Method and device for configuring ICR including NPCA information in wireless LAN system

Abstract

Proposed are a method and device for configuring an ICR including NPCA information in a wireless LAN system. Specifically, a first NPCA STA transmits an ICF to a second NPCA STA. The first NPCA STA receives the ICR from the second NPCA STA. The ICR is a Multi-STA BA frame. The Multi-STA BA frame includes an Ack Type subfield and a TID subfield. NPCA information is included in the Multi-STA BA frame on the basis of the Ack Type subfield and the TID subfield.

Description

Method and apparatus for configuring an ICR containing NPCA information in a wireless LAN system

[0001] The present specification relates to a technique for configuring an ICR including NPCA information in a wireless LAN system, and more specifically, to a method and apparatus for configuring an ICR including said NPCA information when an ICF requests NPCA information.

[0002] Next-generation Wi-Fi (e.g., IEEE 802.11be and / or later) aims to support ultra-high reliability when transmitting signals to STAs, and to this end, various technologies are being considered to support high throughput, low latency, and extended range. For example, a procedure to access a non-primary channel can be performed.

[0003] The present specification proposes a method and apparatus for configuring an ICR containing NPCA information in a wireless LAN system.

[0004] One example of the present specification proposes a method for configuring an ICR that includes NPCA information.

[0005] This embodiment can be performed in a network environment that supports a next-generation wireless LAN system (UHR (Ultra High Reliability) wireless LAN system, 802.11bn or next wi-fi). The next-generation wireless LAN system is a wireless LAN system that improves upon the 802.11be system and can satisfy backward compatibility with the 802.11be system.

[0006] The present embodiment proposes a method for configuring an ICR that includes NPCA information when an ICF requests NPCA information. The NPCA information may be information necessary to successfully perform NPCA operations between NPCA STAs. In addition, the present embodiment proposes a method for configuring an ICR that includes not only the NPCA information but also control information regarding IDC, DPS, MAP, security enhancement, etc., considered in an 802.11bn wireless LAN system.

[0007] The first NPCA (Non-primary channel access) STA (station) transmits an ICF (Initial Control Frame) to the second NPCA STA.

[0008] The first NPCA STA receives an ICR (Initial Control Response) from the second NPCA STA.

[0009] The above ICR is a Multi-STA BA (BlockAck) frame. That is, the above ICR can have a BA frame structure of a Multi-STA BA variant.

[0010] The above Multi-STA BA frame includes an Ack Type subfield and a TID (Traffic Identifier) ​​subfield. Based on the Ack Type subfield and the TID subfield, Non-primary channel access (NPCA) information is included in the Multi-STA BA frame. For example, based on the value of the Ack Type subfield being set to 0 and the value of the TID subfield being set to 13, the NPCA information may be included in the Multi-STA BA frame.

[0011] At this time, the Multi-STA BA frame may include at least one Per AID TID Info subfield. Each of the at least one Per AID TID Info subfield may have the following structure.

[0012] For example, the Multi-STA BA frame may further include an AID (Association Identifier) ​​TID Info subfield, a Block Ack Starting Sequence Control subfield, and a Block Ack Bitmap subfield. In this case, the AID TID Info subfield may include an AID11 subfield, the Ack Type subfield, and the TID subfield.

[0013] That is, the present embodiment proposes a method of including NPCA information in the Multi-STA BA frame by setting the Ack Type subfield and the TID subfield present in the AID TID Info subfield of the Multi-STA BA frame to specific values. By doing so, the first NPCA STA can switch (or switch back) from the NPCA primary channel to the BSS primary channel at the same time as the second NPCA STA based on the NPCA information.

[0014] According to the method proposed in this embodiment, problems that may occur when the default Network Allocation Vector (NAV) set by OBSS traffic on the BSS primary channel during NPCA operation is recognized differently between AP and non-AP STA can be effectively resolved.

[0015] FIG. 1 shows an example of a transmitting device and / or receiving device of the present specification.

[0016] Figure 2 is a conceptual diagram showing the structure of a wireless LAN (WLAN).

[0017] Figure 3 is a diagram illustrating a general link setup process.

[0018] FIG. 4 illustrates an example of a multi-link (ML).

[0019] FIG. 5 illustrates a PPDU (physical protocol data unit or physical layer (PHY) protocol data unit) transmitted / received in an STA of the present specification.

[0020] Figure 6 is a diagram showing the arrangement of resource units (RU) used for a 20 MHz PPDU.

[0021] Figure 7 is a diagram showing the arrangement of resource units (RU) used for a 40 MHz PPDU.

[0022] Figure 8 is a diagram showing the arrangement of resource units (RU) used for an 80 MHz PPDU.

[0023] Figure 9 shows the operation according to UL-MU.

[0024] Figure 10 shows an example of a channel used / supported / defined within the 2.4 GHz band.

[0025] FIG. 11 illustrates an example of a channel used / supported / defined within the 5 GHz band.

[0026] FIG. 12 illustrates an example of a channel used / supported / defined within the 6 GHz band.

[0027] Figure 13 shows an example of a MAC frame header.

[0028] FIG. 14 shows a modified example of a transmitting device and / or receiving device of the present specification.

[0029] Figure 15 illustrates an example of a network topology and an example of Basic NAV configured in the PCH of NPCA STAs.

[0030] Figure 16 illustrates an example of control information utilizing A-Control.

[0031] FIG. 17 illustrates an example of Common Control Info and / or Feature Info (Presence bitmap).

[0032] FIG. 18 illustrates an example of Common Control Info and / or Feature Info (ID-based).

[0033] FIG. 19 illustrates an example of Common Control Info and / or Feature Info (ID / Length based).

[0034] FIG. 20 illustrates an example of Solicited Info using a Bitmap indicator.

[0035] FIG. 21 illustrates an example of Solicited Info using Indexing.

[0036] FIG. 22 illustrates an example of Solicited Info using a Bitmap indicator in the Common Info field of a Trigger frame.

[0037] FIG. 23 illustrates an example of Solicited Info using Bitmap indicators in the padding of a Trigger frame.

[0038] FIG. 24 illustrates an example of Solicited Info (bitmap indicator) using the Solicited Info Flag.

[0039] FIG. 25 illustrates an example of Solicited Info (indexing) using the Solicited Info Flag.

[0040] FIG. 26 illustrates an example in which the Common Info field of a Trigger frame contains a Solicited Info flag and the User Info field contains Solicited Info (Bitmap indicator).

[0041] FIG. 27 illustrates an example in which the Common Info field of a Trigger frame contains a Solicited Info flag and the Padding contains Solicited Info (Bitmap indication).

[0042] FIG. 28 illustrates an example of a General Response flag.

[0043] Figure 29 illustrates an example of a General Response Type.

[0044] Figure 30 illustrates an example of the NPCA request User Info field.

[0045] Figure 31 illustrates an example of an NPCA request User Info field (Request type).

[0046] FIG. 32 illustrates an example of including a Solicited Info flag in the TRS Control.

[0047] FIG. 33 illustrates an example of a trigger frame format.

[0048] Figure 34 illustrates an example of the Special User Info field format within a trigger frame.

[0049] Figure 35 illustrates an example of the EHT variant Common Info field format of a Trigger frame.

[0050] FIG. 36 illustrates an example of Control Info (NPCA Info) inclusion in a Multi-STA BA frame.

[0051] Figure 37 illustrates an example of IDC Info inclusion in a Multi-STA BA frame during NPCA operation (response to a Trigger frame).

[0052] FIG. 38 illustrates an example of NPCA Info inclusion in a Multi-STA BA frame during an NPCA operation (response to a Trigger frame).

[0053] FIG. 39 illustrates an example in which NPCA, LLT, and BSR are included as Control Info in the Per AID TID Info of Multi-STA BA.

[0054] FIG. 40 illustrates an example in which Unavailability, NPCA, BSR, and CL PM are included as Control Info in the Per AID TID Info of Multi-STA BA.

[0055] Figure 41 illustrates an example of NPCA Info inclusion in a Multi-STA BA frame.

[0056] FIG. 42 illustrates an example in which Unavailability, LLT, and BSR are included as Control Info by specifying AID11 of the Per AID TID Info of Multi-STA BA to a specific value, respectively.

[0057] FIG. 43 illustrates an example of a Control Information subfield format included in the NPCAR Control subfield.

[0058] FIG. 44 illustrates an example of NPCAR Info transmission using A-Control.

[0059] FIG. 45 is a flowchart illustrating the operation of a transmitting device according to the present embodiment.

[0060] FIG. 46 is a flowchart illustrating the operation of a receiving device according to the present embodiment.

[0061] FIG. 47 is a flowchart illustrating a procedure for transmitting an ICR containing NPCA information according to the present embodiment.

[0062] FIG. 48 is a flowchart illustrating a procedure for receiving an ICR containing NPCA information according to the present embodiment.

[0063] In this specification, “A or B” may mean “only A,” “only B,” or “both A and B.” Alternatively, in this specification, “A or B” may be interpreted as “A and / or B.” For example, in this specification, “A, B or C” may mean “only A,” “only B,” “only C,” or “any combination of A, B and C.”

[0064] As used herein, a slash ( / ) or a comma may mean “and / or.” For example, “A / B” may mean “and / or B.” Accordingly, “A / B” may mean “only A,” “only B,” or “both A and B.” For example, “A, B, C” may mean “A, B, or C.”

[0065] In this specification, “at least one of A and B” may mean “only A,” “only B,” or “both A and B.” Additionally, in this specification, the expressions “at least one of A or B” or “at least one of A and / or B” may be interpreted as synonymous with “at least one of A and B.”

[0066] Additionally, parentheses used in this specification may mean “for example.” Specifically, when indicated as “control information (UHR-Signal field),” the “UHR-Signal field” may be proposed as an example of “control information.” In other words, the “control information” of this specification is not limited to the “UHR-Signal field,” and the “UHR-Signal field” may be proposed as an example of “control information.” Furthermore, even when indicated as “control information (UHR-Signal field),” the “UHR-Signal field” may be proposed as an example of “control information.”

[0067] Additionally, as used herein, “a / an” may mean “at least one” or “one or more.” Also, terms ending in “(s)” may mean “at least one” or “one or more.”

[0068] Additionally, the expressions “based on,” “on the basis of,” or “according to” as used herein mean “based at least in part on,” and do not mean “based only on one.”

[0069] Technical features described individually within a single drawing in this specification may be implemented individually or simultaneously.

[0070] The following examples of this specification may be applied to various wireless communication systems. For example, the following examples of this specification may be applied to wireless local area network (WLAN) systems. For example, this specification may be applied to IEEE 802.11a / g / n / ac / ax / be / bn standards. In addition, the examples of this specification may be applied to Ultra High Reliability (UHR) standards or next-generation wireless LAN standards that enhance IEEE 802.11bn. In addition, the examples of this specification may be applied to mobile communication systems. For example, they may be applied to mobile communication systems based on Long Term Evolution (LTE) and its evolution based on 3GPP (3rd Generation Partnership Project) standards.

[0071] To explain the technical features of this specification, the technical features to which this specification can be applied are described below.

[0072] FIG. 1 shows an example of a transmitting device and / or receiving device of the present specification.

[0073] An example of FIG. 1 can perform various technical features described below. FIG. 1 relates to at least one STA (station). For example, the STA (110, 120) of this specification may also be referred to by various names such as mobile terminal, wireless device, Wireless Transmit / Receive Unit (WTRU), User Equipment (UE), Mobile Station (MS), Mobile Subscriber Unit, or simply user. The STA (110, 120) of this specification may also be referred to by various names such as network, base station, Node-B, Access Point (AP), repeater, router, relay, etc. The STA (110, 120) of this specification may also be referred to by various names such as receiving apparatus, transmitting device, receiving STA, transmitting STA, receiving device, transmitting device, etc.

[0074] For example, the STA (110, 120) can perform the role of an access point (AP) or a non-AP. That is, the STA (110, 120) of this specification can perform the functions of an AP and / or a non-AP. In this specification, an AP may also be indicated as an AP STA.

[0075] The STA (110, 120) of this specification may support various communication standards other than the IEEE 802.11 standard. For example, it may support communication standards according to 3GPP standards (e.g., LTE, LTE-A, 5G NR standards). In addition, the STA of this specification may be implemented in various devices such as mobile phones, vehicles, and personal computers. Furthermore, the STA of this specification may support communication for various communication services such as voice calls, video calls, data communication, and self-driving.

[0076] In this specification, the STA (110, 120) may include a medium access control (MAC) that complies with the provisions of the IEEE 802.11 standard and a physical layer interface for the wireless medium.

[0077] Based on side drawing (a) of Fig. 1, STA (110, 120) is described as follows.

[0078] The first STA (110) may include a processor (111), memory (112), and a transceiver (113). The illustrated processor, memory, and transceiver may each be implemented as separate chips, or at least two blocks / functions may be implemented through a single chip.

[0079] The transceiver (113) of the first STA performs the operation of transmitting and receiving signals. Specifically, it can transmit and receive IEEE 802.11 packets (e.g., IEEE 802.11a / b / g / n / ac / ax / be, etc.).

[0080] For example, the first STA (110) can perform the intended operation of the AP. For example, the processor (111) of the AP can receive a signal through the transceiver (113), process the received signal, generate a transmitted signal, and perform control for transmitting the signal. The memory (112) of the AP can store the signal received through the transceiver (113) (i.e., the received signal) and the signal to be transmitted through the transceiver (i.e., the transmitted signal).

[0081] For example, the second STA (120) can perform the intended operation of a Non-AP STA. For example, the non-AP transceiver (123) performs the operation of transmitting and receiving signals. Specifically, it can transmit and receive IEEE 802.11 packets (e.g., IEEE 802.11a / b / g / n / ac / ax / be, etc.).

[0082] For example, the processor (121) of the Non-AP STA can receive a signal through the transceiver (123), process the received signal, generate a transmitted signal, and perform control for transmitting the signal. The memory (122) of the Non-AP STA can store the signal received through the transceiver (123) (i.e., the received signal) and can store the signal to be transmitted through the transceiver (i.e., the transmitted signal).

[0083] For example, the operation of the device indicated as AP in the following specification may be performed in the first STA (110) or the second STA (120). For example, if the first STA (110) is the AP, the operation of the device indicated as AP is controlled by the processor (111) of the first STA (110), and related signals may be transmitted or received through a transceiver (113) controlled by the processor (111) of the first STA (110). Additionally, control information related to the operation of the AP or the transmission / reception signals of the AP may be stored in the memory (112) of the first STA (110). Additionally, if the second STA (110) is the AP, the operation of the device indicated as AP is controlled by the processor (121) of the second STA (120), and related signals may be transmitted or received through a transceiver (123) controlled by the processor (121) of the second STA (120). In addition, control information related to the operation of the AP or the transmission / reception signals of the AP can be stored in the memory (122) of the second STA (110).

[0084] For example, the operation of a device indicated as non-AP (or User-STA) in the following specification may be performed in the STA (110) or the second STA (120). For example, if the second STA (120) is non-AP, the operation of the device indicated as non-AP is controlled by the processor (121) of the second STA (120), and related signals may be transmitted or received through a transceiver (123) controlled by the processor (121) of the second STA (120). Additionally, control information related to the operation of the non-AP or the transmission / reception signals of the AP may be stored in the memory (122) of the second STA (120). For example, if the first STA (110) is a non-AP, the operation of the device marked as non-AP is controlled by the processor (111) of the first STA (110), and the related signal can be transmitted or received through a transceiver (113) controlled by the processor (111) of the first STA (120). Additionally, control information related to the operation of the non-AP or the transmission / reception signal of the AP can be stored in the memory (112) of the first STA (110).

[0085] In the following specification, a device referred to as (transmission / reception) STA, first STA, second STA, STA1, STA2, AP, first AP, second AP, AP1, AP2, (transmission / reception) Terminal, (transmission / reception) device, (transmission / reception) apparatus, network, etc. may refer to the STA (110, 120) of FIG. 1. For example, a device indicated without specific drawing symbols as (transmission / reception) STA, first STA, second STA, STA1, STA2, AP, first AP, second AP, AP1, AP2, (transmission / reception) Terminal, (transmission / reception) device, (transmission / reception) apparatus, network, etc. may also refer to the STA (110, 120) of FIG. 1. For example, in the following example, the operation of various STAs transmitting and receiving signals (e.g., PPPDU) may be performed by the transceiver (113, 123) of FIG. 1. Additionally, in the following example, the operation of various STAs generating transmission and reception signals or performing data processing or calculations in advance for transmission and reception signals may be performed by the processor (111, 121) of FIG. 1.For example, an example of an operation to generate a transmission / reception signal or to perform data processing or operations in advance for a transmission / reception signal may include: 1) an operation to determine / acquire / configure / operate / decode / encode bit information of sub-fields (SIG, STF, LTF, Data) included in the PPDU; 2) an operation to determine / configure / acquire time resources or frequency resources (e.g., subcarrier resources) used for sub-fields (SIG, STF, LTF, Data) included in the PPDU; 3) an operation to determine / configure / acquire specific sequences (e.g., pilot sequence, STF / LTF sequence, extra sequence applied to SIG) used for sub-fields (SIG, STF, LTF, Data) included in the PPDU; 4) a power control operation and / or power saving operation applied to the STA; and 5) an operation related to determining / acquiring / configuring / operating / decoding / encoding of an ACK signal. In addition, in the following example, various information (e.g., information related to fields, subfields, control fields, parameters, power, etc.) used by various STAs for determining / acquiring / configuring / calculating / decoding / encoding of transmission and reception signals can be stored in the memory (112, 122) of FIG. 1.

[0086] The device / STA of the aforementioned supplementary drawing (a) of FIG. 1 can be modified as shown in supplementary drawing (b) of FIG. 1. Hereinafter, the STA (110, 120) of this specification will be described based on supplementary drawing (b) of FIG. 1.

[0087] For example, the transceiver (113, 123) shown in side drawing (b) of FIG. 1 can perform the same function as the transceiver shown in side drawing (a) of FIG. 1 described above. For example, the processing chip (114, 124) shown in side drawing (b) of FIG. 1 may include a processor (111, 121) and a memory (112, 122). The processor (111, 121) and memory (112, 122) shown in side drawing (b) of FIG. 1 can perform the same function as the processor (111, 121) and memory (112, 122) shown in side drawing (a) of FIG. 1 described above.

[0088] The mobile terminal, wireless device, Wireless Transmit / Receive Unit (WTRU), User Equipment (UE), Mobile Station (MS), Mobile Subscriber Unit, user, User STA, network, Base Station, Node-B, AP (Access Point), repeater, router, relay, receiving device, transmitting device, receiving STA, transmitting STA, receiving Device, transmitting Device, receiving Apparatus, and / or transmitting Apparatus described below may refer to the STA (110, 120) shown in side drawings (a) / (b) of FIG. 1, or the processing chip (114, 124) shown in side drawing (b) of FIG. 1. That is, the technical features of the present specification may be performed in the STA (110, 120) shown in side drawings (a) / (b) of FIG. 1, or only in the processing chip (114, 124) shown in side drawing (b) of FIG. 1. For example, the technical feature of the transmitting STA transmitting a control signal may be understood as a technical feature in which a control signal generated in the processor (111, 121) shown in side drawings (a) / (b) of FIG. 1 is transmitted through the transceiver (113, 123) shown in side drawings (a) / (b) of FIG. 1. Alternatively, the technical feature of the transmitting STA transmitting a control signal may be understood as a technical feature in which a control signal to be transmitted from the processing chip (114, 124) shown in side drawing (b) of FIG. 1 is generated to the transceiver (113, 123).

[0089] For example, the technical feature of the receiving STA receiving a control signal can be understood as the technical feature of the control signal being received by the transceiver (113, 123) shown in side view (a) of FIG. 1. Alternatively, the technical feature of the receiving STA receiving a control signal can be understood as the technical feature of the control signal received by the transceiver (113, 123) shown in side view (a) of FIG. 1 being acquired by the processor (111, 121) shown in side view (a) of FIG. 1. Alternatively, the technical feature of the receiving STA receiving a control signal can be understood as the technical feature of the control signal received by the transceiver (113, 123) shown in side view (b) of FIG. 1 being acquired by the processing chip (114, 124) shown in side view (b) of FIG. 1.

[0090] Referring to side view (b) of FIG. 1, software code (115, 125) may be included in memory (112, 122). The software code (115, 125) may include instructions that control the operation of the processor (111, 121). The software code (115, 125) may be included in various programming languages.

[0091] The processor (111, 121) or processing chip (114, 124) illustrated in FIG. 1 may include an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), other chipsets, logic circuits, and / or data processing devices. The processor may be an application processor (AP). For example, the processor (111, 121) or processing chip (114, 124) illustrated in FIG. 1 may include at least one of a digital signal processor (DSP), a central processing unit (CPU), a graphics processing unit (GPU), and a modem (modulator and demodulator). For example, the processor (111, 121) or processing chip (114, 124) illustrated in FIG. 1 may be a SNAPDRAGON™ series processor manufactured by Qualcomm®, an EXYNOSTM series processor manufactured by Samsung®, an A series processor manufactured by Apple®, a HELIO™ series processor manufactured by MediaTek®, an ATOM™ series processor manufactured by INTEL®, or a processor enhanced therefrom.

[0092] In this specification, an uplink may refer to a link for communication from a non-AP STA to an AP STA, and uplink PPDUs / packets / signals, etc. may be transmitted through the uplink. Additionally, in this specification, a downlink may refer to a link for communication from an AP STA to a non-AP STA, and downlink PPDUs / packets / signals, etc. may be transmitted through the downlink.

[0093] Figure 2 is a conceptual diagram showing the structure of a wireless LAN (WLAN).

[0094] The top of Figure 2 shows the structure of the IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers) 802.11 infrastructure BSS (basic service set).

[0095] The top of Figure 2 shows the structure of the IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers) 802.11 infrastructure BSS (basic service set).

[0096] Referring to the top of FIG. 2, the wireless LAN system may include one or more infrastructure BSSs (200, 205) (hereinafter BSS). The BSS (200, 205) is a set of APs and STAs, such as an AP (access point, 225) and STA1 (Station, 200-1), that can communicate with each other by successfully synchronizing, and is not a concept referring to a specific area. The BSS (205) may include one or more STAs (205-1, 205-2) that can be combined with one AP (230).

[0097] The BSS may include at least one STA, an AP (225, 230) that provides a distribution service, and a distribution system (DS, 210) that connects multiple APs.

[0098] A distributed system (210) can implement an extended service set (ESS, 240) by connecting multiple BSSs (200, 205). The term ESS (240) may be used to refer to a network formed by connecting one or more APs through the distributed system (210). APs included in a single ESS (240) may have the same service set identification (SSID).

[0099] The portal (portal, 220) can act as a bridge to connect a wireless LAN network (IEEE 802.11) with another network (e.g., 802.X).

[0100] In a BSS like the one at the top of Fig. 2, a network between APs (225, 230) and a network between APs (225, 230) and STAs (200-1, 205-1, 205-2) can be implemented. However, it may also be possible to establish a network between STAs and perform communication without APs (225, 230). A network that establishes a network between STAs and performs communication without APs (225, 230) is defined as an ad-hoc network or an independent basic service set (IBSS).

[0101] The bottom of Fig. 2 is a conceptual diagram showing IBSS.

[0102] Referring to the bottom of Fig. 2, the IBSS is a BSS that operates in ad-hoc mode. Since the IBSS does not include an AP, there is no centralized management entity that performs management functions centrally. That is, in the IBSS, the STAs (250-1, 250-2, 250-3, 255-4, 255-5) are managed in a distributed manner. In the IBSS, all STAs (250-1, 250-2, 250-3, 255-4, 255-5) can be mobile STAs, and since access to the distributed system is not allowed, they form a self-contained network.

[0103] Figure 3 is a diagram illustrating a general link setup process.

[0104] In the described S310 step, the STA can perform a network discovery operation. The network discovery operation may include the STA's scanning operation. That is, in order for the STA to access a network, it must find a network it can join. Before joining a wireless network, the STA must identify a compatible network, and the process of identifying networks existing in a specific area is called scanning. Scanning methods include active scanning and passive scanning.

[0105] Figure 3 illustrates a network discovery operation that includes an active scanning process as an example. In active scanning, the STA performing the scanning moves between channels and transmits a probe request frame to search for nearby APs, and waits for a response. The responder transmits a probe response frame as a response to the probe request frame to the STA that transmitted the probe request frame. Here, the responder may be the STA that last transmitted a beacon frame from the BSS of the channel being scanned. In a BSS, the AP becomes the responder because it transmits the beacon frame, whereas in an IBSS, the responder is not constant because STAs within the IBSS take turns transmitting the beacon frame. 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 in the same way (i.e., transmit and receive probe request / response on channel 2).

[0106] Although not shown in the example of Fig. 3, scanning operations may also be performed using a passive scanning method. An STA performing scanning based on passive scanning can wait for a beacon frame while switching between channels. A beacon frame is one of the management frames in IEEE 802.11, which announces the presence of a wireless network and is periodically transmitted to allow a scanning STA to find the wireless network and join it. In a BSS, the AP performs the role of periodically transmitting beacon frames, while in an IBSS, STAs within the IBSS take turns transmitting beacon frames. When a scanning STA receives a beacon frame, it stores the information about the BSS included in the beacon frame and records the beacon frame information in each channel while moving to another channel. An STA that has received a beacon frame can store the BSS-related information included in the received beacon frame, move to the next channel, and perform scanning in the next channel in the same manner.

[0107] The STA that discovered the network can perform an authentication process through 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 later. The authentication process of S320 may include the STA sending an authentication request frame to the AP, and the AP sending an authentication response frame to the STA in response. The authentication frame used in the authentication request / response corresponds to a management frame.

[0108] The authentication frame may include information regarding the authentication algorithm number, authentication transaction sequence number, status code, challenge text, RSN (Robust Security Network), Finite Cyclic Group, etc.

[0109] The STA can send an authentication request frame to the AP. Based on the information contained in the received authentication request frame, the AP can determine whether to allow authentication for the STA. The AP can provide the result of the authentication process to the STA through an authentication response frame.

[0110] A successfully authenticated STA may perform an association process based on step S330. The association process includes the STA sending an association request frame to the AP, and in response, the AP sending an association response frame to the STA. For example, the association request frame may include information regarding various capabilities, beacon listen interval, service set identifier (SSID), supported rates, supported channels, RSN, mobility domain, supported operating classes, Traffic Indication Map Broadcast request, interworking service capabilities, etc. For example, a connection response frame may include information related to various capabilities, status code, AID (Association ID), support rate, EDCA (Enhanced Distributed Channel Access) parameter set, RCPI (Received Channel Power Indicator), RSNI (Received Signal to Noise Indicator), mobility domain, timeout interval (association comeback time), overlapping BSS scan parameters, TIM broadcast response, QoS map, etc.

[0111] Subsequently, in step S340, the STA may perform a security setup process. The security setup process of step S340 may include, for example, a process of setting up a private key through a 4-way handshake via an EAPOL (Extensible Authentication Protocol over LAN) frame.

[0112] FIG. 4 illustrates an example of a multi-link (ML).

[0113] As illustrated in FIG. 4, multiple multi-link devices (MLDs) can communicate through a multi-link. The MLDs can be classified into an AP MLD containing multiple AP STAs and a non-AP MLD containing multiple non-AP STAs. That is, the AP MLD may include affiliated APs (i.e., AP STAs), and the non-AP MLD may include affiliated STAs (i.e., non-AP STAs, or user-STAs).

[0114] A multilink may include a first link and a second link, and different channels / subchannels / frequency resources may be assigned to the first and second links. The first and second multilinks may be identified by a link ID of 4 bits (or other n bits). The first and second links may be configured in the same 2.4 GHz, 5 GHz, or 6 GHz band. Alternatively, the first link and the link may be configured in different bands.

[0115] The AP MLD of FIG. 4 includes three affiliated APs. In one example of FIG. 4, AP1 may operate in the 2.4 GHz band, AP2 may operate in the 5 GHz band, and AP3 may operate in the 6 GHz band. In one example of FIG. 4, the first link in which AP1 and non-AP1 operate may be defined as a channel / subchannel / frequency resource within the 2.4 GHz band. Additionally, in one example of FIG. 4, the second link in which AP2 and non-AP2 operate may be defined as a channel / subchannel / frequency resource within the 5 GHz band. Additionally, in one example of FIG. 4, the third link in which AP3 and non-AP3 operate may be defined as a channel / subchannel / frequency resource within the 6 GHz band.

[0116] In one example of FIG. 4, AP1 can initiate a multilink setup procedure (ML setup procedure) by transmitting an Association Request frame to non-AP STA1. In one example of FIG. 4, non-AP STA1 can transmit an Association Response frame in response to the Association Request frame. Each AP (e.g., AP1 / 2 / 3) shown in FIG. 4 may be the same as the AP shown in FIG. 1 and / or FIG. 2, and each non-AP (e.g., non-AP1 / 2 / 3) shown in FIG. 4 may be the same as the STA shown in FIG. 1 and / or FIG. 2 (i.e., user-STA or non-AP STA).

[0117] The specific features of this specification are not limited to the specific features of FIG. 4. That is, the number of links can be defined in various ways, and multiple links can be defined in various ways within at least one band.

[0118] FIG. 5 illustrates a PPDU (physical protocol data unit or physical layer (PHY) protocol data unit) transmitted / received in an STA of the present specification.

[0119] The STAs of this specification (e.g., AP STA, non-AP STA, AP MLD, non-AP MLD) can transmit and / or receive the PPDU of FIG. 5. The PPDU described in this specification may have the structure of FIG. 5, for example. Additionally, the PPDU described in this specification, the Ultra High Reliability (UHR) PPDU, may be referred to by various names such as transmit PPDU, receive PPDU, first type or N type PPDU. The PPDU described in this specification may be used in WLAN systems defined according to IEEE 802.11bn and / or next-generation WLAN systems that improve upon IEEE 802.11bn.

[0120] The PPDU of FIG. 5 may be related to various PPDU types used in a UHR system. For example, the example of FIG. 5 may be used for at least one of SU (single-user) mode / type / transmission, MU (multi-user) mode / type / transmission, and NDP (null data packet) mode / type / transmission related to channel sounding. For example, if the example of FIG. 5 is related to NDP, the illustrated Data field may be omitted. If the PPDU of FIG. 5 is used for TB (Trigger-based) mode, the UHR-SIG of FIG. 5 may be omitted. In other words, an STA that receives a Trigger frame for UL-MU (Uplink-MU) communication may transmit a PPDU in which the UHR-SIG is omitted in the example of FIG. 5.

[0121] In FIG. 5, L-STF to UHR-LTF can be called a preamble or physical preamble and can be generated / transmitted / received / acquired / decoded at the physical layer (included in the transmitting / receiving STA).

[0122] Each block illustrated in FIG. 5 may be referred to as a field / subfield / signal, etc. As illustrated in FIG. 5, the names of these fields / subfields / signals may be L-STF (legacy short training field), L-LTF (legacy long training field), L-SIG (legacy signal), RL-SIG (repeated L-SIG), U-SIG (Universal Signal), UHR-SIG (UHR-signal), etc.

[0123] The subcarrier spacing of the L-STF, L-LTF, L-SIG, RL-SIG, U-SIG, and UHR-SIG fields in Fig. 5 can be set to 312.5 kHz, and the subcarrier spacing of the UHR-STF, UHR-LTF, and Data fields can be set to 78.125 kHz. That is, the tone index (or subcarrier index) of the L-STF, L-LTF, L-SIG, RL-SIG, U-SIG, and UHR-SIG fields can be displayed in units of 312.5 kHz, and the tone index (or subcarrier index) of the UHR-STF, UHR-LTF, and Data fields can be displayed in units of 78.125 kHz.

[0124] The PPDU of Fig. 5, L-LTF and L-STF, may be the same as conventional fields (e.g., non-HT LTF and non-HT STF defined in conventional WLAN standards).

[0125] The L-SIG field of FIG. 5 may contain, for example, 24 bits of bit information. For example, the 24 bits of information may include a 4-bit Rate field, a 1-bit Reserved bit, a 12-bit Length field, a 1-bit Parity bit, and a 6-bit Tail bit. For example, the 12-bit Length field may contain information regarding 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, if the PPDU is a non-HT (non-High Throughput), HT (High Throughput), VHT (Very High Throughput) PPDU, or an EHT (extremely high throughput) PPDU, or a UHR PPDU, the value of the Length field may be determined as a multiple of 3. For example, if the PPDU is an HE PPDU, the value of the Length field may be determined as "a multiple of 3 + 1" or "a multiple of 3 + 2". In other words, for non-HT, HT, VHT PPDU, or EHT PPDU, UHR PPDU, the value of the Length field can be determined as a multiple of 3, and for HE (High-Efficiency) PPDU, the value of the Length field can be determined as "a multiple of 3 + 1" or "a multiple of 3 + 2". In other words, the Length field in a UHR PPDU is set to a value satisfying the condition that the remainder is zero when LENGTH is divided by 3.

[0126] For example, a (non-AP and AP) STA can apply BCC encoding based on a code rate of 1 / 2 to 24 bits of information in the L-SIG field. Subsequently, the transmitting STA can obtain 48 bits of BCC encoding. BPSK modulation can be applied to the 48 bits of encoding to generate 48 BPSK symbols. The transmitting STA can map the 48 BPSK symbols to positions excluding the pilot subcarrier {subcarrier indices -21, -7, +7, +21} and the DC subcarrier {subcarrier index 0}. Consequently, the 48 BPSK symbols can be mapped to subcarrier indices -26 to -22, -20 to -8, -6 to -1, +1 to +6, +8 to +20, and +22 to +26. The transmitting STA can additionally map the signal of {-1, -1, -1, 1} to the subcarrier index {-28, -27, +27, +28}. The above signal can be used for channel estimation for the frequency domain corresponding to {-28, -27, +27, +28}.

[0127] For example, the (non-AP and AP) STA can generate an RL-SIG that is identical to the L-SIG. BPSK modulation may be applied to the RL-SIG. The receiving (non-AP and AP) STA can determine that the received PPDU is a HE PPDU, EHT PPDU, or UHR PPDU based on the presence of the RL-SIG. In other words, the receiving (non-AP and AP) STA can determine that the received PPDU is one of the HE PPDU, EHT PPDU, or UHR PPDU if the RL-SIG is present. In other words, the receiving (non-AP and AP) STA can determine that the received PPDU is one of the non-HT PPDU, HT PPDU, or VHT PPDU if the RL-SIG is not present. In other words, the RL-SIG field is a repeat of the L-SIG field and is used to differentiate an UHR PPDU from a non-HT PPDU, HT PPDU, and VHT PPDU.

[0128] After the RL-SIG in Fig. 5, a U-SIG (Universal SIG) may be inserted. The U-SIG may be referred to by various names such as the first SIG field, first SIG, first type SIG, control signal, control signal field, first (type) control signal, common control field, and common control signal.

[0129] U-SIG may contain N bits of information and may contain information to identify the type of EHT PPDU. For example, U-SIG may be constructed based on two symbols (e.g., two consecutive OFDM symbols). Each symbol for U-SIG (e.g., OFDM symbol) may have a duration of 4 us. Each symbol of U-SIG may be used to transmit 26 bits of information. For example, each symbol of U-SIG may be transmitted and received based on 52 data tones and 4 pilot tones.

[0130] For example, A bit information (e.g., 52 un-coded bits) can be transmitted through U-SIG, and the first symbol of U-SIG can transmit the first X bit information (e.g., 26 un-coded bits) of the total A bit information, and the second symbol of U-SIG can transmit the remaining Y bit information (e.g., 26 un-coded bits) of the total A bit information. For example, the transmitting STA can obtain the 26 un-coded bits included in each U-SIG symbol. The transmitting STA can generate 52-coded bits by performing convolutional encoding (i.e., BCC encoding) based on a rate of R=1 / 2 and can perform interleaving on the 52-coded bits. The transmitting STA can generate 52 BPSK symbols assigned to each U-SIG symbol by performing BPSK modulation on the interleaved 52-coded bits. A single U-SIG symbol can be transmitted based on 56 tones (subcarriers) from subcarrier index -28 to subcarrier index +28, excluding DC index 0. 52 BPSK symbols generated by the transmitting STA can be transmitted based on the remaining tones (subcarriers), excluding the pilot tones -21, -7, +7, and +21.

[0131] For example, A bit information (e.g., 52 un-coded bits) transmitted by U-SIG may include a CRC field (e.g., a field of 4 bits) and a tail field (e.g., a field of 6 bits). The CRC field and the tail field may be transmitted through a second symbol of U-SIG. The CRC field may be generated based on 26 bits assigned to the first symbol of U-SIG and the remaining 16 bits within the second symbol excluding the CRC / tail field, and may be generated based on a conventional CRC calculation algorithm. Additionally, the tail field may be used to terminate the trellis of a convolutional decoder and may be set, for example, to "000000".

[0132] A bit information (e.g., 52 un-coded bits) transmitted by U-SIG (or U-SIG field) can be divided into version-independent bits and version-dependent bits. For example, the size of the version-independent bits can be fixed or variable. For example, the version-independent bits may be assigned only to the first symbol of U-SIG, or the version-independent bits may be assigned to both the first and second symbols of U-SIG. For example, the version-independent bits and the version-dependent bits may be referred to by various names, such as the first control bit and the second control bit.

[0133] For example, the version-independent bits of U-SIG may include a 3-bit PHY version identifier. For example, the 3-bit PHY version identifier may include information related to the PHY version of the transmitted and received PPDU. For example, a first value of the 3-bit PHY version identifier (e.g., a value of 000) may indicate that the transmitted and received PPDU is an EHT PPDU. Additionally, a second value of the 3-bit PHY version identifier (e.g., a value of 001) may indicate that the transmitted and received PPDU is a UHR PPDU.

[0134] In other words, when an (AP / non-AP) STA transmits an EHT PPDU, it can set a 3-bit PHY version identifier to a first value. In other words, a receiving (AP / non-AP) STA can determine that the received PPDU is an EHT PPDU based on the PHY version identifier having the first value, and can determine that the received PPDU is a UHR PPDU based on the PHY version identifier having the second value.

[0135] For example, the version-independent bits of U-SIG may include a 1-bit UL / DL flag field. The first value of the 1-bit UL / DL flag field is related to UL communication, and the second value of the UL / DL flag field is related to DL communication.

[0136] For example, the version-independent bits of U-SIG may include information regarding the length of the TXOP (transmission opportunity) and information regarding the BSS color ID.

[0137] For example, if the UHR PPDU is classified into various types (e.g., type related to SU transmission (performed based on UL or DL), type related to DL transmission, type related to NDP transmission, type related to DL non-MU-MIMO, type related to DL MU-MIMO, type related to Multi-AP operation, type related to CBF (Coordinated beamforming) and SR (Spatial Reuse), type related to C-OFDMA (Coordinated OFDMA), type related to C-TDMA (Coordinated TDMA)), information regarding the type of the EHT PPDU (e.g., 2-bit or 3-bit information) may be included in the version-dependent bits of the U-SIG.

[0138] For example, U-SIG may include: 1) a bandwidth field containing information regarding bandwidth; 2) a field containing information regarding the MCS technique applied to UHR-SIG; 3) an indication field containing information regarding whether the dual subcarrier modulation (DCM) technique is applied to UHR-SIG; 4) a field containing information regarding the number of symbols used for UHR-SIG; 5) a field containing information regarding whether UHR-SIG is generated across the entire band; 6) a field containing information regarding the type of UHR-LTF / STF; and 7) information regarding a field indicating the length of UHR-LTF and CP length.

[0139] Preamble puncturing may be applied to the PPDU of Fig. 5. Preamble puncturing means applying puncturing to a portion of the total band of the PPDU (e.g., a secondary 20 MHz band). For example, when an 80 MHz PPDU is transmitted, the STA applies puncturing to the secondary 20 MHz band within the 80 MHz band and can transmit the PPDU only through the primary 20 MHz band and the secondary 40 MHz band.

[0140] For example, the pattern of preamble puncturing can be pre-set. For example, when a first puncturing pattern is applied, puncturing may be applied only to a secondary 20 MHz band within an 80 MHz band. For example, when a second puncturing pattern is applied, puncturing may be applied only to one of two secondary 20 MHz bands included in a secondary 40 MHz band within an 80 MHz band. For example, when a third puncturing pattern is applied, puncturing may be applied only to a secondary 20 MHz band included in a primary 80 MHz band within a 160 MHz band (or 80+80 MHz band). For example, when the fourth puncturing pattern is applied, within the 160 MHz band (or 80+80 MHz band), the primary 40 MHz band included in the primary 80 MHz band is present, and puncturing may be applied to at least one 20 MHz channel that does not belong to the primary 40 MHz band.

[0141] Information regarding preamble puncturing applied to the PPDU may be included in the U-SIG and / or UHR-SIG. For example, the first field of the U-SIG may include information regarding the contiguous bandwidth of the PPDU, and the second field of the U-SIG may include information regarding preamble puncturing applied to the PPDU.

[0142] For example, U-SIG and UHR-SIG may include information regarding preamble puncturing based on the following method. If the bandwidth of the PPDU exceeds 80 MHz, the U-SIG may be configured individually in 80 MHz units. For example, if the bandwidth of the PPDU is 160 MHz, the PPDU may include a first U-SIG for the first 80 MHz band and a second U-SIG for the second 80 MHz band. In this case, the first field of the first U-SIG may include information regarding the 160 MHz bandwidth, and the second field of the first U-SIG may include information regarding preamble puncturing applied to the first 80 MHz band (i.e., information regarding the preamble puncturing pattern). Additionally, the first field of the second U-SIG may include information regarding a 160 MHz bandwidth, and the second field of the second U-SIG may include information regarding preamble puncturing applied to the second 80 MHz band (i.e., information regarding a preamble puncturing pattern). Meanwhile, the UHR-SIG following the first U-SIG may include information regarding preamble puncturing applied to the second 80 MHz band (i.e., information regarding a preamble puncturing pattern), and the UHR-SIG following the second U-SIG may include information regarding preamble puncturing applied to the first 80 MHz band (i.e., information regarding a preamble puncturing pattern).

[0143] Additionally or generally, U-SIG and UHR-SIG may include information regarding preamble puncturing based on the following method. U-SIG may include information regarding preamble puncturing for all bands (i.e., information regarding preamble puncturing patterns). That is, UHR-SIG may not include information regarding preamble puncturing, and only U-SIG may include information regarding preamble puncturing (i.e., information regarding preamble puncturing patterns).

[0144] U-SIGs can be configured in 20 MHz units. For example, if an 80 MHz PPDU is configured, U-SIGs can be duplicated. That is, four identical U-SIGs can be included within an 80 MHz PPDU. PPDUs exceeding the 80 MHz bandwidth may contain different U-SIGs.

[0145] The UHR-SIG of FIG. 5 may include control information for a receiving STA. The UHR-SIG may be transmitted through at least one symbol, and one symbol may have a length of 4 us. Information regarding the number of symbols used for the UHR-SIG may be included in the U-SIG.

[0146] UHR-SIG provides additional signals to the U-SIG field, enabling the STA to interpret / decode the UHR PPDU. The UHR-SIG field may include U-SIG overflow bits that apply commonly to all users. Additionally, the UHR-SIG field contains resource allocation information, making it possible for the STA to look up resources used in fields containing data fields / UHR-STF / UHR-LTF (i.e., UHR modulated fields of an UHR PPDU).

[0147] The frequency resources of the UHR-LTF, UHR-STF, and data fields illustrated in FIG. 5 can be determined based on a RU (resource unit) defined by a plurality of subcarriers / tones. That is, the UHR-LTF, UHR-STF, and data fields of this specification can be transmitted / received through a RU (resource unit) defined by a plurality of subcarriers / tones.

[0148] FIG. 6 is a diagram showing the arrangement of resource units (RUs) used for a 20 MHz PPDU. That is, UHR-LTF, UHR-STF and / or data fields included in the 20 MHz PPDU can be transmitted / received through at least one of the various RUs defined in FIG. 6.

[0149] As shown at the top of Fig. 6, 26 units (i.e., units corresponding to 26 tones) may be arranged. 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. Additionally, seven DC tones are inserted into the center band, i.e., the DC band, and 26 units corresponding to 13 tones may exist on the left and right sides of the DC band. Furthermore, 26 units, 52 units, and 106 units may be allocated to other bands. Each unit may be allocated for a receiving station, i.e., a user.

[0150] Meanwhile, the RU arrangement of Fig. 6 is utilized not only for situations involving multiple users (MU) but also for situations involving a single user (SU), in which case it is possible to use one 242-unit as shown at the bottom of Fig. 4, and in this case, three DC tones can be inserted.

[0151] In the example of FIG. 6, various sizes of RUs, namely 26-RU, 52-RU, 106-RU, 242-RU, etc., are proposed. Since the specific size of these RUs can be expanded or increased, the present embodiment is not limited to the specific size of each RU (i.e., the number of corresponding tones). In this specification, N-RU may be indicated as N-tone RU, etc. For example, 26-RU may be indicated as 26-tone RU.

[0152] Figure 7 is a diagram showing the arrangement of resource units (RU) used for a 40 MHz PPDU.

[0153] Just as various sizes of RUs were used in the example of FIG. 6, 26-RU, 52-RU, 106-RU, 242-RU, 484-RU, etc., may also be used in the example of FIG. 7. Additionally, 5 DC tones may be inserted at the center frequency, 12 tones may be used as guard bands in the leftmost band of the 40 MHz band, and 11 tones may be used as guard bands in the rightmost band of the 40 MHz band.

[0154] In addition, as described, 484-RU may be used when used for a single user. Meanwhile, the specific number of RUs may be changed, as in the example of FIG. 6.

[0155] FIG. 8 is a diagram showing the arrangement of resource units (RUs) used for an 80 MHz PPDU. The arrangement of resource units (RUs) used in this specification may be varied. For example, the arrangement of resource units (RUs) used in the 80 MHz band may be varied.

[0156] FIG. 9 illustrates the operation according to UL-MU. As illustrated, a transmitting STA (e.g., AP) can establish a channel connection through contending (i.e., Backoff operation) and transmit a Trigger frame (930). That is, the transmitting STA (e.g., AP) can transmit a PPDU containing the Trigger frame (930). When the PPDU containing the Trigger frame is received, a TB (trigger-based) PPDU is transmitted after a delay of SIFS.

[0157] TB PPDUs (941, 942) may be transmitted at the same time and may be transmitted from multiple STAs (e.g., User STAs) with AIDs indicated within the Trigger frame (930). The ACK frame (950) for the TB PPDU may be implemented in various forms.

[0158] Figure 10 shows an example of a channel used / supported / defined within the 2.4 GHz band.

[0159] The 2.4 GHz band may be referred to by other names, such as the first band (band). Additionally, the 2.4 GHz band may refer to a frequency range in which channels with a center frequency adjacent to 2.4 GHz (e.g., channels with a center frequency located between 2.4 and 2.5 GHz) are used / supported / defined.

[0160] The 2.4 GHz band may include multiple 20 MHz channels. The 20 MHz channels within the 2.4 GHz band may have multiple channel indices (e.g., indices 1 through 14). For example, the center frequency of a 20 MHz channel assigned to channel index 1 may be 2.412 GHz, the center frequency of a 20 MHz channel assigned to channel index 2 may be 2.417 GHz, and the center frequency of a 20 MHz channel assigned to channel index N may be (2.407 + 0.005*N) GHz. Channel indices may be referred to by various names, such as channel numbers. The specific numerical values ​​of channel indices and center frequencies may change.

[0161] FIG. 10 illustrates four channels within a 2.4 GHz band as an example. The illustrated first frequency range (1010) to fourth frequency range (1040) may each include one channel. For example, the first frequency range (1010) may include channel 1 (a 20 MHz channel having index 1). In this case, the center frequency of channel 1 may be set to 2412 MHz. The second frequency range (1020) may include channel 6. In this case, the center frequency of channel 6 may be set to 2437 MHz. The third frequency range (1030) may include channel 11. In this case, the center frequency of channel 11 may be set to 2462 MHz. The fourth frequency range (1040) may include channel 14. In this case, the center frequency of channel 14 may be set to 2484 MHz.

[0162] FIG. 11 illustrates an example of a channel used / supported / defined within the 5 GHz band.

[0163] The 5 GHz band may be referred to by other names such as the second band / band. The 5 GHz band may refer to a frequency range in which channels with a center frequency of 5 GHz or higher and less than 6 GHz (or less than 5.9 GHz) are used / supported / defined. Alternatively, the 5 GHz band may include multiple channels between 4.5 GHz and 5.5 GHz. The specific figures shown in FIG. 11 may be changed.

[0164] Multiple channels within the 5 GHz band include UNII (Unlicensed National Information Infrastructure)-1, UNII-2, UNII-3, and ISM. UNII-1 may be referred to as UNII Low. UNII-2 may include frequency regions referred to as UNII Mid and UNII-2 Extended. UNII-3 may be referred to as UNII-Upper.

[0165] Multiple channels may be configured within the 5 GHz band, and the bandwidth of each channel may be varied, such as 20 MHz, 40 MHz, 80 MHz, or 160 MHz. For example, the 5170 MHz to 5330 MHz frequency range within UNII-1 and UNII-2 may be divided into eight 20 MHz channels. The 5170 MHz to 5330 MHz frequency range may be divided into four channels through a 40 MHz frequency range. The 5170 MHz to 5330 MHz frequency range may be divided into two channels through an 80 MHz frequency range. Alternatively, the 5170 MHz to 5330 MHz frequency range may be divided into one channel through a 160 MHz frequency range.

[0166] FIG. 12 illustrates an example of a channel used / supported / defined within the 6 GHz band.

[0167] The 6 GHz band may be referred to by other names such as the third band / band. The 6 GHz band may refer to a frequency range in which channels with a center frequency of 5.9 GHz or higher are used / supported / defined. The specific figures shown in FIG. 12 are subject to change.

[0168] For example, the 20 MHz channel of FIG. 12 can be defined starting from 5.940 GHz. Specifically, the leftmost channel among the 20 MHz channels of FIG. 12 may have index 1 (or channel index, channel number, etc.), and the center frequency may be assigned as 5.945 GHz. That is, the center frequency of the index N channel may be determined as (5.940 + 0.005*N) GHz.

[0169] Accordingly, the indices (or channel numbers) of the 20 MHz channel in FIG. 12 are 1, 5, 9, 13, 17, 21, 25, 29, 33, 37, 41, 45, 49, 53, 57, 61, 65, 69, 73, 77, 81, 85, 89, 93, 97, 101, 105, 109, 113, 117, 121, 125, 129, 133, 137, 141, 145, 149, 153, 157, 161, 165, 169, 173, 177, 181, 185, 189, 193, 197, It may be 201, 205, 209, 213, 217, 221, 225, 229, 233. Also, according to the (5.940 + 0.005*N) GHz rule described above, the index of the 40 MHz channel of FIG. 12 may be 3, 11, 19, 27, 35, 43, 51, 59, 67, 75, 83, 91, 99, 107, 115, 123, 131, 139, 147, 155, 163, 171, 179, 187, 195, 203, 211, 219, 227.

[0170] The structure and types / subtypes of MAC frames are described below.

[0171] FIG. 13 shows an example of a MAC frame header. As illustrated, the MAC frame may include a frame control field / information of 2 octets, a duration field / information of 2 octets, a Receiver Address (RA) field / information of 6 octets, and a Transmitter Address (TA) field / information of 6 octets. As illustrated in FIG. 13, the four fields may be consecutive. The MAC header of FIG. 13 may be modified in various ways, and a new field may be inserted between the four illustrated fields, or at least one of the illustrated fields may be omitted.

[0172] The MAC header shown in FIG. 13 may be located at the very beginning of the MAC frame. That is, the MAC frame may include a MAC header such as that in FIG. 13 and a MAC body field / information following the MAC header. The MAC frame containing the MAC header of FIG. 13 is inserted / included in the data field of the PPDU (e.g., UHR PPDU) shown in FIG. 5.

[0173] MAC frames included in the data fields of the PPDU of this specification may be classified into various types. For example, MAC frames of this specification may be classified into control frames, management frames, and data frames.

[0174] For example, a management frame includes Association Request, Association Response, Reassociation Request, Reassociation Response, Probe Request, Probe Response, Beacon, Disassociation, Authentication, and Deauthentication frames / signals defined in conventional WLANs. For the management frame, the values ​​of the type fields (B3 and B2) in FIG. 13 are set to 00. Additionally, the values ​​of the subtype fields (B7, B6, B5, B4) in FIG. 13 are as follows: Association Request (0000), Association Response (0001), Reassociation Request (0010), Reassociation Response (0011), Probe Request (0100), Probe Response (0101), Beacon (1000), Disassociation (1010), Authentication (1011), Deauthentication (1100).

[0175] For example, the control frame includes the Trigger Beamforming Report Poll, NDP Announcement (NDPA), Control Frame Extension, Control Wrapper, Block Ack Request (BlockAckReq), Block Ack (BlockAck), PS-Poll, RTS, CTS, Ack, and CF-End frames / signals defined in conventional WLANs. For the control frame, the values ​​of the type fields (B3 and B2) in FIG. 13 are set to 01. Also, the values ​​of the subtype fields (B7, B6, B5, B4) of FIG. 13 are as follows: Trigger(0010), Beamforming Report Poll(0100), NDP Announcement(0101), Control Frame Extension(0110), Control Wrapper(0111), BlockAckReq(1000), BlockAck(1001), PS-Poll(1010), RTS(1011), CTS(1100), Ack(1101), CF-End(1110).

[0176] For example, the data frame includes (QoS) Data, (QoS) Null, etc., defined in conventional WLANs. For the management frame, the value of the type field (B3 and B2) in FIG. 13 is set to 10.

[0177] MAC frames / signals used in this specification can be identified through the type field / information and subtype field / information described above. For example, the “frame” in this specification may refer to a MAC frame in which the type bits B3 and B2 within the frame control field of the MAC header are set to 01, and the subtype bits B7, B6, B5, and B4 within the frame control field are set to 0010. Various MAC frames described in this specification are inserted into / included in the data fields of various PPDUs (e.g., HE / VHT / HE / EHT / UHR PPDU).

[0178] FIG. 14 shows a modified example of a transmitting device and / or receiving device of the present specification.

[0179] The device illustrated in FIGS. 1 to 4 (e.g., AP STA, non-AP STA) can be modified as in FIG. 14. The transceiver (630) in FIG. 14 may be identical to the transceiver (113, 123) in FIG. 1. The transceiver (630) in FIG. 14 may include a receiver and a transmitter.

[0180] The processor (610) of FIG. 14 may be the same as the processor (111, 121) of FIG. 1. Or, the processor (610) of FIG. 14 may be the same as the processing chip (114, 124) of FIG. 1.

[0181] The memory (150) of FIG. 14 may be the same as the memory (112, 122) of FIG. 1. Alternatively, the memory (150) of FIG. 14 may be a separate external memory different from the memory (112, 122) of FIG. 1.

[0182] Referring to FIG. 14, a power management module (611) manages power for a processor (610) and / or a transceiver (630). A battery (612) supplies power to the power management module (611). A display (613) outputs results processed by the processor (610). A keypad (614) receives input to be used by the processor (610). The keypad (614) may be displayed on the display (613). A SIM card (615) may be an integrated circuit used to securely store an international mobile subscriber identity (IMSI) and associated keys used to identify and authenticate a subscriber in a mobile device such as a mobile phone and a computer.

[0183] Referring to FIG. 14, the speaker (640) can output sound-related results processed by the processor (610). The microphone (641) can receive sound-related inputs to be used by the processor (610).

[0184] 1. Overview of Non-Primary Channel Access (NPCA)

[0185] Non-Primary Channel Access (NPCA) is a channel access method that allows terminals belonging to an overlapping Basic Service Set (OBSS) to switch to an alternative channel instead of the primary channel for a certain period of time to communicate when activity of an overlapping BSS is detected in a portion of the frequency band where a Basic Service Set (BSS) is operating in a wireless LAN system. This improves communication continuity and channel utilization efficiency even in environments where OBSS interference occurs.

[0186] Non-AP terminals supporting NPCA operation are defined as NPCA non-AP STAs, and access points supporting NPCA operation are defined as NPCA APs. APs and STAs supporting NPCA functions can mutually recognize whether they support the function through capability information, and a non-AP STA can activate NPCA mode only when associated with an AP that has NPCA functionality enabled. Additionally, upon (re)association, a non-AP STA starts with NPCA mode disabled by default, and negotiation with the AP is required according to the defined operation mode update procedure to activate NPCA mode or update related parameters.

[0187] NPCA is restricted to operating only on BSSs with a bandwidth above a certain level; for example, APs with an operating bandwidth of less than 80 MHz cannot enable NPCA operation. When NPCA is enabled, the AP notifies non-AP STAs of NPCA-related parameters such as the NPCA default channel, minimum operation duration, switching delay, and switch back delay. These parameters are transmitted via beacons, (re)association response frames, and other management frames, and can be consistently configured across the same set of multiple BSSIDs or co-hosted BSSs.

[0188] During NPCA operation, the STA communicates primarily through the NPCA primary channel rather than the BSS primary channel. In this case, the NPCA primary channel is defined to be located within the secondary channel of the BSS operation channel, and a channel within the corresponding secondary channel is selected based on the total bandwidth of the BSS (e.g., 80 MHz, 160 MHz, 320 MHz). Additionally, during NPCA operation, some 20 MHz subchannels may be designated not to be used, and this subchannel disablement information is transmitted via the NPCA Disabled Subchannel Bitmap. This enables flexible bandwidth management in conjunction with preamble puncturing.

[0189] In an environment where NPCA is enabled, PHY parameters related to spatial reuse may also be restricted, and the AP may be configured not to allow spatial reuse before and during NPCA operation. This is a measure to minimize the possibility of inter-channel interference during NPCA operation.

[0190] In summary, NPCA is a mechanism that allows terminals within a BSS to temporarily switch to an alternative communication path using an auxiliary channel in response to partial channel interference in a wireless LAN environment using a wide bandwidth, and aims to mitigate OBSS interference, improve channel utilization efficiency, and maintain communication quality.

[0191] Figure 15 illustrates an example of a network topology and an example of Basic NAV configured in the PCH of NPCA STAs.

[0192] As shown in Fig. 15, the time taken to perform NPCA may differ because the NPCA AP and NPCA STA receive different OBSS traffic. For example, NPCA AP and NPCA STA2 detect traffic from OBSS2 and switch to the NPCH (Non-primary channel), but NPCA STA1 does not receive OBSS2 traffic and switches due to OBSS1 traffic. NPCA STA1 performs NPCA on the NPCH for a longer period than NPCA AP, but NPCA AP switches back to the PCH before the OBSS2 traffic ends. In other words, while NPCA AP returns to the PCH (primary channel), only NPCA STA1 performs meaningless channel access on the NPCH, which may result in wasted channel resources.

[0193] To solve this, a method is required for STAs that have switched to NPCH to switch back to PCH in accordance with the NPCA interval performed by the NPCA AP, even if they receive different OBSS traffic.

[0194] To do this, the AP can inform the NPCA STAs about the OBSS traffic detected in its PCH when transmitting the ICF (Initial Control Frame) from the NPCH. Additionally, the STA can solicit the AP's information about the OBSS traffic when transmitting the ICF from the NPCH, and the NPCA AP that receives this information can inform the NPCA STAs about the OBSS traffic through a response (ICR, Initial Control Response) to the ICF.

[0195] This specification proposes definitions and information regarding Initial Control Frame (ICF), Initial Control Response (ICR), and Control Response Frame (CRF) for various functions considered in 802.11bn, such as In-device-coexistence (IDC), Dynamic Power Saving (DPS), Multi-AP (MAP), Non-Primary Channel Access (NPCA), and Security enhancement. For the aforementioned functions of ICF, ICR, and CRF, the expansion of existing Trigger frames and response frames and new frame exchange procedures may be required.

[0196] The requirement to include requirements for various functions such as IDC, DPS, MAP, NPCA, and security enhancement through the extension of ICF, ICR, and CRF must be satisfied. To address this, it is necessary to present methods for specifying requested information in the Trigger frame, methods for specifying the response frame of the Trigger frame through the extension of the Trigger frame, methods for including information to be transmitted to peer STAs in the Trigger frame, and response methods for including additional information requested in such Trigger frames. The method for extending the Trigger frame proposed in this specification is not limited to APs and non-AP STAs, and may be mutually applicable when devices with various roles communicate, such as AP to AP and non-AP STA to non-AP STA.

[0197] 2. Control information (A-Control) is included in the Trigger frame and Response frame.

[0198] Figure 16 illustrates an example of control information utilizing A-Control.

[0199] Control information (e.g., Multi-AP (MAP), DPS (Dynamic Power Saving), IDC (In-device-coexistence), NPCA (Non Primary Channel Access), Security enhancement and / or A-Control defined in the baseline, e.g. Buffer Status Report (BSR)) may be included in the Trigger frame and Response frame, which may be new features. The control information can be represented as shown in FIG. 16.

[0200] The Trigger frame and / or the Response frame for the Trigger frame may include all and / or part of FIG. 16. For example, the Trigger frame may include Solicited Info, Delivered Info, Common Control Info, and Per-User Control Info, while the Response frame may include only Common Control Info.

[0201] 1) Solicited Info: Specifies the information to be received in the Response from the request frame. For example, information specifying that information such as IDC (In-device-coexistence) information (referred to as IDC Info), MAP (Multi-AP), DPS (Dynamic Power Saving), NPCA (Non-Primary Channel Access), and security enhancements should be included in the Response.

[0202] 2) Delivered Info: Contains common information to be delivered to the peer STA in the request frame. For example, information including IDC (In-device-coexistence) information (referred to as IDC Info), MAP (Multi-AP), DPS (Dynamic Power Saving), NPCA (Non Primary Channel Access), security enhancement, etc., in the request frame. Includes Common Control Info and / or Feature Info along with an indicator containing the relevant Feature information.

[0203] 3. Control Info and / or Feature Info

[0204] - Common Control Info and / or Common Feature Info: Common Control Info and / or Feature Info may be Control Information for each Feature and may be included in the Response frame for a request in the aforementioned Delivered Info and / or Trigger frame. Common Control Info and / or Feature Info may include information related to IDC Info, MAP, DPS, NPCA, and Security enhancement, as well as information such as A-Controls (e.g., BSR) defined in the baseline.

[0205] Common Control Info and / or Feature Info may be included in at least one way as follows.

[0206] 1) A method consisting of Length (and / or number of Info) and Presence bitmap fields

[0207] FIG. 17 illustrates an example of Common Control Info and / or Feature Info (Presence bitmap).

[0208] Referring to FIG. 17, Common Control Info and / or Feature Info may be composed of a field indicating the number of Length and / or Info and a Presence bitmap field. In this case, the Length may be used for future extension purposes and may be omitted.

[0209] 2) Method configured based on Length (and / or number of Info) and ID

[0210] FIG. 18 illustrates an example of Common Control Info and / or Feature Info (ID-based).

[0211] Referring to FIG. 18, Common Control Info and / or Feature Info may be configured based on IDs and fields indicating Length and / or the number of Infos. IDs may be assigned according to the Feature, for example, 1 for MAP, 2 for DPS, 3 for IDC, and 4 for NPCA, so that each Feature can be distinguished. The indication for Length may be represented, for example, by the number of Octets and / or bits of X units (e.g., 2 bits / 4 bits...). Depending on the feature indicators such as Solicited Info and / or Delivered Info, Length may also be omitted.

[0212] 3) Method configured based on ID + Length (length per ID) + Control Info

[0213] FIG. 19 illustrates an example of Common Control Info and / or Feature Info (ID / Length based).

[0214] 2) Additionally or alternatively, it may be possible to include a Length field for each ID. Referring to FIG. 19, the first Length may represent the Total Length, and additionally or alternatively, it may be included as the Number of info (number of Common Control Info and / or Feature Info) and may be used for future extension purposes. The Length may be indicated, for example, by the number of Octets and / or by bits of X unit (e.g., 2 bits / 4 bits...). Depending on the feature indicators such as Solicited Info and / or Delivered Info, the first Length may also be omitted. IDs may be assigned according to the Feature, for example, MAP as 1, DPS as 2, IDC as 3, and NPCA as 4, so that each Feature can be distinguished.

[0215] Length can be the total length of the Control Info. This can be utilized for scalability so that existing devices can parse additional Control Info if additional Control Info is defined in the future, in addition to the currently defined Control Info. The Length can be indicated, for example, by the number of Octets and / or by bits of X unit (e.g., 2 bits / 4 bits...).

[0216] The Presence Bit can be used to indicate whether Control Info corresponding to each function is included. Since it can be provided in the form of a Bitmap, it may be possible to indicate whether Control Info for multiple functions is included.

[0217] Each Control Info can be defined as information required for each function, and may be included or omitted depending on the Presence Bit.

[0218] In this specification, information about NPCA that can be one of the Feature Infos of Common Control Info (referred to as NPCA info) may include at least one of the following information.

[0219] - PCH / NPCH: This field indicates whether the PPDU and frame being transmitted are frames transmitted based on PCH or frames transmitted based on NPCH by performing NPCA.

[0220] For example, when the above PCH / NPCH has a value of 1 bit, if it is set to 0, it indicates that the frame is transmitted based on PCH, and if it is set to 1, it indicates that the frame is transmitted based on NPCH by performing NPCA.

[0221] The ICF transmitted by the STA may indicate the time the STA will stay in the NPCH. In this specification, this is referred to as NPCA Duration, and the name may be changed.

[0222] Additionally or alternatively, NPCA Duration information can be transmitted in us or ms units.

[0223] Additionally or alternatively, if the above NPCA Duration information has a 7-bit value, the first bit represents the unit of the NPCA Duration (e.g., 0: 8us, 1: 128us + 512us), and the remaining 6 bits represent the NPCA Duration.

[0224] For example, in the case of 1000 0011, it can be interpreted as 128us * 3 (0000 0011) + 512us.

[0225] Additionally or alternatively, if the above NPCA Duration information has a value of 16 bits (2 octects), the value of the NPCA Duration can be set in units of us. That is, it can be expressed from 0 to 32,767 us.

[0226] Additionally or alternatively, the above NPCA Duration information may be the PPDU Length (obtained from L-SIG) or TXOP duration (obtained from the TXOP Duration field of the PHY preamble or the Duration / ID of the MAC header) for the OBSS traffic. That is, it refers to the remaining time available to perform NPCA.

[0227] Additionally or alternatively, NPCA STA can provide the time when the OBSS traffic starts (OBSS Traffic Start time) and the duration during which the OBSS traffic lasts (NPCA Duration).

[0228] Additionally, the start time of OBSS traffic can be the full (e.g., 8 octets) or partial (partial TSF) value of the timestamp (TSF) received from the AP or the AP itself. For example, in the case of partial TSF, similar to existing Broadcast TWT, it can be used starting from a specific bit value of the TSF up to X octets (e.g., 2 octets).

[0229] Additionally or alternatively, NPCA STA can indicate the time when OBSS traffic ends (OBSS Traffic End time).

[0230] Additionally, the end time of OBSS traffic can be the full (e.g., 8 octets) or partial (partial TSF) value of the timestamp (TSF) received from the AP or the AP itself. For example, in the case of partial TSF, similar to existing Broadcast TWT, it can be used starting from a specific bit value of the TSF up to X octets (e.g., 2 octets).

[0231] Additionally or alternatively, the NPCA Duration value can be set as the time the STA sending the ICF remains in the NPCH by subtracting the TSF value at the time the OBSS traffic started (OBSS Traffic Start Time) from the TSF at the time the STA sending the ICF sends the ICF.

[0232] Additionally or alternatively, the above NPCA info may be included in the ICR and transmitted as a response to the ICF.

[0233] 4. Solicited Info

[0234] Meanwhile, the previously presented Solicited Info can be configured in at least one way as follows. A Trigger frame containing Solicited Info may be applied as an ICF and / or CF (Control Frame) Request role.

[0235] 1) Direct Feature Indication in Common Info field

[0236] FIG. 20 illustrates an example of Solicited Info using a Bitmap indicator.

[0237] To construct a Trigger frame containing Solicited Info for a desired response, Solicited Info can be proposed that is indicated by a Bitmap using the Common Info field Reserved bit of the Trigger frame (e.g., the Reserved area that can be defined by the GI And HE / EHT-LTF Type subfield encoding value described below and / or the EHT Reserved bit (B56–B62) of the EHT variant Common Info field or, in the case of MU-RTS, additional reserved bits (e.g., UL Length, UL Spatial Reuse, etc.)).

[0238] FIG. 21 illustrates an example of Solicited Info using Indexing.

[0239] Referring to FIG. 21, it may be possible to construct Solicited Info by additionally or alternatively replacing it with a method such as indexing using a Bitmap indicator.

[0240] In FIG. 21, NPCA may mean Non-Primary Channel Access, DPS may mean Dynamic Power Saving, and IDC may mean in-device-coexistence. By using a bitmap indicator, it is possible to indicate one or more solicited information regarding these various functions, and the response can be determined according to the bitmap indicator. An example of using an EHT Reserved bit can be shown as in FIG. 22.

[0241] FIG. 22 illustrates an example of Solicited Info using a Bitmap indicator in the Common Info field of a Trigger frame.

[0242] FIG. 23 illustrates an example of Solicited Info using Bitmap indicators in the padding of a Trigger frame.

[0243] Referring to FIG. 23, it may be possible to include Solicited Info in the padding area of ​​the Trigger frame in addition to or alternatively to Solicited Info using Bitmap indicators in the Common Info field of the Trigger frame.

[0244] 2) Method to include Solicited Info in User Info fields by indicating Solicited Info flag in Common Info fields

[0245] FIG. 24 illustrates an example of Solicited Info (bitmap indicator) using the Solicited Info Flag.

[0246] In order to construct a Trigger frame containing Solicited Info for a desired response, it may be possible to use one bit of the Common Info field Reserved bit of the Trigger frame (e.g., the Reserved area defined by the GI And HE / EHT-LTF Type subfield encoding value described below and / or the EHT Reserved bit (B56–B62) of the EHT variant Common Info field or additional reserved bits in the case of MU-RTS (e.g., UL Length, UL Spatial Reuse, etc.)) as a Solicited Info flag indicating that Solicited Info is included, and to include Bitmap indicator information in another area (e.g., the User Info field of the Trigger frame, in which case a Special value definition of AID12 as described above may be required).

[0247] FIG. 25 illustrates an example of Solicited Info (indexing) using the Solicited Info Flag.

[0248] Referring to FIG. 25, it may be possible to replace the Solicited Info (Bitmap indicator) using the Solicited Info Flag with an additional or alternative method such as indexing.

[0249] In the case of Fig. 25, since the Solicited Info Flag exists, it may be possible to exclude 'No Info' from the index of the Solicited Info field mentioned in Fig. 25.

[0250] FIG. 26 illustrates an example in which the Common Info field of a Trigger frame contains a Solicited Info flag and the User Info field contains Solicited Info (Bitmap indicator).

[0251] Referring to FIG. 26, one of the EHT Reserved bits can be used as the Solicited Info Flag, and Bitmap indicator information can be included in another area (e.g., User Info field).

[0252] In FIG. 26, it may be possible to indicate that the Special User Info field is configured based on the Bitmap indicator by assigning one of the Reserved (2008-2044, 2047-4094) values ​​to AID12.

[0253] FIG. 27 illustrates an example in which the Common Info field of a Trigger frame contains a Solicited Info flag and the Padding contains Solicited Info (Bitmap indication).

[0254] Referring to FIG. 27, in addition to including the Solicited Info flag in the Common Info field of the Trigger frame and the Solicited Info (Bitmap indicator) in the User Info field, it may be possible to include Solicited Info in the padding area of ​​the Trigger frame as an alternative.

[0255] 3) A method including information to solicit the General Response

[0256] FIG. 28 illustrates an example of a General Response flag.

[0257] It may also be possible to indicate a general response rather than a trigger-dependent response (e.g., BSRP / BSR in QoS Null) by selecting one of the Reserved bits of the Trigger frame Common Info field (e.g., the Reserved area defined by the GI And HE / EHT-LTF Type subfield encoding value described below and / or the EHT Reserved bits (B56–B62) of the EHT variant Common Info field, or additional reserved bits in the case of MU-RTS (e.g., UL Length, UL Spatial Reuse, etc.). Various forms may be used for the general response, such as a new control frame response, a new action frame, and / or other existing response frames like BlockAck (BA). The General Response flag may be replaced with the Solicited Info flag and / or the Delivered Info flag.

[0258] Figure 29 illustrates an example of a General Response Type.

[0259] Referring to FIG. 29, it may be possible to add a General Response Type as an additional or alternative to the General response, using the aforementioned General response one-bit indicator. The General Response Type may be configured, for example, as follows.

[0260] - 0: No General Response (i.e., as before), 1: Multi-STA BA, 2: Compressed BA, 3: Control Info Action frame, 4: QoS Null, …

[0261] Figure 29 shows an example using the General Response Type.

[0262] As described above, the General Response Flag may indicate one of the Reserved bits of the Trigger frame Common Info field (e.g., the Reserved area defined by the GI And HE / EHT-LTF Type subfield encoding value described later and / or the EHT Reserved bits (B56–B62) of the EHT variant Common Info field) or, in the case of MU-RTS, additional reserved bits (e.g., UL Length, UL Spatial Reuse, etc.). Additionally, the General Response Flag may indicate the General Response Type.

[0263] 4) Method to solicit information about specific functions by newly defining Special AID12

[0264] The method for soliciting Control info information for a function, with the newly defined AID12 of the User Info field (similar to the Special User Info field (AID12 = 2007) of the 802.11 baseline), can be explained as follows. The following explains this using NPCA Info as an example.

[0265] - The AID12 of the User Info field is defined as follows in the 802.11 baseline.

[0266] AID12 subfieldDescription0User Info field allocates one or more contiguous RA-RUs for associated STAs1-2007User Info field is addressed to an associated STA whose AID is equal to the value in the AID12 subfield2008-2044Reserved2045User Info field allocates one or more contiguous RA-RUs for unassociated STAs2046Unallocated RU2047-4094Reserved4095Disallowed in a User Info field as it indicates the start of the Padding fieldNOTE—The Padding field, if present in a Trigger frame, is a field with all padding bits set to 1. The Padding field, if present, has a length of at least two octets and is located between the User Info List field and the FCS field (see 9.3.1.22.1 (General)).

[0267] For reference, the value 2007 of the AID12 subfield can be used in the HE variant User Info field when the trigger frame is generated in a non-EHT HE AP, but the value 2007 of the AID12 subfield cannot be used in the HE variant User Info field when the trigger frame is generated in an EHT AP.

[0268] If AID12 is 2007, it may be indicated that the Special User Info field is included in some Wi-Fi versions (e.g., 802.11be). Similarly, to include NPCA information, it may be possible to define AID12 as 2006 or another value of reserved (e.g., one of 2008–2044, or additionally or alternatively, one of 2047–4094) as an indicator corresponding to the inclusion of NPCA information. Each sub-field of the NPCA User Info field may be defined as either fully included or partially included. The NPCA User Info field may be placed following the Common Info field, after the Special User Info field, or immediately before the start of the actual User-specific User Info field.

[0269] Figure 30 illustrates an example of the NPCA request User Info field.

[0270] Assuming that when AID12 is 2006, information triggering NPCA Info is included, the User Info field of the Trigger frame containing the NPCA request can be configured as shown in FIG. 30.

[0271] At this time, if the NPCA Info request is 1, it indicates that the NPCA Info is requested by the Trigger frame, and if it is 0, it indicates that the request is not made.

[0272] Figure 31 illustrates an example of an NPCA request User Info field (Request type).

[0273] Additionally or alternatively, since it may be difficult to include all NPCA information in the response of the Trigger frame due to reasons such as frame size, it may also be possible to define NPCA request types. For example, it may be possible to define NPCA Info request 1 as NPCA Duration, NPCA Info request 2 as OBSS Traffic Start Time, and NPCA Info request 3 as OBSS Traffic End Time. In this case, the NPCA request User Info of the Trigger frame can be defined as shown in FIG. 31.

[0274] The NPCA Info request size can be adjusted depending on the type of request. The definition of an NPCA Info request can be exemplified as follows.

[0275] NPCA Info requestDescription0All NPCA info1NPCA Duration2OBSS Traffic Start Time3OBSS Traffic End Time4-14Reserved15No info

[0276] Additionally or alternatively, the NPCA Info request type may be configured as a bitmap to request multiple combinations. In this case, the size of the NPCA Info request subfield may be applied differently depending on the type of request. For example, based on the LSB, it can be assumed that B0 is ALL NPCA Info, B1 is NPCA Duration, B2 is OBSS Traffic Start Time, and B3 is OBSS Traffic End Time. If the value of the above NPCA Info request subfield is set to 0011, it may be possible to interpret that the OBSS Traffic Start Time and OBSS Traffic End Time are requested together.

[0277] It may be possible to indicate the presence of the above-described NPCA request User Info in the Common Info field of the Trigger frame. By selecting one of the Reserved bits of the Common Info field of the Trigger frame defined in the 802.11 baseline (e.g., the Reserved area that can be defined by the GI And HE / EHT-LTF Type subfield encoding value described later and / or the EHT Reserved bits (B56 - B62) of the EHT variant Common Info field, or additional reserved bits in the case of MU-RTS (e.g., UL Length, UL Spatial Reuse, etc.)), it may be indicated whether the NPCA request User Info is included in the User Info field.

[0278] Additionally or alternatively, the Reserved bits of the Common Info field (e.g., the Reserved area defined by the GI And HE / EHT-LTF Type subfield encoding value described later and / or the EHT Reserved bits (B56 - B62) of the EHT variant Common Info field, or additional reserved bits in the case of MU-RTS (e.g., UL Length, UL Spatial Reuse, etc.)) may be used to indicate an NPCA Info request. Similar to the purpose defined in FIG. 30, 1 bit may be used to indicate an NPCA Info request, and additionally or alternatively, 4 bits may also be used to indicate the NPCA Info request type as shown in FIG. 31.

[0279] Additionally or alternatively, it may also be possible to define a dedicated Trigger frame for NPCA rather than directing an NPCA Info request to the Trigger framed. Table 3 below shows an example of defining an NPCA Trigger frame.

[0280] Trigger Type subfield valueTrigger frame variant0Basic1............9NPCA10-15Reserved

[0281] The NPCA Trigger frame may not include Trigger Dependent Common Info and Trigger Dependent User Info subfields. Additionally or alternatively, the NPCA Trigger frame may include Trigger Dependent Common Info and may be defined as shown in Table 4. The NPCA Info request may be the same as the definition in Fig. 31. Table 4 below shows an example of Trigger Dependent Common Info for the NPCA Trigger frame.

[0282] Bits: B0 - B3B3 - B7NPCA Info requestReserved

[0283] For the method of soliciting the Control Info described above, it may be possible to apply it not only to NPCA Info but also to various functions such as the MAP, DPS, IDC, NPCA, and Security enhancement described above.

[0284] 5) A method to propose a rule for implicitly requesting a General Response without specifying Solicit Info

[0285] Additionally or alternatively, even if the NPCA Info request and / or General Response are not included in the Trigger frame, various forms such as the New Control frame response, new Action frame, and / or other existing response frames such as BlockAck (BA) may be used for new devices that do not comply with the 802.11 baseline (e.g., devices that comply with the next standard).

[0286] 6) Method of soliciting in the TRS Control (A-Control field) of QoS Data

[0287] Although not a trigger frame, it may be possible to request an extended response, similar to a General Response, in the response to QoS Data by utilizing the Reserved bit of the TRS (Triggered Response Scheduling) Control. This implies that the UL MU Transmission, which serves as the response to QoS Data, allows for a length exceeding that defined in the baseline; through this, the STA(s) receiving the QoS Data can explicitly recognize that additional information may be included. While it may be possible to adjust UL Data Symbols without such an indicator, the STA(s) receiving the QoS Data must know whether the peer STA(s) permit it in order to determine whether NPCA Info fields or Control Info fields / elements may be included. In other words, in the absence of such an indicator, if the STA(s) receiving the QoS Data arbitrarily extend the length and the peer STA(s) do not allow it, a misalignment situation in the UL MU Transmission may occur.

[0288] FIG. 32 illustrates an example of including a Solicited Info flag in the TRS Control.

[0289] The existing TRS Control B25 Reserved bit may be defined as a Solicited Info flag (or Request Control information, Solicit Control information, or other names, etc.) as shown in FIG. 32, and may indicate that information such as an NPCA Info field or a Control Info field / element is being requested. The Solicited Info flag may be used for specific functions, for example, by being defined as an NPCA Info flag, and it may be possible to include NPCA Info along with the BA information required by TRS Control in response to this. In this case, for example, a response frame such as a Multi-STA BA may be used to include both BA information and NPCA Info information, and the method of constructing the response frame may follow the content described below.

[0290] 7) How to solicit the frame format

[0291] In the 802.11 baseline, trigger frames are defined to solicit responses from multiple non-AP STAs to TB PPDUs on the AP. Additionally, or alternatively, it may also be possible to define trigger frames to solicit non-TB PPDUs, such as non-HT PPDUs and / or non-HT duplicate PPDUs (which may take the form of MU-RTS / CTS, thereby enabling better protection of hidden nodes). This may be defined for solicit operations regarding responses to single-user trigger frames, rather than responses to multi-user trigger frames. To achieve this, it may be possible to perform one or more of the following methods.

[0292] FIG. 33 illustrates an example of a trigger frame format.

[0293] Figure 34 illustrates an example of the Special User Info field format within a trigger frame.

[0294] i) A method for determining the frame format of the trigger frame response based on the application of the RA (Receiver Address) of the trigger frame (e.g., the unicast MAC address or broadcast MAC address of a specific STA) and the PHY Version Identifier of the Special User Info.

[0295] If there is one or more User Info fields in the User Info List of a Trigger frame, the RA field may be set to a broadcast address. In this case, the Trigger frame response may need to be determined as a frame format capable of performing UL MU Transmission, such as a TB PPDU, as defined in the baseline. If only one User Info field exists, the RA field may be set to the MAC address of the corresponding STA. In this case, using the PHY Version Identifier of the Special User Info, if the value is not 0 (0 may indicate EHT in the baseline) and is set to a value of 1 or greater, it may be possible to determine the response frame format of the Trigger frame as a non-TB PPDU (e.g., a non-HT PPDU and / or a non-HT duplicate PPDU).

[0296] ii) A method to explicitly specify the frame format of the trigger frame response in the trigger frame.

[0297] To indicate the response format of a trigger frame, it may be possible to use a bitmap utilizing the Common Info field Reserved bits of the trigger frame (e.g., the EHT Reserved bits (B56–B62) of the EHT variant Common Info field, or, in the case of MU-RTS, additional reserved bits (e.g., UL Length, UL Spatial Reuse, etc.). By setting these reserved bits, it may be possible to determine the format as a TB PPDU if the value is 0, and as a non-TB PPDU (e.g., non-HT PPDU and / or non-HT duplicate PPDU) if the value is 1. Additionally, or alternatively, it may also be possible to indicate the response format of the trigger frame by indexing with one or more reserved bits to specify multiple response PPDU formats (e.g., 0 for TB-PPDU, 1 for non-HT PPDU, 2 for non-HT duplicate PPDU, etc.).

[0298] iii) A method for specifying the frame format of a trigger frame response based on a combination of the trigger frame's RA and explicit instructions.

[0299] If the User Info List of a Trigger frame contains one or more User Info fields, the RA field may be set to a broadcast address. In this case, the Trigger frame response may need to be determined as a frame format capable of performing UL MU Transmission, such as a TB PPDU, as defined in the baseline. If only one User Info field exists, the RA field may be set to the MAC address of the corresponding STA. In this case, it may be indicated by a Bitmap using the Common Info field Reserved bit of the Trigger frame described above. By setting the reserved bit, it may be possible to determine it as a TB PPDU if it is 0, and as a non-TB PPDU (e.g., a non-HT PPDU and / or a non-HT duplicate PPDU) if it is 1. Additionally, or alternatively, it may also be possible to indicate the response format of the Trigger frame by indexing with one or more reserved bits to specify multiple response PPDU formats. (For example, 0 is TB-PPDU, 1 is non-HT PPDU, 2 is non-HT duplicate PPDU, etc.)

[0300] iv) A method to determine the frame format based on the application of the RA (Receiver Address) of the trigger frame (e.g., the unicast MAC address or broadcast MAC address of a specific STA) and the value of the GI and HE / EHT-LTF Type subfield encoding subfield of the Common Info field.

[0301] Figure 35 illustrates an example of the EHT variant Common Info field format of a Trigger frame.

[0302] It may also be possible to define non-TB PPDUs, such as non-HT PPDUs and / or non-HT duplicate PPDUs (which may take the form of MU-RTS / CTS, thereby enabling better protection of hidden nodes), when the RA (Receiver Address) of the Trigger frame is a unicast MAC address and / or the GI And HE / EHT-LTF Type subfield value is 0x11 (Reserved value). When soliciting non-TB PPDUs in the form of non-HT PPDUs and / or non-HT duplicate PPDUs, all fields after GI And HE / EHT-LTF Type in the Common Info field of the Trigger frame may be treated as Reserved, and can be used for the Solicited info described later.

[0303] As mentioned earlier, not only various NPCA information but also various Control information (e.g., MAP, DPS, IDC, Security enhancement) can be solicited, so it is necessary to set the UL Length considering this.

[0304] When explicitly soliciting NPCA information (assuming PCH / NPCH Indication, NPCA Duration, OBSS Traffic Start Time, and OBSS Traffic End Time are 4 octets), a UL Length is required that takes into account sufficient time to transmit the information.

[0305] For example, when an NPCA non-AP STA switches to NPCH and transmits a BSRP Trigger frame to capture a TXOP, when the UL Length field of the BSRP TF is set, the AP can set a UL Length that allows it to transmit a sufficiently long PPDU containing NPCA Info to the Multi-STA BlockAck.

[0306] For example, if NPCA Info + IDC Info is explicitly solicited, the length of the response (e.g., UL Length) can be set to match the length of the two Control Infos.

[0307] Additionally or alternatively, if NPCA Info is explicitly solicited but is insufficient in length to provide a response containing NPCA Info, but other Control Info can be included, a response containing information about the Control Info can be provided.

[0308] This method has the advantage of preventing unnecessarily long response lengths by allowing the optimal UL Length to be set by considering only the length of the Control Info that will actually be solicited.

[0309] Additionally or alternatively, when implicitly soliciting Control Info, the UL Length can be set to the maximum length considering one or more various Control Infos.

[0310] For example, if the Control Info defined in 802.11bn is NPCA Info, IDC Info, and BSR Info, it can be assumed that all of this Info will be included in the response frame, so that the Control Info is always considered to be included in the response even without explicitly soliciting it. Accordingly, the length of the PPDU can be set to a sufficiently long length (i.e., the maximum UL Length considering various Control Info) to allow for the response of all of the Control Info.

[0311] -> This method has an advantage in terms of signaling in that there is no need to convey explicit indicators for the Control Info being solicited.

[0312] 5. Response method

[0313] Meanwhile, a Control Info field or Control Info field / element composed of one or more of the Control Info presented above and one or more methods of configuring it may be included in a Response frame, and may be included in at least one way as follows. The method presented below is described as including a method in which NPCA Info and other Control Info are included as examples of including Control Info in a Response frame.

[0314] 1) When included in a Multi-STA BA frame

[0315] In a wireless LAN system, a Multi-STA BlockAck frame is a control frame intended to collectively convey transmission result or feedback information for multiple STAs within a single frame. The frame may be transmitted by an AP or STA and may include multiple Per AID TID Info subfields to efficiently report feedback associated with each receiving STA or specific action.

[0316] Each Per AID TID Info subfield corresponds to a specific non-AP STA or a specific feedback target, where the AID11 subfield serves to identify the STA referenced by that subfield. The AID11 subfield generally contains the lower 11 bits of the non-AP STA's AID, and this value may be set to 0 when the frame is transmitted to an AP. Additionally, certain reserved values ​​have special meanings and can be used, for example, to identify unassociated STAs or to identify feedback information that applies commonly to all incoming UHR STAs.

[0317] The internal format of the Per AID TID Info subfield depends not only on the AID11 value but also on the values ​​of the Ack Type subfield and the TID subfield. For example, depending on the combination of Ack Type and TID, the subfield may contain general block acknowledgment information or have a dedicated format for conveying feedback information. As such, Per AID TID Info subfields of different formats can coexist within a single Multi-STA BlockAck frame.

[0318] When the Ack Type subfield and the TID subfield are set to specific values ​​(e.g., the Ack Type subfield is set to 0 and the TID subfield is set to 13), the Per AID TID Info subfield may be defined to include feedback information, in which case the type of feedback is identified by the Feedback Type subfield. The feedback field may be used to convey various types of control information, such as terminal operational availability information, information related to low-latency operation, or information related to Cooperative Time Division Multiple Access (Co-TDMA). The length of the feedback is determined according to predefined encoding rules, and the terminal is designed to correctly interpret feedback fields of different lengths, taking into account future scalability.

[0319] The Block Ack Starting Sequence Control subfield is included in the Per AID TID Info subfield within the Multi-STA BlockAck frame and is a field intended to indicate the reference point of the frame sequence referenced by the block acknowledgment or feedback. This subfield enables the receiving end to clearly recognize which sequence number serves as the reference for reporting status information for subsequent transmission frames.

[0320] Specifically, the Block Ack Starting Sequence Control subfield specifies the starting sequence number to which block acknowledgments or feedback are applied, and based on this, reception status or related feedback information for subsequent frame sequences is interpreted. This reference sequence information is used to determine which frame each bit or feedback item included in the block acknowledgment bitmap or feedback field corresponds to.

[0321] Since multiple Per AID TID Info subfields can coexist in a Multi-STA BlockAck frame, individual sequence criteria can be set for different STAs or different TIDs by including independent Block Ack Starting Sequence Control values ​​for each subfield. This allows for the accurate transmission of status information regarding various traffic flows even within a single Multi-STA BlockAck frame.

[0322] In addition, the Block Ack Starting Sequence Control subfield can be used not only for general block acknowledgment information but also for the Per AID TID Info subfield containing feedback information, and in this case, it also functions as a reference point for defining the frame range to which feedback is applied.

[0323] The Fragment Number subfield is used when the Ack Type subfield is set to a specific value in the Multi-STA BlockAck variant, and serves to indicate the size or interpretation method of variable-length information included in the Per AID TID Info subfield.

[0324] In particular, when the Ack Type subfield is set to a value indicating a block acknowledgment or feedback, the Fragment Number subfield encodes and represents the length of the BlockAck bitmap or Feedback field included in the corresponding Per AID TID Info subfield. That is, based on the Fragment Number value, the receiving side can determine how long the following bitmap or feedback field is and correctly parse the field.

[0325] This approach is designed to flexibly accommodate various forms of feedback within Multi-STA BlockAck frames, enabling the clear distinction of the length of each piece of information via the Fragment Number subfield even when different types of feedback information are included within the same frame. For example, terminal availability information, information related to low-latency operation, or feedback related to Co-TDMA operation may have different lengths, and this difference is represented by the Fragment Number subfield.

[0326] In addition, the Fragment Number subfield enables the receiving side to properly interpret feedback fields of new lengths even if they are introduced in addition to the currently defined lengths. Accordingly, the receiving device is configured to flexibly process variable-length fields based on the Fragment Number value.

[0327] In addition, a single Multi-STA BlockAck frame may include multiple Per AID TID Info subfields to report different TIDs or different types of feedback for the same STA. This enables status reporting for multiple traffic flows or multiple control actions with only a single frame transmission.

[0328] As one of the specific feedback types, if the Feedback Type subfield indicates Co-TDMA information, the feedback field may include a request for or acceptance of time allocation related to cooperative time division multiple access operations. For example, it may include information related to a TXOP sharing request, thereby conveying to the counterpart AP or STA an intention to allocate time resources to exchange traffic of a certain priority or higher during the current TXOP.

[0329] In summary, the Multi-STA BlockAck frame is a mechanism that enables the aggregation and transmission of acknowledgments and various control feedback for multiple STAs into a single frame, thereby reducing frame overhead and improving the utilization efficiency of wireless resources.

[0330] Since Multi-STA BA is a frame that can be transmitted to one or more STAs, it may include an NPCA Info field or a Control Info field / element in at least one of the following ways.

[0331] A. Utilizing specific values ​​in the AID TID Info field of the Multi-STA BA frame

[0332] - The existence of the NPCA Info field can be indicated by setting one or more fields among AID11, Ack Type, and TID fields present in the AID TID Info field of a Multi-STA BA frame to specific values, thereby setting an AID TID Info field value that is not currently in use. For example, Ack Type can be set to 0, and TID can be set to one of the values ​​from 8 to 15.

[0333] - Additionally or alternatively, AID11 can be set to a specific value. For example, when a non-AP STA transmits to an AP, AID11 can be set to a value other than 0 (e.g., 1, 2008). Additionally or alternatively, in such cases, Ack type and TID can be set to any value. Since a non-AP STA transmits Multi-STA BA frames only to the AP, the AP can determine the presence or absence of the NPCA Info field through a specific AID value.

[0334] - Additionally or alternatively, when the AP transmits to one or more non-AP STAs, AID11 may be set to a specific value (e.g., 0, or one of 2008 to 2044). Additionally or alternatively, when the AP transmits a Multi-STA BA frame to only one STA, AID11 may be the AID of that STA.

[0335] - Additionally, if a specific value of the AID TID Info field is used, the NPCA Info field or Control Info containing NPCA Info may be included instead of the Block Ack Starting Sequence Control field and Block Ack Bitmap field. Additionally, the size of the field may be the size of the NPCA Info field or the Control Info field itself.

[0336] FIG. 36 illustrates an example of Control Info (NPCA Info) inclusion in a Multi-STA BA frame.

[0337] FIG. 36 shows an example of including NPCA Info or Control Info using the AID TID Info field in a Multi-STA BA. As described above, if the Trigger frame contains information that the STA solicits NPCA Info, the AP can transmit the Multi-STA BA with the NPCA Info included as an ICR for the Trigger frame. In FIG. 36, the Ack Type can be set to 0 and the TID to 14 to indicate that NPCA Info is included thereafter.

[0338] - Additionally or alternatively, the size of the existing fields, namely the Block Ack Starting Sequence Control field (2 octets) and the Block Ack Bitmap (e.g., 4 octets, 8 octets), may be used. For example, the Block Ack Bitmap size is determined by using the value of the Fragment Number subfield along with a specific AID value, Ack Type = 0, and TID = any value, and NPCA Info or Control Info can be included by utilizing the Block Ack Starting Sequence Control field and the Block Ack Bitmap field. If the additionally usable field size is larger than the NPCA Info field or Control Info field, the remaining bits excluding this information may be reserved. For example, when the Fragment Number subfield => B3 = 0, B2-B1 = 3, B0 = 0, NPCA Info or Control Info can be included using a Block Ack Bitmap size of 4 octets.

[0339] Figure 37 illustrates an example of IDC Info inclusion in a Multi-STA BA frame during NPCA operation (response to a Trigger frame).

[0340] Figure 37 is an example of a response that includes the corresponding information in a Multi-STA BA by indicating that the Trigger frame contains an IDC Info field or Control Info field / element, etc., using one of the methods mentioned above, such as a Solicited Info flag, as a BSRP Trigger frame.

[0341] UHR AP, NPCA STA1, and NPCA STA2 perform backoff by switching to the NPCH when the PCH is busy. In this situation, when the UHR AP captures the TXOP and solicits IDC Info, STAs that do not support IDC, or those that support it but have IDC Mode turned off, respond with QoS NULL including BSR according to the existing baseline. On the other hand, STAs that support IDC and have IDC Mode turned on respond with both IDC Info and BSR information via M-BA.

[0342] FIG. 38 illustrates an example of NPCA Info inclusion in a Multi-STA BA frame during an NPCA operation (response to a Trigger frame).

[0343] FIG. 38 is an example in which, during an NPCA operation, a UHR AP captures a TXOP with a BSRP Trigger frame, and multiple STAs respond by including their NPCA Info and / or BSR Information in a Multi-STA BlockAck. An AP that knows the time or duration that an NPCA STA stays in the NPCH can schedule frame exchanges based on this information. For example, by receiving responses from STA1 and STA2 in response to the BSRP Trigger frame, the AP can determine that STA1 and STA2 have switched to the NPCH and subsequently perform a DL MU. On the other hand, since the AP can determine through the Multi-STA BlockAck whether STA2 switches back to the PCH earlier than the AP, it can transmit frames only to STA1 after STA2 has switched to the PCH.

[0344] For the method of including the Control Info described above, it may be possible to apply it not only to NPCA Info but also to various functions such as the MAP, DPS, IDC, and Security enhancement described above.

[0345] Figures 39 and 40 may be examples including NPCA Info, LLT (Low Latency Traffic), and BSR (Buffer Status Report).

[0346] FIG. 39 illustrates an example in which NPCA, LLT, and BSR are included as Control Info in the Per AID TID Info of Multi-STA BA.

[0347] FIG. 40 illustrates an example in which Unavailability, NPCA, BSR, and CL PM are included as Control Info in the Per AID TID Info of Multi-STA BA.

[0348] B. Utilizing a specific value in the Fragment Number field of the Block Ack Starting Sequence Control field of the Multi-STA BA frame

[0349] - The inclusion of NPCA Info can be indicated by setting a specific value in the Fragment Number field of the Block Ack Starting Sequence Control field of the AID TID Info field.

[0350] - Specific Fragment Number values ​​that are not used in the Fragment Number field and are reserved for the Block Ack Bitmap can be used. (e.g., B3 = 1, B2-B1 = 3, B0 = 1)

[0351] - If a specific value of the Fragment Number field is used, the NPCA Info field, IDC Info field, or Control Info field may be included instead of the Block Ack bitmap subfield. Additionally, the size of the field may be the size of the NPCA Info field or Control Info field itself. Alternatively, the size of the existing Block Ack bitmap subfield may be used. For example, if 4 octets are used, the remaining bits excluding the NPCA Info field or Control Info field among the 4 octets may be reserved.

[0352] - Additionally or alternatively, Method B can be used in the same way as Method A.

[0353] Figure 41 illustrates an example of NPCA Info inclusion in a Multi-STA BA frame.

[0354] FIG. 41 shows an example of including NPCA Info or Control Info using a specific value of the Fragment Number field in the BA information of a Multi-STA BA. In this example, the Fragment Number field is set to 1111 (i.e., B3 = 1, B2-B1 = 3, B0 = 1) to indicate that NPCA Info or Control Info containing NPCA Info is included thereafter. This method can be useful for indicating the presence of NPCA Info when a Multi-STA BA frame is transmitted to a single STA.

[0355] Meanwhile, in addition to or alternative to Method A or Method B, one bit of the bits in the Reserved field may be used to indicate the existence of the NPCA Info field, thereby notifying the receiving STA in advance that the NPCA Info exists. Additionally or alternatively, if an ID is used as shown in FIGS. 18 and 19, the existence of the Control Info field may be indicated. In this case, the existence of the Control Info is indicated, and if the Control Info exists, it can be known that the NPCA Info is included through a specific ID mapped to the NPCA Info.

[0356] => Additionally or alternatively, one of the fields not used by non-DMG STA, such as No Memory Kept, Memory Configuration on Tag, and Management Ack, may be replaced as an existence field.

[0357] => Additionally or alternatively, a specific value (e.g., 0, 2) can be used in TID_INFO instead of the bit in the reserved field.

[0358] - The NPCA Info field or Control Info field may be located after the BA Information field if the BA Information field exists.

[0359] => Additionally or alternatively, the BA Information field may not be included when the NPCA Info field and Control Info field are included. In such cases, the method presented above may be used to determine whether to additionally include the BA Information field.

[0360] Meanwhile, Multi-STA BA frames are not limited to responses to data in the examples presented above. For example, as shown in FIG. 41, Multi-STA BA frames may be used to transmit control information containing NPCA information as a response to a BlockAckReq (BAR) frame (e.g., Multi-TID BAR) or a TF of BSRP TF or other variants (e.g., Basic / BQRP TF, etc.).

[0361] C. Method for including various Control Info by specifying the AID11 value of the Per AID TID Info of a Multi-STA BA frame to a specific value

[0362] FIG. 42 illustrates an example in which Unavailability, LLT, and BSR are included as Control Info by specifying AID11 of the Per AID TID Info of Multi-STA BA to a specific value, respectively.

[0363] Additionally or alternatively, it may be possible to include the AID11 values ​​of Per AID TID Info in a Multi-STA BA frame by assigning them to each Control Info. For example, it may be possible to assign each Control Info to each AID11 value, such as AID11 2008 being NPCA Info (unavailability feedback), AID11 2009 being LLT feedback, and AID 2010 being BSR information. FIG. 42 may serve as an example of adding multiple Control Infos by assigning each AID11 value to a specific value.

[0364] 2) Definition and Extension of the New NPCAR (Non-Primary Channel Access Report) A-Control Field Responding to Trigger Frames

[0365] A new A-Control field may be defined to include the NPCA Info field or Control Info field / element in the response frame for information solicitly requested in one or more of the previously presented Trigger frames, and for this purpose, a Control ID may be defined as shown in the table below.

[0366] Control ID valueMeaning0Triggered response scheduling (TRS)1Operating mode (OM)2HE link adaptation (HLA) / EHT link adaptation (ELA)3Buffer status report (BSR)4UL power headroom (UPH)5Bandwidth query report (BQR)6Command and status (CAS)7EHT operating mode (EHT OM)8Single response scheduling (SRS)9AP assistance request (AAR)10Non-Primary Channel Access report (NPCAR)11-14Reserved15Ones need expansion surely (ONES)

[0367] FIG. 43 illustrates an example of a Control Information subfield format included in the NPCAR Control subfield.

[0368] NPCAR can be configured and exemplified as shown in Fig. 43. Each field may include one or more, and the size may be changed according to the definition (e.g., if OBSS Traffic Start Time uses only 9 bits of TSF, it will be adjusted to 9 bits).

[0369] Each subfield of the Control Information subfield may be defined by including all of them, adding additional information, or including only a portion. NPCAR can be signaled by being included in QoS Data, QoS Null, etc. For the method of including the Control Information described above, it may be possible to define Control IDs for various functions such as the aforementioned IDC, MAP, DPS, NPCA, and Security enhancement, in addition to NPCAR Information.

[0370] FIG. 44 illustrates an example of NPCAR Info transmission using A-Control.

[0371] An NPCA Info request using the aforementioned Trigger frame and a response using the A-Control field can be transmitted as shown in FIG. 44. NPCA STA1 can solicit NPCA Info to the AP via the BSRP Trigger frame. Upon receiving this, the AP can send a Response that includes NPCA information in the A-Control field within the QoS Null. Based on this, NPCA STA1 recognizes that it has received OBSS traffic shorter than the Basic NAV currently set for the AP, and can switch back to the PCH at the same time as the AP.

[0372] <NPCA에 대한 STA의 동작과정 #1>

[0373] - STA can be a non-AP STA or AP

[0374] In the present disclosure, an STA performing NPCA can transmit a frame / PPDU on an NPCH even during the time when NAV is set in the PCH. For example, an STA can transmit a frame / PPDU with the PCH excluded / punctured on one or more NPCHs in an IDLE state determined by the backoff performed on one or more NPCHs and the CCA result of one or more SCHs where the backoff is not performed.

[0375] Additionally or alternatively, a TXOP initiated by the transmission of a frame / PPDU on the NPCH may be configured to terminate before the NAV on the PCH is terminated. The length of the TXOP may be configured or indicated through the duration / ID field of the frame. For example, the value of the duration / ID field may be set to a value that is the time (including the inter-frame interval (IFS)) required for the exchange of frames / PPDUs following the frame / PPDU.

[0376] Additionally or alternatively, the EDCA Parameter Set for each NPCH where Back-off is performed can be set to the EDCA Parameter Set in the PCH, the MU EDCA Parameter Set, or a new EDCA Parameter Set. This EDCA Parameter Set can be applied identically or differently to all NPCHs.

[0377] In the present disclosure, an STA receiving a frame transmitted via NPCA can perform frame detection on the NPCH even during the time when NAV is set in the PCH. For example, the STA may perform backoff on the NPCH if there is a frame to transmit, or it may attempt to receive whether there is a frame addressed to it on the NPCA even if there is no frame to transmit. Additionally, the STA may perform NAV setting / resetting based on the value of the duration / ID field of the frame detected on the NPCH.

[0378] Additionally or alternatively, the EDCA Parameter Set for each NPCH where Back-off is performed can be set to the EDCA Parameter Set in the PCH, the MU EDCA Parameter Set, or a new EDCA Parameter Set. This EDCA Parameter Set can be applied identically or differently to all NPCHs.

[0379] The PPDU to which the signal of the present specification is transmitted / received may include a data field.

[0380] The above data field includes user data and may include packets for the upper layer. That is, it may include MPDU (MAC Frame).

[0381] For example, the duration / ID field in the MAC header included in the MPDU may be set to a value containing the time length of a frame exchange following the frame or PPDU transmitted excluding (or puncturing) the PCH, if channel access operations on the secondary channel are supported. For example, the TXOP end time determined based on the value of the duration / ID field may be set before the end time of the NAV set on the primary channel.

[0382] In addition, as shown in Figure 1 above, the transmitting device and the receiving device may each include a memory, a processor, and a transceiver.

[0383] The above memory can store information regarding a plurality of Secondary Channel Accesses as described in this specification.

[0384] The above processor can perform back-off in the Secondary Channel based on the information stored in the memory, generate various RUs, and configure PPDUs. The above processor is described in this specification<NPCA에 대한 STA의 동작과정 #1> It can be configured to perform all or part of it.

[0385] In particular, the transceiver (113) of the transmitting device includes an antenna and can perform analog signal processing. Specifically, the processor (111) can control the transceiver (113) to transmit a PPDU generated by the processor (111).

[0386] Alternatively, the processor (111) may generate a transmission PPDU and store information regarding the transmission PPDU in memory (112).

[0387] For example, the processor (111) of the transmitting device may be configured to perform the operation of the transmitting STA according to the example of the present disclosure. For example, the processor (111) may be configured to transmit a frame on the SCH through the transceiver (113) during the time that NAV is set on the PCH. For example, the processor (111) may be configured to perform backoff on the SCH through the transceiver (113) and determine one or more SCHs in an IDLE state. For example, the processor (111) may be configured to transmit a frame / PPDU that excludes / punctures the PCH on one or more SCHs through the transceiver (113). Additionally or alternatively, the processor (111) may be configured to generate a frame including a duration / ID field set to a value such that a TXOP initiating the transmission of a frame / PPDU on the SCH is terminated before the time when NAV on the PCH is terminated.

[0388] Additionally, the transceiver (123) of the receiving device can receive PPDU based on the control of the processor (121). For example, the transceiver (123) may include a plurality of sub-units (not shown). For example, the transceiver (123) may include at least one receiving antenna and a filter for said receiving antenna.

[0389] The PPDU received through the transceiver (123) can be stored in memory (122). The processor (121) can process decoding for the received PPDU through memory (122). The processor (121) can obtain control information (e.g., SIG) regarding the BW / Tone-Plan / RU included in the PPDU and store the obtained control information in memory (122).

[0390] The processor (121) can perform decoding on the received PPDU. Additionally, the processor (121) can process the decoded data. For example, the processor (121) can perform a processing operation to transmit information regarding the decoded data field to an upper layer (e.g., MAC layer). Additionally, if the generation of a signal is directed from the upper layer to the PHY layer in response to the data transmitted to the upper layer, a subsequent operation can be performed.

[0391] For example, the processor parses the MAC PDU obtained through PHY decoding of the DATA field of the PPDU received through the transceiver.

[0392] For example, the processor (121) of the receiving device may be configured to perform the operation of the receiving STA according to the example of the present disclosure. For example, the processor (121) may attempt to detect a frame on the SCH through the transceiver (123) for a time during which the NAV is set on the PCH. The processor (121) may be configured to decode / parse the frame addressed to it based on the frame received on the SCH. Additionally, the processor (121) may be configured to set / reset the NAV according to the value of the duration / ID field of the frame not addressed to it.

[0393] FIG. 45 is a flowchart illustrating the operation of a transmitting device according to the present embodiment.

[0394] An example of FIG. 45 can be performed on a transmitting STA or a transmitting device (AP and / or non-AP STA).

[0395] Some of the steps of each example in FIG. 45 (or detailed sub-steps described later) may be omitted or changed.

[0396] Through step S4510, the transmitting device (transmitting STA) can obtain information regarding the above-described Tone Plan. As described above, the information regarding the Tone Plan includes the size and location of the RU, control information related to the RU, information regarding the frequency band in which the RU is included, information regarding the STA receiving the RU, etc.

[0397] Through step S4520, the transmitting device can construct / generate a PPDU based on the acquired control information. The step of constructing / generating the PPDU may include the step of constructing / generating each field of the PPDU. That is, step S4520 includes the step of constructing a UHR-SIG field containing control information regarding a Tone Plan. That is, step S4520 may include the step of constructing a field containing control information (e.g., N bitmap) indicating the size / location of the RU and / or the step of constructing a field containing an identifier (e.g., AID) of the STA receiving the RU.

[0398] Additionally, step S4520 may include the step of generating an STF / LTF sequence transmitted through a specific RU. The STF / LTF sequence may be generated based on a pre-configured STF generation sequence / LTF generation sequence.

[0399] Additionally, step S4520 may include a step of generating a data field (i.e., MPDU) transmitted through a specific RU.

[0400] The transmitting device can transmit the PPDU configured through step S4520 to the receiving device based on step S4530.

[0401] While performing step S4530, the transmitting device may perform at least one of the following operations: CSD, Spatial Mapping, IDFT / IFFT operation, GI insertion, etc.

[0402] A signal / field / sequence configured according to the present specification can be transmitted in the form of FIG. 5.

[0403] FIG. 46 is a flowchart illustrating the operation of a receiving device according to the present embodiment.

[0404] The above-described PPDU can be received according to an example of FIG. 46.

[0405] An example of FIG. 46 can be performed on a receiving STA or a receiving device (AP and / or non-AP STA).

[0406] Some of the steps (or detailed sub-steps described later) of each example in Fig. 46 may be omitted.

[0407] A receiving device (receiving STA) can receive all or part of the PPDU through step S4610. The received signal may be in the form of FIG. 5.

[0408] The sub-step of step S4610 can be determined based on step S4530 of FIG. 45. That is, step S4610 can perform an operation to restore the results of the CSD, Spatial Mapping, IDFT / IFFT operation, and GI insert operation applied in step S4530.

[0409] In step S4620, the receiving device can perform decoding of all or part of the PPDU. Additionally, the receiving device can obtain control information related to the Tone Plan (i.e., RU) from the decoded PPDU.

[0410] More specifically, the receiving device can decode the L-SIG and UHR-SIG of the PPDU based on the Legacy STF / LTF and obtain information contained in the L-SIG and UHR-SIG fields. Information regarding various Tone Plans (i.e., RU) described in this specification may be included in the UHR-SIG, and the receiving STA can obtain information regarding the Tone Plan (i.e., RU) through the UHR-SIG.

[0411] In step S4630, the receiving device can decode the remainder of the PPDU based on information regarding the Tone Plan (i.e., RU) obtained through step S4620. For example, the receiving STA can decode the STF / LTF fields of the PPDU based on information regarding the one Plan (i.e., RU). Additionally, the receiving STA can decode the data fields of the PPDU based on information regarding the Tone Plan (i.e., RU) and obtain the MPDU contained in the data fields.

[0412] Additionally, the receiving device can perform a processing operation to transmit the decoded data through step S4630 to an upper layer (e.g., MAC layer). Furthermore, if the generation of a signal is instructed from the upper layer to the PHY layer in response to the data transmitted to the upper layer, a subsequent operation can be performed.

[0413] Hereinafter, the above-described embodiment will be explained with reference to FIGS. 1 to 46.

[0414] FIG. 47 is a flowchart illustrating a procedure for transmitting an ICR containing NPCA information according to the present embodiment.

[0415] An example of FIG. 47 can be performed in a network environment that supports a next-generation wireless LAN system (UHR (Ultra High Reliability) wireless LAN system, 802.11bn or next wi-fi). The next-generation wireless LAN system is a wireless LAN system that improves upon the 802.11be system and can satisfy backward compatibility with the 802.11be system.

[0416] The present embodiment proposes a method for configuring an ICR that includes NPCA information when an ICF requests NPCA information. The NPCA information may be information necessary to successfully perform NPCA operations between NPCA STAs. In addition, the present embodiment proposes a method for configuring an ICR that includes not only the NPCA information but also control information regarding IDC, DPS, MAP, security enhancement, etc., considered in an 802.11bn wireless LAN system.

[0417] In step S4710, the second NPCA (Non-primary channel access) STA (station) receives an ICF (Initial Control Frame) from the first NPCA STA.

[0418] In step S4720, the second NPCA STA transmits an ICR (Initial Control Response) to the first NPCA STA.

[0419] The above ICR is a Multi-STA BA (BlockAck) frame. That is, the above ICR can have a BA frame structure of a Multi-STA BA variant.

[0420] The above Multi-STA BA frame includes an Ack Type subfield and a TID (Traffic Identifier) ​​subfield. Based on the Ack Type subfield and the TID subfield, Non-primary channel access (NPCA) information is included in the Multi-STA BA frame. For example, based on the value of the Ack Type subfield being set to 0 and the value of the TID subfield being set to 13, feedback information is included in the Multi-STA BA frame, and based on the Feedback Type subfield included in the Multi-STA BA frame, the feedback information can be determined as the NPCA information.

[0421] At this time, the Multi-STA BA frame may include at least one Per AID TID Info subfield. Each of the at least one Per AID TID Info subfield may have the following structure.

[0422] For example, the Multi-STA BA frame may further include an AID (Association Identifier) ​​TID Info subfield, a Block Ack Starting Sequence Control subfield, and a Block Ack Bitmap subfield. In this case, the AID TID Info subfield may include an AID11 subfield, the Ack Type subfield, and the TID subfield.

[0423] That is, the present embodiment proposes a method of including NPCA information in the Multi-STA BA frame by setting the Ack Type subfield and the TID subfield present in the AID TID Info subfield of the Multi-STA BA frame to specific values. By doing so, the first NPCA STA can switch (or switch back) from the NPCA primary channel to the BSS primary channel at the same time as the second NPCA STA based on the NPCA information.

[0424] According to the present embodiment, problems that may occur when the default NAV (Network Allocation Vector) set by OBSS traffic on the BSS primary channel during NPCA operation is recognized differently between AP and non-AP STA can be effectively resolved.

[0425] Specifically, previously, due to differences in the OBSS traffic and the resulting default NAV intervals recognized by NPCA APs and NPCA non-AP STAs, there was a problem where NPCA non-AP STAs attempted unnecessary frame exchanges or channel access attempts on the NPCA primary channel. This increased the likelihood of frame collisions, transmission failures, and packet drops.

[0426] In contrast, in this embodiment, by sharing NPCA-related information through ICF and ICR, the NPCA non-AP STA can determine the switchback time from the NPCA primary channel to the BSS primary channel from the same view as the NPCA AP. This resolves the channel switching timing discrepancy between the NPCA AP and the NPCA non-AP STA and prevents unnecessary frame exchange attempts or channel access attempts in advance.

[0427] As a result, packet drop issues that may occur during NPCA operation can be reduced, and waste of wireless resources can be minimized. In addition, if an NPCA non-AP STA returns to the BSS primary channel before the OBSS NAV ends, in line with the perspective of an NPCA AP, unnecessary channel monitoring or transmission attempts during that period can be reduced, thereby reducing power consumption.

[0428] In addition, if an NPCA non-AP STA maintains NPCA operation until after the OBSS NAV termination point according to the perspective of an NPCA AP, communication opportunities on the NPCA primary channel can be secured more stably, so improvements in throughput and reduction in latency for NPCA operation can be expected.

[0429] Overall, this embodiment can provide the effect of simultaneously improving communication stability, power efficiency, and transmission performance by aligning NPCA operation recognition between NPCA AP and NPCA non-AP STA.

[0430] The above NPCA information may include at least one of instruction information for the NPCA primary channel and information for the NPCA interval.

[0431] Based on the instruction information for the NPCA primary channel being set to 0, the ICR can be received through the NPCA primary channel. Based on the instruction information for the NPCA primary channel being set to 1, the ICR can be received through the BSS primary channel.

[0432] The information regarding the above NPCA interval may include information regarding the time when the OBSS traffic starts and information regarding the time when the OBSS traffic ends. The first NPCA STA may perform frame exchange with the second NPCA STA on the NPCA primary channel during the above NPCA interval.

[0433] The above ICF and the above ICR can be transmitted and received through the NPCA primary channel. The above ICF may be a BSRP (Buffer Status Report Poll) trigger frame requesting the above NPCA information.

[0434] The above NPCA primary channel may be a non-primary channel capable of performing backoff while a basic NAV (Network Allocation Vector) is set on the BSS (Basic Service Set) primary channel. The above basic NAV may be set by OBSS (Overlapping Basic Service Set) traffic. That is, through NPCA, STAs within the BSS (or NPCA STAs) can switch to an alternate channel during the period when OBSS activity is detected in part of the BSS operating channel.

[0435] Depending on the entity transmitting or receiving the above Multi-STA BA frame, the above AID11 subfield may be configured as follows.

[0436] For example, based on the fact that the second NPCA STA transmitting the Multi-STA BA frame is an AP (access point), if the Multi-STA BA frame is transmitted to all UHR (Ultra High Reliability) non-AP STA (stations) (or if the second NPCA STA intends to transmit the Multi-STA BA frame to all UHR non-AP STAs), the AID11 subfield is set to 2008, and if the first NPCA STA is at least one non-AP STA, the AID11 subfield may be set to the AID (Association Identifier) ​​of the at least one non-AP STA. Based on the fact that the second NPCA STA transmitting the Multi-STA BA frame is a non-AP STA (station), the AID11 subfield may be set to 0.

[0437] The above Block Ack Starting Sequence Control subfield may include a Fragment Number subfield and a Feedback Type subfield.

[0438] The Block Ack Bitmap subfield may include the NPCA information or control information. The size of the Block Ack Bitmap subfield may be determined based on the value of the Fragment Number subfield.

[0439] For example, the Block Ack Starting Sequence Control subfield may further include a Presence Bitmap subfield. The control information may be included in the Block Ack Bitmap subfield based on the Presence Bitmap subfield.

[0440] For example, the control information may be at least one of the NPCA information, feedback information regarding unavailability, information regarding LLT (Low Latency Traffic), information regarding BSR (Buffer Status Report), information regarding CL PM (Closed-Loop Power Management), information regarding IDC (In-device-coexistence), information regarding DPS (Dynamic Power Saving), information regarding MAP (Multi-AP), or information regarding security improvement.

[0441] As another example, the type of the above control information can be determined based on the above Feedback Type subfield.

[0442] For example, based on the value of the Feedback Type subfield being 0, the control information may be feedback information regarding communication failure. Based on the value of the Feedback Type subfield being 1, the control information may be feedback information regarding low latency. Based on the value of the Feedback Type subfield being 2, the control information may be feedback information regarding Co-BF (Coordinated beamforming). Based on the value of the Feedback Type subfield being 3, the control information may be feedback information regarding Co-TDMA (Coordinated time division multiple access). Based on the value of the Feedback Type subfield being 4, the control information may be feedback information regarding Co-SR (Coordinated spatial reuse).

[0443] The first and second NPCA STAs may be NPCA APs or NPCA non-AP STAs. The NPCA AP may be an AP that supports NPCA operation. The NPCA non-AP STA may be a non-AP STA that supports NPCA operation. An NPCA AP with an operating bandwidth smaller than 80 MHz cannot enable NPCA operation.

[0444] If the BSS is 80 MHz BSS (or if the BSS has an 80 MHz bandwidth), the above NPCA primary channel may be located within a secondary 40 MHz. If the BSS is 160 MHz BSS (or if the BSS has a 160 MHz bandwidth), the above NPCA primary channel may be located within a secondary 80 MHz. If the BSS is 320 MHz BSS (or if the BSS has a 320 MHz bandwidth), the above NPCA primary channel may be located within a secondary 160 MHz.

[0445] FIG. 48 is a flowchart illustrating a procedure for receiving an ICR containing NPCA information according to the present embodiment.

[0446] An example of FIG. 48 can be performed in a network environment that supports a next-generation wireless LAN system (UHR (Ultra High Reliability) wireless LAN system, 802.11bn or next wi-fi). The next-generation wireless LAN system is a wireless LAN system that improves upon the 802.11be system and can satisfy backward compatibility with the 802.11be system.

[0447] The present embodiment proposes a method for configuring an ICR that includes NPCA information when an ICF requests NPCA information. The NPCA information may be information necessary to successfully perform NPCA operations between NPCA STAs. In addition, the present embodiment proposes a method for configuring an ICR that includes not only the NPCA information but also control information regarding IDC, DPS, MAP, security enhancement, etc., considered in an 802.11bn wireless LAN system.

[0448] In step S4810, the first NPCA (Non-primary channel access) STA (station) transmits an ICF (Initial Control Frame) to the second NPCA STA.

[0449] In step S4820, the first NPCA STA receives an ICR (Initial Control Response) from the second NPCA STA.

[0450] The above ICR is a Multi-STA BA (BlockAck) frame. That is, the above ICR can have a BA frame structure of a Multi-STA BA variant.

[0451] The above Multi-STA BA frame includes an Ack Type subfield and a TID (Traffic Identifier) ​​subfield. Based on the Ack Type subfield and the TID subfield, Non-primary channel access (NPCA) information is included in the Multi-STA BA frame. For example, based on the value of the Ack Type subfield being set to 0 and the value of the TID subfield being set to 13, feedback information is included in the Multi-STA BA frame, and based on the Feedback Type subfield included in the Multi-STA BA frame, the feedback information can be determined as the NPCA information.

[0452] At this time, the Multi-STA BA frame may include at least one Per AID TID Info subfield. Each of the at least one Per AID TID Info subfield may have the following structure.

[0453] For example, the Multi-STA BA frame may further include an AID (Association Identifier) ​​TID Info subfield, a Block Ack Starting Sequence Control subfield, and a Block Ack Bitmap subfield. In this case, the AID TID Info subfield may include an AID11 subfield, the Ack Type subfield, and the TID subfield.

[0454] That is, the present embodiment proposes a method of including NPCA information in the Multi-STA BA frame by setting the Ack Type subfield and the TID subfield present in the AID TID Info subfield of the Multi-STA BA frame to specific values. By doing so, the first NPCA STA can switch (or switch back) from the NPCA primary channel to the BSS primary channel at the same time as the second NPCA STA based on the NPCA information.

[0455] According to the present embodiment, problems that may occur when the default NAV (Network Allocation Vector) set by OBSS traffic on the BSS primary channel during NPCA operation is recognized differently between AP and non-AP STA can be effectively resolved.

[0456] Specifically, previously, due to differences in the OBSS traffic and the resulting default NAV intervals recognized by NPCA APs and NPCA non-AP STAs, there was a problem where NPCA non-AP STAs attempted unnecessary frame exchanges or channel access attempts on the NPCA primary channel. This increased the likelihood of frame collisions, transmission failures, and packet drops.

[0457] In contrast, in this embodiment, by sharing NPCA-related information through ICF and ICR, the NPCA non-AP STA can determine the switchback time from the NPCA primary channel to the BSS primary channel from the same view as the NPCA AP. This resolves the channel switching timing discrepancy between the NPCA AP and the NPCA non-AP STA and prevents unnecessary frame exchange attempts or channel access attempts in advance.

[0458] As a result, packet drop issues that may occur during NPCA operation can be reduced, and waste of wireless resources can be minimized. In addition, if an NPCA non-AP STA returns to the BSS primary channel before the OBSS NAV ends, in line with the perspective of an NPCA AP, unnecessary channel monitoring or transmission attempts during that period can be reduced, thereby reducing power consumption.

[0459] In addition, if an NPCA non-AP STA maintains NPCA operation until after the OBSS NAV termination point according to the perspective of an NPCA AP, communication opportunities on the NPCA primary channel can be secured more stably, so improvements in throughput and reduction in latency for NPCA operation can be expected.

[0460] Overall, this embodiment can provide the effect of simultaneously improving communication stability, power efficiency, and transmission performance by aligning NPCA operation recognition between NPCA AP and NPCA non-AP STA.

[0461] The above NPCA information may include at least one of instruction information for the NPCA primary channel and information for the NPCA interval.

[0462] Based on the instruction information for the NPCA primary channel being set to 0, the ICR can be received through the NPCA primary channel. Based on the instruction information for the NPCA primary channel being set to 1, the ICR can be received through the BSS primary channel.

[0463] The information regarding the above NPCA interval may include information regarding the time when the OBSS traffic starts and information regarding the time when the OBSS traffic ends. The first NPCA STA may perform frame exchange with the second NPCA STA on the NPCA primary channel during the above NPCA interval.

[0464] The above ICF and the above ICR can be transmitted and received through the NPCA primary channel. The above ICF may be a BSRP (Buffer Status Report Poll) trigger frame requesting the above NPCA information.

[0465] The above NPCA primary channel may be a non-primary channel capable of performing backoff while a basic NAV (Network Allocation Vector) is set on the BSS (Basic Service Set) primary channel. The above basic NAV may be set by OBSS (Overlapping Basic Service Set) traffic. That is, through NPCA, STAs within the BSS (or NPCA STAs) can switch to an alternate channel during the period when OBSS activity is detected in part of the BSS operating channel.

[0466] Depending on the entity transmitting or receiving the above Multi-STA BA frame, the above AID11 subfield may be configured as follows.

[0467] For example, based on the fact that the second NPCA STA transmitting the Multi-STA BA frame is an AP (access point), if the Multi-STA BA frame is transmitted to all UHR (Ultra High Reliability) non-AP STA (stations) (or if the second NPCA STA intends to transmit the Multi-STA BA frame to all UHR non-AP STAs), the AID11 subfield is set to 2008, and if the first NPCA STA is at least one non-AP STA, the AID11 subfield may be set to the AID (Association Identifier) ​​of the at least one non-AP STA. Based on the fact that the second NPCA STA transmitting the Multi-STA BA frame is a non-AP STA (station), the AID11 subfield may be set to 0.

[0468] The above Block Ack Starting Sequence Control subfield may include a Fragment Number subfield and a Feedback Type subfield.

[0469] The Block Ack Bitmap subfield may include the NPCA information or control information. The size of the Block Ack Bitmap subfield may be determined based on the value of the Fragment Number subfield.

[0470] For example, the Block Ack Starting Sequence Control subfield may further include a Presence Bitmap subfield. The control information may be included in the Block Ack Bitmap subfield based on the Presence Bitmap subfield.

[0471] For example, the control information may be at least one of the NPCA information, feedback information regarding unavailability, information regarding LLT (Low Latency Traffic), information regarding BSR (Buffer Status Report), information regarding CL PM (Closed-Loop Power Management), information regarding IDC (In-device-coexistence), information regarding DPS (Dynamic Power Saving), information regarding MAP (Multi-AP), or information regarding security improvement.

[0472] As another example, the type of the above control information can be determined based on the above Feedback Type subfield.

[0473] For example, based on the value of the Feedback Type subfield being 0, the control information may be feedback information regarding communication failure. Based on the value of the Feedback Type subfield being 1, the control information may be feedback information regarding low latency. Based on the value of the Feedback Type subfield being 2, the control information may be feedback information regarding Co-BF (Coordinated beamforming). Based on the value of the Feedback Type subfield being 3, the control information may be feedback information regarding Co-TDMA (Coordinated time division multiple access). Based on the value of the Feedback Type subfield being 4, the control information may be feedback information regarding Co-SR (Coordinated spatial reuse).

[0474] The first and second NPCA STAs may be NPCA APs or NPCA non-AP STAs. The NPCA AP may be an AP that supports NPCA operation. The NPCA non-AP STA may be a non-AP STA that supports NPCA operation. An NPCA AP with an operating bandwidth smaller than 80 MHz cannot enable NPCA operation.

[0475] If the BSS is 80 MHz BSS (or if the BSS has an 80 MHz bandwidth), the above NPCA primary channel may be located within a secondary 40 MHz. If the BSS is 160 MHz BSS (or if the BSS has a 160 MHz bandwidth), the above NPCA primary channel may be located within a secondary 80 MHz. If the BSS is 320 MHz BSS (or if the BSS has a 320 MHz bandwidth), the above NPCA primary channel may be located within a secondary 160 MHz.

[0476] <Device Configuration>

[0477] The technical features of the present specification described above may be applied to various devices and methods. For example, the technical features of the present specification described above may be performed / supported through the device of FIG. 1 and / or FIG. 14. For example, the technical features of the present specification described above may be applied only to parts of FIG. 1 and / or FIG. 14. For example, the technical features of the present specification described above may be implemented based on the processing chip (114, 124) of FIG. 1, or based on the processor (111, 121) and memory (112, 122) of FIG. 1, or based on the processor (610) and memory (620) of FIG. 14. For example, the device of the present specification transmits an ICF (Initial Control Frame) to a second NPCA (Non-primary channel access) STA (station); and receives an ICR (Initial Control Response) from the second NPCA STA.

[0478] The technical features of this specification may be implemented based on a computer-readable medium (CRM). For example, the CRM proposed by this specification is at least one computer-readable medium comprising instructions based on execution by at least one processor.

[0479] The above CRM may store instructions for performing operations including the step of transmitting an ICF (Initial Control Frame) to a second NPCA (Non-primary channel access) STA (station); and the step of receiving an ICR (Initial Control Response) from the second NPCA STA. Instructions stored in the CRM of this specification may be executed by at least one processor. At least one processor associated with the CRM of this specification may be the processor (111, 121) or processing chip (114, 124) of FIG. 1, or the processor (610) of FIG. 14. Meanwhile, the CRM of this specification may be the memory (112, 122) of FIG. 1, the memory (620) of FIG. 14, or a separate external memory / storage medium / disk, etc.

[0480] The technical features of the present specification described above are applicable to various applications or business models. For example, the technical features described above may be applied for wireless communication in devices supporting Artificial Intelligence (AI).

[0481] Artificial intelligence refers to the field of researching artificial intelligence or the methodologies to create it, while machine learning refers to the field of researching methodologies to define and solve various problems addressed within the field of artificial intelligence. Machine learning is also defined as an algorithm that improves performance on a task through continuous experience.

[0482] An Artificial Neural Network (ANN) is a model used in machine learning that can refer to any model capable of problem-solving, composed of artificial neurons (nodes) that form a network through the connection of synapses. An artificial neural network can be defined by connection patterns between neurons in different layers, a learning process that updates model parameters, and an activation function that generates output values.

[0483] An artificial neural network may include an input layer, an output layer, and optionally one or more hidden layers. Each layer may include one or more neurons, and the artificial neural network may include synapses connecting the neurons. In an artificial neural network, each neuron may output a function value of an activation function for input signals, weights, and biases input through the synapses.

[0484] Model parameters refer to parameters determined through learning, including synaptic connection weights and neuron biases. Hyperparameters, on the other hand, refer to parameters that must be set prior to training in a machine learning algorithm, including the learning rate, number of iterations, mini-batch size, and initialization function.

[0485] The objective of training an artificial neural network can be viewed as determining model parameters that minimize the loss function. The loss function can be used as an indicator to determine optimal model parameters during the training process of an artificial neural network.

[0486] Machine learning can be classified into supervised learning, unsupervised learning, and reinforcement learning depending on the learning method.

[0487] Supervised learning refers to a method of training an artificial neural network with labels provided for the training data; a label can refer to the correct answer (or result) that the neural network must infer when the training data is input. Unsupervised learning refers to a method of training an artificial neural network without labels provided for the training data. Reinforcement learning refers to a learning method in which an agent defined within an environment is trained to select an action or sequence of actions that maximizes the cumulative reward in each state.

[0488] Machine learning implemented using a Deep Neural Network (DNN) that includes multiple hidden layers among artificial neural networks is also called Deep Learning, and Deep Learning is a part of Machine Learning. Hereinafter, Machine Learning is used in a sense that includes Deep Learning.

[0489] In addition, the aforementioned technical features can be applied to the wireless communication of robots.

[0490] A robot can refer to a machine that automatically processes or operates a given task based on its own capabilities. In particular, a robot that has the ability to perceive its environment, make decisions on its own, and perform actions can be called an intelligent robot.

[0491] Robots can be classified into industrial, medical, domestic, and military types depending on their purpose or field of use. Robots are equipped with drive units, including actuators or motors, to perform various physical movements, such as moving robot joints. Additionally, mobile robots include wheels, brakes, and propellers in their drive units, enabling them to drive on the ground or fly in the air.

[0492] In addition, the aforementioned technical features can be applied to devices that support augmented reality.

[0493] Extended Reality is a collective term for Virtual Reality (VR), Augmented Reality (AR), and Mixed Reality (MR). VR technology provides real-world objects or backgrounds solely as CG images, AR technology provides virtual CG images superimposed on real-world images, and MR technology is a computer graphics technology that mixes and combines virtual objects with the real world.

[0494] MR technology is similar to AR technology in that it displays real-world objects and virtual objects together. However, there is a difference in that while virtual objects in AR technology are used to complement real-world objects, virtual objects and real-world objects are used as equals in MR technology.

[0495] XR technology can be applied to HMDs (Head-Mount Displays), HUDs (Head-Up Displays), mobile phones, tablet PCs, laptops, desktops, TVs, digital signage, etc., and devices to which XR technology is applied can be called XR devices.

[0496] The claims described in this specification may be combined in various ways. For example, the technical features of the method claims in this specification may be combined to be implemented as a device, and the technical features of the device claims in this specification may be combined to be implemented as a method. Furthermore, the technical features of the method claims and the technical features of the device claims in this specification may be combined to be implemented as a device, and the technical features of the method claims and the technical features of the device claims in this specification may be combined to be implemented as a method.

Claims

1. In a wireless LAN system, a first Non-primary channel access (NPCA) station transmits an Initial Control Frame (ICF) to a second NPCA station; and the first NPCA station receives an Initial Control Response (ICR) from the second NPCA station, where the ICR is a Multi-STA BlockAck (BA) frame, the Multi-STA BA frame includes an Ack Type subfield and a Traffic Identifier (TID) subfield, and NPCA (Non-primary channel access) information is included in the Multi-STA BA frame based on the Ack Type subfield and the TID subfield method.

2. According to claim 1, the ICF and the ICR are transmitted and received through an NPCA primary channel, the ICF is a Buffer Status Report Poll (BSRP) trigger frame for requesting the NPCA information, the NPCA primary channel is a non-primary channel that can perform backoff while a basic Network Allocation Vector (NAV) is set on a Basic Service Set (BSS) primary channel, the basic NAV is set by Overlapping Basic Service Set (OBSS) traffic method.

3. According to claim 2, based on the value of the Ack Type subfield being set to 0 and the value of the TID subfield being set to 13, the NPCA information is included in the Multi-STA BA frame, the NPCA information includes at least one of indication information for the NPCA primary channel and information for an NPCA section, based on the indication information for the NPCA primary channel being set to 0, the ICR is received through the NPCA primary channel Based on the indication information for the NPCA primary channel being set to 1, the ICR is received via the BSS primary channel, The information for the NPCA section includes information about the time point when the OBSS traffic starts and information about the time point when the OBSS traffic ends Method.

4. According to claim 1, The Multi-STA BA frame further includes an AID (Association Identifier) TID Info subfield, a Block Ack Starting Sequence Control subfield, and a Block Ack Bitmap subfield, The AID TID Info subfield includes an AID11 subfield, the Ack Type subfield, and the TID subfield, Based on the second NPCA STA transmitting the Multi-STA BA frame being an AP (access point), when the Multi-STA BA frame is transmitted to all UHR (Ultra High Reliability) non-AP STAs (stations), the AID11 subfield is set to 2008, and when the first NPCA STA is at least one non-AP STA, the AID11 subfield is set to the AID (Association Idenfitier) of the at least one non-AP STA, Based on the second NPCA STA transmitting the Multi-STA BA frame being a non-AP STA (station), the AID11 subfield is set to 0 Method.

5. According to claim 4, The Block Ack Starting Sequence Control subfield includes a Fragment Number subfield and a Feedback Type subfield, The Block Ack Bitmap subfield includes the NPCA information or control information, The size of the Block Ack Bitmap subfield is determined based on the value of the Fragment Number subfield Method.

6. According to claim 5, the Block Ack Starting Sequence Control subfield further includes a Presence Bitmap subfield, the control information is included in the Block Ack Bitmap subfield based on the Presence Bitmap subfield, the control information is at least one of the NPCA information, feedback information regarding unavailability, information regarding LLT (Low Latency Traffic), information regarding BSR (Buffer Status Report), information regarding CL PM (Closed-Loop Power Management), information regarding IDC (In-device-coexistence), information regarding DPS (Dynamic Power Saving), information regarding MAP (Multi-AP), or information regarding security improvement method.

7. According to claim 5, the type of the control information is determined based on the Feedback Type subfield, based on the value of the Feedback Type subfield being 0, the control information is feedback information regarding unavailability, based on the value of the Feedback Type subfield being 1, the control information is feedback information regarding low latency, based on the value of the Feedback Type subfield being 2, the control information is feedback information regarding Co-BF (Coordinated beamforming), based on the value of the Feedback Type subfield being 3, the control information is feedback information regarding Co-TDMA (Coordinated time division multiple access), based on the value of the Feedback Type subfield being 4, the control information is feedback information regarding Co-SR (Coordinated spatial reuse) method.

8. According to claim 3, The first NPCA STA performs frame exchange with the second NPCA STA in the NPCA primary channel during the NPCA period; and The method further includes the first NPCA STA switching from the NPCA primary channel to the BSS primary channel at the same time as the second NPCA STA based on the NPCA information method.

9. In a wireless local area network system, a first NPCA (Non-primary channel access) STA (station) includes memory; a transceiver; and a processor operably coupled to the memory and the transceiver, the processor: transmits an ICF (Initial Control Frame) to a second NPCA STA; and receives an ICR (Initial Control Response) from the second NPCA STA, where the ICR is a Multi-STA BA (BlockAck) frame, the Multi-STA BA frame includes an Ack Type subfield and a TID (Traffic Identifier) subfield, and NPCA (Non-primary channel access) information is included in the Multi-STA BA frame based on the Ack Type subfield and the TID subfield first NPCA STA.

10. In a wireless local area network system a second NPCA (Non-primary channel access) STA (station) receives an ICF (Initial Control Frame) from a first NPCA STA; and the second NPCA STA transmits an ICR (Initial Control Response) to the first NPCA STA, where the ICR is a Multi-STA BA (BlockAck) frame, the Multi-STA BA frame includes an Ack Type subfield and a TID (Traffic Identifier) subfield, and Based on the Ack Type subfield and the TID subfield, the Multi-STA BA frame includes NPCA (Non-primary channel access) information Method.

11. According to claim 10, The ICF and the ICR are transmitted and received through the NPCA primary channel, The ICF is a BSRP (Buffer Status Report Poll) trigger frame that requests the NPCA information, The NPCA primary channel is a non-primary channel that can perform backoff while the basic NAV (Network Allocation Vector) is set on the BSS (Basic Service Set) primary channel, The basic NAV is set by OBSS (Overlapping Basic Service Set) traffic Method.

12. According to claim 11, Based on the value of the Ack Type subfield being set to 0 and the value of the TID subfield being set to 13, the NPCA information is included in the Multi-STA BA frame, The NPCA information includes at least one of the indication information for the NPCA primary channel and the information for the NPCA interval, Based on the indication information for the NPCA primary channel being set to 0, the ICR is received through the NPCA primary channel, Based on the indication information for the NPCA primary channel being set to 1, the ICR is received through the BSS primary channel, The information for the NPCA interval includes the information about the start time of the OBSS traffic and the information about the end time of the OBSS traffic Method.

13. According to claim l0, The Multi-STA BA frame further includes an AID (Association Identifier) TID Info subfield, a Block Ack Starting Sequence Control subfield, and a Block Ack Bitmap subfield, The AID TID Info subfield includes the AID11 subfield, the Ack Type subfield, and the TID subfield, Based on the second NPCA STA transmitting the Multi-STA BA frame being an AP (access point), when the Multi-STA BA frame is transmitted to all UHR (Ultra High Reliability) non-AP STAs (stations), the AID11 subfield is set to 2008, and when the first NPCA STA is at least one non-AP STA, the AID11 subfield is set to the AID (Association Idenfitier) of the at least one non-AP STA, Based on the second NPCA STA transmitting the Multi-STA BA frame being a non-AP STA (station), the AID11 subfield is set to 0 Method.

14. According to claim 13, The Block Ack Starting Sequence Control subfield includes a Fragment Number subfield and a Feedback Type subfield, The Block Ack Bitmap subfield includes the NPCA information or control information, The size of the Block Ack Bitmap subfield is determined based on the value of the Fragment Number subfield Method.

15. According to claim 14, The Block Ack Starting Sequence Control subfield further includes a Presence Bitmap subfield, The control information is included in the Block Ack Bitmap subfield based on the Presence Bitmap subfield, The control information is at least one of the NPCA information, feedback information regarding unavailability, information regarding LLT (Low Latency Traffic), information regarding BSR (Buffer Status Report), information regarding CL PM (Closed-Loop Power Management), information regarding IDC (In-device-coexistence), information regarding DPS (Dynamic Power Saving), information regarding MAP (Multi-AP), or information regarding security improvement Method.

16. According to claim 14, the type of the control information is determined based on the Feedback Type subfield, based on the value of the Feedback Type subfield being 0, the control information is feedback information regarding unavailability, based on the value of the Feedback Type subfield being 1, the control information is feedback information regarding low latency, based on the value of the Feedback Type subfield being 2, the control information is feedback information regarding Co-BF (Coordinated beamforming), based on the value of the Feedback Type subfield being 3, the control information is feedback information regarding Co-TDMA (Coordinated time division multiple access), based on the value of the Feedback Type subfield being 4, the control information is feedback information regarding Co-SR (Coordinated spatial reuse) Method.

17. In a wireless local area network system, a second NPCA (Non-primary channel access) STA (station) includes: a memory; a transceiver; and a processor operably coupled to the memory and the transceiver, wherein the processor: receives an ICF (Initial Control Frame) from a first NPCA STA; and Transmit an ICR (Initial Control Response) to the first NPCA STA, where the ICR is a Multi-STA BA (BlockAck) frame, the Multi-STA BA frame includes an Ack Type subfield and a TID (Traffic Identifier) subfield, and NPCA (Non-primary channel access) information is included in the Multi-STA BA frame based on the Ack Type subfield and the TID subfield for a second NPCA STA. A computer-readable medium comprising at least one instruction executable by at least one processor, the method comprising transmitting an ICF (Initial Control Frame) to a second NPCA (Non-primary channel access) STA (station); and receiving an ICR (Initial Control Response) from the second NPCA STA, where the ICR is a Multi-STA BA (BlockAck) frame, the Multi-STA BA frame includes an Ack Type subfield and a TID (Traffic Identifier) subfield, and NPCA (Non-primary channel access) information is included in the Multi-STA BA frame based on the Ack Type subfield and the TID subfield for the computer-readable medium.

19. An apparatus in a wireless local area network system, a memory; and a processor operatively coupled to the memory, the processor configured to: transmit an ICF (Initial Control Frame) to a second NPCA (Non-primary channel access) STA (station); and receive an ICR (Initial Control Response) from the second NPCA STA, The ICR is a Multi-STA BA (BlockAck) frame, the Multi-STA BA frame includes an Ack Type subfield and a TID (Traffic Identifier) subfield, and NPCA (Non-primary channel access) information is included in the Multi-STA BA frame based on the Ack Type subfield and the TID subfield device.

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