Trigger Frame Bandwidth Allocation for Multi-Station WLAN

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Solution Overview

Problem

In WLAN networks, when a station obtains channel resources through contention but only occupies a part of the bandwidth, other stations are unable to contend for the remaining resources, leading to waste of frequency resources.

Innovation Solution

A method where a first station sends a radio frame with instruction information to an access point, indicating whether to trigger uplink transmission, the size and position of bandwidth resources needed, and quality of service parameters, allowing the access point to allocate resources efficiently among stations.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Speed

If a station contends for channel resources and obtains a large bandwidth, then the station can achieve high transmission rate, but if the station only needs a part of the bandwidth, the remaining frequency resources cannot be contended by other stations, leading to resource waste

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvetransmission rateVSAvoidfrequency resource waste
Core Design Contradiction:
SpeedVSLoss of energy

Solution Approach 1:

The patent segments the bandwidth resources by introducing a bandwidth indication field in the trigger frame. The access point divides the contended channel bandwidth into multiple sub-channels and indicates which sub-channels are allocated to which stations. This allows the first station to use only the bandwidth it needs while other stations can contend for and use the remaining sub-channels, thus resolving the contradiction between achieving high transmission rate and avoiding frequency resource waste.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #1Segmentation

2Productivity

If the access point triggers uplink multi-station transmission, then network efficiency is improved, but the complexity of resource allocation and coordination increases

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvenetwork efficiencyVSAvoidresource allocation complexity
Core Design Contradiction:
ProductivityVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The patent applies preliminary action by having the access point send a trigger frame before the actual uplink transmission. This trigger frame contains pre-configured bandwidth allocation information, resource unit assignments, and transmission parameters for all participating stations. By performing the resource allocation and coordination in advance through the trigger frame, the access point enables efficient multi-station transmission while managing the complexity centrally before the data transmission phase, thus improving network efficiency without excessive operational complexity.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #10Preliminary action

Data Source

PatentEP3322242B1Method and device for transmission instruction, transmission triggering and transmission implementation for multi-station
Publication Date: 2021.03.17 ZTE CORP
  • EP3322242B1 patent drawingFigure 1~3
  • EP3322242B1 patent drawingFigure 4~6
  • EP3322242B1 patent drawingFigure 7~9

AI summary

A method and device for transmission instruction, transmission triggering and transmission implementation for multi-station. A first station sends a radio frame carrying instruction information on a competed channel with a bandwidth being a first bandwidth to an access point, and the instruction information being used for instructing the access point to trigger the first station, or, trigger the first station and one or more other stations to perform uplink transmission; the problem in the related art that, if some station obtains a certain channel resources in a contention manner and the station itself only occupies a part of the channel resources for transmission, since all the bandwidth resources obtained from the contention is already claimed by the station for occupation, and other stations are unable to compete for occupation, thereby the waste of frequency resources is caused, is solved, and further, the waste of the air interface resources during large bandwidth transmission is effectively avoided.