponding subchannel of the wireless channel is punctured by a first puncturing pattern. In some examples, the bitmap may be received within the EHT operating element of a beacon frame, association response frame, probe response frame, or action frame.

[0014] In some implementations, selecting a second puncturing pattern also includes the steps of identifying each of the puncturing patterns in a set of puncturing patterns defined by a second wireless communication protocol release that includes uncropped subchannels, which are subsets of one or more uncropped subchannels of the first puncturing pattern, and selecting the identified puncturing pattern that includes the most uncropped subchannels as the second puncturing pattern. In some examples, execution of processor-readable code may be further configured to determine, in response to two or more of the identified puncturing patterns that include the most uncropped subchannels, which of the two or more identified puncturing patterns includes uncropped subchannels associated with relatively high frequencies of the wireless channel or relatively low frequencies of the wireless channel. Execution of processor-readable code may also be configured to select a second puncturing pattern based on the determination. In some other examples, the execution of processor-readable code may be further configured to determine, in response to two or more identified puncturing patterns containing the most punctured subchannels, which of the two or more identified puncturing patterns is associated with the bitmap having the highest binary index or the bitmap having the lowest binary index. The execution of processor-readable code may also be configured to select a second puncturing pattern based on the decision.

[0015] Another innovative aspect of the subject matter described herein may be implemented as a method of wireless communication. The method may include the step of selecting a first puncturing pattern, which may be performed by an AP and used to transmit or receive data on a wireless channel, the first puncturing pattern being defined by a first wireless communication protocol release. The method may include the step of determining the presence of one or more STAs configured to operate according to a second wireless communication protocol release. In response to determining the presence of one or more STAs configured to operate according to the second wireless communication protocol release, the method may include the step of selecting a second puncturing pattern from a set of puncturing patterns defined by the second wireless communication protocol release, the second puncturing pattern including one or more unpunctured subchannels, which are subsets of one or more corresponding unpunctured subchannels of the first puncturing pattern. The method may include the step of transmitting one or more packets on a wireless channel based on the second puncturing pattern to at least one STA configured to operate according to the second wireless communication protocol release, or receiving one or more packets from an STA. In some examples, selecting a second puncturing pattern may be based on a match between a first bitmap corresponding to a first puncturing pattern and one or more second bitmaps corresponding to a set of puncturing patterns defined by a second wireless communication protocol release. In some examples, the STA is not configured to operate according to a first wireless communication protocol release, or is unable to decode the puncturing patterns defined by a first wireless communication protocol release.

[0016] In some implementations, the method may also include the step of transmitting a representation of a second puncturing pattern to at least an STA configured to operate according to a second wireless communication protocol release. In some examples, the representation may be bits carried within the EHT operating element of a beacon frame, association response frame, probe response frame, or action frame.

[0017] In some implementations, the second puncturing pattern may include an unpunctured 20MHz subchannel corresponding to the primary channel of the AP. In some examples, the second puncturing pattern may include a 320MHz frequency bandwidth and zero or more punctured subchannels having a 40MHz frequency bandwidth, an 80MHz frequency bandwidth, or an 80+40MHz frequency bandwidth. In other examples, the second puncturing pattern may include a 160MHz frequency bandwidth and zero or more punctured subchannels having a 40MHz frequency bandwidth or a 20MHz frequency bandwidth. In some other examples, the second puncturing pattern may include an 80MHz frequency bandwidth and zero or more punctured subchannels having a 20MHz frequency bandwidth. In some other examples, the second puncturing pattern may include an unpunctured 40MHz frequency bandwidth or an unpunctured 20MHz frequency bandwidth.

[0018] In some implementations, selecting a second puncturing pattern also includes the steps of identifying each of the puncturing patterns in a set of puncturing patterns defined by a second wireless communication protocol release that includes uncropped subchannels, which are a subset of one or more uncropped subchannels of the first puncturing pattern, and selecting the identified puncturing pattern that includes the majority of uncropped subchannels as the second puncturing pattern. In some examples, the method may also include the step of determining, in response to two or more of the identified puncturing patterns that include the most uncropped subchannels, which of the two or more identified puncturing patterns includes uncropped subchannels associated with relatively high frequencies of the wireless channel or relatively low frequencies of the wireless channel. The method may also include the step of selecting a second puncturing pattern based on the determination. In some other examples, the method may also include a step of determining, in response to two or more identified puncturing patterns containing the most punctured subchannels, which of the two or more identified puncturing patterns is associated with the bitmap having the highest binary index or the bitmap having the lowest binary index. The method may also include a step of selecting a second puncturing pattern based on the determination.

[0019] Another innovative aspect of the subject matter described herein may be implemented in a wireless communication device. The wireless communication device may include at least one modem, at least one processor communicatively coupled to the at least one modem, and at least one memory communicatively coupled to the at least one processor. In some implementations, the at least one memory may store processor-readable code, which, when executed by the at least one processor in conjunction with the at least one modem, is configured to select a first puncturing pattern used to transmit or receive data over a wireless channel, the first puncturing pattern being defined by a first wireless communication protocol release. The execution of the processor-readable code may be configured to determine the presence of one or more STAs configured to operate according to a second wireless communication protocol release. The execution of processor-readable code may be configured to select a second puncturing pattern from a set of puncturing patterns defined by a second wireless communication protocol release in response to determining the presence of one or more STAs configured to operate according to a second wireless communication protocol release, the second puncturing pattern comprising one or more unpunctured subchannels which are subsets of one or more corresponding unpunctured subchannels of a first puncturing pattern. The execution of processor-readable code may be configured to transmit or receive one or more packets on a wireless channel based on the second puncturing pattern to or from at least STAs configured to operate according to a second wireless communication protocol release. In some examples, the selection of the second puncturing pattern may be based on a match between a first bitmap corresponding to the first puncturing pattern and one or more second bitmaps corresponding to a set of puncturing patterns defined by a second wireless communication protocol release.In some examples, the STA is not configured to operate according to a first wireless communication protocol release or is unable to decode a puncturing pattern defined by the first wireless communication protocol release.

[0020] In some implementations, execution of the processor-readable code may be further configured to transmit an indication of a second puncturing pattern to at least the STA configured to operate according to a second wireless communication protocol release. In some examples, the indication may be bits carried within an EHT operation element of a beacon frame, an association response frame, a probe response frame, or an action frame.

[0021] In some implementations, the second puncturing pattern may include an unpunctured 20 MHz subchannel corresponding to the primary channel of the wireless communication device. In some examples, the second puncturing pattern may include zero or more punctured subchannels having a 320 MHz frequency bandwidth, and a 40 MHz frequency bandwidth, an 80 MHz frequency bandwidth or an 80 + 40 MHz frequency bandwidth. In other examples, the second puncturing pattern may include zero or more punctured subchannels having a 160 MHz frequency bandwidth, and a 40 MHz frequency bandwidth or a 20 MHz frequency bandwidth. In some other examples, the second puncturing pattern may include zero or more punctured subchannels having an 80 MHz frequency bandwidth, and a 20 MHz frequency bandwidth. In some other examples, the second puncturing pattern may include an unpunctured 40 MHz frequency bandwidth or an unpunctured 20 MHz frequency bandwidth.

[0022] In some implementations, selecting the second puncturing pattern also includes identifying each of a set of puncturing patterns defined by a second wireless communication protocol release that includes unpunctured subchannels that are a subset of one or more unpunctured subchannels of the first puncturing pattern, and selecting as the second puncturing pattern the identified puncturing pattern that includes the most unpunctured subchannels. In some examples, execution of processor-readable code may be further configured to determine which of two or more identified puncturing patterns includes unpunctured subchannels associated with a relatively high frequency of the wireless channel or a relatively low frequency of the wireless channel, in response to two or more of the identified puncturing patterns that include the most unpunctured subchannels. Execution of processor-readable code may also be further configured to select the second puncturing pattern based on the determination. In some other examples, execution of processor-readable code may be further configured to determine which of two or more identified puncturing patterns is associated with a bitmap having the highest binary index or a bitmap having the lowest binary index, in response to two or more of the identified puncturing patterns that include the most unpunctured subchannels. Execution of processor-readable code may also be further configured to select the second puncturing pattern based on the determination.

[0023] Details of one or more implementations of the subject matter described in this disclosure are set forth in the accompanying drawings and the description below. Other features, aspects, and advantages will become apparent from the description, the drawings, and the claims. Note that the relative dimensions of the following figures may not be drawn to scale.

Brief Description of the Drawings

[0024] [Figure 1] This is a diagram illustrating an example of a wireless communication network. [Figure 2A] This diagram shows an exemplary protocol data unit (PDU) that can be used for communication between an access point (AP) and one or more stations (STAs). [Figure 2B] This figure shows an example field within the PDU in Figure 2A. [Figure 3A] This figure shows an example PDU that can be used for communication between the AP and each of several STAs. [Figure 3B] This figure shows another example PDU that can be used for communication between the AP and each of several STAs. [Figure 4] This figure shows an exemplary Physical Layer Convergence Protocol (PLCP) protocol data unit (PPDU) that can be used for communication between an AP and each of several STAs. [Figure 5] This is a block diagram of an exemplary wireless communication device. [Figure 6A] This is an example block diagram of AP. [Figure 6B] This is an illustrative block diagram of STA. [Figure 7] This figure shows an example tone plan that can be used for orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) transmission over an 80 MHz bandwidth. [Figure 8A] This figure shows an exemplary bitmap illustrating puncturing patterns usable for wireless communication over 20MHz, 40MHz, and 80MHz bandwidths. [Figure 8B] This figure shows an exemplary bitmap illustrating a puncturing pattern usable for wireless communication over a 160MHz bandwidth. [Figure 8C] This figure shows an exemplary bitmap illustrating a puncturing pattern usable for wireless communication over a 320MHz bandwidth. [Figure 9]This figure shows a set of exemplary puncturing patterns usable for wireless communication on an 80 MHz frequency bandwidth according to one wireless communication protocol release. [Figure 10A] This figure shows a set of exemplary puncturing patterns usable for wireless communication over a 160 MHz bandwidth according to one wireless communication protocol release. [Figure 10B] This figure shows another set of exemplary puncturing patterns usable for wireless communication on a 160MHz frequency bandwidth according to one wireless communication protocol release. [Figure 11A] This figure shows a set of exemplary puncturing patterns usable for wireless communication over a 320 MHz bandwidth according to one wireless communication protocol release. [Figure 11B] This figure shows a set of exemplary puncturing patterns usable for wireless communication over a 320 MHz bandwidth according to a different wireless communication protocol release. [Figure 12A] This figure shows a set of exemplary puncturing patterns usable for wireless communication over a 320 MHz bandwidth according to one wireless communication protocol release. [Figure 12B] This figure shows a set of exemplary puncturing patterns usable for wireless communication over a 320 MHz bandwidth according to a different wireless communication protocol release. [Figure 13A] This figure shows another set of exemplary puncturing patterns usable for wireless communication over a 320 MHz bandwidth according to one wireless communication protocol release. [Figure 13B] This figure shows another set of exemplary puncturing patterns usable for wireless communication over a 320 MHz bandwidth according to a different wireless communication protocol release. [Figure 13C] This figure shows exemplary bitmap configurations illustrating the puncturing patterns in Figures 11A, 12A, and 13A, depending on several implementations. [Figure 13D] This figure shows example bitmaps illustrating the puncturing patterns in Figures 11B, 12B, and 13B, depending on several implementation configurations. [Figure 14A] This is an illustrative sequence diagram for wireless communication that supports channel puncturing. [Figure 14B] This is another illustrative sequence diagram for wireless communication that supports channel puncturing. [Figure 15A] This figure shows an example beacon frame that can be used for wireless communications that support channel puncturing. [Figure 15B] This diagram shows ultra-high throughput (EHT) operating elements usable for wireless communication in several implementation forms. [Figure 15C] This figure shows exemplary bitmaps that can be used to illustrate channel puncturing patterns in several implementation forms. [Figure 16] This flowchart shows an exemplary process for wireless communication that supports channel puncture, based on several implementation configurations. [Figure 17] This flowchart shows another exemplary process for wireless communication supporting channel puncture, with several implementation configurations. [Figure 18] This flowchart shows another exemplary process for wireless communication supporting channel puncture, with several implementation configurations. [Figure 19] This flowchart shows another exemplary process for wireless communication supporting channel puncture, with several implementation configurations. [Figure 20] This flowchart illustrates an exemplary process for wireless communication supporting channel puncture, using several other implementation forms. [Figure 21]This flowchart shows another exemplary process for wireless communication supporting channel puncture, using several other implementation forms. [Figure 22] This flowchart shows another exemplary process for wireless communication supporting channel puncture, using several other implementation forms. [Figure 23] This flowchart shows another exemplary process for wireless communication supporting channel puncture, using several other implementation forms. [Figure 24] This flowchart shows another exemplary process for wireless communication supporting channel puncture, using several other implementation forms. [Figure 25] This is a block diagram illustrating an example of a wireless communication device in several implementation configurations. [Figure 26] This is a block diagram illustrating an example of a wireless communication device in several other implementation forms. [Modes for carrying out the invention]

[0025] Similar reference numbers and names in various drawings refer to the same elements.

[0026] The following description covers several implementations for the purpose of illustrating innovative aspects of the disclosure. However, those skilled in the art will readily recognize that the teachings herein can be applied in numerous different ways. The implementations described may be implemented in any device, system, or network capable of transmitting and receiving radio frequency (RF) signals in accordance with, among other things, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 standard, the IEEE 802.15 standard, the Bluetooth® standard as defined by the Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG), or one or more of the Long Term Evolution (LTE), 3G, 4G, or 5G (New Radio (NR)) standards published by the Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP®). The described implementations may be implemented in any device, system, or network capable of transmitting and receiving RF signals according to one or more of the following technologies or techniques: Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA), Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA), Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA), Quadrature FDMA (OFDMA), Single Carrier FDMA (SC-FDMA), Single User (SU) Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO), and Multi-User (MU) MIMO. The described implementations may also be implemented using other wireless communication protocols or RF signals suitable for use in one or more of the following: Wireless Personal Area Networks (WPANs), Wireless Local Area Networks (WLANs), Wireless Wide Area Networks (WWANs), or Internet of Things (IOT) networks.

[0027] Various implementations generally relate to channel puncturing in wireless communications. Some implementations, more specifically, relate to punctured channel indication, which supports channel puncturing based on different sets of puncturing patterns defined by different wireless communication protocol releases. Channel puncturing is a wireless communication technique that allows a wireless communication device (such as an AP or STA) to transmit or receive wireless communications on several subchannels of a wireless channel (called "unpunctured subchannels") while avoiding other subchannels of the wireless channel (called "punctured subchannels"). For example, if a wireless communication device determines that a 20 MHz subchannel of a 160 MHz wireless channel is occupied, the wireless communication device can use channel puncturing to still utilize the other unoccupied 140 MHz bandwidth of the wireless channel while avoiding transmitting or receiving data on the occupied 20 MHz subchannel. Accordingly, channel puncturing allows a wireless communication device to improve or maximize throughput by utilizing more channel bandwidth of the available channel bandwidth.

[0028] As the bandwidth of a wireless channel increases, the likelihood of interference on one or more subchannels of the wireless channel also increases. Therefore, as new WLAN communication protocols enable access to a larger range of bandwidth, new or additional channel puncturing patterns may be necessary to efficiently utilize the wider channel bandwidth available. Wider channel bandwidth can also be efficiently utilized by defining new puncturing patterns with a smaller puncturing granularity than existing puncturing patterns. For example, while an existing puncturing pattern may indicate whether some 40 MHz or 80 MHz subchannels of a 320 MHz frequency bandwidth are punctured, a new puncturing pattern may be defined that similarly indicates whether some 20 MHz subchannels of a 320 MHz frequency bandwidth are punctured.

[0029] These new or additional puncturing patterns may increase both the number and size of the bitmaps used to indicate which puncturing patterns in a set of puncturing patterns are used to transmit or receive data over a wireless channel. A wireless communication device configured to operate according to one wireless communication protocol release that specifies a relatively small set of puncturing patterns cannot decode bitmaps associated with another wireless communication protocol release that specifies a relatively large set of puncturing patterns. Furthermore, the wireless communication device is unaware of new or additional puncturing patterns specified by other wireless communication protocol releases.

[0030] Aspects of this disclosure recognize that, in order to ensure compatibility between wireless communication devices configured to operate according to different wireless communication protocol releases that specify a different number or configuration of puncturing patterns, a wireless communication device operating according to one wireless communication protocol release should be able to determine or derive puncturing patterns specified by another wireless communication protocol release. In some implementations, a wireless communication device such as an STA may receive a representation of a first puncturing pattern used to transmit or receive data over a wireless channel, the first puncturing pattern being specified by a first wireless communication protocol release, and the STA is configured to operate according to a second wireless communication protocol release and cannot decode the puncturing pattern specified by the first wireless communication protocol release (for example, because the STA is not configured to operate according to the first wireless communication protocol release). The STA may select a second puncturing pattern from a set of puncturing patterns specified by a second wireless communication protocol release, the second puncturing pattern including one or more unpunctured subchannels which are subsets of one or more corresponding unpunctured subchannels of the first puncturing pattern. The STA may use a second puncturing pattern to transmit or receive one or more packets over the wireless channel.

[0031] In some other implementations, a wireless communication device such as an AP may select a first puncturing pattern defined by a first wireless communication protocol release used to transmit or receive data over a wireless channel. The AP may determine the presence of one or more STAs configured to operate according to a second wireless communication protocol release. In response to the presence of one or more STAs configured to operate according to the second wireless communication protocol release, the AP may select a second puncturing pattern from a set of puncturing patterns defined by the second wireless communication protocol release, which includes one or more unpunctured subchannels that are subsets of one or more corresponding unpunctured subchannels of the first puncturing pattern. Based on the second puncturing pattern, the AP may transmit or receive one or more packets over the wireless channel to or from at least STAs configured to operate according to the second wireless communication protocol release rather than the first wireless communication protocol release.

[0032] Certain implementations of the subject matter described herein may be implemented to realize one or more of the following potential benefits: By providing a mechanism that allows a wireless communication device configured to operate according to one wireless communication protocol release to determine or derive a puncturing pattern for use in transmitting or receiving data on a wireless channel based on the representation of a puncturing pattern defined by another wireless communication protocol release, aspects of the disclosure can ensure compatibility between wireless communication devices configured to operate according to different wireless communication protocol releases that define a different number or configuration of puncturing patterns.

[0033] Figure 1 shows a block diagram of an exemplary wireless communication network 100. In some embodiments, the wireless communication network 100 may be an example of a wireless local area network (WLAN), such as a Wi-Fi network (hereinafter referred to as WLAN 100). For example, WLAN 100 may be a network implementing at least one of the IEEE 802.11 wireless communication protocol standards (as defined by the IEEE 802.11-2016 specification or its amendments, including, but not limited to, 802.11ah, 802.11ad, 802.11ay, 802.11ax, 802.11az, 802.11ba, 802.11be, and 802.11bf, in addition to further amendments). WLAN 100 may include a number of wireless communication devices, such as access points (APs) 102 and multiple stations (STAs) 104. Although only one AP102 is shown, WLAN network 100 may include multiple AP102s.

[0034] Each of the STA104 may also be called a mobile station (MS), mobile device, mobile handset, wireless handset, access terminal (AT), user equipment (UE), subscriber station (SS), or subscriber unit, among other possible examples. The STA104 may represent a variety of devices, among other possible examples, such as mobile phones, personal digital assistants (PDAs), other handheld devices, netbooks, notebook computers, tablet computers, laptops, display devices (e.g., in particular TVs, computer monitors, navigation systems), music or other audio or stereo devices, remote control devices ("remote"), printers, kitchen appliances or other household appliances, key fobs (e.g., for passive keyless entry and start (PKES) systems).

[0035] A single AP102 and an associated set of STA104 may be referred to as a basic service set (BSS) managed by each AP102. Figure 1 also shows an exemplary coverage area 106 of AP102, which may represent the basic service area (BSA) of WLAN100. The BSS may be identified to users by a service set identifier (SSID) and to other devices by a basic service set identifier (BSSID), which may be the medium access control (MAC) address of AP102. AP102 periodically broadcasts beacon frames ("beacons") containing the BSSID to enable any STA104 within AP102's wireless range to "associate" or reassociate with AP102 to establish or maintain their respective communication links 108 (hereinafter also referred to as "Wi-Fi links"). For example, a beacon may include identification information for the primary channel used by each AP102, as well as a timing synchronization function for establishing or maintaining timing synchronization with the AP102. The AP102 may provide access to the external network to various STA104 within the WLAN via their respective communication links 108.

[0036] To establish a communication link 108 with AP102, each STA104 is configured to perform passive or active scanning operations ("scan") on a frequency channel within one or more frequency bands (e.g., 2.4 GHz, 5 GHz, 6 GHz, or 60 GHz bands). To perform a passive scan, the STA104 listens for beacons, which are transmitted by each AP102 at periodic time intervals called the Target Beacon Transmit Time (TBTT) (measured in units of time (TU), where 1 TU may be equal to 1024 microseconds (μs)). To perform an active scan, the STA104 generates probe requests, transmits them sequentially on each channel to be scanned, and listens for probe responses from AP102. Each STA104 may be configured to identify or select an AP102 to associate with based on scan information obtained through passive or active scanning, and to perform authentication and association operations to establish a communication link 108 with the selected AP102. The AP102 assigns an Association Identifier (AID) to the STA104 during the peak of the association operation, and the AP102 uses the AID to track the STA104.

[0037] As a result of the increased ubiquity of wireless networks, STA104 may have the opportunity to select one of many BSSs within the STA's range, or to select from multiple AP102s that together form an Extended Service Set (ESS) containing multiple connected BSSs. The Extended Network Station associated with WLAN100 may be connected to a wired or wireless distribution system that can enable multiple AP102s to be connected within such an ESS. Thus, STA104 can be covered by two or more AP102s and can be associated with different AP102s at different times for different transmissions. In addition, after association with an AP102, STA104 may also be configured to periodically scan its vicinity to find a more suitable AP102 to associate with. For example, STA104 working with its associated AP102 may perform a “roaming” scan to find another AP102 with more desirable network characteristics, such as a higher Received Signal Strength Indicator (RSSI) or lower traffic load.

[0038] In some cases, STA104 may form a network without AP102 or any other equipment other than the STA104 itself. An example of such a network is an ad-hoc network (or wireless ad-hoc network). Ad-hoc networks are sometimes referred to as mesh networks or peer-to-peer (P2P) networks. In some cases, an ad-hoc network may be implemented within a larger wireless network such as WLAN100. In such an implementation, STA104 may be able to communicate with each other through AP102 using communication link 108, but STA104 can also communicate directly with each other directly via wireless link 110. Furthermore, two STA104 may communicate directly via communication link 110, regardless of whether both STA104 are associated with and serviced by the same AP102. In such an ad-hoc system, one or more of the STA104 may assume the role previously played by AP102 in the BSS. Such an STA104 may be called a group owner (GO) and may coordinate transmissions within an ad-hoc network. Examples of direct wireless links 110 include Wi-Fi direct connections, connections established by using Wi-Fi Tunneled Direct Link Setup (TDLS) links, and other P2P group connections.

[0039] AP102 and STA104 can function and communicate (via their respective communication links 108) in accordance with the IEEE 802.11 wireless communication protocol standards (including, but not limited to, 802.11ah, 802.11ad, 802.11ay, 802.11ax, 802.11az, 802.11ba, 802.11be, and 802.11bf, as defined by the IEEE 802.11-2016 specification or its amendments). These standards define WLAN radio and baseband protocols for the PHY layer and the Media Access Control (MAC) layer. AP102 and STA104 transmit and receive wireless communication (hereinafter also referred to as "Wi-Fi communication") between themselves in the form of Physical Layer Convergence Protocol (PLCP) protocol data units (PPDUs). AP102 and STA104 within WLAN100 may transmit PPDUs over unlicensed spectrum, which may be a portion of the spectrum including frequency bands conventionally used by Wi-Fi technology, such as the 2.4GHz band, 5GHz band, 60GHz band, 3.6GHz band, and 900MHz band. Some implementations of AP102 and STA104 described herein may also communicate over other frequency bands, such as the 6GHz band, which may support both licensed and unlicensed communication. AP102 and STA104 may also be configured to communicate over other frequency bands, such as shared licensed frequency bands, in which case multiple operators may have licenses to operate on one or more of the same or overlapping frequency bands.

[0040] Each frequency band may contain multiple channels (which may be used as subchannels of larger bandwidth channels as described herein). For example, PPDUs compliant with the revised IEEE 802.11n, 802.11ac, and 802.11ax standards may be transmitted over the 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz bands, each divided into multiple 20 MHz channels. Thus, these PPDUs are transmitted over physical channels with a minimum bandwidth of 20 MHz, but can form larger channels through channel joining. For example, a PPDU may be transmitted over physical channels with bandwidths of 40 MHz, 80 MHz, 160 MHz, or 320 MHz by joining together multiple 20 MHz channels (which may be called subchannels).

[0041] Each PPDU is a composite structure containing a PHY preamble and payload in the form of a PLCP Service Data Unit (PSDU). Information provided within the preamble may be used by the receiving device to decode subsequent data in the PSDU. In examples where PPDUs are transmitted over combined channels, the preamble fields may be duplicated and transmitted in each of the multiple component channels. The PHY preamble may include both a first part (or "legacy preamble") and a second part (or "non-legacy preamble"). The first part may be used, among other uses, for packet discovery, automatic gain control, and channel estimation. The first part may also generally be used to maintain compatibility with legacy and non-legacy devices. The format of the second part of the preamble, its coding, and the information provided therein are based on a specific IEEE 802.11 protocol to be used to transmit the payload.

[0042] Figure 2 shows an exemplary protocol data unit (PDU) 200 that can be used for wireless communication between an AP and several STAs. For example, PDU 200 may be configured as a PPDU. As shown, PDU 200 includes a PHY preamble 201 and a PHY payload 204. For example, preamble 201 may include a first part 202 which itself includes a legacy short training field (L-STF) 206 which may consist of two BPSK symbols, a legacy long training field (L-LTF) 208 which may consist of two BPSK symbols, and a legacy signaling field (L-SIG) 210 which may consist of one BPSK symbol. The first part 202 of preamble 201 may be configured according to the IEEE 802.11a wireless communication protocol standard. The preamble 201 may also include a second part 203 containing one or more non-legacy signal fields 212 that conform to an IEEE wireless communication protocol, such as IEEE 802.11ac, 802.11ax, 802.11be, or later wireless communication protocol standards.

[0043] The L-STF206 generally allows the receiving device to perform automatic gain control (AGC) and coarse timing and frequency estimation. The L-LTF208 generally allows the receiving device to perform fine timing and frequency estimation and also allows for initial estimation of the wireless channel. The L-SIG210 generally allows the receiving device to determine the time length of a PDU and use the determined time length to avoid transmitting over the PDU. For example, the L-STF206, L-LTF208, and L-SIG210 may be modulated according to a two-phase-shift keying (BPSK) modulation scheme. The payload 204 may be modulated according to a BPSK modulation scheme, a quadrature BPSK (Q-BPSK) modulation scheme, a quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) modulation scheme, or another suitable modulation scheme. The payload 204 may include a PSDU containing a data field (DATA) 214, which may carry higher-layer data, for example, in the form of a Media Access Control (MAC) Protocol Data Unit (MPDU) or an Aggregate MPDU (A-MPDU).

[0044] Figure 2 also shows an exemplary L-SIG210 within the PDU200. The L-SIG210 includes a data rate field 222, reserved bits 224, a length field 226, parity bits 228, and a tail field 230. The data rate field 222 indicates the data rate (note that the data rate indicated in the data rate field 222 may not be the actual data rate of the data carried in the payload 204). The length field 226 indicates the length of the packet, for example, in symbols or bytes. The parity bits 228 may be used to detect bit errors. The tail field 230 includes tail bits that may be used by the receiving device to terminate the operation of the decoder (e.g., a Viterbi decoder). The receiving device may use the data rate and length indicated in the data rate field 222 and the length field 226 to determine the time length of the packet, for example, in microseconds (μs) or other units of time.

[0045] Figure 3A shows another exemplary PDU 300 usable for wireless communication between an AP and several STAs. The PDU 300 includes a PHY preamble, which includes a first part 302 and a second part 304. The PDU 300 may further include a PHY payload 306, followed by a preamble in the form of a PSDU, which includes, for example, a DATA field 322. The first part 302 of the preamble includes L-STF 308, L-LTF 310, and L-SIG 312. The second part 304 of the preamble and the DATA field 322 may be formatted as a Very High Efficiency (VHT) preamble and frame, respectively, in accordance with the IEEE 802.11ac amendment to the IEEE 802.11 wireless communication protocol standard. The second part 304 includes a first VHT signal field (VHT-SIG-A) 314, a VHT short training field (VHT-ST) 316, several VHT long training fields (VHT-LTF) 318, and a second VHT signal field (VHT-SIG-B) 320 encoded separately from VHT-SIG-A 314. In examples involving the use of combined channels, such as L-STF 308, L-LTF 310, and L-SIG 312, the information in VHT-SIG-A 314 may be duplicated and transmitted within each of the component 20 MHz subchannels.

[0046] VHT-STF316 may be used to improve automatic gain control estimation within MIMO transmissions. VHT-LTF318 may be used for MIMO channel estimation and pilot subcarrier tracking. The preamble may include one VHT-LTF318 for each spatial stream in which the preamble is transmitted. VHT-SIG-A314 may indicate to VHT-compliant AP102 and STA104 that a PPDU is a VHT PPDU. VHT-SIG-A314 includes signaling information and other information available to STA104 for decoding VHT-SIG-B320. VHT-SIG-A314 includes the packet bandwidth (BW), the presence of spatiotemporal block coding (STBC), and the number of spatiotemporal streams per user N. STS The DATA field 322 may include a Group ID indicating the location of the group and user assigned to the STA, a partial association identifier which may be a combination of AID and BSSID, a Short Guard Interval (GI) indication, single-user / multi-user (SU / MU) coding indicating whether convolutional coding or LDPC coding is used, modulation and coding scheme (MCS), an indication of whether a beamforming matrix was applied to the transmission, cyclic redundancy check (CRC), and a tail. The VHT-SIG-B320 may be used for MU transmission and may include the actual data rate and MPDU or A-MPDU length values ​​for each of the multiple STAs 104, as well as signaling information available to the STA 104 for decoding the received data, for example, MCS and beamforming information.

[0047] Figure 3B shows another exemplary PDU 350 usable for wireless communication between an AP and several STAs. The PDU 350 may be used for MU-OFDMA or MU-MIMO transmission. The PDU 350 includes a PHY preamble comprising a first part 352 and a second part 354. The PDU 350 may further include a PHY payload 356, followed by a preamble in the form of a PSDU, for example, including a DATA field 374. The first part 352 includes L-STF 358, L-LTF 360, and L-SIG 362. The second part 354 and the DATA field 374 of the preamble may be formatted as a High Efficiency (HE)WLAN preamble and frame, respectively, in accordance with the IEEE 802.11ax amendment to the IEEE 802.11 wireless communication protocol standard. The second portion 354 includes a repeating legacy signal field (RL-SIG) 364, a first HE signal field (HE-SIG-A) 366, a second HE signal field (HE-SIG-B) 368 encoded separately from HE-SIG-A366, an HE short training field (HE-STF) 370, and several HE long training fields (HE-LTF) 372. Information within RL-SIG364 and HE-SIG-A366, such as L-STF358, L-LTF360, and L-SIG362, may be duplicated and transmitted in each of the component 20MHz subchannels in cases involving the use of joined channels. In contrast, HE-SIG-B368 may be specific to each 20MHz subchannel and may target a particular STA104.

[0048] RL-SIG364 may indicate to an HE-compliant STA104 that a PPDU is an HE PPDU. AP102 may use HE-SIG-A366 to identify multiple STA104s and inform them that AP has scheduled UL or DL ​​resources for those multiple STA104s. HE-SIG-A366 can be decoded by each HE-compliant STA104 served by AP102. HE-SIG-A366 contains information available to each identified STA104 for decoding the relevant HE-SIG-B368. For example, HE-SIG-A366 may indicate the frame format, including the location and length of HE-SIG-B368, available channel bandwidth, and modulation and coding scheme (MCS), among other possibilities. HE-SIG-A366 may also contain HE WLAN signaling information available to some STA104s other than the identified STA104.

[0049] HE-SIG-B368 may carry STA-specific scheduling information, such as per-user MCS values ​​and per-user RU allocation information. In the context of DL MU-OFDMA, such information allows each STA104 to identify and decode the corresponding RU in the relevant data field. Each HE-SIG-B368 contains a common field and at least one STA-specific ("user-specific") field. The common field may, among other possibilities, show the RU distribution to multiple STA104s, indicate the allocation of RUs in the frequency domain, indicate which RUs are allocated for MU-MIMO transmissions and which RUs correspond to MU-OFDMA transmissions, and indicate the number of users in the allocation. The common field may be encoded with a common bit, a CRC bit, and a tail bit. The user-specific field may be assigned to a specific STA104 and used to schedule a specific RU and to show that scheduling to other WLAN devices. Each user-specific field may contain multiple user block fields (which may be followed by padding). Each user block field may contain two user fields, each containing information for each of the two STAs to decode their respective RU payloads in the DATA field 374.

[0050] Figure 4 shows an exemplary PPDU 400 that can be used for communication between AP 102 and several STA 104s. As described herein, each PPDU 400 includes a PHY preamble 402 and a PSDU 404. Each PSDU 404 may carry one or more MAC protocol data units (MPDUs). For example, each PSDU 404 may carry an A-MPDU 408 which contains an aggregation of multiple aggregated MPDU (A-MPDU) subframes 406. Each A-MPDU subframe 406 may include a MAC delimiter 410 and a MAC header 412 before an accompanying MPDU 414 which contains the data portion of the A-MPDU subframe 406 ("payload" or "frame body"). The MPDU 414 may carry one or more MAC service data unit (MSDU) subframes 416. For example, MPDU414 can carry an aggregated MSDU (A-MSDU)418 containing multiple MSDU subframes 416. Each MSDU subframe 416 contains a corresponding MSDU 420, preceded by a subframe header 422.

[0051] Referring again to the A-MPDU subframe 406, the MAC header 412 may include several fields that store information defining or indicating the characteristics or attributes of the data encapsulated within the frame body 414. The MAC header 412 also includes several fields that indicate the address for the data encapsulated within the frame body 414. For example, the MAC header 412 may include a combination of a source address, a transmitter address, a receiver address, or a destination address. The MAC header 412 may also include a frame control field that stores control information. The frame control field specifies the frame type, for example, a data frame, a control frame, or a management frame. The MAC header 412 may further include a time length field that indicates the time length extending from the end of the PPDU until the end of the last acknowledgment (ACK) of the PPDU to be transmitted by the wireless communication device (for example, a block ACK (BA) in the case of A-MPDU). The time length field works to ensure that the wireless medium is held for the indicated time length, and thus the NAV is established. Each A-MPDU subframe 406 may also include a frame check sequence (FCS) field 424 for error detection. For example, FCS field 424 may include a cyclic redundancy check (CRC).

[0052] As described herein, AP102 and STA104 can support multi-user (MU) communication, i.e., simultaneous transmission from one device to each of several devices (e.g., multiple simultaneous downlink (DL) communications from AP102 to the corresponding STA104), or simultaneous transmission from multiple devices to a single device (e.g., multiple simultaneous uplink (UL) transmissions from the corresponding STA104 to AP102). To support MU transmission, AP102 and STA104 may utilize multi-user multiple-input multiple-output (MU-MIMO) techniques and multi-user orthogonal frequency-division multiple access (MU-OFDMA) techniques.

[0053] In the MU-OFDMA scheme, the available frequency spectrum of a wireless channel may be divided into multiple resource units (RUs), each containing several different frequency subcarriers ("tones"). Different RUs may be allocated or assigned by the AP102 to different STA104s at a given time. The size and distribution of RUs may be referred to as RU allocation. In some implementations, RUs may be allocated at 2MHz intervals, so the smallest RU may contain 26 tones, consisting of 24 data tones and 2 pilot tones. As a result, a 20MHz channel may have up to 9 RUs allocated (such as a 2MHz, 26-tone RU), as some tones are reserved for other purposes. Similarly, a 160MHz channel may have up to 74 RUs allocated. Larger RUs of 52, 106, 242, 484, and 996 tones may also be allocated. For example, to reduce interference between adjacent RUs, to reduce the DC offset of the receiver, and to avoid leakage of the transmit center frequency, adjacent RUs may be separated by null subcarriers (such as DC subcarriers).

[0054] In the case of UL MU transmission, AP102 may send a trigger frame to initiate and synchronize UL MU-OFDMA or UL MU-MIMO transmissions from multiple STA104 to AP102. Such a trigger frame may allow multiple STA104 to send UL traffic to AP102 simultaneously. The trigger frame may address one or more STA104 via their respective association identifiers (AIDs), and may assign one or more RUs to each AID (and therefore each STA104) that can be used to send UL traffic to AP102. AP may also specify one or more random access (RA) RUs that unscheduled STA104s may compete for.

[0055] An AP and a STA that include multiple antennas may support various diversity schemes. For example, spatial diversity may be used by one or both of the transmitting device or the receiving device to enhance the robustness of transmission. For example, to implement a transmit diversity scheme, the transmitting device may transmit the same data redundantly via two or more antennas. An AP and a STA that include multiple antennas may also support space-time block coding (STBC). Using STBC, the transmitting device also transmits multiple copies of the data stream across several antennas in order to utilize the various received versions of the data to increase the likelihood of correctly decoding the data. More specifically, the data stream to be transmitted is encoded within multiple blocks, and the multiple blocks are distributed over time among the antennas spaced apart from each other. Generally, STBC may be used when the number N Tx of spatial streams is greater than the number N SS as described herein. N SS spatial streams may be mapped to N STS space-time streams, and the space-time streams are mapped to N Tx transmit chains.

[0056] An AP and a STA that include multiple antennas may also support spatial multiplexing, and spatial multiplexing may be used to increase spectral efficiency and the resulting transmission throughput. To implement spatial multiplexing, the transmitting device divides the data stream into N SS separate and independent spatial streams. The spatial streams are encoded separately and transmitted in parallel via multiple N Tx transmit antennas. If the transmitting device includes N Tx transmit antennas and the receiving device includes N Rx receive antennas, the maximum number N SS of spatial streams that the transmitting device can transmit to the receiving device simultaneously is N Tx and N RxIt is limited by the smaller of the two. In some implementations, AP102 and STA104 may be able to implement both transmit diversity and spatial multiplexing. For example, the number of spatial streams N SS The number of transmitting antennas N Tx In smaller examples, spatial streams can be multiplexed by spatial augmentation matrices to achieve transmit diversity.

[0057] APs and STAs with multiple antennas can also support beamforming. Beamforming refers to concentrating the energy of a transmission in the direction of a target receiver. Beamforming can be used both in a single-user context, for example, to improve the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), and in a multi-user (MU) context, for example, to enable MU-MIMO (Multi-Input Multiple-Output) transmission (also known as Spatial Division Multiple Access (SDMA)). To perform beamforming, a transmitting device called a beamformer transmits signals from each of several antennas. The beamformer configures amplitude and phase shifts between signals transmitted from different antennas so that the signals are actively amplified along a specific direction toward the target receiver, called the beamformee. The way in which the beamformer configures the amplitude and phase shifts depends on channel status information (CSI) associated with the wireless channel that the beamformer intends to communicate with the beamformee.

[0058] To obtain the CSI required for beamforming, the beamformer may perform a channel sounding procedure together with the beamformee. For example, the beamformer may send one or more sounding signals (for example, in the form of null data packets (NDPs)) to the beamformee. The beamformee then sends N signals corresponding to all of the transmitting antennas. Tx ×N RxMeasurements are performed for each of the subchannels, and the antenna pair may be received based on the sounding signal. The beamformer generates a feedback matrix based on the channel measurements and generally compresses the feedback matrix before sending the feedback to the beamformer. The beamformer generates a precoding (or "steering") matrix for the beamformer based on the feedback and may use the steering matrix to precode the data stream and configure the amplitude and phase shifts for subsequent transmissions to the beamformer.

[0059] As described herein, the transmitting device may support the use of a diversity scheme. When beamforming is performed, the transmit beamforming array gain is N SS N for Tx It is logarithmically proportional to the ratio of . Therefore, when beamforming is performed to increase the gain, the number of transmitting antennas N Tx Increasing the number of transmitting antennas is generally desirable within other constraints. It is also possible to direct transmissions more precisely by increasing the number of transmitting antennas. This is particularly advantageous in the context of MU transmission, where reducing inter-user interference is especially important.

[0060] Figure 5 shows a block diagram of an exemplary wireless communication device 500. In some implementations, the wireless communication device 500 may be an example of a device for use in an STA, such as one of the STA104 described above with reference to Figure 1. In some implementations, the wireless communication device 500 may be an example of a device for use in an AP, such as the AP102 described above with reference to Figure 1. The wireless communication device 500 is capable of transmitting (or outputting for transmission) and receiving wireless communications (for example, in the form of wireless packets). For example, the wireless communication device may be configured to transmit and receive packets in the form of PPDU and MPDU compliant with the IEEE 802.11 standard, such as the IEEE 802.11-2016 specification, or, but not limited to, 802.11ah, 802.11ad, 802.11ay, 802.11ax, 802.11az, 802.11ba, and 802.11be, as defined by their revisions.

[0061] The wireless communication device 500 may be a package or device including a chip, a system-on-a-chip (SoC), a chipset, and one or more modems 502, such as Wi-Fi (IEEE 802.11 compliant) modems, or may include them. In some implementations, one or more modems 502 (collectively, “modem 502”) may also include a WWAN modem (e.g., a 3GPP 4G LTE or 5G compliant modem). In some implementations, the wireless communication device 500 may also include one or more radios 504 (collectively, “radio 504”). In some implementations, the wireless communication device 506 may further include one or more processors, processing blocks or processing elements 506 (collectively, “processor 506”), and one or more memory blocks or elements 508 (collectively, “memory 508”).

[0062] The modem 502 may include, for example, intelligent hardware blocks or devices such as application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs), among other candidates. The modem 502 is generally configured to implement a PHY layer. For example, the modem 502 is configured to modulate packets for transmission over a wireless medium and output the modulated packets to the radio 504. The modem 502 is similarly configured to acquire the modulated packets received by the radio 504, demodulate the packets, and provide the demodulated packets. In addition to the modulator and demodulator, the modem 502 may further include digital signal processing (DSP) circuit configurations, automatic gain control (AGC), a coder, a decoder, a multiplexer, and a demultiplexer. For example, while in transmit mode, data acquired from the processor 506 is provided to the coder, which encodes the data to provide encoded bits. The encoded bits are then mapped (using a selected MCS) to points in a modulation constellation to provide modulated symbols. The modulated symbols are then N SS A number of spatial streams or N STS It can be mapped to a number of spatiotemporal streams. Then, each spatial stream or modulated symbol in the spatiotemporal stream can be multiplexed, transformed via an inverse fast Fourier transform (IFFT) block, and subsequently provided to a DSP circuit for Tx windowing and filtering. The digital signal can then be provided to a digital-to-analog converter (DAC). The resulting analog signal can then be provided to a frequency upconverter and finally to the radio 504. In implementations with beamforming, the modulated symbol in each spatial stream is precoded via a steering matrix prior to being provided to the IFFT block.

[0063] While in receive mode, the digital signal received from the radio 504 is supplied to a DSP circuit, which is configured to acquire the received signal, for example, by detecting the presence of the signal and estimating the initial timing and frequency offset. The DSP circuit is further configured to digitally adjust the digital signal, for example, by using channel (narrowband) filtering, analog fault correction (such as correcting I / Q imbalance), and by applying digital gain to finally acquire the narrowband signal. The output of the DSP circuit may then be supplied to an AGC, which is configured to use information extracted from the digital signal in one or more received training fields to determine an appropriate gain, for example. The output of the DSP circuit may also be coupled to a demodulator, which is configured to extract modulated symbols from the signal and calculate, for example, the log-likelihood ratio (LLR) for each bit position of each subcarrier in each spatial stream. The demodulator may then be coupled to a decoder, which may be configured to process the LLR and provide the decoded bits. The decoded bits from all of the spatial streams are then supplied to a demultiplexer for demultiplexing. The demultiplexed bits can then be descrambled and provided to the MAC layer (processor 506) for processing, evaluation, or interpretation.

[0064] The radio 504 generally includes at least one radio frequency (RF) transmitter (or “transmitter chain”) which may be combined with one or more transceivers, and at least one RF receiver (or “receiver chain”). For example, the RF transmitter and RF receiver may each include various DSP circuits, each including at least one power amplifier (PA) and at least one low-noise amplifier (LNA). The RF transmitter and RF receiver may then be coupled to one or more antennas. For example, in some implementations, the wireless communication device 500 may include, or be coupled with, a plurality of transmitting antennas (each having a corresponding transmitting chain) and a plurality of receiving antennas (each having a corresponding receiving chain). A symbol output from the modem 502 is provided to the radio 504, which then transmits the symbol via the coupled antennas. Similarly, a symbol received via the antennas is acquired by the radio 504, which then provides the symbol to the modem 502.

[0065] The processor 506 may include, for example, intelligent hardware blocks or devices such as processing cores, processing blocks, central processing units (CPUs), microprocessors, microcontrollers, digital signal processors (DSPs), application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs), programmable logic devices (PLDs) such as field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), discrete gate or transistor logic, discrete hardware components, or any combination thereof designed to perform the functions described herein. The processor 506 processes information received through the radio 504 and modem 502 and processes information to be output through the modem 502 and radio 504 for transmission over a wireless medium. For example, the processor 506 may implement a control plane and a MAC layer configured to perform various operations relating to the generation and transmission of MPDUs, frames, or packets. Among the operations or techniques, the MAC layer may be configured to perform or facilitate frame coding and decoding, spatial multiplexing, spatiotemporal block coding (STBC), beamforming, and OFDMA resource allocation. In some implementations, the processor 506 can generally control the modem 502 to cause the modem to perform the various operations described above.

[0066] Memory 508 may include tangible storage media such as random access memory (RAM) or read-only memory (ROM) or a combination thereof. Memory 508 may also store non-temporary processor or computer executable software (SW) code, which, when executed by processor 506, causes the processor to perform various operations for wireless communication described herein, including generating, transmitting, receiving, and interpreting MPDUs, frames, or packets. For example, various functions of the components disclosed herein, or various blocks or steps of the methods, operations, processes, or algorithms disclosed herein, may be implemented as one or more modules of one or more computer programs.

[0067] Figure 6A shows a block diagram of an exemplary AP602. For example, AP602 may be an exemplary implementation of AP102 described with reference to Figure 1. AP602 includes a wireless communications device (WCD) 610. For example, the wireless communications device 610 may be an exemplary implementation of the wireless communications device 500 described with reference to Figure 5. AP602 also includes a number of antennas 620 coupled with the wireless communications device 610 for transmitting and receiving wireless communications. In some implementations, AP602 further includes an application processor 630 coupled with the wireless communications device 610 and memory 640 coupled with the application processor 630. AP602 further includes at least one external network interface 650 that enables AP602 to communicate with a core network or backhaul network to obtain access to an external network, including the Internet. For example, the external network interface 650 may include one or both of a wired (e.g., Ethernet) network interface and a wireless network interface (such as a WWAN interface). One of the aforementioned components can communicate directly with another component, or indirectly, via at least one bus. The AP602 further includes a housing that encompasses a wireless communication device 610, an application processor 630, memory 640, at least a portion of an antenna 620, and an external network interface 650.

[0068] Figure 6B shows a block diagram of an exemplary STA604. For example, STA604 may be an exemplary implementation of STA104 described with reference to Figure 1. STA604 includes a wireless communication device 615. For example, the wireless communication device 615 may be an exemplary implementation of the wireless communication device 500 described with reference to Figure 5. STA604 also includes one or more antennas 625 coupled with the wireless communication device 615 for transmitting and receiving wireless communications. STA604 further includes an application processor 635 coupled with the wireless communication device 615 and a memory 645 coupled with the application processor 635. In some implementations, STA604 further includes a user interface (UI) 655 (such as a touchscreen or keypad) and a display 665 which can be integrated with the UI 655 to form a touchscreen display. In some implementations, STA604 may further include one or more sensors 675, such as one or more inertial sensors, accelerometers, temperature sensors, pressure sensors, or altitude sensors. One of the aforementioned components can communicate directly with another component, or indirectly, via at least one bus. The STA604 further includes a housing that encompasses a wireless communication device 615, an application processor 635, memory 645, at least a portion of an antenna 625, a UI 655, and a display 665.

[0069] Figure 7 shows an exemplary tone map 700 usable for OFDMA transmission over an 80 MHz bandwidth. In some examples, the tone map 700 may be defined by the IEEE 802.11ax amendment to the IEEE 802.11 wireless communication standard. The 80 MHz bandwidth may be divided into a different number of RUs based on the size of the RUs. As shown, the tone map 700 includes six tone plans: the first tone plan 721 includes 36 RUs, each spanning 26 tones ("RU26"); the second tone plan 722 includes 18 RUs, each spanning 52 tones ("RU52"); the third tone plan 723 includes 9 RUs, each spanning 106 tones ("RU106"); the fourth tone plan 724 includes 4 RUs, each spanning 242 tones ("RU242"); the fifth tone plan 725 includes 2 RUs, each spanning 484 tones ("RU484"); and the sixth tone plan 726 includes 1 RU, each spanning 996 tones ("RU996"). Each RU26 contains 24 data subcarriers and 2 pilot subcarriers, each RU52 contains 48 data subcarriers and 4 pilot subcarriers, each RU106 contains 102 data subcarriers and 4 pilot subcarriers, each RU242 contains 234 data subcarriers and 8 pilot subcarriers, each RU484 contains 468 data subcarriers and 16 pilot subcarriers, and each RU996 contains 980 data subcarriers and 16 pilot subcarriers.

[0070] Each of tone plans 721 to 726 can be divided into a lower 40MHz section 701 and an upper 40MHz section 702. Each of the lower 40MHz section 701 and upper 40MHz section 702 of tone plans 721 to 725 can be separated by 23 DC tones, and each of the lower 40MHz section 701 and upper 40MHz section 702 of tone plan 726 can be separated by 5 DC tones. In addition, each of the lower 40MHz section 701 of tone plans 721 to 725 can be divided into first and second 20MHz sections separated by 5 null subcarriers, and each of the upper 40MHz section 702 of tone plans 721 to 725 can be divided into third and fourth 20MHz sections separated by 5 null subcarriers.

[0071] As described above, channel puncturing allows a wireless communication device to transmit or receive wireless communications on some portions of a wireless channel while excluding other portions of the wireless channel from transmitting or receiving wireless communications. A wireless communication device (such as an AP or STA) may puncture one or more subchannels of a wireless channel to avoid interference with an existing system that occupies one or more subchannels. For example, if an AP determines that a 20 MHz subchannel of a 160 MHz wireless channel is occupied by an existing system, the AP may puncture the 20 MHz subchannel to still utilize the other uncropped 140 MHz bandwidth of the wireless channel while avoiding interference associated with the existing system. Puncturing patterns can be used to specify or indicate the punctured 20 MHz subchannel and the uncropped 140 MHz subchannel of a 160 MHz wireless channel. In some implementations, the puncturing pattern may be represented using a bitmap containing multiple bits, where each bit of the bitmap indicates whether a corresponding subchannel of a wireless channel is punctured (or not punctured). While such a bitmap is described herein as indicating which subchannel of the wireless channel is punctured, in some other implementations, the bitmap described herein may indicate whether a corresponding RU or group of RUs of a frequency bandwidth is punctured (or not punctured).

[0072] One wireless communication protocol release specifies a set of 44 puncturing patterns that can be used for puncturing wireless channels with 80MHz, 160MHz, and 320MHz bandwidths, and adjacent bandwidths of 20MHz, 40MHz, 80MHz, 160MHz, or 320MHz. A set of puncturing patterns may include four puncturing patterns representing 20 MHz punctured subchannels of different types within an 80 MHz bandwidth, eight puncturing patterns representing 20 MHz punctured subchannels of different types within a 160 MHz bandwidth, four puncturing patterns representing 40 MHz punctured subchannels of different types within a 160 MHz bandwidth, eight puncturing patterns representing 40 MHz punctured subchannels of different types within a 320 MHz bandwidth, four puncturing patterns representing 80 MHz punctured subchannels of different types within a 320 MHz bandwidth, and twelve puncturing patterns representing 80 + 40 MHz punctured subchannels of different types within a 320 MHz bandwidth. In some examples, a wireless communications protocol release may be the first release (Release 1) of an amendment (or earlier amendment) to the IEEE 802.11 wireless communications standard, IEEE 802.11be.

[0073] In some implementations, a 4-bit or 8-bit bitmap may be used to indicate which (if any) of the puncturing patterns defined by the wireless communication protocol release is used for channel puncturing. For example, Figure 8A shows different configurations of a 4-bit bitmap 800 that may be used to indicate various puncturing patterns for 20MHz, 40MHz, and 80MHz bandwidths. As used herein, a bit value of "x" indicates that the corresponding subchannel is punctured, and a bit value of "1" indicates that the corresponding subchannel is not punctured. For example, bitmap 800 with index 0, indicated as

[1111] , indicates adjacent 20MHz or 40MHz bandwidths. Bitmap 800 with index 1, indicated as

[1111] , indicates that neither of the 80MHz frequency bandwidths is punctured. Bitmap 800 with index 2, indicated as [x111], indicates that the first 20MHz subchannel of the 80MHz bandwidth is punctured. Bitmap 800 with index 3, indicated as [1x11], indicates that the second 20MHz subchannel of the 80MHz bandwidth is punctured. Bitmap 800 with index 4, indicated as [11x1], indicates that the third 20MHz subchannel of the 80MHz bandwidth is punctured. Bitmap 800 with index 5, indicated as [111x], indicates that the fourth 20MHz subchannel of the 80MHz bandwidth is punctured.

[0074] Figure 8B shows different configurations of an 8-bit bitmap 810 that can be used to illustrate various puncturing patterns for a 160MHz bandwidth. Bitmap 810 with index 0, indicated as [11111111], indicates that none of the subchannels of the 160MHz bandwidth are punctured. Bitmap 810 can have eight additional index values ​​1 to 8, indicating corresponding puncturing patterns that puncture different 20MHz subchannels of the 160MHz bandwidth. For example, bitmap 810 with index 1, indicated as [x1111111], indicates that the first 20MHz subchannel of the 160MHz bandwidth is punctured, bitmap 810 with index 2, indicated as [1x111111], indicates that the second 20MHz subchannel of the 160MHz bandwidth is punctured, bitmap 810 with index 3, indicated as [11x11111], indicates that the third 20MHz subchannel of the 160MHz bandwidth is punctured, and so on.

[0075] Bitmap 810 may have four additional index values ​​9-12 that indicate corresponding puncturing patterns that puncture different 40MHz subchannels of a 160MHz bandwidth, where the presence of adjacent "x" bits in each configuration of bitmap 810 indicates that adjacent 20MHz subchannels of the 160MHz bandwidth are punctured (thus resulting in adjacent 40MHz punctured subchannels). For example, bitmap 810 with index 9, indicated as [xx111111], indicates that the first and second 20MHz subchannels of the 160MHz bandwidth are punctured, bitmap 810 with index 10, indicated as [11xx1111], indicates that the third and fourth 20MHz subchannels of the 160MHz bandwidth are punctured, and so on.

[0076] Figure 8C shows different configurations of an 8-bit bitmap 820 that can be used to illustrate various puncturing patterns for a 320MHz bandwidth. Bitmap 820 with index 0, indicated as [11111111], indicates that none of the subchannels of the 320MHz bandwidth are punctured. Bitmap 820 can have eight additional index values ​​1 to 8, indicating corresponding puncturing patterns that puncture different 40MHz subchannels of the 320MHz bandwidth. For example, bitmap 820 with index 1, indicated as [x1111111], indicates that the first 40MHz subchannel of the 320MHz bandwidth is punctured, bitmap 820 with index 2, indicated as [1x111111], indicates that the second 40MHz subchannel of the 320MHz bandwidth is punctured, bitmap 820 with index 3, indicated as [11x11111], indicates that the third 40MHz subchannel of the 320MHz bandwidth is punctured, and so on.

[0077] Bitmap 820 may have four additional index values ​​9 to 12 that indicate corresponding puncturing patterns that puncture different 80 MHz subchannels of a 320 MHz bandwidth. For example, bitmap 820 with index 9, indicated as [xx111111], indicates that the first and second 40 MHz subchannels of the 320 MHz bandwidth are punctured (thus resulting in an adjacent 80 MHz punctured subchannel), and bitmap 820 with index 10, indicated as [11xx1111], indicates that the third and fourth 40 MHz subchannels of the 320 MHz bandwidth are punctured (thus resulting in an adjacent 80 MHz punctured subchannel), and so on.

[0078] The bitmap 820 may have 12 additional index values ​​13-24 that indicate corresponding puncturing patterns that puncture different 80+40MHz subchannels of the 320MHz bandwidth, and the presence of non-adjacent "x" bits in each configuration of the bitmap 820 indicates that non-adjacent 40MHz subchannels of the 320MHz bandwidth are punctured. For example, bitmap 820 with index 13, indicated as [xxx11111], indicates that the first, second, and third 40MHz subchannels of a 320MHz bandwidth are punctured (thus resulting in an adjacent punctured 120MHz subchannel), bitmap 820 with index 14, indicated as [xx1x1111], indicates that the first, second, and fourth 40MHz subchannels of a 320MHz bandwidth are punctured, bitmap 19, indicated as [x11111xx], indicates that the first, seventh, and eighth 40MHz subchannels of a 320MHz bandwidth are punctured, bitmap 20, indicated as [1x1111xx], indicates that the second, seventh, and eighth 40MHz subchannels of a 320MHz bandwidth are punctured, and so on.

[0079] As explained, new WLAN communication protocols enable access to a wider range of bandwidth, so new or additional channel puncturing patterns may be needed to efficiently utilize wider channel bandwidth. Wider channel bandwidth can also be efficiently utilized by defining new puncturing patterns with smaller puncturing granularity than existing puncturing patterns. For example, while existing puncturing patterns may indicate whether some 40MHz or 80MHz subchannels of a 320MHz frequency bandwidth are punctured, a new puncturing pattern could similarly indicate whether some 20MHz subchannels of a 320MHz frequency bandwidth are punctured.

[0080] These new or additional puncturing patterns may increase the number of different puncturing patterns available to a wireless communication device, which may then specify both the number and size of bitmaps used to indicate which puncturing patterns from the set are used for channel puncturing. A wireless communication device configured to operate according to one wireless communication protocol release that specifies a relatively small set of puncturing patterns cannot decode a larger bitmap associated with another wireless communication protocol release that specifies a relatively large set of puncturing patterns. Moreover, the wireless communication device may be unaware of new or additional puncturing patterns specified by other wireless communication protocol releases.

[0081] To ensure compatibility between wireless communication devices configured to operate according to different wireless communication protocol releases that specify a different number or configuration of puncturing patterns, aspects of the present disclosure provide a mechanism that allows a wireless communication device operating according to one wireless communication protocol release to determine or derive a puncturing pattern specified by another wireless communication protocol release.

[0082] Figure 9 shows a set of 900 exemplary puncturing patterns usable for wireless transmission over an 80 MHz frequency bandwidth according to one wireless communication protocol release. In some examples, the set of 900 puncturing patterns may be specified by Release 1 of the IEEE 802.11be amendment. The set of 900 puncturing patterns includes four puncturing patterns, each having bitmap indices 1-4 corresponding to bitmaps 1-4 in Figure 8A. Each of the four puncturing patterns represents a different 20 MHz subchannel of the 80 MHz frequency bandwidth to be punctured. For example, a first puncturing pattern with bitmap index 1 indicates that the first 20MHz subchannel is punctured, a second puncturing pattern with bitmap index 2 indicates that the second 20MHz subchannel is punctured, a third puncturing pattern with bitmap index 3 indicates that the third 20MHz subchannel is punctured, and a fourth puncturing pattern with bitmap index 4 indicates that the fourth 20MHz subchannel is punctured.

[0083] Figure 10A shows a set of 1000A exemplary puncturing patterns usable for wireless transmission over a 160MHz bandwidth according to one wireless communication protocol release. In some examples, set 1000A of puncturing patterns may be specified by Release 1 of the IEEE 802.11be amendment. Set 1000A of puncturing patterns includes eight puncturing patterns, each having bitmap indices 1-8 corresponding to bitmaps 1-8 in Figure 8B. Each of the eight puncturing patterns represents a different 20MHz subchannel of the 160MHz frequency bandwidth to be punctured. For example, a first puncturing pattern with bitmap index 1 indicates that the first 20MHz subchannel is punctured, a second puncturing pattern with bitmap index 2 indicates that the second 20MHz subchannel is punctured, a third puncturing pattern with bitmap index 3 indicates that the third 20MHz subchannel is punctured, and so on, where an eighth puncturing pattern with bitmap index 8 indicates that the eighth 20MHz subchannel is punctured.

[0084] Figure 10B shows a set of 1000B of exemplary puncturing patterns usable for wireless transmission over a 160MHz bandwidth according to one wireless communication protocol release. In some examples, set 1000B of puncturing patterns may be specified by Release 1 of the amendment to IEEE 802.11be. Set 1000B of puncturing patterns includes four puncturing patterns, each having bitmap indices 9-12 corresponding to bitmaps 9-12 in Figure 8B. Each of the four puncturing patterns represents a different 40MHz subchannel of the 160MHz frequency bandwidth to be punctured. For example, a first puncturing pattern with bitmap index 9 indicates that the first 40MHz subchannel is punctured, a second puncturing pattern with bitmap index 10 indicates that the second 40MHz subchannel is punctured, a third puncturing pattern with bitmap index 11 indicates that the third 40MHz subchannel is punctured, and a fourth puncturing pattern with bitmap index 12 indicates that the fourth 40MHz subchannel is punctured.

[0085] Figure 11A shows an exemplary set of puncturing patterns 1100A that can be used for wireless transmission over a 320 MHz bandwidth according to one wireless communication protocol release. In some examples, the set of puncturing patterns 1100A may be specified by Release 1 of the IEEE 802.11be amendment. The set of puncturing patterns 1100A includes eight puncturing patterns, each having bitmap indices 1 to 8 corresponding to bitmaps 1 to 8 in Figure 8C. Each of the eight puncturing patterns represents a different 40 MHz subchannel of the 320 MHz frequency bandwidth to be punctured. For example, a first puncturing pattern with bitmap index 1 indicates that the first 40MHz subchannel is punctured, a second puncturing pattern with bitmap index 2 indicates that the second 40MHz subchannel is punctured, a third puncturing pattern with bitmap index 3 indicates that the third 40MHz subchannel is punctured, and so on, where an eighth puncturing pattern with bitmap index 8 indicates that the eighth 40MHz subchannel is punctured.

[0086] Figure 11B shows a set of exemplary puncturing patterns 1100B that can be used for wireless transmission over a 320 MHz bandwidth according to a different wireless communications protocol release. In some examples, set 1100B of puncturing patterns may be specified by a second release (Release 2) of the amendment to IEEE 802.11be. Set 1100B of puncturing patterns includes eight puncturing patterns having bitmap indices 1 to 8 that represent different 40 MHz subchannels of the 320 MHz frequency bandwidth to be punctured. Six puncturing patterns having bitmap indices 3 to 8 are the same as the six corresponding puncturing patterns in Figure 11A, each having bitmap indices 3 to 8.

[0087] However, the first and second puncturing patterns in Figure 11B, which have bitmap indices 1 and 2 respectively, are not the same as the first and second puncturing patterns in Figure 11A. For example, the first puncturing pattern in Figure 11B includes an unpunctured 20MHz subchannel 1101 that is not included in the first puncturing pattern in Figure 11A, and the second puncturing pattern in Figure 11B includes an unpunctured 20MHz subchannel 1102 that is not included in the second puncturing pattern in Figure 11A. Therefore, each of the first and second puncturing patterns in Figure 11B may provide an additional 20MHz of usable frequency bandwidth compared to the first and second puncturing patterns in Figure 11A. Including these additional unpunctured 20MHz subchannels in the first and second puncturing patterns in Figure 11B also provides a smaller puncturing granularity. In other words, the puncturing pattern in Figure 11A specifies only the punctured subchannel at 40 MHz, while the first and second puncturing patterns in Figure 11B specify the punctured subchannel at 20 MHz and the punctured subchannel at 40 MHz.

[0088] In some implementations, a 16-bit bitmap may be used to represent the puncturing pattern 1100B in Figure 11B. In some examples, each bit of the 16-bit bitmap may indicate whether the corresponding 20MHz subchannel of the 320MHz frequency bandwidth is punctured. In contrast, the puncturing pattern 1100A in Figure 11A may be represented by the 8-bit bitmap 820 in Figure 8C, where each of the 8 bits indicates whether the corresponding 40MHz subchannel of the 320MHz frequency bandwidth is punctured. Thus, using a 16-bit bitmap to represent the set of puncturing patterns 1100B may provide a smaller puncturing granularity than the 8-bit bitmap 820 in Figure 8C.

[0089] Figure 12A shows a set of exemplary puncturing patterns 1200A usable for wireless transmission over a 320 MHz bandwidth according to one wireless communications protocol release. In some examples, the set of puncturing patterns 1200A may be specified by Release 1 of the amendment to IEEE 802.11be. The set of puncturing patterns 1200A includes four puncturing patterns, each having bitmap indices 9-12 corresponding to bitmaps 9-12 in Figure 8C. Each of the four puncturing patterns represents a different 80 MHz subchannel of the 320 MHz frequency bandwidth to be punctured. For example, a first puncturing pattern with bitmap index 9 indicates that the first 80MHz subchannel is punctured, a second puncturing pattern with bitmap index 10 indicates that the second 80MHz subchannel is punctured, a third puncturing pattern with bitmap index 11 indicates that the third 80MHz subchannel is punctured, and a fourth puncturing pattern with bitmap index 12 indicates that the fourth 80MHz subchannel is punctured.

[0090] Figure 12B shows a set of exemplary puncturing patterns 1200B that can be used for wireless transmission over a 320 MHz bandwidth according to a different wireless communications protocol release. In some examples, the set of puncturing patterns 1200B may be specified by Release 2 of the amendment to IEEE 802.11be. The set of puncturing patterns 1200B includes four puncturing patterns with bitmap indices 9–12, which represent different 80 MHz subchannels of the 320 MHz frequency bandwidth to be punctured. The three puncturing patterns with bitmap indices 10–12 are the same as the three corresponding puncturing patterns in Figure 12A, which each have bitmap indices 10–12.

[0091] However, the first puncturing pattern in Figure 12B, which has bitmap index 9, is not the same as the corresponding first puncturing pattern in Figure 12A. For example, the first puncturing pattern in Figure 12B includes two unpunctured 20MHz subchannels 1201 and 1202 that are not included in the first puncturing pattern in Figure 12A. Thus, the first puncturing pattern in Figure 12B may provide an additional 40MHz of usable frequency bandwidth compared to the first puncturing pattern in Figure 12A. Including these additional unpunctured 20MHz subchannels in the first puncturing pattern in Figure 12B also provides a smaller puncturing granularity. That is, while the puncturing pattern in Figure 12A specifies only an 80MHz punctured subchannel, the first puncturing pattern in Figure 12B specifies two adjacent 20MHz punctured subchannels.

[0092] In some implementations, a 16-bit bitmap may be used to represent the puncturing pattern 1200B in Figure 12B. In some examples, each bit of the 16-bit bitmap may indicate whether the corresponding 20MHz subchannel of the 320MHz frequency bandwidth is punctured. In contrast, the puncturing pattern 1200A in Figure 12A is represented by the 8-bit bitmap 820 in Figure 8C, where each of the 8 bits indicates whether the corresponding 40MHz subchannel of the 320MHz frequency bandwidth is punctured. Thus, using a 16-bit bitmap to represent the set of puncturing patterns 1200B may provide a smaller puncturing granularity than the 8-bit bitmap 820 in Figure 8C.

[0093] Figure 13A shows a set of exemplary puncturing patterns 1300A usable for wireless transmission over a 320 MHz bandwidth according to one wireless communications protocol release. In some examples, the set of puncturing patterns 1300A may be specified by Release 1 of the amendment to IEEE 802.11be. The set of puncturing patterns 1300A includes 12 puncturing patterns, each having bitmap indices 13-24 corresponding to bitmaps 13-24 in Figure 8C. Each of the 12 puncturing patterns represents a different 80+40 MHz subchannel of the 320 MHz frequency bandwidth to be punctured. For example, a first puncturing pattern having bitmap index 13 indicates that the first, second, and third 40MHz subchannels of the 320MHz frequency bandwidth are punctured; a second puncturing pattern having bitmap index 14 indicates that the first, second, and fourth 40MHz subchannels of the 320MHz frequency bandwidth are punctured; a third puncturing pattern having bitmap index 15 indicates that the first, second, and fifth 40MHz subchannels of the 320MHz frequency bandwidth are punctured; and so on, where a sixth puncturing pattern having bitmap index 18 indicates that the first, second, and eighth 40MHz subchannels of the 320MHz frequency bandwidth are punctured.

[0094] Furthermore, the seventh puncturing pattern with bitmap index 19 indicates that the first, seventh, and eighth 40MHz subchannels of the 320MHz frequency bandwidth are punctured, the eighth puncturing pattern with bitmap index 20 indicates that the second, seventh, and eighth 40MHz subchannels of the 320MHz frequency bandwidth are punctured, and so on, until the twelfth puncturing pattern with bitmap index 24 indicates that the sixth, seventh, and eighth 40MHz subchannels of the 320MHz frequency bandwidth are punctured. Note that the first and second 40MHz subchannels may be collectively referred to as the first 80MHz subchannel, and the seventh and eighth 40MHz subchannels may be collectively referred to as the last 80MHz subchannel.

[0095] Figure 13B shows a set of exemplary puncturing patterns 1300B that can be used for wireless transmission over a 320 MHz bandwidth according to a different wireless communications protocol release. In some examples, the set of puncturing patterns 1300B may be specified by Release 2 of the amendment to IEEE 802.11be. The set of puncturing patterns 1300B includes 12 puncturing patterns having bitmap indices 13-24 that represent different 80+40 MHz subchannels of the 320 MHz frequency bandwidth to be punctured. The four puncturing patterns having bitmap indices 13-16 are the same as the four corresponding puncturing patterns in Figure 13A, each having bitmap indices 13-16.

[0096] However, the puncturing patterns in Figure 13B with bitmap indices 17–24 are not the same as the corresponding puncturing patterns in Figure 13A, which have indices 17–24, respectively. For example, the puncturing pattern in Figure 13B with index 19 includes an unpunctured 20 MHz subchannel 1301 that is not included in the corresponding puncturing pattern in Figure 13A. Therefore, the puncturing pattern in Figure 13B with index 19 may provide an additional 20 MHz of usable frequency bandwidth compared to the corresponding puncturing pattern in Figure 13A. Including this additional 20 MHz unpunctured subchannel in the puncturing pattern of Figure 13B also provides a smaller puncturing granularity, as described.

[0097] The puncturing pattern of Figure 13B with index 20 includes three unpunctured 20MHz subchannels 1311-1313 that are not included in the corresponding puncturing pattern of Figure 13A. Therefore, the puncturing pattern of Figure 13B with index 20 may provide an additional 60MHz of usable frequency bandwidth compared to the corresponding puncturing pattern of Figure 13A. The puncturing patterns of Figure 13B with bitmap indices 17, 21, 22, and 23, respectively, also include three unpunctured 20MHz subchannels that are not included in the corresponding puncturing pattern of Figure 13A, and therefore may also provide an additional 60MHz of usable frequency bandwidth compared to the corresponding puncturing pattern of Figure 13A. Including these three additional 20MHz unpunctured subchannels in the puncturing pattern of Figure 13B also provides a smaller puncturing granularity. In other words, the puncturing pattern in Figure 13A specifies punctured subchannels at 40 MHz and 80 MHz, while the puncturing patterns in Figure 13B with indices 17, 20, 21, 22, and 23 respectively specify punctured subchannels at 20 MHz, 40 MHz, and 80 MHz.

[0098] The puncturing pattern in Figure 13B with index 18 includes two unpunctured 20MHz subchannels 1371-1372 that are not included in the corresponding puncturing pattern in Figure 13A. Similarly, the puncturing pattern in Figure 13B with bitmap index 24 includes two unpunctured 20MHz subchannels 1351-1352 that are not included in the corresponding puncturing pattern in Figure 13A. Thus, the puncturing patterns in Figure 13B with indices 18 and 24, respectively, may provide an additional 40MHz of usable frequency bandwidth compared to the corresponding puncturing pattern in Figure 13A. Including these two additional 20MHz unpunctured subchannels in the puncturing pattern of Figure 13B also provides a smaller puncturing granularity, as described.

[0099] In some implementations, bitmaps 810, 820, and 830 in Figures 8A, 8B, and 8C may be configured as 16-bit bitmaps to provide compatibility with wireless communication protocol releases that use 16-bit bitmaps to indicate which puncturing pattern of a set of puncturing patterns is used to transmit or receive data on a wireless channel. For example, referring to Figure 8C as well, an 8-bit bitmap 830 equal to [x1111111] may be configured as a 16-bit bitmap equal to [xx11111111111111], where each bit in the 8-bit bitmap 830 indicates whether the corresponding 40 MHz subchannel of the 160 MHz frequency bandwidth is punctured, and each bit in the corresponding 16-bit bitmap indicates whether the respective 20 MHz subchannels of the 160 MHz frequency bandwidth are punctured. In another example, an 8-bit bitmap 830 equal to [xx111111] may be configured as a 16-bit bitmap equal to [xxxx111111111111], where each bit in the 8-bit bitmap 830 indicates whether the corresponding 40MHz subchannel of the 160MHz frequency bandwidth is punctured, and each bit in the corresponding 16-bit bitmap indicates whether each 20MHz subchannel of the 160MHz frequency bandwidth is punctured. In another example, an 8-bit bitmap 830 equal to [xx1111x1] may be configured as a 16-bit bitmap equal to [xxxx11111111xx11], where each bit in the 8-bit bitmap 830 indicates whether the corresponding 40MHz subchannel of the 160MHz frequency bandwidth is punctured, and each bit in the corresponding 16-bit bitmap indicates whether each 20MHz subchannel of the 160MHz frequency bandwidth is punctured.

[0100] Figure 13C shows different configurations of a 16-bit bitmap 1350 that displays the puncturing patterns 1100A, 1200A, and 1300A in Figures 11A, 12A, and 13A, respectively, in several implementation forms. For example, bitmap 1350 with index 1, represented as [xx11111111111111], displays the puncturing pattern 1100A with index 1 in Figure 11A, bitmap with index 9, represented as [xxxx111111111111], displays the puncturing pattern 1200A with index 1 in Figure 12A, and so on. In another example, a bitmap with index 13, indicated as [xxxxxx1111111111], represents the puncturing pattern 1300B with index 13 in Figure 13B, a bitmap with index 14, indicated as [xxxx11xx11111111], represents the puncturing pattern 1300B with index 14 in Figure 13B, a bitmap with index 15, indicated as [xxxx1111xx111111], represents the puncturing pattern 1300B with index 15 in Figure 13B, and so on.

[0101] Figure 13D shows different configurations of the 16-bit bitmap 1360, which displays the puncturing patterns in Figures 11B, 12B, and 13B, respectively, in several implementation forms. For example, bitmap 1360 with index 1, represented as [1x11111111111111], displays puncturing pattern 1100B with index 1 in Figure 11B, bitmap with index 9, represented as [1xx1111111111111], displays puncturing pattern 1200B with index 1 in Figure 12B, and so on. In another example, a bitmap with index 13, indicated as [xxxxxxx111111111], represents the puncturing pattern 1300B with index 13 in Figure 13B, a bitmap with index 14, indicated as [xxxxx11xx1111111], represents the puncturing pattern 1300B with index 14 in Figure 13B, a bitmap with index 15, indicated as [xxxxx1111xx11111], represents the puncturing pattern 1300B with index 15 in Figure 13B, and so on.

[0102] Figure 14A shows a sequence diagram of an exemplary communication 1400 that supports channel puncturing. In some implementations, communication 1400 may be performed between AP 1402 and one or more STAs 1404 (only one STA is shown in Figure 14A for simplification). AP 1402 may be an example of AP 102 in Figure 1 or AP 602 in Figure 6A, and STA 1404 may be an example of STA 104 in Figure 1 or STA 604 in Figure 6B. In other implementations, communication 1400 may be performed between two APs. In some other implementations, communication 1400 may be performed between two STAs.

[0103] AP1402 selects a first puncturing pattern from a set of puncturing patterns to transmit or receive data on wireless channel 1405. The first puncturing pattern is defined by a first wireless communication protocol release. In some examples, the first wireless communication protocol release may be release 2 of the IEEE 802.11be amendment. AP1402 transmits a representation of the first puncturing pattern to STA1404 on wireless channel 1405. The representation may be a bitmap containing multiple bits, each bit of the bitmap indicating whether the corresponding subchannel of wireless channel 1405 is punctured (or not). In some implementations, the bitmap may be a 16-bit bitmap, with each bit corresponding to a 20 MHz subchannel of a 320 MHz frequency bandwidth. In some examples, the bitmap may be carried within an EHT operating element of a beacon frame, association response frame, probe response frame, action frame, or another appropriate frame. In some other examples, a bitmap can be transported within a different part of a frame.

[0104] STA1404 receives the indication and determines whether STA1404 is configured to operate according to a first wireless communication protocol release. If STA1404 is configured to operate according to a first wireless communication protocol release, STA1404 decodes the bitmap, obtains a first puncturing pattern, and transmits one or more PPDUs to AP1402 on wireless channel 1405 according to the first puncturing pattern.

[0105] Conversely, if STA1404 is configured to operate according to a second wireless communication protocol release, STA1404 will be unable to decode the bitmap and will acquire the first puncturing pattern (as in cases where STA is not specifically configured to operate according to a first wireless communication protocol release). In some examples, the second wireless communication protocol release may be release 1 of the amendment to IEEE 802.11be. STA1404 may select a puncturing pattern defined by the second wireless communication protocol release in order to transmit or receive data on wireless channel 1405.

[0106] In some implementations, the STA1404 selects a second puncturing pattern from a set of puncturing patterns defined by a second wireless communication protocol release, which includes one or more unpunctured subchannels that are subsets of one or more corresponding unpunctured subchannels of a first puncturing pattern. The second puncturing pattern may also include an unpunctured 20 MHz subchannel corresponding to the primary channel of the AP1402, so that, for example, management frames, control frames, and action frames can be exchanged between the AP1402 and the STA1404 on the primary channel. In some examples, the second puncturing pattern has a frequency bandwidth of 320 MHz and includes zero or more punctured subchannels having a bandwidth of 40 MHz, 80 MHz, or 80+40 MHz. In other examples, the second puncturing pattern has a frequency bandwidth of 160 MHz and includes zero or more punctured subchannels having a bandwidth of 40 MHz or 20 MHz. In some other examples, the second puncturing pattern shows an 80 MHz frequency bandwidth and includes zero or more punctured subchannels with a 20 MHz bandwidth. In some other examples, the second puncturing pattern shows a 40 MHz frequency bandwidth without channel puncturing. In some other examples, the second puncturing pattern shows a 20 MHz frequency bandwidth without channel puncturing.

[0107] In some implementations, the STA1404 selects a second puncturing pattern based on the closest match between the bitmap received from the AP1402 and one or more stored bitmaps corresponding to a set of puncturing patterns defined by the second wireless communication protocol release. In some examples, the STA1404 stores multiple 16-bit bitmaps representing the set of puncturing patterns defined by the second wireless communication protocol release. That is, the 4-bit bitmap 810 in Figure 8A and the 8-bit bitmaps 820 and 830 in Figures 8B and 8C, respectively, can be converted to 16-bit bitmaps as described above with reference to Figure 13C. For example, if AP transmits a display carrying a 16-bit bitmap [1x1111111111x111] and the primary channel of AP1402 corresponds to the third bit in the received bitmap, STA1404 may compare the received bitmap [1x1111111111x111] with a stored 16-bit bitmap corresponding to a puncturing pattern defined by a second wireless communication protocol release, a portion of which is shown in Figure 13C. In this example, multiple puncturing patterns defined by the second wireless communication protocol release may be used to transmit data to or receive data from an STA configured to operate according to the second wireless communication protocol release (and not configured to operate according to the first wireless communication protocol release). For example, the stored 16-bit bitmap [xx1xxxxxxxxxxxxx] derived from the 20MHz bandwidth puncturing pattern bitmap in Figure 8A and the stored 16-bit bitmap [xx1111111111xxxx] derived from the 320MHz bandwidth puncturing pattern bitmap in Figure 8C can both match the received puncturing pattern bitmap.Between the two exemplary matching bitmaps, bitmap=[xx1111111111xxxx] is the closest match to the received 16-bit bitmap[1x1111111111x111]. The matching 16-bit bitmap[xx1111111111xxxx] represents the puncturing pattern 1300A in Figure 13A, which has index 19. STA1404 may, for example, use the puncturing pattern 1300A with index 19 to transmit or receive data on wireless channel 1405 to match the puncturing pattern shown by AP1402, since the uncropped subchannels of the stored matching puncturing pattern are a subset of the uncropped subchannels of the puncturing pattern shown by AP1402.

[0108] If two or more bitmaps corresponding to a set of puncturing patterns defined by a second wireless communication protocol release match a bitmap provided by AP1402, and AP1402 can indicate that two or more of the corresponding puncturing patterns defined by the second wireless communication protocol release include uncropped subchannels which are a subset of the uncropped subchannels of the first puncturing pattern selected by AP1402, then STA1404 selects the corresponding puncturing pattern that includes the most uncropped subchannels. In this way, STA1404 can increase or maximize the frequency bandwidth over which packets can be exchanged with AP1402.

[0109] If two or more of the corresponding puncturing patterns defined by the second wireless communication protocol release have the same number of punctured subchannels (e.g., the most punctured subchannels), the STA1404 may select one of the two or more corresponding puncturing patterns based on their relative frequencies or their relative bitmap indices. For example, in some cases, the STA1404 selects a puncturing pattern from among the two or more corresponding puncturing patterns that include punctured subchannels associated with relatively high frequencies of the wireless channel. In some other cases, the STA1404 selects a puncturing pattern from among the two or more corresponding puncturing patterns that include punctured subchannels associated with relatively low frequencies of the wireless channel. In this way, if two or more of the puncturing patterns defined by the second wireless communication protocol release contain punctured subchannels that are subsets of the punctured subchannels of the first puncturing pattern and also contain the most punctured subchannels, the STA may select one of the two or more corresponding puncturing patterns based on the relative frequencies of each of those punctured subchannels. For example, if the STA determines that channel interference on the upper 40 MHz frequency portion of the 320 MHz wireless channel is less than channel interference on the lower 40 MHz frequency portion of the 320 MHz wireless channel, the STA may select a puncturing pattern that contains punctured subchannels in the upper 40 MHz frequency portion of the 320 MHz wireless channel, for example, to minimize packet loss due to channel interference.

[0110] In some other examples, STA1404 selects a puncturing pattern from two or more corresponding puncturing patterns associated with the bitmap having the highest binary index, or selects a puncturing pattern from two or more corresponding puncturing patterns associated with the bitmap having the lowest binary index. AP1402 (and other STAs associated with AP1402) may also follow this process to determine which of the corresponding puncturing patterns specified by the second wireless communication protocol release is to be used for channel puncturing. In this way, AP1402 and STA1404 associated with AP1402 may select the same puncturing pattern specified by the second wireless communication protocol release without explicit indication.

[0111] Figure 14B shows a sequence diagram of another exemplary communication 1410 supporting channel puncturing. In some implementations, communication 1410 may be performed between AP 1402 and one or more STAs 1404 (only one STA is shown in Figure 14B for simplification). In other implementations, communication 1410 may be performed between two APs. In some other implementations, communication 1410 may be performed between two STAs.

[0112] AP1402 selects a first puncturing pattern from a set of puncturing patterns to transmit or receive data on wireless channel 1405. The first puncturing pattern is defined by a first wireless communication protocol release. In some examples, the first wireless communication protocol release may be release 2 of the IEEE 802.11be amendment.

[0113] AP1402 determines that there is one or more STAs (such as STA1404) configured to operate according to a second wireless communication protocol release and not according to a first wireless communication protocol release. In response to this determination, AP1402 selects a second puncturing pattern from the set of puncturing patterns defined by the second wireless communication protocol release. As described with reference to Figure 14A, the selected second puncturing pattern includes an unpunctured 20 MHz subchannel corresponding to the primary channel of AP1402, so that, for example, management frames, control frames, and action frames can be exchanged between AP1402 and STA1404 on the primary channel. The selected second puncturing pattern also includes one or more unpunctured subchannels that are subsets of one or more corresponding unpunctured subchannels of the first puncturing pattern.

[0114] In some implementations, AP1402 selects a second puncturing pattern from a set of puncturing patterns based on a match between a bitmap received from AP1402 and one or more stored bitmaps corresponding to a set of puncturing patterns defined by a second wireless communication protocol release. In some examples, AP1402 may transmit an indication of the second puncturing pattern to STA1404 on wireless channel 1405. The indication may be a bitmap containing multiple bits, each bit of which indicates whether the corresponding subchannel of wireless channel 1405 is punctured (or not).

[0115] In some other examples, the representation may be single-bit if the number of candidate puncturing patterns to fit the second puncturing pattern selected by AP1402 is two or less. For example, if AP represents a 16-bit bitmap of [11xx11111111x111] based on a first wireless communication protocol release and a primary channel corresponding to the fifth bit (from the left of the bitmap), an STA configured to operate according to a second wireless communication protocol release may derive exactly two candidate puncturing patterns, [11xx11111111xxxx] and [xxxx11111111xx11], to fit the second puncturing pattern. That is, these two puncturing patterns derived by STA1404 fit the puncturing pattern [11xx11111111x111] selected by AP1402 in that they do not puncture the primary channel and also contain the most uncropped subchannels among the patterns defined in the second wireless communication protocol release. In this case, AP1402 may use a single bit to clearly indicate which of the candidate puncturing patterns was selected as the second puncturing pattern. The bitmap or bit may be carried within the EHT operating element of a beacon frame, association response frame, probe response frame, action frame, or another appropriate frame or packet. In other examples, the bitmap may be carried within another part of the frame.

[0116] STA1404 receives the display, decodes the bitmap or bits provided within the display, and obtains a second puncturing pattern selected by AP1402 for transmitting or receiving data on wireless channel 1405. STA1404 and AP1402 then exchange PPDUs on wireless channel 1405 based on the selected second puncturing pattern.

[0117] In some other implementations, the AP1402 may transmit a beacon frame or action frame containing two puncturing pattern indicator fields. For example, in some cases, the first indicator field may carry a bitmap for a puncturing pattern defined by a first wireless communication protocol release, and the second indicator field may carry a bitmap for a puncturing pattern defined by a second wireless communication protocol release.

[0118] Figure 15A shows an exemplary beacon frame 1500 that can be used for communication between wireless communication devices. The beacon frame 1500 is shown to include a frame control field 1501, a time length field 1502, an address 1 field 1503, an address 2 field 1504, an address 3 field 1505, a sequence control field 1506, an HT control field 1507, a frame body 1508, and a frame check sequence (FCS) field 1509. The frame control field 1501 may carry control information indicating several parameters of the beacon frame 1500, such as the protocol version, type, and subtype. The time length field 1502 may carry information indicating the total length (in bytes) of the beacon frame 1500. The address 1 field 1503, address 2 field 1504, and address 3 field 1505 may carry individual or group addresses for all or part of the beacon frame 1500, such as the basic service set identifier (BSSID), source address (SA), destination address (DA), transmitting STA address (TA), or receiving STA address (RA). The sequence control field 1506 may indicate the sequence number, fragment number, or both, corresponding to the beacon frame 1500. The HT control field 1507 may contain control information for the beacon frame 1500. The FCS field 1509 may contain information for enabling or interpreting all or part of the beacon frame 1500.

[0119] The frame body 1508 may contain any appropriate number of fields or elements (such as information elements). In some implementations, the beacon frame 1500 may contain one or more required fields, such as, among other things, a timestamp field, a beacon interval field, a capability information field, an SSID field, and a support rate field. The beacon frame 1500 may also contain one or more information elements, such as, among other things, an EHT operation element, a DSSS parameter element, a CF parameter set element, and a Traffic Display Map (TIM) element.

[0120] Figure 15B shows several implementations of an EHT operating element 1510 usable for wireless communication. The EHT operating element 1510 may include an element ID field 1511, a length field 1512, an element ID extension field 1513, and an EHT operating information field 1514. The element ID field 1511 carries information indicating the type and format of the information element 1510. The length field 1512 carries information indicating the length or size of the information element 1510. The element ID extension field 1513 carries additional information indicating the type and format of the information element 1510. The EHT operating information field 1514 may be used to carry a bitmap indicating which of several puncturing patterns is used for channel puncturing.

[0121] Figure 15C shows an exemplary bitmap 1520 that can be used for wireless communication with channel puncturing. Bitmap 1520 is shown to contain 16 bits B0-B15 and can be used to indicate channel puncturing patterns for transmitting or receiving data on a wireless channel. In some implementations, each of the 16 bits B0-B15 may indicate whether the corresponding subchannel of the 16 subchannels of the wireless channel is punctured (or not).

[0122] Figure 16 shows a flowchart illustrating an exemplary process 1600 for wireless communication supporting channel puncturing in several implementations. In some implementations, process 1600 may be performed by a wireless communication device acting as a network node or operating within a network node, such as one of the STA104 or 604 described above with reference to Figures 1 and 6B, respectively. In some other implementations, process 1600 may be performed by a wireless communication device acting as an AP or operating within an AP, such as one of the AP102 or 602 described above with reference to Figures 1 and 6A, respectively.

[0123] In some implementations, process 1600 begins in block 1602, where the STA receives a representation of a first puncturing pattern used to transmit or receive data on a wireless channel, the first puncturing pattern being defined by a first wireless communication protocol release. Process 1600 proceeds to block 1604, where it selects a second puncturing pattern from a set of puncturing patterns defined by a second wireless communication protocol release, the second puncturing pattern comprising one or more unpunctured subchannels which are subsets of one or more corresponding unpunctured subchannels of the first puncturing pattern. Process 1600 proceeds to block 1606, where it transmits or receives one or more packets on the wireless channel based on the second puncturing pattern. In some implementations, the STA may be configured to operate according to a second wireless communication protocol release. In some examples, the STA is not configured to operate according to a first wireless communication protocol release, or is unable to decode the puncturing pattern defined by the first wireless communication protocol release. In some cases, the first wireless communication protocol release may be the second release of the IEEE 802.11be amendment, and the second wireless communication protocol release may be the first release of the IEEE 802.11be amendment.

[0124] The second puncturing pattern may include an unpunctured 20 MHz subchannel corresponding to the primary channel of the AP. In some examples, the second puncturing pattern includes a 320 MHz frequency bandwidth and zero or more punctured subchannels having a 40 MHz bandwidth, an 80 MHz bandwidth, or an 80+40 MHz bandwidth. In other examples, the second puncturing pattern includes a 160 MHz frequency bandwidth and zero or more punctured subchannels having a 40 MHz bandwidth or a 20 MHz bandwidth. In some other examples, the second puncturing pattern includes an 80 MHz frequency bandwidth and zero or more punctured subchannels having a 20 MHz bandwidth. In some other examples, the second puncturing pattern includes a 40 MHz frequency bandwidth without channel puncturing. In some other examples, the second puncturing pattern includes a 20 MHz frequency bandwidth without channel puncturing.

[0125] In various implementations, the display may be a bitmap containing multiple bits, each bit of which indicates whether the corresponding subchannel of the wireless channel is punctured to transmit or receive data based on a second puncturing pattern. In some examples, the bitmap may be received within the EHT operating element of a beacon frame. In some other examples, the bitmap may be received within the EHT operating element of an action frame. In some other examples, the bitmap may be received within the EHT operating element of an association response frame or a probe response frame. In some implementations, the second puncturing pattern may be selected based on a match between the received bitmap and one or more stored bitmaps corresponding to a set of puncturing patterns defined by a second wireless communication protocol release.

[0126] Figure 17 shows a flowchart illustrating an exemplary process 1700 for wireless communication supporting channel puncturing in several implementations. In some implementations, process 1700 may be performed by a wireless communication device acting as a network node or operating within a network node, such as one of the STA104 or 604 described above with reference to Figures 1 and 6B, respectively. In some other implementations, process 1700 may be performed by a wireless communication device acting as an AP or operating within an AP, such as one of the AP102 or 602 described above with reference to Figures 1 and 6A, respectively.

[0127] In some implementations, process 1700 may select a second puncturing pattern within block 1604 of Figure 16. For example, process 1700 starts in block 1702 and identifies each of the puncturing patterns in a set of puncturing patterns defined by a second wireless communication protocol release that include puncture channels which are subsets of one or more puncture channels of the first puncturing pattern. Process 1700 then proceeds to block 1704 and selects the identified puncturing pattern that includes the most puncture channels as the second puncturing pattern. For example, if two or more puncturing patterns defined by a second wireless communication protocol release are identified as including puncture channels which are subsets of one or more puncture channels of the first puncturing pattern, the STA may select the identified puncturing pattern that has the most puncture channels through which the STA can transmit or receive data. In this way, the STA can select a puncturing pattern defined by a second wireless communication protocol release that provides the widest transmission bandwidth, for example, maximizing channel diversity and data throughput on the wireless channel.

[0128] Figure 18 shows a flowchart illustrating an exemplary process 1800 for wireless communication supporting channel puncturing in several implementations. In some implementations, process 1800 may be performed by a wireless communication device acting as a network node or operating within a network node, such as one of the STA104 or 604 described above with reference to Figures 1 and 6B, respectively. In some other implementations, process 1800 may be performed by a wireless communication device acting as an AP or operating within an AP, such as one of the AP102 or 602 described above with reference to Figures 1 and 6A, respectively.

[0129] In some implementations, process 1800 may be performed in conjunction with selecting a puncturing pattern identified in block 1704 of Figure 17. For example, process 1800 starts in block 1802 and, in response to two or more of the identified puncturing patterns containing the most unpunctured subchannels, determines which of the identified puncturing patterns contains unpunctured subchannels associated with relatively high frequencies of the wireless channel or relatively low frequencies of the wireless channel. Process 1800 proceeds to block 1804 and selects a second puncturing pattern based on the decision. In this way, if two or more of the puncturing patterns defined by the second wireless communication protocol release contain unpunctured subchannels that are subsets of the unpunctured subchannels of the first puncturing pattern and also contain the same number of unpunctured subchannels, then STA may select one of the two or more puncturing patterns based on the relative frequencies of each of those unpunctured subchannels. For example, if the STA determines that channel interference on the upper 40 MHz frequency portion of a 320 MHz wireless channel is less than channel interference on the lower 40 MHz frequency portion of the 320 MHz wireless channel, the STA may, for example, select a puncturing pattern that includes unpunctured subchannels within the upper 40 MHz frequency portion of the 320 MHz wireless channel to minimize packet loss due to channel interference.

[0130] Figure 19 shows a flowchart illustrating an exemplary process 1900 for wireless communication supporting channel puncturing in several implementations. In some implementations, process 1900 may be performed by a wireless communication device acting as a network node or operating within a network node, such as one of the STA104 or 604 described above with reference to Figures 1 and 6B, respectively. In some other implementations, process 1900 may be performed by a wireless communication device acting as an AP or operating within an AP, such as one of the AP102 or 602 described above with reference to Figures 1 and 6A, respectively.

[0131] In some implementations, process 1900 may be performed in conjunction with selecting a puncturing pattern identified in block 1704 of Figure 17. For example, process 1900 starts in block 1902 and, in response to two or more of the identified puncturing patterns containing the most unpunctured subchannels, determines which of the identified puncturing patterns is associated with the bitmap having the highest binary index or the bitmap having the lowest binary index. Process 1900 proceeds to block 1904 and selects a second puncturing pattern based on the decision. In this way, if two or more of the puncturing patterns defined by the second wireless communication protocol release contain a subset of the unpunctured subchannels of the first puncturing pattern, and also contain the same number of unpunctured subchannels, the STA may select one of the identified puncturing patterns to transmit or receive data based on their relative bitmap indices. APs (and other STAs associated with APs) may also follow this process to determine which of the identified puncturing patterns specified by the second wireless communication protocol release will be used for channel puncturing. In this way, APs and STAs associated with APs may select the same puncturing pattern specified by the second wireless communication protocol release without explicit indication.

[0132] Figure 20 shows a flowchart illustrating an exemplary process 2000 for wireless communication supporting channel puncturing, according to several other implementations. In some implementations, process 2000 may be performed by a wireless communication device acting as an AP, or operating within an AP, such as one of the AP102 or 602 described above with reference to Figures 1 and 6A, respectively. In some other implementations, process 2000 may be performed by a wireless communication device acting as a network node, or operating within a network node, such as one of the STA104 or 604 described above with reference to Figures 1 and 6B, respectively.

[0133] In some implementations, process 2000 begins in block 2002 and selects a first puncturing pattern used to transmit or receive data over a wireless channel, the first puncturing pattern being defined by a first wireless communication protocol release. Process 2000 proceeds to block 2004 and determines the existence of one or more STAs configured to operate according to a second wireless communication protocol release. Process 2000 proceeds to block 2006 and, in response to determining the existence of one or more STAs configured to operate according to the second wireless communication protocol release, selects a second puncturing pattern from a set of puncturing patterns defined by the second wireless communication protocol release, the second puncturing pattern comprising one or more unpunctured subchannels which are subsets of one or more corresponding unpunctured subchannels of the first puncturing pattern. Process 2000 proceeds to block 2008, where one or more packets are transmitted over the wireless channel based on a second puncturing pattern to or received from at least an STA configured to operate according to a second wireless communication protocol release. In some implementations, the first wireless communication protocol release may be a second release of the IEEE 802.11be amendment, and the second wireless communication protocol release may be a first release of the IEEE 802.11be amendment. In some examples, the STA is not configured to operate according to the first wireless communication protocol release, or is unable to decode the puncturing pattern defined by the first wireless communication protocol release.

[0134] The second puncturing pattern may include an unpunctured 20 MHz subchannel corresponding to the primary channel of the AP. In some examples, the second puncturing pattern includes a 320 MHz frequency bandwidth and zero or more punctured subchannels having a 40 MHz bandwidth, an 80 MHz bandwidth, or an 80+40 MHz bandwidth. In other examples, the second puncturing pattern includes a 160 MHz frequency bandwidth and zero or more punctured subchannels having a 40 MHz bandwidth or a 20 MHz bandwidth. In some other examples, the second puncturing pattern includes an 80 MHz frequency bandwidth and zero or more punctured subchannels having a 20 MHz bandwidth. In some other examples, the second puncturing pattern includes a 40 MHz frequency bandwidth without channel puncturing. In some other examples, the second puncturing pattern includes a 20 MHz frequency bandwidth without channel puncturing.

[0135] In various implementations, the display may be a bitmap containing multiple bits, each bit of which indicates whether a corresponding subchannel of the frequency bandwidth is punctured by a second puncturing pattern. In some examples, the bitmap may be transmitted within the EHT operating element of a beacon frame. In some other examples, the bitmap may be transmitted within the EHT operating element of an action frame. In some other examples, the bitmap may be transmitted within the EHT operating element of an association response frame or a probe response frame. In some implementations, the second puncturing pattern may be selected based on a match between the received bitmap and one or more stored bitmaps corresponding to a set of puncturing patterns defined by a second wireless communication protocol release.

[0136] Figure 21 shows a flowchart illustrating an exemplary process 2100 for wireless communication supporting channel puncturing, according to several other implementations. In some implementations, process 2100 may be performed by a wireless communication device acting as an AP, or operating within an AP, such as one of the AP102 or 602 described above with reference to Figures 1 and 6A, respectively. In some other implementations, process 2100 may be performed by a wireless communication device acting as a network node, or operating within a network node, such as one of the STA104 or 604 described above with reference to Figures 1 and 6B, respectively.

[0137] In some implementations, process 2100 may be executed after process 2000 in Figure 20. For example, process 2100 starts in block 2102 and sends a display of a second puncturing pattern to at least STA configured to operate according to a second wireless communication protocol release. In some examples, the display may be bits carried within the EHT operating element of a beacon frame or action frame.

[0138] Figure 22 shows a flowchart illustrating an exemplary process 2200 for wireless communication supporting channel puncturing, according to several other implementations. In some implementations, process 2200 may be performed by a wireless communication device acting as an AP, or operating within an AP, such as one of the AP102 or 602 described above with reference to Figures 1 and 6A, respectively. In some other implementations, process 2200 may be performed by a wireless communication device acting as a network node, or operating within a network node, such as one of the STA104 or 604 described above with reference to Figures 1 and 6B, respectively.

[0139] In some implementations, process 2200 may select a second puncturing pattern within block 2006 of Figure 20. For example, process 2200 starts in block 2202 and identifies each of the puncturing patterns in a set of puncturing patterns defined by a second wireless communication protocol release that includes unpunctured subchannels which are a subset of one or more unpunctured subchannels of the first puncturing pattern. Process 2200 then proceeds to block 2204 and selects the identified puncturing pattern that contains the most unpunctured subchannels as the second puncturing pattern. For example, if two or more puncturing patterns defined by a second wireless communication protocol release are identified as containing unpunctured subchannels which are a subset of one or more unpunctured subchannels of the first puncturing pattern, the AP may select the identified puncturing pattern that has the most unpunctured subchannels through which the AP can transmit or receive data. In this way, the AP can select a puncturing pattern defined by a second wireless communication protocol release that provides the widest transmission bandwidth, for example, maximizing channel diversity and data throughput on the wireless channel.

[0140] Figure 23 shows a flowchart illustrating an exemplary process 2300 for wireless communication supporting channel puncturing, according to several other implementations. In some implementations, process 2300 may be performed by a wireless communication device acting as an AP, or operating within an AP, such as one of the AP102 or 602 described above with reference to Figures 1 and 6A, respectively. In some other implementations, process 2300 may be performed by a wireless communication device acting as a network node, or operating within a network node, such as one of the STA104 or 604 described above with reference to Figures 1 and 6B, respectively.

[0141] In some implementations, process 2300 may be performed in conjunction with selecting a puncturing pattern identified in block 2204 of Figure 22. For example, process 2300 starts in block 2302 and, in response to two or more of the identified puncturing patterns containing the most unpunctured subchannels, determines which of the identified puncturing patterns contains unpunctured subchannels associated with relatively high frequencies of the wireless channel or relatively low frequencies of the wireless channel. Process 2300 proceeds to block 2304 and selects a second puncturing pattern based on the decision. In this way, if two or more of the puncturing patterns defined by the second wireless communication protocol release contain unpunctured subchannels that are subsets of the unpunctured subchannels of the first puncturing pattern and also contain the same number of unpunctured subchannels, then STA may select one of the two or more puncturing patterns based on the relative frequencies of each of those unpunctured subchannels. For example, if the STA determines that channel interference on the upper 40 MHz frequency portion of a 320 MHz wireless channel is less than channel interference on the lower 40 MHz frequency portion of the 320 MHz wireless channel, the STA may, for example, select a puncturing pattern that includes unpunctured subchannels within the upper 40 MHz frequency portion of the 320 MHz wireless channel to minimize packet loss due to channel interference.

[0142] Figure 24 shows a flowchart illustrating an exemplary process 2400 for wireless communication supporting channel puncturing, according to several other implementations. In some implementations, process 2400 may be performed by a wireless communication device acting as an AP, or operating within an AP, such as one of the AP102 or 602 described above with reference to Figures 1 and 6A, respectively. In some other implementations, process 2400 may be performed by a wireless communication device acting as a network node, or operating within a network node, such as one of the STA104 or 604 described above with reference to Figures 1 and 6B, respectively.

[0143] In some implementations, process 2400 may be performed in conjunction with selecting a puncturing pattern identified in block 2204 of Figure 22. For example, process 2400 starts in block 2402 and, in response to two or more of the identified puncturing patterns containing the most unpunctured subchannels, determines which of the identified puncturing patterns is associated with the bitmap having the highest binary index or the bitmap having the lowest binary index. Process 2400 proceeds to block 2404 and selects a second puncturing pattern based on the decision. In this way, if two or more of the puncturing patterns defined by the second wireless communication protocol release contain subsets of the unpunctured subchannels of the first puncturing pattern, and also contain the same number of unpunctured subchannels, the STA may select one of the identified puncturing patterns to transmit or receive data based on their relative bitmap indices. APs (and other STAs associated with APs) may also follow this process to determine which of the identified puncturing patterns specified by the second wireless communication protocol release will be used for channel puncturing. In this way, APs and STAs associated with APs may select the same puncturing pattern specified by the second wireless communication protocol release without explicit indication.

[0144] Figure 25 shows a block diagram of an exemplary wireless communication device 2500 in several implementation forms. In some implementation forms, the wireless communication device 2500 is configured to perform communication 1400 in Figure 14A, communication 1410 in Figure 14B, or both. The wireless communication device 2500 may be an exemplary implementation form of the wireless communication device 500 described above with reference to Figure 5. For example, the wireless communication device 2500 may be a chip, SoC, chipset, package, or a device including at least one processor and at least one modem (e.g., a Wi-Fi (IEEE 802.11) modem or cellular modem). In some implementation forms, the wireless communication device 2500 may be a device for use in an STA, such as one of the STAs 104 and 604 described with reference to Figures 1 and 6B, respectively. In some other implementation forms, the wireless communication device 2500 may be an STA including a chip, SoC, chipset, package, or device, as well as at least one antenna (e.g., antenna 625).

[0145] The wireless communication device 2500 includes a receiving component 2510, a communication manager 2520, and a transmitting component 2530. The communication manager 2520 further includes a puncturing pattern decoding component 2522 and a puncturing pattern selection component 2524. One or more parts of components 2522 and 2524 may be implemented at least partially in hardware or firmware. In some implementations, at least some of components 2522 and 2524 are implemented at least partially as software stored in memory (such as memory 508). For example, one or more parts of components 2522 and 2524 may be implemented as non-transient instructions (or "code") that can be executed by a processor (such as processor 506) to perform the function or operation of the respective component.

[0146] The receiving component 2510 is configured to receive an RX signal from one or more other wireless communication devices via a wireless channel. The communication manager 2520 is configured to control or manage communication with one or more other wireless communication devices. In some implementations, the puncturing pattern decoding component 2522 may receive a representation of a first puncturing pattern used to transmit or receive data over the wireless channel. In some examples, the puncturing pattern decoding component 2522 may determine that the first puncturing pattern is defined by a first wireless communication protocol release. The puncturing pattern selection component 2524 may select a second puncturing pattern from a set of puncturing patterns defined by a second wireless communication protocol release. In some examples, the second puncturing pattern may include one or more unpunctured subchannels, which are subsets of one or more corresponding unpunctured subchannels of the first puncturing pattern. The transmitting component 2530 is configured to transmit a TX signal over the wireless channel to one or more other wireless communication devices. In some implementations, the transmitting component 2530 may transmit one or more packets over the wireless channel based on a second puncturing pattern.

[0147] Figure 26 shows a block diagram of an exemplary wireless communication device 2600 in several other implementation forms. In some implementation forms, the wireless communication device 2600 is configured to perform communication 1400 in Figure 14A, communication 1410 in Figure 14B, or both. The wireless communication device 2600 may be an exemplary implementation form of the wireless communication device 500 described above with reference to Figure 5. For example, the wireless communication device 2600 may be a chip, SoC, chipset, package, or a device including at least one processor and at least one modem (e.g., a Wi-Fi (IEEE 802.11) modem or cellular modem). In some implementation forms, the wireless communication device 2600 may be a device for use in an AP such as one of AP102 and 602 described with reference to Figures 1 and 6A, respectively. In some other implementation forms, the wireless communication device 2600 may be an AP including a chip, SoC, chipset, package, or device, as well as at least one antenna (e.g., antenna 620).

[0148] The wireless communication device 2600 includes a receiving component 2610, a communication manager 2620, and a transmitting component 2630. The communication manager 2620 further includes a puncturing pattern selection component 2622 and a detection component 2624. One or more parts of components 2622 and 2624 may be implemented at least partially in hardware or firmware. In some implementations, at least some of components 2622 and 2624 are implemented at least partially as software stored in memory (such as memory 508). For example, one or more parts of components 2622 and 2624 may be implemented as non-transient instructions (or "code") that can be executed by a processor (such as processor 506) to perform the function or operation of the respective component.

[0149] The receiving component 2610 is configured to receive an RX signal from one or more other wireless communication devices via a wireless channel. The communication manager 2620 is configured to control or manage communication with one or more other wireless communication devices. In some implementations, the puncturing pattern selection component 2622 may select a first puncturing pattern used to transmit or receive data over the wireless channel, the first puncturing pattern being defined by a first wireless communication protocol release. The detection component 2624 is configured to determine the presence of one or more STAs configured to operate according to a second wireless communication protocol release. In some examples, one or more STAs are not configured to operate according to the first wireless communication protocol release. In response to determining the presence of one or more STAs configured to operate according to the second wireless communication protocol release, the puncturing pattern selection component 2622 is configured to select a second puncturing pattern from a set of puncturing patterns defined by the second wireless communication protocol release. In some examples, the second puncturing pattern includes one or more unpunctured subchannels, which are subsets of one or more corresponding unpunctured subchannels of the first puncturing pattern. The transmitting component 2630 is configured to transmit a TX signal over the wireless channel to one or more other wireless communication devices. In some implementations, the transmitting component 2630 may transmit one or more packets over the wireless channel to one or more STAs based on the second puncturing pattern.

[0150] Implementation examples are described in the following numbered clauses. [Clause 1] A method for wireless communication performed by a wireless station (STA), Steps include receiving a representation of a first puncturing pattern used to transmit or receive data on a wireless channel, wherein the first puncturing pattern is defined by a first wireless communication protocol release, and A step of selecting a second puncturing pattern from a set of puncturing patterns defined by a second wireless communication protocol release, wherein the second puncturing pattern includes one or more uncropped subchannels which are subsets of one or more corresponding uncropped subchannels of a first puncturing pattern; A method comprising the steps of transmitting or receiving one or more packets on a wireless channel based on a second puncturing pattern. [Clause 2] The method according to Clause 1, wherein the STA is configured to operate in accordance with a second wireless communication protocol release and is not configured to operate in accordance with a first wireless communication protocol release. [Clause 3] The second puncturing pattern is A frequency bandwidth of 320MHz, and zero or more punctured subchannels having a frequency bandwidth of 40MHz, 80MHz, or 80+40MHz. A frequency bandwidth of 160 MHz, and zero or more punctured subchannels having a frequency bandwidth of 40 MHz or 20 MHz. An 80MHz frequency bandwidth and zero or more punctured subchannels with a 20MHz frequency bandwidth. A puncture-free 40MHz frequency bandwidth, or The method described in one or more of the provisions of Clauses 1 to 2, including a puncture-free frequency bandwidth of 20 MHz. [Clause 4] The method according to one or more of the claims of Clauses 1 to 3, wherein the second puncturing pattern includes an unpunctured 20 MHz subchannel corresponding to the primary channel of an access point (AP). [Clause 5] The method according to one or more of Clauses 1 to 4, wherein the display includes a bitmap containing multiple bits, each bit of the bitmap indicating whether a corresponding subchannel of a wireless channel is punctured by a first puncturing pattern. [Clause 6] The method according to Clause 5, wherein the bitmap is received within an ultra-high throughput (EHT) operating element of a beacon frame, association response frame, probe response frame, or action frame. [Clause 7] The step of selecting a second puncturing pattern is: Steps include identifying each of the puncturing patterns of a set of puncturing patterns defined by a second wireless communication protocol release, which includes unpunctured subchannels, which are a subset of one or more unpunctured subchannels of a first puncturing pattern; The method according to one or more of the clauses 1 to 6, comprising the step of selecting an identified puncturing pattern containing the most punctured subchannels as a second puncturing pattern. [Clause 8] In response to two or more identified puncturing patterns that contain the most punctured subchannels, the step of determining which of the two or more identified puncturing patterns contains punctured subchannels associated with a relatively high frequency of the wireless channel or a relatively low frequency of the wireless channel, The method according to Clause 7, further comprising the step of selecting a second puncturing pattern based on the decision. [Clause 9] A step of determining, in response to two or more identified puncturing patterns containing the most punctured subchannels, which of the two or more identified puncturing patterns is associated with the bitmap having the highest binary index or the bitmap having the lowest binary index, The method according to Clause 7, further comprising the step of selecting a second puncturing pattern based on the decision. [Clause 10] The method according to one or more of Clauses 1 to 9, wherein the step of selecting a second puncturing pattern is based on a match between a received bitmap and one or more stored bitmaps corresponding to a set of puncturing patterns defined by a second wireless communication protocol release. [Clause 11] A method for wireless communication performed by a wireless access point (AP), A step of selecting a first puncturing pattern used to transmit or receive data on a wireless channel, wherein the first puncturing pattern is defined by a first wireless communication protocol release, and The steps include determining the presence of one or more wireless stations (STAs) configured to operate in accordance with a second wireless communication protocol release, Steps include: selecting a second puncturing pattern from a set of puncturing patterns defined by a second wireless communication protocol release in response to determining the presence of one or more STAs configured to operate in accordance with a second wireless communication protocol release, wherein the second puncturing pattern includes one or more unpunctured subchannels which are subsets of one or more corresponding unpunctured subchannels of a first puncturing pattern; A method comprising the steps of transmitting one or more packets on a wireless channel based on a second puncturing pattern to at least an STA configured to operate in accordance with a second wireless communication protocol release, or receiving from an STA. [Clause 12] The method according to Clause 11, further comprising the step of transmitting a display of a second puncturing pattern to at least an STA configured to operate in accordance with a second wireless communication protocol release. [Clause 13] The method described in one or more of Clauses 11 to 12, wherein the display includes bits carried within the ultra-high throughput (EHT) operating elements of a beacon frame, association response frame, probe response frame, or action frame. [Clause 14] The second puncturing pattern is, A frequency bandwidth of 320MHz, and zero or more punctured subchannels having a frequency bandwidth of 40MHz, 80MHz, or 80+40MHz. A frequency bandwidth of 160 MHz, and zero or more punctured subchannels having a frequency bandwidth of 40 MHz or 20 MHz. An 80MHz frequency bandwidth and zero or more punctured subchannels with a 20MHz frequency bandwidth. A puncture-free 40MHz frequency bandwidth, or The method described in one or more of the provisions of clauses 11 to 13, including a puncture-free frequency bandwidth of 20 MHz. [Clause 15] The method according to one or more of the claims of Clauses 11 to 14, wherein the second puncturing pattern includes an unpunctured 20 MHz subchannel corresponding to the primary channel of the AP. [Clause 16] The step of selecting a second puncturing pattern is: Steps include identifying each of the puncturing patterns of a set of puncturing patterns defined by a second wireless communication protocol release, which includes unpunctured subchannels, which are a subset of one or more unpunctured subchannels of a first puncturing pattern; The method according to one or more of the clauses 11 to 15, comprising the step of selecting an identified puncturing pattern containing the most punctured subchannels as a second puncturing pattern. [Clause 17] In response to two or more identified puncturing patterns that contain the most punctured subchannels, the step of determining which of the two or more identified puncturing patterns contains punctured subchannels associated with a relatively high frequency of the wireless channel or a relatively low frequency of the wireless channel, The method according to Clause 16, further comprising the step of selecting a second puncturing pattern based on the decision. [Clause 18] A step of determining, in response to two or more identified puncturing patterns containing the most punctured subchannels, which of the two or more identified puncturing patterns is associated with the bitmap having the highest binary index or the bitmap having the lowest binary index, The method according to Clause 16, further comprising the step of selecting a second puncturing pattern based on the decision. [Clause 19] At least one modem and At least one processor that is communicatively coupled to at least one modem, It includes at least one memory that is communicatively coupled to at least one processor and stores processor-readable code, the processor-readable code being executed by at least one processor in conjunction with at least one modem, Receiving a representation of a first puncturing pattern used to transmit or receive data on a wireless channel, wherein the first puncturing pattern is defined by a first wireless communication protocol release, Selecting a second puncturing pattern from a set of puncturing patterns defined by a second wireless communication protocol release, wherein the second puncturing pattern includes one or more uncropped subchannels which are subsets of one or more corresponding uncropped subchannels of the first puncturing pattern. A wireless communication device configured to transmit or receive one or more packets on a wireless channel based on a second puncturing pattern. [Clause 20] A wireless communication device as described in Clause 19, wherein the display includes a bitmap containing multiple bits, each bit of the bitmap indicating whether a corresponding subchannel of a wireless channel is punctured by a first puncturing pattern. [Clause 21] A wireless communications device as described in one or more of Clauses 19 to 20, in which a bitmap is transmitted within an ultra-high throughput (EHT) operating element of a beacon frame, association response frame, probe response frame, or action frame. [Clause 22] If the execution of processor-readable code results in a second puncturing pattern, Identifying each of the puncturing patterns of a set of puncturing patterns defined by a second wireless communication protocol release that includes unpunctured subchannels, which is a subset of one or more unpunctured subchannels of a first puncturing pattern, A wireless communications device as described in one or more of the clauses 19 to 21, configured to select an identified puncturing pattern containing the most unpunctured subchannels as a second puncturing pattern. [Clause 23] The execution of processor-readable code is further, In response to two or more identified puncturing patterns that contain the most unpunctured subchannels, determine which of the two or more identified puncturing patterns contains unpunctured subchannels associated with relatively high frequencies of the wireless channel or relatively low frequencies of the wireless channel. A wireless communications device as described in Clause 22, configured to select a second puncturing pattern based on a decision. [Clause 24] The execution of processor-readable code is further, In response to two or more identified puncturing patterns containing the most punctured subchannels, determine which of the two or more identified puncturing patterns is associated with the bitmap with the highest binary index or the bitmap with the lowest binary index. A wireless communication device according to claim 22, configured to select a second puncturing pattern based on a decision. [Clause 25] A wireless communication device according to one or more clauses of Clauses 19 to 24, wherein the selection of a second puncturing pattern is based on a match between a received bitmap and one or more stored bitmaps corresponding to a set of puncturing patterns defined by a second wireless communication protocol release. [Clause 26] At least one modem and At least one processor that is communicatively coupled to at least one modem, It includes at least one memory that is communicatively coupled to at least one processor and stores processor-readable code, the processor-readable code being executed by at least one processor in conjunction with at least one modem, The selection of a first puncturing pattern used to transmit or receive data over a wireless channel, wherein the first puncturing pattern is defined by a first wireless communication protocol release, To determine the presence of one or more wireless stations (STAs) configured to operate in accordance with the second wireless communication protocol release, In response to determining the presence of one or more STAs configured to operate in accordance with a second wireless communication protocol release, the selection of a second puncturing pattern from a set of puncturing patterns defined by the second wireless communication protocol release, wherein the second puncturing pattern includes one or more unpunctured subchannels which are subsets of one or more corresponding unpunctured subchannels of the first puncturing pattern. A wireless communications device configured to transmit or receive one or more packets on a wireless channel based on a second puncturing pattern to or from at least an STA configured to operate in accordance with a second wireless communications protocol release. [Clause 27] The execution of processor-readable code further A wireless communications device as described in Clause 26, configured to transmit a display of a second puncturing pattern to at least an STA, which is configured to operate in accordance with a second wireless communications protocol release. [Clause 28] A wireless communications device as described in one or more of Clauses 26 to 27, wherein the second puncturing pattern includes an unpunctured 20 MHz subchannel corresponding to the primary channel of the AP. [Clause 29] If the execution of processor-readable code results in a second puncturing pattern, Identifying each of the puncturing patterns of a set of puncturing patterns defined by a second wireless communication protocol release that includes unpunctured subchannels, which is a subset of one or more unpunctured subchannels of a first puncturing pattern, A wireless communications device as described in one or more of clauses 26 to 28, configured to select an identified puncturing pattern containing the most unpunctured subchannels as a second puncturing pattern. [Clause 30] A wireless communication device according to one or more of Clauses 26 to 29, wherein the selection of a second puncturing pattern is based on a match between a received bitmap and one or more stored bitmaps corresponding to a set of puncturing patterns defined by a second wireless communication protocol release.

[0151] Where used herein, any phrase referring to “at least one of” or “one or more of” a list of items refers to any combination of those items that includes a single member. For example, “at least one of a, b, or c” is intended to encompass the possibilities of a only, b only, c only, a and b, a and c, b and c, and a, b, and c.

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

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

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

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

[0156] 100 Wireless communication networks, WLAN 102 Access Point (AP) 104 stations (STA) 106 Coverage Area 108 Communication Links 110 Direct communication link, direct wireless link 200 Protocol Data Units (PDUs) 201 Preamble 202 Part 1 203 Part 2 204 PHY payload, payload 206 Legacy Short Training Field (L-STF) 208 Legacy Long Training Field (L-LTF) 210 Legacy Signal Field (L-SIG) 212 Non-legacy signal fields 214 Data Fields (DATA) 222 Data Rate Fields 224 reserved bits 226 Length Fields 228 parity bits 230 Tailfield 300 PDU 302 Part 1 304 Part 2 306 PHY payload 308 L-STF 310 L-LTF 312 L-SIG 314 First VHT signal field (VHT-SIG-A) 316 VHT Short Training Field (VHT-ST) 318 VHT Long Training Field (VHT-LTF) 320 Second VHT signal field (VHT-SIG-B) 322 DATA fields 350 PDU 352 Part 1 354 Part 2 356 PHY payload 358 L-STF 360 L-LTF 362 L-SIG 364 Repetitive Legacy Signal Field (RL-SIG) 366 First HE signal field (HE-SIG-A) 368 Second HE signal field (HE-SIG-B) 370 HE Short Training Field (HE-STF) 372 HE Long Training Field (HE-LTF) 374 DATA fields 400 Physical Layer Convergence Protocol (PLCP) Protocol Data Unit (PPDU) 402 PHY Preamble 404 PLCP Service Data Unit (PSDU) 406 aggregated MPDU (A-MPDU) subframe (MPDU: Media Access Control (MAC) Protocol Data Unit) 408 A-MPDU 410 MAC Delimiter 412 MAC Header 414 MPDU 416 MAC Service Data Unit (MSDU) Subframe 418 aggregated MSDU (A-MSDU) 420 MSDU 422 Subframe Header 424 Frame Check Sequence (FCS) field 500 Wireless Communication Devices 502 Modem 504 Radio 506 Processors 508 memory 602 AP 604 STA 610 Wireless Communication Devices (WCD) 615 Wireless communication devices 620 Antenna 625 Antenna 630 Application Processors 635 Application Processors 640 memory 645 memory 650 External Network Interface 655 User Interface (UI) 665 displays 675 Sensor 700 Tone Map 701 Lower 40MHz section 702 Upper 40MHz section 721 First Tone Plan 722 Second Tone Plan 723 Third Tone Plan 724 The Fourth Tone Plan 725 The Fifth Tone Plan 726 Sixth Tone Plan 800 4-bit bitmap 810 8-bit bitmap 820 8-bit bitmap 830 8-bit bitmap Set of 900 puncturing patterns 1000A Puncture Pattern Set 1000B Puncture Pattern Set 1100A Puncture Pattern Set 1100B Puncture Pattern Set Set of 1200A puncturing patterns 1200B Puncture Pattern Set 1300A Puncture Pattern Set 1300B Puncture Pattern Set 1350 16-bit bitmap 1360 16-bit bitmap 1400 Communications 1402 AP 1404 STA 1405 Wireless Channel 1410 Communications 1500 beacon frames 1501 Frame control field 1502 Time-Length Field 1503 Address 1 Field 1504 Address 2 fields 1505 Address 3 Fields 1506 Sequence control field 1507 HT control field 1508 Frame Body 1509 Frame Inspection Sequence (FCS) Field 1510 Ultra-high throughput (EHT) operating elements, information elements 1511 Element ID field 1512 Length Field 1513 Element ID Extended Field 1514 EHT Operation Information Field 1520 bitmap 2500 Wireless Communication Devices 2510 Receiving Component 2520 Communications Manager 2522 Puncture Pattern Decoding Component 2524 Puncture Pattern Selection Component 2530 Transmitting Component 2600 Wireless Communication Devices 2610 Receiving Component 2620 Communications Manager 2622 Puncture Pattern Selection Component 2624 detection components 2630 Sending Component

Claims

1. A method for wireless communication performed by a wireless station (STA), Steps include receiving a representation of a first puncturing pattern used to transmit or receive data on a wireless channel, wherein the first puncturing pattern is defined by a first wireless communication protocol release, and A step of selecting a second puncturing pattern from a set of puncturing patterns defined by a second wireless communication protocol release, wherein the second puncturing pattern includes one or more uncropped subchannels which are subsets of one or more corresponding uncropped subchannels of the first puncturing pattern; The steps of transmitting or receiving one or more packets on the wireless channel based on the second puncturing pattern, Includes, A method wherein the STA is configured to operate in accordance with the second wireless communication protocol release and is not configured to operate in accordance with the first wireless communication protocol release.

2. The second puncturing pattern described above is A 320MHz frequency bandwidth including zero or more punctured subchannels with a 40MHz frequency bandwidth, an 80MHz frequency bandwidth, or an 80+40MHz frequency bandwidth. A 160MHz frequency bandwidth including zero or more punctured subchannels with a 40MHz frequency bandwidth or a 20MHz frequency bandwidth. An 80MHz frequency bandwidth including zero or more punctured subchannels with a 20MHz frequency bandwidth, A puncture-free 40MHz frequency bandwidth, or The method according to claim 1, comprising a puncture-free frequency bandwidth of 20 MHz.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the second puncturing pattern includes an unpunctured 20 MHz subchannel corresponding to the primary channel of an access point (AP).

4. The display includes a bitmap containing multiple bits, each bit of the bitmap indicating whether the corresponding subchannel of the wireless channel is punctured by the first puncturing pattern. The method according to claim 1, wherein the bitmap is received within an ultra-high throughput (EHT) operating element of a beacon frame, association response frame, probe response frame, or action frame.

5. The step of selecting the second puncturing pattern is, Steps include identifying each of the puncturing patterns of the set of puncturing patterns defined by the second wireless communication protocol release, which includes an unpunctured subchannel that is a subset of the one or more unpunctured subchannels of the first puncturing pattern, The steps include selecting the identified puncturing pattern containing the most unpunctured subchannels as the second puncturing pattern, and Includes, The step of selecting the identified puncturing pattern containing the most punctured subchannels as the second puncturing pattern is: In response to the finding that two or more of the identified puncturing patterns include the most punctured subchannels, the step of determining which of the two or more identified puncturing patterns includes punctured subchannels associated with a relatively high frequency of the wireless channel or a relatively low frequency of the wireless channel. A step of selecting the second puncturing pattern based on the above decision. Includes In response to the fact that two or more of the identified puncturing patterns contain the most punctured subchannels, the step of determining which of the two or more identified puncturing patterns is associated with the bitmap having the highest binary index or the bitmap having the lowest binary index, A step of selecting the second puncturing pattern based on the above decision. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

6. The method according to claim 1, wherein the step of selecting the second puncturing pattern is based on a match between the received bitmap and one or more stored bitmaps corresponding to the set of puncturing patterns defined by the second wireless communication protocol release.

7. A method for wireless communication performed by a wireless access point (AP), A step of selecting a first puncturing pattern used to transmit or receive data on a wireless channel, wherein the first puncturing pattern is defined by a first wireless communication protocol release, The steps include determining the presence of one or more wireless stations (STAs) configured to operate in accordance with a second wireless communication protocol release, Steps of selecting a second puncturing pattern from a set of puncturing patterns defined by the second wireless communication protocol release in response to determining the presence of one or more STAs configured to operate in accordance with the second wireless communication protocol release, wherein the second puncturing pattern includes one or more uncropped subchannels which are a subset of one or more corresponding uncropped subchannels of the first puncturing pattern; A method comprising the steps of transmitting one or more packets on the wireless channel based on the second puncturing pattern to at least the STA configured to operate in accordance with the second wireless communication protocol release, or receiving from the STA.

8. The further step includes transmitting a display of the second puncturing pattern to at least the STA configured to operate in accordance with the second wireless communication protocol release, The method according to claim 7, wherein the indication includes bits carried within an ultra-high throughput (EHT) operating element of a beacon frame, association response frame, probe response frame, or action frame.

9. The second puncturing pattern described above is A 320MHz frequency bandwidth including zero or more punctured subchannels with a 40MHz frequency bandwidth, an 80MHz frequency bandwidth, or an 80+40MHz frequency bandwidth. A 160MHz frequency bandwidth including zero or more punctured subchannels with a 40MHz frequency bandwidth or a 20MHz frequency bandwidth. An 80MHz frequency bandwidth including zero or more punctured subchannels with a 20MHz frequency bandwidth, A puncture-free 40MHz frequency bandwidth, or The method according to claim 7, comprising a puncture-free frequency bandwidth of 20 MHz.

10. The method according to claim 7, wherein the second puncturing pattern includes an unpunctured 20 MHz subchannel corresponding to the primary channel of the AP.

11. The step of selecting the second puncturing pattern is, Steps include identifying each of the puncturing patterns of the set of puncturing patterns defined by the second wireless communication protocol release, which includes an unpunctured subchannel that is a subset of the one or more unpunctured subchannels of the first puncturing pattern, The steps include selecting the identified puncturing pattern containing the most unpunctured subchannels as the second puncturing pattern, and The method according to claim 7, including the method described in claim 7.

12. The step of selecting the second puncturing pattern is: In response to the finding that two or more of the identified puncturing patterns include the most punctured subchannels, the step of determining which of the two or more identified puncturing patterns includes punctured subchannels associated with a relatively high frequency of the wireless channel or a relatively low frequency of the wireless channel. A step of selecting the second puncturing pattern based on the above decision. The method according to claim 11, further comprising:

13. The step of selecting the second puncturing pattern is: In response to the fact that two or more of the identified puncturing patterns contain the most punctured subchannels, the step of determining which of the two or more identified puncturing patterns is associated with the bitmap having the highest binary index or the bitmap having the lowest binary index, A step of selecting the second puncturing pattern based on the above decision. The method according to claim 11, further comprising:

14. A wireless communication device, At least one modem and At least one processor that is communicatively coupled to the at least one modem, The system includes at least one memory that is communicatively coupled to the at least one processor and stores processor-readable code, and when the processor-readable code is executed by the at least one processor in cooperation with the at least one modem, the wireless communication device, Receiving a representation of a first puncturing pattern used to transmit or receive data on a wireless channel, wherein the first puncturing pattern is defined by a first wireless communication protocol release, Selecting a second puncturing pattern from a set of puncturing patterns defined by a second wireless communication protocol release, wherein the second puncturing pattern includes one or more uncropped subchannels which are subsets of one or more corresponding uncropped subchannels of the first puncturing pattern. Transmitting or receiving one or more packets on the wireless channel based on the second puncturing pattern, wherein the wireless communication device is configured to operate according to the second wireless communication protocol release and not according to the first wireless communication protocol release. A wireless communication device configured to perform the following actions.

15. A wireless communication device according to claim 14, wherein the at least one modem, the at least one processor, and the at least one memory are further configured to perform the method according to any one of claims 2 to 6.

16. A wireless communication device, At least one modem and At least one processor that is communicatively coupled to the at least one modem, The system includes at least one memory that is communicatively coupled to the at least one processor and stores processor-readable code, and the processor-readable code, when executed by the at least one processor in cooperation with the at least one modem, is transmitted to the wireless communication device. Selecting a first puncturing pattern used to transmit or receive data over a wireless channel, wherein the first puncturing pattern is defined by a first wireless communication protocol release, To determine the presence of one or more wireless stations (STAs) configured to operate in accordance with the second wireless communication protocol release, In response to determining the presence of one or more STAs configured to operate in accordance with the second wireless communication protocol release, to select a second puncturing pattern from a set of puncturing patterns defined by the second wireless communication protocol release, wherein the second puncturing pattern includes one or more unpunctured subchannels which are subsets of one or more corresponding unpunctured subchannels of the first puncturing pattern. Transmitting or receiving one or more packets on the wireless channel based on the second puncturing pattern to or from at least the STA configured to operate in accordance with the second wireless communication protocol release. A wireless communication device configured to perform the following actions.

17. A wireless communication device according to claim 16, wherein the at least one modem, the at least one processor, and the at least one memory are further configured to perform the method according to any one of claims 8 to 13.

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