Request and Reporting of MLD-Level Statistics and Delay Information

Abstract

Embodiments of the present disclosure relate to MLD, methods, apparatuses, and computer-readable storage media for the request and reporting of statistical information and delay information at the MLD level. The MLD determines at least one of statistical information related to the MLD or delay information related to the MLD. In response to receiving a request for at least one of statistical information or delay information from a second MLD, the MLD transmits at least one of the statistical information or the delay information to the second MLD.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] Embodiments of the present disclosure generally relate to the field of telecommunications, and more specifically, to multi-link devices (MLDs), methods, and computer-readable storage media for MLD level statistics and requests and reports of delay information.

Background Art

[0002] The IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) Task Group (TG) defines the MLD architecture. In the MLD architecture, one MLD can establish multiple links with additional MLDs and can simultaneously transmit data to the additional MLDs over the multiple links. For example, an AP MLD can establish three links with a non-AP MLD over the 2.4 GHz, 5 GHz, and 6 GHz bands and can simultaneously transmit data to the non-AP MLD over the three links. Compared with the pre-802.11be architecture, the MLD architecture improves throughput (TP) and significantly reduces latency.

Summary of the Invention

[0003] Exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure provide an improved solution for MLD level statistics and requests and reports of delay information.

[0004] In a first aspect, an MLD is provided. The MLD includes at least one processor and at least one memory storing instructions. When executed by the at least one processor, the instructions cause the MLD to determine at least one of statistical information related to the MLD or delay information related to the MLD, and in response to receiving a request for at least one of the statistical information or the delay information from a second MLD, transmit at least one of the statistical information or the delay information to the second MLD.

[0005] In a second embodiment, an MLD is provided, comprising at least one processor and at least one memory for storing instructions. When an instruction is executed by at least one processor, it causes the MLD to perform the steps of sending a request to a first MLD for at least one of statistical information related to the first MLD or delay information related to the first MLD, and receiving a report from the first MLD regarding at least one of the statistical information or delay information.

[0006] In a third embodiment, a method is provided, which includes the steps of determining at least one of statistical information or delay information related to the MLD in an MLD, and transmitting at least one of the statistical information or delay information to the second MLD in response to receiving a request for at least one of the statistical information or delay information from the second MLD.

[0007] In a fourth aspect, a method is provided, which includes the steps of: sending a request from an MLD to a first MLD for at least one of statistical information relating to the first MLD or delay information relating to the first MLD; and receiving a report from the first MLD relating to at least one of the statistical information or delay information.

[0008] In a fifth embodiment, an apparatus is provided comprising a first MLD, the first MLD including means for determining at least one of statistical information or delay information related to the first MLD, and means for transmitting at least one of the statistical information or delay information to the second MLD in response to receiving a request for at least one of the statistical information or delay information from the second MLD.

[0009] In a sixth embodiment, an apparatus is provided comprising a second MLD, the second MLD including means for transmitting to the first MLD a request for at least one of statistical information relating to the first MLD or delay information relating to the first MLD, and means for receiving a report from the first MLD relating to at least one of the statistical information or delay information.

[0010] In the seventh aspect, a computer-readable medium is provided. The computer-readable medium comprises program instructions for causing the device to perform the method according to the third aspect.

[0011] In the eighth aspect, a computer-readable medium is provided. The computer-readable medium comprises program instructions for causing the device to perform the method according to the fourth aspect.

[0012] It should be understood that the summary section is not necessarily intended to identify the main or essential features of the embodiments of this disclosure, nor is it intended to be used to limit the scope of this disclosure. Other features of this disclosure will be readily apparent from the following description.

[0013] Next, we will describe some exemplary implementation configurations with reference to the attached drawings. [Brief explanation of the drawing]

[0014] [Figure 1A] This figure shows an exemplary communication environment in which embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented. [Figure 1B] This figure shows another exemplary communication environment in which embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented. [Figure 1C] This figure shows yet another exemplary communication environment in which embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented. [Figure 2A] Examples of the differences between link-level statistics and delay information, and MLD-level statistics and delay information, are shown through several exemplary implementations of this disclosure. [Figure 2B]Examples of the differences between link-level statistics and delay information, and MLD-level statistics and delay information, are shown through several exemplary implementations of this disclosure. [Figure 3] The following are signaling charts illustrating the processes for requesting and reporting at least one of the statistical or delayed information associated with the MLD, according to some exemplary embodiments of this disclosure. [Figure 4A] Examples of local statistics request frames are shown according to some exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure. [Figure 4B] Examples of local statistics request frames are shown according to some exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure. [Figure 4C] Examples of bureau statistics reporting frames according to some exemplary embodiments of this disclosure are shown. [Figure 5] The following are signaling charts illustrating the processes for requesting and reporting at least one of the statistical or delayed information associated with the MLD, according to some exemplary embodiments of this disclosure. [Figure 6] This is a flowchart illustrating exemplary methods based on several exemplary implementations of the present disclosure. [Figure 7] This is a flowchart illustrating an exemplary method in another exemplary implementation of the present disclosure. [Figure 8] This is a simplified block diagram of a device suitable for implementing the exemplary implementation of the present disclosure. [Figure 9] This is a block diagram of an exemplary computer-readable medium according to an exemplary implementation of the present disclosure.

[0015] Throughout the drawings, unless otherwise noted, the same or similar reference numbers represent the same or similar elements. [Modes for carrying out the invention]

[0016] Next, the principles of the present disclosure will be described with reference to some exemplary implementations. These embodiments are described for illustrative purposes only and are described to assist those skilled in the art in understanding and implementing the present disclosure, and it should be understood that they do not imply any limitation on the scope of the present disclosure. The disclosure described herein can be implemented in various ways other than those described below.

[0017] In the following description and claims, unless otherwise defined, all technical and scientific terms used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which this disclosure belongs.

[0018] References to "an embodiment", "embodiment", "exemplary embodiment", etc. in the present disclosure indicate that the described embodiment may include a particular feature, structure, or characteristic, but not all embodiments need to include the particular feature, structure, or characteristic. Further, such phrases do not necessarily refer to the same embodiment. Further, when a particular feature, structure, or characteristic is described in relation to an embodiment, it is within the knowledge of one of ordinary skill in the art to affect such feature, structure, or characteristic in relation to other implementations, whether or not explicitly described.

[0019] The terms "first", "second", etc. may be used herein to describe various elements, but it should be understood that these elements should not be limited by these terms. These terms are only used to distinguish one element from another. For example, without departing from the scope of the exemplary implementation, the first element can be referred to as the second element, and similarly, the second element can be referred to as the first element. As used herein, the term "and / or" includes any and all combinations of one or more of the listed terms.

[0020] The terms used herein are intended solely to describe specific implementations and are not intended to limit the exemplary implementations. Where used herein, the singular forms "a," "an," and "the" also include the plural unless explicitly indicated otherwise in the context. Furthermore, the terms "comprises," "comprising," "has," "having," "includes," and / or "including," where used herein, specify the presence of the described features, elements, and / or components, but do not exclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, elements, components, and / or combinations thereof.

[0021] As used in this application, the term “circuit” may mean one, more, or all of the following: (a) Hardware-only circuit implementation (such as implementation in analog and / or digital circuits only) (b) Combination of hardware circuitry and software (where applicable) (i) combination of analog and / or digital hardware circuits with software / firmware (ii) Any part of a hardware processor having software and memory (including a digital signal processor) cooperates to cause a device such as a mobile phone or server to perform various functions. (c) Hardware circuits and / or processors, such as a microprocessor or part of a microprocessor, that require software (e.g., firmware) for operation, but the software may not be present when it is not required for operation.

[0022] The definition of "circuit" applies to all uses of this term in this application, including any claim. Further as an example, as used in this application, the term "circuit" also encompasses a hardware circuit or processor (or more processors), or a portion of a hardware circuit or processor, and any implementation of its (or their) accompanying software and / or firmware. The term "circuit" also encompasses, for example, a baseband integrated circuit or processor integrated circuit for a mobile device, or a similar integrated circuit in a server, cellular network device, or other computing or network device, as applicable to an element of a particular claim.

[0023] As used herein, the term “communication network” refers to, but is not limited to, fifth-generation (5G) systems, Long-Term Evolution (LTE), LTE-A, Broadband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA®), High-Speed ​​Packet Access (HSPA), Narrowband Internet of Things (NB-IoT), and any network conforming to any appropriate communication standard, such as Wi-Fi. Furthermore, communication between terminal devices and network devices in a communication network may be performed by, but is not limited to, fifth-generation (5G) New Radio (NR) communication protocols, and / or any other protocols currently known or to be developed in the future, in accordance with any appropriate generation communication protocol, including first-generation (1G), second-generation (2G), 2.5G, 2.75G, third-generation (3G), fourth-generation (4G), and 4.5G. Embodiments of this disclosure may be applied to a variety of communication systems. Given the rapid development of communications, it is natural that there may also be future types of communication technologies and systems to which this disclosure may be embodied. This should not be understood as limiting the scope of this disclosure to the aforementioned systems only.

[0024] As used herein, the term “network device” refers to a node in a communications network from which terminal devices access the network and receive services. Depending on the terminology and technology applied, a network device may refer to a base station (BS) or access point (AP), for example, a node B (NodeB or NB), an evolved node B (eNodeB or eNB), an NR NB (also called a gNB), a remote radio unit (RRU), a radio header (RH), a remote radio head (RRH), a relay, a femto, a pico, or other low-power node. A RAN partitioned architecture includes a gNB-CU (centralized unit, hosting RRC, SDAP, and PDCP) controlling multiple gNB-DUs (distributed units, hosting RLC, MAC, and PHY). A relay node may correspond to the DU portion of an IAB node.

[0025] The term "terminal device" refers to any end device that may be capable of wireless communication. More specifically, terminal devices may also be called communication devices, user equipment (UE), subscriber stations (SS), portable subscriber stations, mobile stations (MS), or access terminals (AT). Terminal devices may include, but are not limited to, mobile phones, cellular phones, smartphones, voice over IP (VoIP) phones, wireless local loop phones, tablets, wearable terminal devices, personal digital assistants (PDAs), portable computers, desktop computers, image capture terminal devices such as digital cameras, game terminal devices, music storage and playback devices, vehicle-mounted wireless terminal equipment, wireless endpoints, mobile stations, laptop embedded devices (LEEs), laptop embedded devices (LMEs), USB dongles, smart devices, wireless customer premises equipment (CPEs), Internet of Things (IoT) devices, watches or other wearables, head-mounted displays (HMDs), vehicles, drones, medical devices and applications (e.g., remote surgery), industrial devices and applications (e.g., robots and / or other wireless devices operating in an industrial and / or automated processing chain context), consumer electronics devices, and devices operating on commercial and / or industrial wireless networks. Terminal devices may also correspond to the mobile termination (MT) portion of Integrated Access and Backhaul (IAB) nodes (also known as relay nodes). In the following description, the terms “terminal device,” “communication device,” “terminal,” “user equipment,” and “UE” may be used interchangeably.

[0026] Figure 1A shows an exemplary communication environment 100A in which embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented. In some embodiments, the communication environment 100A may be implemented as an easy mesh network (ESS).

[0027] As shown in Figure 1A, the communication environment 100A includes a non-AP MLD110 and an AP MLD120. It should be understood that MLDs are logical entities. An MLD that operates as an AP entity is sometimes called an AP MLD, and an MLD that operates as a non-AP STA entity is sometimes called a non-AP MLD.

[0028] Non-AP MLD110 has affiliated non-AP STA111, 112, and 113. For brevity, non-AP STA will also be referred to as STA below. AP MLD120 has affiliated AP121, 122, and 123.

[0029] AP MLD120 can establish three links with non-AP MLD110 and transmit data to the non-AP MLD110 simultaneously over the three links. The three links may include link 131 between AP121 and STA111, link 132 between AP122 and STA112, and link 133 between AP123 and STA113. For example, the three links may operate in the 2.4GHz, 5GHz, and 6GHz bands, respectively.

[0030] Please understand that the number of non-AP STAs belonging to non-AP MLD110 and the number of APs belonging to AP MLD120, as shown in Figure 1A, are for illustrative purposes only and do not imply any limitation. Communication environment 100A may include any suitable number of STAs belonging to non-AP MLD110 and any suitable number of APs belonging to AP MLD120 adapted to implement embodiments of this disclosure.

[0031] In addition, please understand that the number of non-AP MLDs shown in Figure 1A is also for illustrative purposes only and does not imply any limitation. The communication environment 100A may include any suitable number of non-AP MLDs adapted to carry out embodiments of this disclosure. In some embodiments, AP MLD 120 may establish links with multiple non-AP MLDs. This will be explained with reference to Figure 1B.

[0032] Figure 1B shows another exemplary communication environment 100B in which embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented. In some embodiments, the communication environment 100B may be implemented as an ESS (Email System).

[0033] As shown in Figure 1B, the communication environment 100B includes non-AP MLD110 and AP MLD120, as well as non-AP MLD140 and 150, as shown in Figure 1A.

[0034] Non-AP MLD140 has an affiliated non-AP STA141. Non-AP MLD150 has affiliated non-AP STA151 and STA152.

[0035] AP MLD120 can establish a link with non-AP MLD140, the link being between AP123 and STA141. AP MLD120 can establish two links with non-AP MLD150. One of the two links is between AP121 and STA151, and the other is between AP122 and STA152.

[0036] Figure 1C shows yet another exemplary communication environment 100C in which embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented. In some embodiments, the communication environment 100C may be implemented as an ESS (Email System for Communication).

[0037] As shown in Figure 1C, the communication environment 100C comprises AP MLD 120, non-AP MLDs 110 and 150 shown in Figure 1B, AP MLD 160, access control (AC) device 170, and the internet 180. AP MLD 160 has partner APs 161, 162, and 163.

[0038] Figure 1C should be understood to show that the AC device 170 is separated from the AP MLD 120, 160 as an example. In some embodiments, the AC device 170 may be incorporated into one of the AP MLD 120, 160.

[0039] In some embodiments, each AP belonging to an AP MLD and each STA belonging to a non-AP MLD may be configured using an STA statistics counter (also called a link-level counter). The STA statistics counter can store statistical information associated with the link between the AP and the STA. The AP and STA can also maintain delay information associated with the link between the AP and the STA. The delivery status of the AP or STA may be determined based on the statistical information or delay information associated with the link. Hereinafter, the statistical information and delay information related to the link will also be referred to as link-level statistics and link-level delay information, respectively. For brevity, link-level statistics and link-level delay information will be collectively referred to as link-level statistics and delay information.

[0040] APs can obtain link-level statistics and latency information from connected STAs. Similarly, STAs can obtain link-level statistics and latency information from APs. For example, AP121 can obtain statistics and latency information related to link 131 from STA111, and STA112 can obtain statistics and latency information related to link 132 from AP122.

[0041] In some embodiments, an MLD (such as AP MLD120) may need to obtain at least one of the statistics or latency information related to another MLD (such as a non-AP MLD110) in order to make decisions such as traffic scheduling and / or load balancing decisions. In addition, the non-AP MLD110 may need to decide whether to remain connected to AP MLD120 or to connect to a neighboring AP MLD in order to improve its performance. Hereinafter, statistics related to an MLD will be referred to as ML-level statistics, and latency information will be referred to as ML-level latency information. For brevity, MLD-level statistics and MLD-level latency information will be collectively referred to as MLD-level statistics and latency information.

[0042] When multiple links are established between two MLDs, link level statistics and delay information may differ from MLD level statistics and delay information. Therefore, if the MLD is determined based on the link level counter, information errors may occur. This is illustrated with reference to Figures 2A and 2B.

[0043] Figure 2A shows an example 200 of the difference between link-level statistics and delay information and MLD-level statistics and delay information. Example 200 may include AP MLD120 and non-AP MLD110, as shown in Figure 1A.

[0044] AP MLD120 sends data1 to non-AP MLD110 via AP121. Non-AP MLD110 responds with an ACK via STA111. However, the ACK frame is lost due to interference on the channel. AP MLD120 can then retransmit data1 to non-AP MLD110 via AP122. Non-AP MLD110 responds with an ACK via STA112. However, the ACK frame is lost again. AP MLD120 retransmits data1 to non-AP MLD110 via AP123. STA113, belonging to non-AP MLD110, responds with an ACK, which is finally received by AP MLD110.

[0045] AP MLD120 can retrieve the number of Media Access Control (MAC) Protocol Data Units (MPDUs) received on each of links 131, 132, and 133 via a link-level STA statistics request. Non-AP MLD110 may respond via a link-level STA statistics report that one MPDU is received on each of links 131, 132, and 133. Therefore, AP MLD120, based on three link-level STA statistics reports, determines that the total number of received MPDUs is three. However, in reality, only one MPDU (i.e., data1) is delivered between the two MLDs. In other words, if only link-level statistics are counted, three MPDUs are sent (which is incorrect information). However, if MLD-level statistics are counted, one MPDU (data1) is sent (which is correct information). That is, determining the number of received MPDUs based on the counters for links 131, 132, and 133 yields incorrect information.

[0046] Figure 2B shows another example 205 of the difference between link-level statistics and delay information and MLD-level statistics and delay information. Example 205 may include AP MLD120 and non-AP MLD110, as shown in Figure 1B.

[0047] As shown in Figure 2B, non-AP MLDs 110, 140, and 150 are associated with AP MLD 120. In other words, there are three non-AP MLDs associated with AP MLD. The number of established links between AP MLD 120 and non-AP MLDs 110, 140, and 150 are 3, 2, and 1, respectively. APs 121, 122, and 123, which belong to AP MLD 120, can record the number of STAs based on the number of connected STAs.

[0048] If only link-level statistics are counted, there are six STAs connected to AP MLD120. However, if MLD-level statistics are counted, there are actually three non-AP MLDs connected to AP MLD120. Clearly, AP MLD120 calculates an incorrect value based on the information provided by the associated STA counters in AP121, 122, and 123, respectively.

[0049] Exemplary embodiments of this disclosure provide a solution for device identification and discovery to solve the above-mentioned problems and one or more other potential problems. According to this solution, an MLD determines at least one of statistical information or delay information associated with the MLD. In response to receiving a request for at least one of the statistical information or delay information from a second MLD, the MLD transmits at least one of the statistical information or delay information to the second MLD. In this way, based on at least one of the statistical information or delay information to the MLD, the MLD can decide whether to continue connecting to the second MLD or to continue connecting to a neighboring MLD in order to improve its performance. The principles of this disclosure will be described below with reference to Figures 3 to 9.

[0050] Figure 3 shows a signaling chart illustrating a process 300 for requesting and reporting at least one of the statistical or delayed information related to MLD, according to some exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0051] Process 300 may include a first MLD and a second MLD. In some embodiments, each of the first and second MLDs may be implemented as a non-AP MLD, such as two of the non-AP MLDs 110, 140, and 150 shown in Figures 1A, 1B, and 1C. In other embodiments, the first MLD may be implemented as a non-AP MLD, such as one of the non-AP MLDs 110, 140, and 150, and the second MLD may be implemented as an AP MLD, such as one of the AP MLDs 120 and 160 shown in Figures 1A, 1B, and 1C. Process 300 will be described below with reference to communication environment 100A in Figure 1A. However, this process may also be applied to other communication scenarios, such as communication environment 100B or 100C.

[0052] As shown in Figure 3, the non-AP MLD110 determines at least one of the following: statistical information associated with the non-AP MLD110 or delay information associated with the non-AP MLD110.

[0053] AP MLD120 sends at least one request for statistical or delay information associated with the non-AP MLD110 to the non-AP MLD110 (320).

[0054] In some embodiments, AP MLD120 may send a request for at least one of statistical information or delay information by sending a station statistics request frame. In some embodiments, the station statistics request frame may be included in a measurement request to be sent to a non-AP MLD110.

[0055] In some embodiments, the station statistics request frame may be transmitted over a specific link among several links from AP MLD120 to non-AP MLD110. In such embodiments, the station statistics request frame may comprise a first address of a first MAC entity of the non-AP MLD110 in a first sub-element field. Hereinafter, the sub-element field may be referred to as an optional sub-element field. The first address indicates that at least one of the statistics and delay information associated with the non-AP MLD110 is being requested. This will be explained with reference to Figure 4A and Table 1.

[0056] Figure 4A shows an example of a station statistics request frame 400 according to some exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure. As shown in Figure 4A, the station statistics request frame 400 comprises a peer MAC address field 410, a randomization interval field 412, a measurement duration field 414, a group identification field 416, and an optional sub-element field 418.

[0057] Table 1 shows examples of values ​​in the optional sub-element field 418 in Figure 4A. [Table 1]

[0058] In some embodiments, a reserved sub-element ID in an optional sub-element field 418 may indicate that at least one of the statistical or delay information associated with a non-AP MLD110 is requested. For example, the reserved sub-element ID "2" in the first column of the fourth row of Table 1 may indicate that at least one of the statistical or delay information associated with a non-AP MLD110 is requested. Of course, in other embodiments, one of the other reserved sub-element IDs in Table 1 may be used for this purpose.

[0059] In addition, as shown in the fourth row, second column of Table 1, a basic multilink element associated with the reserved sub-element ID "2" may be added to carry the first address of the first MAC entity of the non-AP MLD110.

[0060] Alternatively, in some embodiments, the station statistics request frame may be transmitted over any of several links between AP MLD120 and non-AP MLD110. In such embodiments, the station statistics request frame may comprise a first address of a first MAC entity of non-AP MLD110. The first address indicates a request for at least one of the statistics or delay information related to the MLD. This will be illustrated with reference to Figure 4B.

[0061] Figure 4B shows another example of a bureau statistics request frame 420 according to some exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure. As shown in Figure 4B, the bureau statistics request frame 420 is similar to the bureau statistics request frame 400 in that it also comprises a randomization interval field 412, a measurement duration field 414, and a group identification field 416.

[0062] The station statistics request frame 420 differs from the station statistics request frame 400 in the STA / non-AP MLD MAC address field 430. In some embodiments, the STA / non-AP MLD MAC address field 430 may carry a first address of a first MAC entity of a non-AP MLD 110 or an address of a MAC entity of an STA. The first address indicates a request for at least one of statistics or delay information related to the MLD. The address indicates a request for at least one of statistics or delay information related to the STA.

[0063] Furthermore, the station statistics request frame 420 differs from the station statistics request frame 400 in an optional sub-element field 432. The optional sub-element field 432 is not used to indicate that at least one of the statistics or delay information related to the MLD is being requested.

[0064] Returning to Figure 3, in response to receiving a request for at least one statistical or delay information, the non-AP MLD110 sends at least one of the statistical or delay information to the AP MLD120 (330).

[0065] In process 300, based on at least one of the statistical or latency information associated with AP MLD120, a non-AP MLD120 may decide whether to continue its connection to the current AP MLD110 or to continue its connection to a neighboring AP MLD to improve its performance.

[0066] Furthermore, based on at least one of the statistical or latency information related to AP MLD120, non-AP MLD110 can make decisions such as decisions regarding traffic scheduling and / or load balancing.

[0067] In some embodiments, the non-AP MLD110 can transmit at least one of statistical information or delay information by transmitting a station statistics report frame.

[0068] In embodiments where a station statistics request frame is transmitted over a specific link among multiple links between AP MLD120 and non-AP MLD110, a station statistics report frame may also be transmitted over a specific link among multiple links between AP MLD120 and non-AP MLD110. In such embodiments, the station statistics report frame may include at least one of statistical information or delay information, or at least one of a second address of AP MLD120 of a second MAC entity in a second optional sub-element field. The second address indicates that at least one of the statistical information or delay information is associated with non-AP MLD110. This is described in detail in Figure 4C, Table 2.

[0069] Figure 4C shows an example of a station statistics report frame 440 according to some exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure. As shown in Figure 4C, the station statistics report frame 440 comprises a measurement duration field 450, a group identification field 452, a statistics group data field 454, and an optional sub-element field 456. In some embodiments, the statistics group data field 454 can carry at least one of statistics or delay information related to a non-AP MLD 110.

[0070] Table 2 shows examples of values ​​for the optional sub-element field 456 in Figure 4C. [Table 2]

[0071] In some embodiments, a reserved sub-element ID in any sub-element field 456 may indicate that at least one of the statistical or delayed information in the statistics group data field 454 is associated with a non-AP MLD 110. For example, the reserved sub-element ID "2" in the first column of the fourth row of Table 2 may indicate that at least one of the statistical or delayed information in the statistics group data field 454 is associated with a non-AP MLD 110. Of course, in other embodiments, one of the other reserved sub-element IDs in Table 2 may be used for this purpose.

[0072] In addition, as shown in the fourth row, second column of Table 2, a basic multilink element associated with the reserved sub-element ID "2" may be added to carry the second address of the second MAC entity of the AP MLD120.

[0073] In an embodiment in which the station statistics request frame is transmitted over one of several links between AP MLD120 and non-AP MLD110, the station statistics report frame may also be transmitted over one of several links between AP MLD120 and non-AP MLD110.

[0074] In some embodiments, the non-AP MLD110 is configured using an MLD level counter, and statistical information related to the non-AP MLD110 can be determined based on the value of the MLD level counter.

[0075] In some embodiments, the statistical information related to MLD includes at least one of the following: • Number of fragment frames sent by MLD • Number of multicast frames sent by MLD • Number of frames that failed to be transmitted by MLD • Number of fragment frames received by MLD • Number of frames with frame check sequence errors received by MLD • Number of fragment frames sent by MLD • Number of frames retransmitted by MLD • Number of frames retransmitted multiple times by MLD • Number of frames re-received by MLD • Number of Transmit Requests (RTS) successfully sent by MLD • Number of RTS transmissions that failed to be sent by MLD • Number of unacknowledged response frames sent by MLD

[0076] In some embodiments, the frame comprises a Quality of Service (QoS) frame having a traffic indicator in the range of 0 to 7, and the statistics comprises at least one of the following: • Number of QoS fragments sent by MLD • Number of QoS levels that MLD has sent faults to • Number of QoS frames retransmitted by MLD • Number of QoS frames multicast retransmitted by MLD • Number of QoS frames re-received by MLD • Number of QoS RTS successfully transmitted • Number of QoS RTS transmissions that failed • Number of QoS unacknowledged frames sent by MLD • Number of QoS fragments received by MLD • Number of QoS frames received by MLD • Number of QoS frames discarded by MLD • Number of QoS MPDUs received by MLD • The number of QoS retransmission frames received by the MLD.

[0077] In some embodiments, the frame comprises an Aggregate Media Access Control (MAC) Service Data Unit (A-MSDU), and the statistical information comprises at least one of the following: • Number of A-MSDUs sent by MLD • Number of A-MSDU failures sent by MLD • Number of bytes transmitted by MLD for A-MSDU • Number of A-MSDUs retransmitted by MLD • Number of A-MSDUs retransmitted multiple times by MLD • Number of A-MSDUs that have not received confirmation by MLD • Number of A-MSDUs received by MLD • Number of bytes received by A-MSDU via MLD

[0078] In some embodiments, the frame comprises an Aggregate Media Access Control (MAC) protocol data unit (A-MPDU), and the statistical information comprises at least one of the following: • Number of A-MPDUs sent by MLD • Number of MPDUs in A-MPDU sent by MLD • Number of bytes in the A-MPDU sent by MLD • Number of A-MPDUs received by MLD • Number of MPDUs in A-MPDU received by MLD • Number of bytes in the A-MPDU received by the MLD • Number of A-MPDUs with cyclic redundancy check errors received by MLD

[0079] In some embodiments, the delay information related to MLD may include at least one of the following: • MLD average access latency • MLD mean latency for Quality of Service (QoS) frames with best-effort priority • MLD mean latency on QoS frames with background priority • MLD mean latency on QoS frames with video priority • MLD mean latency on QoS frames with voice priority · Non-AP MLD numbers • Use of MLD channels

[0080] In some embodiments, a non-AP MLD110 may comprise a first Bureau Management Entity (SME) and a first Media Access Control Sublayer Management Entity (MLME). The first SME can communicate with the first MLME using primitives. Primitives are used to describe some abstract behavior, signaling, and / or functionality between the SME and the MLME (or between the SME and the MLME). Any action designated as relating to a Service Access Point (SAP) primitive should be interpreted as an action on an invocation or instance of that primitive.

[0081] Similarly, the AP MLD120 may be equipped with a second SME and a second MLME. The second SME can communicate with the second MLME using primitives. This will be explained with reference to Figure 5.

[0082] Figure 5 shows a signaling chart illustrating a process 500 for requesting and reporting at least one of MLD-related statistical or delay information, according to some exemplary embodiments of this disclosure. Process 500 may be considered an exemplary implementation of process 300. Hereinafter, process 500 will be described with reference to communication environment 100A in Figure 1A. However, this process may also be applied to other communication scenarios such as communication environment 100B or 100C.

[0083] As shown in Figure 5, the non-AP MLD110 comprises a first SME110A and a first MLME110B. The AP MLD120 comprises a second SME120A and a second MLME120B.

[0084] Once a decision is made to request measurements from the non-AP MLD110 (505), the second SME120A provides the second request primitive to the second MLME120B to indicate that a request for at least one of the statistical information or delay information should be sent (510).

[0085] As described above, in some embodiments, the AP MLD120 can send a request for at least one of either statistical information or delay information by sending a station statistics request frame. The station statistics request frame may be included in a measurement request to be sent to a non-AP MLD110.

[0086] In such embodiments, the station statistics request frame may be transmitted over a specific link among a plurality of links between the AP MLD120 and the non-AP MLD110. In such embodiments, the second request primitive may comprise at least one of the following: a first address of a first MAC entity of the non-AP MLD110, or a fourth address of a fourth MAC entity of a device belonging to the non-AP MLD110. The fourth address indicates that at least one of statistics or delay information should be sent to the device. For example, a device associated with the non-AP MLD110 may be one of STA111, 112, or 113, as shown in Figure 1A.

[0087] In such an embodiment, the second request primitive may comprise the MLME-MREQUEST.request primitive. An example of the MLME-MREQUEST.request primitive is shown below. MLME-MREQUEST.request( STA MAC address, Dialog token, Measurement request set, Number of iterations, Measurement category, Vendor details, MLD MAC address )

[0088] Table 3 shows the parameter details for the MLME-MREQUEST.request primitive. [Table 3]

[0089] As shown in Table 3, the "STA MAC address" is the address of the peer MAC entity to which the measurement request is sent. In other words, the "STA MAC address" is the address of the peer MAC entity to which at least one request for statistics or delay information associated with a non-AP MLD110 is sent. For example, if a request is sent to STA111, which belongs to a non-AP MLD110, the "STA MAC address" is the address of the MAC entity of STA111.

[0090] Furthermore, as shown in Table 3, the "MLD MAC address" is the address of the MAC entity of the MLD that sends the measurement request. For example, the "MLD MAC address" may be the address of the MAC entity of a non-AP MLD110 to which at least one request for statistical or delay information associated with the non-AP MLD110 is sent.

[0091] Continuing to refer to Figure 5, upon receiving the second request primitive from the second SME 120A (510), the second MLME 120B provides confirmation to the second SME 120A that the second request primitive has been received (515). Furthermore, the second MLME 120B transmits a measurement request to the first MLME 110B of the non-AP MLD 110 (520). The measurement request includes a request for at least one of the following: statistical information or delay information related to the non-AP MLD 110.

[0092] Upon receiving a request for at least one of the statistical information or delay information associated with a non-AP MLD110, the first MLME110B provides the first SME110A with a first instruction to indicate that a request for at least one of the statistical information or delay information has been received (525).

[0093] In some embodiments, the first instruction primitive may comprise at least one of the following: a second address of a second MAC entity of AP MLD120, or a third address of a third MAC entity of a device belonging to AP MLD120. The third address indicates that at least one of statistical information or delay information should be received through the device. For example, the device associated with AP MLD120 may be one of AP121, 122, or 123, as shown in Figure 1A.

[0094] In such an embodiment, the first indicator primitive may comprise the MLME-MREQUEST.indication primitive. An example of the MLME-MREQUEST.indication primitive is shown below. MLME-MREQUEST.indication( STA MAC address Dialog token Measurement request set Number of iterations Measurement Category Vendor details MLD MAC address )

[0095] Table 4 shows the parameter details for the MLME-MREQUEST.indication primitive. [Table 4]

[0096] As shown in Table 4, the "STA MAC address" is the address of the peer MAC entity that received the measurement request. In other words, the "STA MAC address" is the address of the peer MAC entity that received at least one request for statistics or delay information associated with a non-AP MLD110. For example, if the request is received from AP121, which belongs to AP MLD120, the "STA MAC address" is the address of AP121's MAC entity.

[0097] Furthermore, as shown in Table 4, the "MLD MAC address" is the MAC address of the MLD that received the measurement request. For example, the "MLD MAC address" could be the MAC address of the AP MLD120 that received a request for at least one of the statistics or delay information associated with the non-AP MLD110.

[0098] Continuing to refer to Figure 5, upon receiving a first instruction from the first MLME 110B, the first SME 110A makes a decision to accept a measurement request from the AP MLD 120 (530). Next, the first SME 110A provides the measurement request primitive to the first MLME 110B (535). For example, the measurement request primitive may consist of the MLME-MEASURE.request primitive.

[0099] Upon receiving a measurement request primitive from the first SME110A, the first MLME110B executes the measurement process (540). Once the measurement process is complete, the first MLME110B provides confirmation to the first SME110A that the measurement process has been completed (545).

[0100] Upon receiving confirmation from the first MLME110B, the first SME110A compiles the measurement report (550). Next, the first SME110A provides the first request primitive to the first MLME110B (555).

[0101] In an embodiment in which a station statistics report frame is transmitted over a specific link among a plurality of links between AP MLD120 and a non-AP MLD110, the first request primitive may comprise at least one of statistics or delay information, the MAC entity address of a device belonging to AP MLD120, or the second address of a second MAC entity of AP MLD120. The MAC entity address of the device indicates that at least one of statistics or delay information should be transmitted to the device. For example, the device associated with AP MLD120 may be one of AP121, 122, and 123, as shown in Figure 1A.

[0102] In such an embodiment, the first request primitive may comprise the MLME-MREPORT.request primitive. An example of the MLME-MREPORT.request primitive is shown below. MLME-MREPORT.request.( STA MAC address, Dialog token, Measurement request set, Measurement category, Vendor details, MLD MAC address )

[0103] Table 5 shows the parameter details for the MLME-MREPORT.request primitive. [Table 5]

[0104] As shown in Table 5, the "STA MAC address" is the address of the peer MAC entity to which the measurement report is sent. In other words, the "STA MAC address" is the address of the peer MAC entity to which at least one of the statistics or delay information associated with a non-AP MLD110 is sent. For example, if at least one of the statistics and delay information is sent to AP121, which belongs to AP MLD120, then the "STA MAC address" is the address of the MAC entity of AP121.

[0105] Furthermore, as shown in Table 5, the "MLD MAC address" is the MAC entity address of the MLD to which the measurement report is sent. For example, the "MLD MAC address" may be the MAC entity address of AP MLD120 to which at least one of the statistical information or delay information associated with non-AP MLD110 is sent.

[0106] Continuing to refer to Figure 5, upon receiving the first request primitive from the first SME 110A, the first MLME 110B transmits a measurement report to the second MLME 120B of the AP MLD 120 (560). The measurement report includes at least one of the statistical information or delay information related to the non-AP MLD 110. Furthermore, the first MLME 110B provides confirmation to the first SME 110A that the first request primitive has been received (565).

[0107] Upon receiving a measurement report containing at least one of the statistical information or delay information associated with the non-AP MLD110, the second MLME120B provides the second SME120A with a second indicator primitive to indicate that at least one of the statistical information or delay information has been received (570).

[0108] In some embodiments, the second instruction primitive may comprise at least one of the following: statistical information or delay information, a first address of a first MAC entity of a non-AP MLD110, and a fourth address of a fourth MAC entity of a device belonging to the non-AP MLD110. The fourth address indicates that at least one of the statistical information or delay information has been received from the device. For example, a device associated with the non-AP MLD110 may be one of STA111, 112, or 113, as shown in Figure 1A.

[0109] In such embodiments, the second indicator primitive may comprise the MLME-MREPORT.indication primitive. An example of the MLME-MREPORT.indication primitive is shown below: MLME-MREPORT.indication primitive ( STA MAC address, Dialog token, Measurement request set, Measurement category, Vendor details, MLD MAC address )

[0110] Table 6 shows the parameter details for the MLME-MREPORT.indication primitive. [Table 6]

[0111] As shown in Table 6, the "STA MAC address" is the address of the peer MAC entity from which the measurement report was received. In other words, the "STA MAC address" is the address of the peer MAC entity that received at least one of the statistics or delay information associated with the non-AP MLD110. For example, if at least one of the statistics and delay information is received from STA111, which belongs to the non-AP MLD110, the "STA MAC address" is the address of the MAC entity of STA111.

[0112] Furthermore, as shown in Table 6, the "MLD MAC address" is the address of the MAC entity of the MLD that received the measurement report. For example, the "MLD MAC address" may be the address of the MAC entity of a non-AP MLD110 from which at least one of the statistical information or delay information associated with the non-AP MLD110 was received.

[0113] Continuing to refer to Figure 5, upon receiving the second instruction primitive from the second MLME120B, the second SME120A determines that the measurement request is complete (575).

[0114] As described above, in some embodiments, the station statistics request frame may be transmitted over any of several links between the AP MLD120 and the non-AP MLD110. In such embodiments, the second request primitive provided from the second SME120A to the second MLME120B may comprise a first address of a first MAC entity of the non-AP MLD110. The first address indicates that at least one of statistics or delay information should be sent to any device belonging to the non-AP MLD110.

[0115] In such embodiments, the second request primitive may comprise the MLME-MREQUEST.request primitive. An example of the MLME-MREQUEST.request primitive is shown below. MLME-MREQUEST.request( STA / MLD MAC address, Dialog token, Measurement request set, Number of iterations, Measurement category, Vendor details )

[0116] In the MLME-MREQUEST.request primitive described above, for example, the parameter "STA / MLD MAC address" could be the first address of the first MAC entity of a non-AP MLD110, or the address of the MAC entity of an STA belonging to a non-AP MLD110. The first address indicates that at least one of the statistics or delay information associated with the non-AP MLD110 is being requested. The address of the MAC entity of an STA indicates that at least one of the statistics or delay information associated with the STA is being requested.

[0117] In embodiments where a station statistics request frame is transmitted over one of several links between AP MLD120 and a non-AP MLD110, a first instruction primitive provided from a first MLME110B to a first SME110A may comprise a second address of a second MAC entity of AP MLD120. The second address indicates that at least one of statistics or delay information should be received via one of the devices belonging to AP MLD120.

[0118] As described above, in some embodiments, the station statistics report frame may be transmitted over any of several links between AP MLD120 and non-AP MLD110. In such embodiments, the first request primitive provided from the first SME110A to the first MLME110B may comprise at least one of statistics information or delay information, or at least one of a second address of a second MAC entity of AP MLD120. The second address indicates that at least one of the statistics information and delay information should be transmitted to any device belonging to AP MLD120.

[0119] In an embodiment in which a station statistics report frame is transmitted over one of a plurality of links between AP MLD120 and non-AP MLD110, the second instruction primitive provided from the second MLME120B to the second SME120A may comprise at least one of statistics information or delay information, or at least one of a first address of a first MAC entity of the non-AP MLD110. The first address indicates that at least one of the statistics information and delay information was received from one of the devices belonging to the non-AP MLD110.

[0120] In some embodiments, the AP MLD120 may send a request for at least one of the statistics or delay information to a non-AP MLD110 in response to receiving a query request for at least one of the statistics or delay information from the AC device. In such embodiments, upon receiving at least one of the statistics or delay information, the AP MLD120 may send at least one of the statistics or delay information to the AC device. This will be illustrated with reference to Figure 1C.

[0121] The AC device 170 can send query requests to the AP MLD 120 for at least one of the statistics or delay information associated with the AP MLD 120, at least one of the statistics or delay information associated with the non-AP MLD 110, and at least one of the statistics or delay information associated with the non-AP MLD 150, which are done periodically by the API defined by the data element specification, or in response to the fulfillment of conditions.

[0122] In some embodiments, at least one of the statistical or delay information associated with AP MLD120 may include at least one of the following: the number of non-AP MLDs associated with AP MLD120, the number of transmitted packets, received packets, transmitted errors, received errors, and retransmitted counters of AP MLD120.

[0123] In some embodiments, at least one of the statistical or delay information related to the non-AP MLD110 or 150 may include at least one of the following: transmitted packets, received packets, transmitted errors, received errors, and retransmitted counters for the non-AP MLD110 or 150.

[0124] In some embodiments, the conditions may include the number of non-AP MLDs that exceed a first threshold determined by TP, latency, or AC device 170. For example, if the number of non-AP MLDs associated with AP MLD 120 exceeds the first threshold, AC device 170 may send a query request to AP MLD 120.

[0125] Upon receiving a query request from AC device 170, AP MLD 120 sends a request to non-AP MLD 150 for at least one statistical or delay information associated with the non-AP MLD 150.

[0126] Upon receiving a request for at least one of the statistical information or delay information associated with the non-AP MLD150, the non-AP MLD150 may send at least one of the statistical information or delay information associated with the non-AP MLD150 to the AP MLD120.

[0127] In some embodiments, at least one of the statistical or delay information related to the non-AP MLD150 may include at least one of the following: QoS retry count, QoS frame duplicate count, QoS dropped frame count, or QoS MPDU receive count.

[0128] Upon receiving at least one of the statistics or delay information related to the non-AP MLD150, the AP MLD120 may transmit at least one of the statistics or delay information related to the non-AP MLD150 to the AC device 170.

[0129] Upon receiving at least one of the statistical or delay information related to the non-AP MLD150, the AC device 170 can decide whether to move the non-AP MLD150 to an adjacent AP MLD such as AP MLD160.

[0130] For example, if at least one of the following conditions is met on at least one side of AP MLD120 and non-AP MLD150, the AC device 170 decides to move non-AP MLD150 to AP MLD160. • The ratio of the number of retransmitted frames to the total number of frames exceeds the second threshold. • The ratio of dropped frames to the total number of frames exceeds the third threshold. • The ratio of the number of duplicated frames to the total number of frames exceeds the fourth threshold. • The number of non-AP MLDs associated with AP MLD120 exceeds the fifth threshold.

[0131] When a non-AP MLD150 is moved from AP MLD120 to AP MLD160, AC device 170 can reschedule the downlink or uplink traffic of the non-AP MLD150 from AP MLD120 to AP MLD160.

[0132] Figure 6 shows a flowchart of an exemplary method 600 implemented in a first MLD according to some exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure. For example, the first MLD may comprise an AP MLD such as AP MLD120 in Figures 1A, 1B, and 1C or AP MLD160 in Figure 1C.

[0133] In block 610, the first MLD determines at least one of the following: statistical information related to the first MLD or delay information related to the first MLD.

[0134] In block 620, in response to receiving a request from the second MLD for at least one of statistical information or delay information, the first MLD transmits at least one of statistical information or delay information to the second MLD. For example, the second MLD may include non-AP MLDs such as the non-AP MLD110 in Figure 1A, the non-AP MLD110, 140, or 150 in Figure 1B, or the non-AP MLD110 or 150 in Figure 1C.

[0135] In some embodiments, the first MLD may receive a request for at least one of statistical information or delay information by receiving a station statistics request frame from the second MLD.

[0136] In some embodiments, the station statistics request frame includes a first address of a first media access control MAC entity of the MLD in a first optional sub-element field, where the first address indicates that at least one of the statistics and delay information related to the MLD is requested.

[0137] In some embodiments, the first MLD may transmit a station statistics report frame, which comprises statistical information or delay information and at least one of a first address of a first MAC entity of the first MLD or a second address of a second MAC entity of a second MLD, in a second optional sub-element field. The first or second address indicates that at least one of the statistical information or delay information is associated with the first MLD.

[0138] In some embodiments, the station statistics request frame includes a first address of a first MAC entity of a first MLD, which indicates a request for at least one of the statistical information or delay information related to the first MLD.

[0139] In some embodiments, the first MLD comprises a first SME and a first MLME. In some embodiments, the first MLME is configured to provide the first SME with a first indicator primitive to indicate that a request for at least one of statistical information or delay information has been received.

[0140] In some embodiments, the first instruction primitive comprises at least one of the following: a second address of a second MAC entity of a second MLD, or a third address of a third MAC entity of a device belonging to the second MLD, which indicates that at least one of statistical information or delay information should be received through the device.

[0141] In some embodiments, the first instruction primitive includes a second address of a second MAC entity of a second MLD, where the second address indicates that at least one of statistical information or delay information should be received via one of the devices belonging to the second MLD.

[0142] In some embodiments, the first SME may be configured to provide the first MLME with a first request primitive, the first request primitive comprising at least one of statistical information or delay information, a third address of a third MAC entity of a device associated with the second MLD, a third address indicating that at least one of the statistical information or delay information should be sent to the device, or a second address of a second MAC entity of the second MLD.

[0143] In some embodiments, the first SME may be configured to provide the first MLME with a first request primitive, the first request primitive comprising at least one of statistical information or delay information, or at least one of a second MAC entity of the second MLD, the second address indicating that at least one of the statistical information and delay information should be sent to one of the devices belonging to the second MLD.

[0144] In some embodiments, the statistical information related to MLD includes at least one of the following: • Number of fragment frames sent by MLD • Number of multicast frames sent by MLD • Number of frames that failed to be transmitted by MLD • Number of fragment frames received by MLD • Number of frames with frame check sequence errors received by MLD • Number of fragment frames sent by MLD • Number of frames retransmitted by MLD • Number of frames retransmitted multiple times by MLD • Number of frames re-received by MLD • Number of Transmit Requests (RTS) successfully sent by MLD • Number of RTS transmissions that failed to be sent by MLD • Number of unacknowledged response frames sent by MLD

[0145] In some embodiments, the frame comprises a Quality of Service (QoS) frame having a traffic indicator in the range of 0 to 7, and the statistics comprises at least one of the following: • Number of QoS fragments sent by MLD • Number of QoS levels that failed to send via MLD • Number of QoS frames retransmitted by MLD • Number of QoS frames multicast retransmitted by MLD • Number of QoS frames re-received by MLD • Number of QoS RTS successfully transmitted • Number of QoS RTS transmissions that failed • Number of QoS unacknowledged frames sent by MLD • Number of QoS fragments received by MLD • Number of QoS frames received by MLD • Number of QoS frames discarded by MLD • Number of QoS MPDUs received by MLD • Number of QoS retransmission frames received by MLD

[0146] In some embodiments, the frame comprises an Aggregate Media Access Control (MAC) Service Data Unit (A-MSDU), and the statistical information comprises at least one of the following: • Number of A-MSDUs sent by MLD • Number of A-MSDUs that failed to transmit via MLD • Number of bytes transmitted by MLD for A-MSDU • Number of A-MSDUs retransmitted by MLD • Number of A-MSDUs retransmitted multiple times by MLD • Number of A-MSDUs that have not received confirmation by MLD • Number of A-MSDUs received by MLD • Number of bytes received by A-MSDU via MLD

[0147] In some embodiments, the frame comprises an Aggregate Media Access Control (MAC) protocol data unit (A-MPDU), and the statistical information comprises at least one of the following: • Number of A-MPDUs sent by MLD • Number of MPDUs in A-MPDU sent by MLD • Number of bytes in the A-MPDU sent by MLD • Number of A-MPDUs received by MLD • Number of MPDUs in A-MPDU received by MLD • Number of bytes in the A-MPDU received by the MLD • Number of A-MPDUs with cyclic redundancy check errors received by MLD

[0148] In some embodiments, delay information related to MLD may include at least one of the following: • MLD average access latency • MLD mean latency for Quality of Service (QoS) frames with best-effort priority • MLD mean latency on QoS frames with background priority • MLD mean latency on QoS frames with video priority • MLD mean latency on QoS frames with voice priority · Non-AP MLD numbers • Use of MLD channels

[0149] Figure 7 shows a flowchart of an exemplary method 700 implemented in a second MLD according to some exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure. For example, the second MLD may comprise an AP MLD such as AP MLD 120 in Figures 1A and 1B, or one of AP MLD 120 and 160 in Figure 1C.

[0150] In block 710, the second MLD sends to the first MLD a request for at least one of the following: statistical information associated with the first MLD or delay information associated with the first MLD.

[0151] In block 720, the second MLD receives a report from the first MLD relating to at least one of statistical information or delayed information.

[0152] In some embodiments, the second MLD may send a request for at least one of statistical information or delay information by sending a station statistics request frame to the first MLD.

[0153] In some embodiments, the station statistics request frame includes a first address of a first MAC entity of a first MLD in a first optional sub-element field, the first address indicating a request for at least one of the statistics and delay information related to the first MLD.

[0154] In some embodiments, the second MLD may receive a station statistics report frame, which comprises statistical or delay information and at least one of the following: a first address of a first MAC entity of the first MLD, or a second address of a second MAC entity of the second MLD in a second optional sub-element field. The first or second address indicates that at least one of the statistical or delay information is associated with the first MLD.

[0155] In some embodiments, the station statistics request frame includes at least one first address of a first MAC entity of a first MLD, which indicates a request for at least one of statistics or delay information related to a second MLD.

[0156] In some embodiments, the second MLD comprises a second SME and a second MLME. In some embodiments, the second SME may provide the second MLME with a second request primitive indicating that a request for at least one of statistical information or delay information should be sent.

[0157] In some embodiments, the second request primitive comprises at least one of a first address of a first MAC entity of a first MLD, or a fourth address of a fourth MAC entity of a device belonging to the first MLD, the fourth address indicating that at least one of statistical information or delay information should be sent to the device.

[0158] In some embodiments, the second request primitive includes a first address of a first MAC entity of the first MLD, which indicates that at least one of statistical information or delay information should be sent to one of the devices belonging to the first MLD.

[0159] In some embodiments, the second MLME is configured to provide the second SME with a second indicator primitive to indicate that at least one of statistical information or delayed information has been received.

[0160] In some embodiments, the second instruction primitive further comprises at least one of statistical information or delay information, and at least one of a first address of a first MAC entity of a first MLD, or a fourth address of a fourth MAC entity of a device belonging to the first MLD, wherein the fourth address indicates that at least one of the statistical information or delay information was received from the device.

[0161] In some embodiments, the second instruction primitive further comprises at least one of statistical information or delay information and a first address of a first MAC entity of the first MLD, the first address indicating that at least one of the statistical information and delay information was received from one of the devices belonging to the first MLD.

[0162] In some embodiments, the statistical information related to MLD includes at least one of the following: • Number of fragment frames sent by MLD • Number of multicast frames sent by MLD • Number of frames that failed to be transmitted by MLD • Number of fragment frames received by MLD • Number of frames with frame check sequence errors received by MLD • Number of fragment frames sent by MLD • Number of frames retransmitted by MLD • Number of frames retransmitted multiple times by MLD • Number of frames re-received by MLD • Number of Transmit Requests (RTS) successfully sent by MLD • Number of RTS transmissions that failed to be sent by MLD • Number of unacknowledged response frames sent by MLD

[0163] In some embodiments, the frame comprises a Quality of Service (QoS) frame having a traffic indicator in the range of 0 to 7, and the statistics comprises at least one of the following: • Number of QoS fragments sent by MLD • Number of QoS levels that failed to send via MLD • Number of QoS frames retransmitted by MLD • Number of QoS frames multicast retransmitted by MLD • Number of QoS frames re-received by MLD • Number of QoS RTS successfully transmitted • Number of QoS RTS transmissions that failed • Number of QoS unacknowledged frames sent by MLD • Number of QoS fragments received by MLD • Number of QoS frames received by MLD • Number of QoS frames discarded by MLD • Number of QoS MPDUs received by MLD • Number of QoS retransmission frames received by MLD

[0164] In some embodiments, the frame comprises an Aggregate Media Access Control (MAC) Service Data Unit (A-MSDU), and the statistical information comprises at least one of the following: • Number of A-MSDUs sent by MLD • Number of A-MSDUs that failed to transmit via MLD • Number of bytes transmitted by MLD for A-MSDU • Number of A-MSDUs retransmitted by MLD • Number of A-MSDUs retransmitted multiple times by MLD • Number of A-MSDUs that have not received confirmation by MLD • Number of A-MSDUs received by MLD • Number of bytes received by A-MSDU via MLD

[0165] In some embodiments, the frame comprises an Aggregate Media Access Control (MAC) protocol data unit (A-MPDU), and the statistical information comprises at least one of the following: • Number of A-MPDUs sent by MLD • Number of MPDUs in A-MPDU sent by MLD • Number of bytes in the A-MPDU sent by MLD • Number of A-MPDUs received by MLD • Number of MPDUs in A-MPDU received by MLD • Number of bytes in the A-MPDU received by the MLD • Number of A-MPDUs with cyclic redundancy check errors received by MLD

[0166] In some embodiments, delay information related to MLD may include at least one of the following: • MLD average access latency • MLD mean latency for Quality of Service (QoS) frames with best-effort priority • MLD mean latency on QoS frames with background priority • MLD mean latency on QoS frames with video priority • MLD mean latency on QoS frames with voice priority · Non-AP MLD numbers • Use of MLD channels

[0167] In some embodiments, the second MLD is configured to send a request for at least one of the statistical information or delay information associated with the second MLD in response to receiving a query request for at least one of the statistical information or delay information associated with the second MLD from an access control device.

[0168] In some embodiments, the second MLD is configured to transmit at least one of statistical information or delay information related to the second MLD to the access control device.

[0169] The exemplary embodiments of this disclosure, described with reference to Figures 1 to 5, may also be applied to methods 600 and 700. Therefore, details of the exemplary embodiments are omitted.

[0170] In some exemplary embodiments, an apparatus capable of performing Method 600 may include means for performing each step of Method 600. These means can be implemented in any preferred form. For example, the means may be implemented in a circuit, a software module, or a combination thereof.

[0171] In some exemplary embodiments, the apparatus includes a first MLD, the first MLD comprising means for determining at least one of statistical information or delay information related to the first MLD, and means for transmitting at least one of the statistical information or delay information to the second MLD in response to receiving a request for at least one of the statistical information or delay information from the second MLD.

[0172] In some embodiments, the first MLD is configured to receive a request for at least one of statistical information or delay information by receiving a station statistics request frame from the second MLD.

[0173] In some embodiments, the station statistics request frame includes a first address of the first MAC of the first MLD in the first sub-element field, which indicates a request for at least one of the statistics and delay information associated with the first MLD.

[0174] In some embodiments, the first MLD is configured to transmit a station statistics report frame, the station statistics report frame comprising at least one of statistics information or delay information and at least one of a first address of a first MAC of the first MLD or a second address of a second MAC entity of a second MLD in a second sub-element field, the first address or the second address indicating that at least one of the statistics information or delay information is associated with the first MLD.

[0175] In some embodiments, the station statistics request frame includes a first address of the first MAC of the first MLD, which indicates a request for at least one of the statistical information or delay information related to the first MLD.

[0176] In some embodiments, the first MLD comprises a first station management entity, an SME, and a first MLME. In some embodiments, the first MLME is configured to provide the first SME with a first indicator primitive to indicate that a request for at least one of statistical information or delay information has been received.

[0177] In some embodiments, the first instruction primitive comprises at least one of the following: a second address of a second MAC of a second MLD, or a third address of a third MAC entity of a device associated with the second MLD, the third address indicating that at least one of statistical information or delay information should be received through the device.

[0178] In some embodiments, the first instruction primitive is a second address of the second MAC of the second MLD, which includes a second address indicating that at least one of statistical information or delay information should be received via one of the devices belonging to the second MLD.

[0179] In some embodiments, the first SME is configured to provide the first MLME with a first request primitive, the first request primitive comprising at least one of statistical information or delay information, and at least one of a third MAC entity of a device associated with the second MLD, the third address indicating that at least one of the statistical information or delay information should be sent to the device, or the second address of the second MAC of the second MLD.

[0180] In some embodiments, the first SME is configured to provide the first MLME with a first request primitive, the first request primitive comprising at least one of statistical information or delay information, or at least one of the second MAC of the second MLD, the second address indicating that at least one of the statistical information and delay information should be sent to one of the devices belonging to the second MLD.

[0181] In some embodiments, the statistical information includes at least one of the following: • Number of fragment frames transmitted by the first MLD • Number of multicast frames transmitted by the first MLD • Number of frames that failed to transmit by the first MLD • Number of fragment frames received by the first MLD • Number of frames with frame check sequence errors received by the first MLD • Number of fragment frames transmitted by the first MLD • Number of frames retransmitted by the first MLD • Number of frames retransmitted multiple times by the first MLD • Number of frames re-received by the first MLD • Number of Transmit Request RTS successfully transmitted by the first MLD • Number of RTS transmissions that failed to be sent by the first MLD • Number of unacknowledged response frames sent by the first MLD

[0182] In some embodiments, the frame comprises a frame having Quality of Service (QoS), a traffic indicator ranging from 0 to 7, and the statistical information comprises at least one of the following: • Number of QoS fragments transmitted by the first MLD • Number of QoS levels that failed to transmit due to the first MLD • Number of QoS frames retransmitted by the first MLD • Number of QoS frames multicast retransmitted by the first MLD • Number of QoS frames re-received by the first MLD • Number of QoS RTS successfully transmitted • Number of QoS RTS transmissions that failed • Number of QoS unconfirmed frames sent by the first MLD • Number of QoS fragments received by the first MLD • Number of QoS frames received by the first MLD • Number of QoS frames discarded by the first MLD • Number of QoS Media Access Control (MAC) protocol data units (MPDUs) received by the first MLD • Number of QoS retransmission frames received by the first MLD

[0183] In some embodiments, the frame includes an Aggregate Media Access Control (MAC) Service Data Unit A-MSDU, and the statistics include at least one of the following: • Number of A-MSDUs transmitted by the first MLD • Number of A-MSDUs that failed to transmit via the first MLD • Number of bytes transmitted by the first MLD for A-MSDU • Number of A-MSDUs retransmitted by the first MLD • Number of A-MSDUs retransmitted multiple times by the first MLD • Number of A-MSDUs that have not received confirmation by the first MLD • Number of A-MSDUs received by the first MLD • Number of bytes received in A-MSDU by the first MLD

[0184] In some embodiments, the frame comprises an Aggregate Media Access Control (MAC) protocol data unit, A-MPDU, and the statistics include at least one of the following: • Number of A-MPDUs transmitted by the first MLD • Number of MPDUs in A-MPDU transmitted by the first MLD • Number of bytes in the A-MPDU sent by the first MLD • Number of A-MPDUs received by the first MLD • Number of MPDUs in A-MPDU received by the first MLD • Number of bytes in the A-MPDU received by the first MLD • Number of A-MPDUs with cyclic redundancy check errors received by the first MLD

[0185] In some embodiments, the delay information includes at least one of the following: • MLD average access latency • MLD mean latency for Quality of Service (QoS) frames with best-effort priority • MLD mean latency on QoS frames with background priority • MLD mean latency on QoS frames with video priority • MLD mean latency on QoS frames with voice priority · Non-AP MLD numbers • Use of MLD channels

[0186] In some embodiments, the device further comprises at least one antenna configured to facilitate communication.

[0187] In some exemplary embodiments, an apparatus capable of performing Method 700 may include means for performing each step of Method 700. These means can be implemented in any preferred form. For example, the means may be implemented in a circuit, a software module, or a combination thereof.

[0188] In some exemplary embodiments, the apparatus includes a second MLD, the second MLD comprising means for transmitting to the first MLD a request for at least one of statistical information related to the first MLD or delay information related to the first MLD, and means for receiving a report from the first MLD relating to at least one of the statistical information or delay information.

[0189] In some embodiments, the second MLD is configured to send a request for at least one of either statistical information or delay information by sending a station statistics request frame to the first MLD.

[0190] In some embodiments, the station statistics request frame includes a first address of the first MAC of the first MLD in the first sub-element field, which indicates a request for at least one of the statistics and delay information associated with the first MLD.

[0191] In some embodiments, the second MLD is configured to receive a station statistics report frame, the station statistics report frame comprising at least one of statistics information or delay information and at least one of a first address of a first MAC of the first MLD or a second address of a second MAC entity of the second MLD in a second sub-element field, the first address or the second address indicating that at least one of the statistics information or delay information is associated with the first MLD.

[0192] In some embodiments, the station statistics request frame includes at least one of first addresses, which is a first MAC address of a first MLD and indicates a request for at least one of statistical information or delay information related to the first MLD.

[0193] In some embodiments, the second MLD comprises a second SME and a second MLME. In some embodiments, the second SME is configured to provide the second MLME with a second request primitive indicating that a request for at least one of statistical information or delay information should be sent.

[0194] In some embodiments, the second request primitive comprises at least one of the first address of the first MAC of the first MLD or the fourth address of the fourth MAC entity of the device belonging to the first MLD, the fourth address indicating that at least one of the statistical information or the delay information should be sent to the device.

[0195] In some embodiments, the second request primitive includes the first address of the first MAC of the first MLD, the first address indicating that at least one of the statistical information or the delay information should be sent to any of the devices belonging to the first MLD.

[0196] In some embodiments, the second MLME is configured to provide a second indication primitive to the second SME to indicate that at least one of the statistical information or the delay information has been received.

[0197] In some embodiments, the second indication primitive further comprises at least one of at least one of the statistical information or the delay information, the first address of the first MAC of the first MLD, or the fourth address of the fourth MAC entity of the device belonging to the first MLD, the fourth address indicating that at least one of the statistical information or the delay information has been received from the device.

[0198] In some embodiments, the second indication primitive further includes at least one of at least one of the statistical information or the delay information or the first address of the first MAC of the first MLD, the first address indicating that at least one of the statistical information and the delay information has been received from any of the devices belonging to the first MLD.

[0199] In some embodiments, the statistical information includes at least one of the following. · The number of fragmented frames transmitted by the MLD · The number of multicast frames transmitted by MLD · The number of frames that failed to be transmitted by MLD · The number of fragmented frames received by MLD · The number of frames with frame check sequence errors received by MLD · The number of fragmented frames transmitted by MLD · The number of frames retransmitted by MLD · The number of frames retransmitted multiple times by MLD · The number of frames re-received by MLD · The number of transmission request RTSs successfully transmitted by MLD · The number of RTSs that failed to be transmitted by MLD · The number of unacknowledged response frames transmitted by MLD

[0200] In some embodiments, the frame comprises a frame having a quality of service, QoS, traffic indicator in the range of 0 to 7, and the statistical information comprises at least one of the following. · The number of QoS fragments transmitted by MLD · The number of QoSs that failed to be transmitted by MLD · The number of QoS frames retransmitted by MLD · The number of QoS frames multicast retransmitted by MLD · The number of QoS frames re-received by MLD · The number of QoS RTSs successfully transmitted · The number of QoS RTSs that failed to be transmitted · The number of QoS unacknowledged frames transmitted by MLD · The number of QoS fragments received by MLD · The number of QoS frames received by MLD · The number of QoS frames discarded by MLD · The number of QoS MAC protocol data units, MPDUs, received by MLD • Number of QoS retransmission frames received by MLD

[0201] In some embodiments, the frame includes an A-MSDU, and the statistical information includes at least one of the following: • Number of A-MSDUs sent by MLD • Number of A-MSDUs that failed to transmit via MLD • Number of bytes transmitted by MLD for A-MSDU • Number of A-MSDUs retransmitted by MLD • Number of A-MSDUs retransmitted multiple times by MLD • Number of A-MSDUs that have not received confirmation by MLD • Number of A-MSDUs received by MLD • Number of bytes received by A-MSDU via MLD

[0202] In some embodiments, the frame includes the A-MPDU, and the statistical information includes at least one of the following: • Number of A-MPDUs sent by MLD • Number of MPDUs in A-MPDU sent by MLD • Number of bytes in the A-MPDU sent by MLD • Number of A-MPDUs received by MLD • Number of MPDUs in A-MPDU received by MLD • Number of bytes in the A-MPDU received by the MLD • Number of A-MPDUs with cyclic redundancy check errors received by MLD

[0203] In some embodiments, the delay information includes at least one of the following: • MLD average access latency • MLD mean latency for Quality of Service (QoS) frames with best-effort priority • MLD mean latency on QoS frames with background priority · MLD average delay on a QoS frame with video priority · MLD average delay on a QoS frame with voice priority · Non-AP MLD number · MLD channel utilization

[0204] In some embodiments, the second MLD is configured to send at least one request for statistical information or delay information in response to receiving from an access control device at least one query request for statistical information or delay information associated with the first MLD.

[0205] In some embodiments, the second MLD is configured to send at least one of statistical information or delay information related to the first MLD to an access control device.

[0206] In some embodiments, the second MLD further includes at least one antenna configured to facilitate communication.

[0207] FIG. 8 is a simplified block diagram of a device 800 suitable for implementing an embodiment of the present disclosure. The device 800 may be provided for implementing a communication device, such as a non-AP MLD 110 or an AP MLD 120 as shown in FIGS. 1A, 1B, and 1C, a non-AP MLD 140 or 150 as shown in FIG. 1B, or an AP MLD 160 as shown in FIG. 1C. As shown, the device 800 includes one or more processors 810, one or more memories 820 coupled to the processor 810, and one or more communication modules 840 coupled to the processor 810.

[0208] The communication module 840 is configured for two-way communication. The communication module 840 has at least one antenna to facilitate communication. The communication interface may represent any interface necessary for communication with other network elements.

[0209] The processor 810 may be of any type suitable for a local technology network and may include, but are not limited to, one or more of the following: general-purpose computers, dedicated computers, microprocessors, digital signal processors (DSPs), and processors based on multicore processor architectures. The device 800 may have multiple processors, such as application-specific integrated circuit chips that are time-slewn to a clock that synchronizes the main processor.

[0210] Memory 820 may include one or more non-volatile memories and one or more volatile memories. Examples of non-volatile memories include, but are not limited to, read-only memory (ROM) 824, electrically programmable read-only memory (EPROM), flash memory, hard disks, compact discs (CDs), digital video discs (DVDs), and other magnetic and / or optical storage. Examples of volatile memories include, but are not limited to, random-access memory (RAM) 822 and other volatile memories that do not persist during power-down duration.

[0211] The computer program 830 includes computer executable instructions that are executed by the associated processor 810. The program 830 may be stored in memory 820, for example, ROM 824. The processor 810 can perform any appropriate actions and processes by loading the program 830 into RAM 822.

[0212] Embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented by program 830 such that device 800 can perform any process of the present disclosure, as discussed with reference to Figures 1 to 7. Embodiments of the present disclosure may also be implemented by hardware or by a combination of software and hardware.

[0213] In some exemplary embodiments, program 830 may be tangibly contained in a computer-readable medium which may be contained in device 800 (such as memory 820) or other storage devices accessible by device 800. Device 800 may load program 830 from the computer-readable medium into RAM 822 for execution. The computer-readable medium may include any type of tangible non-volatile storage such as ROM, EPROM, flash memory, hard disk, CD, or DVD. Figure 9 shows an example of computer-readable medium 900 in the form of a CD or DVD. The computer-readable medium has program 830 stored thereon.

[0214] In general, various embodiments of this disclosure may be implemented in hardware or dedicated circuitry, software, logic, or any combination thereof. Some embodiments may be implemented in hardware, while others may be implemented in firmware or software that can be executed by a controller, microprocessor, or other computing device. Various embodiments of this disclosure are illustrated and described using block diagrams, flowcharts, or some other pictorial representations, but it should be understood that any blocks, apparatus, systems, techniques, or methods described herein may be implemented in hardware, software, firmware, dedicated circuitry or logic, general-purpose hardware or controllers, or other computing devices, or some combination thereof, as non-limiting examples.

[0215] This disclosure also provides at least one computer program product tangibly stored on a non-temporary computer-readable storage medium. The computer program product includes computer-executable instructions, such as instructions contained in a program module executed on a device on a target real processor or target virtual processor, for the device to perform methods 600 and 700 described above with reference to Figures 6 and 7. Generally, a program module includes routines, programs, libraries, objects, classes, components, data structures, etc., that perform a particular task or implement a particular abstract data type. The functionality of the program modules may be combined or separated among the program modules, as desired in various embodiments. The machine-executable instructions for the program modules may be executed in a local or distributed device. In a distributed device, the program modules may reside on both local and remote storage media.

[0216] Program code for performing the methods of this disclosure may be written in any combination of one or more programming languages. This program code may be provided to a processor or controller of a general-purpose computer, a dedicated computer, or other programmable data processing device, so that when executed by the processor or controller, the program code implements the functions / operations specified in the flowcharts and / or block diagrams. The program code may run entirely on a machine, partially on a machine, as a standalone software package, partially on a machine, partially on a remote machine, or entirely on a remote machine or server.

[0217] In the context of this disclosure, computer program code or related data may be carried by any suitable carrier to enable a device, apparatus, or processor to perform various processes and operations as described above. Examples of carriers include signals, computer-readable media, and the like.

[0218] Computer-readable media may be computer-readable signal media or computer-readable storage media. Computer-readable media may include, but are not limited to, electronic, magnetic, optical, electromagnetic, infrared, or semiconductor systems, apparatus, or devices, or any suitable combination thereof. More specific examples of computer-readable storage media may include optical storage devices, magnetic storage devices, or any suitable combination thereof, including electrical connections having one or more wires, portable computer diskettes, hard disks, random access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM or flash memory), optical fibers, portable compact disk read-only memory (CD-ROM).

[0219] Furthermore, although the operations are presented in a specific order, this should not be understood as requiring that such operations be performed in a specific or sequential order, or that all presented operations be performed, in order to achieve the desired result. In some situations, multitasking and parallel processing may be advantageous. Similarly, while some specific implementation details are included in the above description, these should not be interpreted as limitations on the scope of this disclosure, but rather as descriptions of features that may be specific to a particular embodiment. Some features described in the context of a separate embodiment may also be implemented in combination in a single embodiment. Conversely, various features described in the context of a single embodiment may also be implemented separately in multiple embodiments or in any suitable subcombination.

[0220] While this disclosure is described in language specific to structural features and / or methodological actions, it should be understood that the disclosure as defined in the attached claims is not necessarily limited to the specific features or actions described above. Rather, the specific features and actions described above are disclosed as exemplary forms of implementing the claims.

[0221] List of symbols and abbreviations AP: Access Point Non-AP MLD: Non-Access Point Multilink Device MAC: Media Access Control ML: Multilink MLD: Multilink device MLO: Multilink Operation QoS: Quality of Service STA: Bureau MLME: Media Access Control Sublayer Management Entity SME: Bureau Management Entity MPDU: Media Access Control (MAC) Protocol Data Unit

Claims

1. At least one processor, At least one memory for storing instructions and A multilink device (MLD) comprising: When the instruction is executed by the at least one processor, the MLD will have at least: A step of determining at least one of the statistical information of the MLD or the delay information of the MLD, In response to receiving a request for at least one of the statistical information or the delay information from the second MLD, the steps include: transmitting at least one of the statistical information or the delay information to the second MLD; Make it run, The MLD comprises a first station management entity (SME) and a first media access control sublayer management entity (MLME), A multilink device characterized in that the first MLME is configured to provide the first SME with a first instruction primitive to indicate that a request for at least one of the statistical information or the delay information has been received.

2. The multilink device according to claim 1, characterized in that the MLD receives a request for at least one of the statistical information or the delay information by receiving a station statistics request frame from the second MLD.

3. The multilink device according to claim 2, wherein the station statistics request frame includes a first address of a first media access control MAC entity of the MLD that receives the request in a first sub-element field, and the first address indicates that at least one of the statistics information and delay information of the MLD is being requested.

4. The MLD is configured to transmit station statistics report frames. The aforementioned statistical reporting frame of the station is, At least one of the aforementioned statistical information or the aforementioned delay information, and The first address of the first media access control MAC entity of the MLD that receives the request, or the second address of the second MAC entity of the second MLD that transmits the request, which is contained in the second sub-element field. Includes, The multilink device according to claim 1, characterized in that the first address or the second address indicates that at least one of the statistical information or the delay information is associated with the MLD.

5. The multilink device according to claim 2, wherein the station statistics request frame includes a first address of a first media access control MAC entity of the MLD that receives the request, and the first address indicates that at least one of the statistics information or delay information of the MLD is being requested.

6. The first instruction primitive is, The second address of the second media access control MAC entity of the second MLD that transmits the request, or A third address of a third MAC entity of a device belonging to the second MLD, the third address indicating that at least one of the statistical information or the delay information should be received through the device. The multilink device according to claim 1, characterized by comprising at least one of the following.

7. The first instruction primitive is, The multilink device according to claim 1, characterized in that it includes a second address of a second media access control MAC entity of the second MLD that transmits the request, the second address indicating that at least one of the statistical information or the delay information should be received via one of the devices belonging to the second MLD.

8. The first SME is configured to provide the first MLME with a first request primitive, and the first request primitive is At least one of the aforementioned statistical information or the aforementioned delay information, A third address of a third MAC entity of a device belonging to the second MLD, which indicates that at least one of the statistical information or the delay information should be transmitted to the device, or The second address of the second media access control MAC entity of the second MLD that transmits the request, The multilink device according to claim 1, characterized by comprising at least one of the following.

9. The first SME is configured to provide the first MLME with a first request primitive, and the first request primitive is At least one of the aforementioned statistical information or the aforementioned delay information, or A second address of the second media access control MAC entity of the second MLD that transmits the request, the second address indicating that at least one of the statistical information and the delay information should be transmitted to one of the devices belonging to the second MLD, The multilink device according to claim 1, characterized by comprising at least one of the following.

10. When the instruction is executed by the at least one processor, the MLD is: The step of determining the aforementioned statistical information, The steps include: transmitting the statistical information to the second MLD in response to receiving a request for the statistical information from the second MLD; Make it run, The aforementioned statistical information is, The number of fragment frames transmitted by the MLD, The number of multicast frames transmitted by the MLD, The number of frames that failed to be transmitted by the aforementioned MLD, The number of fragment frames received by the MLD The number of frames having frame check sequence errors received by the MLD, The number of frames retransmitted by the aforementioned MLD, The number of frames retransmitted multiple times by the aforementioned MLD, The number of frames re-received by the aforementioned MLD, The number of Transmit Requests RTS that were successfully transmitted by the MLD, The number of RTS that failed to transmit by the aforementioned MLD, or Number of unacknowledged response frames sent by MLD, A multilink device according to any one of claims 1 to 9, characterized by including at least one of the following.

11. The frames transmitted by the MLD include quality of service (QoS) frames having a traffic indicator in the range of 0 to 7, and the statistical information is, Number of QoS fragments transmitted by MLD, Number of QoS frames retransmitted by MLD, However, the number of QoS frames multicast retransmitted by MLD, The number of QoS frames re-received by the MLD, Number of QoS RTS transmissions that were successful, Number of QoS RTS transmissions that failed, Number of QoS unconfirmed frames transmitted by MLD, Number of QoS fragments received by MLD, Number of QoS frames received by MLD, Number of QoS frames discarded by MLD, The number of QoS Media Access Control (MAC) protocol data units (MPDUs) received by the MLD, or The number of QoS retransmission frames received by the MLD, The multilink device according to claim 10, characterized by comprising at least one of the following.

12. The frame transmitted by the MLD includes an Aggregate Media Access Control (MAC) Service Data Unit (A-MSDU), and the statistical information is: The number of A-MSDUs transmitted by MLD, Number of A-MSDU failures transmitted by MLD, Number of bytes transmitted by A-MSDU using MLD, The number of A-MSDUs retransmitted by MLD, The number of A-MSDU units retransmitted multiple times by MLD, Number of A-MSDUs that have not received confirmation by MLD, The number of A-MSDUs received by the MLD, or Number of bytes received by A-MSDU using MLD, The multilink device according to claim 10, characterized by including at least one of the following.

13. The frame transmitted by the MLD includes an Aggregate Media Access Control (MAC) protocol data unit (A-MPDU), and the statistical information is: The number of A-MPDUs transmitted by MLD, The number of MPDUs in the A-MPDU transmitted by MLD, Number of bytes in A-MPDU transmitted by MLD, The number of A-MPDUs received by the MLD, The number of MPDUs in the A-MPDU received by the MLD, The number of bytes in the A-MPDU received by the MLD, or The multilink device according to claim 10, comprising at least one of the number of A-MPDUs having cyclic redundancy check errors received by the MLD.

14. The aforementioned delay information is MLD average access latency, MLD mean delay for quality of service QoS frames with best-effort priority, MLD mean delay on QoS frames with background priority, MLD mean delay on QoS frames with video priority, MLD mean delay on QoS frames with audio priority, Non-AP MLD number, or Using MLD channels, A multilink device according to any one of claims 1 to 9, characterized by including at least one of the following.

15. The multilink device according to any one of claims 1 to 9, further comprising at least one antenna configured to facilitate communication.

16. At least one processor, At least one memory for storing instructions and A multilink device (MLD) comprising: When the instruction is executed by the at least one processor, the MLD will have at least: The steps include sending a request to the first MLD for at least one of the following: statistical information of the first MLD or delay information of the first MLD, The steps include receiving a report from the first MLD relating to at least one of the statistical information or the delay information, and Make it run, The MLD comprises a second station management entity (SME) and a second media access control sublayer management entity (MLME), A multilink device characterized in that the second SME is configured to provide the second MLME with a second request primitive to indicate that a request for at least one of the statistical information or the delay information should be transmitted.

17. The multilink device according to claim 16, characterized in that the MLD is configured to transmit a request for at least one of the statistical information or the delay information by transmitting a station statistics request frame to the first MLD.

18. The aforementioned station statistics request frame is: The multilink device according to claim 17, characterized in that a first sub-element field includes a first address of a first media access control (MAC) entity of a first MLD that receives the request, the first address indicating that at least one of the statistical information and delay information of the first MLD is being requested.

19. The MLD is configured to receive station statistics report frames, and the station statistics report frames are, At least one of the aforementioned statistical information or the aforementioned delay information, A first address of the first media access control MAC entity of the first MLD receiving the request, or a second address of the second MAC entity of the MLD sending the request, included in the second sub-element field, the first address or the second address indicating that at least one of the statistics information or the delay information is associated with the first MLD. The multilink device according to claim 16, characterized by comprising at least one of the following.

20. The aforementioned station statistics request frame is: The multilink device according to claim 17, characterized in that it includes at least one of a first media access control (MAC) entity of the first MLD that receives the request, and which indicates a request for at least one of the statistical information or delay information of the first MLD.

21. The second requirement primitive is, The first address of the first media access control MAC entity of the first MLD that receives the request, or A fourth address of a fourth MAC entity of a device belonging to the first MLD, the fourth address indicating that at least one of the statistical information or the delay information should be transmitted to the device. The multilink device according to claim 16, characterized by comprising at least one of the following.

22. The second requirement primitive is, The multilink device according to claim 16, characterized in that it includes a first address of a first media access control MAC entity of the first MLD that receives the request, the first address indicating that at least one of the statistical information or the delay information should be transmitted to any device belonging to the first MLD.

23. The multilink device according to claim 16, wherein the second MLME is configured to provide the second SME with a second indicator primitive to indicate that at least one of the statistical information or the delay information has been received.

24. The second instruction primitive is, At least one of the aforementioned statistical information or the aforementioned delay information, The first address of the first media access control MAC entity of the first MLD that receives the request, or A fourth address of a fourth MAC entity of a device belonging to the first MLD, the fourth address indicating that at least one of the statistical information or the delay information was received from the device. The multilink device according to claim 23, further comprising at least one of the following.

25. The second instruction primitive is, At least one of the aforementioned statistical information or the aforementioned delay information, A first address of the first media access control MAC entity of the first MLD that receives the request, the first address indicating that at least one of the statistical information and the delay information was received from one of the devices belonging to the first MLD, The multilink device according to claim 23, further comprising at least one of the following.

26. When the instruction is executed by the at least one processor, the MLD is: The steps include sending a request for statistical information of the first MLD to the first MLD, The steps include receiving a report on the statistical information from the first MLD and Make it run, The aforementioned statistical information is, The number of fragment frames transmitted by the MLD, The number of multicast frames transmitted by the MLD, The number of frames that failed to be transmitted by the aforementioned MLD, The number of fragment frames received by the MLD, The number of frames having frame check sequence errors received by the MLD, The number of frames retransmitted by the aforementioned MLD, The number of frames retransmitted multiple times by the aforementioned MLD, The number of frames re-received by the aforementioned MLD, The number of Transmit Requests RTS that were successfully transmitted by the MLD, The number of RTS not transmitted by the aforementioned MLD, or The number of unconfirmed response frames transmitted by the MLD, A multilink device according to any one of claims 16 to 25, characterized by comprising at least one of the following.

27. The frames transmitted by the first MLD include quality of service (QoS) frames having a traffic indicator in the range of 0 to 7, and the statistical information is, The number of QoS fragments transmitted by the aforementioned MLD, The number of QoS frames retransmitted by the aforementioned MLD, The number of QoS frames multicast retransmitted by the aforementioned MLD, The number of QoS frames re-received by the aforementioned MLD, Number of QoS RTS transmissions that were successful, Number of QoS RTS transmissions that failed The number of QoS unconfirmed frames transmitted by the aforementioned MLD, The number of QoS fragments received by the MLD, The number of QoS frames received by the MLD, The number of QoS frames discarded by the aforementioned MLD, The number of QoS Media Access Control (MAC) protocol data units, MPDUs, or received by the MLD, The number of QoS retransmission frames received by the MLD, The multilink device according to claim 26, characterized by comprising at least one of the following.

28. The frame transmitted by the first MLD includes an Aggregate Media Access Control (MAC) Service Data Unit (A-MSDU), and the statistical information is: The number of A-MSDUs transmitted by the aforementioned MLD, The number of A-MSDU failures transmitted by the aforementioned MLD, Number of bytes transmitted by the A-MSDU using the aforementioned MLD, The number of A-MSDU units retransmitted by the aforementioned MLD, The number of A-MSDU units retransmitted multiple times by the aforementioned MLD, The number of A-MSDUs that have not received confirmation from the aforementioned MLD, The number of A-MSDUs received by the MLD, or The number of bytes received by the A-MSDU using the aforementioned MLD, The multilink device according to claim 26, characterized by including at least one of the following.

29. The frame transmitted by the first MLD includes an Aggregate Media Access Control (MAC) protocol data unit (A-MPDU), and the statistical information is: The number of A-MPDU transmitted by the aforementioned MLD, The number of MPDUs in the A-MPDU transmitted by the MLD, The number of bytes in the A-MPDU transmitted by the aforementioned MLD, The number of A-MPDUs received by the MLD, The number of MPDUs in the A-MPDU received by the MLD, The number of bytes in the A-MPDU received by the MLD, or The number of A-MPDUs having cyclic redundancy check errors received by the MLD, The multilink device according to claim 26, characterized by comprising at least one of the following.

30. The aforementioned delay information is MLD average access latency, MLD mean delay for quality of service QoS frames with best-effort priority, MLD mean delay on QoS frames with background priority, MLD mean delay on QoS frames with video priority, MLD mean delay on QoS frames with audio priority, Non-AP MLD number, or Using MLD channels, A multilink device according to any one of claims 16 to 25, characterized by comprising at least one of the following.

31. The multilink device according to claim 16, wherein the multilink device is configured to transmit a request for at least one of the statistical information or delay information of the first MLD in response to receiving such a request from an access control device.

32. The multilink device according to claim 31, wherein the multilink device is configured to transmit at least one of the statistical information or delay information of the first MLD to an access control device.

33. The multilink device according to any one of claims 16 to 25, further comprising at least one antenna configured to facilitate communication.

34. A multilink device (MLD) comprising a first station management entity (SME) and a first media access control sublayer management entity (MLME), comprising the steps of determining at least one of statistical information of the MLD or delay information of the MLD, The steps include: sending at least one of statistical information or delay information to the second MLD in response to receiving a request for at least one of statistical information or delay information from the second MLD; The first MLME provides the first SME with a first instruction primitive to indicate that a request has been received for at least one of the statistical information or the delay information. A method characterized by including the following.

35. A multilink device (MLD) comprising a second station management entity (SME) and a second media access control sublayer management entity (MLME) transmits a request to a first MLD for at least one of the following: statistics information of the first MLD or delay information of the first MLD. The steps include receiving a report from the first MLD relating to at least one of the statistical information or the delay information, The steps include: the second SME providing the second MLME with a second request primitive to indicate that a request for at least one of the statistical information or the delay information should be transmitted; A method characterized by including the following.

36. Equipped with a first multilink device (MLD), The first MLD is, Means for determining at least one of the statistical information of the first MLD or the delay information of the first MLD, Means for transmitting at least one of the statistical information or delay information to the second MLD in response to receiving a request for at least one of the statistical information or delay information from the second MLD, The first Station Management Entity (SME), The first Media Access Control Sublayer Management Entity (MLME) and Equipped with, The apparatus is characterized in that the first MLME is configured to provide the first SME with a first instruction primitive to indicate that a request for at least one of the statistical information or the delay information has been received.

37. Equipped with a second multilink device (MLD), The second MLD mentioned above is, Means for transmitting to the first MLD a request for at least one of the following: statistical information of the first MLD or delay information of the first MLD, Means for receiving a report from the first MLD relating to at least one of the statistical information or the delay information, The second Station Management Entity (SME), The second Media Access Control Sublayer Management Entity (MLME) and Equipped with, The apparatus is characterized in that the second SME is configured to provide the second MLME with a second request primitive to indicate that a request for at least one of the statistical information or the delay information should be transmitted.

38. A computer-readable medium characterized by including program instructions for causing a device to perform the method described in claim 34.

39. A computer-readable medium characterized by including program instructions for causing a device to perform the method described in claim 35.

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