Methods and devices for multilink operation (MLO)

Abstract

Some aspects of the present disclosure provide techniques for handling direct link communications in a multi-link system. An exemplary method generally includes transmitting, via a direct link between a first wireless station and one or more second wireless stations associated with a multi-link device (MLD), a data frame to the first wireless station, the data frame including a transmitter address field set to an address of the MLD, the address being one of multiple addresses associated with the MLD, the MLD being one of multiple addresses associated with the MLD, the second wireless station associated with the MLD for multi-link operation. The method also includes communicating with the first wireless station via the direct link.

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] Cross-reference of related applications This application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 63 / 094,684, filed on 21 October 2020, and to U.S. Application No. 17 / 503,848, filed on 18 October 2021, both of which are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.

[0002] Some aspects of this disclosure relate in general to wireless communications, and more specifically to various techniques and apparatus for handling direct link communications within multilink systems. [Background technology]

[0003] To address the increasingly stringent bandwidth requirements demanded of wireless communication systems, various methods have been developed to enable multiple wireless stations to communicate with a single access point by sharing channel resources while achieving high data throughput.

[0004] Multiple-input, multiple-output (MIMO) technology represents one such technique that emerged as a popular technique for communication systems. MIMO techniques are employed in several wireless communication standards, such as the IEEE 802.11 standard (including modifications thereto, such as 802.11ax, 802.11ay, and 802.11be). Several wireless communication standards, such as the IEEE 802.11 standard (including modifications thereto, such as 802.11ax, 802.11ay, and 802.11be), represent the Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) Air Interface standard developed by the IEEE 802.11 Committee for short-range communication (e.g., tens to hundreds of meters).

[0005] Some wireless networks, such as 802.11be networks (also known as ultra-high throughput (EHT) networks), allow several wireless communication devices (sometimes called multilink devices (MLDs)) to communicate simultaneously across available bandwidths (2.4, 5, and 6 GHz bands) using, for example, multilink operation (MLO) and / or multilink aggregation (MLA). [Overview of the project] [Means for solving the problem]

[0006] Each of the systems, methods, and devices of this disclosure has several embodiments, and no single embodiment alone embodies the desired attributes. Some features are briefly described here without limiting the scope of this disclosure as expressed in the following claims. After reviewing this description, and especially after reading the section entitled “Modes for Carrying Out the Invention,” it will be understood how the features of this disclosure provide the advantage of achieving desired latency and / or throughput through multilink operation.

[0007] Some aspects of this disclosure provide a method for wireless communication using a multilink device (MLD). The method generally includes the step of transmitting to a first wireless station, via a direct link between the first wireless station and one or more second wireless stations associated with an MLD, a data frame containing a transmitter address field set to the address of the MLD, which is one of a plurality of addresses associated with the MLD, the second wireless station being associated with the MLD for multilink operation. The method also includes the step of communicating with the first wireless station via the direct link.

[0008] Some aspects of this disclosure provide a method for wireless communication using MLDs. The method generally includes the step of communicating with a first wireless station via a direct link between the first wireless station and a second wireless station, wherein the second wireless station is associated with an MLD, and the direct link is inoperable with respect to the MLD while a third wireless station associated with the MLD is communicating. The method further includes the step of receiving a request to transmit (RTS) frame from an access point requesting the third wireless station associated with the MLD to send data, and taking one or more actions in response to the RTS frame.

[0009] Some aspects of this disclosure provide a method for wireless communication by an access point. This method generally includes the step of receiving a first instruction from the MLD to enable the transmission of an RTS frame before transmission from the access point to the MLD. The method further includes the step of transmitting an RTS frame to the MLD, based on the first instruction, requesting one or more wireless stations associated with the MLD to send data. The method also includes the step of transmitting data to one or more wireless stations if a Transmittable (CTS) frame is received by the access point from the MLD.

[0010] Some aspects of this disclosure provide a method for wireless communication using an MLD. The method generally includes the step of transmitting a first instruction to an access point that a first wireless station associated with an MLD is in a power-saving mode. The method also includes, after transmitting the first instruction, the step of communicating with a second wireless station via a direct link between a second wireless station and a third wireless station, wherein the third wireless station is associated with an MLD and the direct link is inoperable to the MLD while the first wireless station is communicating.

[0011] Some aspects of this disclosure provide a method for wireless communication using MLDs. The method generally includes the step of sending an instruction to an access point to disable a link to a first wireless station associated with an MLD. The method also includes, after sending the instruction, the step of communicating with a second wireless station via a direct link between the second and third wireless stations, wherein the third wireless station is associated with an MLD and the direct link is disabled to the MLD while the first wireless station is communicating.

[0012] Some aspects of this disclosure provide a method for wireless communication using a first MLD. The method generally includes the step of communicating with a second MLD via a dynamic link set including a plurality of links between a first access point associated with the second MLD and a first wireless station associated with the first MLD. The method further includes the step of sending a first instruction to one or more of the first access points to remove a link in the dynamic link set between one or more of the first access points and one or more of the first wireless stations. The method also includes the step of communicating with the second wireless station via a direct link between the second wireless station and a third wireless station associated with the first MLD, wherein the direct link is inoperable to the first MLD while one or more of the first wireless stations are communicating.

[0013] Some aspects of the present disclosure provide a method for wireless communication performed by a first MLD. The method generally relates to establishing a direct link between a second MLD and a first wireless station via a first access point associated with the first MLD, comprising: receiving one or more first frames from the second MLD, wherein the first wireless station does not support multi-link operation. The method further comprises relaying the one or more first frames to the first wireless station via the first access point, wherein the one or more first frames include a source address field set to an address of a second wireless station associated with the second MLD.

[0014] Some aspects of the present disclosure provide a method for wireless communication performed by a first wireless station. The method generally comprises: transmitting a request to discover a second wireless station for direct link communication between the first wireless station and the second wireless station to the second wireless station via an access point, wherein the request indicates a link for communication between the first wireless station and the second wireless station. The method also comprises communicating directly with the second wireless station via the link indicated in the request.

[0015] Some aspects of the present disclosure provide a first multi-link device (MLD). The MLD generally comprises a memory and a processor coupled to the memory. The processor and the memory are configured to: transmit a data frame including a transmitter address field set to an address of the first MLD, wherein the address of the first MLD is one of a plurality of addresses associated with the first MLD, to a first wireless station via a direct link between the first wireless station and at least one of a plurality of second wireless stations affiliated with the first MLD, wherein the second wireless station is affiliated with the first MLD for multi-link operation; and communicate with the first wireless station via the direct link.

[0016] Some aspects of the present disclosure provide a method for wireless communication by a first multi-link device (MLD). The method generally comprises: transmitting, to a first wireless station via a direct link between the first wireless station and at least one of a plurality of second wireless stations associated with the first MLD, a data frame including a transmitter address field set to an address of the first MLD, wherein the address of the first MLD is one of a plurality of addresses associated with the first MLD, wherein the second wireless stations are associated with the first MLD for multi-link operation; and communicating with the first wireless station via the direct link.

[0017] Some aspects of the present disclosure provide a multi-link device (MLD). The MLD generally comprises a memory and a processor coupled to the memory. The processor and the memory are configured to: establish a direct link between a first wireless station associated with the MLD and a second wireless station; and communicate with the second wireless station via the direct link, wherein the direct link is disabled for the MLD while a third wireless station associated with the MLD is communicating.

[0018] Some aspects of the present disclosure provide an access point. The access point generally comprises a memory and a processor coupled to the memory. The processor and the memory are configured to: receive, from a multi-link device (MLD), an indication of a state associated with the MLD or of one or more wireless stations associated with the MLD; transmit, to the MLD based on the state, a first frame requesting the MLD to send data associated with the MLD to the one or more wireless stations; and transmit the data to the one or more wireless stations when a second frame granting permission to send the data is received by the access point from the MLD.

[0019] Some aspects of this disclosure provide a multilink device (MLD). The MLD generally includes memory and a processor coupled to the memory. The processor and memory are configured to transmit a first instruction associated with a first wireless station associated with the MLD to an access point or access point (AP)MLD, and, after transmitting the first instruction, to communicate with a second wireless station via a direct link between the second and third wireless stations, wherein the third wireless station is associated with the MLD and the direct link is inoperable to the MLD while the first wireless station is communicating.

[0020] Some aspects of this disclosure provide a method for wireless communication using a first multilink device (MLD). This method generally includes the steps of establishing a direct link between a first wireless station and a second wireless station associated with the MLD, and communicating with the first wireless station via the direct link, wherein the direct link is inoperable with respect to the MLD while a third wireless station associated with the MLD is communicating.

[0021] To achieve the above-mentioned and related objectives, one or more embodiments shall have features that are fully described below and, in particular, pointed out in the claims. The following description and accompanying drawings detail some exemplary features of one or more embodiments. However, these features represent only a few of the various ways in which the principles of various embodiments may be employed, and this description is intended to include all such embodiments and their equivalents.

[0022] To allow for a more detailed understanding of the features of this disclosure described above, a more detailed explanation than that briefly summarized above can be obtained by referring to some of the embodiments shown in the accompanying drawings. However, it should be noted that the accompanying drawings only illustrate some typical embodiments of this disclosure and should not be considered to limit the scope of this disclosure, as this explanation may apply to other equally effective embodiments. [Brief explanation of the drawing]

[0023] [Figure 1] This figure shows an exemplary wireless communication network according to some aspects of the present disclosure. [Figure 2] This is a block diagram conceptually illustrating exemplary access point (AP) and wireless station (STA) designs according to several aspects of the present disclosure. [Figure 3] Block diagram showing an example of multilink operation between multilink devices (MLDs) according to several aspects of this disclosure. [Figure 4] This flowchart illustrates exemplary operation for wireless communication using MLD according to several aspects of the present disclosure. [Figure 5A] This figure shows an MLD initiating a direct link setup with a legacy STA and communicating with the legacy STA via the direct link, according to some aspects of this disclosure. [Figure 5B] This figure shows a legacy STA initiating a direct link setup with an MLD and communicating with the MLD via the direct link, according to some aspects of this disclosure. [Figure 6] This figure shows an exemplary link identifier information element format according to several aspects of the present disclosure. [Figure 7A] This figure shows a first MLD initiating a direct link setup with a second MLD and communicating with the second MLD via the direct link, according to some aspects of the present disclosure. [Figure 7B]This figure shows a second MLD initiating a direct link setup with a first MLD and communicating with the first MLD via the direct link, according to some aspects of the present disclosure. [Figure 8] This flowchart illustrates exemplary operation for wireless communication using an MLD (e.g., AP MLD) according to several aspects of the present disclosure. [Figure 9A] This figure shows an AP MLD that relays link messages directly from a non-AP MLD to a legacy STA, according to some aspects of this disclosure. [Figure 9B] This figure shows an AP MLD that relays link messages directly from a legacy STA to a non-AP MLD, according to some aspects of this disclosure. [Figure 10A] This flowchart illustrates exemplary operation for wireless communication using an MLD (e.g., a non-AP MLD) according to several aspects of the present disclosure. [Figure 10B] This flowchart illustrates exemplary operation for wireless communication using an MLD (e.g., a non-AP MLD) according to several aspects of the present disclosure. [Figure 11] This flowchart illustrates exemplary operation for wireless communication using an MLD (e.g., AP MLD) according to several aspects of the present disclosure. [Figure 12] This is a signaling flowchart illustrating exemplary signaling for Ready-To-Send / Ready-to-Send frames according to the embodiments of this disclosure. [Figure 13A] This flowchart illustrates exemplary operation for wireless communication using an MLD (e.g., a non-AP MLD) according to several aspects of the present disclosure. [Figure 13B] This flowchart illustrates exemplary operation for wireless communication using an MLD (e.g., a non-AP MLD) according to several aspects of the present disclosure. [Figure 14] This is a signaling flowchart illustrating exemplary signaling for a power-saving mode according to an aspect of the present disclosure. [Figure 15]This flowchart illustrates exemplary operation for wireless communication using an MLD (e.g., a non-AP MLD) according to several aspects of the present disclosure. [Figure 16] This flowchart illustrates exemplary operation for wireless communication using an MLD (e.g., a non-AP MLD) according to several aspects of the present disclosure. [Figure 17] This is a signaling flowchart illustrating exemplary signaling for disabling / removing links according to aspects of this disclosure. [Figure 18] This flowchart illustrates exemplary operations for wireless communication by a wireless station according to several aspects of the present disclosure. [Figure 19] This figure shows exemplary multilink information element formats according to several aspects of the present disclosure. [Figure 20] This is a signaling flowchart illustrating exemplary cross-over signaling of discovery requests according to the aspects of this disclosure. [Figure 21] This figure shows a communications device (e.g., a non-AP MLD or wireless station) which may include various components configured to perform operations for the techniques disclosed herein, according to aspects of this disclosure. [Figure 22] This figure shows a communication device (e.g., AP MLD) which may include various components configured to perform operations for the techniques disclosed herein, according to aspects of this disclosure. [Modes for carrying out the invention]

[0024] For ease of understanding, the same reference numerals are used to designate identical elements common to the figures where possible. It is intended that elements disclosed in one embodiment may be advantageously utilized in other embodiments without specific specification.

[0025] Aspects of this disclosure provide apparatus, methods, processing systems, and computer-readable media for handling direct link communication in multilink operation (MLO).

[0026] In some cases, wireless stations (STAs) can communicate with each other via direct wireless links, such as Tunneled Direct Link Setup (TDLS) links. While establishing a direct link, STAs can exchange messages (e.g., TDLS frames) through an access point (AP). When an AP forwards a frame from one associated STA to another associated STA, the AP may set the A3 field (e.g., the Source Address (SA) field) to the MAC address of the initiator STA. For non-AP multilink devices (MLDs), the AP sets the SA field to the MAC address of the non-AP MLD. That is, in an MLO, the SA field is the MLD MAC address for frames forwarded from the non-AP MLD by the AP. In TDLS, discovery and setup frames may be sent through the AP while the transmitted frame is exchanged directly between STAs after the setup is successful and the TDLS direct link is established. The AP may process TDLS discovery and setup frames as data without assistance in setting up TDLS between STAs. For frames sent directly between STAs, the Receiver Address (RA) or Transmitter Address (TA) field in the frame may be set to the link address (for example, the MAC address of the STA entity associated with the MLD (e.g., STA entities 310, 312)). An STA that does not support MLO may be unable to establish an association between the MLD MAC address and the link MAC address, resulting in a TDLS link failure. Furthermore, under some 802.11 standards (e.g., 802.11be), ambiguity may exist regarding the value of the TA field when a non-AP MLD STA sends a TDLS discovery response frame.

[0027] Aspects of this disclosure provide various techniques and apparatus for handling direct link communication in MLO. For example, a non-AP MLD STA participating in a TDLS connection may set its TA field to the MAC address of the non-AP MLD for frames sent directly to the TDLS peer STA. A non-AP MLD STA may set its TDLS initiator STA address to the non-AP MLD MAC address in the link identifier information element (IE) of a TDLS (discovery / setup) request frame. A non-AP MLD STA may set its TDLS responder STA address to the non-AP MLD MAC address in the link identifier information element (IE) of a TDLS (discovery / setup) response frame sent in response to a TDLS (discovery / setup) request frame received from a TDLS peer STA. A non-AP MLD STA may have the capability to process frames using the RA field set in the MLD MAC. A non-AP MLD STA may use the MLD MAC address during the Tunneled Peer Key (TPK) handshake and cryptographic key generation for a TDLS session. In some cases, other STAs that are not AP MLD may not be able to transmit frames to a peer STA where another STA that is not AP MLD has performed a TDLS setup. As used herein, legacy STA or legacy station may refer to wireless stations that do not support MLO, or are not capable of MLO, such as wireless stations that support the 802.11 standard as defined before 802.11be.

[0028] Various techniques and devices for handling direct-link communication in MLOs can enable direct-link communication between an MLD and a legacy STA or another MLD. Direct-link communication can enable desired latency and / or throughput, for example, for communication without intermediate devices (e.g., access points).

[0029] Various aspects of this disclosure will be described more fully below with reference to the accompanying drawings. However, this disclosure may be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as being limited to any particular structure or function presented throughout this disclosure. Rather, these aspects are configured to make this disclosure thorough and complete and to adequately convey the scope of this disclosure to those skilled in the art. Based on the teachings of this specification, those skilled in the art should understand that the scope of this disclosure encompasses any aspect of the disclosure disclosed herein, whether implemented independently of any other aspect of the disclosure or in combination with any other aspect of the disclosure. For example, an apparatus may be implemented or a method may be practiced using any number of aspects described herein. In addition, the scope of this disclosure shall encompass apparatus or methods that are practiced using other structures, functions, or structures and functions, in addition to or other than the various aspects of the disclosure described herein. It should be understood that any aspect of the disclosure disclosed herein may be embodied by one or more elements of the claims.

[0030] The term “exemplary” is used herein to mean “acting as an example, case, or illustration.” No aspect described herein as “exemplary” should be construed as necessarily preferable or more favorable than any other aspect.

[0031] While specific embodiments are described herein, many variations and substitutions of these embodiments fall within the scope of this disclosure. Although some advantages and benefits of preferred embodiments are stated, the scope of this disclosure is not limited to any particular advantage, use, or purpose. Rather, the embodiments of this disclosure are broadly applicable to different wireless technologies, system configurations, networks, and transmission protocols, some of which are illustrated as examples in the figures and the following description of preferred embodiments. The detailed description and drawings are illustrative and not limiting, and the scope of this disclosure is defined by the appended claims and their equivalents.

[0032] The techniques described herein can be used for a variety of broadband wireless communication systems, including communication systems based on orthogonal multiplexing schemes. Examples of such communication systems include spatial division multiplexing (SDMA) systems, time division multiplexing (TDMA) systems, orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDMA) systems, and single-carrier frequency division multiplexing (SC-FDMA) systems. SDMA systems can utilize sufficiently different directions to transmit data belonging to multiple user terminals simultaneously. TDMA systems allow multiple user terminals to share the same frequency channel by dividing the transmitted signal into different time slots, with each time slot assigned to a different user terminal. OFDMA systems utilize orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM), a modulation technique that divides the entire system bandwidth into multiple orthogonal subcarriers. These subcarriers are sometimes called tones or bins. In OFDM, each subcarrier can be modulated independently using data. SC-FDMA systems can utilize interleaved FDMA (IFDMA) for transmission over subcarriers distributed across the system bandwidth, local FDMA (LFDMA) for transmission over blocks of adjacent subcarriers, or extended FDMA (EFDMA) for transmission over multiple blocks of adjacent subcarriers. Generally, modulation symbols are transmitted in the frequency domain in OFDM and in the time domain in SC-FDMA. The techniques described herein can be used in any type of system applicable to single-carrier (SC) and SC multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) systems.

[0033] The teachings herein can be incorporated into various wired or wireless devices (e.g., nodes) (e.g., implemented within or performed by such devices). In some embodiments, a wireless node implemented according to the teachings herein may comprise an access point or access terminal.

[0034] An access point ("AP") may have the following characteristics: Node B, Radio Network Controller ("RNC"), Evolutionary Node B (eNB), Base Station Controller ("BSC"), Base Transceiver Station ("BTS"), Base Station ("BS"), Transceiver Function ("TF"), Wireless Router, Wireless Transceiver, Basic Service Set ("BSS"), Extended Service Set ("ESS"), Radio Base Station ("RBS"), or any other terminology, may be implemented as such, or may be known as such.

[0035] An access terminal ("AT") may include, be implemented as, or be known as, a subscriber station, a subscriber unit, a mobile station, a remote station, a remote terminal, a user terminal, a user agent, a user device, user equipment, a user station, or any other term. In some implementations, an access terminal may include a cellular telephone, a cordless telephone, a Session Initiation Protocol ("SIP") telephone, a Wireless Local Loop ("WLL") station, a personal digital assistant ("PDA"), a handheld device with wireless connectivity, a wireless station ("STA"), or any other suitable processing device connected to a wireless modem. Thus, one or more embodiments taught herein may be incorporated into a telephone (e.g., a cellular telephone or a smartphone), a computer (e.g., a laptop), a portable communication device, a portable computing device (e.g., a personal information terminal), an entertainment device (e.g., a music or video device, or a satellite radio), a global positioning system device, or any other suitable device configured to communicate via a wireless or wired medium. In some embodiments, the node is a wireless node. Such wireless nodes may, for example, provide connectivity or network access for a network (e.g., a wide area network such as the Internet or a cellular network) via a wired or wireless communication link.

[0036] Figure 1 shows an exemplary wireless communication system 100 comprising an access point and a wireless station. As shown in Figure 1, the access point (AP) 110 includes a link manager 112 that can perform RTS / CTS exchange and / or set the SA field when relaying frames between a legacy STA and a non-AP MLD, according to embodiments of the disclosure. The wireless station (STA) 120a includes a link manager 122 that, according to embodiments of the disclosure, sets the TA field to a specific address to enable direct link communication between the wireless station 120a and a legacy station (e.g., wireless station 120g), and takes various actions to prevent or mitigate simultaneous transmit / receive (STR) conditions with respect to a particular STA entity. In embodiments, the wireless station 120a may be a multilink device (MLD) as further described herein with respect to Figure 3.

[0037] For simplicity, only one access point 110 is shown in Figure 1. An access point is generally a fixed station that communicates with a wireless station, and may also be called a base station or some other term. A wireless station may be fixed or mobile, and may also be called a mobile station, wireless device, or some other term. The access point 110 may communicate with one or more wireless stations 120 at any given moment over the downlink and uplink. The downlink (i.e., forward link) is the communication link from the access point to the wireless station, and the uplink (i.e., reverse link) is the communication link from the wireless station to the access point. A wireless station may also communicate peer-to-peer with another wireless station via a direct link, such as a tunneled direct link setup (TDLS). A system controller 130 may communicate with the access point and may perform coordination and control for the access point.

[0038] The following disclosure describes a wireless station 120 capable of communicating via Spatial Division Multiple Access (SDMA), although in some embodiments, the wireless station 120 may include several wireless stations that do not support SDMA. In such embodiments, the access point (AP) 110 may be configured to communicate with both SDMA and non-SDMA wireless stations. This approach conveniently extends the effective life of older versions of wireless stations ("legacy" stations) by allowing them to remain deployed in the enterprise while enabling the introduction of newer SDMA wireless stations as needed.

[0039] System 100 employs multiple transmitting antennas and multiple receiving antennas for data transmission over the downlink and uplink. Access point 110 is N ap It has k antennas and represents multiple inputs (MI) for downlink transmission and multiple outputs (MO) for uplink transmission. A set of k selected wireless stations 120 collectively represents multiple outputs for downlink transmission and multiple inputs for uplink transmission. In the case of pure SDMA, if the data symbol streams for the K wireless stations are not multiplexed in code, frequency or time by any means, then N ap It is desirable that ≥K ≤ 1. If the data symbol stream can be multiplexed using TDMA techniques, different code channels in the case of CDMA, or independent sets of subbands in the case of OFDM, then K is N ap It may be larger than . Each selected wireless station may transmit user-specific data to the access point and / or receive user-specific data from the access point. Generally, each selected wireless station may have one or more antennas (i.e., N st The following conditions may be met: a≧1). The K selected wireless stations may have the same number of antennas or different numbers of antennas.

[0040] System 100 may be a time-division duplex (TDD) system or a frequency-division duplex (FDD) system. In a TDD system, the downlink and uplink share the same frequency band. In an FDD system, the downlink and uplink use different frequency bands. MIMO system 100 can also utilize a single carrier or multiple carriers for transmission. Each wireless station may have a single antenna or multiple antennas. System 100 may also be a TDMA system if wireless stations 120 share the same frequency channel by dividing transmit / receive into different time slots, with each time slot assigned to a different wireless station 120.

[0041] Figure 2 shows a block diagram of an access point 110 and two wireless stations 120m and 120x within a MIMO / MLO system 100. In some embodiments, the access point 110 and / or wireless stations 120m and 120x may implement various techniques for handling direct link communication between wireless stations in the MLO, for example, as further described herein with respect to Figures 4 to 20. For example, the access point 110 and / or wireless stations 120m and 120x may include their respective link managers, as described herein with respect to Figure 1.

[0042] Access point 110 is N ap It may be equipped with individual antennas 224a~224ap. The wireless station 120m is N sta,m Equipped with individual antennas 252mA~252MU, the wireless station 120x is N sta,xincludes antennas 252xa to 252xu. The access point 110 is a transmitting entity for the downlink and a receiving entity for the uplink. Each wireless station 120 is a transmitting entity for the uplink and a receiving entity for the downlink. As used herein, a "transmitting entity" is an independently operating apparatus or device capable of transmitting data via a wireless channel, and a "receiving entity" is an independently operating apparatus or device capable of receiving data via a wireless channel. The term communication generally refers to transmission, reception, or both. In the following description, the subscript "DL" indicates downlink, the subscript "UL" indicates uplink, and N UL wireless stations are selected for simultaneous transmission on the uplink, and N DL wireless stations are selected for simultaneous transmission on the downlink, and N UL is N DL may be equal to or may not be equal to N UL and N DL may be static values or may be changed for each scheduling interval. Beam steering or some other spatial processing technique may be used at the access point and the wireless station.

[0043] On the uplink, at each wireless station 120 selected for uplink transmission, a TX data processor 288 receives traffic data from a data source 286 and receives control data from a controller 280. TX data processor 288 processes (e.g., encodes, interleaves, and modulates) traffic data for the wireless station based on the coding and modulation scheme associated with the rate selected for the wireless station, and provides a data symbol stream. A TX spatial processor 290 performs spatial processing on the data symbol stream and provides Ns ta,m for N antennas sta,mIt provides individual transmit symbol streams. Each transceiver (TMTR) 254 receives and processes its respective transmit symbol stream (e.g., converts to analog, amplifies, filters, and frequency upconverts) to generate an uplink signal. sta,m Each transceiver 254 is N sta,m N for transmission from individual antenna 252 sta,m Provides individual uplink signals to the access point.

[0044] N UL Each wireless station can be scheduled for simultaneous transmission on the uplink. Each of these wireless stations performs spatial processing on its data symbol stream and transmits that set of transmit symbol streams to the access point on the uplink.

[0045] At access point 110, N ap These antennas 224a to 224ap transmit all N on the uplink. UL Uplink signals are received from individual wireless stations. Each antenna 224 provides the received signal to its respective transceiver (RCVR) 222. Each transceiver 222 performs processing complementary to the processing performed by transceiver 254 and provides a received symbol stream. The RX spatial processor 240 is N ap N from individual transceivers 222 ap Perform receiver space processing on each of the N received symbol streams. ULIt provides individual restored uplink data symbol streams. Receiver space processing is performed according to channel correlation matrix inversion (CCMI), least mean squares error (MMSE), soft interference cancellation (SIC), or several other techniques. Each restored uplink data symbol stream is an estimate of the data symbol stream transmitted by each wireless station. The Rx data processor 242 processes each restored uplink data symbol stream (e.g., demodulate, deinterleave, and decode) according to the rate used for its stream to obtain decoded data. The decoded data for each wireless station is provided to the data sink 244 for storage and / or may be provided to the controller 230 for further processing.

[0046] On the downlink, at access point 110, the TX data processor 210 is scheduled for downlink transmission. DL The TX data processor 210 receives traffic data for each wireless station from data source 208, control data from controller 230, and possibly other data from scheduler 234. Various types of data may be transmitted over different transport channels. The TX data processor 210 processes the traffic data for each wireless station (e.g., encoding, interleaving, and modulation) based on the rate selected for that wireless station. The TX data processor 210 then processes N D N downlink data symbol streams DL Provided to individual wireless stations. The TX spatial processor 220 is N DL Perform spatial processing (such as precoding or beamforming as described in this disclosure) on the downlink data symbol streams, ap N transmit symbol streams ap It is supplied to each antenna. Each transceiver 222 receives and processes its respective transmit symbol stream to generate a downlink signal. ap Each transceiver 222 is N apN for transmission from individual antenna 224 ap Provides individual downlink signals to wireless stations.

[0047] In wireless station 120, N sta,m This antenna 252 is connected to access point 110 N ap N downlink signals are received. Each transceiver 254 processes the received signal from the associated antenna 252 and provides a received symbol stream. The RX spatial processor 260 processes N sta,m N from individual transceivers 254 sta,m Receiver spatial processing is performed on each received symbol stream, and the recovered downlink data symbol stream is provided to the wireless station. Receiver spatial processing is performed according to CCMI, MMSE, or some other technique. The RX data processor 270 processes the recovered downlink data symbol stream (e.g., demodulation, deinterleaving, and decoding) to obtain decoded data for the wireless station.

[0048] At each wireless station 120, the channel estimator 278 estimates the downlink channel response and provides a downlink channel estimate that may include channel gain estimation, SNR estimation, noise dispersion, etc. Similarly, the channel estimator 228 estimates the uplink channel response and provides an uplink channel estimate. The controller 280 for each wireless station typically provides the downlink channel response matrix H for that wireless station. dn,m Based on this, the spatial filter matrix for the wireless station is derived. The controller 230 then calculates the effective uplink channel response matrix H up,eff Based on this, a spatial filter matrix for the access point is derived. A controller 280 for each wireless station may send feedback information (e.g., downlink and / or uplink eigenvectors, eigenvalues, SNR estimates, etc.) to the access point. Controllers 230 and 280 also control the operation of various processing units in the access point 110 and wireless station 120, respectively.

[0049] In some wireless communication networks (e.g., 802.11be networks), a multilink device (MLD) may be a wireless communication device with multiple associated APs or STAs. An MLD may have a single Medium Access Control (MAC) Service Access Point (SAP) to the Logical Link Control (LLC) layer. An MLD may have a MAC address that uniquely identifies the MLD management entity. An MLD may support various multilink operations (MLOs). In some embodiments, an MLO may include multiband aggregation, where two or more channels in different bands (e.g., 2.4, 5, and 6 GHz bands) are combined to achieve a higher transmit rate. In some embodiments, the 6 GHz band may include the 5.925–7.125 GHz frequency band. For example, a single frame may be split and transmitted simultaneously through different channels in different bands, reducing frame transmission time or facilitating the transmission of larger aggregate frames. An MLO may include multiband and multichannel full-duplex communication achieved by simultaneously transmitting and receiving on different channels (within the same or different bands). MLO may include the separation of the data plane and control plane into different channels (within the same or different bands). In some embodiments, MLO may be implemented in a multi-link single radio (MLSR) architecture in which multiple associated APs or STAs of an MLD can be logical devices under a single radio.

[0050] Figure 3 is a block diagram illustrating exemplary multilink operation between MLDs according to several aspects of the present disclosure. As shown, AP MLD 302 may communicate with non-AP MLD 304 via multilink communication, such as multiband aggregation. AP MLD 302 may also communicate with other systems (e.g., distributed systems (DS) such as local area networks and / or wide area networks) via interface 318, such as a backhaul interface. AP MLD 302 may include at least two STA entities 306, 308 (sometimes called STA instances, and also simply referred to herein as STA) that can communicate with associated STA entities 310, 312 of non-AP MLD 304. The STA entities (or instances) of AP MLD are generally APs (sometimes called AP-STAs, or STAs serving as APs), and the STA entities of non-AP MLDs are generally non-AP STAs (sometimes simply referred to as STAs). MLD can use multilink operations such as multilink aggregation (MLA), including packet-level aggregation, where MAC protocol data units (MPDUs) from the same traffic ID (TID) can be sent over two or more links 314, 316.

[0051] In some embodiments, STA entities 306, 308 may each communicate over separate bands (e.g., 2.4, 5, and 6 GHz bands), and similarly, STA entities 310, 312 may each communicate over separate bands (2.4, 5, and 6 GHz bands). For example, STA entities 306, 310 may communicate with each other over a first link 314 via a first band (e.g., 5 GHz band), and STA entities 308, 312 may communicate with each other over a second link 316 via a second band (e.g., 6 GHz band). Aggregate links 314, 316 may enable desired throughput and latency between AP MLD 302 and non-AP MLD 304. In some embodiments, the STA entities of the MLD (306, 308 or 310, 312) may be implemented as separate devices or as RF transceiver chips of the MLD, or the STA entities may be integrated into the same device or RF transceiver chip. In some embodiments, a link may refer to a physical path having one traversal of wireless medium (WM) that can be used to transfer various packets, messages, or frames (such as MAC service data units (MSDUs)) between two stations (STAs).

[0052] Overall direct link communication in multilink operation In some cases, STAs can communicate with each other via a direct wireless link, such as a Tunneled Direct Link Setup (TDLS) link. While establishing a direct link, STAs can exchange messages (e.g., TDLS frames) through APs. When AP forwards a frame on behalf of one associated STA to another associated STA, AP may set the A3 field (e.g., the Source Address (SA) field) to the MAC address of the initiator STA. In the case of a non-AP MLD, AP sets the SA field to the MAC address of the non-AP MLD. That is, in an MLO, the SA field is the MLD MAC address for the frame forwarded by AP from the non-AP MLD. In TDLS, discovery and setup frames may be sent through APs while frames sent after setup are exchanged directly between STAs. For frames sent directly between STAs, the Receiver Address (RA) or Transmitter Address (TA) field in the frame may be set to the link address (e.g., the MAC address of the STA entity associated with the MLD (e.g., STA entities 310, 312)). STAs that do not support MLO may be unable to establish an association between the MLD MAC address and the link MAC address, resulting in TDLS link failure. Furthermore, under some 802.11 standards (e.g., 802.11be), ambiguity may exist regarding the value of the TA field when a non-AP MLD STA sends a TDLS discovery response frame.

[0053] Aspects of this disclosure provide various techniques and apparatus for handling direct link communication in MLO. For example, a non-AP MLD STA participating in a TDLS connection may set its TA field to the MAC address of the non-AP MLD for frames sent directly to the TDLS peer STA. A non-AP MLD STA may set its TDLS initiator STA address to the non-AP MLD MAC address in the link identifier information element (IE) of a TDLS (discovery / setup) request frame. A non-AP MLD STA may set its TDLS responder STA address to the non-AP MLD MAC address in the link identifier information element (IE) of a TDLS (discovery / setup) response frame sent in response to a TDLS (discovery / setup) request frame received from a TDLS peer STA. A non-AP MLD STA may have the capability to process frames using the RA field set in the MLD MAC. A non-AP MLD STA may use the MLD MAC address during the tunneled peer key (TPK) handshake and cryptographic key generation for a TDLS session. In some cases, other STAs in a non-AP MLD may not be able to send frames to a peer STA where another STA in a non-AP MLD has performed a TDLS setup. Various techniques and devices for handling direct link communication in MLO may enable direct link communication between MLDs and STAs that do not support MLO.

[0054] Figure 4 shows exemplary wireless communication operations 400 according to several embodiments of the present disclosure. Operations 400 may be performed, for example, by an MLD (e.g., STA120a or non-AP MLD304). Operations 400 may be implemented as software components that run and operate on one or more processors (e.g., controller 280 in Figure 2). In some embodiments, the transmission and / or reception of signals by the MLD may be implemented via a bus interface of one or more processors (e.g., controller 280) that acquire and / or output signals. Furthermore, the transmission and reception of signals by the MLD may be enabled, for example, by one or more antennas and / or transceivers (e.g., antenna 252 or transceiver 254 in Figure 2).

[0055] Operation 400 can be initiated in 402, where the first MLD performs a TDLS setup with a first wireless station (e.g., STA120g) as further described herein with respect to Figures 5A and 5B, for example. In 404, the first MLD may transmit to the first wireless station a data frame containing a transmitter address (TS) field set to the address of the first MLD, which is one of a plurality of addresses associated with the first MLD, via a direct link between the first wireless station and at least one of a plurality of second wireless stations (e.g., STA310, 312) associated with the first MLD, the second wireless station associated with the first MLD for MLO. In 406, the first MLD may communicate with a wireless station via a direct link. As used herein, a wireless station associated with an MLD may refer to a wireless station associated with an MLD.

[0056] In some embodiments, the transmission in 404 may be a transmission in which the AP does not relay the data frame to the TDLS peer STA, but sends it directly to the TDLS peer STA (e.g., the first wireless station). In 404, the first MLD may have established a TDLS link with the first wireless station, and the transmission in 404 may be via the TDLS link. In other words, the direct link may include a tunneled direct link such as a TDLS link. In some embodiments, the first MLD may communicate with the TDLS peer STA via one or more STA entities (e.g., STA entities 310, 312) over the direct link. For example, the first MLD may communicate with the TDLS peer STA via a second wireless station which may be associated with the first MLD. In some embodiments, the address of the first MLD may include a MAC address, such as a multilink logical MAC address. The multilink logical MAC address of the first MLD may be a MAC address that uniquely identifies an MLD entity (e.g., MLD 302) that manages an STA entity (e.g., STA entities 310, 312). In some embodiments, the multilink logical MAC address of the first MLD may be referred to as the MLD MAC address, and the MLD MAC address may be a non-AP MLD MAC address. The MLD MAC address may be a MAC address that is the same as a globally unique MAC address or a peer link MAC address (e.g., an STA unit or an AP unit of the MLD). In other words, the TA field in 404 may be set to the multilink logical MAC address of the first MLD. Multiple addresses associated with the first MLD may include a multilink logical MAC address and MAC addresses associated with a second wireless station (e.g., STA entities 310, 312) (each of them), the second wireless station being associated with the first MLD for multilink operation. For example, a second wireless station may enable the first MLD to communicate simultaneously with another MLD (e.g., AP MLD302) via separate bands (e.g., 5 and 6 GHz bands).

[0057] In some embodiments, the first MLD may set the initiator or responder address in the link identifier element of a particular TDLS frame (e.g., a TDLS discovery or setup frame) to the MLD MAC address. An exemplary link identifier IE format is further described herein with reference to Figure 6. In 402, performing a TDLS setup may include the first MLD exchanging TDLS discovery or setup frames with the first wireless station, for example, as further described herein with reference to Figures 5A and 5B.

[0058] In some embodiments, the initiator address of the link identifier IE may be set to the MLD MAC address within a TDLS request frame (such as a TDLS discovery request frame and / or TDLS setup request frame from a TDLS initiator station). In some embodiments, a request, request frame, or initiator frame associated with a direct link (e.g., TDLS) may include a TDLS discovery request frame and / or TDLS setup request frame. For example, a first MLD may send a request to a first wireless station (e.g., a first wireless station) via an access point (e.g., AP110 or AP MLD302) to discover a peer wireless station for a direct link (e.g., a first wireless station) (in 402). In other words, the first MLD may send a request to an AP that relays the request to the first wireless station. The request may include a link identifier element having a direct link initiator address (e.g., a TDLS initiator STA address) set as the address of the first MLD (e.g., an MLD MAC address). In some embodiments, the request may include a TDLS discovery request frame according to the 802.11 standard. For example, a first MLD may send a request to a first wireless station via an access point to set up a direct link (in 402), and the request may include a link identifier element having a direct link initiator address set as the address of the first MLD (e.g., the MLD MAC address). In some embodiments, the request may include a TDLS setup request frame according to the 802.11 standard.

[0059] In some embodiments, the responder address of the link identifier IE may be set to the MLD MAC address within the TDLS response frame (such as the TDLS discovery response frame and / or TDLS setup response frame from the TDLS responder station). In some embodiments, the response, response frame, or responder frame associated with the direct link may include the TDLS discovery response frame and / or TDLS setup response frame. For example, a first MLD may send a response to a first wireless station in response to a request to discover a peer wireless station (such as the first MLD) for a direct link (in 402), and the response may include a link identifier element having a direct link responder address set as the address of the first MLD (e.g., the MLD MAC address). In some embodiments, the first MLD may send a response directly to the first wireless station. The response may include a TDLS discovery response frame according to the 802.11 standard. For example, the first MLD may send a response to the first wireless station via the access point in response to a request to set up a direct link (in 402), and the response may include a link identifier element having a direct link responder address set as the address of the first MLD (e.g., the MLD MAC address). The response may include a TDLS setup request frame according to the 802.11 standard.

[0060] In some embodiments, the first MLD may set the TA field to the MLD MAC address for discovery response sent to the first wireless station. Performing TDLS setup in 402 may involve, for example, the first wireless station initiating discovery of a peer wireless station (such as the first MLD) that the first wireless station sends a TDLS discovery request frame to the first MLD via the AP. In such an embodiment, the first MLD may respond to the TDLS discovery request frame with a TDLS discovery response frame sent directly to the first wireless station. The first MLD may set the TA field to the MLD MAC address in the TDLS discovery response frame. For example, the first MLD may receive a request from the first wireless station via the access point to discover a peer wireless station (such as the first MLD) for a direct link. In some embodiments, the request may include a TDLS discovery request frame. The first MLD may transmit a discovery response to the first wireless station (in 402) that includes a TA field set to the address of the first MLD (e.g., the MLD MAC address), and the transmission of the discovery response may be in response to a request.

[0061] In 406, the first MLD may support directly receiving frames from a TDLS peer STA using the receiver address (RA) field set in the MLD MAC address. For example, in 406, communication with the first wireless station over a direct link may include the first MLD receiving a frame from the first wireless station over the direct link that includes the receiver address field set in the address of the first MLD (e.g., the MLD MAC address).

[0062] In some embodiments, the frame header may include TA / RA fields as described herein. For example, the MAC header of a data frame or TDLS frame may include TA / RA fields. With respect to operation 400, a data frame may include a MAC header containing a TA field, and a data frame received in 406 may include a MAC header containing an RA field.

[0063] In some embodiments, the STA entity of the first MLD may use the MLD MAC address during the TPK handshake (e.g., a four-way handshake) and cryptographic key generation for the TDLS session. For example, the first MLD may use the MLD MAC address to generate a security key for the TDLS session. In 402, the first MLD may generate a cryptographic key at least in part based on the address of the first MLD and transmit instructions for the cryptographic key (e.g., parameters used to generate the cryptographic key at the first wireless station) to the first wireless station. In some embodiments, cryptographic key generation may be further based on the AP MLD MAC address and / or the AP MAC address. In some cases, when both wireless stations involved in the TDLS setup include a TDLS variant multilink element that carries the AP MLD MAC address field in the frames exchanged during the TDLS setup phase, TDLS TPK generation may include the AP MLD MAC address in addition to the MAC address of the AP involved on which the TDLS direct link is established. The AP MLD MAC address may be used to generate an encryption key when the MLD in the TDLS is a non-AP MLDS for single-link or multi-link TDLS between MLDs. Communication with the first wireless station in 406 may involve the first MLD communicating encrypted frames with the first wireless station based on the encryption key.

[0064] In some embodiments, other STA entities of the first MLD may not be able to transmit frames directed to the TDLS peer STA. For example, one of the second wireless stations of the first MLD (e.g., STA310) may communicate with the TDLS peer STA via the direct link, while another second wireless station of the first MLD (e.g., STA312) may transmit frames to an access point without directing them to the TDLS peer STA. After a TDLS direct link is successfully established between a TDLS STA associated with a non-AP MLD and a TDLS peer STA at the other end of the TDLS direct link, the STA associated with the non-AP MLD may cease transmitting packets to the TDLS peer at the other end through its associated APs associated with AP MLDs that the non-AP MLD has performed a multilink setup on. In some cases, the first MLD may cease transmitting to the first wireless station via the second wireless stations, except for one of the second wireless stations associated with the direct link, based on the fact that the direct link is operational.

[0065] In some embodiments, the access point assisting in the relaying of TDLS discovery and setup frames may be an MLD. For example, in 402, the first MLD may exchange TDLS discovery and setup frames with an access point that is an MLD (e.g., AP MLD302).

[0066] Figure 5A shows an MLD (MLD_S) initiating a TDLS setup with a legacy STA (STA_3) and communicating with the legacy STA via a TDLS link, according to several aspects of this disclosure. As shown, STA1 of MLD_S may send a TDLS discovery request frame to AP1 of MLD_A using the TA field set in the STA_1 MAC address. AP1 relays the TDLS discovery request frame to STA_3 using the SA field set in the MLD_S MAC address (e.g., the MAC address of the MLD entity). From STA_3's perspective, STA_3 is unaware of the STA entities (STA_1 and STA_2) of MLD_S. Therefore, STA_3 sends a TDLS discovery response frame directly to STA_1 of MLD_S using the RA field set in the MLD_S MAC address. STA_1 of MLD_S may support receiving the frame using the RA field set in the MLD_S MAC address.

[0067] STA_1 of MLD_S may send a TDLS setup request frame to AP1 using the TA field set in the STA_1 MAC address, and AP1 may forward the TDLS setup request frame with the SA field set in the MLD_S MAC address to STA_3. STA_3 may send a TDLS setup response frame to AP1 using the destination address (DA) field set in the MLD_S MAC address, and AP1 may forward the TDLS setup response frame to STA_1 of MLD_S using the RA field set in the STA_1 MAC address. Upon completion of the TDLS process, STA_1 and STA_3 of MLD_S can communicate with each other over the TDLS link. STA_1 of MLD_S can directly send a data frame to STA_3 using the TA field set in the MLD_S MAC address, which allows STA_3 to receive the data frame and communicate with STA_1 because STA_3 does not know the STA_1 MAC address. STA_3 can directly send data frames to STA_1 of MLD_S using the RA field set in the MLD_S MAC address. As previously explained, STA_1 of MLD_S can support receiving frames using the RA field set in the MLD_S MAC address, which allows STA_1 of MLD_S to receive TDLS data frames from STA_3 because STA_3 does not know the STA_1 MAC address.

[0068] Figure 5B shows a legacy STA (STA_3) initiating a TDLS setup with an MLD (MLD_S) and communicating with the MLD via a TDLS link, according to several aspects of the present disclosure. As shown, the signaling exchange between STA_3 and MLD_S follows a signaling flow similar to that described herein with respect to Figure 5A. For example, a TDLS frame relayed from AP1 to STA_3 has an SA field set to the MLD_S MAC address, and a TDLS frame relayed from AP1 to STA_1 has an RA field set to the STA_1 MAC address. In this example, STA_1 of MLD_S directly sends a TDLS discovery response frame to STA_3 using the TA field set to the MLD_S MAC address, which allows STA_3 to communicate with STA_1 because STA_3 does not know the STA_1 MAC address. After the completion of the TDLS process, STA_1 and STA_3 may send data frames using the RA / TA fields set as described herein with respect to Figure 5A.

[0069] Figure 6 shows exemplary link identifier IE formats according to several aspects of the present disclosure. As shown, the link identifier IE format may have an element identifier (ID) field (identifying an element as a link identifier), a length field, a basic service set identifier (BSSID) field, a TDLS initiator STA address field, and a TDLS responder STA address field. The initiator STA may be an STA that sends a TDLS discovery / setup request frame, and the responder STA may be an STA that is required to respond to (respond to) a TDLS discovery / setup request frame. As described herein with respect to operation 400, the first MLD may set the TDLS initiator STA address field to the MLD MAC address for a TDLS request frame (e.g., a TDLS discovery / setup request frame), and the first MLD may set the TDLS responder STA address field to the MLD MAC address for a TDLS response frame (e.g., a TDLS discovery / setup response frame).

[0070] Aspects of this disclosure provide various techniques for handling direct link communication between MLDs. In some cases, an MLD may set up separate TDLS sessions on multiple links via multiple STA entities and communicate with each other through them. That is, separate TDLS sessions may be established for each pair of STA entities between TDLS MLO STA peers. In some aspects, an MLD may set up a single TDLS session on multiple links via multiple STA entities and communicate with each other through it. That is, a single TDLS session may be established between TDLS MLO STA peers, and each TDLS peer may communicate with each other via multiple STA entities. A single TDLS session may enable a common block acknowledgment session through which packets can be sent on any of the links between STA entities, which may be useful for duplicate detection. To set up one or more multilink TDLS sessions, a request for multilink support or multilink TDLS may be indicated by including a multilink element during TDLS discovery and / or setup exchange by providing the MLD's multilink capability and / or constraints (e.g., n-STR link / STA) for each link associated with the STA entity, by identifying the links associated with the STA entity via the Link Identifier (ID) field in the STA-unit profile subfield, or by including a multilink element in the Link Identifier element set to a wildcard value or a specific value. The MLD may coordinate transmissions on n-STR links that are part of the TDLS session.

[0071] Various techniques for handling direct link communication between MLOs, such as multiband aggregation and / or other features of MLOs, can enable direct link communication with desired latency and data throughput.

[0072] In some embodiments, the TDLS peer STA of the direct link in operation 400 may be part of the MLD. For example, a first wireless station may be associated with a second MLD for multilink communication with the first MLD, and the second MLD may further have two or more third wireless stations associated for multilink communication with the first MLD.

[0073] With respect to operation 400, a direct link may include multiple tunneled direct link sessions, each of which is associated with a separate link between one of the second wireless stations and one of the third wireless stations. In some embodiments, a direct link may include a single tunneled direct link session, where multiple links between the second and third wireless stations are associated with a single tunneled direct link session.

[0074] In some embodiments, the first MLD may indicate setting up a direct link with multilink capability (such as MLO / MLA capability). In some embodiments, the first MLD may transmit instructions to a legacy STA or another MLD for setting up a direct link with multilink capability. For example, the first MLD may transmit instructions to the first wireless station for setting up a direct link as a multilink direct link. Communication with the first wireless station over the direct link in 406 may involve the first MLD communicating with the first wireless station over one or more links of the multilink direct link based on the instructions. The instructions may include a BSSID field containing a value indicating that the direct link should be set up as a multilink direct link, or at least one of the multilink elements in a direct link discovery frame or a direct link setup frame. An exemplary multilink IE format is further described herein with reference to Figure 19. The value may be set to a link identifier associated with the link. A multilink element may include a first indication having a direct link identifier within a station profile sub-element associated with at least one of the second wireless stations, or a second indication of one or more capabilities of the second wireless station associated with a link between the second and third wireless stations. For example, the capability may indicate whether the wireless station is STR or n-STR. Capability information may be included as one or more fields within the STA-unit profile sub-element.

[0075] Figure 7A shows an MLD_S initiating a TDLS setup with an MLD-R and communicating with the MLD_R via a TDLS link, according to several embodiments of the present disclosure. As shown, the signaling exchange between the MLD_R and the MLD_S follows a signaling flow similar to that described herein with respect to Figure 5A. In some embodiments, the RA, TA, SA, and DA fields may be set to their respective MLD MAC addresses (e.g., the MLD_S MAC address or the MLD_R MAC address). For example, after establishing one or more TDLS links, the MLD_S may send a data frame directly to the MLD_R using the RA field set to the MLD_R MAC address and the TA field set to the MLD_S MAC address. In some embodiments, the TDLS discovery response frame may use the MLD MAC address. For example, the MLD_R may send a TDLS discovery response frame directly to the MLD_S using the RA field set to the MLD_S MAC address and the TA field set to the MLD_R MAC address.

[0076] Figure 7B shows an MLD_R initiating a TDLS setup with an MLD_S and communicating with the MLD_S via a TDLS link, according to some aspects of this disclosure. As shown, the signaling exchange between the MLD_R and the MLD_S follows a signaling flow similar to that described herein with respect to Figure 5A. In some aspects, the RA, TA, SA, and DA fields may be set to their respective MLD MAC addresses (e.g., the MLD_S MAC address or the MLD_R MAC address), for example, as described herein with respect to Figure 7A.

[0077] Some aspects of this disclosure provide techniques for enabling an AP to map the address of a non-AP MLD when relaying messages between a legacy STA and a non-AP MLD. For example, when an AP of an AP MLD relays a frame initiated by any STA of a non-AP MLD to a legacy non-AP STA on a particular link, the AP may set the SA field to the MAC address of the non-AP STA associated with the non-AP MLD on that link, instead of the MAC address of the non-AP MLD. The MAC address of the STA associated with the non-AP MLD may enable the legacy STA to communicate with the non-AP MLD directly over the link. An advantage of some aspects may be that the multilink TDLS exchange does not require any changes on the client side (e.g., a non-AP wireless station) so that the AP handles the mapping of the exact MAC address (e.g., the MAC address of the STA associated with the non-AP MLD) to the legacy STA.

[0078] Figure 8 shows exemplary wireless communication operation 800 according to several embodiments of the present disclosure. Operation 800 may be performed, for example, by an MLD (e.g., AP MLD 302). Operation 800 may be implemented as a software component that runs and operates on one or more processors (e.g., controller 230 in Figure 2). In some embodiments, the transmission and / or reception of signals by the MLD may be implemented via a bus interface of one or more processors (e.g., controller 230) that acquires and / or outputs signals. Furthermore, the transmission and reception of signals by the MLD may be enabled, for example, by one or more antennas and / or transceivers (e.g., antenna 224 or transceiver 222 in Figure 2).

[0079] Operation 800 can be initiated in 802, where a first MLD (e.g., AP MLD302 in Figure 3 or MLD_A in Figures 5A and 5B) receives one or more first frames from a second MLD (e.g., non-AP MLD304 in Figure 3 or MLD_S in Figures 5A and 5B) via a first access point (e.g., AP306) associated with the first MLD, relating to establishing a direct link between a second MLD and a first wireless station (e.g., STA3 in Figures 5A and 5B), the first wireless station does not support multilink operation. In 804, the first MLD may relay one or more first frames to the first wireless station via the first access point, the first frames including a source address (SA) field set to the address of the second wireless station associated with the second MLD. In 806, the first MLD may receive one or more second frames from the first wireless station via the access point relating to the establishment of a direct link. In 808, the first MLD may relay the second frame to the second MLD, where the second frame includes a destination address (DA) field set to the address of the second wireless station.

[0080] In some embodiments, frames involved in establishing a direct link may include TDLS discovery / setup frames. For example, a first MLD may receive a TDLS discovery request frame and / or a TDLS setup request / response frame as a first frame. A first MLD may receive a TDLS discovery request frame and / or a TDLS setup request / response frame as a third frame. In 804 and 808, a first MLD may relay the first frame and / or the second frame to a first wireless station or a second MLD. In other words, the relayed frame may be a copy or duplicate of the received frame with modifications to the MAC header fields, such as the RA field and / or SA field.

[0081] In some embodiments, the first MLD may map the address of the second MLD (e.g., the MLD MAC address of the second MLD) or the address of the STA entity of the second MLD to the address of the second wireless station, based on the fact that the first wireless station does not support MLO, for example, as described herein with respect to Figures 9A and 9B. For example, the first frame may include a TA field set to the address of the second wireless station. The first MLD may default to setting the SA field to the MLD MAC address when relaying frames between wireless stations, so that the first MLD can identify that the first wireless station does not support MLO while the second MLD does, and in such a case, the first MLD may relay the frame using the SA field set to the address of the second wireless station instead of the address of the second MLD, based on the mapping between the address of the second MLD and the address of the second wireless station.

[0082] In some embodiments, the address of the second wireless station may be the MAC address of the second wireless station. The MAC address of the second wireless station may be a different address from the address of the second MLD, such as the MLD MAC address of the second MLD, or the MAC address of the second wireless station may be the same as the MAC address of the second MLD.

[0083] Figure 9A shows an AP MLD (MLD_A) that relays TDLS messages from a non-AP MLD (MLD_S) to a legacy STA (STA_3) according to several aspects of the present disclosure. As shown, MLD_A may receive frames from STA entities of MLD_S (e.g., STA_1 and / or STA_2), and the TA field is set to the MAC address of each STA entity. MLD_A may relay these frames to STA_3, and instead of using the MLD MAC address as the SA field, MLD_A sends the relayed frames using the SA field set to the STA_1 MAC address. Using the SA field set to the STA_1 MAC address, STA_3 may be able to communicate directly with STA_1 without the MLD MAC address of MLD_S.

[0084] Figure 9B shows an AP MLD (MLD_A) that relays TDLS messages from a legacy STA (STA_3) to a non-AP MLD (MLD_S) according to several aspects of the present disclosure. As shown, MLD_A may receive frames from STA_3, and the DA field is set to the MAC address of one of the STA entities of MLD_S. MLD_A may relay these frames to STA_1 or STA_2 using the RA field, which is set to the MAC address of STA_1 or STA_2.

[0085] In some cases, a non-AP MLD may not be able to support simultaneous transmit and receive (SRT) through two or more STA entities. Such an STA in an MLD may be called a non-SRT (n-SRT) STA or link. That is, a non-AP MLD may not be able to transmit and receive simultaneously on two or more links in separate bands (e.g., 5 and 6 GHz bands). For example, a non-AP MLD304 may not be able to support simultaneous transmit via STA310 while STA312 is receiving data from AP MLD302, or vice versa (e.g., STA310 cannot receive while STA312 is transmitting). A non-AP MLD may not be able to simultaneously transmit (Tx / Tx) or simultaneously receive (Rx / Rx) via STA entities on separate bands (e.g., 5 and 6 GHz bands). If a non-AP MLD establishes a TDLS on one of the n-STR links, the non-AP MLD may encounter interference when an STR condition occurs on the n-STR link. For example, a non-AP MLD may encounter undesirable interference when the TDLS link is busy, and the AP of the AP MLD sends downlink data to the non-AP MLD on a link where the AP is an n-STR to the non-AP MLD's TDLS link.

[0086] Aspects of this disclosure provide various techniques for preventing or mitigating STR conditions between n-STR links in an MLD. In some aspects, the various techniques for preventing or mitigating STR conditions between n-STR links in an MLD may be specific to one or more links between one or more STA entities and one or more AP entities in a multilink context (i.e., MLO / MLA). A non-AP MLD may indicate a temporary cessation of communication between STA entities and AP entities on a TDLS link and a link that is n-STR. In some aspects, transmission on a TDLS link may be considered a factor causing deafness on other links in a non-AP MLD. Various deaf restoration rules may be applied to the reception of frames from a peer TDLS STA. In some cases, DL transmission may be enabled on a TDLS link and on any other link in a non-AP MLD to which the TDLS link is STR. The various techniques for preventing or mitigating STR conditions may enable communication in an MLD with desired latency and data throughput by preventing or mitigating STR conditions and simultaneously achieving desired signal quality.

[0087] In some embodiments, APs and non-AP MLDs may exchange Request to Transmit (RTS) and Ready to Transmit (CTS) frames before any DL transmission on a TDLS link and a link that is n-STR in order to prevent or mitigate a STR condition. For example, an AP MLD may have two or more APs operating on separate channels / bands (e.g., within the 5GHz and 6GHz bands). STAs of a non-AP MLD (e.g., STA1 and STA2) may form links with each of the APs associated with the AP MLD. When STA1 of the non-AP MLD forms a TDLS connection on a first link with another wireless station, the non-AP MLD may send a request to the AP MLD that the APs send an RTS on the second link, and only send a request to the AP MLD to send a DL frame if the AP MLD receives a CTS response from the non-AP MLD, when the AP MLD sends a frame to STA2 associated with the non-AP MLD on the second link.

[0088] Figure 10A shows an exemplary operation 1000A of wireless communication according to several aspects of the present disclosure. Operation 1000A may be performed, for example, by an MLD (e.g., a non-AP MLD304).

[0089] Operation 1000A can be initiated in 1002, where the MLD can communicate with a first wireless station (e.g., STA120g in Figure 1, STA_3 in Figures 5A and 5B, or MLD_R in Figures 7A and 7B) via a direct link between the first wireless station and a second wireless station (e.g., STA310), the second wireless station being associated with the MLD, and while a third wireless station (e.g., STA312) associated with the MLD is communicating, the direct link is inoperable for the MLD, or while the second wireless station is communicating over the direct link, another link associated with the third wireless station is inoperable. The inoperability of the direct link or other links may refer to the n-STR capability of the MLD. In 1004, the MLD may receive an RTS frame from an access point (e.g., AP110, or MLD_A in Figures 5A, 5B, 7A, or 7B) requesting it to send data to the third wireless station. In 1006, the MLD can take one or more actions in response to the RTS frame.

[0090] In some embodiments, the second wireless station may communicate on a separate band (e.g., the 5 GHz band) from the band on which the third wireless station communicates (e.g., the 6 GHz band). In some embodiments, a non-operational direct link may refer to a situation where there is no communication between TDLS peers on the direct link, or where the direct link is no longer set up between TDLS peers (e.g., the TDLS teardown process is complete).

[0091] In 1006, the MLD may either respond to or not respond to RTS frames from the access point. For example, taking one or more actions in 1006 may include the MLD sending a CTS frame to the access point indicating that the access point is free to send data to the MLD. Based on the transmission of the CTS frame, the MLD may receive data from the access point via a third wireless station. In some cases, the MLD may ignore RTS frames if the second wireless station is communicating with the first wireless station.

[0092] In some embodiments, RTS / CTS exchange may be specific to one or more links between one or more STA entities and one or more AP entities in a multilink context. For example, RTS / CTS exchange may be performed for a TDLS link and a link that is n-STR. With respect to operation 1000A, a third wireless station may be n-STR with a second wireless station.

[0093] In some embodiments, the MLD may transmit instructions to the access point to enable or disable RTS / CTS exchange for an n-STR link. For example, instructions to enable or disable RTS / CTS exchange for an n-STR link may be indicated via a station associated with the MLD and / or a wireless station in the MLD. In some embodiments, the state may include the MLD having restrictions on a wireless station (e.g., an n-STR link), the wireless station being temporarily unavailable to receive frames, or the MLD setting up a direct link with another wireless station. For example, the MLD may transmit a first instruction to the access point to enable the transmission of RTS frames before transmission from the access point to the MLD. The MLD may transmit a second instruction to the access point to disable the transmission of RTS frames before transmission from the access point to the MLD, for example, when a TDLS session is inactive. In some embodiments, the second instruction may be an update to a state associated with a wireless station. For example, the updated state may include whether the wireless station is able to receive frames, or whether the direct link is disabled or teared down. The first or second instruction may be transmitted via a control field in the MAC frame, such as an aggregate control field (A control) as defined in the 802.11ax standard. The control field may be a separate control field dedicated to enabling or disabling RTS / CTS exchange between the AP and MLD (e.g., RTS request or RTS enable). One or more A control fields may be carried within a (high efficiency) (HE) control variant of a high-throughput (HT) control field in the MAC header. In some embodiments, the MAC frame carrying the first or second instruction may include a public action frame. The first or second instruction may be transmitted via a control field in the MAC header of a frame, management frame, or control frame.

[0094] Figure 10B shows an exemplary wireless communication operation 1000B according to several aspects of the present disclosure. Operation 1000B may be performed, for example, by an MLD (e.g., a non-AP MLD 304).

[0095] Operation 1000B can be initiated in 1008, where the MLD establishes a direct link between a first wireless station and a second wireless station associated with the MLD, as described herein, for example, with respect to Figure 4. In 1010, the MLD can communicate with the first wireless station (which may be associated with another MLD) via the direct link, and the direct link is inoperable with respect to the MLD while a third wireless station associated with the MLD is communicating. In 1012, the MLD can transmit a state associated with the MLD or instructions for one or more wireless stations associated with the MLD to the AP MLD (or access point associated with the AP MLD) that performed the association with the MLD, as described herein, for example, with respect to operation 1000A. In some embodiments, for example, as described herein with respect to operation 1000A, if a first frame (e.g., an RTS frame) is received from the access point associated with the AP MLD in response to a status instruction, requesting that data be sent to a third wireless station associated with the MLD, and one or more actions are taken in response to the first frame, operation 1000B may continue.

[0096] The MLD may receive a first frame via a third wireless station on a channel on which the access point associated with the AP MLD is communicating with the third wireless station. The MLD may send a second frame (e.g., a CTS frame) to the access point associated with the AP MLD indicating that the access point is free to send data to the MLD. Based on the transmission of the second frame, the MLD may receive data from the access point associated with the AP MLD via the third wireless station. The MLD may send a status update to the access point or the AP MLD indicating that it is unable to transmit the first frame before transmission from the AP MLD to the third wireless station associated with the MLD.

[0097] Figure 11 shows exemplary wireless communication operation 1100 according to several aspects of the present disclosure. Operation 1100 may be performed, for example, by an access point (e.g., AP110 in Figure 1, AP306 related to AP MLD302, AP MLD302 in Figure 3). Operation 1100 may be complementary to operations 1000A and / or 1000B performed by non-AP MLDs.

[0098] Operation 1100 can be initiated in 1102, where the access point may receive a first instruction from the MLD (e.g., non-AP MLD 304) to enable the transmission of an RTS frame before transmission from the access point to the MLD. For example, the first instruction may include a state associated with the MLD and / or a wireless station in the MLD, such as a state indicating that the MLD has set up a direct link with another wireless station. In 1104, based on the first instruction, the access point may transmit an RTS frame to the MLD requesting one or more wireless stations associated with the MLD (e.g., STA 310, 312) to send data. In 1106, in response to the RTS frame, the access point may receive a CTS frame from the MLD indicating that the access point is free to transmit data to the MLD. In 1108, if the access point has received a CTS frame from the MLD, the access point may transmit data to one or more wireless stations.

[0099] In some embodiments, the access point may receive a second instruction from the MLD to disable the transmission of an RTS frame before transmission from the access point to the MLD. For example, the second instruction may include an update to a condition associated with the wireless station, such as the direct link in the MLD being disabled or teared down. The first or second instruction may be transmitted via the control field of the MAC frame, for example, as described herein with respect to operation 1000.

[0100] Figure 12 is a signaling flowchart illustrating exemplary signaling of RTS / CTS frames to prevent or mitigate an STR condition according to an aspect of the present disclosure. As shown, in 1202, a first wireless station 120a associated with a non-AP MLD 304 may send a first instruction to the access point 110 to enable the transmission of an RTS frame before transmission from the access point 110 to the first wireless station 120a. In 1204, a second wireless station 120b associated with a non-AP MLD 304 may communicate with a third wireless station 120c (which may be associated with a non-AP MLD or a legacy STA) via a direct link, such as a TDLS link. In 1206, the first wireless station 120a may receive an RTS frame from the access point 110. In 1208, the first wireless station 120a may send a CTS frame to the access point 110 if the direct link is inactive or inoperable. In 1210, the first wireless station 120a may receive DL data from access point 110 based on CTS frames. In some embodiments, the direct link may be busy, and the non-AP MLD304 may ignore RTS frames, and the second wireless station 120b may communicate with the third wireless station 120c via the direct link in 1212. In 1214, the first wireless station 120a may send a second instruction to access point 110 to disable the transmission of RTS frames before transmission from access point 110 to the first wireless station 120a.

[0101] In some embodiments, a non-AP MLD may indicate to the AP MLD that the non-AP MLD has entered power saving (PS) mode on the n-STR link when a TDLS session is active to prevent or mitigate an STR condition.

[0102] Figure 13A shows an exemplary operation 1300A of wireless communication according to several aspects of the present disclosure. Operation 1300A may be performed, for example, by an MLD (e.g., a non-AP MLD 304).

[0103] Operation 1300A can be initiated in 1302, where the MLD may transmit a first instruction to an access point (e.g., AP110, or MLD_A in Figures 5A, 5B, 7A, or 7B) indicating that a first wireless station associated with the MLD (e.g., STA310) is in a power-saving mode. In 1304, after transmitting the first instruction, the MLD may communicate with a second wireless station (e.g., STA120g in Figure 1, STA_3 in Figures 5A and 5B, or MLD_R in Figures 7A and 7B) via a direct link between the second and third wireless stations (e.g., STA312), the third wireless station being associated with the MLD, and the direct link being inoperable for the MLD while the first wireless station is communicating, or the first wireless station being inoperable while the direct link is operational.

[0104] In some embodiments, the MLS may enable communication with the access point again. For example, after terminating communication with the second wireless station, the MLD may send a second instruction to the access point indicating that the first wireless station is in active mode (e.g., outside of power-saving mode and capable of communication), and the MLD may, in some cases, communicate with the access point via the first wireless station after sending the second instruction.

[0105] In some embodiments, the power saving mode may be specific to one or more links between one or more STA entities and one or more AP entities in a multilink context. For example, in 1302, the power saving mode indication may be associated with a TDLS link and a link that is n-STR. With respect to operation 1300A, the first wireless station may be n-STR with the third wireless station.

[0106] Communication with the second wireless station via the third wireless station may occur when the first wireless station is not communicating. Communication with the access point via the first wireless station may occur when the third wireless station is not communicating.

[0107] Figure 13B shows an exemplary wireless communication operation 1300B according to several aspects of the present disclosure. Operation 1300B may be performed, for example, by an MLD (e.g., a non-AP MLD 304).

[0108] Operation 1300B can be initiated at 1306, where the MLD may transmit a first instruction associated with a first wireless station related to the MLD to an access point or AP MLD. At 1308, after transmitting the first instruction, the MLD may communicate with the second wireless station via a direct link between the second and third wireless stations, the third wireless station being related to the MLD, and the direct link is inoperable to the MLD while the first wireless station is communicating.

[0109] The first instruction may include, for example, an instruction that the first wireless station is in a power-saving mode, as described herein with respect to operation 1300A; an instruction to disable the first link to the first wireless station, as further described herein with respect to operation 1500; or an instruction to remove a second link in a dynamic link set up to the first wireless station, as further described herein with respect to operation 1600. If the first instruction indicates that the first wireless station is in a power-saving mode, the MLD may, for example, after the termination of communication with the second wireless station, transmit a second instruction to the access point or AP MLD indicating that the first wireless station is in an active mode. The first instruction may be transmitted, for example, via the control field of the MAC header of a frame, management frame, or control frame, as described herein with respect to operation 1000A.

[0110] Figure 14 is a signaling flowchart illustrating exemplary signaling for a power-saving mode to prevent or mitigate an STR condition according to an aspect of the present disclosure. As shown, in 1402, the first wireless station 120a may transmit a first instruction to the access point 110 indicating that the first wireless station 120a is in a power-saving mode. In 1404, the second wireless station 120b may communicate with a third wireless station 120c via a direct link (which may be related to a non-AP MLD or a legacy STA). In 1406, after the communication between the second wireless station 120b and the third wireless station 120c has ended, the first wireless station 120a may transmit a second instruction to the access point 110 indicating that the first wireless station is in an active mode. In 1408, after transmitting the second instruction, the first wireless station 120a may receive DL data from the access point 110.

[0111] In some embodiments, a non-AP MLD may disable DL aggregation (synchronous PPDU operation) on an n-STR link when a TDLS is established for one of the n-STRs to prevent or mitigate an STR condition.

[0112] Figure 15 shows an exemplary wireless communication operation 1500 according to several aspects of the present disclosure. Operation 1500 may be performed, for example, by an MLD (e.g., a non-AP MLD 304).

[0113] Operation 1500 can be initiated in 1502, where the MLD may send an instruction to an access point (e.g., AP110, or MLD_A in Figures 5A, 5B, 7A, or 7B) to disable the link to a first wireless station associated with the MLD (e.g., STA310). In 1504, after sending the instruction, the MLD may communicate with a second wireless station (e.g., STA120g in Figure 1, STA_3 in Figures 5A and 5B, or MLD_R in Figures 7A and 7B) via a direct link between the second and third wireless stations (e.g., STA312), the third wireless station being associated with the MLD, the direct link being disabled to the MLD while the first wireless station is communicating, or the first wireless station being disabled while the direct link is operational. Communication with the second wireless station via the third wireless station may occur when the first wireless station is not communicating.

[0114] In some embodiments, instructions may be transmitted via the control field of a MAC frame, for example, as described herein with respect to operation 1000A. The control field may be a separate control field dedicated to enabling or disabling the link in a multilink context between the AP and the MLD.

[0115] In some embodiments, non-AP MLDs may remove links in dynamic links that are TDLS links and n-STR to prevent or mitigate STR conditions.

[0116] Figure 16 shows exemplary wireless communication operation 1600 according to several aspects of the present disclosure. Operation 1600 may be performed, for example, by an MLD (e.g., a non-AP MLD 304).

[0117] Operation 1600 can be initiated in 1602, where the first MLD (e.g., non-AP MLD 304) may communicate with the second MLD (e.g., AP MLD 302) via a dynamic link including multiple links between the first access points (e.g., AP 306, 308) associated with the second MLD and the first wireless stations (e.g., STA 310, 312) associated with the first MLD. In 1604, the first MLD may transmit a first instruction to one or more of the first access points to remove a link in the dynamic link set between one or more of the first access points and one or more of the first wireless stations. In 1606, the first MLD may, after transmitting the first instruction, communicate with the second wireless station via a direct link between the second wireless station and the third wireless station associated with the first MLD, and the direct link is inoperable with respect to the first MLD while one or more of the first wireless stations are communicating.

[0118] In one embodiment, the first MLD may re-enable a link that has been dropped from the dynamic link set with an access point when the direct link becomes inoperable. For example, when the direct link is inoperable, the first MLD may send a second instruction to one or more of the first access points to add a link between one or more of the first wireless stations and one or more of the second wireless stations. After sending the second instruction, the first MLD may communicate with one or more of the first access points via one or more of the first wireless stations.

[0119] In some embodiments, the first MLD may communicate with the second MLD via an updated dynamic link set while the direct link is operational. For example, while the first MLD is communicating with the second wireless station via a third wireless station, it may communicate with a second access point associated with the second MLD via a fourth wireless station associated with the first MLD on another link in the dynamic link set. The first access point may include the second access point, and the first wireless station may include the fourth wireless station.

[0120] Communication with the second wireless station via the third wireless station may occur when the first wireless station is not communicating. Communication with one or more of the first access points via one or more of the first wireless stations may occur when the third wireless station is not communicating.

[0121] Figure 17 is a signaling flowchart illustrating exemplary signaling for disabling / removing a link to prevent a STR condition, according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. In this embodiment, a dynamic link set may be formed between a first wireless station 120a (e.g., STA1, STA2) and first and second access points 110a, 110b associated with AP MLD302. STA1 of the first wireless station 120a may be n-STR with the second wireless station 120b, and STA2 of the first wireless station 120a may be STR with the second wireless station 120b.

[0122] In 1702, the STA1 of the first wireless station 120a in the dynamic link set may transmit a first instruction to disable or remove the link between the first wireless station 120a and the first access point 110a. In 1704, the second wireless station 120b may communicate with the third wireless station 120c via the direct link. In some cases, in 1706, the STA2 of the first wireless station 120a may receive DL data from the second access point 110b associated with AP MLD302 in the dynamic link set while the TDLS link is operational. In some embodiments, in 1708, the second wireless station 120b may transmit a TDLS teardown frame to the third wireless station 120c to disable the direct link. In 1710, STA1 of the first wireless station 120a (within the dynamic link set) may transmit a first instruction to enable or add a link between STA1 of the first wireless station 120a and the first access point 110a after the direct link has become inoperable. In 1712, STA1 of the first wireless station 120a may receive DL data from the first access point 110a, and in 1714, STA2 of the first wireless station 120a may receive DL data from the second access point 110b.

[0123] In some cases, during the TDLS discovery and setup process, when an intermediate AP is associated with an AP MLD, discovery request frames (relayed via the AP MLD) may be received on the wrong link by the receiving non-AP MLD. For example, suppose a wireless station (e.g., a legacy STA or an STA associated with an MLD) sends a discovery request frame on the 5GHz band, and the AP MLD relays the discovery request frame to the non-AP MLD on the 2.4GHz or 6GHz band. Such a scenario is sometimes called a request / response crossover in the AP MLD. Similar to the crossover scenario, an initiator / responder non-AP MLD may send TDLS requests / responses on a different link than the desired link for direct link communication. Such a scenario is sometimes called a link mismatch scenario. For the non-AP MLD, it may be unclear which band is intended for the TDLS link between the wireless station and the non-AP MLD, and as a result, the setup of the TDLS link between the initiator STA and the non-AP MLD may fail.

[0124] Some aspects of this disclosure provide techniques for identifying / selecting one or more links between TDLS peer STAs during the TDLS discovery and setup process. An initiating MLD may indicate that the MLD supports TDLS on multiple links and may include a multilink IE in the discovery request frame to identify a specific link for a TDLS session. In some aspects, the presence or absence of a multilink IE in the discovery request frame may indicate that the initiator is an MLD or a legacy STA. That is, the absence of a multilink IE in the discovery request frame may indicate that the initiator STA is a legacy STA. If the receiving side is a legacy STA, the legacy STA may ignore the multilink IE and send a discovery response frame directly to the initiator on the same link on which the STA received the request.

[0125] If the TDLS initiator is a legacy STA, the legacy STA may identify the link for direct link communication within the discovery request frame. For example, the BSSID field in the link identifier IE may identify the link, or the link identifier IE may include a separate field that identifies the link for direct link communication. The MLD STA may send the discovery response frame directly to the initiator STA on the requested link.

[0126] The techniques described herein for identifying / selecting TDLS links may enable TDLS communication between MLDs and / or between MLDs and legacy STAs, for example, when a response / request crosses over a non-AP MLD in an AP MLD, or when a response / request is transmitted by an initiator / responder over a different link than the requested / desired link.

[0127] Figure 18 shows an exemplary operation 1800 of wireless communication according to several aspects of the present disclosure. Operation 1800 may be performed, for example, by a wireless station (e.g., STA120a or non-AP MLD304).

[0128] Operation 1800 can be initiated in 1802, where the first wireless station (e.g., STA_3 in Figure 5B) may send a request to the second wireless station (e.g., STA_1 in MLD_S in Figure 5B) via an access point (e.g., MLD_A in 5B) to discover a peer wireless station (such as the second wireless station) for direct link communication between the first wireless station and the second wireless station, the request indicating a link for communication between the first and second wireless stations. In 1804, the first wireless station may communicate directly with the second wireless station via the link indicated in the request.

[0129] In some embodiments, a second wireless station may respond to the request via a link indicated in the request. For example, a first wireless station may receive a response from a second wireless station responding to the request via a link indicated in the request. The response may include a TDLS discovery request frame.

[0130] In some embodiments, a request may include a TDLS discovery request frame. A request may indicate a link via a link identifier associated with the link. That is, a specific value that can represent a link as a link identifier may be associated with the link, and the request may include a link identifier. In some embodiments, a request may include a link identifier IE that indicates a link (for example, as shown in Figure 6). The BSSID field may include (or be set to) a value that indicates a link, and the value may be different from or the same as one of the BSSIDs in the wireless network. For example, the BSSID field may be set to the BSSID of the corresponding associated AP of an AP MLD operating on a link on which a TDLS direct link has been established. In some embodiments, the link identifier IE may include a separate field (separate from the field shown in Figure 6) that indicates / identifies a link. For example, the link identifier IE may include a link identifier field that provides a unique value associated with a link between TDLS peer STAs.

[0131] In some embodiments, the second wireless station may be associated with an MLD (e.g., MLD_S in Figure 5B). That is, the second wireless station may be an STA entity associated with an MLD. If the link instruction in the request relays the request on a different link than the requested link, the second wireless station may be able to set up a link directly on the requested link.

[0132] As discussed above, various methods for identifying / selecting TDLS links can be applied to MLD. The MLD initiator STA may include a multilink IE (for example, as shown in Figure 19) within the discovery request frame to identify the link requested for direct link communication.

[0133] In some embodiments, if the initiator and responder in the TDLS discovery / setup process are MLDs and the discovery request includes a multilink IE, the responder MLD may send a single discovery response frame. If the multilink IE in the request relays the request on a different link than the requested link, the responder MLD may be able to set up the link directly on the requested link. In some embodiments, the discovery response frame from the responder MLD may have an indication of the requested link. For example, the BSSID field in the link identifier element may identify the requested link, or a separate field in the link identifier element may identify the requested link.

[0134] For example, with respect to operation 400, the first MLD may receive from a first wireless station (which may be a legacy STA or an STA associated with an MLD) via an access point a request to set up a direct link (e.g., a request to set up may include a setup request frame) or a request to discover a peer wireless station (e.g., a request to discover may include a discovery request frame), the request may indicate a first link for communication between the first wireless station and a second wireless station. The request may indicate the first link via a link identifier associated with the first link. For example, the BSSID field in the link identifier element of the request may contain (or be set to) a value indicating the first link, where the value may be a link identifier. In some embodiments, a multilink element (e.g., shown in Figure 19) indicates one or more links containing the first link in the request, for example, a link ID field. The multilink element may indicate capability information associated with the first link. An example of capability information may be that the link is n-STR or STR. Capability information may be included as one or more fields within the profile sub-element of the STA unit.

[0135] In some embodiments, after receiving a discovery request / responder MLD, the initiator / responder MLD may send a TDLS setup request or discovery response frame on the requested link. For example, with respect to operation 400, the first MLD may send a response to the request to the first wireless station via the first link indicated in the request. Communication with the first wireless station may include the first MLD communicating with the first wireless station via the first link indicated in the request. In some embodiments, the response to the discovery / setup request may indicate the desired / requested link for direct link communication. The response may include an indication of the first link or a second link different from the first link. The BSSID field in the link identifier element of the request frame may identify the requested link or a different / separate link. For example, the BSSID field in the link identifier element of the response may contain (or be set to) a value indicating the first link or the second link. As an example, the BSSID field may be set to the MAC address of the AP on the channel or on the band associated with the requested link. In other words, a particular AP may be communicating on the same channel or bandwidth as the requested / desired link for direct link communication, and the MAC address of that particular AP may be used in the BSSID field within the link identifier element to represent the desired / desired link.

[0136] In some cases, the MLD may receive the request from the access point via a link different from the link indicated in the request. For example, receiving a request may involve receiving the request from the access point on a second link which may be different from or separate from the first link. For example, the second link may be on a different channel or bandwidth than the channel or bandwidth associated with the first link, or the second link may be associated with a different AP that receives the request from the initiator STA. In other words, the first link may be associated with a specific channel or bandwidth in the frequency domain. The initiator STA may send the request to the first AP on a first channel / bandwidth associated with the first link, and the second AP may relay the request on a second channel / bandwidth associated with the second link. In some embodiments, if the responder MLD is not operating on the requested link or receives the request on a link different from the requested link, the responder MLD does not have to respond to the discovery request frame. For example, the first MLD may ignore a request on the basis that the request is received on a second link, for example, a different link, a different channel, or a different bandwidth than the first link on which the request is being made.

[0137] In some embodiments, the initiator MLD may receive a setup response on a different link than the one requested, and various indications of the requested link may enable the initiator MLD to complete the link setup directly. For example, with respect to operation 400, the first MLD may receive a response (e.g., a setup response frame) from a first wireless station via an access point in response to a request to set up a direct link, the request indicating a first link for communication between the first wireless station and one or more second wireless stations, and the response being received via a second link which may be different from the first link. The indication of the first link may include a BSSID field in a link identifier element or a link ID in a multilink element. The first MLD may identify the first link in the response, and communication with the first wireless station may include the first MLD communicating with the first wireless station via the first link indicated in the response.

[0138] In some embodiments, an initiator / responder MLD may transmit setup requests / responses on a link different from the desired / requested link, and various indications of the requested link may enable a receiving peer MLD to complete the direct link setup. For example, with respect to operation 400, a first MLD may transmit a request (e.g., a setup request frame) or a response to a request (e.g., a setup response frame) to a first wireless station via an access point for setting up a direct link, the request or response indicating a first link for communication between the first wireless station and one or more second wireless stations, and the request or response may be transmitted via a second link. Indications in the response or request may enable a receiving peer MLD to identify the desired / requested link for direct link communication. The indication of the first link may include a BSSID field in a link identifier element or a link ID in a multilink element. Communication with the first wireless station may include the first MLD communicating with the first wireless station via the first link indicated in the response or request.

[0139] In some embodiments, an initiator non-AP MLD may send two or more discovery request frames using the BSSID field in the link identifier element, which is set to the BSSID of the AP on each link that has an operational link. For example, an initiator non-AP MLD may send two or more TDLS discovery request frames, each request frame may have a different BSSID value in the BSSID field link identifier element (for example, one of the BSSIDs corresponding to the AP of the AP MLD used to establish the link). Sending multiple discovery request frames to separate links may enable the initiating non-AP MLD to find at least one link common to the responding STA / MLD and establish a TDLS session with that common link. For example, with respect to operation 400, the first MLD may, via the access point, send a first request to one of the third wireless stations associated with the second MLD for the discovery of a peer wireless station for a direct link, the first request indicating a first link for communication between one of the third wireless stations and one of the second wireless stations associated with the first MLD. After sending the first request, the first MLD may wait for a certain duration and determine that the duration has elapsed without receiving a response to the first request. The first MLD may, via the access point, send a second request to another of the third wireless stations associated with the second MLD for the discovery of a peer wireless station for a direct link, the second request indicating a second link for communication between that other third wireless station and another of the second wireless stations associated with the first MLD. In 406, communication with the first wireless station may include the first MLD communicating with the first wireless station via the second link.

[0140] In some embodiments, a responder MLD may send multiple discovery responses in response to a request for a single link. For example, if a responder MLD is operating on the requested link, it may send a discovery response frame on that link and unsolicited discovery responses on other links that may or may not already be set up for multilink communication. Links that are already set up are sometimes called duplicate links. Suppose MLD1 and MLD2 have performed multilink (ML) setup for different sets of links, such that MLD1 and MLD2 perform ML setup for the 5 and 6 GHz bands, and MLD2 has the 2.4 GHz band for ML communication. In response to a discovery request frame on the 5 GHz band, MLD2 may send a discovery response frame on the 5 GHz band, as well as unsolicited responses on the 2.4 and 6 GHz bands. An initiator STA / MLD (e.g., MLD1) may select one or more links (including duplicate links) based on certain criteria and send a TDLS setup frame using the link selection. In the example above, since MLD1 is unable to operate on the 2.4 GHz band, MLD1 selects a link from the 5 and 6 GHz bands and does not receive that particular unsent discovery response frame. In some embodiments, the criterion for link selection may be based on the signal quality associated with the discovery response frame, which may include the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), signal-to-interference plus noise ratio (SINR), signal-to-noise plus distortion rate (SNDR), and / or received signal strength indicator (RSSI) of the discovery response frame. The initiator STA may select two or more overlapping links to perform multilink TDLS.

[0141] As an example of a responder MLD that sends multiple discovery responses, with respect to operation 400, a first MLD may directly transmit a first response in response to a request via a first link indicated in the request to a first wireless station associated with a second MLD. The first MLD may directly transmit a second response in response to a request via a second link to one or more third wireless stations associated with the second MLD. The first MLD may communicate with one or more third wireless stations via a second link indicated in the second response, and communication with the first wireless station may include the first MLD communicating with the first wireless station via a first link indicated in the first response.

[0142] As an example of an initiator MLD receiving multiple discovery responses, in operation 400, a first MLD may receive discovery response frames from a third wireless station over one or more of a plurality of links. The first MLD may select a link from among a plurality of links between the second and third wireless stations. The selection of the link may be based on the signal quality of the discovery response frame, which may include the SNR, SINR, SNDR, or RSSI of the discovery response frame. The first MLD may send a request to one or more of the third wireless stations to set up a link directly on the selected link. In this embodiment, the selected link may include one or more of a plurality of links.

[0143] With respect to operation 400, various embodiments described herein in which the first MLD receives or transmits a discovery request / response frame or a setup request / response frame may be performed in 402.

[0144] Figure 19 shows exemplary multilink information element formats according to several embodiments of the present disclosure. As shown, a multilink information element may include a link identifier (ID) field associated with a profile sub-element of an STA unit. In some embodiments, the sub-elements of an STA unit may be populated for all or some of the STAs associated with the MLD, and each sub-element of an STA unit may identify a link for communication (such as direct link communication) via a link identifier field which may be set to a unique value for a particular link. The link ID field may be used in a discovery request frame to indicate one or more requested links for direct link communication.

[0145] Figure 20 is a signaling flowchart illustrating exemplary signaling of discovery request crossover according to an aspect of the present disclosure. In 2002, STA3 of a second MLD304b (e.g., a non-AP MLD) may transmit a discovery request frame to AP110a of AP MLD302, the discovery request frame indicating a link for communication between the second wireless station 120b and STA3. For example, the discovery request frame may include a multilink element or a link identifier element that identifies a link for direct link communication as described herein. In 2004, AP110b may relay the discovery request frame to the first wireless station 120a of the first MLD304a. In 2006, the first MLD304a may identify the requested link in a discovery request frame for direct link communication with one of the third wireless stations 120c (e.g., STA3), and the second wireless station 120b of the first MLD304a may transmit a discovery response frame to STA3 of the third wireless station 120c via the requested link indicated in the discovery request. In 2008, the second wireless station 120b may communicate directly with STA3 via the requested link.

[0146] In some cases, in 2010, the first wireless station 120a may also send a discovery response frame to the STA4 of the third wireless station 120c to indicate that multiple links can be set up for direct links. The unrequested discovery response frame in 2010 may be sent over overlapping links set up for multilink communication. That is, multilink may already be set up between the first wireless station 120a and AP MLD302 when the first wireless station 120a sends the discovery response frame in 2010. In 2012, the first wireless station 120a may communicate directly with STA4 over the link indicated in the discovery response frame in 2010. In some cases, the communications in 2008 and 2012 may be simultaneous and / or aggregated with each other to facilitate the desired throughput and latency between MLD304a and 304b.

[0147] For the sake of understanding the example shown in Figure 20, the establishment of a direct link between MLDs 304a and 304b and the crossover of discovery request frames are described herein, but aspects of this disclosure may also apply to the establishment of a direct link between an MLD and a legacy station, and the handling of crossovers of other TDLS frames in the AP (e.g., discovery response frames, setup request frames, or setup response frames), or to link mismatches between MLD peers. The various aspects of handling crossovers of discovery request frames described herein may also apply to crossovers / mismatches of discovery response frames, setup request frames, or setup response frames. For example, each of these frames may include an indication of the requested / desired link for direct link communication if the frame is relayed to the MLD peer STA on a different link than the requested / desired link. The indication may include, for example, the BSSID field in the link identifier element or the link ID field in the multilink element.

[0148] Various aspects of this disclosure will be described in terms of how the MLD communicates with the STA / AP, transmits frames to the STA / AP, or receives frames from the STA / AP, but such aspects of this disclosure may include STA / AP entities associated with the MLD (e.g., STA310, 312) communicating with the STA / AP, transmitting frames to the STA / AP, or receiving frames from the STA / AP.

[0149] Figure 21 shows a communication device (e.g., non-AP MLD or STA) 2100 which may include various components (e.g., corresponding to means-plus-function components) configured to perform operations for the techniques disclosed herein, such as the operations shown in Figures 4, 10, 13, 15, 16, and 18. The communication device 2100 includes a processing system 2102 coupled to a transceiver 2108 (e.g., a transmitter and / or receiver). The transceiver 2108 is configured to transmit and receive signals for the communication device 2100, such as various signals as described herein, via an antenna 2110. The processing system 2102 may be configured to perform processing functions for the communication device 2100, including processing signals that will be received and / or transmitted by the communication device 2100.

[0150] The processing system 2102 includes a processor 2104 coupled to a computer-readable medium / memory 2112 via a bus 2106. In some embodiments, the computer-readable medium / memory 2112 is configured to store instructions (e.g., computer-executable code) that, when executed by the processor 2104, cause the processor 2104 to perform operations as shown in Figures 4, 10, 13, 15, 16, and 18, or other operations for performing various techniques described herein for handling TDLS in an MLO state. In some embodiments, the computer-readable medium / memory 2112 stores a code 2114 for outputting for transmission, a code 2116 for retrieving, and / or a code 2118 for communication. In some embodiments, the processing system 2102 has a circuit 2122 configured to implement the code stored in the computer-readable medium / memory 2112. In some embodiments, circuit 2122 is coupled to processor 2104 and / or computer-readable medium / memory 2112 via bus 2106. For example, circuit 2122 includes circuit 2124 for outputting for transmission, circuit 2126 for acquiring, and / or circuit 2128 for communication.

[0151] Figure 22 shows a communication device (e.g., AP MLD or AP) 2200 which may include various components (e.g., corresponding to means-plus-function components) configured to perform operations for the techniques disclosed herein, such as the operations shown in Figures 8 and 11. The communication device 2200 includes a processing system 2202 coupled to a transceiver 2208 (e.g., a transmitter and / or receiver). The transceiver 2208 is configured to transmit and receive signals for the communication device 2200, such as various signals as described herein, via an antenna 2210. The processing system 2202 may be configured to perform processing functions for the communication device 2200, including processing signals that will be received and / or transmitted by the communication device 2200.

[0152] The processing system 2202 includes a processor 2204 coupled to a computer-readable medium / memory 2212 via a bus 2206. In some embodiments, the computer-readable medium / memory 2212 is configured to store instructions (e.g., computer-executable code) that, when executed by the processor 2204, cause the processor 2204 to perform the operations shown in Figures 8 and 11, or other operations to perform the various techniques described herein for handling TDLS in an MLO state. In some embodiments, the computer-readable medium / memory 2212 stores a code 2214 for retrieval, a code 2216 for output for transmission, and / or a code 2218 for relaying. In some embodiments, the processing system 2202 has a circuit 2222 configured to implement the code stored in the computer-readable medium / memory 2212. In some embodiments, the circuit 2222 is coupled to the processor 2204 and / or the computer-readable medium / memory 2212 via a bus 2206. For example, circuit 2222 includes circuit 2224 for acquisition, circuit 2226 for output for transmission, and / or circuit 2228 for relaying.

[0153] Exemplary aspects In addition to the various embodiments described above, certain combinations of embodiments are also within the scope of this disclosure, some of which are described in detail below.

[0154] Embodiment 1: A method for wireless communication using a first multilink device (MLD), comprising the steps of: transmitting to a first wireless station a data frame, which includes a transmitter address field set to the address of the first MLD, which is one of a plurality of addresses associated with the first MLD, via a direct link between the first wireless station and one or more second wireless stations associated with the first MLD, wherein the second wireless station is associated with the first MLD for multilink operation; and communicating with the first wireless station via a direct link.

[0155] Embodiment 2: The method according to Embodiment 1, wherein the address of the first MLD includes a multilink logical medium access control (MAC) address, and the plurality of addresses include a multilink logical MAC address and MAC addresses associated with each of the second wireless stations.

[0156] Embodiment 3: The method according to Embodiment 1 or 2, further comprising the step of transmitting to a first wireless station a request to discover a peer wireless station for a direct link via an access point, wherein the request includes a link identifier element having a direct link initiator address set as the address of the MLD.

[0157] Embodiment 4: The method according to any one of Embodiments 1 to 3, further comprising the step of transmitting a request to a first wireless station via an access point for setting up a direct link, wherein the request includes a link identifier element having a direct link initiator address set as the address of the first MLD.

[0158] Embodiment 5: The method according to any one of Embodiments 1 to 4, further comprising the step of transmitting to a first wireless station a response in response to a request for discovery of a peer wireless station for a direct link, wherein the response includes a link identifier element having a direct link responder address set as the address of the MLD.

[0159] Embodiment 6: The method according to any one of Embodiments 1 to 5, further comprising the step of transmitting to a first wireless station a response in response to a request to set up a direct link via an access point, wherein the response includes a link identifier element having a direct link responder address set as the address of the MLD.

[0160] Embodiment 7: The method according to any one of Embodiments 1 to 6, further comprising the step of transmitting a discovery response to a first wireless station, which includes a transmitter address field set to the address of a first MLD.

[0161] Embodiment 8: The method according to Embodiment 7, further comprising the step of receiving a request from a first wireless station to discover a peer wireless station for a direct link via an access point, wherein the transmission of a discovery response is in response to the request.

[0162] Embodiment 9: The method according to any one of Embodiments 1 to 8, wherein communication with a first wireless station over a direct link includes the step of receiving a frame from the first wireless station over the direct link, the frame containing a receiver address field set to the address of a first MLD.

[0163] Embodiment 10: The method according to any one of embodiments 1 to 9, further comprising the step of transmitting a first frame to a wireless node via one of the second wireless stations in a direction away from the first wireless station, based on the fact that a direct link is operational, wherein communication with the first wireless station includes the step of transmitting a second frame to the first wireless station via another of the second wireless stations in a direction toward the first wireless station.

[0164] Embodiment 11: The method according to any one of Embodiments 1 to 10, further comprising the steps of generating an encryption key based at least in part on the address of a first MLD, and transmitting instructions for the encryption key to a first wireless station, wherein communication with the first wireless station includes the step of communicating an encrypted frame with the first wireless station based on the encryption key.

[0165] Embodiment 12: The method according to any one of Embodiments 1 to 11, wherein the direct link is a tunneled direct link.

[0166] Embodiment 13: The method according to any one of Embodiments 1 to 12, wherein the data frame includes a MAC header that includes a transmitter address field.

[0167] Embodiment 14: The method according to any one of embodiments 1 to 13, further comprising two or more third wireless stations, including a first wireless station, the first wireless station being associated with a second MLD for multilink communication with a first MLD, and the second MLD being associated with a first MLD for multilink communication.

[0168] Embodiment 15: The method according to Embodiment 14, wherein the direct link comprises a plurality of tunneled direct link sessions, each of which is associated with a separate link between one of the second wireless stations and one of the third wireless stations.

[0169] Embodiment 16: The method according to Embodiment 14, wherein the direct link comprises a single tunneled direct link session, and multiple links between a second wireless station and a third wireless station are associated with the single tunneled direct link session.

[0170] Embodiment 17: The method according to any one of Embodiments 1 to 16, further comprising the step of transmitting instructions to a first wireless station for setting up a direct link as a multilink direct link, wherein communication with the first wireless station over the direct link includes the step of communicating with the first wireless station over one or more links of the multilink direct link based on the instructions.

[0171] Embodiment 18: The method of Embodiment 17, wherein the instruction includes a Basic Service Set Identifier (BSSID) field containing a value indicating that a direct link is to be set up as a multilink direct link, or at least one of the multilink elements in a direct link discovery frame or a direct link setup frame.

[0172] Embodiment 19: The method according to Embodiment 18, wherein the value includes a link identifier associated with one or more links.

[0173] Embodiment 20: The method of Embodiment 18, wherein the multilink element includes a first designation having a direct link identifier in a station profile sub-element associated with at least one of the second wireless stations, or a second designation of one or more capabilities of the second wireless station associated with a link between the second wireless station and the third wireless station.

[0174] Embodiment 21: The method according to any one of Embodiments 1 to 20, further comprising the step of receiving from a first wireless station a request to set up a direct link or a request to discover a peer wireless station for a direct link via an access point, wherein the request indicates a first link for communication between the first wireless station and one or more second wireless stations.

[0175] Embodiment 22: The method according to Embodiment 21, wherein the request indicates the first link via a link identifier associated with the first link.

[0176] Embodiment 23: The method according to Embodiment 21 or 22, wherein the Basic Service Set Identifier (BSSID) field in the Link Identifier element of the request includes a value indicating a first link.

[0177] Embodiment 24: The method according to Embodiment 21 or 22, wherein the multilink element indicates a first link in the request.

[0178] Embodiment 25: The method of Embodiment 24, wherein the multilink element further indicates capability information associated with the first link.

[0179] Embodiment 26: The method of Embodiment 21, further comprising the step of transmitting a response in response to a request to a first wireless station via a first link indicated in the request, wherein communication with the first wireless station comprises the step of communicating with the first wireless station via a first link indicated in the request.

[0180] Embodiment 27: The method of Embodiment 26, wherein the response includes instructions for a first link.

[0181] Embodiment 28: The method of Embodiment 27, wherein the BSSID field in the link identifier element of the response includes a value indicating a first link.

[0182] Embodiment 29: The method according to any one of Embodiments 21 to 28, wherein the reception of a request includes the step of receiving a request from an access point on a second link.

[0183] Embodiment 30: The method according to Embodiment 29, further comprising the step of ignoring a request based on the first link being inoperable and on the request being received on a second link.

[0184] Embodiment 31: The method according to any one of Embodiments 1 to 30, further comprising the step of receiving a response from a first wireless station in response to a request to set up a direct link via an access point, wherein the request indicates a first link for communication between the first wireless station and one or more second wireless stations, the response is received via a second link, and the communication with the first wireless station is a communication with the first wireless station via the first link indicated in the response.

[0185] Embodiment 32: The method according to any one of embodiments 1 to 31, further comprising the step of transmitting to a first wireless station a request or response to a request via an access point for setting up a direct link, wherein the request or response indicates a first link for communication between the first wireless station and one or more second wireless stations, the request or response is transmitted via a second link, and communication with the first wireless station is communicated with the first wireless station via the first link indicated in the response or request.

[0186] Embodiment 33: The method according to Embodiment 21, further comprising the steps of: transmitting a first response in response to a request via a first link indicated in the request to a first wireless station associated with a second MLD; transmitting a second response in response to a request via a second link to one or more third wireless stations associated with a second MLD; and communicating with one or more third wireless stations via a second link, wherein communication with the first wireless station includes the step of communicating with the first wireless station via a first link indicated in the request.

[0187] Embodiment 34: The method according to Embodiment 14, further comprising the steps of selecting at least one link from among a plurality of links between a second wireless station associated with a first MLD and a third wireless station associated with a second MLD, and transmitting a request to one or more of the third wireless stations associated with the second MLD to set up a link directly on the selected at least one link.

[0188] Embodiment 35: The method of Embodiment 34, further comprising the step of receiving a discovery response frame from a third wireless station associated with a second MLD via one or more of a plurality of links, wherein the selection of at least one link is based on the signal quality associated with the discovery response frame.

[0189] Embodiment 36: The method according to Embodiment 34 or 35, wherein at least one selected link includes two or more of a plurality of links.

[0190] Embodiment 37: The method of Embodiment 14, further comprising the steps of: transmitting a first request via an access point to one of the third wireless stations associated with a second MLD for the discovery of a peer wireless station for a direct link, wherein the first request indicates a first link for communication between one of the third wireless stations and one of the second wireless stations associated with the first MLD; determining that a time has elapsed without receiving a response to the first request; and transmitting, via an access point, based on the determination, a second request via an access point to another of the third wireless stations associated with the second MLD for the discovery of a peer wireless station for a direct link, wherein the second request indicates a second link for communication between that other third wireless station and another of the second wireless stations associated with the first MLD.

[0191] Embodiment 38: A method for wireless communication using a multilink device (MLD), comprising the steps of: communicating with a first wireless station via a direct link between a first wireless station and a second wireless station, wherein the second wireless station is associated with the MLD and the direct link is inoperable with respect to the MLD while a third wireless station associated with the MLD is communicating; receiving a transmit request (RTS) frame from an access point requesting the third wireless station associated with the MLD to send data; and taking one or more actions in response to the RTS frame.

[0192] Embodiment 39: The method of Embodiment 38, wherein the step of taking one or more actions includes sending a Transmittable (CTS) frame to the access point indicating that the access point is free to send data to the MLD, and receiving data from the access point via a third wireless station based on the transmission of the CTS frame.

[0193] Embodiment 40: The method according to Embodiment 38, wherein the step of taking one or more actions includes the step of ignoring an RTS frame if a second wireless station is communicating with a first wireless station.

[0194] Embodiment 41: The method according to Embodiment 39 or 40, further comprising the step of sending a first instruction to the access point to enable the transmission of RTS frames before transmission from the access point to the MLD.

[0195] Embodiment 42: The method according to any one of embodiments 38 to 41, further comprising the step of sending a second instruction to the access point to disable the transmission of RTS frames before transmission from the access point to the MLD.

[0196] Embodiment 43: The method according to Embodiment 41 or 42, wherein the first or second instruction is transmitted via the control field of the MAC frame.

[0197] Embodiment 44: The method according to Embodiment 43, wherein the MAC frame includes a public action frame.

[0198] Embodiment 45: A method for wireless communication by an access point, comprising: receiving a first instruction from the MLD to enable the transmission of a request to transmit (RTS) frame before transmission from the access point to the MLD; transmitting an RTS frame to the MLD based on the first instruction, requesting one or more wireless stations associated with the MLD to transmit data; and transmitting data to one or more wireless stations if the access point receives a transmittable (CTS) frame from the MLD.

[0199] Embodiment 46: The method of Embodiment 45, further comprising the step of receiving a second instruction from the MLD to disable the transmission of RTS frames before transmission from the access point to the MLD.

[0200] Embodiment 47: The method according to Embodiment 45 or 46, wherein the first or second instruction is received via the control field of the MAC frame.

[0201] Apparatus 48: The method according to Apparatus 47, wherein the MAC frame includes a public action frame.

[0202] Embodiment 49: A method for wireless communication using a multilink device (MLD), comprising the steps of: transmitting a first instruction to an access point that a first wireless station associated with an MLD is in a power-saving mode; and, after transmitting the first instruction, communicating with a second wireless station via a direct link between a second wireless station and a third wireless station, wherein the third wireless station is associated with an MLD and the direct link is inoperable with respect to the MLD while the first wireless station is communicating.

[0203] Embodiment 50: The method according to Embodiment 49, further comprising the step of transmitting a second instruction to the access point that the first wireless station is in active mode after the termination of communication with the second wireless station.

[0204] Embodiment 51: The method of Embodiment 50, further comprising the step of communicating with an access point via a first wireless station after transmitting a second instruction.

[0205] Embodiment 52: The method according to any one of Embodiments 49 to 51, wherein communication with a second wireless station via a third wireless station occurs when the first wireless station is not communicating, or communication with an access point via the first wireless station occurs when the third wireless station is not communicating.

[0206] Embodiment 53: A method for wireless communication using a multilink device (MLD), comprising the steps of: transmitting an instruction to an access point to disable a link to a first wireless station associated with an MLD; and, after transmitting the instruction, communicating with a second wireless station via a direct link between the second and third wireless stations, wherein the third wireless station is associated with an MLD and the direct link is disabled to the MLD while the first wireless station is communicating.

[0207] Embodiment 54: The method according to Embodiment 53, wherein communication with the second wireless station via the third wireless station occurs when the first wireless station is not communicating.

[0208] Embodiment 55: The method according to Embodiment 53 or 54, wherein the instruction is transmitted via the control field of a media access control (MAC) frame.

[0209] Apparatus 56: The method of Apparatus 55, wherein the MAC frame includes a public action frame.

[0210] Embodiment 57: A method for wireless communication using a first multilink device (MLD), comprising the steps of: communicating with a second MLD via a dynamic link set including a plurality of links between a first access point associated with the second MLD and a first wireless station associated with the first MLD; transmitting a first instruction to one or more of the first access points to one or more of the first access points to one or more of the first wireless stations to one or more of the first wireless stations to remove a link in the dynamic link set between one or more of the first access points and one or more of the first wireless stations; and, after transmitting the first instruction, communicating with the second wireless station via a direct link between the second wireless station and a third wireless station associated with the first MLD, wherein the direct link is inoperable with respect to the first MLD while one or more of the first wireless stations are communicating.

[0211] Embodiment 58: The method according to Embodiment 57, further comprising the step of sending a second instruction to one or more of the first access points to add a link between one or more of the first wireless stations and one or more of the second wireless stations when the direct link is inoperable.

[0212] Embodiment 59: The method of Embodiment 58, further comprising the steps of communicating with one or more first access points via one or more first wireless stations after transmitting a second instruction, and communicating with a second access point associated with the second MLD via a fourth wireless station associated with the first MLD on another link in the dynamic link set while communicating with the second wireless station, wherein the first access point includes the second access point and the first wireless station includes the fourth wireless station.

[0213] Embodiment 60: The method according to any one of Embodiments 57 to 59, wherein communication with a second wireless station via a third wireless station occurs when the first wireless station is not communicating, or communication with one or more of the first access points via one or more of the first wireless stations occurs when the third wireless station is not communicating.

[0214] Embodiment 61: A method for wireless communication using a first multilink device (MLD), comprising the steps of: receiving one or more first frames from a second MLD via a first access point associated with the first MLD, relating to establishing a direct link between a second MLD and a first wireless station, wherein the first wireless station does not support multilink operation; and relaying one or more first frames to the first wireless station via the first access point, wherein one or more first frames include a source address field set to the address of the second wireless station associated with the second MLD.

[0215] Embodiment 62: The method according to Embodiment 61, further comprising the step of mapping the address of a second MLD to the address of a second wireless station on the basis that the first wireless station does not support multilink operation, wherein the transmission of one or more first frames is based on the mapping between the address of the second MLD and the address of the second wireless station.

[0216] Embodiment 63: The method of Embodiment 62, further comprising the steps of receiving one or more second frames relating to the establishment of a direct link from a first wireless station via an access point, and relaying one or more second frames to a second MLD, wherein one or more second frames include a destination address field set to the address of the second wireless station.

[0217] Embodiment 64: The method of Embodiment 63, further comprising: receiving one or more third frames from a third wireless station associated with a second MLD via a second access point associated with a first MLD, wherein one or more first frames include a transmitter address field set to the address of the third wireless station; and relaying one or more third frames to the first wireless station via the first access point, wherein one or more third frames include a source address field set to the address of the second wireless station, wherein the reception of one or more first frames includes receiving one or more first frames from a second wireless station associated with a second MLD.

[0218] Embodiment 65: A method of wireless communication by a first wireless station, comprising the steps of: transmitting a request to a second wireless station via an access point for the discovery of a second wireless station for direct link communication between the first wireless station and the second wireless station, wherein the request indicates a link for communication between the first wireless station and the second wireless station; and communicating directly with the second wireless station via the link indicated in the request.

[0219] Embodiment 66: The method of Embodiment 65, further comprising the step of receiving a response from a second wireless station in response to a request via a link indicated in the request.

[0220] Embodiment 67: The method according to Embodiment 65 or 66, wherein the request includes a discovered request frame.

[0221] Embodiment 68: The method according to any one of embodiments 65 to 67, wherein a second wireless station is associated with a multilink device.

[0222] Embodiment 69: The method according to embodiments 65 to 68, wherein the request indicates a link via a link identifier associated with the link.

[0223] Embodiment 70: The method according to any one of Embodiments 65 to 69, wherein the Basic Service Set Identifier (BSSID) field in the Link Identifier element of the request contains a value indicating a link.

[0224] Embodiment 71: A first multilink device (MLD) that transmits to a first wireless station a data frame, which includes a transmitter address field set to the address of the first MLD, which is one of a plurality of addresses associated with the first MLD, via a direct link between the first wireless station and one or more second wireless stations associated with the first MLD, wherein the second wireless station includes a transceiver configured to transmit and communicate with the first wireless station via a direct link, the second wireless station being associated with the first MLD for multilink operation.

[0225] Embodiment 72: A multilink device (MLD) comprising a transceiver configured to communicate with a first wireless station via a direct link between a first wireless station and a second wireless station, wherein the second wireless station is associated with the MLD and the direct link is inoperable with respect to the MLD while a third wireless station associated with the MLD is communicating; to receive a Transmit Request (RTS) frame from an access point requesting data to be sent to the third wireless station associated with the MLD; and to take one or more actions in response to the RTS frame.

[0226] Embodiment 73: A multilink device (MLD) comprising a transceiver configured to transmit a first instruction to an access point that a first wireless station associated with the MLD is in a power-saving mode, and to communicate with a second wireless station via a direct link between a second wireless station and a third wireless station after the transmission of the first instruction, wherein the third wireless station is associated with the MLD and the direct link is inoperable to the MLD while the first wireless station is communicating.

[0227] Embodiment 74: A multilink device (MLD) comprising a transceiver configured to transmit an instruction to an access point to disable a link to a first wireless station associated with the MLD, and to communicate with the second wireless station via a direct link between the second and third wireless stations after the transmission of the instruction, wherein the third wireless station is associated with the MLD and the direct link is disabled to the MLD while the first wireless station is communicating.

[0228] Embodiment 75: A first multilink device (MLD) comprising a transceiver configured to communicate with the second MLD via a dynamic link set including a plurality of links between a first access point associated with the second MLD and a first wireless station associated with the first MLD; to transmit a first instruction to one or more of the first access points to remove a link in the dynamic link set between one or more of the first access points and one or more of the first wireless stations; and, after transmitting the first instruction, to communicate with the second wireless station via a direct link between the second wireless station and a third wireless station associated with the first MLD, wherein the direct link is inoperable to the first MLD while one or more of the first wireless stations are communicating.

[0229] Embodiment 76: A first multilink device (MLD) comprising: a receiver configured to receive one or more first frames from a second MLD relating to establishing a direct link between a second MLD and a first wireless station via a first access point associated with the first MLD, wherein the first wireless station does not support multilink operation; and a processing system configured to relay one or more first frames to the first wireless station via the first access point, wherein one or more first frames include a source address field set to the address of a second wireless station associated with the second MLD.

[0230] Embodiment 77: A first wireless station comprising a transceiver configured to transmit to a second wireless station a request via an access point for discovering the second wireless station for direct link communication between the first wireless station and the second wireless station, wherein the request indicates a link for communication between the first wireless station and the second wireless station, and to communicate directly with the second wireless station via the link indicated in the request.

[0231] Embodiment 78: A first multilink device (MLD) comprising means for transmitting to a first wireless station a data frame including a transmitter address field set to the address of the first MLD, which is one of a plurality of addresses associated with the first MLD, via a direct link between the first wireless station and one or more second wireless stations associated with the first MLD, wherein the second wireless station is associated with the first MLD for multilink operation, the means for transmitting and means for communicating with the first wireless station via a direct link.

[0232] Embodiment 79: A multilink device (MLD) comprising means for communicating with a first wireless station via a direct link between a first wireless station and a second wireless station, wherein the second wireless station is associated with the MLD and the direct link is inoperable with respect to the MLD while a third wireless station associated with the MLD is communicating; means for receiving a request to transmit (RTS) frame from an access point requesting the third wireless station associated with the MLD to send data; and means for taking one or more actions in response to the RTS frame.

[0233] Embodiment 80: A multilink device (MLD) comprising means for transmitting a first instruction to an access point that a first wireless station associated with the MLD is in a power-saving mode, and means for communicating with a second wireless station via a direct link between the second and third wireless stations after the transmission of the first instruction, wherein the direct link is inoperable with respect to the MLD while the third wireless station is associated with the MLD and the first wireless station is communicating.

[0234] Embodiment 81: A multilink device (MLD) comprising: means for transmitting an instruction to an access point to disable a link to a first wireless station associated with the MLD; and means for communicating with a second wireless station via a direct link between the second and third wireless stations after the transmission of the instruction, wherein the direct link is inoperable with respect to the MLD while the third wireless station is associated with the MLD and the first wireless station is communicating.

[0235] Embodiment 82: A first multilink device (MLD) comprising: means for communicating with the second MLD via a dynamic link set including a plurality of links between a first access point associated with the second MLD and a first wireless station associated with the first MLD; means for transmitting a first instruction to one or more of the first access points to one or more of the first access points to one or more of the first wireless stations to one or more of the first wireless stations to remove a link in the dynamic link set between one or more of the first access points and one or more of the first wireless stations; and means for communicating with the second wireless station via a direct link between the second wireless station and a third wireless station associated with the first MLD after the transmission of the first instruction, wherein the direct link is inoperable with respect to the first MLD while one or more of the first wireless stations are communicating.

[0236] Embodiment 83: A first multilink device (MLD) comprising: means for receiving one or more first frames from a second MLD relating to establishing a direct link between a second MLD and a first wireless station via a first access point associated with the first MLD, wherein the first wireless station does not support multilink operation; and means for relaying one or more first frames to the first wireless station via the first access point, wherein one or more first frames include a source address field set to the address of a second wireless station associated with the second MLD.

[0237] Embodiment 84: A first wireless station, wherein, via an access point, means for transmitting to a second wireless station a request for discovery of the second wireless station for direct link communication between the first wireless station and the second wireless station, the means for transmitting the request indicating a link for communication between the first wireless station and the second wireless station, and means for communicating directly with the second wireless station via the link indicated in the request.

[0238] Embodiment 85: Apparatus for wireless communication using a first multilink device (MLD), comprising an interface configured to output a data frame for transmission to the first wireless station via a direct link between the first wireless station and one or more second wireless stations associated with the first MLD, the second wireless station being associated with the first MLD, the second wireless station being associated with the first MLD for multilink operation, the second wireless station being an interface configured to output, the second wireless station being an associated with the first MLD for multilink operation, and a processing system configured to communicate with the first wireless station via a direct link.

[0239] Embodiment 86: Apparatus for wireless communication using a multilink device (MLD), comprising: a processing system configured to communicate with a first wireless station via a direct link between a first wireless station and a second wireless station, wherein the second wireless station is associated with an MLD and the direct link is inoperable with respect to the MLD while a third wireless station associated with the MLD is communicating; and an interface configured to receive a request to transmit (RTS) frame from an access point requesting the third wireless station associated with the MLD to send data, wherein the processing system is further configured to take one or more actions in response to the RTS frame.

[0240] Apparatus 87: Apparatus for wireless communication using a multilink device (MLD), comprising: an interface configured to output a first instruction that a first wireless station associated with the MLD is in a power-saving mode for transmission to an access point; and a processing system configured to communicate with the second wireless station via a direct link between the second and third wireless stations after the transmission of the first instruction, wherein the third wireless station is associated with the MLD and the direct link is inoperable with respect to the MLD while the first wireless station is communicating.

[0241] Apparatus 88: Apparatus for wireless communication using a multilink device (MLD), comprising: an interface configured to output an instruction to disable the link to a first wireless station associated with the MLD for transmission to an access point; and a processing system configured to communicate with the second wireless station via a direct link between the second and third wireless stations after the instruction has been sent, wherein the third wireless station is associated with the MLD and the direct link is disabled to the MLD while the first wireless station is communicating.

[0242] Embodiment 89: A first multilink device (MLD) comprising: a processing system configured to communicate with the second MLD via a dynamic link set including a plurality of links between a first access point associated with the second MLD and a first wireless station associated with the first MLD; and an interface configured to output a first instruction for transmission to one or more of the first access points to remove a link in the dynamic link set between one or more of the first access points and one or more of the first wireless stations, wherein the processing system is further configured to communicate with the second wireless station via a direct link between the second wireless station and a third wireless station associated with the first MLD after transmitting the first instruction, wherein the direct link is inoperable to the first MLD while one or more of the first wireless stations are communicating.

[0243] Embodiment 90: A first multilink device (MLD) comprising: an interface configured to acquire one or more first frames from the second MLD relating to establishing a direct link between a second MLD and a first wireless station via a first access point associated with the first MLD, wherein the first wireless station does not support multilink operation; and a processing system configured to relay one or more first frames to the first wireless station via the first access point, wherein one or more first frames include a source address field set to the address of the second wireless station associated with the second MLD.

[0244] Embodiment 91: A first wireless station comprising an interface configured to output a request for the discovery of a second wireless station for direct link communication between the first wireless station and the second wireless station for transmission to the second wireless station via an access point, wherein the request indicates a link for communication between the first wireless station and the second wireless station, and a processing system configured to communicate directly with the second wireless station via the link indicated in the request.

[0245] Embodiment 92: A computer-readable medium for wireless communication by a first multilink device (MLD), comprising: executable code for outputting a data frame including a transmitter address field set to the address of the first MLD, which is one of a plurality of addresses associated with the first MLD, for transmission to the first wireless station via a direct link between the first wireless station and one or more second wireless stations associated with the first MLD, wherein the second wireless station is associated with the first MLD for multilink operation; and executable code for communicating with the first wireless station via a direct link.

[0246] Embodiment 93: A computer-readable medium for wireless communication by a multilink device (MLD), comprising: a code executable for communicating with a first wireless station via a direct link between a first wireless station and a second wireless station, wherein the direct link is inoperable with respect to the MLD while the second wireless station is associated with the MLD and a third wireless station associated with the MLD is communicating; a code executable for obtaining a request to transmit (RTS) frame from an access point requesting data to the third wireless station associated with the MLD; and a code executable for taking one or more actions in response to the RTS frame.

[0247] Embodiment 94: A computer-readable medium for wireless communication by a multilink device (MLD), comprising: executable code for outputting a first instruction that a first wireless station associated with the MLD is in a power-saving mode for transmission to an access point; and executable code for communicating with the second wireless station via a direct link between the second and third wireless stations after the transmission of the first instruction, wherein the third wireless station is associated with the MLD and the direct link is inoperable with respect to the MLD while the first wireless station is communicating.

[0248] Embodiment 95: A computer-readable medium for wireless communication by a multilink device (MLD), comprising: executable code for outputting instructions to disable a link to a first wireless station associated with the MLD for transmission to an access point; and executable code for communicating with a second wireless station via a direct link between the second and third wireless stations after the instructions have been transmitted, wherein the direct link is inoperable with respect to the MLD while the third wireless station is associated with the MLD and the first wireless station is communicating.

[0249] Embodiment 96: A computer-readable medium for wireless communication by a first multilink device (MLD), comprising: code executable for communicating with a second MLD via a dynamic link set including a plurality of links between a first access point associated with a second MLD and a first wireless station associated with the first MLD; code executable for outputting a first instruction for transmission to one or more of the first access points to remove a link in the dynamic link set between one or more of the first access points and one or more of the first wireless stations; and code executable for communicating with a second wireless station via a direct link between the second wireless station and a third wireless station associated with the first MLD after transmission of the first instruction, wherein the direct link is inoperable with respect to the first MLD while one or more of the first wireless stations are communicating.

[0250] Embodiment 97: A computer-readable medium for wireless communication by a first multilink device (MLD), comprising: a code executable for obtaining one or more first frames from a second MLD relating to establishing a direct link between a second MLD and a first wireless station via a first access point associated with the first MLD, wherein the first wireless station does not support multilink operation; and a code executable for relaying one or more first frames to the first wireless station via the first access point, wherein one or more first frames include a source address field set to the address of a second wireless station associated with the second MLD.

[0251] Embodiment 98: A computer-readable medium for wireless communication by a first wireless station, comprising executable code for outputting a request for discovery of a second wireless station for direct link communication between the first wireless station and the second wireless station for transmission to the second wireless station via an access point, wherein the request comprises code indicating a link for communication between the first wireless station and the second wireless station, and executable code for direct communication with the second wireless station via the link indicated in the request.

[0252] Embodiment 99: A first multilink device (MLD) comprising a memory and a processor coupled to the memory, wherein the processor and the memory transmit to the first wireless station a data frame containing a transmitter address field set to the address of the first MLD, which is one of a plurality of addresses associated with the first MLD, via a direct link between the first wireless station and at least one of a plurality of second wireless stations associated with the first MLD, wherein the second wireless station is associated with the first MLD for multilink operation, and transmits and communicates with the first wireless station via the direct link.

[0253] Embodiment 100: The first MLD according to Embodiment 99, wherein the address of the first MLD includes a multilink logical medium access control (MAC) address, and a plurality of addresses include a multilink logical MAC address and MAC addresses associated with each of the second wireless stations.

[0254] Embodiment 101: The first MLD according to any one of Embodiments 99 or 100, further configured to transmit a request associated with a direct link to a first wireless station via an access point, wherein the request includes a link identifier element having a direct link initiator address set as the address of the first MLD.

[0255] Embodiment 102: The first MLD according to any one of Embodiments 99 to 101, further configured to transmit a response associated with a direct link to a first wireless station, wherein the response includes a link identifier element having a direct link responder address set as the address of the first MLD.

[0256] Embodiment 103: The first MLD according to any one of embodiments 99 to 102, further configured to transmit a response associated with a direct link to a first wireless station, the processor and memory comprising a transmitter address field set to the address of the first MLD.

[0257] Embodiment 104: The first MLD according to any one of embodiments 99 to 103, wherein the processor and memory are further configured to receive frames from a first wireless station via a direct link, the frames containing a receiver address field set to the address of the first MLD.

[0258] Embodiment 105: The first MLD according to any one of embodiments 99 to 104, further configured to stop transmission to the first wireless station via the second wireless station, except for at least one of the second wireless stations, based on the fact that the direct link is operational.

[0259] Embodiment 106: The first MLD according to any one of Embodiments 99 to 105, further configured to generate an encryption key based at least in part on the address of the first MLD, transmit instructions for the encryption key to a first wireless station, and communicate encrypted frames with the first wireless station based on the encryption key.

[0260] Aspect 107: The first MLD according to Aspect 106, wherein the processor and the memory are further configured to generate an encryption key further based on at least one of an address of an access point MLD or an address of an access point.

[0261] Aspect 108: The first MLD according to any one of Aspects 99 to 107, wherein the direct link is a tunneled direct link, and the data frame comprises a MAC header including a transmitter address field.

[0262] Aspect 109: The first MLD according to Aspect 108, wherein the first wireless station is associated with the second MLD for multilink communication with the first MLD, and the second MLD further comprises two or more third wireless stations including the first wireless station associated for multilink communication with the first MLD.

[0263] Aspect 110: The first MLD according to Aspect 109, wherein the direct link comprises a plurality of tunneled direct link sessions, and each of the plurality of tunneled direct link sessions is associated with a separate link between one of the second wireless stations and one of the third wireless stations.

[0264] Aspect 111: The first MLD according to Aspect 109, wherein the direct link comprises a single tunneled direct link session, and a plurality of links between the second wireless station and the third wireless station are associated with the single tunneled direct link session.

[0265] Aspect 112: The first multi-link device (MLD) according to any one of Aspects 99 to 111, wherein the processor and the memory are further configured to: transmit an instruction to a first wireless station to set up a direct link as a multi-link direct link, the instruction including one of: a basic service set identifier (BSSID) field including a value indicating that the direct link is to be set up as a multi-link direct link, or a multi-link element in a direct link discovery frame or a direct link setup frame; and communicate with the first wireless station via one or more links of the multi-link direct link based on the instruction.

[0266] Aspect 113: The first MLD according to Aspect 112, wherein the value includes a link identifier associated with one or more links.

[0267] Aspect 114: The first MLD according to any one of Aspects 112 or 113, further comprising two or more third wireless stations including the first wireless station, wherein the first wireless station is associated with a second MLD for multi-link communication with the first MLD, the second MLD is associated for multi-link communication with the first MLD, and the multi-link element includes: a first indication having a direct link identifier in a station profile subelement associated with at least one of the second wireless stations, or a second indication of one or more capabilities of the second wireless station associated with a link between the second wireless station and a third wireless station.

[0268] Aspect 115: The first MLD according to any one of Aspects 99 to 114, wherein the processor and the memory are further configured to receive, via an access point, a request associated with a direct link from the first wireless station, the request indicates a first link for communication between the first wireless station and at least one of the second wireless stations, the request indicates the link via a link identifier element having a basic service set identifier (BSSID) field including a value indicating the first link.

[0269] Embodiment 116: The first MLD according to any one of embodiments 99 to 115, further configured to transmit a plurality of requests associated with a direct link from a first wireless station, each request having a different value for the BSSID field in a link identifier element.

[0270] Embodiment 117: The first MLD according to Embodiment 115, wherein the multilink element indicates one or more links including the first link in the request.

[0271] Embodiment 118: The first MLD according to Embodiment 117, wherein the multilink element further indicates capability information associated with the first link.

[0272] Embodiment 119: The first MLD according to any one of Embodiments 115 to 118, further comprising two or more third wireless stations, including a first wireless station associated with a second MLD for multilink communication with the first MLD, the second MLD associated with a first wireless station for multilink communication with the first MLD, and further configured to transmit a first response directly to the first wireless station associated with the second MLD in response to a request via a first link indicated in the request, a second response directly to one or more of the third wireless stations associated with the second MLD in response to a request via a second link, communicate with one or more third wireless stations via a second link, and communicate with the first wireless station via a first link indicated in the request.

[0273] Embodiment 120: The first MLD according to any one of embodiments 99 to 119, further comprising two or more third wireless stations, including a first wireless station associated with a second MLD for multilink communication with the first MLD, and the second MLD associated with a first wireless station for multilink communication with the first MLD, and further configured to send a request to one or more of the third wireless stations associated with the second MLD for selecting at least one link from a plurality of links between the second wireless stations associated with the first MLD and the third wireless stations associated with the second MLD, and for setting up a direct link on at least one link.

[0274] Embodiment 121: The first MLD according to Embodiment 120, wherein the processor and memory receive discovery response frames from a third wireless station associated with a second MLD via one or more of a plurality of links, the selection of at least one link is further configured to perform reception based on the signal quality associated with the discovery response frame.

[0275] Embodiment 122: The first MLD according to either Embodiment 120 or 121, wherein at least one selected link includes two or more of a plurality of links.

[0276] Embodiment 123: A first wireless station is associated with a second MLD for multilink communication with a first MLD, and the second MLD further has two or more third wireless stations, including a first wireless station associated with a first MLD for multilink communication with a first MLD, wherein the processor and memory transmit a first request to one of the third wireless stations associated with the second MLD via an access point for discovering a peer wireless station for a direct link, wherein the first request is for communication between one of the third wireless stations and one of the second wireless stations associated with the first MLD. The first MLD according to embodiments 99 to 122, further configured to transmit a first link, determine that a time has elapsed without receiving a response to the first request, and transmit a second request to another of the third wireless stations associated with the second MLD via an access point for discovering a peer wireless station for a direct link, wherein the second request transmits a second link for communication between that other of the third wireless stations and another of the second wireless stations associated with the first MLD.

[0277] Embodiment 124: A method for wireless communication using a first multilink device (MLD), comprising the steps of transmitting to a first wireless station, via a direct link between the first wireless station and at least one of a plurality of second wireless stations associated with the first MLD, a data frame containing a transmitter address field set to the address of the first MLD, which is one of a plurality of addresses associated with the first MLD, wherein the second wireless station is associated with the first MLD for multilink operation, and communicating with the first wireless station via a direct link.

[0278] Embodiment 125: The method of Embodiment 124, wherein the address of the first MLD includes a multilink logical medium access control (MAC) address, and the plurality of addresses include a multilink logical MAC address and MAC addresses associated with each of the second wireless stations.

[0279] Embodiment 126: The method according to any one of Embodiments 124 or 125, further comprising the step of transmitting a request associated with a direct link to a first wireless station via an access point, wherein the request includes a link identifier element having a direct link initiator address set as the address of the first MLD.

[0280] Embodiment 127: The method according to any one of Embodiments 124 to 126, further comprising the step of transmitting a response associated with a direct link to a first wireless station, wherein the response includes a link identifier element having a direct link responder address set as the address of the first MLD.

[0281] Embodiment 128: The method according to any one of embodiments 124 to 127, further comprising the step of stopping transmission to the first wireless station through the second wireless station, except for at least one of the second wireless stations, based on the fact that a direct link is operational.

[0282] Embodiment 129: A multilink device (MLD) comprising a memory and a processor coupled to the memory, wherein the processor and the memory are configured to establish a direct link between a first wireless station and a second wireless station associated with the MLD, and to communicate with the first wireless station via the direct link, wherein the direct link is inoperable with respect to the MLD while a third wireless station associated with the MLD is communicating.

[0283] Embodiment 130: The MLD according to Embodiment 129, wherein the processor and memory are further configured to transmit a state associated with the MLD or instructions for one or more wireless stations associated with the MLD to the access point (AP) MLD that performed the association with the MLD.

[0284] Aspect 131: The MLD according to any one of Aspect 129 or 130, wherein the third wireless station is inoperable while the direct link communicates.

[0285] Aspect 132: The MLD according to any one of Aspects 129 to 131, wherein the processor and the memory are further configured to: receive, from an access point associated with an AP MLD, a first frame requesting to send data to a third wireless station associated with the MLD in response to an indication of a status, and take one or more actions in response to the first frame.

[0286] Aspect 133: The MLD according to any one of Aspects 129 to 132, wherein the processor and the memory are further configured to: transmit, to an access point associated with an AP MLD, a second frame indicating that the access point associated with the AP MLD is allowed to freely transmit data to the MLD, and receive data from the access point associated with the AP MLD via the third wireless station based on transmission of the second frame.

[0287] Aspect 134: The MLD according to any one of Aspect 132 or 133, wherein the processor and the memory are further configured to receive the first frame via the third wireless station on a channel on which an access point associated with an AP MLD communicates with the third wireless station, and transmit the second frame via the third wireless station on the channel.

[0288] Aspect 135: The MLD according to any one of Aspects 132 to 134, wherein the processor and the memory are further configured to ignore the first frame when the second wireless station is communicating with the first wireless station.

[0289] Aspect 136: The MLD according to any one of Aspects 132 to 135, wherein the status indicates that transmission of the first frame is enabled before transmission from the AP MLD to the third wireless station associated with the MLD.

[0290] Embodiment 137: The MLD according to any one of Embodiments 132 to 136, wherein the processor and memory are further configured to send an update to the access point or AP MLD indicating that transmission of the first frame is impossible before transmission from the AP MLD to a third wireless station associated with the MLD.

[0291] Embodiment 138: The MLD according to any one of embodiments 129 to 137, wherein the instruction is transmitted via the control field of the media access control (MAC) header of a frame, management frame, or control frame.

[0292] Embodiment 139: An access point comprising a memory and a processor coupled to the memory, wherein the processor and memory are further configured to receive from a multilink device (MLD) a state associated with the MLD or instructions for one or more wireless stations associated with the MLD, transmit a first frame to the MLD requesting that the MLD transmit data based on that state, and transmit data to the one or more wireless stations if the access point receives a second frame from the MLD granting permission to transmit data.

[0293] Embodiment 140: The access point according to Embodiment 139, wherein the MLD performs an association of the access point with an associated access point (AP) MLD, and the status indicates that it enables the transmission of a first frame before transmission from the AP MLD to one or more wireless stations associated with the MLD.

[0294] Embodiment 141: An access point according to any one of Embodiments 139 or 140, wherein the MLD performs association with an associated AP MLD, and the processor and memory are further configured to receive updates from the MLD to a state indicating that transmission of a first frame is impossible before transmission from the AP MLD to one or more wireless stations associated with the MLD.

[0295] Embodiment 142: The access point according to Embodiment 141, wherein the processor and memory are further configured to transmit a first frame to one or more wireless stations on a channel in which the access point associated with the AP MLD is communicating with one or more wireless stations, and to receive a second frame from one or more wireless stations on the channel.

[0296] Embodiment 143: An access point according to any one of Embodiments 139 to 142, wherein instructions are received via the control field of the Media Access Control (MAC) header of a frame, management frame, or control frame.

[0297] Embodiment 144: A multilink device (MLD) comprising a memory and a processor coupled to the memory, wherein the processor and memory are configured to transmit a first instruction associated with a first wireless station associated with the MLD to an access point or access point (AP)MLD, and, after transmitting the first instruction, to communicate with a second wireless station via a direct link between a second wireless station and a third wireless station, wherein the third wireless station is associated with the MLD and the direct link is inoperable with respect to the MLD while the first wireless station is communicating.

[0298] Embodiment 145: The MLD according to Embodiment 144, wherein the processor and memory are further configured to transmit a second instruction to the access point or AP MLD that the first wireless station is in active mode after the termination of communication with the second wireless station.

[0299] Embodiment 146: The MLD according to Embodiment 145, wherein the processor and memory are further configured to communicate with an access point via a first wireless station after the transmission of a second instruction.

[0300] Embodiment 147: The MLD according to any one of Embodiments 144 to 146, wherein communication with a second wireless station via a third wireless station occurs when the first wireless station is not communicating, or communication with an access point via the first wireless station occurs when the third wireless station is not communicating.

[0301] Embodiment 148: The MLD according to any one of embodiments 144 to 147, wherein the first instruction includes at least one of the following: an instruction that the first wireless station is in a power-saving mode; an instruction to disable a link to the first wireless station; or an instruction to remove a second link in a dynamic link set configured for the first wireless station.

[0302] Embodiment 149: The MLD according to any one of Embodiments 144 to 148, wherein the first instruction is transmitted via the control field of the media access control (MAC) header of a frame, management frame, or control frame.

[0303] Embodiment 150: A method for wireless communication using a multilink device (MLD), comprising the steps of: establishing a direct link between a first wireless station and a second wireless station associated with the MLD; and communicating with the first wireless station via the direct link, wherein the direct link is inoperable with respect to the MLD while a third wireless station associated with the MLD is communicating.

[0304] Embodiment 151: The method of Embodiment 150, further comprising the step of transmitting a state associated with an MLD or instructions for one or more wireless stations associated with an MLD to an access point (AP) MLD that performed the association with the MLD.

[0305] Embodiment 152: The method according to Embodiment 151, wherein the third wireless station is inoperable while the direct link is communicating.

[0306] Embodiment 153: The method according to any one of Embodiments 151 or 152, further comprising the steps of receiving a first frame from an access point associated with an AP MLD requesting that data be sent to a third wireless station associated with the MLD in response to a status instruction, and taking one or more actions in response to the first frame.

[0307] Embodiment 154: The method according to Embodiment 153, further comprising the steps of: transmitting a second frame to an access point associated with an MLD indicating that the access point is free to transmit data to the MLD; and receiving data from the access point associated with the MLD via a third wireless station based on the transmission of the second frame.

[0308] Embodiment 155: The method according to Embodiment 154, further comprising the steps of receiving a first frame via a third wireless station on a channel in which an access point associated with an AP MLD is communicating with the third wireless station, and transmitting a second frame via the third wireless station on the channel.

[0309] Embodiment 156: The method according to Embodiment 154 or 155, further comprising the step of the processor and memory ignoring a first frame when a second wireless station is communicating with a first wireless station.

[0310] Embodiment 157: The method according to any one of Embodiments 154 to 156, wherein the state indicates that it is possible to transmit a first frame before transmission from the AP MLD to a third wireless station associated with the MLD.

[0311] Embodiment 158: The method according to any one of embodiments 154 to 157, further comprising the step of sending an update to an access point or AP MLD indicating that transmission of a first frame is impossible before transmission from the AP MLD to a third wireless station associated with the MLD.

[0312] Embodiment 159: A device comprising a memory containing executable instructions and one or more processors configured to execute executable instructions and cause the device to perform a method according to any one of Embodiments 1 to 70, 124 to 128, or 150 to 158.

[0313] Embodiment 160: An apparatus comprising means for carrying out any one of the methods described in Embodiments 1 to 70, 124 to 128, or 150 to 158.

[0314] Embodiment 161: A computer-readable medium which, when executed by one or more processors of the device, causes the device to perform the method according to any one of Embodiments 1 to 70, 124 to 128, or 150 to 158.

[0315] Embodiment 162: A computer program product embodied on a computer-readable storage medium, comprising code for performing the method described in any one of Embodiments 1 to 70, 124 to 128, or 150 to 158.

[0316] The techniques described herein offer various advantages to direct link communication in multilink applications. For example, various techniques for handling TDLS in an MLO state may enable an MLD to set up a TDLS session with a legacy STA or another MLD, which may achieve desired latency and / or throughput between TDLS peer STAs.

[0317] The above description is provided to enable any person skilled in the art to practice the various embodiments described herein. Various modifications to these embodiments will be readily apparent to a person skilled in the art, and the general principles defined herein may apply to other embodiments. Accordingly, the claims are not intended to be limited to the embodiments shown herein, but should be given the widest possible scope that is not inconsistent with the claim language, and references to elements in the singular mean "one or more" and not "one unique" unless otherwise explicitly stated. Unless otherwise explicitly stated, the term "several" means one or more. All structural and functional equivalents of the elements of the various embodiments described throughout this disclosure, known to a person skilled in the art or to be known later, are expressly incorporated herein by reference and are encompassed by the claims. Furthermore, nothing disclosed herein is intended to be made public, whether such disclosure is expressly enumerated in the claims or not. No element of a claim should be construed under Section 112, paragraph 6 of the United States Patent Act unless that element is explicitly described using the phrase “means for” or, in the case of a method claim, unless that element is described using the phrase “steps for”

[0318] The various operations of the methods described above can be performed by any suitable means capable of performing the corresponding functions. These means may include, but are not limited to, various hardware and / or software components and / or modules, including circuits, application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs), or processors. Generally, where operations are shown in the diagrams, those operations may have corresponding relative means-plus-function components.

[0319] Means for receiving may include a transceiver, receiver or at least one antenna, and at least one receiving processor, as shown in Figure 2. Means for transmitting, sending, or outputting may include a transceiver, transmitter or at least one antenna, and at least one transmitting processor, as shown in Figure 2. Means for communicating, generating, taking one or more actions, selecting, deciding, ignoring, mapping, and relaying may include a processing system that includes one or more processors, such as the processors 260m, 270m, 288m, and / or 290m of the STA120m, and / or the processors 210, 220, 240, and / or 242 of the AP110, as shown in Figure 2.

[0320] In some cases, a device may have an interface (means for outputting) for outputting frames for transmission, rather than actually transmitting them. For example, a processor may output frames to a radio frequency (RF) front end for transmission via a bus interface. Similarly, a device may have an interface (means for obtaining) for acquiring frames received from another device, rather than actually receiving them. For example, a processor may acquire (or receive) frames from an RF front end for reception via a bus interface.

[0321] As used herein, the term “decision-making” encompasses a wide variety of actions. For example, “decision-making” may include calculating, computing, processing, deriving, investigating, looking up (e.g., looking up in a table, database, or other data structure), and confirming. It may also include receiving (e.g., receiving information), accessing (e.g., accessing data in memory), and resolving, selecting, choosing, and establishing.

[0322] The phrase “at least one of” the list of items used herein refers to any combination of those items, including a single mentor. For example, “at least one of a, b, or c” shall include combinations of a, b, c, ab, ac, bc, and abc, as well as multiples of one or more members (aa, aabb, aabbcc, bb, bbcc, and / or cc).

[0323] The various exemplary logic blocks, modules, and circuits described in connection with this disclosure may be implemented or run using general-purpose processors, digital signal processors (DSPs), application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs), field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) or other programmable logic devices (PLDs), discrete gate or transistor logic, discrete hardware components, or any combination thereof designed to perform the functions described herein. A general-purpose processor may be a microprocessor, but alternatively, the processor may be any commercially available processor, controller, microcontroller or state machine. The processor may also be implemented as a combination of computing devices, for example, a combination of a DSP and a microprocessor, multiple microprocessors, one or more microprocessors working with a DSP core, or any other such configuration.

[0324] The steps of the methods or algorithms described in this disclosure may be embodied directly in hardware, in software modules executed by a processor, or in a combination of the two. The software modules may reside in any form of storage medium known in the art. Some examples of storage mediums that may be used include random access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), flash memory, EPROM memory, EEPROM memory, registers, hard disks, removable disks, and CD-ROMs. A software module may comprise a single instruction or many instructions and may be distributed across several different code segments, between different programs, and across multiple storage media. The storage medium may be coupled to the processor so that the processor can read information from and write information to the storage medium. Alternatively, the storage medium may be integrated with the processor.

[0325] The methods disclosed herein include one or more steps or actions for achieving the described method. The method steps and / or actions may be interchanged with one another without departing from the scope of the claims. In other words, unless a specific order of steps or actions is specified, the order and / or use of any particular steps and / or actions may be modified without departing from the scope of the claims.

[0326] The functions described may be implemented in hardware, software, firmware, or any combination thereof. When implemented in hardware, an exemplary hardware configuration may include a processing system within a wireless node. The processing system may be implemented using a bus architecture. The bus may include any number of interconnecting buses and bridges, depending on the specific application of the processing system and the overall design constraints. The bus can link various circuits to each other, including processors, machine-readable media, and bus interfaces. The bus interface may be used, among other things, to connect a network adapter to the processing system via the bus. The network adapter may be used to implement the signal processing functions of the PHY layer. In the case of wireless station 120 (see Figure 1), a user interface (e.g., keypad, display, mouse, joystick, etc.) may also be connected to the bus. The bus may also link various other circuits, such as timing sources, peripherals, voltage regulators, and power management circuits, but these circuits are well known in the art and therefore will not be described further.

[0327] A processor may be responsible for managing the bus and general processing, including executing software stored on machine-readable media. A processor may be implemented using one or more general-purpose and / or dedicated processors. Examples include microprocessors, microcontrollers, DSP processors, and other circuits capable of executing software. Software should be broadly interpreted to mean instructions, data, or any combination thereof, whether called software, firmware, middleware, microcode, hardware description language, or by other names. Machine-readable media may include, for example, RAM (random access memory), flash memory, ROM (read-only memory), PROM (programmable read-only memory), EPROM (erasable programmable read-only memory), EEPROM (electrically erasable programmable read-only memory), registers, magnetic disks, optical disks, hard drives, or any other suitable storage media, or any combination thereof. Machine-readable media may be embodied in computer program products. Computer program products may include packaging materials.

[0328] In hardware implementations, machine-readable media may be part of a processing system separate from the processor. However, as will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art, machine-readable media or any part thereof may be outside the processing system. For example, machine-readable media may include computer products separate from transmission lines, data-modulated carriers, and / or wireless nodes, all of which may be accessed by the processor via a bus interface. Alternatively, or in addition, machine-readable media or any part thereof may be integrated into the processor, such as caches and / or general-purpose register files.

[0329] The processing system may be configured as a general-purpose processing system having one or more microprocessors providing processor functions, all connected together with other support circuits via an external bus architecture, and external memory providing at least a portion of a machine-readable medium. Alternatively, the processing system may be implemented using an ASIC (Application-Specific Integrated Circuit) having a processor, a bus interface, a user interface (in the case of an access terminal), support circuits, and at least a portion of a machine-readable medium integrated on a single chip, or using one or more FPGAs (Field-Programmable Gate Arrays), PLDs (Programmable Logic Devices), controllers, state machines, gate logic, discrete hardware components, or any other suitable circuits, or any combination of circuits capable of performing the various functions described throughout this disclosure. Those skilled in the art will recognize the best way to implement the functions described for the processing system, depending on the specific application and the overall design constraints imposed on the entire system.

[0330] A machine-readable medium may contain several software modules. These software modules, when executed by the processor, contain instructions that cause the processing system to perform various functions. Software modules may include transmit modules and receive modules. Each software module may reside in a single storage device or be distributed across multiple storage devices. For example, a software module may be loaded from a hard drive into RAM when a trigger event occurs. While a software module is executing, the processor may load some of the instructions into a cache to increase access speed. One or more cache lines may then be loaded into a general-purpose register file for execution by the processor. When we refer to the functions of a software module below, it will be understood that such functions are implemented by the processor when it executes instructions from that software module.

[0331] When implemented in software, the functionality may be stored on or transmitted via computer-readable media as one or more instructions or codes. Computer-readable media includes both computer storage media and communication media, including any media that facilitate the transfer of computer programs from one location to another. Storage media can be any available media that can be accessed by a computer. Such computer-readable media may include, but are not limited to, RAM, ROM, EEPROM, CD-ROM, or other optical disk storage, magnetic disk storage, or other magnetic storage devices, or any other media that can be used to carry or store desired program code in the form of instructions or data structures and that can be accessed by a computer. Furthermore, any connection is appropriately referred to as computer-readable media. For example, if software is transmitted from a website, server, or other remote source using coaxial cable, fiber optic cable, twisted pair, digital subscriber line (DSL), or wireless technologies such as infrared (IR), radio, and microwave, then coaxial cable, fiber optic cable, twisted pair, DSL, or wireless technologies such as infrared, radio, and microwave are included in the definition of media. The terms "disk" and "disc" as used herein include compact discs (CDs), laser discs, optical discs, digital multi-purpose discs (DVDs), floppy disks, and Blu-ray® discs, where a disc typically reproduces data magnetically, and a disc reproduces data optically using a laser. Therefore, in some embodiments, a computer-readable medium may include non-temporary computer-readable media (e.g., tangible media). In addition, in other embodiments, a computer-readable medium may include temporary computer-readable media (e.g., signals). Combinations of the above should also be included within the scope of computer-readable media.

[0332] Accordingly, some embodiments may include a computer program product for performing the operations presented herein. For example, such a computer program product may comprise a computer-readable medium on which instructions are stored (and / or encoded) that are executable by one or more processors to perform the operations described herein. In some embodiments, the computer program product may include packaging material.

[0333] Furthermore, it should be understood that modules and / or other suitable means for performing the methods and techniques described herein may be downloaded and / or otherwise obtained by wireless stations and / or access points where applicable. For example, such devices may be coupled to a server to facilitate the transfer of means for performing the methods described herein. Alternatively, the various methods described herein may be provided via storage means (e.g., physical storage media such as RAM, ROM, compact disks (CDs) or floppy disks) so that wireless stations and / or access points may obtain the various methods when coupling or providing the storage means to a device. Moreover, any other suitable techniques for providing the methods and techniques described herein to a device may be utilized.

[0334] It should be understood that the claims are not limited to the exact configurations and components exemplified above. Various modifications, changes, and variations may be made to the configuration, operation, and details of the methods and apparatus described above without departing from the claims. [Explanation of symbols]

[0335] 100 Wireless communication systems, systems, MIMO systems, MIMO / MLO systems 110 Access Points (APs) 110a First access point 110b Second access point 112 Link Manager 120 Wireless Stations 120a Wireless Station (STA), First Wireless Station 120b Second Wireless Station 120c Third Wireless Station 120g wireless station. STA 120m Wireless Station, STA 120x Wireless Station 122 Link Manager 130 System Controller 208 data sources 210 TX Data Processors 220 TX spatial processors 222 Transceiver (RCVR) 224 Antenna 224a~224ap antenna 228-channel estimator 230 Controllers 234 Scheduler 240 RX spatial processors 242 Rx data processors 244 Data Sync 252 Antenna 252ma~252mu antenna 252xa~252xu antenna 254 Transceiver (TMTR) 260 RX spatial processors 270 RX Data Processor 278-channel estimator 280 Controllers 286 data sources 288 TX data processors 290 TX spatial processors 302 AP MLD 304 Non-AP MLD 306 entities, STA entities 308 entities, STA entities 310 STA Entity 312 STA entities 314 links, primary links, aggregate links 316 links, second links, aggregate links 318 Interface 400 operations 800 operations 1000A operation 1000B operation 1100 operation 1300A operation 1300B operation 1500 operations 1600 operations 1800 operations 2100 Communication Devices 2102 Processing System 2104 Processor 2106 Bus 2108 Transceiver 2100 Communication Devices 2110 Antenna 2112 Computer-readable media / memory 2114 Code to output and send Code to obtain 2116 2118 Code for communication 2122 Circuit configured to implement code stored in a computer-readable medium / memory 2112, circuit 2124 Circuit for outputting for transmission Circuit for obtaining 2126 2128 Circuit for communication 2200 communication devices 2202 Processing System 2204 Processor 2206 Bus 2208 Transceiver 2210 Antenna 2212 Computer-readable media / memory Code to obtain 2214 2216 Code to output for transmission 2218 Code for relaying 2222 Circuit configured to implement code stored in computer-readable medium / memory 2212, circuit Circuit for obtaining 2224 2226 Circuit for outputting for transmission 2228 Circuit for relaying

Claims

1. A first multilink device (MLD), Memory and The memory includes one or more processors coupled to the memory, and the one or more processors and the memory are connected to the first MLD. Transmitting to the first wireless station a data frame containing a transmitter address field set to the address of the first MLD via a previously established direct link between the first wireless station and at least one second wireless station among a plurality of second wireless stations associated with the first MLD, wherein the direct link is between a non-access point (AP) station including the first wireless station and at least one second wireless station among the plurality of second wireless stations, and the address of the first MLD is different from the address of the at least one second wireless station among the plurality of second wireless stations. The transmission of the data frame is followed by receiving a frame from the first wireless station via the direct link, which includes the receiver address field set to the address of the first MLD. A first multilink device (MLD) configured to perform the following action.

2. The first MLD according to claim 1, wherein the one or more processors and the memory are further configured to cause the first MLD to transmit a request frame associated with the direct link to the first wireless station via an access point and before the direct link is established, the request frame includes a link identifier element having a direct link initiator address set as the address of the first MLD.

3. The first MLD according to claim 1, wherein the one or more processors and the memory are further configured to cause the first MLD to transmit a response associated with the direct link to the first wireless station before the direct link is established, the response comprising a link identifier element having a direct link responder address set as the address of the first MLD.

4. The first MLD according to claim 1, wherein the one or more processors and the memory are further configured to cause the first MLD to transmit to the first wireless station a response associated with the direct link, which includes the transmitter address field set in the address of the first MLD.

5. The one or more processors and the memory, based on the fact that the direct link is operational, via links other than the direct links mentioned above, and via the plurality of second wireless stations, excluding at least one of the plurality of second wireless stations. The first MLD according to claim 1, further configured to cause the first wireless station to stop transmitting.

6. The one or more processors and the memory are connected to the first MLD. Generating an encryption key based at least partially on the address of the first MLD, Transmitting the instructions for the encryption key to the first wireless station, The first MLD according to claim 1, further configured to communicate encrypted frames with the first wireless station based on the encryption key.

7. The aforementioned direct link is a tunneled direct link, The data frame includes a MAC header which includes the transmitter address field. The first MLD according to claim 1.

8. The first wireless station is one of two or more third wireless stations associated with a second MLD for multilink communication with the first MLD. The first MLD according to claim 7.

9. The one or more processors and the memory are connected to the first MLD. Transmitting a first request to one of the third wireless stations associated with the second MLD via an access point for discovering a peer wireless station for the direct link, wherein the first request indicates a first link for communication between one of the third wireless stations and one of the second wireless stations associated with the first MLD. Determining that the duration has elapsed without receiving a response to the first request, Transmitting a second request to another of the third wireless stations associated with the second MLD via the access point, based on the decision, to discover a peer wireless station for the direct link, wherein the second request indicates a second link for communication between the other of the third wireless stations and another of the second wireless stations associated with the first MLD. The first MLD according to claim 8, further configured to perform the following.

10. The aforementioned direct link includes a single tunneled direct link session, The first MLD according to claim 8, wherein the plurality of links between the plurality of second wireless stations and the two or more third wireless stations are associated with the single tunneled direct link session.

11. A method of wireless communication using a first multilink device (MLD), A step of transmitting to the first wireless station a data frame including a transmitter address field set to the address of the first MLD via a direct link previously established between the first wireless station and at least one second wireless station among a plurality of second wireless stations associated with the first MLD, wherein the direct link is between a non-access point (AP) station including the first wireless station and at least one second wireless station among the plurality of second wireless stations, and the address of the first MLD is different from the address of the at least one second wireless station among the plurality of second wireless stations. The steps include: receiving a frame from the first wireless station via the direct link, following the transmission of the data frame, which includes a receiver address field set to the address of the first MLD; Methods that include...

12. The method according to claim 11, further comprising the step of transmitting a request frame associated with the direct link to the first wireless station via an access point and before the direct link is established, wherein the request frame includes a link identifier element having a direct link initiator address set as the address of the first MLD.

13. The method according to claim 11, further comprising the step of transmitting a response associated with the direct link to the first wireless station before the direct link is established, wherein the response includes a link identifier element having a direct link responder address set as the address of the first MLD.

14. The method according to claim 11, further comprising the step of transmitting a response associated with the direct link to the first wireless station, including the transmitter address field set to the address of the first MLD.

15. Based on the fact that the direct link is operational, via links other than the direct links mentioned above, and via the plurality of second wireless stations, excluding at least one of the plurality of second wireless stations. The method according to claim 11, further comprising the step of stopping transmission to the first wireless station.

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