Distributed resource unit tone plan-based method and device for transmitting or receiving in wireless local area network system

Abstract

A distributed resource unit (DRU) tone plan-based method and device for transmitting or receiving in a wireless local area network (WLAN) system are disclosed. The method performed by a first station (STA) in a WLAN system, according to one embodiment of the present disclosure, may comprise steps in which: the first STA receives, from an access point (AP), a trigger frame, which includes a common information field and a special user information field; and the first STA transmits a trigger-based (TB) physical layer protocol data unit (PPDU) to the AP in a first bandwidth on the basis of the trigger frame, wherein the common information field or the special user information field transmitted in a second bandwidth of the first bandwidth can include a first subfield related to whether a DRU is applied to the second bandwidth.

Description

Method and device for transmitting or receiving based on a distributed resource unit tone plan in a wireless LAN system

[0001] The present disclosure relates to a method and device for transmitting or receiving based on a distributed resource unit tone plan in a wireless local area network (WLAN) system.

[0002] New technologies have been introduced for wireless local area networks (WLANs) to improve transmission rates, increase bandwidth, enhance reliability, reduce errors, and reduce latency. Among WLAN technologies, the IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) 802.11 series of standards can be referred to as Wi-Fi. For example, recently introduced technologies for WLANs include enhancements for Very High Throughput (VHT) in the 802.11ac standard and enhancements for High Efficiency (HE) in the IEEE 802.11ax standard.

[0003] To provide a more advanced wireless communication environment, improved technologies for Extremely High Throughput (EHT) are being discussed. For example, technologies for Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO), which supports increased bandwidth, efficient utilization of multiple bands, and increased spatial streams, and for coordination of multiple access points (APs), are being studied. In particular, various technologies are being studied to support low latency or real-time traffic. Furthermore, new technologies are being discussed to support ultra-high reliability (UHR), including improvements or extensions of EHT technology.

[0004] The technical problem of the present disclosure is to provide a method and device for transmitting or receiving based on a distributed resource unit tone plan in a wireless LAN system.

[0005] The technical problem of the present disclosure relates to a distributed resource unit tone plan for reducing interference between STAs in a wireless LAN system.

[0006] The technical problem of the present disclosure is to provide a method and device for indicating a channel and / or tone plan to which distributed resource units are applied through a trigger frame in a wireless LAN system.

[0007] The technical problems to be achieved in the present disclosure are not limited to the technical problems mentioned above, and other technical problems not mentioned can be clearly understood by a person having ordinary skill in the technical field to which the present disclosure belongs from the description below.

[0008] A method according to one embodiment of the present disclosure comprises the steps of: receiving, by a first station (STA), a trigger frame including a common information field and a special user information field from an access point (AP); and transmitting, by the first STA, a trigger-based (TB) physical layer protocol data unit (PPDU) to the AP on a first bandwidth based on the trigger frame, wherein the common information field or the special user information field transmitted on a second bandwidth among the first bandwidths may include a first subfield related to whether a distributed resource unit (DRU) is applied on the second bandwidth.

[0009] According to another embodiment of the present disclosure, a method comprises the steps of: transmitting, by an access point (AP), to a first station (STA), a trigger frame including a common information field and a special user information field; and receiving, by the AP, a trigger-based (TB) physical layer protocol data unit (PPDU) from the first STA on a first bandwidth based on the trigger frame, wherein the common information field or the special user information field transmitted on a second bandwidth among the first bandwidths may include a first subfield related to whether a distributed resource unit (DRU) is applied on the second bandwidth.

[0010] According to various embodiments of the present disclosure, a method and device for transmitting or receiving based on a distributed resource unit tone plan in a wireless LAN system can be provided.

[0011] According to various embodiments of the present disclosure, a distributed resource unit tone plan for reducing interference between STAs in a wireless LAN system can be provided.

[0012] By various embodiments of the present disclosure, coverage and throughput can be improved through efficient DRU-based transmission.

[0013] According to various embodiments of the present disclosure, a method and apparatus for indicating a channel and / or tone plan to which distributed resource units are applied through a trigger frame in a wireless LAN system may be provided.

[0014] The effects that can be obtained from the present disclosure are not limited to the effects mentioned above, and other effects that are not mentioned will be clearly understood by a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the present disclosure pertains from the description below.

[0015] The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and are part of the detailed description to aid in understanding the present disclosure, provide embodiments of the present disclosure and, together with the detailed description, describe the technical features of the present disclosure.

[0016] FIG. 1 illustrates a block diagram of a wireless communication device according to one embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0017] FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an exemplary structure of a wireless LAN system to which the present disclosure can be applied.

[0018] FIG. 3 is a diagram for explaining a link setup process to which the present disclosure can be applied.

[0019] FIG. 4 is a diagram for explaining a backoff process to which the present disclosure can be applied.

[0020] FIG. 5 is a diagram for explaining a CSMA / CA-based frame transmission operation to which the present disclosure can be applied.

[0021] FIG. 6 is a drawing for explaining an example of a frame structure used in a wireless LAN system to which the present disclosure can be applied.

[0022] FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating examples of PPDUs defined in the IEEE 802.11 standard to which the present disclosure can be applied.

[0023] FIGS. 8 to 10 are diagrams for explaining examples of resource units of a wireless LAN system to which the present disclosure can be applied.

[0024] FIG. 11 is a drawing illustrating examples of DRUs to which the present disclosure can be applied.

[0025] FIG. 12 is a drawing showing an exemplary format of a trigger frame to which the present disclosure can be applied.

[0026] FIG. 13 is a drawing for explaining an example of a method performed by a first STA according to the present disclosure.

[0027] FIG. 14 is a drawing for explaining an example of a method performed by an AP according to the present disclosure.

[0028] FIG. 15 is a diagram for explaining a PPDU transmission and reception procedure between a transmitting STA and a receiving STA according to an example of the present disclosure.

[0029] Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present disclosure will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. The detailed description set forth below, together with the accompanying drawings, is intended to explain exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure and is not intended to represent the only embodiments in which the present disclosure may be practiced. The following detailed description includes specific details to provide a thorough understanding of the present disclosure. However, one of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that the present disclosure may be practiced without these specific details.

[0030] In some cases, to avoid obscuring the concepts of the present disclosure, known structures and devices may be omitted or illustrated in block diagram form focusing on the core functions of each structure and device.

[0031] In the present disclosure, when a component is said to be "connected," "coupled," or "connected" to another component, this may include not only a direct connection but also an indirect connection in which another component exists between them. Furthermore, the terms "comprises" or "has" in the present disclosure specify the presence of the mentioned features, steps, operations, elements, and / or components, but do not exclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, steps, operations, elements, components, and / or groups thereof.

[0032] In this disclosure, terms such as “first,” “second,” etc. are used only to distinguish one component from another and are not used to limit the components, and do not limit the order or importance between the components unless specifically stated otherwise. Accordingly, within the scope of this disclosure, a first component in one embodiment may be referred to as a second component in another embodiment, and similarly, a second component in one embodiment may be referred to as a first component in another embodiment.

[0033] The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments and is not intended to limit the scope of the claims. As used in the description of the embodiments and the appended claims, the singular forms "a," "an," and "the" are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly dictates otherwise. The term "and / or" as used herein may refer to any one of the associated enumerated items, or is meant to refer to and encompass any and all possible combinations of two or more of them. Furthermore, the use of " / " between words in this disclosure has the same meaning as "and / or" unless otherwise stated.

[0034] The examples of the present disclosure can be applied to various wireless communication systems. For example, the examples of the present disclosure can be applied to a wireless LAN system. For example, the examples of the present disclosure can be applied to a wireless LAN based on the IEEE 802.11a / g / n / ac / ax / be standards. Furthermore, the examples of the present disclosure can be applied to a wireless LAN based on the newly proposed IEEE 802.11bn (or UHR) standard. Additionally, the examples of the present disclosure can be applied to a wireless LAN based on the next-generation standard after IEEE 802.11bn. Furthermore, the examples of the present disclosure can be applied to a cellular wireless communication system. For example, the examples of the present disclosure can be applied to a cellular wireless communication system based on the LTE (Long Term Evolution) series of technologies and the 5G NR (New Radio) series of technologies of the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) standard.

[0035] Below, technical features to which examples of the present disclosure can be applied are described.

[0036] FIG. 1 illustrates a block diagram of a wireless communication device according to one embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0037] The first device (100) and the second device (200) illustrated in FIG. 1 may be replaced with various terms such as a terminal, a wireless device, a WTRU (Wireless Transmit Receive Unit), a UE (User Equipment), an MS (Mobile Station), a UT (user terminal), an MSS (Mobile Subscriber Station), an MSS (Mobile Subscriber Unit), an SS (Subscriber Station), an AMS (Advanced Mobile Station), a WT (Wireless terminal), or simply a user. In addition, the first device (100) and the second device (200) may be replaced with various terms such as an access point (AP), a BS (Base Station), a fixed station, a Node B, a BTS (Base Transceiver System), a network, an AI (Artificial Intelligence) system, an RSU (road side unit), a repeater, a router, a relay, a gateway, etc.

[0038] The devices (100, 200) illustrated in FIG. 1 may also be referred to as stations (STAs). For example, the devices (100, 200) illustrated in FIG. 1 may be referred to by various terms such as transmitting device, receiving device, transmitting STA, and receiving STA. For example, the STAs (110, 200) may perform an AP (access point) role or a non-AP role. That is, in the present disclosure, the STAs (110, 200) may perform the functions of an AP and / or a non-AP. When the STAs (110, 200) perform an AP function, they may simply be referred to as APs, and when the STAs (110, 200) perform a non-AP function, they may simply be referred to as STAs. In addition, in the present disclosure, the APs may also be referred to as AP STAs.

[0039] Referring to FIG. 1, the first device (100) and the second device (200) can transmit and receive wireless signals through various wireless LAN technologies (e.g., IEEE 802.11 series). The first device (100) and the second device (200) can include interfaces for a medium access control (MAC) layer and a physical layer (PHY) that follow the provisions of the IEEE 802.11 standard.

[0040] In addition, the first device (100) and the second device (200) may additionally support various communication standards (e.g., 3GPP LTE series, 5G NR series standards, etc.) other than wireless LAN technology. In addition, the device of the present disclosure may be implemented as various devices such as a mobile phone, a vehicle, a personal computer, an AR (Augmented Reality) device, a VR (Virtual Reality) device, etc. In addition, the STA of the present specification may support various communication services such as voice calls, video calls, data communications, autonomous driving, MTC (Machine-Type Communication), M2M (Machine-to-Machine), D2D (Device-to-Device), and IoT (Internet-of-Things).

[0041] A first device (100) includes one or more processors (102) and one or more memories (104), and may further include one or more transceivers (106) and / or one or more antennas (108). The processor (102) controls the memories (104) and / or the transceivers (106), and may be configured to implement the descriptions, functions, procedures, proposals, methods, and / or operational flowcharts disclosed in the present disclosure. For example, the processor (102) may process information in the memories (104) to generate first information / signals, and then transmit a wireless signal including the first information / signals via the transceivers (106). Furthermore, the processor (102) may receive a wireless signal including second information / signals via the transceivers (106), and then store information obtained from signal processing of the second information / signals in the memory (104). The memory (104) may be connected to the processor (102) and may store various information related to the operation of the processor (102). For example, the memory (104) may perform some or all of the processes controlled by the processor (102), or may store software code including instructions for performing the descriptions, functions, procedures, proposals, methods, and / or operation flowcharts disclosed in the present disclosure. Here, the processor (102) and the memory (104) may be part of a communication modem / circuit / chip designed to implement a wireless LAN technology (e.g., IEEE 802.11 series). The transceiver (106) may be connected to the processor (102) and may transmit and / or receive wireless signals via one or more antennas (108). The transceiver (106) may include a transmitter and / or a receiver. The transceiver (106) may be used interchangeably with an RF (Radio Frequency) unit. In the present disclosure, a device may also mean a communication modem / circuit / chip.

[0042] The second device (200) includes one or more processors (202), one or more memories (204), and may further include one or more transceivers (206) and / or one or more antennas (208). The processor (202) controls the memories (204) and / or the transceivers (206), and may be configured to implement the descriptions, functions, procedures, proposals, methods, and / or operational flowcharts disclosed in the present disclosure. For example, the processor (202) may process information in the memory (204) to generate third information / signals, and then transmit a wireless signal including the third information / signals via the transceivers (206). Furthermore, the processor (202) may receive a wireless signal including fourth information / signals via the transceivers (206), and then store information obtained from signal processing of the fourth information / signals in the memory (204). The memory (204) may be connected to the processor (202) and may store various information related to the operation of the processor (202). For example, the memory (204) may perform some or all of the processes controlled by the processor (202), or may store software code including instructions for performing the descriptions, functions, procedures, proposals, methods, and / or operation flowcharts disclosed in the present disclosure. Here, the processor (202) and the memory (204) may be part of a communication modem / circuit / chip designed to implement a wireless LAN technology (e.g., IEEE 802.11 series). The transceiver (206) may be connected to the processor (202) and may transmit and / or receive wireless signals via one or more antennas (208). The transceiver (206) may include a transmitter and / or a receiver. The transceiver (206) may be used interchangeably with an RF unit. In the present disclosure, a device may also mean a communication modem / circuit / chip.

[0043] Hereinafter, the hardware elements of the device (100, 200) will be described in more detail. Although not limited thereto, one or more protocol layers may be implemented by one or more processors (102, 202). For example, one or more processors (102, 202) may implement one or more layers (e.g., functional layers such as PHY, MAC). One or more processors (102, 202) may generate one or more Protocol Data Units (PDUs) and / or one or more Service Data Units (SDUs) according to the descriptions, functions, procedures, proposals, methods, and / or operational flowcharts disclosed in the present disclosure. One or more processors (102, 202) may generate messages, control information, data, or information according to the descriptions, functions, procedures, proposals, methods, and / or operational flowcharts disclosed in the present disclosure. One or more processors (102, 202) can generate signals (e.g., baseband signals) including PDUs, SDUs, messages, control information, data or information according to the functions, procedures, proposals and / or methods disclosed in the present disclosure, and provide the signals to one or more transceivers (106, 206). One or more processors (102, 202) can receive signals (e.g., baseband signals) from one or more transceivers (106, 206) and obtain PDUs, SDUs, messages, control information, data or information according to the descriptions, functions, procedures, proposals, methods and / or operational flowcharts disclosed in the present disclosure.

[0044] One or more processors (102, 202) may be referred to as a controller, a microcontroller, a microprocessor, or a microcomputer. One or more processors (102, 202) may be implemented by hardware, firmware, software, or a combination thereof. For example, one or more Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs), one or more Digital Signal Processors (DSPs), one or more Digital Signal Processing Devices (DSPDs), one or more Programmable Logic Devices (PLDs), or one or more Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs) may be included in one or more processors (102, 202). The descriptions, functions, procedures, proposals, methods, and / or operational flowcharts disclosed in this disclosure may be implemented using firmware or software, and the firmware or software may be implemented to include modules, procedures, functions, etc. The descriptions, functions, procedures, proposals, methods and / or operation flowcharts disclosed in this disclosure may be implemented using firmware or software configured to perform one or more processors (102, 202) or stored in one or more memories (104, 204) and driven by one or more processors (102, 202). The descriptions, functions, procedures, proposals, methods and / or operation flowcharts disclosed in this disclosure may be implemented using firmware or software in the form of codes, instructions and / or sets of instructions.

[0045] One or more memories (104, 204) may be coupled to one or more processors (102, 202) and may store various forms of data, signals, messages, information, programs, codes, instructions, and / or commands. The one or more memories (104, 204) may be configured as ROM, RAM, EPROM, flash memory, hard drives, registers, cache memory, computer-readable storage media, and / or combinations thereof. The one or more memories (104, 204) may be located internally and / or externally to the one or more processors (102, 202). Additionally, the one or more memories (104, 204) may be coupled to the one or more processors (102, 202) via various technologies, such as wired or wireless connections.

[0046] One or more transceivers (106, 206) can transmit user data, control information, wireless signals / channels, etc., as mentioned in the methods and / or flowcharts of the present disclosure, to one or more other devices. One or more transceivers (106, 206) can receive user data, control information, wireless signals / channels, etc., as mentioned in the descriptions, functions, procedures, proposals, methods and / or flowcharts of the present disclosure, from one or more other devices. For example, one or more transceivers (106, 206) can be coupled to one or more processors (102, 202) and can transmit and receive wireless signals. For example, one or more processors (102, 202) can control one or more transceivers (106, 206) to transmit user data, control information, or wireless signals to one or more other devices. Additionally, one or more processors (102, 202) may control one or more transceivers (106, 206) to receive user data, control information, or wireless signals from one or more other devices. Additionally, one or more transceivers (106, 206) may be coupled to one or more antennas (108, 208), and one or more transceivers (106, 206) may be configured to transmit and receive user data, control information, wireless signals / channels, or the like, as referred to in the descriptions, functions, procedures, proposals, methods, and / or operational flowcharts disclosed in the present disclosure, via one or more antennas (108, 208). In the present disclosure, one or more antennas may be multiple physical antennas or multiple logical antennas (e.g., antenna ports). One or more transceivers (106, 206) can convert received user data, control information, wireless signals / channels, etc. from RF band signals to baseband signals in order to process the received user data, control information, wireless signals / channels, etc. using one or more processors (102, 202).One or more transceivers (106, 206) may convert user data, control information, wireless signals / channels, etc. processed by one or more processors (102, 202) from baseband signals to RF band signals. For this purpose, one or more transceivers (106, 206) may include an (analog) oscillator and / or filter.

[0047] For example, one of the STAs (100, 200) may perform the intended operation of an AP, and the other of the STAs (100, 200) may perform the intended operation of a non-AP STA. For example, the transceivers (106, 206) of FIG. 1 may perform transmission and reception operations of signals (e.g., packets or PPDUs (Physical layer Protocol Data Units) according to IEEE 802.11a / b / g / n / ac / ax / be / bn, etc.). In addition, in the present disclosure, operations in which various STAs generate transmission and reception signals or perform data processing or calculations in advance for transmission and reception signals may be performed in the processors (102, 202) of FIG. 1. For example, an example of an operation for generating a transmission / reception signal or performing data processing or operation in advance for a transmission / reception signal may include 1) an operation for determining / obtaining / configuring / computing / decoding / encoding bit information of a field (SIG (signal), STF (short training field), LTF (long training field), Data, etc.) included in a PPDU, 2) an operation for determining / configuring / obtaining time resources or frequency resources (e.g., subcarrier resources) used for a field (SIG, STF, LTF, Data, etc.) included in a PPDU, 3) an operation for determining / configuring / obtaining a specific sequence (e.g., a pilot sequence, an STF / LTF sequence, an extra sequence applied to SIG) used for a field (SIG, STF, LTF, Data, etc.) included in a PPDU, 4) a power control operation and / or a power saving operation applied to an STA, 5) an operation related to determining / obtaining / configuring / computing / decoding / encoding an ACK signal, etc. Additionally, in the examples below, various information (e.g., information related to fields / subfields / control fields / parameters / power, etc.) used by various STAs for determining / acquiring / configuring / computing / decoding / encoding transmission / reception signals can be stored in the memory (104, 204) of FIG. 1.

[0048] Hereinafter, downlink (DL) refers to a link for communication from an AP STA to a non-AP STA, and downlink PPDUs / packets / signals, etc. can be transmitted and received through the downlink. In downlink communication, the transmitter may be part of an AP STA, and the receiver may be part of a non-AP STA. Uplink (UL) refers to a link for communication from a non-AP STA to an AP STA, and uplink PPDUs / packets / signals, etc. can be transmitted and received through the uplink. In uplink communication, the transmitter may be part of a non-AP STA, and the receiver may be part of an AP STA.

[0049] FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an exemplary structure of a wireless LAN system to which the present disclosure can be applied.

[0050] The structure of a wireless LAN system can be composed of multiple components. Through the interaction of multiple components, a wireless LAN that supports transparent STA mobility to the upper layer can be provided. A Basic Service Set (BSS) corresponds to a basic building block of a wireless LAN. FIG. 2 illustrates, by way of example, the existence of two BSSs (BSS1 and BSS2) and the inclusion of two STAs as members of each BSS (STA1 and STA2 are included in BSS1, and STA3 and STA4 are included in BSS2). The oval representing a BSS in FIG. 2 can also be understood as representing a coverage area in which STAs included in the corresponding BSS maintain communication. This area can be referred to as a Basic Service Area (BSA). When an STA moves outside of a BSA, it cannot directly communicate with other STAs within the BSA.

[0051] If we do not consider the DS illustrated in Figure 2, the most basic type of BSS in a wireless LAN is an Independent BSS (IBSS). For example, an IBSS can have a minimal form consisting of only two STAs. For example, assuming other components are omitted, BSS1 consisting of only STA1 and STA2, or BSS2 consisting of only STA3 and STA4, can be representative examples of an IBSS, respectively. Such a configuration is possible when the STAs can communicate directly without an AP. Furthermore, in this type of WLAN, a LAN can be configured when needed rather than being planned in advance, and this can be called an ad-hoc network. Since an IBSS does not include an AP, there is no centralized management entity. That is, in an IBSS, STAs are managed in a distributed manner. In IBSS, all STAs can be mobile STAs, and access to distributed systems (DS) is not permitted, forming a self-contained network.

[0052] An STA's membership in a BSS can dynamically change, for example, when an STA is turned on or off, or when an STA enters or leaves a BSS area. To become a member of a BSS, an STA can join the BSS using a synchronization process. To access all services in the BSS infrastructure, an STA must be associated with the BSS. This association can be dynamically established and may involve the use of a Distribution System Service (DSS).

[0053] In a wireless LAN, the direct STA-to-STA distance can be limited by PHY performance. While this distance limit may be sufficient in some cases, communication between STAs over longer distances may be required in other cases. To support extended coverage, a distributed system (DS) can be configured.

[0054] DS refers to a structure in which BSSs are interconnected. Specifically, a BSS may exist as an extended component of a network composed of multiple BSSs, as illustrated in Figure 2. DS is a logical concept and can be specified by the characteristics of a distributed system medium (DSM). In this regard, the Wireless Medium (WM) and DSM can be logically distinguished. Each logical medium is used for a different purpose and by different components. These media are neither limited to being identical nor limited to being different. This logical difference between multiple media explains the flexibility of the WLAN architecture (DS architecture or other network architectures). In other words, the WLAN architecture can be implemented in various ways, and the physical characteristics of each implementation can independently specify the WLAN architecture.

[0055] A DS can support mobile devices by providing seamless integration of multiple BSSs and the logical services necessary to handle addresses to destinations. Additionally, a DS may further include a component called a portal, which acts as a bridge for connecting wireless LANs to other networks (e.g., IEEE 802.X).

[0056] An AP is an entity that enables access to a DS through a WM for associated non-AP STAs and also has the functionality of an STA. Data movement between a BSS and a DS can be performed through an AP. For example, STA2 and STA3 illustrated in FIG. 2 have the functionality of an STA and provide the function of allowing associated non-AP STAs (STA1 and STA4) to access the DS. In addition, since all APs are basically STAs, all APs are addressable entities. The address used by an AP for communication on a WM and the address used by an AP for communication on a DSM do not necessarily have to be the same. A BSS consisting of an AP and one or more STAs can be referred to as an infrastructure BSS.

[0057] Data transmitted from one of the STA(s) associated with an AP to the STA address of that AP may always be received on an uncontrolled port and processed by an IEEE 802.1X port access entity. In addition, if the controlled port is authenticated, the transmitted data (or frame) may be forwarded to the DS.

[0058] In addition to the structure of the DS described above, an extended service set (ESS) may be established to provide wider coverage.

[0059] An ESS is a network of arbitrary size and complexity, consisting of DSs and BSSs. An ESS may correspond to a set of BSSs connected to a DS. However, an ESS does not include a DS. An ESS network is characterized by appearing as an IBSS at the Logical Link Control (LLC) layer. STAs within an ESS can communicate with each other, and mobile STAs can move from one BSS to another (within the same ESS) transparently to the LLC. APs within an ESS may have the same SSID (service set identification). The SSID is distinct from the BSSID, which is the identifier of the BSS.

[0060] In a wireless LAN system, no assumptions are made about the relative physical locations of BSSs, and all of the following configurations are possible: BSSs can be partially overlapping, which is commonly used to provide continuous coverage. BSSs can also be physically disconnected, and there is no logical distance limit between them. BSSs can also be physically co-located, which can be used to provide redundancy. Furthermore, one (or more) IBSS or ESS networks can physically co-exist with one (or more) ESS networks. This can occur in cases where an ad-hoc network operates at the same location as an ESS network, where physically overlapping wireless networks are configured by different organizations, or where two or more different access and security policies are required at the same location.

[0061] FIG. 3 is a diagram for explaining a link setup process to which the present disclosure can be applied.

[0062] For an STA to set up a link and transmit and receive data on a network, it must first discover the network, perform authentication, establish an association, and complete security authentication procedures. The link setup process can also be referred to as the session initiation process or session setup process. Furthermore, the discovery, authentication, association, and security setup processes of the link setup process can be collectively referred to as the association process.

[0063] In step S310, the STA may perform a network discovery operation. This network discovery operation may include scanning operations by the STA. That is, for the STA to access a network, it must search for available networks. Before joining a wireless network, the STA must identify compatible networks. The process of identifying networks in a specific area is called scanning.

[0064] Scanning methods include active scanning and passive scanning. Figure 3 illustrates a network discovery operation including an active scanning process as an example. In active scanning, an STA performing scanning transmits a probe request frame to discover any APs in the vicinity while moving between channels and waits for a response. The responder transmits a probe response frame in response to the STA that transmitted the probe request frame. Here, the responder may be the STA that last transmitted a beacon frame in the BSS of the channel being scanned. In the BSS, the AP transmits the beacon frame, so the AP becomes the responder. In the IBSS, the STAs within the IBSS take turns transmitting beacon frames, so the responder is not fixed. For example, an STA that transmits a probe request frame on channel 1 and receives a probe response frame on channel 1 can store BSS-related information included in the received probe response frame and move to the next channel (e.g., channel 2) to perform scanning (i.e., transmitting and receiving probe requests / responses on channel 2) in the same manner.

[0065] Although not shown in Figure 3, the scanning operation can also be performed in a passive scanning manner. In passive scanning, the STA performing the scanning moves between channels and waits for a beacon frame. A beacon frame is one of the management frames defined in IEEE 802.11. It announces the existence of a wireless network and is periodically transmitted so that the STA performing the scanning can find the wireless network and participate in the wireless network. In the BSS, the AP performs the role of periodically transmitting the beacon frame, and in the IBSS, the STAs within the IBSS take turns transmitting the beacon frame. When the STA performing the scanning receives a beacon frame, it stores the information about the BSS included in the beacon frame and moves to another channel, recording the beacon frame information on each channel. The STA receiving the beacon frame stores the BSS-related information included in the received beacon frame and moves to the next channel to perform scanning on the next channel in the same manner. Comparing active scanning and passive scanning, active scanning has the advantage of lower delay and power consumption than passive scanning.

[0066] After the STA discovers the network, an authentication process may be performed in step S320. This authentication process may be referred to as the first authentication process to clearly distinguish it from the security setup operation of step S340 described below.

[0067] The authentication process involves the STA sending an authentication request frame to the AP, and the AP responding by sending an authentication response frame to the STA. The authentication frame used for the authentication request / response corresponds to a management frame.

[0068] The authentication frame may include information such as an authentication algorithm number, an authentication transaction sequence number, a status code, a challenge text, a Robust Security Network (RSN), and a Finite Cyclic Group. These are just some examples of information that may be included in an authentication request / response frame, and may be replaced with other information or include additional information.

[0069] An STA can send an authentication request frame to an AP. The AP can determine whether to grant authentication to the STA based on the information contained in the received authentication request frame. The AP can provide the result of the authentication process to the STA via an authentication response frame.

[0070] After the STA is successfully authenticated, an association process may be performed in step S330. The association process includes a process in which the STA transmits an association request frame to the AP, and in response, the AP transmits an association response frame to the STA.

[0071] For example, the association request frame may include information about various capabilities, a beacon listen interval, a service set identifier (SSID), supported rates, supported channels, an RSN, a mobility domain, supported operating classes, a Traffic Indication Map Broadcast request, interworking service capabilities, etc. For example, the association response frame may include information about various capabilities, a status code, an Association ID (AID), supported rates, an Enhanced Distributed Channel Access (EDCA) parameter set, a Received Channel Power Indicator (RCPI), a Received Signal to Noise Indicator (RSNI), a mobility domain, a timeout interval (e.g., an association comeback time), overlapping BSS scan parameters, a TIM broadcast response, a Quality of Service (QoS) map, etc. These are just some examples of information that may be included in a combined request / response frame, and may be replaced by other information or include additional information.

[0072] After the STA successfully joins the network, a security setup process may be performed in step S340. The security setup process in step S340 may be referred to as an authentication process through a Robust Security Network Association (RSNA) request / response, the authentication process in step S320 may be referred to as a first authentication process, and the security setup process in step S340 may also be referred to simply as an authentication process.

[0073] The security setup process of step S340 may include, for example, a process of establishing a private key through a four-way handshaking using an Extensible Authentication Protocol over LAN (EAPOL) frame. Furthermore, the security setup process may be performed according to a security method not defined in the IEEE 802.11 standard.

[0074] FIG. 4 is a diagram for explaining a backoff process to which the present disclosure can be applied.

[0075] In wireless LAN systems, the basic access mechanism of MAC (Medium Access Control) is Carrier Sense Multiple Access with Collision Avoidance (CSMA / CA). The CSMA / CA mechanism, also known as the Distributed Coordination Function (DCF) of the IEEE 802.11 MAC, essentially employs a "listen before talk" access mechanism. According to this type of access mechanism, the AP and / or STA may perform a Clear Channel Assessment (CCA) to sense the wireless channel or medium for a predetermined time period (e.g., a DCF Inter-Frame Space (DIFS)) before starting transmission. If the sensing result determines that the medium is in an idle state, the AP and / or STA may start transmitting frames through the medium. On the other hand, if the medium is detected to be occupied or busy, the AP and / or STA may not start its own transmission, but may wait for a delay period (e.g., a random backoff period) for medium access before attempting to transmit frames. By applying a random backoff period, multiple STAs are expected to attempt to transmit frames after waiting for different periods of time, thereby minimizing collisions.

[0076] In addition, the IEEE 802.11 MAC protocol provides the Hybrid Coordination Function (HCF). The HCF is based on the DCF and the Point Coordination Function (PCF). The PCF is a polling-based synchronous access method that periodically polls all receiving APs and / or STAs to ensure that they receive data frames. In addition, the HCF has the Enhanced Distributed Channel Access (EDCA) and the HCF Controlled Channel Access (HCCA). The EDCA is a contention-based access method for a provider to provide data frames to multiple users, while the HCCA uses a non-contention-based channel access method that utilizes a polling mechanism. In addition, the HCF includes a medium access mechanism to improve the Quality of Service (QoS) of the wireless LAN, and can transmit QoS data in both the Contention Period (CP) and the Contention Free Period (CFP).

[0077] Referring to Fig. 4, an operation based on a random backoff period is described. When a medium that was occupied / busy changes to an idle state, multiple STAs can attempt to transmit data (or frames). To minimize collisions, each STA can select a random backoff count, wait for the corresponding slot time, and then attempt transmission. The random backoff count has a pseudo-random integer value and can be determined as one of the values ​​in the range of 0 to CW. Here, CW is a contention window parameter value. The CW parameter is given an initial value of CWmin, but can take a value doubled in case of transmission failure (e.g., when an ACK for a transmitted frame is not received). When the CW parameter value becomes CWmax, data transmission can be attempted while maintaining the CWmax value until data transmission is successful, and if data transmission is successful, it is reset to the CWmin value. The CW, CWmin, and CWmax values ​​are 2. n It is desirable to set it to -1 (n=0, 1, 2, ...).

[0078] Once the random backoff process begins, the STA continues to monitor the medium while counting down the backoff slots according to the determined backoff count value. If the medium is monitored as occupied, the countdown stops and waits. When the medium becomes idle, the remaining countdown resumes.

[0079] In the example of FIG. 4, when a packet to be transmitted reaches the MAC of STA3, STA3 can immediately transmit a frame if it confirms that the medium is idle for DIFS. The remaining STAs monitor the medium for occupied / busy states and wait. In the meantime, data to be transmitted may also occur in each of STA1, STA2, and STA5, and each STA can count down the backoff slot according to a random backoff count value selected by each STA after waiting for DIFS if the medium is monitored as idle. Assume that STA2 selects the smallest backoff count value and STA1 selects the largest backoff count value. In other words, this example shows a case where the remaining backoff time of STA5 is shorter than the remaining backoff time of STA1 when STA2 finishes the backoff count and starts frame transmission. STA1 and STA5 briefly stop counting down and wait while STA2 occupies the medium. When STA2's occupation ends and the medium becomes idle again, STA1 and STA5 wait for DIFS and then resume the backoff count that they had stopped. That is, they can start transmitting frames after counting down the remaining backoff slots equal to the remaining backoff time. Since STA5's remaining backoff time is shorter than STA1's, STA5 starts transmitting frames. While STA2 occupies the medium, STA4 may also have data to transmit. From STA4's perspective, when the medium becomes idle, it waits for DIFS, counts down according to its selected random backoff count value, and then starts transmitting frames. In the example of Figure 4, the remaining backoff time of STA5 coincidentally matches the random backoff count value of STA4, in which case a collision may occur between STA4 and STA5. If a collision occurs, neither STA4 nor STA5 will receive an ACK, resulting in a failure in data transmission.In this case, STA4 and STA5 can select a random backoff count value and perform a countdown after doubling the CW value. STA1 waits while the medium is occupied by transmissions from STA4 and STA5, and when the medium becomes idle, it waits for DIFS and can start transmitting frames after the remaining backoff time elapses.

[0080] As in the example of Fig. 4, a data frame is a frame used for transmitting data forwarded to a higher layer, and can be transmitted after a backoff performed after DIFS elapses from when the medium becomes idle. Additionally, a management frame is a frame used for exchanging management information that is not forwarded to a higher layer, and is transmitted after a backoff performed after an IFS elapses, such as DIFS or PIFS (Point coordination function IFS). Subtype frames of a management frame include a beacon, an association request / response, a re-association request / response, a probe request / response, and an authentication request / response. A control frame is a frame used to control access to the medium. The subtype frames of the control frame include Request-To-Send (RTS), Clear-To-Send (CTS), Acknowledgment (ACK), Power Save-Poll (PS-Poll), Block ACK (BlockAck), Block ACK Request (BlockACKReq), Null Data Packet Announcement (NDP), and Trigger. If the control frame is not a response frame to the previous frame, it is transmitted after a backoff performed after the DIFS (Direct Inverse Frame Stop) has elapsed, and if it is a response frame to the previous frame, it is transmitted without a backoff performed after the SIFS (short IFS). The type and subtype of the frame can be identified by the type field and subtype field in the Frame Control (FC) field.

[0081] A QoS (Quality of Service) STA can transmit a frame after a backoff performed after the AIFS (arbitration IFS) for the access category (AC) to which the frame belongs, i.e., AIFS[i] (where i is a value determined by the AC), has elapsed. Here, the frames for which AIFS[i] can be used can be data frames, management frames, and also control frames that are not response frames.

[0082] FIG. 5 is a diagram for explaining a CSMA / CA-based frame transmission operation to which the present disclosure can be applied.

[0083] As mentioned above, the CSMA / CA mechanism includes virtual carrier sensing in addition to physical carrier sensing, in which STAs directly sense the medium. Virtual carrier sensing is intended to address potential issues in medium access, such as the hidden node problem. For virtual carrier sensing, the MAC of an STA can utilize a Network Allocation Vector (NAV). The NAV is a value that an STA that is currently using or has the right to use the medium indicates to other STAs the remaining time until the medium becomes available. Therefore, the value set as NAV corresponds to the period during which the STA transmitting the frame is scheduled to use the medium, and an STA receiving the NAV value is prohibited from accessing the medium during that period. For example, the NAV can be set based on the value of the "duration" field in the MAC header of the frame.

[0084] In the example of FIG. 5, it is assumed that STA1 wants to transmit data to STA2, and STA3 is in a position to overhear some or all of the frames transmitted and received between STA1 and STA2.

[0085] In order to reduce the possibility of collisions in transmissions of multiple STAs in a CSMA / CA-based frame transmission operation, a mechanism using RTS / CTS frames may be applied. In the example of FIG. 5, while STA1 is transmitting, STA3 may determine that the medium is idle based on carrier sensing results. That is, STA1 may correspond to a hidden node for STA3. Alternatively, in the example of FIG. 5, while STA2 is transmitting, STA3 may determine that the medium is idle based on carrier sensing results. That is, STA2 may correspond to a hidden node for STA3. By exchanging RTS / CTS frames before performing data transmission and reception between STA1 and STA2, STAs outside the transmission range of either STA1 or STA2, or STAs outside the carrier sensing range for transmissions from STA1 or STA3, may not attempt to occupy the channel during data transmission and reception between STA1 and STA2.

[0086] Specifically, STA1 can determine whether a channel is occupied through carrier sensing. In terms of physical carrier sensing, STA1 can determine channel occupancy idleness based on the energy level or signal correlation detected in the channel. Furthermore, in terms of virtual carrier sensing, STA1 can determine the channel occupancy status using a network allocation vector (NAV) timer.

[0087] STA1 can transmit an RTS frame to STA2 after performing a backoff if the channel is idle during the DIFS. STA2 can transmit a CTS frame, which is a response to the RTS frame, to STA1 after an SIFS if it receives the RTS frame.

[0088] If STA3 cannot overhear a CTS frame from STA2 but can overhear an RTS frame from STA1, STA3 can use the duration information contained in the RTS frame to set a NAV timer for the subsequent consecutively transmitted frame transmission period (e.g., SIFS + CTS frame + SIFS + data frame + SIFS + ACK frame). Alternatively, if STA3 cannot overhear an RTS frame from STA1 but can overhear a CTS frame from STA2, STA3 can use the duration information contained in the CTS frame to set a NAV timer for the subsequent consecutively transmitted frame transmission period (e.g., SIFS + data frame + SIFS + ACK frame). That is, if STA3 can overhear one or more of the RTS or CTS frames from one or more of STA1 or STA2, it can set a NAV accordingly. If STA3 receives a new frame before the NAV timer expires, it can update the NAV timer using the duration information contained in the new frame. STA3 does not attempt channel access until the NAV timer expires.

[0089] If STA1 receives a CTS frame from STA2, it can transmit a data frame to STA2 after SIFS from the time when the CTS frame is completely received. If STA2 successfully receives the data frame, it can transmit an ACK frame in response to the data frame to STA1 after SIFS. STA3 can determine whether the channel is in use through carrier sensing if the NAV timer expires. If STA3 determines that the channel is not in use by another terminal during the DIFS after the NAV timer expires, it can attempt channel access after a contention window (CW) based on a random backoff has elapsed.

[0090] FIG. 6 is a drawing for explaining an example of a frame structure used in a wireless LAN system to which the present disclosure can be applied.

[0091] The PHY layer can prepare an MPDU (MAC PDU) to be transmitted based on an instruction or primitive (meaning a set of instructions or parameters) from the MAC layer. For example, when a command requesting the start of transmission of the PHY layer is received from the MAC layer, the PHY layer can switch to transmission mode and transmit the information (e.g., data) provided by the MAC layer in the form of a frame. In addition, when the PHY layer detects a valid preamble of the received frame, it monitors the header of the preamble and sends a command to the MAC layer notifying the start of reception of the PHY layer.

[0092] In this way, information transmission / reception in a wireless LAN system is done in the form of frames, and for this purpose, the PHY layer Protocol Data Unit (PPDU) format is defined.

[0093] A basic PPDU may include a Short Training Field (STF), a Long Training Field (LTF), a SIGNAL (SIG) field, and a Data field. The most basic (e.g., non-HT (High Throughput) as illustrated in FIG. 7) PPDU format may consist of only the Legacy-STF (L-STF), Legacy-LTF (L-LTF), Legacy-SIG (L-SIG) fields, and a Data field. Additionally, depending on the type of PPDU format (e.g., HT-mixed format PPDU, HT-greenfield format PPDU, VHT (Very High Throughput) PPDU, etc.), additional (or different types of) RL-SIG, U-SIG, non-legacy SIG field, non-legacy STF, non-legacy LTF, (i.e., xx-SIG, xx-STF, xx-LTF (e.g., xx is HT, VHT, HE, EHT, etc.)) may be included between the L-SIG field and the data field. More specific details will be described later with reference to FIG. 7.

[0094] STF is a signal for signal detection, AGC (Automatic Gain Control), diversity selection, and precise time synchronization, while LTF is a signal for channel estimation, frequency error estimation, etc. STF and LTF can be said to be signals for synchronization and channel estimation of the OFDM physical layer.

[0095] The SIG field may include various information related to PPDU transmission and reception. For example, the L-SIG field may consist of 24 bits and may include a 4-bit Rate field, a 1-bit Reserved bit, a 12-bit Length field, a 1-bit Parity field, and a 6-bit Tail field. The RATE field may include information about the modulation and coding rate of data. For example, the 12-bit Length field may include information about the length or time duration of the PPDU. For example, the value of the 12-bit Length field may be determined based on the type of the PPDU. For example, for a non-HT, HT, VHT, or EHT PPDU, the value of the Length field may be determined as a multiple of 3. For example, for HE PPDU, the value of the Length field can be determined as a multiple of 3 + 1 or a multiple of 3 + 2.

[0096] The data field may include a SERVICE field, a Physical layer Service Data Unit (PSDU), a PPDU TAIL bit, and, if necessary, padding bits. Some bits of the SERVICE field may be used to synchronize the descrambler at the receiving end. The PSDU corresponds to a MAC PDU defined at the MAC layer and may contain data generated / used by upper layers. The PPDU TAIL bit may be used to return the encoder to a 0 state. The padding bit may be used to adjust the length of the data field to a predetermined unit.

[0097] MAC PDUs are defined according to various MAC frame formats, and a basic MAC frame consists of a MAC header, a frame body, and a Frame Check Sequence (FCS). A MAC frame is composed of MAC PDUs and can be transmitted / received through the PSDU in the data portion of the PPDU format.

[0098] The MAC header includes a Frame Control field, a Duration / ID field, an Address field, etc. The Frame Control field may include control information required for frame transmission / reception. The Duration / ID field may be set to a time for transmitting the corresponding frame, etc. The Address subfields may indicate the receiver address, transmitter address, destination address, and source address of the frame, and some Address subfields may be omitted. For specific details of each subfield of the MAC header, including the Sequence Control, QoS Control, and HT Control subfields, refer to the IEEE 802.11 standard document.

[0099] The Null-Data PPDU (NDP) format refers to a PPDU format that does not include a data field. In other words, NDP refers to a frame format that includes a PPDU preamble (i.e., L-STF, L-LTF, L-SIG fields, and, if additionally present, non-legacy SIG, non-legacy STF, and non-legacy LTF) in the general PPDU format, and does not include the remaining part (i.e., data field).

[0100] FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating examples of PPDUs defined in the IEEE 802.11 standard to which the present disclosure can be applied.

[0101] Standards such as IEEE 802.11a / g / n / ac / ax use various PPDU formats. The basic PPDU format (IEEE 802.11a / g) includes L-LTF, L-STF, L-SIG, and Data fields. The basic PPDU format can also be referred to as the non-HT PPDU format (Fig. 7(a)).

[0102] The HT PPDU format (IEEE 802.11n) additionally includes HT-SIG, HT-STF, and HT-LFT(s) fields in addition to the basic PPDU format. The HT PPDU format illustrated in Fig. 7(b) may be referred to as an HT-mixed format. Additionally, an HT-greenfield format PPDU may be defined, which corresponds to a format that does not include L-STF, L-LTF, and L-SIG, but consists of HT-GF-STF, HT-LTF1, HT-SIG, one or more HT-LTF, and Data fields (not illustrated).

[0103] An example of the VHT PPDU format (IEEE 802.11ac) includes VHT SIG-A, VHT-STF, VHT-LTF, and VHT-SIG-B fields in addition to the basic PPDU format (Fig. 7(c)).

[0104] An example of a HE PPDU format (IEEE 802.11ax) additionally includes RL-SIG (Repeated L-SIG), HE-SIG-A, HE-SIG-B, HE-STF, HE-LTF(s), and PE (Packet Extension) fields in addition to the basic PPDU format (Fig. 7(d)). Depending on specific examples of the HE PPDU format, some fields may be excluded or their lengths may vary. For example, the HE-SIG-B field is included in the HE PPDU format for multi-users (MUs), but the HE PPDU format for single users (SUs) does not include the HE-SIG-B. In addition, the HE trigger-based (TB) PPDU format does not include the HE-SIG-B, and the length of the HE-STF field may vary to 8us. The HE ER (Extended Range) SU PPDU format does not include the HE-SIG-B field, and the length of the HE-SIG-A field may vary to 16us. For example, RL-SIG can be configured identically to L-SIG. The receiving STA can determine that the received PPDU is a HE PPDU or an EHT PPDU, described later, based on the presence of RL-SIG.

[0105] The EHT PPDU format may include the EHT MU (multi-user) PPDU of FIG. 7(e) and the EHT TB (trigger-based) PPDU of FIG. 7(f). The EHT PPDU format is similar to the HE PPDU format in that it includes an RL-SIG following an L-SIG, but may include a U (universal)-SIG, an EHT-SIG, an EHT-STF, and an EHT-LTF following the RL-SIG.

[0106] The EHT MU PPDU in FIG. 7(e) corresponds to a PPDU that carries one or more data (or PSDUs) for one or more users. That is, the EHT MU PPDU can be used for both SU transmission and MU transmission. For example, the EHT MU PPDU can correspond to a PPDU for one receiving STA or multiple receiving STAs.

[0107] The EHT TB PPDU of Fig. 7(f) omits the EHT-SIG compared to the EHT MU PPDU. An STA that has received a trigger for UL MU transmission (e.g., a trigger frame or TRS (triggered response scheduling)) can perform UL transmission based on the EHT TB PPDU format.

[0108] The L-STF, L-LTF, L-SIG, RL-SIG, U-SIG (Universal SIGNAL), and EHT-SIG fields can be encoded and modulated to allow legacy STAs to attempt demodulation and decoding, and mapped based on a predetermined subcarrier frequency interval (e.g., 312.5 kHz). These can be referred to as pre-EHT modulated fields. Next, the EHT-STF, EHT-LTF, Data, and PE fields can be encoded and modulated to allow STAs that have successfully decoded non-legacy SIGs (e.g., U-SIG and / or EHT-SIG) and obtained the information contained in the fields, and mapped based on a predetermined subcarrier frequency interval (e.g., 78.125 kHz). These can be referred to as EHT modulated fields.

[0109] Similarly, in the HE PPDU format, the L-STF, L-LTF, L-SIG, RL-SIG, HE-SIG-A, and HE-SIG-B fields may be referred to as pre-HE modulation fields, and the HE-STF, HE-LTF, Data, and PE fields may be referred to as HE modulation fields. Additionally, in the VHT PPDU format, the L-STF, L-LTF, L-SIG, and VHT-SIG-A fields may be referred to as pre-VHT modulation fields, and the VHT STF, VHT-LTF, VHT-SIG-B, and Data fields may be referred to as VHT modulation fields.

[0110] The U-SIG included in the EHT PPDU format of FIG. 7 can be configured based on, for example, two symbols (e.g., two consecutive OFDM symbols). Each symbol (e.g., OFDM symbol) for the U-SIG can have a duration of 4 us, and the U-SIG can have a total duration of 8 us. Each symbol of the U-SIG can be used to transmit 26 bits of information. For example, each symbol of the U-SIG can be transmitted and received based on 52 data tones and 4 pilot tones.

[0111] U-SIGs can be configured in 20MHz units. For example, when an 80MHz PPDU is configured, the same U-SIG can be duplicated in 20MHz units. That is, four identical U-SIGs can be included in an 80MHz PPDU. When the bandwidth exceeds 80MHz, for example, for a 160MHz PPDU, the U-SIGs in the first 80MHz unit and the U-SIGs in the second 80MHz unit can be different.

[0112] For example, A uncoded bits may be transmitted via U-SIG, and a first symbol of U-SIG (e.g., a U-SIG-1 symbol) may transmit the first X bits of information out of a total A bits of information, and a second symbol of U-SIG (e.g., a U-SIG-2 symbol) may transmit the remaining Y bits of information out of a total A bits of information. The A bits of information (e.g., 52 uncoded bits) may include a CRC field (e.g., a field of 4 bits in length) and a tail field (e.g., a field of 6 bits in length). The tail field may be used to terminate the trellis of the convolutional decoder and may be set to 0, for example.

[0113] The A bit information transmitted by U-SIG can be divided into version-independent bits and version-dependent bits. For example, U-SIG can be included in a new PPDU format (e.g., UHR PPDU format) not shown in FIG. 7, and in the format of the U-SIG field included in the EHT PPDU format and the format of the U-SIG field included in the UHR PPDU format, the version-independent bits can be the same, and some or all of the version-dependent bits can be different.

[0114] For example, the size of the version-independent bits of U-SIG can be fixed or variable. The version-independent bits can be assigned only to U-SIG-1 symbols, or to both U-SIG-1 symbols and U-SIG-2 symbols. The version-independent bits and the version-dependent bits can be called by various names, such as the first control bit and the second control bit.

[0115] For example, the version-independent bits of the U-SIG may include a 3-bit PHY version identifier, which may indicate the PHY version (e.g., EHT, UHR, etc.) of the transmitted and received PPDUs. The version-independent bits of the U-SIG may include a 1-bit UL / DL flag field. The first value of the 1-bit UL / DL flag field relates to UL communication, and the second value of the UL / DL flag field relates to DL communication. The version-independent bits of the U-SIG may include information about the length of a transmission opportunity (TXOP) and information about a BSS color ID.

[0116] For example, the version-dependent bits of the U-SIG may contain information that directly or indirectly indicates the type of PPDU (e.g., SU PPDU, MU PPDU, TB PPDU, etc.).

[0117] Information required for PPDU transmission and reception may be included in the U-SIG. For example, the U-SIG may further include information about bandwidth, information about the MCS technique applied to the non-legacy SIG (e.g., EHT-SIG or UHR-SIG), information indicating whether a dual carrier modulation (DCM) technique (e.g., a technique to achieve an effect similar to frequency diversity by reusing the same signal on two subcarriers) is applied to the non-legacy SIG, information about the number of symbols used for the non-legacy SIG, information about whether the non-legacy SIG is generated across the entire band, etc.

[0118] Some of the information required for transmitting and receiving a PPDU may be included in the U-SIG and / or the non-legacy SIG (e.g., EHT-SIG or UHR-SIG, etc.). For example, information about the type of the non-legacy LTF / STF (e.g., EHT-LTF / EHT-STF or UHR-LTF / UHR-STF, etc.), information about the length of the non-legacy LTF and the cyclic prefix (CP) length, information about the guard interval (GI) applicable to the non-legacy LTF, information about preamble puncturing applicable to the PPDU, information about resource unit (RU) allocation, etc. may be included only in the U-SIG, may be included only in the non-legacy SIG, or may be indicated by a combination of the information included in the U-SIG and the information included in the non-legacy SIG.

[0119] Preamble puncturing may refer to the transmission of a PPDU in which no signal is present in one or more frequency units within the PPDU's bandwidth. For example, the size of the frequency unit (or the resolution of the preamble puncturing) may be defined as 20 MHz, 40 MHz, etc. For example, preamble puncturing may be applied to a PPDU bandwidth greater than a certain size.

[0120] In the example of FIG. 7, non-legacy SIGs such as HE-SIG-B and EHT-SIG may include control information for the receiving STA. The non-legacy SIG may be transmitted over at least one symbol, and each symbol may have a length of 4 us. Information regarding the number of symbols used for the EHT-SIG may be included in a previous SIG (e.g., HE-SIG-A, U-SIG, etc.).

[0121] Non-legacy SIGs, such as HE-SIG-B and EHT-SIG, may contain common fields and user-specific fields. Common and user-specific fields may be coded separately.

[0122] In some cases, common fields may be omitted. For example, in a compressed mode where non-OFDMA (orthogonal frequency multiple access) is applied, common fields may be omitted, and multiple STAs may receive PPDUs (e.g., data fields of PPDUs) over the same frequency band. In a non-compressed mode where OFDMA is applied, multiple users may receive PPDUs (e.g., data fields of PPDUs) over different frequency bands.

[0123] The number of user-specific fields can be determined based on the number of users. A single user block field can contain up to two user fields. Each user field can be associated with either MU-MIMO allocation or non-MU-MIMO allocation.

[0124] The common field may include CRC bits and Tail bits, the length of the CRC bits may be determined as 4 bits, and the length of the Tail bits may be determined as 6 bits and set to 000000. The common field may include RU allocation information. The RU allocation information may include information about the location of RUs to which multiple users (i.e., multiple receiving STAs) are allocated.

[0125] An RU can contain multiple subcarriers (or tones). RUs can be used when transmitting signals to multiple STAs based on OFDMA techniques. RUs can also be defined when transmitting signals to a single STA. Resources can be allocated on an RU basis for non-legacy STFs, non-legacy LTFs, and data fields.

[0126] Depending on the PPDU bandwidth, an applicable RU size can be defined. The RU may be defined identically or differently for the applicable PPDU format (e.g., HE PPDU, EHT PPDU, UHR PPDU, etc.). For example, in the case of an 80MHz PPDU, the RU arrangements of HE PPDU and EHT PPDU may be different. The applicable RU size, RU number, RU position, DC (direct current) subcarrier position and number, null subcarrier position and number, guard subcarrier position and number, etc. for each PPDU bandwidth can be referred to as a tone plan. For example, a tone plan for a wide bandwidth can be defined in the form of multiple repetitions of a low bandwidth tone plan.

[0127] RUs of different sizes can be defined, such as 26-ton RU, 52-ton RU, 106-ton RU, 242-ton RU, 484-ton RU, 996-ton RU, 2X996-ton RU, 4X996-ton RU, etc. A multiple RU (MRU) is distinguished from multiple individual RUs and corresponds to a group of subcarriers consisting of multiple RUs. For example, one MRU can be defined as 52+26-tons, 106+26-tons, 484+242-tons, 996+484-tons, 996+484+242-tons, 2X996+484-tons, 3X996-tons, or 3X996+484-tons. Additionally, multiple RUs constituting one MRU may or may not be consecutive in the frequency domain.

[0128] The specific size of an RU may be reduced or expanded. Therefore, the specific size of each RU (i.e., the number of corresponding tones) in the present disclosure is not limited and is exemplary. Furthermore, within a given bandwidth (e.g., 20, 40, 80, 160, 320 MHz, etc.) in the present disclosure, the number of RUs may vary depending on the RU size.

[0129] The names of each field in the PPDU formats of FIG. 7 are exemplary and the scope of the present disclosure is not limited by those names. Furthermore, the examples of the present disclosure can be applied not only to the PPDU format exemplified in FIG. 7, but also to a new PPDU format in which some fields are excluded and / or some fields are added based on the PPDU formats of FIG. 7.

[0130] Resource Unit

[0131] FIGS. 8 to 10 are diagrams for explaining examples of resource units of a wireless LAN system to which the present disclosure can be applied.

[0132] Referring to FIGS. 8 to 10, a resource unit (RU) defined in a wireless LAN system is described. An RU may include multiple subcarriers (or tones). An RU may be used when transmitting signals to multiple STAs based on OFDMA techniques. An RU may also be defined when transmitting signals to a single STA. An RU may be used for the STF, LTF, and data fields of a PPDU.

[0133] As illustrated in FIGS. 8 to 10, RUs corresponding to different numbers of tones (i.e., subcarriers) may be used to configure some fields of a 20 MHz, 40 MHz, or 80 MHz X-PPDU (X represents HE, EHT, etc.). For example, resources may be allocated in units of RUs illustrated for the X-STF, X-LTF, and Data fields.

[0134] Figure 8 is a diagram showing an exemplary arrangement of resource units (RUs) used on a 20 MHz band.

[0135] As shown at the top of Fig. 8, 26 units (i.e., units corresponding to 26 tones) may be allocated. Six tones may be used as a guard band in the leftmost band of the 20 MHz band, and five tones may be used as a guard band in the rightmost band of the 20 MHz band. In addition, seven DC tones may be inserted in the center band, i.e., the DC band, and 26 units corresponding to 13 tones may exist on each side of the DC band. In addition, 26 units, 52 units, and 106 units may be allocated to other bands. Each unit may be allocated for an STA or a user.

[0136] The RU arrangement of Fig. 8 can be utilized not only in situations for multiple users (MUs) but also in situations for a single user (SU), in which case it is possible to use one 242-unit as shown at the bottom of Fig. 8. In this case, three DC tones can be inserted.

[0137] In the example of FIG. 8, RUs of various sizes, such as 26-RU, 52-RU, 106-RU, and 242-RU, are exemplified, but the specific sizes of these RUs may be reduced or expanded. Therefore, the specific size of each RU (i.e., the number of corresponding tones) in the present disclosure is not limited and is exemplary. In addition, in the present disclosure, within a given bandwidth (e.g., 20, 40, 80, 160, 320 MHz, ...), the number of RUs may vary depending on the RU size. In the examples of FIG. 9 and / or FIG. 10 described below, the fact that the size and / or number of RUs may be changed is the same as the example of FIG. 8.

[0138] Figure 9 is a diagram showing an exemplary arrangement of resource units (RUs) used on a 40 MHz band.

[0139] As in the example of FIG. 8 where RUs of various sizes were used, the example of FIG. 9 may also use 26-RU, 52-RU, 106-RU, 242-RU, 484-RU, etc. In addition, five DC tones may be inserted at the center frequency, 12 tones may be used as a guard band in the leftmost band of the 40 MHz band, and 11 tones may be used as a guard band in the rightmost band of the 40 MHz band.

[0140] Additionally, as shown, when used for a single user, 484-RU may be used.

[0141] Figure 10 is a diagram showing an exemplary arrangement of resource units (RUs) used on the 80 MHz band.

[0142] As in the examples of FIGS. 8 and 9 where RUs of various sizes were used, the example of FIG. 10 may also use 26-RU, 52-RU, 106-RU, 242-RU, 484-RU, 996-RU, etc. In addition, in the case of 80MHz PPDU, the RU arrangement of HE PPDU and EHT PPDU may be different, and the example of FIG. 10 shows an example of the RU arrangement for 80MHz EHT PPDU. In the example of FIG. 10, 12 tones are used as guard bands in the leftmost band of the 80MHz band, and 11 tones are used as guard bands in the rightmost band of the 80MHz band, which is the same for HE PPDU and EHT PPDU. Unlike the HE PPDU, which has seven DC tones inserted into the DC band and one 26-RU corresponding to 13 tones on each side of the DC band, the EHT PPDU has 23 DC tones inserted into the DC band and one 26-RU corresponding to 13 tones on each side of the DC band. Unlike the HE PPDU, which has one null subcarrier between the 242-RUs other than the center band, the EHT PPDU has five null subcarriers. In the HE PPDU, one 484-RU does not contain a null subcarrier, but in the EHT PPDU, one 484-RU contains five null subcarriers.

[0143] Also, as shown, when used for a single user, 996-RU can be used, in which case the insertion of 5 DC tones is common in both HE PPDU and EHT PPDU.

[0144] An EHT PPDU of 160MHz or higher may be configured with multiple 80MHz subblocks as shown in FIG. 10. The RU layout for each 80MHz subblock may be the same as the RU layout of the 80MHz EHT PPDU as shown in FIG. 10. If an 80MHz subblock of a 160MHz or 320MHz EHT PPDU is not punctured and the entire 80MHz subblock is used as part of an RU or MRU (Multiple RU), the 80MHz subblock may use 996-RU as shown in FIG. 10.

[0145] Here, an MRU corresponds to a group of subcarriers (or tones) composed of multiple RUs, and the multiple RUs constituting an MRU may be RUs of the same size or different sizes. For example, a single MRU may be defined as 52+26-tones, 106+26-tones, 484+242-tones, 996+484-tones, 996+484+242-tones, 2X996+484-tones, 3X996-tones, or 3X996+484-tones. Here, the multiple RUs constituting one MRU may correspond to RUs of small size (e.g., 26, 52, 106) or RUs of large size (e.g., 242, 484, 996, etc.). That is, a single MRU containing both small-sized RUs and large-sized RUs may not be configured / defined. Furthermore, multiple RUs constituting a single MRU may or may not be consecutive in the frequency domain.

[0146] If an 80MHz subblock contains RUs smaller than 996 tones, or portions of the 80MHz subblock are punctured, the 80MHz subblock may use RU layouts other than the 996-tone RUs.

[0147] The RU of the present disclosure can be used for uplink (UL) and / or downlink (DL) communication. For example, when trigger-based UL-MU communication is performed, an STA (e.g., an AP) transmitting a trigger can allocate a first RU (e.g., 26 / 52 / 106 / 242-RU, etc.) to a first STA and a second RU (e.g., 26 / 52 / 106 / 242-RU, etc.) to a second STA through trigger information (e.g., a trigger frame or triggered response scheduling (TRS)). Thereafter, the first STA can transmit a first trigger-based (TB) PPDU based on the first RU, and the second STA can transmit a second TB PPDU based on the second RU. The first / second TB PPDU can be transmitted to the AP in the same time interval.

[0148] For example, when a DL MU PPDU is configured, an STA (e.g., an AP) transmitting a DL MU PPDU may allocate a first RU (e.g., 26 / 52 / 106 / 242-RU, etc.) to a first STA, and a second RU (e.g., 26 / 52 / 106 / 242-RU, etc.) to a second STA. That is, the transmitting STA (e.g., the AP) may transmit X-STF (e.g., X is HE, EHT, etc.), X-LTF, and Data fields for the first STA through the first RU within one MU PPDU, and may transmit X-STF, X-LTF, and Data fields for the second STA through the second RU. Information about the arrangement of RUs may be signaled through an X-SIG (e.g., X is HE, EHT, U) field of the X-PPDU format.

[0149] Distributed resource units

[0150] Regulations in various regions may impose power spectral density (PSD) limitations in the sub-7GHz (e.g., 6GHz) band. For non-AP STAs in the low power indoor (LPI) band, the PSD limitation may be -1dBm / MHz. For example, for a conventional 52-tone RU, the maximum transmit (Tx) power may be approximately 6dBm.

[0151] Additionally, different restrictions may apply in the 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz bands. For example, a PSD restriction of 10 dBm / MHz may apply in the EU / China / Japan / Korea in the 2.4 GHz band. This would result in a maximum Tx power of approximately 17 dBm for a conventional 52-tone RU. Bypassing the PSD restriction in the 5 GHz band would allow for higher transmit power. For example, the maximum transmit power for a conventional 52-tone RU is 24 dBm, which is still 6 dBm below the maximum allowable effective isotropic radiated power (EIRP) of 30 dBm.

[0152] Overcoming PSD limitations can increase transmit power, thereby improving spectral efficiency or extending range.

[0153] Considering that the PSD limit is defined per MHz for each STA, when distributing tones of small RUs over a wide bandwidth, the tones for each STA are non-contiguous, so each tone can be transmitted at high power. An RU containing such distributed tones is called a distributed RU (DRU), and to distinguish it from an RU containing continuous tones defined in a conventional wireless LAN system (e.g., a system according to IEEE 802.11ax, 11be, etc.) can be called a regular RU (RRU).

[0154] Compared to STAs transmitting on conventional RRUs, STAs transmitting on DRUs can use higher power. For example, a 52-tone DRU across 80 MHz has only one tone per MHz, whereas a 52-tone RRU has approximately 13 tones per MHz. Assuming a PSD limit of -1 dBm / MHz in the 6 GHz LPI band, using a DRU can increase the transmit power by 11 dB for a 52-tone RU. This increased transmit power allows for a higher MCS and longer range.

[0155] FIG. 11 is a drawing illustrating examples of DRUs to which the present disclosure can be applied.

[0156] In the example of Fig. 11, STA1 transmits on DRU1, STA2 transmits on DRU2, and STA3 transmits on DRU3. Each STA can apply a transmission power boost by using a DRU. Compared to cases where RRUs of the same size are used, the DRU applies higher transmission power to all tones, and thus, spectral efficiency can be significantly improved. In this way, the DRU can be applied particularly usefully in UL-OFDMA.

[0157] APs can also utilize DRUs. In some cases, the AP may use only some of DRUs (DRU1, DRU2, and DRU3) to transmit DL-OFDMA to STAs, in which case the transmit power boost due to the use of DRUs may be applied.

[0158] To maximize power boost, tones within a single DRU can be distributed as far apart as possible. For example, a DRU containing one tone per MHz may be considered optimal. The size of a DRU (or the number of available tones contained in a DRU, i.e., the number of tones excluding unusable tones such as null tones, guard tones, and DC tones) can be defined to be the same as the size of an RRU (or the number of available tones contained in an RRU). This can minimize the impact on various technologies that are already defined based on RRUs. The table below shows examples of achievable power boost (in dB) for various DRUs distributed over different bandwidths. The examples in the table below assume the 6 GHz LPI band, and power boost can also be achieved in the 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz bands in other regions. For example, in an 80 MHz UL-OFDMA transmission by 8 users, if each user uses a 106-tone DRU, the overall performance can be improved by approximately 8.13 dB compared to when each user uses a 106-tone RRU. Thus, by using DRUs, the PSD limitation can be overcome and significant gains can be obtained.

[0159] 20MHz bandwidth 40MHz bandwidth 80MHz bandwidth 26-tone RU8.1311.1411.1452-tone RU6.378.1311.14106-tone RU3.366.378.13242-tone RU Not applicable 2.695.12484-tone RU Not applicable Not applicable 2.69

[0160] FIG. 12 is a diagram illustrating an exemplary format of a trigger frame to which the present disclosure may be applied. The trigger frame may allocate resources for transmission of one or more TB PPDUs and request transmission of TB PPDUs. The trigger frame may also include other information required by an STA transmitting a TB PPDU in response thereto. The trigger frame may include common information and a user information list field in the frame body.

[0161] The common information field may include information that is common to one or more TB PPDU transmissions requested by a trigger frame, such as trigger type, UL length, presence of a subsequent trigger frame (e.g., More TF), whether CS (channel sensing) is required, UL BW (bandwidth), etc. Fig. 12 illustrates an example of an EHT variant common information field format.

[0162] The 4-bit trigger type subfield can have values ​​from 0 to 15. Among them, the values ​​0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7 of the trigger type subfield are defined to correspond to basic, Beamforming Report Poll (BFRP), multi user-block acknowledgement request (MU-BAR), multi user-request to send (MU-RTS), Buffer Status Report Poll (BSRP), groupcast with retries (GCR), MU-BAR, Bandwidth Query Report Poll (BQRP), and NDP Feedback Report Poll (NFRP), respectively, and the values ​​8 to 15 are defined as reserved.

[0163] Among the common information, the trigger dependent common info subfield may include information that is optionally included based on the trigger type.

[0164] A special user info field may be included within the trigger frame. The special user info field does not contain user-specific information, but rather extended common information not provided in the common information field.

[0165] A user information list contains zero or more user information fields. Figure 12 illustrates an example of an EHT variant user information field format.

[0166] The AID12 subfield basically indicates that it is a user information field for an STA with the corresponding AID. In addition, if the AID12 field has a predetermined specific value, it may be utilized for other purposes, such as allocating a random access (RA)-RU, or being configured in the form of a special user information field. The special user information field is a user information field that does not contain user-specific information, but contains extended common information not provided in the common information field. For example, the special user information field can be identified by the AID12 value of 2007, and the special user information field flag subfield within the common information field can indicate whether the special user information field is included.

[0167] The RU allocation subfield can indicate the size and location of an RU / MRU. For this purpose, the RU allocation subfield can be interpreted together with the PS160 (primary / secondary 160MHz) subfield of the user information field, the UL BW subfield of the common information field, etc.

[0168] For example, the mapping of B7-B1 of the RU Assignment subfield can be defined together with the settings of the B0 and PS160 subfields of the RU Assignment subfield as shown in Table 2 below. Table 2 shows an example of encoding of the PS160 subfield and the RU Assignment subfield of the EHT Variant User Information Field.

[0169]

[0170]

[0171]

[0172] When B0 of the RU Allocation subfield is set to 0, it may indicate that the RU / MRU allocation is applied to the primary 80 MHz channel, and when its value is set to 1, it may indicate that the RU allocation is applied to the secondary 80 MHz channel of the primary 160 MHz. When B0 of the RU Allocation subfield is set to 0, it may indicate that the RU / MRU allocation is applied to the lower 80 MHz of the secondary 160 MHz, and when its value is set to 1, it may indicate that the RU allocation is applied to the upper 80 MHz of the secondary 160 MHz.

[0173] In the trigger frame RU allocation table of Table 2, the parameter N can be calculated based on the formula N=2*X1+X0. For a bandwidth of 80 MHz or less, the values ​​of PS160, B0, X0, and X1 can be set to 0. For a bandwidth of 160 MHz and a bandwidth of 320 MHz, the values ​​of PS160, B0, X0, and X1 can be set as shown in Table 3. These settings represent the absolute frequency order for the primary and secondary 80 MHz and 160 MHz channels. The order from left to right represents the order from low frequency to high frequency. The primary 80 MHz channel is represented as P80, the secondary 80 MHz channel is represented as S80, and the secondary 160 MHz channel is represented as S160.

[0174]

[0175] DRU tone plan-based transmission and reception

[0176] As mentioned above, to overcome PSD limitations and improve power gain, a DRU using distributed tones / subcarriers, rather than an RRU using continuous tones / subcarriers, can be applied. Below, we describe how to indicate the channel and DRU tone plan to which a DRU applies when triggering DRU-based transmission via a trigger frame.

[0177] FIG. 13 is a diagram illustrating an example of a method performed by a first STA according to the present disclosure.

[0178] The first STA can receive a trigger frame including a common information field and a special user information field from an access point (AP) (S1310).

[0179] For example, a first STA may receive a PPDU containing a trigger frame from an AP over a first bandwidth. At this time, the bandwidth size of the TB (trigger-based) PPDU requested by the trigger frame may also be the first bandwidth. The first bandwidth may be, but is not limited to, 160 MHz, 320 MHz, or a bandwidth greater than 320 MHz.

[0180] The first STA can transmit a TB PPDU to the AP on the first bandwidth based on the trigger frame (S1320).

[0181] Here, the common information field or special user information field transmitted in the second bandwidth among the first bandwidths may include a first subfield related to whether a distributed resource unit (DRU) or a predefined unit (i.e., RRU) is applied on the second bandwidth.

[0182] For example, the sizes of the first bandwidth and the second bandwidth may be the same. That is, the first subfield may indicate whether the DRU is applied to the entire first bandwidth over which the TB PPDU is transmitted.

[0183] As another example, assume that a second bandwidth and a third bandwidth are included on the first bandwidth. In this case, the common information field or special user information field transmitted on the third bandwidth among the first bandwidths may include a second subfield related to whether DRU is applied on the third bandwidth, and the size and position (i.e., position on the trigger frame) of each of the first and second subfields may be identical.

[0184] That is, the first subfield of the trigger frame transmitted on the second bandwidth may indicate whether the DRU is applied on the second bandwidth, and the second subfield of the trigger frame transmitted on the third bandwidth may indicate whether the DRU is applied on the third bandwidth.

[0185] Additionally or alternatively, the first subfield may include a first bitmap, and each bit of the first bitmap may indicate whether the DRU is applied to a corresponding unit channel (i.e., a unit channel constituting the second bandwidth). That is, whether the DRU is applied to the n-th unit bandwidth of the second bandwidth may be indicated by the n-th bit (n is a natural number greater than or equal to 1) of the first bitmap.

[0186] For example, when n is 2, the first bit of the first bitmap may indicate whether DRU is applied to the first unit bandwidth among the second bandwidths, and the second bit of the first bitmap may indicate whether DRU is applied to the second unit bandwidth among the second bandwidths. However, this is only one embodiment, and n may be implemented as a natural number greater than or equal to 2.

[0187] Similarly, the second subfield may include a second bitmap, and each bit of the second bitmap may indicate whether the DRU is applied to a corresponding unit channel (i.e., a unit channel constituting the third bandwidth). That is, whether the DRU is applied to the n-th unit bandwidth among the third bandwidths may be indicated by the n-th bit (n is a natural number greater than or equal to 1) of the second bitmap.

[0188] For example, when n is 2, the first bit of the second bitmap may indicate whether DRU is applied to the first unit bandwidth among the third bandwidths, and the second bit of the second bitmap may indicate whether DRU is applied to the second unit bandwidth among the third bandwidths. However, this is only one embodiment, and n may be implemented as a natural number greater than or equal to 2.

[0189] Here, the size of each of the first unit bandwidth and the second unit bandwidth can be one of 20 MHz, 40 MHz, 80 MHz, or 160 MHz.

[0190] Additionally or alternatively, the common information field or special user information field transmitted in the second bandwidth among the first bandwidths may include a third subfield related to the distributed width (DBW) mode applied to the second bandwidth. Here, based on the first subfield indicating that DRU is not applied to the second bandwidth, the third subfield may be reserved or used for another purpose.

[0191] In addition, the common information field or special user information field transmitted in the third bandwidth among the first bandwidths may include a fourth subfield related to the DBW mode applied to the third bandwidth, and the size and position of each of the third subfield and the fourth subfield may be the same.

[0192] As an example of the present disclosure, a value indicating a 20 + 20 + 40 MHz DBW mode set on the third subfield can be used for (i.e., used to indicate) a 20 + 20 + 40 MHz DBW mode, a P(puncturing)20 + 20 + 40 MHz DBW mode, a 20 + P20 + 40 MHz DBW mode, a P40 + 40 MHz DBW mode, or a 20 + 20 + P40 MHz DBW mode.

[0193] For example, if the lowest or second lowest 20 MHz channel within the second bandwidth is punctured, the DRU of the punctured channel is not allocated, so the value indicating 20 + 20 + 40 MHz DBW mode on the third subfield can be used for 20 + 20 + 40 MHz DBW mode, P20 + 20 + 40 MHz DBW mode, and 20 + P20 + 40 MHz DBW mode.

[0194] Additionally, if the first 40 MHz channel or the second 40 MHz channel within the second bandwidth is punctured, the DRU of the punctured channel is not allocated, so the value indicating the 20 + 20 + 40 MHz DBW mode on the third subfield can be used for the P40 + 40 MHz DBW mode or the 20 + 20 + P40 MHz DBW mode.

[0195] Accordingly, the overhead of the third subfield can be reduced, and the DBW mode to be used by each STA can also be clearly indicated.

[0196] Similarly, a value indicating 40 + 20 + 20 MHz DBW mode set on the third subfield can be used for 40 + 20 + 20 MHz DBW mode, 40 + P20 + 20 MHz DBW mode, 40 + 20 + P20 MHz DBW mode, 40 + P40 MHz DBW mode, or P40 + 20 + 20 MHz DBW mode.

[0197] For example, a value indicating 20 + 20 + 40 MHz DBW mode set on the 4th subfield can be used for 20 + 20 + 40 MHz DBW mode, P20 + 20 + 40 MHz DBW mode, 20 + P20 + 40 MHz DBW mode, P40 + 40 MHz DBW mode, or 20 + 20 + P40 MHz DBW mode.

[0198] And, the value indicating the 40 + 20 + 20 MHz DBW mode set on the 4th subfield can be used for the 40 + 20 + 20 MHz DBW mode, the 40 + P20 + 20 MHz DBW mode, the 40 + 20 + P20 MHz DBW mode, the 40 + P40 MHz DBW mode, or the P40 + 20 + 20 MHz DBW mode.

[0199] As an example of the present disclosure, based on the size of the first bandwidth being 160 MHz or greater, the trigger frame may include a fifth subfield related to a DRU tone plan applied to each of the 80 MHz channels.

[0200] The method described in the example of FIG. 13 may be performed by the first device (100) of FIG. 1. For example, one or more processors (102) of the first device (100) of FIG. 1 may receive a trigger frame including a common information field and a special user information field from an access point (AP) through one or more transceivers (106). The one or more processors (102) may transmit a TB PPDU to the AP through one or more transceivers (106) on a first bandwidth based on the trigger frame.

[0201] Furthermore, one or more memories (104) of the first device (100) may store commands for performing the method described in the example of FIG. 13 or the examples described below when executed by one or more processors (102).

[0202] FIG. 14 is a drawing for explaining an example of a method performed by an AP according to the present disclosure.

[0203] The AP can transmit a trigger frame including a common information field and a special user information field to the first STA (S1410).

[0204] As described above, the AP may transmit a PPDU containing a trigger frame to the first STA over the first bandwidth. At this time, the bandwidth size of the TB PPDU requested by the trigger frame may also be the first bandwidth. The first bandwidth may be, but is not limited to, 160 MHz, 320 MHz, or a bandwidth greater than 320 MHz.

[0205] The AP can receive a TB PPDU from the first STA on the first bandwidth based on the trigger frame (S1420).

[0206] Here, the configuration of the trigger frame and whether the DRU is applied / instructed by the trigger frame, examples of the DBW mode and / or DRU tone plan are described with reference to Fig. 13, so redundant descriptions are omitted.

[0207] The method described in the example of FIG. 14 may be performed by the second device (200) of FIG. 1. For example, one or more processors (202) of the second device (200) of FIG. 1 may transmit a trigger frame including a common information field and a special user information field to the first STA through one or more transceivers (106). The one or more processors (202) may receive a TB PPDU from the first STA through one or more transceivers (206) on the first bandwidth based on the trigger frame.

[0208] Furthermore, one or more memories (204) of the second device (200) may store instructions for performing the method described in the example of FIG. 14 or the examples described below when executed by one or more processors (202).

[0209] Below, we will specifically describe a method for performing DRU-based transmission based on a trigger frame.

[0210] As an example of the present disclosure, a UHR trigger frame based on the trigger frame illustrated in FIG. 12 may include a UHR variant common information field, a UHR variant special user information field, a UHR variant user information field, etc. In addition, the UHR variant user information field includes an RU allocation subfield, and the RU / MRU used for each STA may be indicated through the RU allocation subfield.

[0211] As an example of the present disclosure, even when DRU is applied, the same RU allocation subfield can be used as it is when RRU is applied. When DRU application is indicated (by a trigger frame, etc.), the STA can identify that it is a DRU-based transmission using the defined mapping rule and DRU tone plan. That is, even when DRU is applied, the RU allocation subfield does not need to be changed or additionally defined, and a field for indicating DRU application can be included in the trigger frame.

[0212] The following embodiments relate to a method for indicating whether a DRU is applied in a TB PPDU solicited by a trigger frame and a method for indicating a channel and tone plan applied to the TB PPDU.

[0213] Example 1

[0214] In one embodiment of the present disclosure, the trigger frame may include a subfield indicating whether DRU is applied to a TB PPDU requested by the trigger frame, and the subfield may consist of 1 bit. As an example, the subfield may be included in a UHR variant common information field or a UHR variant special user information field of the trigger frame.

[0215] For example, the subfield may be set to at least one of the 23rd bit (B22), the 27th bit (B26), the 54th bit (B53), the 57th bit (B56) to the 64th bit (B63) of the UHR variant common information field. That is, the subfield may be set at a position corresponding to a reserved bit (e.g., an EHT reserved subfield, etc.) in the EHT variant common information field. As another example, the subfield may be set on the 38th bit (B37) to the 40th bit (B39) of the special user information field of the trigger frame. That is, the subfield may be set at a position corresponding to a reserved bit in the EHT special user information field. As another example, the subfield may be included on a trigger-dependent common information subfield or a trigger-dependent user information subfield of the trigger frame.

[0216] For example, if the subfield value is set to 0 (or 1), this may mean that RRU is applied to the TB PPDU requested by the trigger frame. If the subfield value is set to 1 (or 0), this may mean that DRU is applied to the TB PPDU requested by the trigger frame.

[0217] Additionally or alternatively, the trigger frame may include a subfield (e.g., 1 bit) indicating whether DRU applies to the entire bandwidth over which the TB PPDU is transmitted.

[0218] Additionally or alternatively, the trigger frame may include a subfield indicating whether the DRU is applied for a specific channel unit (e.g., 20, 40, 80, 160, 320 MHz, etc.). That is, the trigger frame may include a subfield indicating whether the DRU is applied for each channel, and the subfield may include 1-bit information corresponding to a specific channel.

[0219] Specifically, the (1-bit) information of the trigger frame transmitted for each channel unit may be different. For example, assume that a 160 MHz TB PPDU is requested through a trigger frame, the bandwidth of the PPDU transmitting the trigger frame is also 160 MHz, and whether DRU is applied is indicated in units of 80 MHz. In this case, the trigger frame transmitted in the first 80 MHz of the entire bandwidth may include information indicating whether DRU is applied in the first 80 MHz, and the trigger frame transmitted in the second 80 MHz of the entire bandwidth may include information indicating whether DRU is applied in the second 80 MHz.

[0220] Additionally, the information within a trigger frame transmitted across the entire bandwidth may be identical, except for information indicating whether a DRU is applied for each channel.

[0221] Example 1-1

[0222] Embodiment 1-1 relates to a method for indicating a DRU tone plan applied to a TB PPDU through a trigger frame. The number of bits of a subfield indicating a DRU tone plan applied to a TB PPDU included in the trigger frame may be determined according to the number of DRU tone plans defined in the UHR. The subfield may be included in the 26th bit (B25) of the UHR variant user information field of the trigger frame (i.e., a bit corresponding to a reserved bit of the EHT variant user information field) and / or a trigger dependent user information subfield.

[0223] For example, if 20, 40, 80, and 160 MHz DRU tone plans are defined, a subfield indicating the DRU tone plan applied to the TB PPDU may consist of 2 bits. For example, if the subfield values ​​are set to 0, 1, 2, and 3, respectively, this may indicate that the 20, 40, 80, and 160 MHz DRU tone plans are applied to the TB PPDU, respectively.

[0224] As another example, if 20, 40, and 80 MHz DRU tone plans are defined, a subfield indicating the DRU tone plan applied to the TB PPDU may consist of 2 bits. For example, if the subfield values ​​are set to 0, 1, and 2, respectively, this may indicate that the 20, 40, and 80 MHz DRU tone plans are applied to the TB PPDU, respectively. In addition, 3 of the subfield values ​​may be reserved.

[0225] The subfield indicating the DRU tone plan may be valid only within a channel where the DRU is indicated to be applied. That is, within a channel where the DRU is indicated not to be applied, the bits corresponding to the subfield indicating the DRU tone plan may be reserved or used to indicate other information.

[0226] When Embodiments 1 and 1-1 are applied, RRUs and DRUs may not be mixed within the entire channel or within a channel where DRU application is indicated. Furthermore, Embodiments 1 and 1-1 may be simpler to implement and have less overhead compared to other embodiments.

[0227] Example 2

[0228] In one embodiment of the present disclosure, the trigger frame may include a subfield indicating whether DRU is applied to a TB PPDU requested by the trigger frame, and the subfield may consist of 1 bit. As an example, the subfield may be included in a UHR variant common information field or a UHR variant special user information field of the trigger frame.

[0229] For example, the subfield may be set to at least one of the 23rd bit (B22), the 27th bit (B26), the 54th bit (B53), the 57th bit (B56) to the 64th bit (B63) of the UHR variant common information field. That is, the subfield may be set at a position corresponding to a reserved bit (e.g., an EHT reserved subfield, etc.) in the EHT variant common information field. As another example, the subfield may be set on the 38th bit (B37) to the 40th bit (B39) of the special user information field of the trigger frame. That is, the subfield may be set at a position corresponding to a reserved bit in the EHT special user information field. As another example, the subfield may be included on a trigger-dependent common information subfield or a trigger-dependent user information subfield of the trigger frame.

[0230] For example, if the subfield value is set to 0 (or 1), this may mean that RRU is applied to the TB PPDU requested by the trigger frame. If the subfield value is set to 1 (or 0), this may mean that DRU is applied to the TB PPDU requested by the trigger frame.

[0231] Additionally or alternatively, the trigger frame may include a subfield (e.g., 1 bit) indicating whether DRU applies to the entire bandwidth over which the TB PPDU is transmitted.

[0232] Additionally or alternatively, the trigger frame may include a subfield indicating whether the DRU is applied for a specific channel unit (e.g., 20, 40, 80, 160, 320 MHz, etc.). That is, the trigger frame may include a subfield indicating whether the DRU is applied for each channel, and the subfield may include 1-bit information corresponding to a specific channel.

[0233] Specifically, the (1-bit) information of the trigger frame transmitted for each channel unit may be different. For example, assume that a 160 MHz TB PPDU is requested through a trigger frame, the bandwidth of the PPDU transmitting the trigger frame is also 160 MHz, and whether DRU is applied is indicated in units of 80 MHz. In this case, the trigger frame transmitted in the first 80 MHz of the entire bandwidth may include information indicating whether DRU is applied in the first 80 MHz, and the trigger frame transmitted in the second 80 MHz of the entire bandwidth may include information indicating whether DRU is applied in the second 80 MHz.

[0234] Additionally, the information within a trigger frame transmitted across the entire bandwidth may be identical, except for information indicating whether a DRU is applied for each channel.

[0235] Example 2-1

[0236] Embodiment 2-1 relates to a method for indicating a DRU tone plan applied to a TB PPDU through a trigger frame. The number of bits of a subfield indicating a DRU tone plan applied to a TB PPDU included in the trigger frame may be determined according to the number of DRU tone plans defined in the UHR. The subfield may be included in the 26th bit (B25) of the UHR variant user information field of the trigger frame (i.e., a bit corresponding to a reserved bit of the EHT variant user information field) and / or a trigger dependent user information subfield.

[0237] For example, when 20, 40, 80, and 160 MHz DRU tone plans are defined, a subfield indicating the DRU tone plan applied to the TB PPDU may consist of 3 bits. For example, when the subfield value is set to 0, this may mean that RRU is applied to the TB PPDU. When the subfield values ​​are set to 1, 2, 3, and 4, respectively, this may indicate that 20, 40, 80, and 160 MHz DRU tone plans are applied to the TB PPDU, respectively. In addition, values ​​5 to 7 of the subfields may be reserved.

[0238] As another example, if 20, 40, and 80 MHz DRU tone plans are defined, a subfield indicating the DRU tone plan applied to the TB PPDU may consist of 2 bits. For example, if the subfield value is set to 0, this may mean that RRU is applied to the TB PPDU. And, if the subfield values ​​are set to 1, 2, and 3, respectively, this may indicate that 20, 40, and 80 MHz DRU tone plans are applied to the TB PPDU, respectively.

[0239] The subfield indicating the DRU tone plan may be valid only within a channel where the DRU is indicated to be applied. That is, within a channel where the DRU is indicated not to be applied, the bits corresponding to the subfield indicating the DRU tone plan may be reserved or used to indicate other information.

[0240] When Embodiments 2 and 2-1 are applied, RRUs and DRUs can be mixed and applied when transmitting TB PPDUs, thereby increasing flexibility. In addition, Embodiments 2 and 2-1 can also be applied to STAs without DRU capabilities.

[0241] Example 3

[0242] In one embodiment of the present disclosure, a trigger frame may include a subfield indicating whether a DRU is applied to a TB PPDU requested by the trigger frame, and the subfield may be configured as a bitmap. For example, the subfield may be included in a UHR variant common information field or a UHR variant special user information field of the trigger frame.

[0243] For example, the subfield may be set to at least one of the 23rd bit (B22), the 27th bit (B26), the 54th bit (B53), the 57th bit (B56) to the 64th bit (B63) of the UHR variant common information field. That is, the subfield may be set at a position corresponding to a reserved bit (e.g., an EHT reserved subfield, etc.) in the EHT variant common information field. As another example, the subfield may be set on the 38th bit (B37) to the 40th bit (B39) of the special user information field of the trigger frame. That is, the subfield may be set at a position corresponding to a reserved bit in the EHT special user information field. As another example, the subfield may be included on a trigger-dependent common information subfield or a trigger-dependent user information subfield of the trigger frame.

[0244] For example, if the subfield value is set to 0 (or 1), this may mean that RRU is applied to the TB PPDU requested by the trigger frame. If the subfield value is set to 1 (or 0), this may mean that DRU is applied to the TB PPDU requested by the trigger frame. One bit of the bitmap may correspond to a unit bandwidth (e.g., 20 MHz) constituting the TB PPDU bandwidth, and may be mapped to the bitmap in order of lower unit bandwidth.

[0245] Depending on the TB PPDU bandwidth, the number of bits in the bitmap corresponding to the subfield may change. For example, if the TB PPDU bandwidth is 20, 40, 80, 160, or 320 MHz, respectively, the size of the bitmap corresponding to the subfield may be configured as 1, 2, 4, 8, or 16 bits.

[0246] Alternatively, the size of the bitmap corresponding to the subfield may be fixed based on the maximum bandwidth defined in the UHR. For example, if the maximum bandwidth defined in the UHR is 320 MHz, the size of the bitmap corresponding to the subfield may be fixed to 16 bits.

[0247] At this time, if the TB PPDU bandwidth is less than 320 MHz, the unit bandwidth may be preferentially mapped to the bits with low (or high) bit indices among the bitmaps corresponding to the subfield, and the remaining bits (i.e., bits with high (or low) bit indices) may be reserved. For example, if a 160 MHz TB PPDU is requested, whether DRU is applied may be indicated on the 8 bits of the low (or high) index, and the bits of the remaining indices may be reserved. At this time, whether DRU is applied may be indicated in the order of low (or high) unit bandwidth (e.g., 20 MHz) on the 8 bits of the low (or high) index.

[0248] As another example, whether the DRU is applied to a specific channel unit (e.g., 20, 40, 80, 160, 320 MHz) can be indicated in a bitmap format on a per-channel basis via a trigger frame. That is, the bitmap information of the trigger frame transmitted for each channel unit can be different.

[0249] For example, let's assume that a trigger frame requesting a 160 MHz TB PPDU (wherein the bandwidth of the PPDU transmitting the trigger frame is also 160 MHz) indicates whether to apply DRU in units of 80 MHz. In this case, the trigger frame transmitted in the first 80 MHz of the entire bandwidth may include a 4-bit subfield indicating whether to apply DRU in units of 20 MHz, and information indicating whether to apply DRU may be set in order from the lowest 20 MHz among the first 80 MHz for each bit of the bitmap corresponding to the subfield. In addition, the trigger frame transmitted in the second 80 MHz of the entire bandwidth may include a 4-bit subfield indicating whether to apply DRU in units of 20 MHz, and information indicating whether to apply DRU may be set in order from the lowest 20 MHz among the second 80 MHz for each bit of the bitmap corresponding to the subfield.

[0250] Additionally, the information within a trigger frame transmitted across the entire bandwidth may be identical, except for information indicating whether a DRU is applied for each channel.

[0251] Example 3-1

[0252] Embodiment 3-1 relates to a method for indicating a DRU tone plan applied to a TB PPDU through a trigger frame. The subfield for indicating a DRU tone plan applied to a TB PPDU through a trigger frame included in the trigger frame may be the same as the subfield described in Embodiment 1-1 and / or Embodiment 1-2. Since whether to apply DRU is indicated for each unit bandwidth (e.g., 20 MHz) through the bitmap-based subfield described in Embodiment 3, additionally indicating whether to apply RRU / DRU through the UHR variant user information field may not be advantageous in terms of overhead.

[0253] Embodiment 3 indicates whether DRU is applied based on a bitmap, making it easy to indicate whether DRU or RRU is applied for each channel. Furthermore, when Embodiment 3 is applied, RRU and DRU can be applied in combination during TB PPDU transmission, increasing flexibility. Furthermore, Embodiment 3 can also be applied to STAs without DRU capabilities.

[0254] Example 4

[0255] In Example 4, the following conditions may be applied. That is, Conditions 1 to 3 may be applied to Example 4-1, Example 4-2, and Example 4-3.

[0256] Condition 1: When DRU is applied in 20, 40, 80 MHz TB PPDU, 20, 40, 80 MHz DRU tone plan can always be applied.

[0257] Condition 2: For 160, 320 MHz TB PPDU, 80 MHz DRU tone plan can be applied in 80 MHz channel units.

[0258] Condition 3: When DRU is applied to a TB PPDU of 80 MHz or more and a specific channel is punctured, a DRU tone plan corresponding to the channel size may be applied to each non-punctured channel. For example, when an 80 MHz TB PPDU is requested by a trigger frame and DRU is applied to an 80 MHz channel with 20 MHz punctured, a 20 MHz tone plan and a 40 MHz tone plan may be applied to the non-punctured 20 MHz and 40 MHz channels, respectively. As another example, when an 80 MHz TB PPDU is requested by a trigger frame and DRU is applied to an 80 MHz channel with 40 MHz punctured, a 40 MHz tone plan may be applied to the non-punctured 40 MHz channel.

[0259] Example 4-1

[0260] In one embodiment of the present disclosure, a trigger frame may include a subfield indicating whether a DRU is applied to a TB PPDU requested by the trigger frame, and the subfield may be configured as a bitmap. For example, the subfield may be included in a UHR variant common information field or a UHR variant special user information field of the trigger frame.

[0261] For example, the subfield may be set to at least one of the 23rd bit (B22), the 27th bit (B26), the 54th bit (B53), the 57th bit (B56) to the 64th bit (B63) of the UHR variant common information field. That is, the subfield may be set at a position corresponding to a reserved bit (e.g., an EHT reserved subfield, etc.) in the EHT variant common information field. As another example, the subfield may be set on the 38th bit (B37) to the 40th bit (B39) of the special user information field of the trigger frame. That is, the subfield may be set at a position corresponding to a reserved bit in the EHT special user information field. As another example, the subfield may be included on a trigger-dependent common information subfield or a trigger-dependent user information subfield of the trigger frame.

[0262] For example, if the subfield value is set to 0 (or 1), this may mean that RRU is applied to the TB PPDU requested by the trigger frame. If the subfield value is set to 1 (or 0), this may mean that DRU is applied to the TB PPDU requested by the trigger frame. One bit of the bitmap may correspond to a unit bandwidth (e.g., 80 MHz) constituting the TB PPDU bandwidth, and may be mapped to the bitmap in the order of lower unit bandwidth.

[0263] The number of bits of the bitmap corresponding to the subfield may change depending on the TB PPDU bandwidth. For example, if the TB PPDU bandwidth is 20, 40, 80, and MHz, respectively, the size of the bitmap corresponding to the subfield may be configured as 1 bit. As another example, if the TB PPDU bandwidth is 160, 320, 480, and 640 MHz, respectively, the size of the bitmap corresponding to the subfield may be configured as 2, 4, 6, and 8 bits, respectively.

[0264] Alternatively, the size of the bitmap corresponding to the subfield may be fixed based on the maximum bandwidth defined in the UHR. For example, if the maximum bandwidth defined in the UHR is 320 MHz, the size of the bitmap corresponding to the subfield may be fixed to 4 bits. In this case, if the TB PPDU bandwidth is less than 320 MHz, information indicating whether to apply DRU for each unit bandwidth may be mapped preferentially or sequentially to a lower (or higher) bit index.

[0265] For example, when a 160 MHz TB PPDU is requested by a trigger frame, each bit of the bitmap corresponding to the subfield may be set / mapped to each bit of the bitmap, in the order of high (or low) bit indexes, to indicate whether DRU is applied to a unit bandwidth (e.g., 80 MHz) constituting 160 MHz. In addition, the remaining bits of the bitmap corresponding to the subfield may be reserved.

[0266] As another example, if a 20 MHz TB PPDU is requested by a trigger frame, information indicating whether the DRU is applied to the corresponding 20 MHz may be set / mapped on the 1 bit of the highest (or lowest) index among the bitmaps corresponding to the subfield. The remaining bits (e.g., 3 bits) of the bitmap may be reserved.

[0267] As another example, if a 40 MHz TB PPDU is requested by a trigger frame, information indicating whether the DRU is applicable to the corresponding 40 MHz may be set / mapped on the 1 bit of the highest (or lowest) index among the bitmaps corresponding to the subfield. The remaining bits (e.g., 3 bits) of the bitmap may be reserved.

[0268] As another example, if an 80 MHz TB PPDU is requested by a trigger frame, information indicating whether the DRU is applicable to the corresponding 80 MHz may be set / mapped on the 1 bit of the highest (or lowest) index among the bitmaps corresponding to the subfield. The remaining bits (e.g., 3 bits) of the bitmap may be reserved.

[0269] Additionally or alternatively, the trigger frame may indicate via a bitmap whether the DRU is applied to a specific channel unit (e.g., 80, 160, 320 MHz, etc.). That is, the bitmap information of the trigger frame transmitted for each channel unit may be different.

[0270] For example, let's assume that a trigger frame requesting a 160 MHz TB PPDU (wherein the bandwidth of the PPDU transmitting the trigger frame is also 160 MHz) indicates whether to apply DRU in units of 80 MHz. In this case, the trigger frame transmitted in the first 80 MHz of the entire bandwidth may include a 1-bit subfield indicating whether the DRU is applied to the first 80 MHz of the 160 MHz. In addition, the trigger frame transmitted in the second 80 MHz of the entire bandwidth may include a 1-bit subfield indicating whether the DRU is applied to the second 80 MHz of the 160 MHz. Additionally, information in the trigger frames transmitted in the entire bandwidth may be the same, except for information indicating whether the DRU is applied to each channel.

[0271] As another example, let's assume that a trigger frame requesting a 320 MHz TB PPDU (wherein the bandwidth of the PPDU transmitting the trigger frame is also 320 MHz) indicates whether to apply DRU in units of 80 MHz. In this case, the trigger frame transmitted in the first 160 MHz of the entire bandwidth may include a 2-bit subfield indicating whether to apply DRU starting from the lower (or higher) 80 MHz channel among the first 160 MHz. In addition, the trigger frame transmitted in the second 160 MHz of the entire bandwidth may include a 2-bit subfield indicating whether to apply DRU starting from the lower (or higher) 80 MHz channel among the second 160 MHz. Additionally, information in the trigger frames transmitted in the entire bandwidth may be the same, except for information indicating whether DRU is applied for each channel.

[0272] When 20, 40, and 80 MHz TB PPDUs are transmitted, the trigger frame may include a bitmap-based subfield indicating whether the DRU applies to the channel corresponding to that bandwidth.

[0273] Example 4-2

[0274] Example 4-2 relates to a method for indicating puncturing information. That is, a trigger frame may include indication information related to puncturing applied to channels above 80 MHz on which TB PPDUs are transmitted. The DRU tone plan applied to the TB PPDU may be changed depending on whether puncturing is applied to a specific channel.

[0275] A subfield containing instruction information related to puncturing may be set to at least one of the 23rd bit (B22), the 27th bit (B26), the 54th bit (B53), the 57th bit (B56) to the 64th bit (B63) of the UHR variant common information field. That is, the subfield may be set at a position corresponding to a reserved bit (e.g., an EHT reserved subfield, etc.) in the EHT variant common information field. As another example, the subfield may be set on the 38th bit (B37) to the 40th bit (B39) of the special user information field of the trigger frame. That is, the subfield may be set at a position corresponding to a reserved bit in the EHT special user information field. As another example, the subfield may be included on a trigger dependent common information subfield or a trigger dependent user information subfield of the trigger frame.

[0276] As an example of the present disclosure, puncturing indication information for non-OFDMA situations defined in U-SIG may be used. Additionally or alternatively, an additional puncturing pattern may be indicated using reserved values ​​in U-SIG. The puncturing pattern may indicate a puncturing situation for the entire channel, not just the channel to which the entire DRU is applied. Accordingly, the receiving STA may perform various operations using the additional puncturing pattern.

[0277] Additionally or alternatively, a subfield indicating puncturing-related instruction information may include a bitmap. If each bit value of the bitmap is set to 0 (or 1), this may mean that the channel corresponding to the corresponding bit is punctured. As another example, if each bit value of the bitmap is set to 1 (or 0), this may mean that the channel corresponding to the corresponding bit is not punctured.

[0278] Additionally, the number of bits of the bitmap corresponding to the subfield may change depending on the TB PPDU bandwidth. For example, if the TB PPDU bandwidth is 20, 40, 80, 160, or 320 MHz, respectively, the size of the bitmap corresponding to the subfield may be configured as 1, 2, 4, 8, or 16 bits.

[0279] Alternatively, the size of the bitmap corresponding to the subfield may be fixed based on the maximum bandwidth defined in the UHR. For example, if the maximum bandwidth defined in the UHR is 320 MHz, the size of the bitmap corresponding to the subfield may be fixed to 16 bits.

[0280] At this time, if the TB PPDU bandwidth is less than 320 MHz, the unit bandwidth may be preferentially mapped to a bit with a low (or high) bit index among the bitmaps corresponding to the subfield, and the remaining bits may be reserved.

[0281] As another example, when a 160 MHz TB PPDU is requested by a trigger frame, information on whether puncturing is applied sequentially based on the lowest 20 MHz channel can be set / mapped to each of the 8 bits of the lower (or higher) index, and the remaining 8 bits can be reserved. Accordingly, various puncturing patterns can be indicated compared to non-OFDMA puncturing indication methods.

[0282] Additionally or alternatively, puncturing-related instruction information may be indicated via a bitmap, but the puncturing-related instruction information may only be applied to 80 MHz to which the DRU is applied. In addition, puncturing-related instruction information may be set starting from 80 MHz of the lower (or higher) frequency.

[0283] For example, assume that in a 320 MHz channel, the 80 MHz channels to which DRU is applied are the first 80 MHz and the last 80 MHz. As an example, the size of the bitmap containing the instruction information related to puncturing may be 8 bits. In addition, information indicating whether puncturing is applied sequentially based on the lowest (or highest) 20 MHz channel may be mapped to each bit of the bitmap.

[0284] Additionally or alternatively, the trigger frame may include a bitmap indicating whether puncturing is applied for a specific channel unit (e.g., 80, 160, 320 MHz). In this case, the bitmap may not be included on the trigger frame requesting a 20 or 40 MHz TB PPDU. In other words, the information mapped to the bitmap on the trigger frame transmitted for each channel unit may be different.

[0285] For example, a trigger frame requesting a 160 MHz TB PPDU (wherein the bandwidth of the PPDU including the trigger frame is also 160 MHz) may indicate whether puncturing is applied in units of 80 MHz. At this time, the trigger frame transmitted in the first 80 MHz of the 160 MHz may include a 4-bit subfield (i.e., a bitmap) to which bits indicating whether puncturing is applied sequentially based on the lowest (or highest) 20 MHz channel among the first 80 MHz may be mapped. In addition, the trigger frame transmitted in the second 80 MHz of the 160 MHz may include a 4-bit subfield (i.e., a bitmap) to which bits indicating whether puncturing is applied sequentially based on the lowest (or highest) 20 MHz channel among the second 80 MHz may be mapped.

[0286] Additionally or alternatively, the trigger frame may include a bitmap indicating whether puncturing is applied for a specific channel unit (e.g., 80, 160, 320 MHz). In this case, the bitmap may not be included on the trigger frame requesting a 20 or 40 MHz TB PPDU. In other words, the presence or absence of the bitmap and the type of related information on the trigger frame transmitted for each channel unit may vary.

[0287] For example, let's assume that a 320 MHz TB PPDU is requested by a trigger frame (at this time, the bandwidth of the PPDU transmitting the trigger frame is also 320 MHz), and DRU is applied to the first 80 MHz and the last 80 MHz. At this time, a (4-bit) bitmap / subfield for puncturing indication may be included only on the trigger frame transmitted at the first 80 MHz and the last 80 MHz. For example, information / bits indicating whether to sequentially puncture based on the lowest (or highest) 20 MHz among the first / last 80 MHz may be mapped onto the bitmap / subfield.

[0288] When Example 4-2 is applied, the overhead for puncturing instructions for a specific channel of bandwidth can be reduced.

[0289] Example 4-3

[0290] Example 4-3 relates to a method for indicating a DRU tone plan applied to a TB PPDU.

[0291] When DRU is applied to each 80 MHz channel in a bandwidth of 160 MHz or more, the 80 MHz DRU tone plan may be applied if no punctured channels exist. Additionally, the 160 MHz DRU tone plan may be applied in a bandwidth of 160 MHz or more.

[0292] Information indicating the DRU tone plan applied to the TB PPDU (e.g., information indicating whether the 160 MHz DRU tone plan is applied) may be included in the 26th bit (B25) of the UHR variant user information field of the trigger frame (i.e., the bit corresponding to the reserved bit of the EHT variant user information field) and / or the trigger dependent user information subfield.

[0293] For example, a trigger frame may include a 1-bit subfield indicating whether a 160 MHz DRU tone plan is applied. As an example, assume that a specific 80 MHz (out of 160 MHz) is indicated to have a DRU applied, and that no channels are punctured within the specific 80 MHz.

[0294] At this time, if the subfield value is set to 0 (or 1), this may mean that the 80 MHz DRU tone plan is applied to the specific 80 MHz channel. If there is a punctured channel, the 20 or 40 MHz DRU tone plan may be applied to the non-punctured channel. If it is indicated that the DRU is not applied, the RRU tone plan may be applied to the specific 80 MHz channel. And, it is assumed that the DRU is indicated to be applied to two 80 MHz channels constituting the 160 MHz channel and there is no punctured channel in the entire 160 MHz channel. At this time, if the subfield value is set to 1 (or 0), this may mean that the 160 MHz DRU tone plan is applied together with the specific 80 MHz channel and the 80 MHz adjacent to the specific 80 MHz channel.

[0295] A subfield indicating whether a 160 MHz DRU tone plan is applied may be valid when DRU is indicated to be applied to two consecutive 80 MHz channels constituting a 160 MHz channel in a bandwidth greater than or equal to 160 MHz and no channel is punctured within the 160 MHz channel. If DRU is not applied to two consecutive 80 MHz channels constituting a 160 MHz channel in a bandwidth greater than or equal to 160 MHz or a specific channel is punctured within the 160 MHz channel, the subfield may be reserved or used for another purpose.

[0296] Additionally or alternatively, a subfield indicating whether a 160 MHz DRU tone plan is applied may be included in the UHR variant common information field or the UHR variant special user information field. For example, the subfield may be set to at least one of the 23rd bit (B22), the 27th bit (B26), the 54th bit (B53), the 57th bit (B56), and the 64th bit (B63) of the UHR variant common information field. That is, the subfield may be set at a position corresponding to a reserved bit (e.g., an EHT reserved subfield, etc.) in the EHT variant common information field. As another example, the subfield may be set on the 38th bit (B37) to the 40th bit (B39) of the special user information field of the trigger frame. That is, the subfield may be set at a position corresponding to a reserved bit in the EHT special user information field. As another example, the subfield may be included on a trigger-dependent common information subfield or a trigger-dependent user information subfield of a trigger frame.

[0297] At this time, the subfield indicating whether the 160 MHz DRU tone plan is applied may be configured as a bitmap. For example, when a 160 MHz TB PPDU is requested, the size of the bitmap may be configured as 1 bit, and when a 320 MHz TB PPDU is requested, the size of the bitmap may be configured as 2 bits.

[0298] As another example, regardless of the bandwidth size of the TB PPDU requested by the trigger frame, the size of the bitmap may be configured as 2 bits. In this case, when a 160 MHz TB PPDU is requested, only a specific bit (e.g., bit 1) of the bitmap may be used and the rest may be reserved. In addition, when a 320 MHz TB PPDU is requested, the first bit of the bitmap may indicate whether the 160 MHz DRU tone plan is applied to the high (or low) 160 MHz among 320 MHz, and the second bit of the bitmap may indicate whether the 160 MHz DRU tone plan is applied to the low (or high) 160 MHz among 320 MHz.

[0299] For example, if DRU is indicated to be applied to two consecutive 80 MHz channels constituting a 160 MHz channel and there is no punctured channel, a 0 set to each bit of the bitmap may mean / indicate that an 80 MHz DRU tone plan is applied to each 80 MHz. Here, if a punctured channel exists, a 20 or 40 MHz DRU tone plan may be applied to the remaining channels excluding the punctured channel among 80 MHz. And, if there is no indication that DRU is applied to an 80 MHz channel, an RRU tone plan may be applied to the 80 MHz channel.

[0300] And, assuming that the DRU is applied to two 80 MHz channels constituting the 160 MHz channel and that there are no punctured channels in the entire 160 MHz channel, a 1 set in each bit of the bitmap may mean that the 160 MHz DRU tone plan is applied to the specific 160 MHz channel.

[0301] Additionally or alternatively, the trigger frame may indicate information about the DRU tone plan for a specific channel unit (e.g., 80, 160, 320 MHz) via a bitmap. That is, the bitmap information related to the DRU tone plan of the trigger frame transmitted for each channel unit may be different.

[0302] For example, a bitmap indicating a DRU tone plan in units of 80 or 160 MHz (e.g., an 80 or 160 MHz DRU tone plan) may be 1 bit in size, and a bitmap indicating a DRU tone plan in units of 320 MHz may be 2 bits in size.

[0303] For example, the first bit of a bitmap indicating a DRU tone plan in 320 MHz units may indicate whether a 160 MHz DRU applies to the upper (or lower) 160 MHz of 320 MHz, and the second bit of the bitmap may indicate whether a 160 MHz DRU applies to the lower (or higher) 160 MHz of 320 MHz.

[0304] And, if a bitmap indicating a DRU tone plan in units of 80 MHz is included in the trigger frame, the bitmap may be configured identically to the DRU tone plan indicating bitmap included in the UHR variant user information field.

[0305] If the DRU is indicated to apply to a bandwidth greater than or equal to 160 MHz and there are no punctured channels within the two 80 MHz channels constituting the 160 MHz and the contiguous 80 MHz channels, the subfield indicating whether the 160 MHz DRU tone plan applies may be valid. If the DRU is not indicated to apply to a bandwidth greater than or equal to 160 MHz or there are punctured channels within the two 80 MHz channels constituting the 160 MHz and the contiguous 80 MHz channels, the subfield may be reserved or used for another purpose.

[0306] Example 5

[0307] In one embodiment of the present disclosure, the UHR variant common information field or the UHR variant special user information field of the trigger frame may include a subfield indicating a channel on which the DRU is used and / or a distribution bandwidth (DBW) of the applied DRU. The subfield may be set / mapped to the location of the subfield described in Embodiment 1 and / or Embodiment 1-1.

[0308] Here, DBW may mean the size of the channel in which the DRUs are distributed, and the indication of DBW may be the same as the indication of whether the DRU tone plan of the corresponding channel size is applied.

[0309] A trigger frame that triggers a TB PPDU over a specific bandwidth (BW) may have different information / values ​​set in the subfields indicating the channel on which the DRU is used and / or the distributed bandwidth of the applied DRU (taking into account the RU type applied to each channel in the TB PPDU) for each channel. In this case, the bandwidth of the PPDU including the trigger frame may also be the same as the bandwidth of the TB PPDU.

[0310] Additionally, depending on the bandwidth of the TB PPDU, the number of bits in the subfield indicating the channel on which the DRU is used and / or the distributed bandwidth of the applied DRU may be set to different values. As another example, the number of bits in the subfield may be fixed to match the bandwidth requiring the largest number of bits.

[0311] The subfield included in the trigger frame that triggers a TB PPDU of 80 MHz or more (i.e., the subfield indicating the channel on which the DRU is used and / or the distributed bandwidth of the applied DRU according to the bandwidth of the TB PPDU for each 80 MHz channel) may be set to different values ​​for each 80 MHz channel. The following describes the types of information that the subfield in the trigger frame can indicate according to the size of the bandwidth of the TB PPDU.

[0312] - 20 MHz BW: The subfield may include information indicating that i) the RRU is used at 20 MHz and / or ii) a DBW of the same size as the BW (i.e., 20 MHz DBW) is applied. If the subfield is configured with a different number of bits for each BW, the subfield may require 1 bit. If the subfield is configured with the same number of bits for each BW, the remaining values ​​except for two specific values ​​of the subfield (e.g., values ​​associated with each of i and / or ii set for each BW) may be reserved or used for other purposes.

[0313] - 40 MHz BW: The subfield may include information indicating that i) the RRU is used at 40 MHz and / or ii) a DBW of the same size as the BW (i.e., 40 MHz DBW) is applied. If the subfield is configured with a different number of bits for each BW, the subfield may require 1 bit. If the subfield is configured with the same number of bits for each BW, the remaining values ​​except for two specific values ​​of the subfield (e.g., values ​​associated with each of i and / or ii set for each BW) may be reserved or used for other purposes.

[0314] Additionally, the subfield may include information indicating that 20 MHz DBW is applied to each 20 MHz channel constituting 40 MHz. If the subfield is configured with a different number of bits for each BW, the subfield may require two bits, and one of the two bits may be reserved or used for another purpose. If the subfield is configured with the same number of bits for each BW and the subfield exceeds two bits, the remaining values ​​except for three specific values ​​of the subfield (e.g., values ​​associated with each of i), ii) and / or iii) set for each BW) may be reserved or used for another purpose.

[0315] - 80 MHz BW: The above subfield may include i) information indicating that the RRU is used at 80 MHz, ii) information indicating that a DBW of the same size as the BW (i.e., 80 MHz DBW) is applied, and / or iii) information indicating a DBW mode (e.g., 20+20+40 MHz / 40+20+20 MHz DBW mode). Here, the information indicating the DBW mode may indicate a 20+20+40 MHz DBW mode or a 40+20+20 MHz DBW mode. Based on the lower frequency channel, DBWs of 20, 20, and 40 MHz may be applied in that order, or DBWs of 40, 20, and 20 MHz may be applied.

[0316] Here, if the subfield is configured with a different number of bits for each BW, the subfield may require 2 bits. If the subfield is configured with the same number of bits for each BW and the number of bits of the subfield exceeds 2, the remaining values ​​except for specific four values ​​of the subfield (e.g., values ​​associated with each of i, ii, and iii set for each BW) may be reserved or used for other purposes.

[0317] Additionally, the subfield may include at least one of information indicating a P20+20+40 MHz DBW mode, information indicating a P40+40 MHz DBW mode, information indicating a P40+20+20 MHz DBW mode, information indicating a 1001 mode, information indicating a 40 MHz RRU+40 MHz DBW mode, and information indicating a 40 MHz RRU+20+20 MHz DBW mode.

[0318] For example, the P20+20+40 MHz DBW mode is a mode in which one 20 MHz channel is punctured, and four modes can exist depending on the location of the punctured 20 MHz channel. The P40+40 MHz DBW mode is a mode in which one 40 MHz channel is punctured, and two modes can exist depending on the location of the punctured 40 MHz channel. The P40+20+20 MHz DBW mode is a mode in which one 40 MHz channel is punctured, and two modes can exist depending on the location of the punctured 40 MHz channel.

[0319] 40 MHz RRU+40 MHz DBW mode is a mode in which RRU is applied to one 40 MHz channel and 40 MHz DBW is applied to another 40 MHz channel. Two modes can exist depending on the 40 MHz type to which RRU or DRU is applied. 40 MHz RRU+20+20 MHz DBW mode is a mode in which RRU is applied to one 40 MHz channel and 20 MHz DBW is applied to each of the two 20 MHz channels that make up the other 40 MHz channel. Two modes can exist depending on the channel type to which RRU or DRU is applied.

[0320] And, mode 1001 is a mode in which the two 20 MHz channels in the middle are punctured. There may be a mode in which 20 MHz DBW is applied to each of the two non-punctured 20 MHz channels, and a mode in which 40 MHz DBW is applied by considering the two non-punctured 20 MHz channels as one 40 MHz situation. Additionally, there may be two modes in which RRU is applied to one of the two non-punctured 20 MHz channels and 20 MHz DBW is applied to the other 20 MHz channel.

[0321] Some of the above-described modes may be included / applied and others may not be included / applied. In addition, when the subfield is configured with a different number of bits for each BW, the size of the subfield may be defined as 2, 3, 4, or 5 bits depending on the number of modes defined. In addition, values ​​other than those indicating the above-described modes within the subfield may be reserved or used for other purposes. In another example, when the subfield is configured with the same number of bits for each BW, the subfield may include a number of bits greater than the number of bits that require the above-described modes, and values ​​other than those indicating the above-described modes within the subfield may be reserved or used for other purposes.

[0322] - For each 80 MHz channel in a BW of 80 MHz or more: The mode used in the 80 MHz BW can be used as is. In this case, the 80 MHz DBW indication can be used instead of a DBW of the same size as the BW. As another example, "40 MHz RRU + 40 MHz DBW" and "40 MHz RRU + 20 + 20 MHz DBW" may not be defined. In this case, the above modes can be defined only in the 80 MHz BW.

[0323] Additionally, the 160 MHz DBW mode is a mode in which 160 MHz DBW is applied to a 160 MHz channel composed of a specific 80 MHz channel. The 160 MHz DBW mode can be indicated by the above subfield.

[0324] Some of the above-described modes may be included / applied and others may not be included / applied. In addition, when the subfield is configured with a different number of bits for each BW, the size of the subfield may be defined as 2, 3, 4, or 5 bits depending on the number of modes defined. In addition, values ​​other than those indicating the above-described modes within the subfield may be reserved or used for other purposes. In another example, when the subfield is configured with the same number of bits for each BW, the subfield may include a number of bits greater than the number of bits that require the above-described modes, and values ​​other than those indicating the above-described modes within the subfield may be reserved or used for other purposes.

[0325] Example 5-1

[0326] Example 5-1 relates to a method for indicating other modes through a specific mode indication. When supporting multiple modes while indicating a specific mode, the number of bits in the subfield for indicating the mode can be reduced, thereby reducing overhead.

[0327] As an example of the present disclosure, not only the 20+20+40 MHz DBW mode but also the P20+20+40 MHz DBW mode and the 20+P20+40 MHz DBW mode can be indicated via the 20+20+40 MHz DBW mode (i.e., via information indicating the 20+20+40 MHz DBW mode). If the lowest (or second lowest) 20 MHz channel is punctured, no DRU is allocated for the punctured channel, and thus the modes described above can be indicated via the 20+20+40 MHz DBW mode. In this case, the DRU allocation for the channel can be indicated / applied via the RU allocation subfield of the UHR variant user information field.

[0328] Additionally, the P40+40 MHz DBW mode can be indicated via the 20+20+40 MHz DBW mode (i.e., via information indicating the 20+20+40 MHz DBW mode). If the first 40 MHz is punctured, no DRU is allocated for the punctured channel, and thus the P40+40 MHz DBW mode can be indicated via the 20+20+40 MHz DBW mode.

[0329] Additionally, the 20+20+P40 MHz DBW mode can be indicated via the 20+20+40 MHz DBW mode (i.e., via information indicating the 20+20+40 MHz DBW mode). If the second 40 MHz is punctured, no DRU is allocated for the punctured channel, and thus the 20+20+P40 MHz DBW mode can be indicated via the 20+20+40 MHz DBW mode.

[0330] As another example of the present disclosure, the 40+20+20 MHz DBW mode as well as the 40+P20+20 MHz DBW mode and the 40+20+P20 MHz DBW mode can be indicated via the 40+20+20 MHz DBW mode (i.e., via information indicating the 40+20+20 MHz DBW mode). If the second highest or highest 20 MHz channel is punctured, no DRU is allocated for the punctured channel, and thus the above-described modes can be indicated.

[0331] Additionally, if the second 40 MHz channel is punctured, no DRU is allocated for the punctured channel, and thus the P40+20+20 MHz DBW mode may be indicated through the 40+20+20 MHz DBW mode. Furthermore, if the first 40 MHz channel is punctured, no DRU is allocated for the punctured channel, and thus the other modes described above may be indicated through the 40+20+20 MHz DBW mode.

[0332] In the above-described mode indication methods, the RRU indication method may be excluded. In this case, a 1-bit subfield related to whether DRU or RRU is applied may be additionally defined as described in the above-described embodiments. In this case, the subfield for DBW mode indication may be valid only when DRU is applied. If RRU is applied, the subfield for DBW mode indication may be reserved or used for other purposes.

[0333] Example 5-2

[0334] Embodiment 5-2 relates to a DRU application indication method and a DBW mode indication method based on Embodiments 5 and 5-1. That is, in order to reduce the overhead of the subfield for indicating the DBW mode of Embodiments 5 / 5-1, the DRU application indication method can be applied, and the information described in Embodiment 1 can be indicated through the UHR variant common information field or the UHR variant special user information field.

[0335] When a DRU application instruction is performed, the subfield for indicating the DBW mode described in Example 5 / 5-1 may not be required in channels where an RRU, rather than a DRU, is applied. That is, when an RRU is applied, the field for indicating the DBW mode may be reserved or used for other purposes, which may be advantageous from an overhead perspective.

[0336] Additionally, even in a situation where a DRU rather than an RRU is applied, the subfield for indicating the DBW mode of Example 5 / 5-1 may be applied, and the subfield indicating whether an RRU is applied to the entire channel may not be necessary.

[0337] Below, we will explain how to instruct DRU application.

[0338] Method 1

[0339] As method 1, whether DRU is applied or only RRU is applied can be indicated through 1 bit of information (or subfield) considering the entire bandwidth of TB PPDU. Method 1 may be the same as the method of indicating that DRU is applied to the entire bandwidth among the DRU application indication methods described in embodiment 1 or / and embodiment 2.

[0340] For Method 1, if DRU is applied to at least a specific channel within the entire bandwidth of the TB PPDU, the DRU can be indicated as being applied. This can reduce the signaling overhead and complexity for indicating the application of the DRU. However, if the subfield for indicating the DBW mode of Example 5 / 5-1 is applied, information indicating whether to apply the RRU may always be required in a situation where a TB PPDU exceeding a specific bandwidth is triggered.

[0341] Method 2

[0342] In the case of method 2, whether the DRU is applied in a specific channel unit (e.g., in 80 MHz units) or only the RRU is applied can be indicated through 1-bit information (or subfield) above a specific bandwidth (e.g., 80 MHz). In addition, the other methods may be the same as method 1. Among the DRU application indication methods of embodiment 1 and / or embodiment 2, the method of indicating whether the DRU is applied in a specific channel unit may be the same as method 2.

[0343] Different information may be transmitted (via trigger frames) for each specific channel unit. For example, if DRU is applied to some channels within a specific channel, information indicating that DRU is applied may be included in the trigger frame transmitted to the specific channel. When Method 2 is applied, the subfield for indicating the DBW mode of Embodiment 5 / 5-1 may not need to indicate whether RRU is applied to the entire specific channel unit when applied, thereby reducing overhead.

[0344] Method 3

[0345] When a certain bandwidth (e.g., 80 MHz) is exceeded, whether DRU or only RRU is applied can be indicated in a bitmap format. That is, each bit included in the bitmap can indicate whether DRU or RRU is applied on the corresponding channel. In addition, the size of the channel corresponding to each bit can be, but is not limited to, 80 MHz or 160 MHz.

[0346] When a specific bandwidth (e.g., 80 MHz) is exceeded, the bitmap indicating whether DRU is applied or only RRU is applied can be applied / configured differently for specific channel units (e.g., 160 MHz). That is, Method 3 can be identical to the method of indicating whether DRU is applied in Embodiments 3 and 4, and Method 1 can be applied to the remaining bandwidths except for specific channels.

[0347] Depending on the TB PPDU bandwidth, the number of bits in the subfield containing the bitmap may be variable. For example, if the channel size corresponding to each bit of the bitmap is 80 MHz, the bitmap subfield according to the bandwidth of 20, 40, and 80 MHz may be 1 bit, the bitmap subfield according to the bandwidth of 160 MHz may be 2 bits, and the bitmap subfield according to the bandwidth of 320 MHz may be 4 bits.

[0348] Additionally or alternatively, the number of bits in the subfield may be fixed by the maximum bandwidth defined in the UHR. As an example, assume that the number of bits in the subfield is fixed. In this case, if the TB PPDU bandwidth is less than 320 MHz, the bit with the lowest (or highest) bit index in the bitmap included in the subfield may be preferentially used, and the bits with high (or low) indices may be reserved.

[0349] Additionally or alternatively, whether the DRU is applied to a specific channel unit (e.g., 160 MHz) may be indicated bitmap-wise on a per-channel basis via the trigger frame. That is, the bitmap information in the trigger frame transmitted for each channel unit may be different.

[0350] For example, let's assume a case where a trigger frame requesting a 320 MHz TB PPDU (wherein the bandwidth of the PPDU transmitting the trigger frame is also 320 MHz) indicates whether DRU is applied in units of 160 MHz. In this case, the trigger frame transmitted at each 160 MHz can indicate whether DRU is applied in units of 80 MHz using a 2-bit bitmap-based subfield. The subfield included in the trigger frame for each channel can be set differently, but the remaining information included in the trigger frame can be the same regardless of the channel.

[0351] For example, each bit of a two-bit bitmap may correspond to each 80 MHz that makes up 160 MHz. The first bit of the bitmap may indicate whether the DRU is applied to the lower 80 MHz of the 160 MHz, and the second bit of the bitmap may indicate whether the DRU is applied to the higher 80 MHz of the 160 MHz.

[0352] When DRU is applied to some channels within a specific channel corresponding to a specific bit of the bitmap, the specific bit of the bitmap may indicate that the DRU is applied. When Method 3 is used, the subfield for indicating the DBW mode of Embodiment 5 / 5-1 may not need to indicate whether the RRU is applied to all channels corresponding to each bit of the bitmap when applied. Accordingly, overhead can be reduced.

[0353] Example 5-3

[0354] As one embodiment of the present disclosure, it is assumed that Embodiment 5 / 5-1 / 5-2 applies (e.g., when a specific channel unit is 80 MHz).

[0355] The subfield for indicating the DBW mode of Example 5 / 5-1 may be valid only within a channel where a DRU, not an RRU, is indicated to be applied. Otherwise, the bits of the subfield may be reserved or used for other purposes.

[0356] As an example of the present disclosure, for a 20 MHz bandwidth, since there is only one possible DBW mode, even if there is an indication that a DRU rather than an RRU is applied, a subfield indicating the DBW mode of Example 5 / 5-1 may not be needed. Accordingly, the bits of the subfield may be reserved or used for other purposes.

[0357] As another example of the present disclosure, for a 40 MHz bandwidth, if the 20+20 MHz DBW mode is not defined, the subfield indicating the DBW mode of embodiment 5 / 5-1 may not be required even if there is an indication that the DRU, not the RRU, is applied. Accordingly, the bits of the subfield may be reserved or used for other purposes.

[0358] If the 20+20 MHz DBW mode is considered and a DRU rather than an RRU is indicated to be applied, the subfield for indicating the DBW mode of embodiment 5 / 5-1 may be applied. In addition, information for indicating whether an RRU is applied to the entire channel in the subfield may not be required, except for method 1 of embodiment 5-2.

[0359] As another example of the present disclosure, for each 80 MHz channel in a bandwidth of 80 MHz and a bandwidth of 80 MHz or more, if it is indicated that a DRU rather than an RRU is applied, the subfield for indicating the DBW mode of embodiment 5 / 5-1 may be applied. In addition, except for method 1 of embodiment 5-2, information for indicating whether an RRU is applied to the entire channel in the subfield may not be required.

[0360] Additionally, a subfield for indicating DBW mode can be configured by applying the same method of indicating the duplicate mode described in Example 5 / 5-1.

[0361] FIG. 15 is a diagram illustrating a PPDU transmission and reception procedure between a transmitting STA and a receiving STA according to one embodiment of the present disclosure. Some of the steps shown in FIG. 15 may be omitted depending on circumstances and / or settings. The transmitting device and the receiving STA may be APs and / or non-AP STAs.

[0362] The transmitting STA may obtain control information related to the aforementioned tone plan (or RU / DRU) (S105). The control information related to the tone plan may include the size and location of the RU, control information related to the RU, information about the frequency band in which the RU is included, information about the STA receiving the RU, etc.

[0363] The transmitting STA may configure / generate a PPDU based on the acquired control information (S110). Configuring / generating a PPDU may mean configuring / generating each field of the PPDU. That is, the step of configuring / generating a PPDU may include a step of configuring U-SIG and UHR-SIG-A / B / C fields that contain control information regarding a tone plan.

[0364] That is, the step of configuring / generating a PPDU may include a step of configuring a field including control information (e.g., N bitmap) indicating the size / position of the RU and / or a step of configuring a field including an identifier (e.g., AID) of an STA receiving the RU.

[0365] Additionally, the step of configuring / generating a PPDU may include a step of generating an STF / LTF sequence to be transmitted via a specific RU. The STF / LTF sequence may be generated based on a preset STF generation sequence / LTF generation sequence.

[0366] Additionally, the step of constructing / generating a PPDU may include a step of generating a data field (i.e., an MPDU) to be transmitted via a specific RU.

[0367] The transmitting STA can transmit the configured / generated PPDU to the receiving STA (S115).

[0368] Specifically, the transmitting STA can perform at least one of cyclic shift diversity (CSD), spatial mapping, inverse discrete Fourier transform (IDFT) / inverse fast Fourier transform (IFFT) operation, and guard interval (GI) insertion operation.

[0369] The receiving STA can decode the PPDU and obtain control information related to the tone-plan (or RU) (S120).

[0370] Specifically, the receiving STA can decode the L-SIG and U-SIG / UHR-SIG of the PPDU based on the L-STF / LTF, and obtain information included in the L-SIG and U-SIG, UHR-SIG fields. Information about various tone plans (i.e., RUs) of the present disclosure can be included in the U-SIG / UHR-SIG (UHR-SIG-A / B / C, etc.), and the receiving STA can obtain information about the tone plan (i.e., RU) through the EHT-SIG.

[0371] The receiving STA can decode the remaining portion of the PPDU based on the information about the acquired tone plan (i.e., RU) (S125). For example, the receiving STA can decode the STF / LTF field of the PPDU based on the information about the tone plan (i.e., RU). In addition, the receiving STA can decode the data field of the PPDU based on the information about the tone plan (i.e., RU) and obtain the MPDU included in the data field.

[0372] Additionally, the receiving STA may perform a processing operation to forward the decoded data to a higher layer (e.g., the MAC layer). Furthermore, if the higher layer instructs the PHY layer to generate a signal in response to the data forwarded to the higher layer, the receiving STA may perform a subsequent operation.

[0373] The embodiments described above are combinations of components and features of the present disclosure in a predetermined form. Each component or feature should be considered optional unless explicitly stated otherwise. Each component or feature may be implemented without being combined with other components or features. Furthermore, it is also possible to form embodiments of the present disclosure by combining some components and / or features. The order of operations described in the embodiments of the present disclosure may be changed. Some components or features of one embodiment may be included in another embodiment or may be replaced with corresponding components or features of another embodiment. It is self-evident that claims that do not have an explicit citation relationship in the patent claims may be combined to form embodiments or incorporated as new claims through post-application amendments.

[0374] It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that the present disclosure may be embodied in other specific forms without departing from the essential characteristics thereof. Therefore, the above detailed description should not be construed as limiting in any respect, but rather as illustrative. The scope of the present disclosure should be determined by a reasonable interpretation of the appended claims, and all modifications within the scope of equivalents of the present disclosure are intended to be included within the scope of the present disclosure.

[0375] The scope of the present disclosure includes software or machine-executable instructions (e.g., an operating system, an application, firmware, a program, etc.) that cause operations according to the methods of various embodiments to be executed on a device or a computer, and a non-transitory computer-readable medium having such software or instructions stored thereon and executable on the device or computer. Instructions that can be used to program a processing system to perform the features described in the present disclosure can be stored on / in a storage medium or a computer-readable storage medium, and a computer program product including such a storage medium can be used to implement the features described in the present disclosure. The storage medium can include, but is not limited to, high-speed random access memory, such as DRAM, SRAM, DDR RAM, or other random access solid state memory devices, and can include non-volatile memory, such as one or more magnetic disk storage devices, optical disk storage devices, flash memory devices, or other non-volatile solid state storage devices. The memory optionally includes one or more storage devices remotely located from the processor(s). The memory or, alternatively, the non-volatile memory device(s) within the memory comprise a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium. The features described in this disclosure may be incorporated into software and / or firmware stored on any of the machine-readable media, which may control the hardware of the processing system and allow the processing system to interact with other mechanisms that utilize results according to embodiments of the present disclosure. Such software or firmware may include, but is not limited to, application code, device drivers, operating systems, and execution environments / containers.

[0376] The method proposed in this disclosure has been described with a focus on examples applied to IEEE 802.11-based systems, but can be applied to various wireless LANs or wireless communication systems in addition to IEEE 802.11-based systems.

Claims

1. A step of receiving a trigger frame including a common information field and a special user information field from an access point (AP) by a first station (STA); and A step of transmitting a trigger-based (TB) physical layer protocol data unit (PPDU) to the AP by the first STA on the first bandwidth based on the trigger frame, A method wherein the common information field or the special user information field transmitted in the second bandwidth among the first bandwidths includes a first subfield related to whether a distributed resource unit (DRU) is applied on the second bandwidth.

2. The common information field or the special user information field transmitted in the third bandwidth among the first bandwidths includes a second subfield related to whether DRU is applied on the third bandwidth, A method wherein the sizes of the first subfield and the second subfield are the same.

3. In paragraph 2, The first subfield above includes a first bitmap, A method in which whether DRU is applied to the nth unit bandwidth among the second bandwidths is indicated by the n bits (n is a natural number greater than or equal to 1) of the first bitmap.

4. In paragraph 3, A method wherein the size of each of the above unit bandwidths is one of 20 MHz, 40 MHz, 80 MHz or 160 MHz.

5. In paragraph 1, A method wherein the common information field or the special user information field transmitted in the second bandwidth among the first bandwidths includes a third subfield related to a distributed width (DBW) mode applied to the second bandwidth.

6. In paragraph 5, A method wherein the third subfield is reserved based on the indication that the DRU is not applied to the second bandwidth by the first subfield.

7. In paragraph 5, The value indicating the 20 + 20 + 40 MHz DBW mode set on the third subfield is used for the 20 + 20 + 40 MHz DBW mode, the P(puncturing)20 + 20 + 40 MHz DBW mode, the 20 + P20 + 40 MHz DBW mode, the P40 + 40 MHz DBW mode, or the 20 + 20 + P40 MHz DBW mode. A method in which a value indicating a 40 + 20 + 20 MHz DBW mode set on the third subfield is used for a 40 + 20 + 20 MHz DBW mode, a 40 + P20 + 20 MHz DBW mode, a 40 + 20 + P20 MHz DBW mode, a 40 + P40 MHz DBW mode, or a P40 + 20 + 20 MHz DBW mode, depending on a channel puncturing situation within the second bandwidth.

8. In paragraph 5, The common information field or the special user information field transmitted in the third bandwidth among the first bandwidths includes a fourth subfield related to the DBW mode applied to the third bandwidth, A method wherein the sizes of each of the third subfield and the fourth subfield are the same.

9. In paragraph 8, The value indicating the 20 + 20 + 40 MHz DBW mode set on the above 4th subfield is used for the 20 + 20 + 40 MHz DBW mode, the P20 + 20 + 40 MHz DBW mode, the 20 + P20 + 40 MHz DBW mode, the P40 + 40 MHz DBW mode, or the 20 + 20 + P40 MHz DBW mode, A method in which a value indicating a 40 + 20 + 20 MHz DBW mode set on the fourth subfield is used for a 40 + 20 + 20 MHz DBW mode, a 40 + P20 + 20 MHz DBW mode, a 40 + 20 + P20 MHz DBW mode, a 40 + P40 MHz DBW mode, or a P40 + 20 + 20 MHz DBW mode.

10. In paragraph 1, A method wherein the size of the bandwidth of the PPDU including the trigger frame is equal to the size of the first bandwidth.

11. In the first STA, the first STA: one or more transmitters and receivers; and comprising one or more processors connected to said one or more transceivers, One or more of the above processors: Receiving a trigger frame including a common information field and a special user information field from an access point (AP) through one or more transceivers; and Based on the trigger frame, a trigger-based (TB) physical layer protocol data unit (PPDU) is set to be transmitted to the AP through the one or more transceivers on the first bandwidth, A first STA, wherein the common information field or the special user information field transmitted in the second bandwidth among the first bandwidths includes a first subfield related to whether a distributed resource unit (DRU) is applied on the second bandwidth.

12. A step of transmitting a trigger frame including a common information field and a special user information field to a first station (STA) by an access point (AP); and A step of receiving a trigger-based (TB) physical layer protocol data unit (PPDU) from a first STA to the AP on a first bandwidth based on the trigger frame, A method wherein the common information field or the special user information field transmitted in the second bandwidth among the first bandwidths includes a first subfield related to whether a distributed resource unit (DRU) is applied on the second bandwidth.

13. In the access point (AP), the AP: one or more transmitters and receivers; and comprising one or more processors connected to said one or more transceivers, One or more of the above processors: Transmitting a trigger frame including a common information field and a special user information field to a first station (STA) via one or more transceivers; and Based on the trigger frame, a trigger-based (TB) physical layer protocol data unit (PPDU) is set to be received from the first STA through the one or more transceivers on the first bandwidth, An AP, wherein the common information field or the special user information field transmitted in the second bandwidth among the first bandwidths includes a first subfield related to whether a distributed resource unit (DRU) is applied on the second bandwidth.

14. In a processing device configured to control a first station (STA) in a wireless local area network (WLAN) system, the processing device: one or more processors; and A processing device comprising one or more computer memories operatively connected to said one or more processors and storing instructions that, when executed by said one or more processors, perform a method according to any one of claims 1 to 10.

15. One or more non-transitory computer-readable media storing one or more instructions, A computer-readable medium, wherein the one or more commands are executed by one or more processors to control a device in a wireless LAN system to perform a method according to any one of claims 1 to 10.

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