Wireless communication method for indicating status of non-primary channel access operation mode and related wireless communication device

Abstract

A wireless communication method includes: generating a first frame carrying a state of a Non-Master Channel Access (NPCA) operating mode; and transmitting the first frame to at least one Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) device. The wireless communication method can be used by a wireless communication device including network interface circuitry and control circuitry. The control circuitry generates the first frame carrying the NPCA operating mode state and instructs the network interface circuitry to transmit the first frame to the at least one WLAN device.

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] This invention relates to wireless communication, and more specifically, to a wireless communication method and related wireless communication device for indicating a non-master channel access operation mode state. [Previous Technology]

[0002] A continuous technological goal in the development and evolution of Wireless Local Area Networks (WLANs) is to continuously improve throughput. A WLAN is a network that uses wireless communication technologies (e.g., Wi-Fi) to transmit / receive data within a limited range. Non-Primary Channel Access (NPCA) is a feature that improves media utilization. When a non-access point (non-AP) working terminal (STA) is listening on the primary channel and that primary channel is occupied by a Network Allocation Vector (NAV) counter or a transmitted Overlapping Basic Service Set (OBSS) Physical Layer Protocol Data Unit (PPDU), an NPCA-enabled non-AP STA can switch to a secondary channel. After the channel switch, a backoff procedure is performed to sense and access the secondary channel. Therefore, the non-AP STA can use the secondary channel for frame exchange. When the OBSS NAV counter expires or the OBSS PPDU transmission ends, the non-AP STA switches back to the primary channel. NPCA requires both an access point (AP) and a non-AP STA to be able to switch to the secondary channel within a specific period. However, due to excessively busy environments or limitations inherent to the WLAN devices themselves, WLAN devices (e.g., Wi-Fi devices (APs or non-AP STAs)) may not support NPCA in a given environment. Furthermore, NPCA may operate under certain limitations defined by design parameters, which may need to be updated when the environment changes. [Summary of the Invention]

[0003] One of the objectives of this invention is to provide a wireless communication method for indicating the state of a non-master channel access operation mode and related wireless communication devices.

[0004] According to a first aspect of the present invention, an exemplary wireless communication method is disclosed. The exemplary wireless communication method includes: generating a first frame carrying a state of a non-primary channel access (NPCA) operation mode; and transmitting the first frame to at least one wireless local area network (WLAN) device.

[0005] According to a second aspect of the present invention, an exemplary wireless communication device is disclosed. The exemplary wireless communication device includes a network interface circuit and a control circuit. The control circuit is configured to generate a frame carrying an NPCA operating mode state and instruct the network interface circuit to transmit the frame to at least one WLAN device.

[0006] These and other objectives of the invention will undoubtedly become apparent to those skilled in the art upon reading the preferred embodiments described below in detail.

Implementation Method

[0008] Certain terms are used in the following description and requests that refer to specific components. As will be understood by those skilled in the art, electronic device manufacturers may use different names to refer to a component. This document is not intended to distinguish between components with different names but the same function. In the following description and requests, the terms “comprising” and “including” are used in an open-ended manner and should therefore be interpreted as “including, but not limited to…”. Furthermore, the terms “coupled” or “coupled” are intended to indicate an indirect or direct electrical connection. Thus, if one device is coupled to another device, the connection can be a direct electrical connection or an indirect electrical connection through other devices and connections.

[0009] Figure 1 is an illustration showing a wireless communication system supporting the proposed NPCA pause / deactivate / disable and resume / activate / enable scheme according to an embodiment of the present invention. The wireless communication system 100 includes a plurality of wireless communication devices 102 and 104. For example, the wireless communication system 100 is a WLAN system, such as a Wi-Fi system, comprising an AP and a non-AP STA. In one embodiment of the invention, wireless communication device 102 may be a WLAN device, such as a Wi-Fi device, acting as an AP, while wireless communication device 104 may be another WLAN device, such as a Wi-Fi device, acting as a non-AP STA. In another embodiment of the invention, wireless communication device 102 may be a WLAN device, such as a Wi-Fi device, acting as a non-AP STA, while wireless communication device 104 may be another WLAN device, such as a Wi-Fi device, acting as an AP.

[0010] In some embodiments of the present invention, wireless communication devices (WLAN devices or Wi-Fi devices) 102 / 104 may be multi-link devices (MLDs) supporting multi-link operation (MLO) as specified in the WLAN standard. Therefore, wireless communication devices 102 and 104 may include an AP MLD (having multiple links operating on different frequency bands and capable of simultaneous operation) and a non-AP MLD (having multiple links operating on different frequency bands and capable of simultaneous operation). In one embodiment of the present invention, wireless communication device 102 may be a WLAN device, such as a Wi-Fi device, as an AP MLD with multiple affiliated APs, while wireless communication device 104 may be a WLAN device, such as a Wi-Fi device, as a non-AP MLD with multiple affiliated non-AP STAs. Wireless communication device (e.g., non-AP MLD) 104 is associated with wireless communication device (e.g., AP MLD) 102. Furthermore, multiple links L1-LN() are enabled between wireless communication devices 102 and 104. However, this is for illustrative purposes only and does not imply limitation of the present invention. The proposed NPCA pause / deactivate / disable and resume / activate / enable scheme can operate under the condition that one of the wireless communication devices 102 and 104 can be an AP MLD or a non-MLD AP, and the other of the wireless communication devices 102 and 104 can be a non-AP MLD or a non-MLD STA. Therefore, when wireless communication devices 102 and 104 include one non-MLD AP and one non-MLD STA, a single link L1 is enabled between wireless communication devices 102 and 104.

[0011] For the sake of brevity and simplicity, only two wireless communication devices 102 and 104 are shown in Figure 1. In practice, wireless communication system 100 allows more than two wireless communication devices, including one AP (e.g., AP MLD or non-AP MLD) and more than one non-AP STA (e.g., non-AP MLD or non-MLD STA) in the same BSS.

[0012] Wireless communication devices 102 and 104 may have the same or similar circuit structures. As shown in Figure 1, wireless communication device 102 includes a processor 112, a memory 114, a control circuit 116, and a network interface circuit 117, wherein the network interface circuit 117 includes a transmitter (TX) circuit 118 and a receiver (RX) circuit 120. The memory 114 is arranged to store program code. The processor 112 is arranged to load and execute program code to manage wireless communication device 102. The control circuit 116 is arranged to control wireless communication with wireless communication device 104. In the case where wireless communication device 102 is an AP (e.g., AP MLD or non-MLD AP) and wireless communication device 104 is a non-AP STA (e.g., non-AP MLD or non-MLD STA), control circuit 116 controls the TX circuit 118 of network interface circuit 117 to handle downlink (DL) traffic between the AP and non-AP STA, and controls the RX circuit 120 of network interface circuit 117 to handle uplink (UL) traffic between the AP and non-AP STA. In another case where wireless communication device 102 is a non-AP STA (e.g., non-AP MLD or non-MLD STA) and wireless communication device 104 is an AP (e.g., AP MLD or non-MLD AP), control circuit 116 controls the TX circuit 118 of network interface circuit 117 to handle UL traffic between the AP and non-AP STA, and controls the RX circuit 120 of network interface circuit 117 to handle DL traffic between the AP and non-AP STA.

[0013] The wireless communication device 104 includes a processor 122, a memory 124, a control circuit 126, and a network interface circuit 127, wherein the network interface circuit 127 includes a TX circuit 128 and an RX circuit 130. The memory 124 is configured to store program code. The processor 122 is configured to load and execute program code to manage the wireless communication device 104. The control circuit 126 is configured to control wireless communication with the wireless communication device 102. In the case where the wireless communication device 102 is an AP (e.g., an AP MLD or a non-MLD AP) and the wireless communication device 104 is a non-AP STA (e.g., a non-AP MLD or a non-MLD STA), the control circuit 116 controls the TX circuit 118 of the network interface circuit 117 to handle UL traffic between the AP and the non-AP STA, and controls the RX circuit 120 of the network interface circuit 117 to handle DL traffic between the AP and the non-AP STA. In another case where wireless communication device 102 is a non-AP STA (e.g., a non-AP MLD or a non-MLD STA) and wireless communication device 104 is an AP (e.g., an AP MLD or a non-MLD AP), control circuit 116 controls the TX circuit 118 of network interface circuit 117 to handle DL traffic between AP and non-AP STA, and controls the RX circuit 120 of network interface circuit 117 to handle UL traffic between AP and non-AP STA.

[0014] It should be noted that only the components related to the present invention are shown in Figure 1. In practical applications, wireless communication device 102 may include additional components to achieve the specified function, and / or wireless communication device 104 may include additional components to achieve the specified function.

[0015] Wireless communication devices 102 and 104 support the proposed NPCA pause / deactivation / disabling and resumption / activation / enabling scheme. The control circuitry of wireless communication device 102 is configured to generate a frame 132 carrying the NPCA operation (OP) mode state INFOP and instruct network interface circuitry 117 (specifically, the TX circuitry 118 of network interface circuitry 117) to transmit frame 102 to its associated wireless communication device 104. During association (or reassociation), each wireless communication device 102 and 104 can declare whether it supports NPCA capabilities. Typically, the declared NPCA capabilities do not change after association / reassociation unless wireless communication devices 102 / 104 use some protocol to update the NPCA capabilities. The NPCA OP mode may default to active after association / reassociation. According to the proposed NPCA pause / deactivation / disabling and resumption / activation / enabling scheme, wireless communication devices 102 / 104 can update their NPCA OP mode to a different state (e.g., NPCA pause / deactivation / disabling) after association / reassociation. The state INFOP is set to announce the latest state of the NPCA OP mode of the wireless communication device 102. For example, the state INFOP is set to indicate that the updated state is NPCA (pause / deactivation / disabled). As another example, the state INFOP is set to indicate that the updated state is NPCA (resumption / activation / enabled). Therefore, when the wireless communication device 102 intends to pause / deactivate / disable the NPCA during a pause / deactivation / disabled period for some reason, it can generate and transmit a frame 132 carrying the state INFOP set to indicate NPCA (pause / deactivation / disabled); and when the wireless communication device 102 intends to resume / activate / enable the NPCA after the pause / deactivation / disabled period ends, it can generate and transmit another frame 132 carrying the state INFOP set to indicate NPCA (resumption / activation / enabled). In short, when both wireless communication devices 102 and 104 have the capability to support NPCA, the proposed NPCA pause / deactivate / disable and resume / activate / enable scheme allows wireless communication devices (e.g., APs or non-AP STAs) 102 to dynamically pause / deactivate / disable NPCA and resume / activate / enable NPCA.

[0016] In some embodiments of the present invention, frame 132 may further carry updated NPCA parameter INFPAR. For example, when the carrying state INFOP of the NPCA OP mode is set to indicate the recovery / activation / enablement of the NPCA, frame 132 may further carry the NPCA parameter INFPAR. Wireless communication devices 102 / 104 may announce NPCA parameters that define their NPCA behavior. For an AP, NPCA parameters may include parameters that trigger NPCA channel switching and parameters that control operation during NPCA. For example, NPCA parameters announced by the AP may include Clear Channel Assessment (CCA) power level, minimum length of TXOP / OBSS PPDU, BSS color (BSSID) of OBSS, Enhanced Distributed Channel Access (EDCA) parameters when operating on a secondary channel, target secondary channel and its bandwidth (BW), AP's NPCA channel switching delay, AP's transmit power and / or sensitivity on non-primary channels (NPC), etc. For non-AP STAs, the NPCA parameters announced by the STA may include the NPCA channel switching delay of the non-AP STA, the transmit power and / or sensitivity of the non-AP STA on the NPC, and an indication that an Initial Control Frame / Initial Control Response (ICF / ICR) is required on the NPC. These NPCA parameters may need to be updated accordingly when the environment changes. Therefore, in addition to the latest state INFOP of the NPCA OP mode, frame 132 generated and transmitted by the wireless communication device (e.g., AP or non-AP STA) 102 may include the latest NPCA OP mode parameter INFPAR. It should be noted that using frame 132 to additionally carry the NPCA parameter INFPAR may be optional. In practical applications, any wireless communication device (WLAN device or Wi-Fi device) that uses the proposed NPCA pause / deactivate / disable and resume / activate / enable scheme to dynamically pause / deactivate / disable NPCA and resume / activate / enable NPCA falls within the scope of this invention.

[0017] Consider a scenario where wireless communication device 102 is an AP capable of supporting NPCA, and wireless communication device 104 is one of multiple non-AP STAs capable of supporting NPCA and associated with the same wireless communication device 102. Frame 132 may be a multicast frame multicast to multiple non-AP STAs, including wireless communication device 104. When any of the multiple non-AP STAs receives frame 132, it can immediately adjust its NPCA functionality based on the latest state INFOP of the NPCA OP mode announced by the AP via frame 132. When the AP suspends / disables / unlocks NPCA, the non-AP STAs will not subsequently switch to the secondary channel. When the AP resumes / activates / enables NPCA, the non-AP STAs will switch to the secondary channel when the conditions triggering NPCA match the NPCA OP mode parameters.

[0018] Consider a scenario where wireless communication device 102 is an AP capable of supporting NPCA, and wireless communication device 104 is a non-AP STA capable of supporting NPCA and associated with wireless communication device 102. Frame 132 may be a unicast frame unicast to wireless communication device 104. When the non-AP STA (i.e., wireless communication device 104) receives frame 132, it can immediately adjust its NPCA functionality according to the state INFOP of the NPCA OP mode announced by the AP (i.e., wireless communication device 102) through frame 132. When the AP suspends / disables / disables NPCA, the non-AP STA will not switch to the secondary channel afterward. When the AP resumes / activates / enables NPCA, the non-AP STA will switch to the secondary channel when the conditions triggering NPCA match the NPCA OP mode parameters.

[0019] Consider a scenario where wireless communication device 102 is an access point (AP) capable of supporting non-primary channel access (NPCA), and wireless communication device 104 is one of multiple non-AP workstations (STAs) capable of supporting NPCA and associated with the same wireless communication device 102. Frame 132 may be a unicast frame unicast to wireless communication device 104 to disable / enable NPCA for the individual non-AP STA. When a non-AP STA (e.g., wireless communication device 104) receives frame 132, it can immediately adjust its NPCA functionality according to the state INFOP of the NPCA operating mode announced by the AP (i.e., wireless communication device 102) via frame 132. When the AP suspends / disables / disables NPCA, the non-AP STA does not subsequently switch to a secondary channel. When the AP resumes / enables / enables NPCA, the non-AP STA switches to a secondary channel when the conditions triggering NPCA match the NPCA operating mode parameters.

[0020] When frame 132 is a unicast or multicast frame, a non-AP STA (e.g., wireless communication device 104) may generate an acknowledgment frame (marked "ACK") 134 and transmit the acknowledgment frame 134 to the AP (e.g., wireless communication device 102), wherein the acknowledgment frame 134 is used to acknowledge receipt of frame 132. Alternatively, a non-AP STA (e.g., wireless communication device 104) may generate a response frame (marked "RSP") 136 and transmit the response frame 136 to the AP (e.g., wireless communication device 102), wherein the response frame 136 is used to acknowledge receipt of frame 132 and further to accept or reject the status INFOP of the NPCA operating mode announced by the AP.

[0021] Consider a scenario where wireless communication device 102 is an AP multilink device (MLD) capable of supporting NPCA, while wireless communication device 104 is a non-AP MLD capable of supporting NPCA on each link and associated with wireless communication device 102. Frame 132 may carry a link identifier (ID) to update the NPCA state of another link. For example, frame 132 carries the NPCA operation mode state INFOP (e.g., LN, where) on one link, and frame 132 is transmitted on different links (e.g., L1). In this way, cross-link NPCA state updates can be implemented in multilink operation (MLO) scenarios.

[0022] Consider a scenario where wireless communication device 102 is an AP capable of supporting NPCA, and wireless communication device 104 is a non-AP STA capable of supporting NPCA and associated with wireless communication device 102. Frame 132 may be a beacon frame (or broadcast frame). In one embodiment of the invention, when a non-AP STA receives frame 132, it can immediately adjust its NPCA functionality based on the latest state INFOP of the NPCA operating mode announced by the AP via the beacon frame. In another embodiment, the state INFOP of the NPCA operating mode may become effective after the NPCA operating mode-related counter value CNTOP carried in a beacon frame reaches a predetermined value (e.g., CNTOP = 0). Figure 2 is an illustration showing that, according to one embodiment of the invention, the application time of the state INFOP of the NPCA operating mode is controlled by the NPCA operating mode-related counter value CNTOP. The control circuit 102 of the wireless communication device 102 is configured to generate consecutive beacon frames (labeled "B") 132_N, 132_N_1, …, 132_1, 132_0(), and instruct the network interface circuit 117 (specifically, the TX circuit 118 of the network interface circuit 117) to transmit consecutive beacon frames 132_N-132_0 according to the beacon interval defined by the Target Beacon Transmission Time (TBTT). Each consecutive beacon frame 132_N-132_0 carries an NPCA operation mode-related counter value CNTOP. For example, beacon frame 132_N could be frame 132 carrying the latest state INFOP of the NPCA operation mode, and the NPCA operation mode-related counter value CNTOP is initialized by a positive integer N. The NPCA operation mode-related counter value CNTOP carried by consecutive beacon frames 132_N-132_0 changes monotonically. For example, the counter value CNTOP associated with the NPCA operation mode is decremented by 1 each time a beacon frame is transmitted (i.e., CNTOP = CNTOP - 1). The NPCA operation mode status INFOP carried in frame 132 (e.g., beacon frame 132_N) becomes effective after the NPCA operation mode associated counter value CNTOP reaches a predetermined value (e.g., CNTOP = 0). By appropriately setting the predetermined value, non-AP STAs (e.g., wireless communication device 104) are allowed more time to respond to the NPCA operation mode status INFOP carried in frame 132 (e.g., beacon frame 132_N) generated by the AP (e.g., wireless communication device 102). Specifically, non-AP STAs may miss one or more beacon frames from the AP and may have more time to adjust their own settings to accommodate changes in the NPCA operation mode, such as NPCA suspension / deactivation / disabling or resumption / enablement / enabled, as indicated by the NPCA operation mode status INFOP.It should be noted that the corresponding NPCA operation mode parameters can also be updated based on the NPCA parameter INFPAR in frame 132 (e.g., beacon frame 132_N).

[0023] Consider a scenario where wireless communication device 102 is an Access Point Multilink Device (AP MLD) capable of supporting Non-Master Channel Access (NPCA), and wireless communication device 104 is a Non-Access Point Multilink Device (non-AP MLD) capable of supporting NPCA on each link and associated with wireless communication device 102. The application time of the NPCA operation mode state INFOP is controlled by a counter value CNTOP associated with NPCA operation. Frame 132 can carry a link ID to update the NPCA state of another link. For example, frame 132 carries the NPCA operation mode state INFOP on one link (e.g., link 1 = L1), while frame 132 is actually transmitted on a different link (e.g., link 0 = LN, where). In this way, cross-link NPCA state updates can be achieved in multi-link operation (MLO) scenarios. Figure 3 is an illustration illustrating that the application time of the NPCA operation mode state INFOP on one link (e.g., link 1 = L1) is controlled by the NPCA operation-related counter value CNTOP on another link (e.g., link 0 = LN, where L1 is L1) according to an embodiment of the invention. The beacon frames of the two links may be out of sync. When the NPCA operation-related counter value CNTOP on link 0 (e.g., beacon transmission link LN) reaches a predetermined value (e.g., CNTOP = 0), the NPCA operation mode state INFOP has already been applied after a previous beacon transmission on link 1 (e.g., indication link L1). If a non-access point terminal (e.g., wireless communication device 104) is not listening for beacon frames on link 1 (e.g., indication link L1), the application time of the NPCA operation mode state INFOP may be delayed. To address this issue, frame 132 may use an alternative indication option based on a Time Synchronization Function (TSF), where the indication can be based on the full TSF or a partial TSF setting. A partial TSF can be obtained by bit-truncating the full TSF. For example, a partial TSF can represent only bits [15:6] of a complete 64-bit TSF.

[0024] Consider a scenario where wireless communication device 102 is an access point (AP) capable of supporting NPCA, and wireless communication device 104 is a non-AP STA capable of supporting NPCA and associated with wireless communication device 102. Frame 132 can be a beacon frame (or a broadcast frame). The application time of the latest state INFOP of the NPCA operation mode can be indicated by the TSF value TSFOP carried by frame 132. Regarding multi-link operation (MLO) scenarios, frame 132 can carry a link ID to update the NPCA state of another link. For example, frame 132 carries the state INFOP of the NPCA operation mode on one link (e.g., LN, where ), while frame 132 is transmitted on a different link (e.g., L1). In this way, cross-link NPCA state updates can be implemented in MLO scenarios. For example, when the TSF value counted by the TSF timer of the indicating link (e.g., LN) reaches the TSF value TSFOP carried by the beacon frame, the state INFOP of the NPCA operation mode on the indicating link is valid. For example, the state INFOP of the NPCA operating mode on the indicator link is valid when the TSF value counted by the TSF timer of the indicator link (e.g., LN) plus the additional TSF offset between the beacon transmission link and the indicator link equals the TSF value TSFOP carried by the beacon frame. However, these are for illustrative purposes only and are not intended to limit the invention.

[0025] Consider a scenario where wireless communication device 102 is a non-AP STA capable of supporting NPCA, and wireless communication device 104 is an access point (AP). Frame 132 generated and transmitted from the non-AP STA can be a notification frame with an optional TSF value, and can carry the NPCA operation mode status INFOP and / or the associated NPCA parameter INFPAR. For example, when the carried NPCA operation mode status INFOP is set to indicate NPCA recovery / activation / enablement, frame 132 can further carry the NPCA parameter INFPAR. The AP (i.e., wireless communication device 104) can generate an acknowledgment frame (marked as "ACK") 134 and transmit the acknowledgment frame 134 to the non-AP STA (i.e., wireless communication device 104), where the acknowledgment frame 134 is used to acknowledge receipt of frame 132. Alternatively, frame 132 generated and transmitted from the non-access point terminal (NPPT) can be a request frame with an optional TSF value, and may carry the NPCA operation mode status INFOP and / or the associated NPCA parameter INFPAR. The AP (i.e., wireless communication device 104) can generate a response frame (labeled "RSP") 136 and transmit it to the AP (i.e., wireless communication device 102), where the response frame 136 acknowledges receipt of frame 132 and further serves to accept or reject the NPPT's request for the latest NPCA operation mode status INFOP. For example, when there is urgent downlink (DL) data to be transmitted to the NPPT, the AP can reject the NPPT's request for the latest NPCA operation mode status INFOP (e.g., NPCA suspension / deactivation / disabling), where the NPCA may increase the chance of meeting latency constraints for these DL data transmissions. The latest NPCA operation mode status INFOP may be valid when an acknowledgment / response frame with acceptance is received from the AP. Alternatively, the latest state INFOP of the NPCA operation mode may be valid when the TSF value counted by the TSF timer reaches the TSF value carried in the request / notification frame.

[0026] In some embodiments of the present invention, a wireless communication device may request NPCA parameters and / or NPCA operating mode status by transmitting a request frame to its peer device. For example, when a wireless communication device (e.g., a non-access point terminal) wakes up after a long period of sleep and wants to know the NPCA parameters and / or NPCA operating mode status of its associated peer device, the wireless communication device (e.g., the non-access point terminal) may transmit a request frame to its associated peer device to query the NPCA parameters and / or NPCA operating mode status. Specifically, a wireless communication device (e.g., an AP or a non-access point terminal) 102 may generate and transmit a frame 132 (carrying the requested NPCA operating mode status and / or requested NPCA parameters) in response to a request frame (labeled "REQ") 138 generated and transmitted from a wireless communication device (e.g., a non-access point terminal or AP) 104.

[0027] As described above, frame 132 may carry the NPCA operation mode status INFOP (which may indicate the NPCA's pause / deactivation / disabling or resumption / activation / enablement) and the associated NPCA parameter INFPAR (which may include parameters that trigger NPCA channel switching and parameters that control operation during NPCA). Figure 4 is a signaling design diagram of the NPCA operation mode status INFOP and associated NPCA parameter INFPAR according to an embodiment of the present invention. Frame 132 may include a plurality of subfields, such as a 4-bit link ID subfield 402, a 1-bit pause subfield 404, an 8-bit target secondary channel subfield 406, a 4-bit target secondary channel bandwidth subfield 408, an 8-bit transition delay subfield 410, an 8-bit minimum TXOP length subfield 412, an 8-bit TX power subfield 414 in the NPC, a 6-bit BSS color 0 subfield 416, and a 6-bit BSS color 1 subfield 418. The NPCA operation mode status INFOP is indicated by the pause subfield 404. When the pause subfield 404 is set to the first bit value (e.g., 1), this indicates that the NPCA operation mode status INFOP is paused / deactivated / disabled. When the pause subfield 404 is set to the second bit value (e.g., 0), this indicates that the NPCA operation mode status INFOP is resumed / activated / enabled. These subfields 402-418 can be carried in an information element (IE) or directly in the frame body.

[0028] Those skilled in the art will readily observe that many modifications and changes can be made to the apparatus and method while retaining the teachings of the present invention. Therefore, the above disclosure should be interpreted only within the scope of the appended claims. [Simplified Explanation of the Diagram]

[0007] Figure 1 is an illustration of a wireless communication system supporting the proposed NPCA pause / deactivate / disable and resume / activate / enable scheme according to an embodiment of the present invention. Figure 2 is an illustration of an embodiment of the present invention where the application time of the NPCA operation mode state is controlled by a counter value associated with NPCA operation. Figure 3 is an illustration of an embodiment of the present invention where the application time of the NPCA operation mode state on one link is controlled by a counter value associated with NPCA operation on another link. Figure 4 is an illustration of the signaling design of the NPCA operation mode state and related NPCA parameters according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Claims

1. A wireless communication method, comprising: Generate a first frame carrying a state of a non-primary channel access (NPCA) operating mode, wherein the state of the NPCA operating mode carried in the first frame is used to announce the second state when the NPCA operating mode intends to be updated from a first state to a second state; and transmit the first frame to at least one wireless area network (WLAN) device.

2. The wireless communication method as described in claim 1, wherein the state of the NPCA operation mode is set to indicate that the NPCA is disabled.

3. The wireless communication method as described in claim 1, wherein the state of the NPCA operation mode is set to indicate the activation of the NPCA.

4. The wireless communication method as described in claim 1, wherein the wireless communication method is used by an access point (AP).

5. The wireless communication method as described in claim 4, wherein the frame is a unicast frame.

6. The wireless communication method as described in claim 4, wherein the frame is a multicast frame.

7. The wireless communication method as described in claim 4, wherein the frame is a beacon frame.

8. The wireless communication method as described in claim 7, further comprising: A series of consecutive beacon frames are transmitted, each of which carries a counter value that changes monotonically, and the state of the NPCA operation mode carried in the first frame becomes effective after one of the multiple counter values ​​reaches a predetermined value.

9. The wireless communication method as claimed in claim 8, wherein the AP is a multi-link device (MLD), the first frame carries the state of the NPCA operating mode on a first link of the MLD, and the first frame is transmitted on a second link of the MLD.

10. The wireless communication method as claimed in claim 7, wherein the first frame further carries an indication based on a time synchronization function (TSF), and the application time of the state of the NPCA OP mode depends on the indication based on the TSF.

11. The wireless communication method as claimed in claim 10, wherein the AP is a multi-link device (MLD), the first frame carries the state of the NPCA OP mode and the indication of the TSF-based mode on a first link of the MLD, and the first frame is transmitted on a second link of the MLD.

12. The wireless communication method as claimed in claim 4, wherein the AP is a multi-link device (MLD), the first frame carries the state of the NPCA OP mode on a first link of the MLD, and the first frame is transmitted on a second link of the MLD.

13. The wireless communication method as described in claim 3, wherein the first frame further carries NPCA parameters.

14. The wireless communication method as described in claim 1, further comprising: Receive the second frame from the at least one WLAN device; The second frame queries the status of the NPCA OP mode, and the first frame is generated and transmitted in response to the second frame.

15. The wireless communication method as described in claim 14, wherein the wireless communication method is used by an access point (AP).

16. The wireless communication method as described in claim 14, wherein the wireless communication method is used by a non-access point (non-AP) work terminal (STA).

17. The wireless communication method as described in claim 1, wherein the wireless communication method is used by a non-access point (non-AP) work terminal (STA).

18. The wireless communication method as described in claim 17, wherein the first frame is a request frame.

19. The wireless communication method as described in claim 18, further comprising: A second frame is received from the at least one WLAN device; wherein the second frame is generated in response to the first frame, and the state of the NPCA operation mode is valid after the second frame is received.

20. The wireless communication method as claimed in claim 17, wherein the first frame further carries NPCA parameters of the non-AP STA, and the state of the NPCA operation mode is set to indicate the activation of NPCA.

21. A wireless communication device, comprising: A network interface circuit; And a control circuit that arranges to generate a first frame carrying a state of a non-primary channel access (NPCA) operation mode, and instructs the network interface circuit to transmit the first frame to at least one wireless local area network (WLAN) device, wherein the state of the NPCA operation mode carried in the first frame is used to announce the second state when the NPCA operation mode is to be updated from a first state to a second state.

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