WO2024072379A1 - Enhanced unavailability mode for station devices unassociated to access points - Google Patents
Enhanced unavailability mode for station devices unassociated to access points Download PDFInfo
- Publication number
- WO2024072379A1 WO2024072379A1 PCT/US2022/044975 US2022044975W WO2024072379A1 WO 2024072379 A1 WO2024072379 A1 WO 2024072379A1 US 2022044975 W US2022044975 W US 2022044975W WO 2024072379 A1 WO2024072379 A1 WO 2024072379A1
- Authority
- WO
- WIPO (PCT)
- Prior art keywords
- frame
- communication link
- station device
- sta
- unavailable
- Prior art date
Links
- 238000004891 communication Methods 0.000 claims abstract description 223
- 238000000034 method Methods 0.000 claims abstract description 72
- 230000004044 response Effects 0.000 claims abstract description 56
- 230000011664 signaling Effects 0.000 claims abstract description 23
- 238000012545 processing Methods 0.000 claims description 80
- 238000003860 storage Methods 0.000 claims description 25
- 238000010586 diagram Methods 0.000 description 35
- 230000015654 memory Effects 0.000 description 27
- 230000008569 process Effects 0.000 description 24
- 230000005540 biological transmission Effects 0.000 description 22
- 230000006870 function Effects 0.000 description 17
- 230000001413 cellular effect Effects 0.000 description 10
- 238000007726 management method Methods 0.000 description 9
- 238000001228 spectrum Methods 0.000 description 9
- 238000006243 chemical reaction Methods 0.000 description 8
- 238000003491 array Methods 0.000 description 6
- 230000007246 mechanism Effects 0.000 description 6
- 230000007704 transition Effects 0.000 description 6
- OVGWMUWIRHGGJP-WTODYLRWSA-N (z)-7-[(1r,3s,4s,5r)-3-[(e,3r)-3-hydroxyoct-1-enyl]-6-thiabicyclo[3.1.1]heptan-4-yl]hept-5-enoic acid Chemical compound OC(=O)CCC\C=C/C[C@H]1[C@H](/C=C/[C@H](O)CCCCC)C[C@H]2S[C@@H]1C2 OVGWMUWIRHGGJP-WTODYLRWSA-N 0.000 description 5
- 101100366889 Caenorhabditis elegans sta-2 gene Proteins 0.000 description 5
- 239000000872 buffer Substances 0.000 description 5
- 238000004590 computer program Methods 0.000 description 5
- 230000005291 magnetic effect Effects 0.000 description 5
- 230000003068 static effect Effects 0.000 description 5
- 230000008901 benefit Effects 0.000 description 4
- 230000003287 optical effect Effects 0.000 description 4
- 101150081243 STA1 gene Proteins 0.000 description 3
- GVVPGTZRZFNKDS-JXMROGBWSA-N geranyl diphosphate Chemical compound CC(C)=CCC\C(C)=C\CO[P@](O)(=O)OP(O)(O)=O GVVPGTZRZFNKDS-JXMROGBWSA-N 0.000 description 3
- 238000012986 modification Methods 0.000 description 3
- 230000004048 modification Effects 0.000 description 3
- VYLDEYYOISNGST-UHFFFAOYSA-N bissulfosuccinimidyl suberate Chemical compound O=C1C(S(=O)(=O)O)CC(=O)N1OC(=O)CCCCCCC(=O)ON1C(=O)C(S(O)(=O)=O)CC1=O VYLDEYYOISNGST-UHFFFAOYSA-N 0.000 description 2
- 238000009826 distribution Methods 0.000 description 2
- 239000011521 glass Substances 0.000 description 2
- 230000005404 monopole Effects 0.000 description 2
- 239000000523 sample Substances 0.000 description 2
- 238000012546 transfer Methods 0.000 description 2
- -1 LTE Chemical compound 0.000 description 1
- 230000009471 action Effects 0.000 description 1
- 230000003321 amplification Effects 0.000 description 1
- 230000003190 augmentative effect Effects 0.000 description 1
- 230000009286 beneficial effect Effects 0.000 description 1
- 230000002457 bidirectional effect Effects 0.000 description 1
- 230000036772 blood pressure Effects 0.000 description 1
- 238000001816 cooling Methods 0.000 description 1
- 230000001419 dependent effect Effects 0.000 description 1
- 230000009977 dual effect Effects 0.000 description 1
- 230000005611 electricity Effects 0.000 description 1
- 230000007613 environmental effect Effects 0.000 description 1
- 239000000835 fiber Substances 0.000 description 1
- 238000001424 field-emission electron microscopy Methods 0.000 description 1
- 238000001914 filtration Methods 0.000 description 1
- 230000007274 generation of a signal involved in cell-cell signaling Effects 0.000 description 1
- 238000010438 heat treatment Methods 0.000 description 1
- 230000006872 improvement Effects 0.000 description 1
- 230000000977 initiatory effect Effects 0.000 description 1
- 230000003993 interaction Effects 0.000 description 1
- 230000007774 longterm Effects 0.000 description 1
- 238000004519 manufacturing process Methods 0.000 description 1
- 238000010295 mobile communication Methods 0.000 description 1
- 238000012544 monitoring process Methods 0.000 description 1
- 238000003199 nucleic acid amplification method Methods 0.000 description 1
- 239000013307 optical fiber Substances 0.000 description 1
- 229940102240 option 2 Drugs 0.000 description 1
- 230000008520 organization Effects 0.000 description 1
- 239000002245 particle Substances 0.000 description 1
- 230000002093 peripheral effect Effects 0.000 description 1
- 230000009467 reduction Effects 0.000 description 1
- 230000000284 resting effect Effects 0.000 description 1
- 239000004065 semiconductor Substances 0.000 description 1
- 230000007727 signaling mechanism Effects 0.000 description 1
- 230000002194 synthesizing effect Effects 0.000 description 1
- 230000001960 triggered effect Effects 0.000 description 1
Classifications
-
- H—ELECTRICITY
- H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
- H04W—WIRELESS COMMUNICATION NETWORKS
- H04W12/00—Security arrangements; Authentication; Protecting privacy or anonymity
- H04W12/06—Authentication
-
- H—ELECTRICITY
- H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
- H04W—WIRELESS COMMUNICATION NETWORKS
- H04W84/00—Network topologies
- H04W84/02—Hierarchically pre-organised networks, e.g. paging networks, cellular networks, WLAN [Wireless Local Area Network] or WLL [Wireless Local Loop]
- H04W84/10—Small scale networks; Flat hierarchical networks
- H04W84/12—WLAN [Wireless Local Area Networks]
-
- H—ELECTRICITY
- H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
- H04W—WIRELESS COMMUNICATION NETWORKS
- H04W88/00—Devices specially adapted for wireless communication networks, e.g. terminals, base stations or access point devices
- H04W88/08—Access point devices
Definitions
- This disclosure generally relates to systems and methods for wireless communications and, more particularly, to availability signaling for station devices unassociated to access points.
- Wireless devices are becoming widely prevalent and are increasingly requesting access to wireless channels.
- the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) is developing one or more standards that utilize Orthogonal Frequency-Division Multiple Access (OFDMA) in channel allocation.
- OFDMA Orthogonal Frequency-Division Multiple Access
- FIG. 1A is a network diagram illustrating an example network environment of multilink devices (MLDs), in accordance with one or more example embodiments of the present disclosure.
- MLDs multilink devices
- FIG. IB depicts an illustrative schematic diagram for MLD communications between two logical entities, in accordance with one or more example embodiments of the present disclosure.
- FIG. 1C depicts an illustrative schematic diagram for MLD communications between an access point (AP) MLD with logical entities and a non-AP MLD with logical entities, in accordance with one or more example embodiments of the present disclosure.
- AP access point
- FIG. 2 depicts a process for signaling station (STA) availability to an unassociated AP, in accordance with one or more example embodiments of the present disclosure.
- STA signaling station
- FIG. 3 depicts a process for signaling STA availability to an unassociated AP, in accordance with one or more example embodiments of the present disclosure.
- FIG. 4 illustrates a flow diagram of illustrative process for signaling STA availability to an unassociated AP, in accordance with one or more example embodiments of the present disclosure.
- FIG. 5 illustrates a functional diagram of an exemplary communication station that may be suitable for use as a user device, in accordance with one or more example embodiments of the present disclosure.
- FIG. 6 illustrates a block diagram of an example machine upon which any of one or more techniques (e.g., methods) may be performed, in accordance with one or more example embodiments of the present disclosure.
- FIG. 7 is a block diagram of a radio architecture in accordance with some examples.
- FIG. 8 illustrates an example front-end module circuitry for use in the radio architecture of FIG. 7, in accordance with one or more example embodiments of the present disclosure.
- FIG. 9 illustrates an example radio IC circuitry for use in the radio architecture of FIG. 7, in accordance with one or more example embodiments of the present disclosure.
- FIG. 10 illustrates an example baseband processing circuitry for use in the radio architecture of FIG. 7, in accordance with one or more example embodiments of the present disclosure.
- the IEEE 802.11 technical standards define Wi-Fi communications, including requests to authenticate and associate to an access point (AP).
- AP access point
- STA station device
- the STA may request to associate to a target AP.
- the 802. Hr standard introduced the concept of fast transition (FT), in which the initial handshake with the target AP is performed before the STA associates to the target AP (e.g., allowing for fast roaming).
- FT fast transition
- a multi-link device also referred to as a multi-link logical entity (MLLE)
- MLD multi-link logical entity
- STA station
- MAC medium access control
- SAP service access point
- LLC logical link control
- An AP MLD may refer to an access point (AP) device, where each STA affiliated with the STA MLD is an AP.
- a non-AP ML device maybe an A MLD, where each STA affiliated with the MLD is a non-AP STA.
- a MLD may be considered a logical/virtual entity with multiple STAs (e.g., AP STAs or non-AP STAs), and each STA concurrently may use separate communication links with corresponding STAs of another MLD. In this manner, a MLD may communicate over multiple communication links concurrently without having to drop one communication link to allow for establishing another communication link.
- Multi-link operation is an important 802.11be feature, which allows a device to communicate to another device using multiple links on different channels/bands.
- a device supporting multiple links is a MLD.
- MLDs may be associated to an AP with one link, and unassociated to an AP on another link.
- 802.11 currently does not provide for the MLD to use a power save mode on the link unassociated to an AP while the link associated to an AP is active, so the unassociated link has to remain active when associating to a target AP.
- a non-MLD STA may need to be inactive temporarily on a link used to communicate with a source AP to which the STA is associated in order to request association to a target AP, which may result in the STA not receiving transmissions from the source AP.
- Augmented reality (AR)/virtual reality (VR) applications for example, have strict deterministic and low-latency requirements. If most of their usages are expected to be with low to no mobility, the usage of AR with glasses has requirements for mobility. There is therefore necessarily a need for improvements to improve basic service set (BSS) transitions (e.g., transitions between neighbor APs in a deployed enterprise ESS) in terms of latency and packet losses.
- BSS basic service set
- the fastest BSS transition is obtained with the fast transition (FT) protocol, which has been defined especially for voice applications and achieved lower latencies by compressing the frame exchange by merging the four-way handshake with (re)authentication and (re)association frames.
- FT fast transition
- a MLD wants to reassociate with a target A-MLD, it may have to continue operating with the serving (e.g., source) A-MLD while initiating reassociation with the target A-MLD. If the MLD is a dual radio device, it could perform both in parallel. However, if the MLD is a single radio client or an enhanced multi-link single radio (eMLSR) client, it will have to multiplex availability with the serving AP and with the target AP.
- eMLSR enhanced multi-link single radio
- the non-AP STA of the MLD were to use power save mode and state to inform a serving AP that it is unavailable (e.g., while associating to a target AP on another link).
- the non-AP STA would have to be in active mode, as 802.11 has not defined a power save mode for unassociated STAs. That means that if that STA started the reassociation process with the target AP, it would have to perform the entire process (e.g., authentication request/response and association request/response frame exchanges) while being in active mode with the target AP, and therefore will not be available to interact with the serving AP.
- the serving A-MLD will therefore buffer data for the MLD during that unavailable time, and may not be able to ever transmit the buffered data to the MLD if the MLD then transitions to the new target AP, causing packet losses.
- MLDs would benefit from signaling unavailability to a target AP (e.g., to which the MLD is not yet associated) while remaining available to a source AP (e.g., to which the MLD is associated). However, it may be beneficial to avoid a long inactivity period of a MLD with the source AP while associating to the target AP.
- Example embodiments of the present disclosure relate to systems, methods, and devices for availability signaling for station devices unassociated to access points.
- an unassociated STA of a MLD would not have to always be in active mode on a link from the time the STA sends an authentication request frame to the target AP of an A-MLD until the time the STA will be associated to the target AP of the A- MLD.
- the unassociated STA of an MLD may be in a mode where the frames that are transmitted from the target AP of an A-MLD to the STA of the MLD will be buffered and transmitted to the unassociated STA only upon request or at specifically scheduled service periods.
- the unassociated STA of an MLD may be in an eMLSR mode, where the frames that are transmitted from the AP of an A-MLD to the STA of the MLD will be with an eMLSR sequence, so that there has to be an initial control frame (and its response) before being able to transmit the frame.
- the present disclosure introduces a mode of operation where an unassociated STA can send to an AP a request frame that triggers the transmission of a response frame, where the unassociated STA indicates that it will not be immediately available to receive the response after the acknowledgment sent by the AP in response to the request frame, but that the delivery of the response frame will be performed following the proposed mechanism: 1) The response frame will be buffered at the AP side (or A-MLD side if AP is affiliated with an A- MLD). 2) The delivery will be made upon request from the STA, by having the STA send an Unassociated STA Delivery Request frame addressed to the AP.
- This Unassociated STA Delivery Request frame may indicate to the AP that the STA is available for reception of a frame that is buffered for the STA. 3) As an immediate response to the Unassociated STA Delivery Request frame, the AP may send the buffered frame or frames to the STA. If there is more than one pending frame to be sent following the ongoing frame, the More Data bit field in the medium access control (MAC) header shall be set to 1 in the ongoing frame. If the AP needs some time to retrieve the frame in its buffers, it can send an acknowledgement frame in immediate response to the Unassociated STA Delivery Request frame, and it can then send the buffered frame as soon as possible.
- MAC medium access control
- the AP can indicate in the response frame sent in response to the Unassociated STA Delivery Request frame that the response frame is not yet available, (e.g., asking to come back later).
- the response frame to the Unassociated STA Delivery Request frame likely will not be an acknowledgement frame, but a new Enhanced acknowledgement frame or a new frame that allows for providing the additional information.
- This can also be a BlockAck (block acknowledgement) frame using reserved bits in order to provide the additional information.
- the AP can also provide an estimated time, or estimated duration before the time at which the frame will be available for delivery.
- the STA can also indicate in the Unassociated STA Delivery Request frame for how long the STA will be available after the end of the Unassociated STA Delivery Request frame. After that time, the STA will be considered as unavailable by the AP if the delivery did not occur. In that case, the AP will keep the buffered frame in its buffers and wait for the next Unassociated STA Delivery Request frame to be sent by the STA.
- the present disclosure may provide the signaling for the first indication in the Request frame to trigger this mechanism.
- the present disclosure may define a new one -bit field that will indicate that the STA will be unavailable immediately after the acknowledgement (Ack) sent in response to the frame.
- This bit can be a reserved bit in the MAC header, or another reserved bit can be used.
- the Power Management subfield which is reserved in all Management frames sent to an AP to which the STA is not associated. When this bit is set to 1, that means that the STA will be unavailable after the Ack, and if set to 0, that means that the STA will be available after the Ack. If more bits are available, they could be used to provide the time after which the STA will not be available.
- the present disclosure may define a new frame (e.g., an Unassociated STA Delivery Request frame) used to indicate that the STA will become unavailable, and will send this frame again with specific indication indicating that it is available.
- a new frame e.g., an Unassociated STA Delivery Request frame
- the unassociated STA will then send first the Request frame without added information (e.g., the Reauthentication Request frame), receive an Ack for it, and then transmit this new frame to indicate that it will now become unavailable and that it will send a frame when it will be back and available again to receive the response frame.
- That frame can then optionally indicate more information, such as a target time at which it is expected to come back and be available again.
- TWT target wake time
- 802.11 defines a TWT as a time when a device may wake up from a power save mode.
- the enhanced availability signaling mechanism may apply to any 802.11 management frame with a request and response, such as authentication request/response frames, (re)association request/response frames, probe request/response frames, multi-link (ML) probe request response frames, and the like.
- the present disclosure defines ways for an unassociated STA to be in an eMLSR mode, where the frames that are transmitted from the AP to the STA will be with an eMLSR sequence, meaning that there has to be an initial control frame (and its response) before being able to transmit the frame.
- the unassociated STA can enable the eMLSR mode with an AP affiliated with an A-MLD while being unassociated if the AP/A- MLD supports this mode.
- the unassociated STA would send a frame to enable the eMLSR mode with the AP.
- the EML Operating Mode Notification frame as currently used in 802.11 may be reused here for the associated case.
- a STA affiliated of the MLD shall transmit an EML Operating Mode Notification frame with the EMLSR Mode subfield of the EML Control field of the frame set to 1 to an AP of an A-MLD with dotllEHTUnassociatedEMLSROptionlmplemented equal to true, and to which the MLD is not associated.
- the eMLSR link bitmap shall be set to the linkID of the link on which the AP operates. Only one link can be used for eMLSR in unassociated mode, or may allow for more than one link. That frame can have a new field indicating that the eMLSR mode is for unassociated mode. Once this frame is acknowledged, the eMSLR unassociated mode would be activated. Alternatively (or in option 2 below), a response from the AP may be needed.
- the AP may follow the eMLSR protocol to transmit a frame to the STA.
- the AP may begin a transmission to the STA with an eMLSR initial control frame, which is defined to be an MU-RTS frame, or an BSRP trigger frame.
- MU-RTS frame shall be unicasted to the STA address (e.g., receiver address field set to the MAC address of the STA), and the association identifier (AID) field of the unique user info field in the MU-RTS (multi-user request to send) or buffer status poll report (BSPR) trigger frame would be set to a specific value defined in the spec to indicate that the addressed STA is identified by the RA (receiver address) field of the frame.
- AID association identifier
- BSPR buffer status poll report
- a temporary AID is assigned to the unassociated STA and the AID field in the user info field of the MU-RTS or BSPR trigger frame shall be set to this temporary AID value.
- a mechanism is needed for the AP to provide a temporary AID to the STA. This can be achieved by forcing that in response to the EML Operating Mode Notification frame from the STA, the AP would respond with an acknowledgement, and would then send an EML Operating Mode Notification frame to the STA including a new field called Temporary AID field, with the AID that the STA will use in order to be triggered by the AP.
- the 802.11 spatial multiplexing (SM) power save mode may be used instead of the eMLSR mode.
- SM power save may be enabled by a SM power save frame, which would need a new capability indication for supporting operating with SM power save as an unassociated STA.
- a MLD associated to an A-MLD may be able to operate with eMSLR with an associated A-MLD while having a STA of the MLD move to another channel to perform reassociation under the unassociated SM power save or unassociated eMLSR mode. This would allow each of the STAs of the MLD to be available (e.g., able to respond to the initial control frame) or unavailable (e.g., unable to respond to the initial control frame).
- FIG. 1A is a network diagram illustrating an example network environment 100 of MLDs, according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure.
- Wireless network 100 may include one or more user devices 120 and one or more access points(s) (AP) 102, which may communicate in accordance with IEEE 802.11 communication standards.
- the user device(s) 120 may be mobile devices that are non-stationary (e.g., not having fixed locations) or may be stationary devices.
- the user devices 120 and the AP 102 may include one or more computer systems similar to that of the functional diagram of FIG. 5 and/or the example machine/system of FIG. 6.
- One or more illustrative user device(s) 120 and/or AP(s) 102 may be operable by one or more user(s) 110. It should be noted that any addressable unit may be a station (STA). An STA may take on multiple distinct characteristics, each of which shape its function. For example, a single addressable unit might simultaneously be a portable STA, a quality-of- service (QoS) STA, a dependent STA, and a hidden STA. The one or more illustrative user device(s) 120 and the AP(s) 102 may be STAs.
- STA station
- An STA may take on multiple distinct characteristics, each of which shape its function. For example, a single addressable unit might simultaneously be a portable STA, a quality-of- service (QoS) STA, a dependent STA, and a hidden STA.
- QoS quality-of- service
- the one or more illustrative user device(s) 120 and/or AP(s) 102 may operate as a personal basic service set (PBSS) control point/access point (PCP/AP).
- PBSS personal basic service set
- PCP/AP control point/access point
- the user device(s) 120 (e.g., 124, 126, or 128) and/or AP(s) 102 may include any suitable processor-driven device including, but not limited to, a mobile device or a non-mobile, e.g., a static device.
- user device(s) 120 and/or AP(s) 102 may include, a user equipment (UE), a station (STA), an access point (AP), a software enabled AP (SoftAP), a personal computer (PC), a wearable wireless device (e.g., bracelet, watch, glasses, ring, etc.), a desktop computer, a mobile computer, a laptop computer, an ultrabookTM computer, a notebook computer, a tablet computer, a server computer, a handheld computer, a handheld device, an internet of things (loT) device, a sensor device, a PDA device, a handheld PDA device, an on-board device, an off-board device, a hybrid device (e.g., combining cellular phone functionalities with PDA device functionalities), a consumer device, a vehicular device, a non-vehicular device, a mobile or portable device, a non-mobile or non-portable device, a mobile phone, a cellular telephone, a PCS device, a PDA
- the term “Internet of Things (loT) device” is used to refer to any object (e.g., an appliance, a sensor, etc.) that has an addressable interface (e.g., an Internet protocol (IP) address, a Bluetooth identifier (ID), a near-field communication (NFC) ID, etc.) and can transmit information to one or more other devices over a wired or wireless connection.
- An loT device may have a passive communication interface, such as a quick response (QR) code, a radio-frequency identification (RFID) tag, an NFC tag, or the like, or an active communication interface, such as a modem, a transceiver, a transmitter-receiver, or the like.
- QR quick response
- RFID radio-frequency identification
- An loT device can have a particular set of attributes (e.g., a device state or status, such as whether the loT device is on or off, open or closed, idle or active, available for task execution or busy, and so on, a cooling or heating function, an environmental monitoring or recording function, a lightemitting function, a sound-emitting function, etc.) that can be embedded in and/or controlled/monitored by a central processing unit (CPU), microprocessor, ASIC, or the like, and configured for connection to an loT network such as a local ad-hoc network or the Internet.
- a device state or status such as whether the loT device is on or off, open or closed, idle or active, available for task execution or busy, and so on, a cooling or heating function, an environmental monitoring or recording function, a lightemitting function, a sound-emitting function, etc.
- loT devices may include, but are not limited to, refrigerators, toasters, ovens, micro waves, freezers, dishwashers, dishes, hand tools, clothes washers, clothes dryers, furnaces, air conditioners, thermostats, televisions, light fixtures, vacuum cleaners, sprinklers, electricity meters, gas meters, etc., so long as the devices are equipped with an addressable communications interface for communicating with the loT network.
- loT devices may also include cell phones, desktop computers, laptop computers, tablet computers, personal digital assistants (PDAs), etc.
- the loT network may be comprised of a combination of “legacy” Internet-accessible devices (e.g., laptop or desktop computers, cell phones, etc.) in addition to devices that do not typically have Internet-connectivity (e.g., dishwashers, etc.).
- “legacy” Internet-accessible devices e.g., laptop or desktop computers, cell phones, etc.
- devices that do not typically have Internet-connectivity e.g., dishwashers, etc.
- the user device(s) 120 and/or AP(s) 102 may also include mesh stations in, for example, a mesh network, in accordance with one or more IEEE 802.11 standards and/or 3 GPP standards.
- Any of the user device(s) 120 may be configured to communicate with each other via one or more communications networks 130 and/or 135 wirelessly or wired.
- the user device(s) 120 may also communicate peer-to-peer or directly with each other with or without the AP(s) 102.
- Any of the communications networks 130 and/or 135 may include, but not limited to, any one of a combination of different types of suitable communications networks such as, for example, broadcasting networks, cable networks, public networks (e.g., the Internet), private networks, wireless networks, cellular networks, or any other suitable private and/or public networks.
- any of the communications networks 130 and/or 135 may have any suitable communication range associated therewith and may include, for example, global networks (e.g., the Internet), metropolitan area networks (MANs), wide area networks (WANs), local area networks (LANs), or personal area networks (PANs).
- any of the communications networks 130 and/or 135 may include any type of medium over which network traffic may be carried including, but not limited to, coaxial cable, twisted-pair wire, optical fiber, a hybrid fiber coaxial (HFC) medium, microwave terrestrial transceivers, radio frequency communication mediums, white space communication mediums, ultra-high frequency communication mediums, satellite communication mediums, or any combination thereof.
- coaxial cable twisted-pair wire
- optical fiber a hybrid fiber coaxial (HFC) medium
- microwave terrestrial transceivers microwave terrestrial transceivers
- radio frequency communication mediums white space communication mediums
- ultra-high frequency communication mediums satellite communication mediums, or any combination thereof.
- Any of the user device(s) 120 (e.g., user devices 124, 126, 128) and AP(s) 102 may include one or more communications antennas.
- the one or more communications antennas may be any suitable type of antennas corresponding to the communications protocols used by the user device(s) 120 (e.g., user devices 124, 126 and 128), and AP(s) 102.
- suitable communications antennas include Wi-Fi antennas, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 family of standards compatible antennas, directional antennas, non-directional antennas, dipole antennas, folded dipole antennas, patch antennas, multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) antennas, omnidirectional antennas, quasi- omnidirectional antennas, or the like.
- the one or more communications antennas may be communicatively coupled to a radio component to transmit and/or receive signals, such as communications signals to and/or from the user devices 120 and/or AP(s) 102.
- Any of the user device(s) 120 may be configured to perform directional transmission and/or directional reception in conjunction with wirelessly communicating in a wireless network.
- Any of the user device(s) 120 e.g., user devices 124, 126, 128), and AP(s) 102 may be configured to perform such directional transmission and/or reception using a set of multiple antenna arrays (e.g., DMG antenna arrays or the like). Each of the multiple antenna arrays may be used for transmission and/or reception in a particular respective direction or range of directions.
- Any of the user device(s) 120 (e.g., user devices 124, 126, 128), and AP(s) 102 may be configured to perform any given directional transmission towards one or more defined transmit sectors. Any of the user device(s) 120 (e.g., user devices 124, 126, 128), and AP(s) 102 may be configured to perform any given directional reception from one or more defined receive sectors.
- MIMO beamforming in a wireless network may be accomplished using RF beamforming and/or digital beamforming.
- user devices 120 and/or AP(s) 102 may be configured to use all or a subset of its one or more communications antennas to perform MIMO beamforming.
- any of the user devices 120 may include any suitable radio and/or transceiver for transmitting and/or receiving radio frequency (RF) signals in the bandwidth and/or channels corresponding to the communications protocols utilized by any of the user device(s) 120 and AP(s) 102 to communicate with each other.
- the radio components may include hardware and/or software to modulate and/or demodulate communications signals according to pre-established transmission protocols.
- the radio components may further have hardware and/or software instructions to communicate via one or more Wi-Fi and/or Wi-Fi direct protocols, as standardized by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 standards.
- the radio component in cooperation with the communications antennas, may be configured to communicate via 2.4 GHz channels (e.g. 802.11b, 802.11g, 802.1 In, 802.1 lax), 5 GHz channels (e.g. 802.11n, 802.11ac, 802.11ax), or 60 GHZ channels (e.g. 802.11ad, 802.11ay). 800 MHz channels (e.g. 802.1 lah).
- the communications antennas may operate at 28 GHz and 40 GHz. It should be understood that this list of communication channels in accordance with certain 802.11 standards is only a partial list and that other 802.11 standards may be used (e.g., Next Generation Wi-Fi, or other standards).
- non-Wi-Fi protocols may be used for communications between devices, such as Bluetooth, dedicated short-range communication (DSRC), Ultra- High Frequency (UHF) (e.g. IEEE 802.11af, IEEE 802.22), white band frequency (e.g., white spaces), or other packetized radio communications.
- the radio component may include any known receiver and baseband suitable for communicating via the communications protocols.
- the radio component may further include a low noise amplifier (LNA), additional signal amplifiers, an analog-to-digital (A/D) converter, one or more buffers, and digital baseband.
- LNA low noise amplifier
- A/D analog-to-digital
- AP 102 may be considered an A MLD 138 logical/virtual entity with multiple AP STAs (e.g., AP 1 and AP 2), and a user device of the user devices 120 may be considered a MLD 140 logical/virtual entity with multiple non-AP STAs (e.g., non-AP STA 1 and non-AP STA 2).
- a first link 142 may be established between the AP 1 and the non-AP STA 1
- a second link 144 may be established between the AP 2 and the non-AP STA 2.
- Both the first link 142 and the second link 144 may be used simultaneously (e.g., the AP 102 and/or the user device 120 do not need to drop one of the links to use the other link).
- One or more frames 146 may be sent across the first link 142, and one or more frames 147 may be sent across the second link 144.
- the AP(s) 102 may represent multiple multi-link sets (e.g., as shown in FIGs. IB and 1C), with the multilink sets being in communication with a controller.
- the non-AP STA 1 may be associated to the AP 1 using the first link 142 while the non-AP STA 2 may be unassociated to the AP 2.
- the frames 147 may be authentication request frames, unassociated STA availability frames, association request frames, acknowledgment frames, and/or other frames that may indicate to the AP 2 as a target AP when the non-AP STA 2 will and will not be available on the first link 142.
- the frames 146 may be acknowledgement frames, authentication response frames, and association response frames, sent based on the signaled non-AP STA 2 availability (e.g., signaled by the frames 147).
- FIG. IB depicts an illustrative schematic diagram for MLD communications 150 between two logical entities, in accordance with one or more example embodiments of the present disclosure.
- MLD 151 may include multiple STAs (e.g., STA 152, STA 154, STA 156, etc.), and MLD 160 may include multiple STAs (e.g., STA 162, STA 164, STA 166, etc.).
- the STAs of the MLD 151 and the STAs of the MLD 160 may set up links with each other (e.g., link 167 for a first frequency band used by the STA 152 and the STA 162, link 168 for a second frequency band used by the STA 154 and the STA 164, link 169 for a second frequency band used by the STA 156 and the STA 166).
- the two MLDs may be two separate physical devices, where each one comprises a number of virtual or logical devices (e.g., the STAs).
- FIG. 1C depicts an illustrative schematic diagram for MLD communications 170 between an AP MLD with logical entities and a non-AP MLD with logical entities, in accordance with one or more example embodiments of the present disclosure.
- MLD 172 may be an A-MLD with logical APs (e.g., AP 174, AP 176, and AP 178) on one side
- MLD 180 may be a non-AP MLD including non-AP logical entities (non-AP STA 182, non-AP STA 184, and non-AP STA 186) on the other side.
- MLLE and MLD are interchangeable and indicate the same type of entity. Throughout this disclosure, MLLE may be used but anywhere the MLLE term is used, it can be replaced with MLD.
- Multi-link non-AP logical entity (non-AP MLLE, also can be referred to as non-AP MLD): A multi-link logical entity, where each STA within the multilink logical entity is a non-AP EHT STA. It should be noted that this framework is a natural extension from the one link operation between two STAs, which are AP and non-AP STA under the infrastructure framework (e.g., when an AP is used as a medium for communication between STAs).
- the MLD 172 and the MLD 180 may be two separate physical devices, where each one comprises a number of virtual or logical devices.
- the multi-link AP logical entity may comprise three APs, AP 174 operating on 2.4 GHz (e.g., link 188), AP 176 operating on 5 GHz (e.g., link 190), and AP 178 operating on 6 GHz (e.g., link 192).
- the multi-link non-AP logical entity may comprise three non- AP STAs, non-AP STA 182 communicating with AP 174 on link 188, non-AP STA 184 communicating with AP 176 on link 190, and non-AP STA 186 communicating with AP 178 on link 192.
- the MLD 172 is shown in FIG. 1C to have access to a distribution system (DS), which is a system used to interconnect a set of BSSs to create an extended service set (ESS).
- DS distribution system
- ESS extended service set
- the MLD 172 is also shown in FIG. 1C to have access a distribution system medium (DSM), which is the medium used by a DS for BSS interconnections.
- DSM distribution system medium
- FIG. 2 depicts a process 200 for signaling station (STA) availability to an unassociated AP, in accordance with one or more example embodiments of the present disclosure.
- STA signaling station
- a STA 202 may communicate with an AP 204 (e.g., an A-MLD or non-MLD).
- the STA 202 may generate and send an 802.11 authentication request frame 206 to the AP 204 (e.g., the STA 202 may be unauthenticated and unassociated to the AP 204 even if the STA 202 is part of a MLD that is associated to another AP on a different link as described with respect to FIG. 1A).
- the AP 204 may send an Ack 208 (e.g., when the Ack 208 is not received, the STA 202 may repeat the 802.11 authentication request frame 206).
- the STA 202 may generate and send an unassociated STA availability frame 210 to indicate to the AP 204 that the STA 202 will be unavailable on the link with which the STA 202 sent the 802.11 authentication request frame 206. Then, the STA 202 may be unavailable for a time 214, during which the AP 204 may refrain 216 from transmitting to the STA 202 until the STA 202 returns to the link and indicates that it is available again.
- the STA 202 may generate and send an unassociated STA availability frame 218 to indicate that the STA 202 is available again on the link.
- the AP 204 may respond by sending an Ack 220, then may respond to the 802.11 authentication request frame 206 by generating and sending an 802.11 authentication response frame 222 to confirm that the STA 202 has been authenticated to the AP 204.
- the STA 202 may respond by sending an Ack 224.
- the STA 202 may generate and send an unassociated STA availability frame 226 to indicate that it will be unavailable.
- the AP 204 may respond with an Ack 228, after which the STA 202 will be unavailable to the AP 204 on the link until the STA 202 returns and signals that it is again available.
- FIG. 4 illustrates a flow diagram of illustrative process 400 for signaling STA availability to an unassociated AP, in accordance with one or more example embodiments of the present disclosure.
- a station device (e.g., the user devices 120 of FIG. 1A, the MLD 151 of FIG. IB, the MLD 180 of FIG. 1C, the STA 202 of FIG. 2 and FIG. 3, the enhanced signaling device 619) may generate a first frame indicating that the station device may be unavailable on a communication link (e.g., because the station device may be active on another communication link with another AP to which the station device may be associated).
- the first frame may be an unassociated STA availability frame, an 802.11 authentication request frame, or another 802.11 management frame.
- the station device may transmit the first frame on the communication link (e.g., the second link 144 of FIG. 1A) to the AP, which may respond with an Ack, then the station device may leave the communication link and be unavailable on the communication link for a time.
- the communication link e.g., the second link 144 of FIG. 1A
- the station device may generate a second frame indicating that the station device is available on the communication link again.
- the second frame may be an unassociated STA availability frame, an 802.11 authentication request frame, and 802.11 association request frame, or another 802.11 management frame.
- the station device may transmit the second frame on the communication link to the AP after transmitting the first frame and being unavailable for a time on the communication link. In this manner, the station device may be signaling its return to the communication link.
- the station device may identify an 802.11 authentication response received from the AP after transmitting the second frame.
- the station device may transmit an 802.11 authentication request frame prior to the first frame, in which case the first frame may indicate to the AP not to respond to the 802.11 authentication request frame until after the station device indicates that it has returned to the communication link.
- FIG. 5 shows a functional diagram of an exemplary communication station 500, in accordance with one or more example embodiments of the present disclosure.
- FIG. 5 illustrates a functional block diagram of a communication station that may be suitable for use as an AP 102 (FIG. 1A) or a user device 120 (FIG. 1A) in accordance with some embodiments.
- the communication station 500 may also be suitable for use as a handheld device, a mobile device, a cellular telephone, a smartphone, a tablet, a netbook, a wireless terminal, a laptop computer, a wearable computer device, a femtocell, a high data rate (HDR) subscriber station, an access point, an access terminal, or other personal communication system (PCS) device.
- HDR high data rate
- the communication station 500 may include communications circuitry 502 and a transceiver 510 for transmitting and receiving signals to and from other communication stations using one or more antennas 501.
- the communications circuitry 502 may include circuitry that can operate the physical layer (PHY) communications and/or medium access control (MAC) communications for controlling access to the wireless medium, and/or any other communications layers for transmitting and receiving signals.
- the communication station 500 may also include processing circuitry 506 and memory 508 arranged to perform the operations described herein. In some embodiments, the communications circuitry 502 and the processing circuitry 506 may be configured to perform operations detailed in the above figures, diagrams, and flows.
- the communications circuitry 502 may be arranged to contend for a wireless medium and configure frames or packets for communicating over the wireless medium.
- the communications circuitry 502 may be arranged to transmit and receive signals.
- the communications circuitry 502 may also include circuitry for modulation/demodulation, upconversion/downconversion, filtering, amplification, etc.
- the processing circuitry 506 of the communication station 500 may include one or more processors.
- two or more antennas 501 may be coupled to the communications circuitry 502 arranged for sending and receiving signals.
- the memory 508 may store information for configuring the processing circuitry 506 to perform operations for configuring and transmitting message frames and performing the various operations described herein.
- the memory 508 may include any type of memory, including non-transitory memory, for storing information in a form readable by a machine (e.g., a computer).
- the memory 508 may include a computer-readable storage device, read-only memory (ROM), random-access memory (RAM), magnetic disk storage media, optical storage media, flash-memory devices and other storage devices and media.
- the communication station 500 may be part of a portable wireless communication device, such as a personal digital assistant (PDA), a laptop or portable computer with wireless communication capability, a web tablet, a wireless telephone, a smartphone, a wireless headset, a pager, an instant messaging device, a digital camera, an access point, a television, a medical device (e.g., a heart rate monitor, a blood pressure monitor, etc.), a wearable computer device, or another device that may receive and/or transmit information wirelessly.
- PDA personal digital assistant
- laptop or portable computer with wireless communication capability such as a personal digital assistant (PDA), a laptop or portable computer with wireless communication capability, a web tablet, a wireless telephone, a smartphone, a wireless headset, a pager, an instant messaging device, a digital camera, an access point, a television, a medical device (e.g., a heart rate monitor, a blood pressure monitor, etc.), a wearable computer device, or another device that may receive and/or transmit information wirelessly.
- the communication station 500 may include one or more antennas 501.
- the antennas 501 may include one or more directional or omnidirectional antennas, including, for example, dipole antennas, monopole antennas, patch antennas, loop antennas, microstrip antennas, or other types of antennas suitable for transmission of RF signals.
- a single antenna with multiple apertures may be used instead of two or more antennas.
- each aperture may be considered a separate antenna.
- MIMO multiple-input multiple-output
- the antennas may be effectively separated for spatial diversity and the different channel characteristics that may result between each of the antennas and the antennas of a transmitting station.
- the communication station 500 may include one or more of a keyboard, a display, a non-volatile memory port, multiple antennas, a graphics processor, an application processor, speakers, and other mobile device elements.
- the display may be an LCD screen including a touch screen.
- the communication station 500 is illustrated as having several separate functional elements, two or more of the functional elements may be combined and may be implemented by combinations of software-configured elements, such as processing elements including digital signal processors (DSPs), and/or other hardware elements.
- processing elements including digital signal processors (DSPs), and/or other hardware elements.
- DSPs digital signal processors
- some elements may include one or more microprocessors, DSPs, field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), application specific integrated circuits (ASICs), radio-frequency integrated circuits (RFICs) and combinations of various hardware and logic circuitry for performing at least the functions described herein.
- the functional elements of the communication station 500 may refer to one or more processes operating on one or more processing elements.
- Certain embodiments may be implemented in one or a combination of hardware, firmware, and software. Other embodiments may also be implemented as instructions stored on a computer-readable storage device, which may be read and executed by at least one processor to perform the operations described herein.
- a computer-readable storage device may include any non-transitory memory mechanism for storing information in a form readable by a machine (e.g., a computer).
- a computer-readable storage device may include read-only memory (ROM), random-access memory (RAM), magnetic disk storage media, optical storage media, flash-memory devices, and other storage devices and media.
- the communication station 500 may include one or more processors and may be configured with instructions stored on a computer-readable storage device.
- FIG. 6 illustrates a block diagram of an example of a machine 600 or system upon which any one or more of the techniques (e.g., methodologies) discussed herein may be performed.
- the machine 600 may operate as a standalone device or may be connected (e.g., networked) to other machines.
- the machine 600 may operate in the capacity of a server machine, a client machine, or both in server-client network environments.
- the machine 600 may act as a peer machine in peer-to-peer (P2P) (or other distributed) network environments.
- P2P peer-to-peer
- the machine 600 may be a personal computer (PC), a tablet PC, a set-top box (STB), a personal digital assistant (PDA), a mobile telephone, a wearable computer device, a web appliance, a network router, a switch or bridge, or any machine capable of executing instructions (sequential or otherwise) that specify actions to be taken by that machine, such as a base station.
- PC personal computer
- PDA personal digital assistant
- STB set-top box
- mobile telephone a wearable computer device
- web appliance e.g., a web appliance
- network router e.g., a router, or bridge
- switch or bridge any machine capable of executing instructions (sequential or otherwise) that specify actions to be taken by that machine, such as a base station.
- machine shall also be taken to include any collection of machines that individually or jointly execute a set (or multiple sets) of instructions to perform any one or more of the methodologies discussed herein, such as cloud computing, software as a service (SaaS), or other computer
- Examples, as described herein, may include or may operate on logic or a number of components, modules, or mechanisms.
- Modules are tangible entities (e.g., hardware) capable of performing specified operations when operating.
- a module includes hardware.
- the hardware may be specifically configured to carry out a specific operation (e.g., hardwired).
- the hardware may include configurable execution units (e.g., transistors, circuits, etc.) and a computer readable medium containing instructions where the instructions configure the execution units to carry out a specific operation when in operation. The configuring may occur under the direction of the executions units or a loading mechanism. Accordingly, the execution units are communicatively coupled to the computer-readable medium when the device is operating.
- the execution units may be a member of more than one module.
- the execution units may be configured by a first set of instructions to implement a first module at one point in time and reconfigured by a second set of instructions to implement a second module at a second point in time.
- the machine 600 may include a hardware processor 602 (e.g., a central processing unit (CPU), a graphics processing unit (GPU), a hardware processor core, or any combination thereof), a main memory 604 and a static memory 606, some or all of which may communicate with each other via an interlink (e.g., bus) 608.
- the machine 600 may further include a power management device 632, a graphics display device 610, an alphanumeric input device 612 (e.g., a keyboard), and a user interface (UI) navigation device 614 (e.g., a mouse).
- the graphics display device 610, alphanumeric input device 612, and UI navigation device 614 may be a touch screen display.
- the machine 600 may additionally include a storage device (i.e., drive unit) 616, a signal generation device 618 (e.g., a speaker), one or more enhanced signaling device 619, a network interface device/transceiver 620 coupled to antenna(s) 630, and one or more sensors 628, such as a global positioning system (GPS) sensor, a compass, an accelerometer, or other sensor.
- a storage device i.e., drive unit
- a signal generation device 618 e.g., a speaker
- one or more enhanced signaling device 619 e.g., a network interface device/transceiver 620 coupled to antenna(s) 630
- sensors 628 such as a global positioning system (GPS) sensor, a compass, an accelerometer, or other sensor.
- GPS global positioning system
- the machine 600 may include an output controller 634, such as a serial (e.g., universal serial bus (USB), parallel, or other wired or wireless (e.g., infrared (IR), near field communication (NFC), etc.) connection to communicate with or control one or more peripheral devices (e.g., a printer, a card reader, etc.)).
- a serial e.g., universal serial bus (USB), parallel, or other wired or wireless (e.g., infrared (IR), near field communication (NFC), etc.) connection to communicate with or control one or more peripheral devices (e.g., a printer, a card reader, etc.)).
- IR infrared
- NFC near field communication
- peripheral devices e.g., a printer, a card reader, etc.
- the operations in accordance with one or more example embodiments of the present disclosure may be carried out by a baseband processor.
- the baseband processor may be configured to generate corresponding baseband signals.
- the baseband processor may further include physical layer (PHY) and medium access control layer (MAC) circuitry, and may further interface with the hardware processor 602 for generation and processing of the baseband signals and for controlling operations of the main memory 604, the storage device 616, and/or the one or more enhanced signaling devices 619.
- the baseband processor may be provided on a single radio card, a single chip, or an integrated circuit (IC).
- the storage device 616 may include a machine readable medium 622 on which is stored one or more sets of data structures or instructions 624 (e.g., software) embodying or utilized by any one or more of the techniques or fimctions described herein.
- the instructions 624 may also reside, completely or at least partially, within the main memory 604, within the static memory 606, or within the hardware processor 602 during execution thereof by the machine 600.
- one or any combination of the hardware processor 602, the main memory 604, the static memory 606, or the storage device 616 may constitute machine-readable media.
- the one or more enhanced signaling devices 619 may carry out or perform any of the operations and processes (e.g., process 200, process 300, process 400) described and shown above.
- machine-readable medium 622 is illustrated as a single medium, the term “machine-readable medium” may include a single medium or multiple media (e.g., a centralized or distributed database, and/or associated caches and servers) configured to store the one or more instructions 624.
- machine-readable medium may include a single medium or multiple media (e.g., a centralized or distributed database, and/or associated caches and servers) configured to store the one or more instructions 624.
- Various embodiments may be implemented fully or partially in software and/or firmware.
- This software and/or firmware may take the form of instructions contained in or on a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium. Those instructions may then be read and executed by one or more processors to enable performance of the operations described herein.
- the instructions may be in any suitable form, such as but not limited to source code, compiled code, interpreted code, executable code, static code, dynamic code, and the like.
- Such a computer-readable medium may include any tangible non-transitory medium for storing information in a form readable by one or more computers, such as but not limited to read only memory (ROM); random access memory (RAM); magnetic disk storage media; optical storage media; a flash memory, etc.
- machine-readable medium may include any medium that is capable of storing, encoding, or carrying instructions for execution by the machine 600 and that cause the machine 600 to perform any one or more of the techniques of the present disclosure, or that is capable of storing, encoding, or carrying data structures used by or associated with such instructions.
- Non- limiting machine-readable medium examples may include solid-state memories and optical and magnetic media.
- a massed machine-readable medium includes a machine -readable medium with a plurality of particles having resting mass.
- massed machine -readable media may include non-volatile memory, such as semiconductor memory devices (e.g., electrically programmable read-only memory (EPROM), or electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM)) and flash memory devices; magnetic disks, such as internal hard disks and removable disks; magneto-optical disks; and CD-ROM and DVD- ROM disks.
- the instructions 624 may further be transmitted or received over a communications network 626 using a transmission medium via the network interface device/transceiver 620 utilizing any one of a number of transfer protocols (e.g., frame relay, internet protocol (IP), transmission control protocol (TCP), user datagram protocol (UDP), hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP), etc.).
- transfer protocols e.g., frame relay, internet protocol (IP), transmission control protocol (TCP), user datagram protocol (UDP), hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP), etc.
- Example communications networks may include a local area network (LAN), a wide area network (WAN), a packet data network (e.g., the Internet), mobile telephone networks (e.g., cellular networks), plain old telephone (POTS) networks, wireless data networks (e.g., Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 family of standards known as Wi-Fi®, IEEE 802.16 family of standards known as WiMax®), IEEE 802.15.4 family of standards, and peer-to-peer (P2P) networks, among others.
- the network interface device/transceiver ZZ20 may include one or more physical jacks (e.g., Ethernet, coaxial, or phone jacks) or one or more antennas to connect to the communications network 626.
- the network interface device/transceiver 620 may include a plurality of antennas to wirelessly communicate using at least one of single-input multipleoutput (SIMO), multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO), or multiple-input single-output (MISO) techniques.
- SIMO single-input multipleoutput
- MIMO multiple-input multiple-output
- MISO multiple-input single-output
- transmission medium shall be taken to include any intangible medium that is capable of storing, encoding, or carrying instructions for execution by the machine 600 and includes digital or analog communications signals or other intangible media to facilitate communication of such software.
- FIG. 7 is a block diagram of a radio architecture 105A, 105B in accordance with some embodiments that may be implemented in any one of the example APs 102 and/or the example STAs 120 of FIG. 1A.
- Radio architecture 105A, 105B may include radio front-end module (FEM) circuitry 704a-b, radio IC circuitry 706a-b and baseband processing circuitry 708a-b.
- FEM radio front-end module
- Radio architecture 105 A, 105B as shown includes both Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) functionality and Bluetooth (BT) functionality although embodiments are not so limited.
- WLAN Wireless Local Area Network
- BT Bluetooth
- the FEM circuitry 704a-b may include a WLAN or Wi-Fi FEM circuitry 704a and a Bluetooth (BT) FEM circuitry 704b.
- the WLAN FEM circuitry 704a may include a receive signal path comprising circuitry configured to operate on WLAN RF signals received from one or more antennas 701, to amplify the received signals and to provide the amplified versions of the received signals to the WLAN radio IC circuitry 706a for further processing.
- the BT FEM circuitry 704b may include a receive signal path which may include circuitry configured to operate on BT RF signals received from one or more antennas 701, to amplify the received signals and to provide the amplified versions of the received signals to the BT radio IC circuitry 706b for further processing.
- FEM circuitry 704a may also include a transmit signal path which may include circuitry configured to amplify WLAN signals provided by the radio IC circuitry 706a for wireless transmission by one or more of the antennas 701.
- FEM circuitry 704b may also include a transmit signal path which may include circuitry configured to amplify BT signals provided by the radio IC circuitry 706b for wireless transmission by the one or more antennas.
- FIG. 1 In the embodiment of FIG.
- FEM 704a and FEM 704b are shown as being distinct from one another, embodiments are not so limited, and include within their scope the use of an FEM (not shown) that includes a transmit path and/or a receive path for both WLAN and BT signals, or the use of one or more FEM circuitries where at least some of the FEM circuitries share transmit and/or receive signal paths for both WLAN and BT signals.
- Radio IC circuitry 706a-b as shown may include WLAN radio IC circuitry 706a and BT radio IC circuitry 706b.
- the WLAN radio IC circuitry 706a may include a receive signal path which may include circuitry to down-convert WLAN RF signals received from the FEM circuitry 704a and provide baseband signals to WLAN baseband processing circuitry 708a.
- BT radio IC circuitry 706b may in turn include a receive signal path which may include circuitry to down-convert BT RF signals received from the FEM circuitry 704b and provide baseband signals to BT baseband processing circuitry 708b.
- WLAN radio IC circuitry 706a may also include a transmit signal path which may include circuitry to up-convert WLAN baseband signals provided by the WLAN baseband processing circuitry 708a and provide WLAN RF output signals to the FEM circuitry 704a for subsequent wireless transmission by the one or more antennas 701.
- BT radio IC circuitry 706b may also include a transmit signal path which may include circuitry to up-convert BT baseband signals provided by the BT baseband processing circuitry 708b and provide BT RF output signals to the FEM circuitry 704b for subsequent wireless transmission by the one or more antennas 701.
- radio IC circuitries 706a and 706b are shown as being distinct from one another, embodiments are not so limited, and include within their scope the use of a radio IC circuitry (not shown) that includes a transmit signal path and/or a receive signal path for both WLAN and BT signals, or the use of one or more radio IC circuitries where at least some of the radio IC circuitries share transmit and/or receive signal paths for both WLAN and BT signals.
- Baseband processing circuity 708a-b may include a WLAN baseband processing circuitry 708a and a BT baseband processing circuitry 708b.
- the WLAN baseband processing circuitry 708a may include a memory, such as, for example, a set of RAM arrays in a Fast Fourier Transform or Inverse Fast Fourier Transform block (not shown) of the WLAN baseband processing circuitry 708a.
- Each of the WLAN baseband circuitry 708a and the BT baseband circuitry 708b may further include one or more processors and control logic to process the signals received from the corresponding WLAN or BT receive signal path of the radio IC circuitry 706a-b, and to also generate corresponding WLAN or BT baseband signals for the transmit signal path of the radio IC circuitry 706a-b.
- Each of the baseband processing circuitries 708a and 708b may further include physical layer (PHY) and medium access control layer (MAC) circuitry, and may further interface with a device for generation and processing of the baseband signals and for controlling operations of the radio IC circuitry 706a-b.
- PHY physical layer
- MAC medium access control layer
- WLAN-BT coexistence circuitry 713 may include logic providing an interface between the WLAN baseband circuitry 708a and the BT baseband circuitry 708b to enable use cases requiring WLAN and BT coexistence.
- a switch 703 may be provided between the WLAN FEM circuitry 704a and the BT FEM circuitry 704b to allow switching between the WLAN and BT radios according to application needs.
- antennas 701 are depicted as being respectively connected to the WLAN FEM circuitry 704a and the BT FEM circuitry 704b, embodiments include within their scope the sharing of one or more antennas as between the WLAN and BT FEMs, or the provision of more than one antenna connected to each of FEM 704a or 704b.
- the front-end module circuitry 704a-b, the radio IC circuitry 706a-b, and baseband processing circuitry 708a-b may be provided on a single radio card, such as wireless radio card 702.
- the one or more antennas 701, the FEM circuitry 704a-b and the radio IC circuitry 706a-b may be provided on a single radio card.
- the radio IC circuitry 706a-b and the baseband processing circuitry 708a-b may be provided on a single chip or integrated circuit (IC), such as IC 712.
- the wireless radio card 702 may include a WLAN radio card and may be configured for Wi-Fi communications, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect.
- the radio architecture 105A, 105B may be configured to receive and transmit orthogonal frequency division multiplexed (OFDM) or orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) communication signals over a multicarrier communication channel.
- OFDM orthogonal frequency division multiplexed
- OFDMA orthogonal frequency division multiple access
- radio architecture 105A, 105B may be part of a Wi-Fi communication station (STA) such as a wireless access point (AP), a base station or a mobile device including a Wi-Fi device.
- STA Wi-Fi communication station
- AP wireless access point
- radio architecture 105A, 105B may be configured to transmit and receive signals in accordance with specific communication standards and/or protocols, such as any of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) standards including, 802.11n-2009, IEEE 802.11-2012, IEEE 802.11-2016, 802.11n-2009, 802.11ac, 802.11ah, 802.11ad, 802.11ay and/or 802.11ax standards and/or proposed specifications for WLANs, although the scope of embodiments is not limited in this respect.
- Radio architecture 105 A, 105B may also be suitable to transmit and/or receive communications in accordance with other techniques and standards.
- the radio architecture 105A, 105B may be configured for high- efficiency Wi-Fi (HEW) communications in accordance with the IEEE 802.1 lax standard.
- the radio architecture 105A, 105B may be configured to communicate in accordance with an OFDMA technique, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect.
- the radio architecture 105A, 105B may be configured to transmit and receive signals transmitted using one or more other modulation techniques such as spread spectrum modulation (e.g., direct sequence code division multiple access (DS- CDMA) and/or frequency hopping code division multiple access (FH-CDMA)), time-division multiplexing (TDM) modulation, and/or frequency-division multiplexing (FDM) modulation, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect.
- spread spectrum modulation e.g., direct sequence code division multiple access (DS- CDMA) and/or frequency hopping code division multiple access (FH-CDMA)
- TDM time-division multiplexing
- FDM frequency-division multiplexing
- the BT baseband circuitry 708b may be compliant with a Bluetooth (BT) connectivity standard such as Bluetooth, Bluetooth 8.0 or Bluetooth 6.0, or any other iteration of the Bluetooth Standard.
- BT Bluetooth
- the radio architecture 105A, 105B may include other radio cards, such as a cellular radio card configured for cellular (e.g., 5 GPP such as LTE, LTE- Advanced or 7G communications).
- a cellular radio card configured for cellular (e.g., 5 GPP such as LTE, LTE- Advanced or 7G communications).
- the radio architecture 105 A, 105B may be configured for communication over various channel bandwidths including bandwidths having center frequencies of about 900 MHz, 2.4 GHz, 5 GHz, and bandwidths of about 2 MHz, 4 MHz, 5 MHz, 5.5 MHz, 6 MHz, 8 MHz, 10 MHz, 20 MHz, 40 MHz, 80 MHz (with contiguous bandwidths) or 80+80 MHz (160MHz) (with non-contiguous bandwidths).
- a 920 MHz channel bandwidth may be used. The scope of the embodiments is not limited with respect to the above center frequencies however.
- FIG. 8 illustrates WLAN FEM circuitry 804a in accordance with some embodiments. Although the example of FIG. 8 is described in conjunction with the WLAN FEM circuitry 804a, the example of FIG. 8 may be described in conjunction with the example BT FEM circuitry 704b (FIG. 7), although other circuitry configurations may also be suitable.
- the FEM circuitry 704a may include a TX/RX switch 802 to switch between transmit mode and receive mode operation.
- the FEM circuitry 704a may include a receive signal path and a transmit signal path.
- the receive signal path of the FEM circuitry 704a may include a low-noise amplifier (LNA) 806 to amplify received RF signals 803 and provide the amplified received RF signals 807 as an output (e.g., to the radio IC circuitry 706a-b (FIG. 7)).
- LNA low-noise amplifier
- the transmit signal path of the circuitry 704a may include a power amplifier (PA) to amplify input RF signals 809 (e.g., provided by the radio IC circuitry 706a- b), and one or more filters 812, such as band-pass filters (BPFs), low-pass filters (LPFs) or other types of filters, to generate RF signals 815 for subsequent transmission (e.g., by one or more of the antennas 701 (FIG. 7)) via an example duplexer 814.
- PA power amplifier
- BPFs band-pass filters
- LPFs low-pass filters
- the FEM circuitry 704a may be configured to operate in either the 2.4 GHz frequency spectrum or the 5 GHz frequency spectrum.
- the receive signal path of the FEM circuitry 704a may include a receive signal path duplexer 804 to separate the signals from each spectrum as well as provide a separate LNA 806 for each spectrum as shown.
- the transmit signal path of the FEM circuitry 704a may also include a power amplifier 810 and a filter 812, such as a BPF, an LPF or another type of filter for each frequency spectrum and a transmit signal path duplexer 804 to provide the signals of one of the different spectrums onto a single transmit path for subsequent transmission by the one or more of the antennas 801 (FIG. 8).
- BT communications may utilize the 2.4 GHz signal paths and may utilize the same FEM circuitry 804a as the one used for WLAN communications.
- FIG. 9 illustrates radio IC circuitry 706a in accordance with some embodiments.
- the radio IC circuitry 706a is one example of circuitry that may be suitable for use as the WLAN or BT radio IC circuitry 706a/706b (FIG. 7), although other circuitry configurations may also be suitable.
- FIG. 9 may be described in conjunction with the example BT radio IC circuitry 706b.
- the radio IC circuitry 706a may include a receive signal path and a transmit signal path.
- the receive signal path of the radio IC circuitry 706a may include at least mixer circuitry 902, such as, for example, down-conversion mixer circuitry, amplifier circuitry 906 and filter circuitry 908.
- the transmit signal path of the radio IC circuitry 706a may include at least filter circuitry 912 and mixer circuitry 914, such as, for example, up- conversion mixer circuitry.
- Radio IC circuitry 706a may also include synthesizer circuitry 904 for synthesizing a frequency 905 for use by the mixer circuitry 902 and the mixer circuitry 914.
- the mixer circuitry 902 and/or 914 may each, according to some embodiments, be configured to provide direct conversion functionality.
- the latter type of circuitry presents a much simpler architecture as compared with standard super-heterodyne mixer circuitries, and any flicker noise brought about by the same may be alleviated for example through the use of OFDM modulation.
- FIG. 9 illustrates only a simplified version of a radio IC circuitry, and may include, although not shown, embodiments where each of the depicted circuitries may include more than one component.
- mixer circuitry 914 may each include one or more mixers
- filter circuitries 908 and/or 912 may each include one or more filters, such as one or more BPFs and/or LPFs according to application needs.
- mixer circuitries when mixer circuitries are of the direct-conversion type, they may each include two or more mixers.
- mixer circuitry 902 may be configured to down-convert RF signals 807 received from the FEM circuitry 704a-b (FIG. 7) based on the synthesized frequency 905 provided by synthesizer circuitry 904.
- the amplifier circuitry 906 may be configured to amplify the down-converted signals and the filter circuitry 908 may include an LPF configured to remove unwanted signals from the down-converted signals to generate output baseband signals 907.
- Output baseband signals 907 may be provided to the baseband processing circuitry 708a-b (FIG. 7) for further processing.
- the output baseband signals 907 may be zero-frequency baseband signals, although this is not a requirement.
- mixer circuitry 902 may comprise passive mixers, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect.
- the mixer circuitry 914 may be configured to up-convert input baseband signals 911 based on the synthesized frequency 905 provided by the synthesizer circuitry 904 to generate RF output signals 809 for the FEM circuitry 704a-b.
- the baseband signals 911 may be provided by the baseband processing circuitry 708a-b and may be filtered by filter circuitry 912.
- the filter circuitry 912 may include an LPF or a BPF, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect.
- the mixer circuitry 902 and the mixer circuitry 914 may each include two or more mixers and may be arranged for quadrature down-conversion and/or up- conversion respectively with the help of synthesizer 904.
- the mixer circuitry 902 and the mixer circuitry 914 may each include two or more mixers each configured for image rejection (e.g., Hartley image rejection).
- the mixer circuitry 902 and the mixer circuitry 914 may be arranged for direct down-conversion and/or direct up- conversion, respectively.
- the mixer circuitry 902 and the mixer circuitry 914 may be configured for super-heterodyne operation, although this is not a requirement.
- Mixer circuitry 902 may comprise, according to one embodiment: quadrature passive mixers (e.g., for the in-phase (I) and quadrature phase (Q) paths).
- RF input signal 807 from FIG. 8 may be down-converted to provide I and Q baseband output signals to be sent to the baseband processor.
- Quadrature passive mixers may be driven by zero and ninety-degree time-varying LO switching signals provided by a quadrature circuitry which may be configured to receive a LO frequency (fLO) from a local oscillator or a synthesizer, such as LO frequency 905 of synthesizer 904 (FIG. 9).
- a LO frequency fLO
- the LO frequency may be the carrier frequency
- the LO frequency may be a fraction of the carrier frequency (e.g., one -half the carrier frequency, one-third the carrier frequency).
- the zero and ninety-degree time- varying switching signals may be generated by the synthesizer, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect.
- the LO signals may differ in duty cycle (the percentage of one period in which the LO signal is high) and/or offset (the difference between start points of the period). In some embodiments, the LO signals may have an 85% duty cycle and an 80% offset. In some embodiments, each branch of the mixer circuitry (e.g., the in-phase (I) and quadrature phase (Q) path) may operate at an 80% duty cycle, which may result in a significant reduction is power consumption.
- the in-phase (I) and quadrature phase (Q) path may operate at an 80% duty cycle, which may result in a significant reduction is power consumption.
- the RF input signal 807 may comprise a balanced signal, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect.
- the I and Q baseband output signals may be provided to low-noise amplifier, such as amplifier circuitry 906 (FIG. 9) or to filter circuitry 908 (FIG. 9).
- the output baseband signals 907 and the input baseband signals 911 may be analog baseband signals, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect. In some alternate embodiments, the output baseband signals 907 and the input baseband signals 911 may be digital baseband signals. In these alternate embodiments, the radio IC circuitry may include analog-to-digital converter (ADC) and digital-to-analog converter (DAC) circuitry.
- ADC analog-to-digital converter
- DAC digital-to-analog converter
- a separate radio IC circuitry may be provided for processing signals for each spectrum, or for other spectrums not mentioned here, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect.
- the synthesizer circuitry 904 may be a fractional-N synthesizer or a fractional N/N+l synthesizer, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect as other types of frequency synthesizers may be suitable.
- synthesizer circuitry 904 may be a delta-sigma synthesizer, a frequency multiplier, or a synthesizer comprising a phase-locked loop with a frequency divider.
- the synthesizer circuitry 904 may include digital synthesizer circuitry. An advantage of using a digital synthesizer circuitry is that, although it may still include some analog components, its footprint may be scaled down much more than the footprint of an analog synthesizer circuitry.
- frequency input into synthesizer circuity 904 may be provided by a voltage controlled oscillator (VCO), although that is not a requirement.
- VCO voltage controlled oscillator
- a divider control input may further be provided by either the baseband processing circuitry 808a-b (FIG. 8) depending on the desired output frequency 905.
- a divider control input (e.g., N) may be determined from a look-up table (e.g., within a Wi-Fi card) based on a channel number and a channel center frequency as determined or indicated by the example application processor 710.
- the application processor 710 may include, or otherwise be connected to, one of the example secure signal converter 101 or the example received signal converter 103 (e.g., depending on which device the example radio architecture is implemented in).
- synthesizer circuitry 904 may be configured to generate a carrier frequency as the output frequency 905, while in other embodiments, the output frequency 905 may be a fraction of the carrier frequency (e.g., one-half the carrier frequency, one-third the carrier frequency). In some embodiments, the output frequency 905 may be a LO frequency (fLO).
- fLO LO frequency
- FIG. 10 illustrates a functional block diagram of baseband processing circuitry 708a in accordance with some embodiments.
- the baseband processing circuitry 708a is one example of circuitry that may be suitable for use as the baseband processing circuitry 708a (FIG. 7), although other circuitry configurations may also be suitable.
- FIG. 9 may be used to implement the example BT baseband processing circuitry 708b of FIG. 7.
- the baseband processing circuitry 708a may include a receive baseband processor (RX BBP) 1002 for processing receive baseband signals 909 provided by the radio IC circuitry 706a-b (FIG. 7) and a transmit baseband processor (TX BBP) 1004 for generating transmit baseband signals 911 for the radio IC circuitry 706a-b.
- the baseband processing circuitry 708a may also include control logic 1006 for coordinating the operations of the baseband processing circuitry 708a.
- the baseband processing circuitry 708a may include ADC 1010 to convert analog baseband signals 1009 received from the radio IC circuitry 706a-b to digital baseband signals for processing by the RX BBP 1002.
- the baseband processing circuitry 708a may also include DAC 1012 to convert digital baseband signals from the TX BBP 1004 to analog baseband signals 1011.
- the transmit baseband processor 1004 may be configured to generate OFDM or OFDMA signals as appropriate for transmission by performing an inverse fast Fourier transform (IFFT).
- IFFT inverse fast Fourier transform
- the receive baseband processor 1002 may be configured to process received OFDM signals or OFDMA signals by performing an FFT.
- the receive baseband processor 1002 may be configured to detect the presence of an OFDM signal or OFDMA signal by performing an autocorrelation, to detect a preamble, such as a short preamble, and by performing a cross-correlation, to detect a long preamble.
- the preambles may be part of a predetermined frame structure for Wi-Fi communication.
- the antennas 701 may each comprise one or more directional or omnidirectional antennas, including, for example, dipole antennas, monopole antennas, patch antennas, loop antennas, microstrip antennas or other types of antennas suitable for transmission of RF signals.
- the antennas may be effectively separated to take advantage of spatial diversity and the different channel characteristics that may result.
- Antennas 701 may each include a set of phased-array antennas, although embodiments are not so limited.
- radio architecture 105A, 105B is illustrated as having several separate functional elements, one or more of the functional elements may be combined and may be implemented by combinations of software-configured elements, such as processing elements including digital signal processors (DSPs), and/or other hardware elements.
- processing elements including digital signal processors (DSPs), and/or other hardware elements.
- DSPs digital signal processors
- some elements may comprise one or more microprocessors, DSPs, field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), application specific integrated circuits (ASICs), radio-frequency integrated circuits (RFICs) and combinations of various hardware and logic circuitry for performing at least the functions described herein.
- the functional elements may refer to one or more processes operating on one or more processing elements.
- the word “exemplary” is used herein to mean “serving as an example, instance, or illustration.” Any embodiment described herein as “exemplary” is not necessarily to be construed as preferred or advantageous over other embodiments.
- the terms “computing device,” “user device,” “communication station,” “station,” “handheld device,” “mobile device,” “wireless device” and “user equipment” (UE) as used herein refers to a wireless communication device such as a cellular telephone, a smartphone, a tablet, a netbook, a wireless terminal, a laptop computer, a femtocell, a high data rate (HDR) subscriber station, an access point, a printer, a point of sale device, an access terminal, or other personal communication system (PCS) device.
- the device may be either mobile or stationary.
- the term “communicate” is intended to include transmitting, or receiving, or both transmitting and receiving. This may be particularly useful in claims when describing the organization of data that is being transmitted by one device and received by another, but only the functionality of one of those devices is required to infringe the claim. Similarly, the bidirectional exchange of data between two devices (both devices transmit and receive during the exchange) may be described as “communicating,” when only the functionality of one of those devices is being claimed.
- the term “communicating” as used herein with respect to a wireless communication signal includes transmitting the wireless communication signal and/or receiving the wireless communication signal.
- a wireless communication unit which is capable of communicating a wireless communication signal, may include a wireless transmitter to transmit the wireless communication signal to at least one other wireless communication unit, and/or a wireless communication receiver to receive the wireless communication signal from at least one other wireless communication unit.
- AP access point
- An access point may also be referred to as an access node, a base station, an evolved node B (eNodeB), or some other similar terminology known in the art.
- An access terminal may also be called a mobile station, user equipment (UE), a wireless communication device, or some other similar terminology known in the art.
- Embodiments disclosed herein generally pertain to wireless networks. Some embodiments may relate to wireless networks that operate in accordance with one of the IEEE 802.11 standards.
- Some embodiments may be used in conjunction with various devices and systems, for example, a personal computer (PC), a desktop computer, a mobile computer, a laptop computer, a notebook computer, a tablet computer, a server computer, a handheld computer, a handheld device, a personal digital assistant (PDA) device, a handheld PDA device, an onboard device, an off-board device, a hybrid device, a vehicular device, a non- vehicular device, a mobile or portable device, a consumer device, a non-mobile or non-portable device, a wireless communication station, a wireless communication device, a wireless access point (AP), a wired or wireless router, a wired or wireless modem, a video device, an audio device, an audio- video (A/V) device, a wired or wireless network, a wireless area network, a wireless video area network (WVAN), a local area network (LAN), a wireless LAN (WLAN), a personal area network (PAN), a wireless PAN (WPAN),
- Some embodiments may be used in conjunction with one way and/or two-way radio communication systems, cellular radio-telephone communication systems, a mobile phone, a cellular telephone, a wireless telephone, a personal communication system (PCS) device, a PDA device which incorporates a wireless communication device, a mobile or portable global positioning system (GPS) device, a device which incorporates a GPS receiver or transceiver or chip, a device which incorporates an RFID element or chip, a multiple input multiple output (MIMO) transceiver or device, a single input multiple output (SIMO) transceiver or device, a multiple input single output (MISO) transceiver or device, a device having one or more internal antennas and/or external antennas, digital video broadcast (DVB) devices or systems, multistandard radio devices or systems, a wired or wireless handheld device, e.g., a smartphone, a wireless application protocol (WAP) device, or the like.
- WAP wireless application protocol
- Some embodiments may be used in conjunction with one or more types of wireless communication signals and/or systems following one or more wireless communication protocols, for example, radio frequency (RF), infrared (IR), frequency-division multiplexing (FDM), orthogonal FDM (OFDM), time-division multiplexing (TDM), time-division multiple access (TDMA), extended TDMA (E-TDMA), general packet radio service (GPRS), extended GPRS, code-division multiple access (CDMA), wideband CDMA (WCDMA), CDMA 2000, single-carrier CDMA, multi-carrier CDMA, multi-carrier modulation (MDM), discrete multi- tone (DMT), Bluetooth®, global positioning system (GPS), Wi-Fi, Wi-Max, ZigBee, ultra- wideband (UWB), global system for mobile communications (GSM), 2G, 2.5G, 3G, 3.5G, 4G, fifth generation (5G) mobile networks, 3 GPP, long term evolution (LTE), LTE advanced, enhanced data rates for G
- Example 1 may include an apparatus of a station device for signaling unavailability to an access point (AP), the station device comprising processing circuitry coupled to storage, the processing circuitry configured to: generate a first frame indicating that the station device will be unavailable on a communication link; cause the station device to transmit the first frame on the communication link to the AP prior to associating to the AP; generate a second frame indicating that the station device is available on the communication link; cause the station device to transmit the second frame on the communication link to the AP after being unavailable after transmitting the first frame; and identify an 802.11 authentication response received from the AP, after transmitting the second frame, indicating that the station device has been authenticated to the AP.
- AP access point
- Example 2 may include the apparatus of example 1 and/or any other example herein, wherein the first frame is an 802.11 authentication request frame.
- Example 3 may include the apparatus of example 2 and/or any other example herein, wherein one bit of a power management field of the 802.11 authentication request frame indicates that the station device will be unavailable on the communication link.
- Example 4 may include the apparatus of example 1 and/or any other example herein, wherein the first frame is an unassociated availability frame, and wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to: cause the station device to transmit an 802.11 authentication request frame on the communication link to the AP prior to transmitting the unassociated availability frame.
- Example 5 may include the apparatus of example 1 and/or any other example herein, the processing circuitry is further configured to: cause the station device to transmit an 802.11 association request frame on the communication link to the AP after receiving the 802.11 authentication response frame, wherein the 802.11 association request frame indicates that the station device will be unavailable on the communication link; cause the station device to transmit a third frame on the communication link to the AP after being unavailable after to transmitting the 802.11 association request frame, the third frame indicating that the station device is available on the communication link; and identify an 802.11 association response frame received from the AP, after transmitting the third frame, indicating that the station device has been associated to the AP.
- the processing circuitry is further configured to: cause the station device to transmit an 802.11 association request frame on the communication link to the AP after receiving the 802.11 authentication response frame, wherein the 802.11 association request frame indicates that the station device will be unavailable on the communication link; cause the station device to transmit a third frame on the communication link to the AP after being unavailable after to transmitting
- Example 6 may include the apparatus of example 5 and/or any other example herein, wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to: cause the station device to transmit an acknowledgement to the 802.11 association response frame, the acknowledgement indicating that the station device will be unavailable on the communication link.
- Example 7 may include the apparatus of any of examples 1-6 and/or any other example herein, wherein the station device is a multi-link device (MLD) associated to a second AP on a second communication link while unassociated to the AP on the communication link.
- MLD multi-link device
- Example 8 may include the apparatus of example 1 and/or any other example herein, wherein the station device is available to a second AP on a second communication link while unavailable to the AP on the communication link.
- Example 9 may include a computer-readable medium storing instructions to cause processing circuitry of an access point (AP) for signaling unassociated station device availability, upon execution of the instructions by the processing circuitry, to: identify a first frame received from a station device (STA) on a communication link, the STA unassociated to the AP; determine, based on the first frame, that the STA is unavailable on the communication link; refrain from causing the AP from transmitting to the STA on the communication link based on the first frame; identify a second frame received from the STA on the communication link; determine, based on the second frame, that the STA is available on the communication link; and cause the AP to transmit, after receiving the second frame, an 802.11 authentication response frame indicating that the STA has been authenticated to the AP.
- AP access point
- Example 10 may include the computer-readable medium of example 9 and/or any other example herein, wherein the first frame is an 802.11 authentication request frame.
- Example 11 may include the computer-readable medium of example 10 and/or any other example herein, wherein one bit of a power management field of the 802.11 authentication request frame indicates that the STA will be unavailable on the communication link.
- Example 12 may include the computer-readable medium of example 9 and/or any other example herein, wherein the first frame is an unassociated availability frame, and wherein execution of the instructions further causes the processing circuitry to: identify an 802.11 authentication request frame received from the STA on the communication link prior to receiving the unassociated availability frame.
- Example 13 may include the computer-readable medium of example 9 and/or any other example herein, wherein execution of the instructions further causes the processing circuitry to: identify an 802.11 association request frame received from the STA on the communication link after transmitting the 802.11 authentication response frame, wherein the 802.11 association request frame indicates that that STA will be unavailable on the communication link; refrain from transmitting to the STA based on the 802.11 association request frame; identify a third frame received from the STA on the communication link, the third frame indicating that the station device is available on the communication link; and cause the AP to transmit an 802.11 association response to the STA on the communication link after receiving the third frame, indicating that the STA has been associated to the AP.
- Example 14 may include the computer-readable medium of example 9 and/or any other example herein, wherein execution of the instructions further causes the processing circuitry to: Identify an acknowledgement to the 802.11 association response received from the STA on the communication link, the acknowledgement indicating that the STA will be unavailable on the communication link.
- Example 15 may include the computer-readable medium of example 9 and/or any other example herein, wherein the AP is an AP multi-link device (MLD).
- MLD AP multi-link device
- Example 16 may include a method for signaling unavailability to an access point (AP), the method comprising: generating, by processing circuitry of a station device, a first frame indicating that the station device will be unavailable on a communication link; causing, by the processing circuitry, the station device to transmit the first frame on the communication link to the AP prior to associating to the AP; generating, by the processing circuitry, a second frame indicating that the station device is available on the communication link; causing, by the processing circuitry, the station device to transmit the second frame on the communication link to the AP after being unavailable after transmitting the first frame; and identifying, by the processing circuitry, an 802.11 authentication response received from the AP, after transmitting the second frame, indicating that the station device has been authenticated to the AP.
- AP access point
- Example 17 may include the method of example 16 and/or any other example herein, wherein the first frame is an 802.11 authentication request frame.
- Example 18 may include the method of example 17 and/or any other example herein, wherein one bit of a power management field of the 802.11 authentication request frame indicates that the station device will be unavailable on the communication link.
- Example 19 may include the method of example 16 and/or any other example herein, wherein the first frame is an unassociated availability frame, the method further comprising: causing the station device to transmit an 802.11 authentication request frame on the communication link to the AP prior to transmitting the unassociated availability frame.
- Example 20 may include the method of example 16 and/or any other example herein, further comprising: causing the station device to transmit an 802.11 association request frame on the communication link to the AP after receiving the 802.11 authentication response frame, wherein the 802.11 association request frame indicates that the station device will be unavailable on the communication link; causing the station device to transmit a third frame on the communication link to the AP after being unavailable after to transmitting the 802.11 association request frame, the third frame indicating that the station device is available on the communication link; and identifying an 802.11 association response frame received from the AP, after transmitting the third frame, indicating that the station device has been associated to the AP.
- Example 21 may include the method of example 20 and/or any other example herein, further comprising: causing the station device to transmit an acknowledgement to the 802.11 association response frame, the acknowledgement indicating that the station device will be unavailable on the communication link.
- Example 22 may include the method of any of examples 16-20 and/or any other example herein, wherein the station device is a multi-link device (MLD) associated to a second AP on a second communication link while unassociated to the AP on the communication link.
- MLD multi-link device
- Example 23 may include the method of example 16 and/or any other example herein, wherein the station device is available to a second AP on a second communication link while unavailable to the AP on the communication link.
- Example 24 may include an apparatus comprising means for: generating a first frame indicating that the station device will be unavailable on a communication link; causing the station device to transmit the first frame on the communication link to the AP prior to associating to the AP; generating a second frame indicating that the station device is available on the communication link; causing the station device to transmit the second frame on the communication link to the AP after being unavailable after transmitting the first frame; and identifying an 802.11 authentication response received from the AP, after transmitting the second frame, indicating that the station device has been authenticated to the AP.
- Example 25 may include one or more non-transitory computer-readable media comprising instructions to cause an electronic device, upon execution of the instructions by one or more processors of the electronic device, to perform one or more elements of a method described in or related to any of examples 1-24, or any other method or process described herein.
- Example 26 may include an apparatus comprising logic, modules, and/or circuitry to perform one or more elements of a method described in or related to any of examples 1-24, or any other method or process described herein.
- Example 27 may include a method, technique, or process as described in or related to any of examples 1-24, or portions or parts thereof.
- Example 28 may include an apparatus comprising: one or more processors and one or more computer readable media comprising instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform the method, techniques, or process as described in or related to any of examples 1-24, or portions thereof.
- Example 29 may include a method of communicating in a wireless network as shown and described herein.
- Example 30 may include a system for providing wireless communication as shown and described herein.
- Example 31 may include a device for providing wireless communication as shown and described herein.
- Embodiments according to the disclosure are in particular disclosed in the attached claims directed to a method, a storage medium, a device and a computer program product, wherein any feature mentioned in one claim category, e.g., method, can be claimed in another claim category, e.g., system, as well.
- the dependencies or references back in the attached claims are chosen for formal reasons only. However, any subject matter resulting from a deliberate reference back to any previous claims (in particular multiple dependencies) can be claimed as well, so that any combination of claims and the features thereof are disclosed and can be claimed regardless of the dependencies chosen in the attached claims.
- These computer-executable program instructions may be loaded onto a special-purpose computer or other particular machine, a processor, or other programmable data processing apparatus to produce a particular machine, such that the instructions that execute on the computer, processor, or other programmable data processing apparatus create means for implementing one or more functions specified in the flow diagram block or blocks.
- These computer program instructions may also be stored in a computer-readable storage media or memory that may direct a computer or other programmable data processing apparatus to function in a particular manner, such that the instructions stored in the computer-readable storage media produce an article of manufacture including instruction means that implement one or more functions specified in the flow diagram block or blocks.
- certain implementations may provide for a computer program product, comprising a computer- readable storage medium having a computer-readable program code or program instructions implemented therein, said computer-readable program code adapted to be executed to implement one or more functions specified in the flow diagram block or blocks.
- the computer program instructions may also be loaded onto a computer or other programmable data processing apparatus to cause a series of operational elements or steps to be performed on the computer or other programmable apparatus to produce a computer-implemented process such that the instructions that execute on the computer or other programmable apparatus provide elements or steps for implementing the functions specified in the flow diagram block or blocks.
- blocks of the block diagrams and flow diagrams support combinations of means for performing the specified functions, combinations of elements or steps for performing the specified functions and program instruction means for performing the specified functions. It will also be understood that each block of the block diagrams and flow diagrams, and combinations of blocks in the block diagrams and flow diagrams, may be implemented by special-purpose, hardware-based computer systems that perform the specified functions, elements or steps, or combinations of special-purpose hardware and computer instructions.
- conditional language such as, among others, “can,” “could,” “might,” or “may,” unless specifically stated otherwise, or otherwise understood within the context as used, is generally intended to convey that certain implementations could include, while other implementations do not include, certain features, elements, and/or operations. Thus, such conditional language is not generally intended to imply that features, elements, and/or operations are in any way required for one or more implementations or that one or more implementations necessarily include logic for deciding, with or without user input or prompting, whether these features, elements, and/or operations are included or are to be performed in any particular implementation.
Landscapes
- Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
- Computer Security & Cryptography (AREA)
- Computer Networks & Wireless Communication (AREA)
- Signal Processing (AREA)
- Mobile Radio Communication Systems (AREA)
Abstract
This disclosure describes systems, methods, and devices related to signaling unavailability to an access point (AP). A station device may generate a first frame indicating that the station device will be unavailable on a communication link; cause the station device to transmit the first frame on the communication link to the AP prior to associating to the AP; generate a second frame indicating that the station device is available on the communication link; cause the station device to transmit the second frame on the communication link to the AP after being unavailable after to transmitting the first frame; and identify an 802.11 authentication response received from the AP, after transmitting the second frame, indicating that the station device has been authenticated to the AP.
Description
ENHANCED UNAVAILABILITY MODE FOR STATION DEVICES UNASSOCIATED TO ACCESS POINTS
TECHNICAL FIELD
This disclosure generally relates to systems and methods for wireless communications and, more particularly, to availability signaling for station devices unassociated to access points.
BACKGROUND
Wireless devices are becoming widely prevalent and are increasingly requesting access to wireless channels. The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) is developing one or more standards that utilize Orthogonal Frequency-Division Multiple Access (OFDMA) in channel allocation.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1A is a network diagram illustrating an example network environment of multilink devices (MLDs), in accordance with one or more example embodiments of the present disclosure.
FIG. IB depicts an illustrative schematic diagram for MLD communications between two logical entities, in accordance with one or more example embodiments of the present disclosure.
FIG. 1C depicts an illustrative schematic diagram for MLD communications between an access point (AP) MLD with logical entities and a non-AP MLD with logical entities, in accordance with one or more example embodiments of the present disclosure.
FIG. 2 depicts a process for signaling station (STA) availability to an unassociated AP, in accordance with one or more example embodiments of the present disclosure.
FIG. 3 depicts a process for signaling STA availability to an unassociated AP, in accordance with one or more example embodiments of the present disclosure.
FIG. 4 illustrates a flow diagram of illustrative process for signaling STA availability to an unassociated AP, in accordance with one or more example embodiments of the present disclosure.
FIG. 5 illustrates a functional diagram of an exemplary communication station that may be suitable for use as a user device, in accordance with one or more example embodiments of the present disclosure.
FIG. 6 illustrates a block diagram of an example machine upon which any of one or more techniques (e.g., methods) may be performed, in accordance with one or more example embodiments of the present disclosure.
FIG. 7 is a block diagram of a radio architecture in accordance with some examples.
FIG. 8 illustrates an example front-end module circuitry for use in the radio architecture of FIG. 7, in accordance with one or more example embodiments of the present disclosure.
FIG. 9 illustrates an example radio IC circuitry for use in the radio architecture of FIG. 7, in accordance with one or more example embodiments of the present disclosure.
FIG. 10 illustrates an example baseband processing circuitry for use in the radio architecture of FIG. 7, in accordance with one or more example embodiments of the present disclosure.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
The following description and the drawings sufficiently illustrate specific embodiments to enable those skilled in the art to practice them. Other embodiments may incorporate structural, logical, electrical, process, algorithm, and other changes. Portions and features of some embodiments may be included in, or substituted for, those of other embodiments. Embodiments set forth in the claims encompass all available equivalents of those claims.
The IEEE 802.11 technical standards define Wi-Fi communications, including requests to authenticate and associate to an access point (AP). When a station device (STA) is associated to an AP (e.g., a source AP), the STA may request to associate to a target AP. The 802. Hr standard introduced the concept of fast transition (FT), in which the initial handshake with the target AP is performed before the STA associates to the target AP (e.g., allowing for fast roaming).
The 802.11be standard defines power saving and multi-link device link transmissions. In multi-link communications, a multi-link device (MLD), also referred to as a multi-link logical entity (MLLE), may refer to a device that has more than one affiliated station (STA) and that has a medium access control (MAC) layer (e.g., of a communication layer stack) service access point (SAP) to a logical link control (LLC), which may include a MAC data service. An AP MLD (A MLD) may refer to an access point (AP) device, where each STA affiliated with the STA MLD is an AP. A non-AP ML device (non-AP MLD) maybe an A MLD, where each STA affiliated with the MLD is a non-AP STA. A MLD may be considered a logical/virtual entity with multiple STAs (e.g., AP STAs or non-AP STAs), and each STA concurrently may use separate communication links with corresponding STAs of another
MLD. In this manner, a MLD may communicate over multiple communication links concurrently without having to drop one communication link to allow for establishing another communication link. Multi-link operation (MLO) is an important 802.11be feature, which allows a device to communicate to another device using multiple links on different channels/bands. A device supporting multiple links is a MLD.
MLDs may be associated to an AP with one link, and unassociated to an AP on another link. However, 802.11 currently does not provide for the MLD to use a power save mode on the link unassociated to an AP while the link associated to an AP is active, so the unassociated link has to remain active when associating to a target AP. In addition, a non-MLD STA may need to be inactive temporarily on a link used to communicate with a source AP to which the STA is associated in order to request association to a target AP, which may result in the STA not receiving transmissions from the source AP.
Augmented reality (AR)/virtual reality (VR) applications, for example, have strict deterministic and low-latency requirements. If most of their usages are expected to be with low to no mobility, the usage of AR with glasses has requirements for mobility. There is therefore necessarily a need for improvements to improve basic service set (BSS) transitions (e.g., transitions between neighbor APs in a deployed enterprise ESS) in terms of latency and packet losses.
Currently in 802.11, the fastest BSS transition is obtained with the fast transition (FT) protocol, which has been defined especially for voice applications and achieved lower latencies by compressing the frame exchange by merging the four-way handshake with (re)authentication and (re)association frames.
If a MLD wants to reassociate with a target A-MLD, it may have to continue operating with the serving (e.g., source) A-MLD while initiating reassociation with the target A-MLD. If the MLD is a dual radio device, it could perform both in parallel. However, if the MLD is a single radio client or an enhanced multi-link single radio (eMLSR) client, it will have to multiplex availability with the serving AP and with the target AP.
If the non-AP STA of the MLD were to use power save mode and state to inform a serving AP that it is unavailable (e.g., while associating to a target AP on another link). However, for interactions with the target AP (e.g., before it is associated), the non-AP STA would have to be in active mode, as 802.11 has not defined a power save mode for unassociated STAs. That means that if that STA started the reassociation process with the target AP, it would have to perform the entire process (e.g., authentication request/response and association request/response frame exchanges) while being in active mode with the target AP, and
therefore will not be available to interact with the serving AP. The serving A-MLD will therefore buffer data for the MLD during that unavailable time, and may not be able to ever transmit the buffered data to the MLD if the MLD then transitions to the new target AP, causing packet losses.
MLDs would benefit from signaling unavailability to a target AP (e.g., to which the MLD is not yet associated) while remaining available to a source AP (e.g., to which the MLD is associated). However, it may be beneficial to avoid a long inactivity period of a MLD with the source AP while associating to the target AP.
Example embodiments of the present disclosure relate to systems, methods, and devices for availability signaling for station devices unassociated to access points.
In one or more embodiments, an unassociated STA of a MLD would not have to always be in active mode on a link from the time the STA sends an authentication request frame to the target AP of an A-MLD until the time the STA will be associated to the target AP of the A- MLD.
In one or more embodiments, the unassociated STA of an MLD may be in a mode where the frames that are transmitted from the target AP of an A-MLD to the STA of the MLD will be buffered and transmitted to the unassociated STA only upon request or at specifically scheduled service periods.
In one or more embodiments, the unassociated STA of an MLD may be in an eMLSR mode, where the frames that are transmitted from the AP of an A-MLD to the STA of the MLD will be with an eMLSR sequence, so that there has to be an initial control frame (and its response) before being able to transmit the frame.
In one or more embodiments, the present disclosure introduces a mode of operation where an unassociated STA can send to an AP a request frame that triggers the transmission of a response frame, where the unassociated STA indicates that it will not be immediately available to receive the response after the acknowledgment sent by the AP in response to the request frame, but that the delivery of the response frame will be performed following the proposed mechanism: 1) The response frame will be buffered at the AP side (or A-MLD side if AP is affiliated with an A- MLD). 2) The delivery will be made upon request from the STA, by having the STA send an Unassociated STA Delivery Request frame addressed to the AP. This Unassociated STA Delivery Request frame may indicate to the AP that the STA is available for reception of a frame that is buffered for the STA. 3) As an immediate response to the Unassociated STA Delivery Request frame, the AP may send the buffered frame or frames to the STA. If there is more than one pending frame to be sent following the ongoing
frame, the More Data bit field in the medium access control (MAC) header shall be set to 1 in the ongoing frame. If the AP needs some time to retrieve the frame in its buffers, it can send an acknowledgement frame in immediate response to the Unassociated STA Delivery Request frame, and it can then send the buffered frame as soon as possible.
In one or more embodiments, the AP can indicate in the response frame sent in response to the Unassociated STA Delivery Request frame that the response frame is not yet available, (e.g., asking to come back later). In that case, the response frame to the Unassociated STA Delivery Request frame likely will not be an acknowledgement frame, but a new Enhanced acknowledgement frame or a new frame that allows for providing the additional information. This can also be a BlockAck (block acknowledgement) frame using reserved bits in order to provide the additional information. The AP can also provide an estimated time, or estimated duration before the time at which the frame will be available for delivery. The STA can also indicate in the Unassociated STA Delivery Request frame for how long the STA will be available after the end of the Unassociated STA Delivery Request frame. After that time, the STA will be considered as unavailable by the AP if the delivery did not occur. In that case, the AP will keep the buffered frame in its buffers and wait for the next Unassociated STA Delivery Request frame to be sent by the STA.
In one or more embodiments, the present disclosure may provide the signaling for the first indication in the Request frame to trigger this mechanism. For example, the present disclosure may define a new one -bit field that will indicate that the STA will be unavailable immediately after the acknowledgement (Ack) sent in response to the frame. This bit can be a reserved bit in the MAC header, or another reserved bit can be used. For example, it may be straightforward to use the Power Management subfield, which is reserved in all Management frames sent to an AP to which the STA is not associated. When this bit is set to 1, that means that the STA will be unavailable after the Ack, and if set to 0, that means that the STA will be available after the Ack. If more bits are available, they could be used to provide the time after which the STA will not be available.
In one or more embodiments, alternatively, the present disclosure may define a new frame (e.g., an Unassociated STA Delivery Request frame) used to indicate that the STA will become unavailable, and will send this frame again with specific indication indicating that it is available. Using this option, the unassociated STA will then send first the Request frame without added information (e.g., the Reauthentication Request frame), receive an Ack for it, and then transmit this new frame to indicate that it will now become unavailable and that it will send a frame when it will be back and available again to receive the response frame. That
frame can then optionally indicate more information, such as a target time at which it is expected to come back and be available again. This can be in the form of a target wake time (TWT) service period in a TWT element, or this can be in the form of a simple Target Time. For example, 802.11 defines a TWT as a time when a device may wake up from a power save mode.
In one or more embodiments, the enhanced availability signaling mechanism may apply to any 802.11 management frame with a request and response, such as authentication request/response frames, (re)association request/response frames, probe request/response frames, multi-link (ML) probe request response frames, and the like.
In one or more embodiments, the present disclosure defines ways for an unassociated STA to be in an eMLSR mode, where the frames that are transmitted from the AP to the STA will be with an eMLSR sequence, meaning that there has to be an initial control frame (and its response) before being able to transmit the frame. The unassociated STA can enable the eMLSR mode with an AP affiliated with an A-MLD while being unassociated if the AP/A- MLD supports this mode. The unassociated STA would send a frame to enable the eMLSR mode with the AP. The EML Operating Mode Notification frame as currently used in 802.11 may be reused here for the associated case. When a MLD with dotllEHTUnassociatedEMLSROptionlmplemented equal to true intends to operate in the EMLSR mode on the EMLSR links, a STA affiliated of the MLD shall transmit an EML Operating Mode Notification frame with the EMLSR Mode subfield of the EML Control field of the frame set to 1 to an AP of an A-MLD with dotllEHTUnassociatedEMLSROptionlmplemented equal to true, and to which the MLD is not associated. The eMLSR link bitmap shall be set to the linkID of the link on which the AP operates. Only one link can be used for eMLSR in unassociated mode, or may allow for more than one link. That frame can have a new field indicating that the eMLSR mode is for unassociated mode. Once this frame is acknowledged, the eMSLR unassociated mode would be activated. Alternatively (or in option 2 below), a response from the AP may be needed.
In one or more embodiments, once the eMLSR exchange above is complete, the AP may follow the eMLSR protocol to transmit a frame to the STA. For example, the AP may begin a transmission to the STA with an eMLSR initial control frame, which is defined to be an MU-RTS frame, or an BSRP trigger frame. In order to correctly address the STA, there are multiple options: Optionl: MU-RTS frame shall be unicasted to the STA address (e.g., receiver address field set to the MAC address of the STA), and the association identifier (AID) field of the unique user info field in the MU-RTS (multi-user request to send) or buffer status poll
report (BSPR) trigger frame would be set to a specific value defined in the spec to indicate that the addressed STA is identified by the RA (receiver address) field of the frame. Option2: a temporary AID is assigned to the unassociated STA and the AID field in the user info field of the MU-RTS or BSPR trigger frame shall be set to this temporary AID value. For option 2 to work, a mechanism is needed for the AP to provide a temporary AID to the STA. This can be achieved by forcing that in response to the EML Operating Mode Notification frame from the STA, the AP would respond with an acknowledgement, and would then send an EML Operating Mode Notification frame to the STA including a new field called Temporary AID field, with the AID that the STA will use in order to be triggered by the AP.
In one or more embodiments, alternatively, the 802.11 spatial multiplexing (SM) power save mode may be used instead of the eMLSR mode. The same process as used for eMLSR may be used, except that SM power save may be enabled by a SM power save frame, which would need a new capability indication for supporting operating with SM power save as an unassociated STA. A MLD associated to an A-MLD may be able to operate with eMSLR with an associated A-MLD while having a STA of the MLD move to another channel to perform reassociation under the unassociated SM power save or unassociated eMLSR mode. This would allow each of the STAs of the MLD to be available (e.g., able to respond to the initial control frame) or unavailable (e.g., unable to respond to the initial control frame).
The above descriptions are for purposes of illustration and are not meant to be limiting. Numerous other examples, configurations, processes, algorithms, etc., may exist, some of which are described in greater detail below. Example embodiments will now be described with reference to the accompanying figures.
FIG. 1A is a network diagram illustrating an example network environment 100 of MLDs, according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure. Wireless network 100 may include one or more user devices 120 and one or more access points(s) (AP) 102, which may communicate in accordance with IEEE 802.11 communication standards. The user device(s) 120 may be mobile devices that are non-stationary (e.g., not having fixed locations) or may be stationary devices.
In some embodiments, the user devices 120 and the AP 102 may include one or more computer systems similar to that of the functional diagram of FIG. 5 and/or the example machine/system of FIG. 6.
One or more illustrative user device(s) 120 and/or AP(s) 102 may be operable by one or more user(s) 110. It should be noted that any addressable unit may be a station (STA). An STA may take on multiple distinct characteristics, each of which shape its function. For
example, a single addressable unit might simultaneously be a portable STA, a quality-of- service (QoS) STA, a dependent STA, and a hidden STA. The one or more illustrative user device(s) 120 and the AP(s) 102 may be STAs. The one or more illustrative user device(s) 120 and/or AP(s) 102 may operate as a personal basic service set (PBSS) control point/access point (PCP/AP). The user device(s) 120 (e.g., 124, 126, or 128) and/or AP(s) 102 may include any suitable processor-driven device including, but not limited to, a mobile device or a non-mobile, e.g., a static device. For example, user device(s) 120 and/or AP(s) 102 may include, a user equipment (UE), a station (STA), an access point (AP), a software enabled AP (SoftAP), a personal computer (PC), a wearable wireless device (e.g., bracelet, watch, glasses, ring, etc.), a desktop computer, a mobile computer, a laptop computer, an ultrabook™ computer, a notebook computer, a tablet computer, a server computer, a handheld computer, a handheld device, an internet of things (loT) device, a sensor device, a PDA device, a handheld PDA device, an on-board device, an off-board device, a hybrid device (e.g., combining cellular phone functionalities with PDA device functionalities), a consumer device, a vehicular device, a non-vehicular device, a mobile or portable device, a non-mobile or non-portable device, a mobile phone, a cellular telephone, a PCS device, a PDA device which incorporates a wireless communication device, a mobile or portable GPS device, a DVB device, a relatively small computing device, a non-desktop computer, a “carry small live large” (CSLL) device, an ultra mobile device (UMD), an ultra mobile PC (UMPC), a mobile internet device (MID), an “origami” device or computing device, a device that supports dynamically composable computing (DCC), a context-aware device, a video device, an audio device, an A/V device, a set-top-box (STB), a blu-ray disc (BD) player, a BD recorder, a digital video disc (DVD) player, a high definition (HD) DVD player, a DVD recorder, a HD DVD recorder, a personal video recorder (PVR), a broadcast HD receiver, a video source, an audio source, a video sink, an audio sink, a stereo tuner, a broadcast radio receiver, a flat panel display, a personal media player (PMP), a digital video camera (DVC), a digital audio player, a speaker, an audio receiver, an audio amplifier, a gaming device, a data source, a data sink, a digital still camera (DSC), a media player, a smartphone, a television, a music player, or the like. Other devices, including smart devices such as lamps, climate control, car components, household components, appliances, etc. may also be included in this list.
As used herein, the term “Internet of Things (loT) device” is used to refer to any object (e.g., an appliance, a sensor, etc.) that has an addressable interface (e.g., an Internet protocol (IP) address, a Bluetooth identifier (ID), a near-field communication (NFC) ID, etc.) and can transmit information to one or more other devices over a wired or wireless connection. An loT
device may have a passive communication interface, such as a quick response (QR) code, a radio-frequency identification (RFID) tag, an NFC tag, or the like, or an active communication interface, such as a modem, a transceiver, a transmitter-receiver, or the like. An loT device can have a particular set of attributes (e.g., a device state or status, such as whether the loT device is on or off, open or closed, idle or active, available for task execution or busy, and so on, a cooling or heating function, an environmental monitoring or recording function, a lightemitting function, a sound-emitting function, etc.) that can be embedded in and/or controlled/monitored by a central processing unit (CPU), microprocessor, ASIC, or the like, and configured for connection to an loT network such as a local ad-hoc network or the Internet. For example, loT devices may include, but are not limited to, refrigerators, toasters, ovens, micro waves, freezers, dishwashers, dishes, hand tools, clothes washers, clothes dryers, furnaces, air conditioners, thermostats, televisions, light fixtures, vacuum cleaners, sprinklers, electricity meters, gas meters, etc., so long as the devices are equipped with an addressable communications interface for communicating with the loT network. loT devices may also include cell phones, desktop computers, laptop computers, tablet computers, personal digital assistants (PDAs), etc. Accordingly, the loT network may be comprised of a combination of “legacy” Internet-accessible devices (e.g., laptop or desktop computers, cell phones, etc.) in addition to devices that do not typically have Internet-connectivity (e.g., dishwashers, etc.).
The user device(s) 120 and/or AP(s) 102 may also include mesh stations in, for example, a mesh network, in accordance with one or more IEEE 802.11 standards and/or 3 GPP standards.
Any of the user device(s) 120 (e.g., user devices 124, 126, 128), and AP(s) 102 may be configured to communicate with each other via one or more communications networks 130 and/or 135 wirelessly or wired. The user device(s) 120 may also communicate peer-to-peer or directly with each other with or without the AP(s) 102. Any of the communications networks 130 and/or 135 may include, but not limited to, any one of a combination of different types of suitable communications networks such as, for example, broadcasting networks, cable networks, public networks (e.g., the Internet), private networks, wireless networks, cellular networks, or any other suitable private and/or public networks. Further, any of the communications networks 130 and/or 135 may have any suitable communication range associated therewith and may include, for example, global networks (e.g., the Internet), metropolitan area networks (MANs), wide area networks (WANs), local area networks (LANs), or personal area networks (PANs). In addition, any of the communications networks 130 and/or 135 may include any type of medium over which network traffic may be carried
including, but not limited to, coaxial cable, twisted-pair wire, optical fiber, a hybrid fiber coaxial (HFC) medium, microwave terrestrial transceivers, radio frequency communication mediums, white space communication mediums, ultra-high frequency communication mediums, satellite communication mediums, or any combination thereof.
Any of the user device(s) 120 (e.g., user devices 124, 126, 128) and AP(s) 102 may include one or more communications antennas. The one or more communications antennas may be any suitable type of antennas corresponding to the communications protocols used by the user device(s) 120 (e.g., user devices 124, 126 and 128), and AP(s) 102. Some non-limiting examples of suitable communications antennas include Wi-Fi antennas, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 family of standards compatible antennas, directional antennas, non-directional antennas, dipole antennas, folded dipole antennas, patch antennas, multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) antennas, omnidirectional antennas, quasi- omnidirectional antennas, or the like. The one or more communications antennas may be communicatively coupled to a radio component to transmit and/or receive signals, such as communications signals to and/or from the user devices 120 and/or AP(s) 102.
Any of the user device(s) 120 (e.g., user devices 124, 126, 128), and AP(s) 102 may be configured to perform directional transmission and/or directional reception in conjunction with wirelessly communicating in a wireless network. Any of the user device(s) 120 (e.g., user devices 124, 126, 128), and AP(s) 102 may be configured to perform such directional transmission and/or reception using a set of multiple antenna arrays (e.g., DMG antenna arrays or the like). Each of the multiple antenna arrays may be used for transmission and/or reception in a particular respective direction or range of directions. Any of the user device(s) 120 (e.g., user devices 124, 126, 128), and AP(s) 102 may be configured to perform any given directional transmission towards one or more defined transmit sectors. Any of the user device(s) 120 (e.g., user devices 124, 126, 128), and AP(s) 102 may be configured to perform any given directional reception from one or more defined receive sectors.
MIMO beamforming in a wireless network may be accomplished using RF beamforming and/or digital beamforming. In some embodiments, in performing a given MIMO transmission, user devices 120 and/or AP(s) 102 may be configured to use all or a subset of its one or more communications antennas to perform MIMO beamforming.
Any of the user devices 120 (e.g., user devices 124, 126, 128), and AP(s) 102 may include any suitable radio and/or transceiver for transmitting and/or receiving radio frequency (RF) signals in the bandwidth and/or channels corresponding to the communications protocols utilized by any of the user device(s) 120 and AP(s) 102 to communicate with each other. The
radio components may include hardware and/or software to modulate and/or demodulate communications signals according to pre-established transmission protocols. The radio components may further have hardware and/or software instructions to communicate via one or more Wi-Fi and/or Wi-Fi direct protocols, as standardized by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 standards. In certain example embodiments, the radio component, in cooperation with the communications antennas, may be configured to communicate via 2.4 GHz channels (e.g. 802.11b, 802.11g, 802.1 In, 802.1 lax), 5 GHz channels (e.g. 802.11n, 802.11ac, 802.11ax), or 60 GHZ channels (e.g. 802.11ad, 802.11ay). 800 MHz channels (e.g. 802.1 lah). The communications antennas may operate at 28 GHz and 40 GHz. It should be understood that this list of communication channels in accordance with certain 802.11 standards is only a partial list and that other 802.11 standards may be used (e.g., Next Generation Wi-Fi, or other standards). In some embodiments, non-Wi-Fi protocols may be used for communications between devices, such as Bluetooth, dedicated short-range communication (DSRC), Ultra- High Frequency (UHF) (e.g. IEEE 802.11af, IEEE 802.22), white band frequency (e.g., white spaces), or other packetized radio communications. The radio component may include any known receiver and baseband suitable for communicating via the communications protocols. The radio component may further include a low noise amplifier (LNA), additional signal amplifiers, an analog-to-digital (A/D) converter, one or more buffers, and digital baseband.
In one or more embodiments, and with reference to FIG. 1 A, AP 102 may be considered an A MLD 138 logical/virtual entity with multiple AP STAs (e.g., AP 1 and AP 2), and a user device of the user devices 120 may be considered a MLD 140 logical/virtual entity with multiple non-AP STAs (e.g., non-AP STA 1 and non-AP STA 2). A first link 142 may be established between the AP 1 and the non-AP STA 1, and a second link 144 may be established between the AP 2 and the non-AP STA 2. Both the first link 142 and the second link 144 may be used simultaneously (e.g., the AP 102 and/or the user device 120 do not need to drop one of the links to use the other link). One or more frames 146 may be sent across the first link 142, and one or more frames 147 may be sent across the second link 144.
In one or more embodiments, to provide a non-collocated MLD environment, the AP(s) 102 may represent multiple multi-link sets (e.g., as shown in FIGs. IB and 1C), with the multilink sets being in communication with a controller.
In one embodiment, and with reference to FIG. 1A, the non-AP STA 1 may be associated to the AP 1 using the first link 142 while the non-AP STA 2 may be unassociated to the AP 2. The frames 147 may be authentication request frames, unassociated STA availability
frames, association request frames, acknowledgment frames, and/or other frames that may indicate to the AP 2 as a target AP when the non-AP STA 2 will and will not be available on the first link 142. The frames 146 may be acknowledgement frames, authentication response frames, and association response frames, sent based on the signaled non-AP STA 2 availability (e.g., signaled by the frames 147).
FIG. IB depicts an illustrative schematic diagram for MLD communications 150 between two logical entities, in accordance with one or more example embodiments of the present disclosure.
Referring to FIG. IB, there are shown two MLDs in communication with each other. MLD 151 may include multiple STAs (e.g., STA 152, STA 154, STA 156, etc.), and MLD 160 may include multiple STAs (e.g., STA 162, STA 164, STA 166, etc.). The STAs of the MLD 151 and the STAs of the MLD 160 may set up links with each other (e.g., link 167 for a first frequency band used by the STA 152 and the STA 162, link 168 for a second frequency band used by the STA 154 and the STA 164, link 169 for a second frequency band used by the STA 156 and the STA 166). In this example of FIG. IB, the two MLDs may be two separate physical devices, where each one comprises a number of virtual or logical devices (e.g., the STAs).
FIG. 1C depicts an illustrative schematic diagram for MLD communications 170 between an AP MLD with logical entities and a non-AP MLD with logical entities, in accordance with one or more example embodiments of the present disclosure.
Referring to FIG. 1C, there are shown two MLDs on either side, each which includes multiple STAs that can set up links with each other. For infrastructure framework, MLD 172 may be an A-MLD with logical APs (e.g., AP 174, AP 176, and AP 178) on one side, and MLD 180 may be a non-AP MLD including non-AP logical entities (non-AP STA 182, non-AP STA 184, and non-AP STA 186) on the other side. The detailed definition is shown below. It should be noted that the term MLLE and MLD are interchangeable and indicate the same type of entity. Throughout this disclosure, MLLE may be used but anywhere the MLLE term is used, it can be replaced with MLD. Multi-link non-AP logical entity (non-AP MLLE, also can be referred to as non-AP MLD): A multi-link logical entity, where each STA within the multilink logical entity is a non-AP EHT STA. It should be noted that this framework is a natural extension from the one link operation between two STAs, which are AP and non-AP STA under the infrastructure framework (e.g., when an AP is used as a medium for communication between STAs).
In the example of FIG. 1C, the MLD 172 and the MLD 180 may be two separate physical devices, where each one comprises a number of virtual or logical devices. For
example, the multi-link AP logical entity may comprise three APs, AP 174 operating on 2.4 GHz (e.g., link 188), AP 176 operating on 5 GHz (e.g., link 190), and AP 178 operating on 6 GHz (e.g., link 192). Further, the multi-link non-AP logical entity may comprise three non- AP STAs, non-AP STA 182 communicating with AP 174 on link 188, non-AP STA 184 communicating with AP 176 on link 190, and non-AP STA 186 communicating with AP 178 on link 192.
The MLD 172 is shown in FIG. 1C to have access to a distribution system (DS), which is a system used to interconnect a set of BSSs to create an extended service set (ESS). The MLD 172 is also shown in FIG. 1C to have access a distribution system medium (DSM), which is the medium used by a DS for BSS interconnections. Simply put, DS and DSM allow the AP to communicate with different BSSs.
It should be understood that although the example shows three logical entities within the MLD 172 and the three logical entities within the MLD 180, this is merely for illustration purposes and that other numbers of logical entities with each of the MLDs may be envisioned.
It is understood that the above descriptions are for purposes of illustration and are not meant to be limiting.
FIG. 2 depicts a process 200 for signaling station (STA) availability to an unassociated AP, in accordance with one or more example embodiments of the present disclosure.
Referring to FIG. 2, a STA 202 (e.g., a MLD or non-MLD) may communicate with an AP 204 (e.g., an A-MLD or non-MLD). The STA 202 may generate and send an 802.11 authentication request frame 206 to the AP 204 (e.g., the STA 202 may be unauthenticated and unassociated to the AP 204 even if the STA 202 is part of a MLD that is associated to another AP on a different link as described with respect to FIG. 1A). In response to the 802.11 authentication request frame 206, the AP 204 may send an Ack 208 (e.g., when the Ack 208 is not received, the STA 202 may repeat the 802.11 authentication request frame 206). After receiving the Ack 208, the STA 202 may generate and send an unassociated STA availability frame 210 to indicate to the AP 204 that the STA 202 will be unavailable on the link with which the STA 202 sent the 802.11 authentication request frame 206. Then, the STA 202 may be unavailable for a time 214, during which the AP 204 may refrain 216 from transmitting to the STA 202 until the STA 202 returns to the link and indicates that it is available again.
Still referring to FIG. 2, when the STA 202 returns to the link, the STA 202 may generate and send an unassociated STA availability frame 218 to indicate that the STA 202 is available again on the link. The AP 204 may respond by sending an Ack 220, then may respond to the 802.11 authentication request frame 206 by generating and sending an 802.11
authentication response frame 222 to confirm that the STA 202 has been authenticated to the AP 204. The STA 202 may respond by sending an Ack 224. When the STA 202 is to become unavailable to the AP 204 on the link again, the STA 202 may generate and send an unassociated STA availability frame 226 to indicate that it will be unavailable. The AP 204 may respond with an Ack 228, after which the STA 202 will be unavailable to the AP 204 on the link until the STA 202 returns and signals that it is again available.
FIG. 4 illustrates a flow diagram of illustrative process 400 for signaling STA availability to an unassociated AP, in accordance with one or more example embodiments of the present disclosure.
At block 402, a station device (e.g., the user devices 120 of FIG. 1A, the MLD 151 of FIG. IB, the MLD 180 of FIG. 1C, the STA 202 of FIG. 2 and FIG. 3, the enhanced signaling device 619) may generate a first frame indicating that the station device may be unavailable on a communication link (e.g., because the station device may be active on another communication link with another AP to which the station device may be associated). The first frame may be an unassociated STA availability frame, an 802.11 authentication request frame, or another 802.11 management frame.
At block 404, the station device may transmit the first frame on the communication link (e.g., the second link 144 of FIG. 1A) to the AP, which may respond with an Ack, then the station device may leave the communication link and be unavailable on the communication link for a time.
At block 406, the station device may generate a second frame indicating that the station device is available on the communication link again. The second frame may be an unassociated STA availability frame, an 802.11 authentication request frame, and 802.11 association request frame, or another 802.11 management frame.
At block 408, the station device may transmit the second frame on the communication link to the AP after transmitting the first frame and being unavailable for a time on the communication link. In this manner, the station device may be signaling its return to the communication link.
At block 410, the station device may identify an 802.11 authentication response received from the AP after transmitting the second frame. When the first frame is not an 802.11 authentication request frame, the station device may transmit an 802.11 authentication request frame prior to the first frame, in which case the first frame may indicate to the AP not to respond to the 802.11 authentication request frame until after the station device indicates that it has returned to the communication link.
It is understood that the above descriptions are for purposes of illustration and are not meant to be limiting.
FIG. 5 shows a functional diagram of an exemplary communication station 500, in accordance with one or more example embodiments of the present disclosure. In one embodiment, FIG. 5 illustrates a functional block diagram of a communication station that may be suitable for use as an AP 102 (FIG. 1A) or a user device 120 (FIG. 1A) in accordance with some embodiments. The communication station 500 may also be suitable for use as a handheld device, a mobile device, a cellular telephone, a smartphone, a tablet, a netbook, a wireless terminal, a laptop computer, a wearable computer device, a femtocell, a high data rate (HDR) subscriber station, an access point, an access terminal, or other personal communication system (PCS) device.
The communication station 500 may include communications circuitry 502 and a transceiver 510 for transmitting and receiving signals to and from other communication stations using one or more antennas 501. The communications circuitry 502 may include circuitry that can operate the physical layer (PHY) communications and/or medium access control (MAC) communications for controlling access to the wireless medium, and/or any other communications layers for transmitting and receiving signals. The communication station 500 may also include processing circuitry 506 and memory 508 arranged to perform the operations described herein. In some embodiments, the communications circuitry 502 and the processing circuitry 506 may be configured to perform operations detailed in the above figures, diagrams, and flows.
In accordance with some embodiments, the communications circuitry 502 may be arranged to contend for a wireless medium and configure frames or packets for communicating over the wireless medium. The communications circuitry 502 may be arranged to transmit and receive signals. The communications circuitry 502 may also include circuitry for modulation/demodulation, upconversion/downconversion, filtering, amplification, etc. In some embodiments, the processing circuitry 506 of the communication station 500 may include one or more processors. In other embodiments, two or more antennas 501 may be coupled to the communications circuitry 502 arranged for sending and receiving signals. The memory 508 may store information for configuring the processing circuitry 506 to perform operations for configuring and transmitting message frames and performing the various operations described herein. The memory 508 may include any type of memory, including non-transitory memory, for storing information in a form readable by a machine (e.g., a computer). For example, the memory 508 may include a computer-readable storage device, read-only memory
(ROM), random-access memory (RAM), magnetic disk storage media, optical storage media, flash-memory devices and other storage devices and media.
In some embodiments, the communication station 500 may be part of a portable wireless communication device, such as a personal digital assistant (PDA), a laptop or portable computer with wireless communication capability, a web tablet, a wireless telephone, a smartphone, a wireless headset, a pager, an instant messaging device, a digital camera, an access point, a television, a medical device (e.g., a heart rate monitor, a blood pressure monitor, etc.), a wearable computer device, or another device that may receive and/or transmit information wirelessly.
In some embodiments, the communication station 500 may include one or more antennas 501. The antennas 501 may include one or more directional or omnidirectional antennas, including, for example, dipole antennas, monopole antennas, patch antennas, loop antennas, microstrip antennas, or other types of antennas suitable for transmission of RF signals. In some embodiments, instead of two or more antennas, a single antenna with multiple apertures may be used. In these embodiments, each aperture may be considered a separate antenna. In some multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) embodiments, the antennas may be effectively separated for spatial diversity and the different channel characteristics that may result between each of the antennas and the antennas of a transmitting station.
In some embodiments, the communication station 500 may include one or more of a keyboard, a display, a non-volatile memory port, multiple antennas, a graphics processor, an application processor, speakers, and other mobile device elements. The display may be an LCD screen including a touch screen.
Although the communication station 500 is illustrated as having several separate functional elements, two or more of the functional elements may be combined and may be implemented by combinations of software-configured elements, such as processing elements including digital signal processors (DSPs), and/or other hardware elements. For example, some elements may include one or more microprocessors, DSPs, field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), application specific integrated circuits (ASICs), radio-frequency integrated circuits (RFICs) and combinations of various hardware and logic circuitry for performing at least the functions described herein. In some embodiments, the functional elements of the communication station 500 may refer to one or more processes operating on one or more processing elements.
Certain embodiments may be implemented in one or a combination of hardware, firmware, and software. Other embodiments may also be implemented as instructions stored
on a computer-readable storage device, which may be read and executed by at least one processor to perform the operations described herein. A computer-readable storage device may include any non-transitory memory mechanism for storing information in a form readable by a machine (e.g., a computer). For example, a computer-readable storage device may include read-only memory (ROM), random-access memory (RAM), magnetic disk storage media, optical storage media, flash-memory devices, and other storage devices and media. In some embodiments, the communication station 500 may include one or more processors and may be configured with instructions stored on a computer-readable storage device.
FIG. 6 illustrates a block diagram of an example of a machine 600 or system upon which any one or more of the techniques (e.g., methodologies) discussed herein may be performed. In other embodiments, the machine 600 may operate as a standalone device or may be connected (e.g., networked) to other machines. In a networked deployment, the machine 600 may operate in the capacity of a server machine, a client machine, or both in server-client network environments. In an example, the machine 600 may act as a peer machine in peer-to-peer (P2P) (or other distributed) network environments. The machine 600 may be a personal computer (PC), a tablet PC, a set-top box (STB), a personal digital assistant (PDA), a mobile telephone, a wearable computer device, a web appliance, a network router, a switch or bridge, or any machine capable of executing instructions (sequential or otherwise) that specify actions to be taken by that machine, such as a base station. Further, while only a single machine is illustrated, the term “machine” shall also be taken to include any collection of machines that individually or jointly execute a set (or multiple sets) of instructions to perform any one or more of the methodologies discussed herein, such as cloud computing, software as a service (SaaS), or other computer cluster configurations.
Examples, as described herein, may include or may operate on logic or a number of components, modules, or mechanisms. Modules are tangible entities (e.g., hardware) capable of performing specified operations when operating. A module includes hardware. In an example, the hardware may be specifically configured to carry out a specific operation (e.g., hardwired). In another example, the hardware may include configurable execution units (e.g., transistors, circuits, etc.) and a computer readable medium containing instructions where the instructions configure the execution units to carry out a specific operation when in operation. The configuring may occur under the direction of the executions units or a loading mechanism. Accordingly, the execution units are communicatively coupled to the computer-readable medium when the device is operating. In this example, the execution units may be a member of more than one module. For example, under operation, the execution
units may be configured by a first set of instructions to implement a first module at one point in time and reconfigured by a second set of instructions to implement a second module at a second point in time.
The machine (e.g., computer system) 600 may include a hardware processor 602 (e.g., a central processing unit (CPU), a graphics processing unit (GPU), a hardware processor core, or any combination thereof), a main memory 604 and a static memory 606, some or all of which may communicate with each other via an interlink (e.g., bus) 608. The machine 600 may further include a power management device 632, a graphics display device 610, an alphanumeric input device 612 (e.g., a keyboard), and a user interface (UI) navigation device 614 (e.g., a mouse). In an example, the graphics display device 610, alphanumeric input device 612, and UI navigation device 614 may be a touch screen display. The machine 600 may additionally include a storage device (i.e., drive unit) 616, a signal generation device 618 (e.g., a speaker), one or more enhanced signaling device 619, a network interface device/transceiver 620 coupled to antenna(s) 630, and one or more sensors 628, such as a global positioning system (GPS) sensor, a compass, an accelerometer, or other sensor. The machine 600 may include an output controller 634, such as a serial (e.g., universal serial bus (USB), parallel, or other wired or wireless (e.g., infrared (IR), near field communication (NFC), etc.) connection to communicate with or control one or more peripheral devices (e.g., a printer, a card reader, etc.)). The operations in accordance with one or more example embodiments of the present disclosure may be carried out by a baseband processor. The baseband processor may be configured to generate corresponding baseband signals. The baseband processor may further include physical layer (PHY) and medium access control layer (MAC) circuitry, and may further interface with the hardware processor 602 for generation and processing of the baseband signals and for controlling operations of the main memory 604, the storage device 616, and/or the one or more enhanced signaling devices 619. The baseband processor may be provided on a single radio card, a single chip, or an integrated circuit (IC).
The storage device 616 may include a machine readable medium 622 on which is stored one or more sets of data structures or instructions 624 (e.g., software) embodying or utilized by any one or more of the techniques or fimctions described herein. The instructions 624 may also reside, completely or at least partially, within the main memory 604, within the static memory 606, or within the hardware processor 602 during execution thereof by the machine 600. In an example, one or any combination of the hardware processor 602, the main memory 604, the static memory 606, or the storage device 616 may constitute machine-readable media.
The one or more enhanced signaling devices 619 may carry out or perform any of the operations and processes (e.g., process 200, process 300, process 400) described and shown above.
It is understood that the above are only a subset of what the one or more enhanced signaling devices 619 may be configured to perform and that other functions included throughout this disclosure may also be performed by the one or more enhanced signaling devices 619.
While the machine-readable medium 622 is illustrated as a single medium, the term “machine-readable medium” may include a single medium or multiple media (e.g., a centralized or distributed database, and/or associated caches and servers) configured to store the one or more instructions 624.
Various embodiments may be implemented fully or partially in software and/or firmware. This software and/or firmware may take the form of instructions contained in or on a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium. Those instructions may then be read and executed by one or more processors to enable performance of the operations described herein. The instructions may be in any suitable form, such as but not limited to source code, compiled code, interpreted code, executable code, static code, dynamic code, and the like. Such a computer-readable medium may include any tangible non-transitory medium for storing information in a form readable by one or more computers, such as but not limited to read only memory (ROM); random access memory (RAM); magnetic disk storage media; optical storage media; a flash memory, etc.
The term “machine-readable medium” may include any medium that is capable of storing, encoding, or carrying instructions for execution by the machine 600 and that cause the machine 600 to perform any one or more of the techniques of the present disclosure, or that is capable of storing, encoding, or carrying data structures used by or associated with such instructions. Non- limiting machine-readable medium examples may include solid-state memories and optical and magnetic media. In an example, a massed machine-readable medium includes a machine -readable medium with a plurality of particles having resting mass. Specific examples of massed machine -readable media may include non-volatile memory, such as semiconductor memory devices (e.g., electrically programmable read-only memory (EPROM), or electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM)) and flash memory devices; magnetic disks, such as internal hard disks and removable disks; magneto-optical disks; and CD-ROM and DVD- ROM disks.
The instructions 624 may further be transmitted or received over a communications network 626 using a transmission medium via the network interface device/transceiver 620 utilizing any one of a number of transfer protocols (e.g., frame relay, internet protocol (IP), transmission control protocol (TCP), user datagram protocol (UDP), hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP), etc.). Example communications networks may include a local area network (LAN), a wide area network (WAN), a packet data network (e.g., the Internet), mobile telephone networks (e.g., cellular networks), plain old telephone (POTS) networks, wireless data networks (e.g., Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 family of standards known as Wi-Fi®, IEEE 802.16 family of standards known as WiMax®), IEEE 802.15.4 family of standards, and peer-to-peer (P2P) networks, among others. In an example, the network interface device/transceiver ZZ20 may include one or more physical jacks (e.g., Ethernet, coaxial, or phone jacks) or one or more antennas to connect to the communications network 626. In an example, the network interface device/transceiver 620 may include a plurality of antennas to wirelessly communicate using at least one of single-input multipleoutput (SIMO), multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO), or multiple-input single-output (MISO) techniques. The term “transmission medium” shall be taken to include any intangible medium that is capable of storing, encoding, or carrying instructions for execution by the machine 600 and includes digital or analog communications signals or other intangible media to facilitate communication of such software.
The operations and processes described and shown above may be carried out or performed in any suitable order as desired in various implementations. Additionally, in certain implementations, at least a portion of the operations may be carried out in parallel. Furthermore, in certain implementations, less than or more than the operations described may be performed.
FIG. 7 is a block diagram of a radio architecture 105A, 105B in accordance with some embodiments that may be implemented in any one of the example APs 102 and/or the example STAs 120 of FIG. 1A. Radio architecture 105A, 105B may include radio front-end module (FEM) circuitry 704a-b, radio IC circuitry 706a-b and baseband processing circuitry 708a-b. Radio architecture 105 A, 105B as shown includes both Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) functionality and Bluetooth (BT) functionality although embodiments are not so limited. In this disclosure, “WLAN” and “Wi-Fi” are used interchangeably.
FEM circuitry 704a-b may include a WLAN or Wi-Fi FEM circuitry 704a and a Bluetooth (BT) FEM circuitry 704b. The WLAN FEM circuitry 704a may include a receive signal path comprising circuitry configured to operate on WLAN RF signals received from one
or more antennas 701, to amplify the received signals and to provide the amplified versions of the received signals to the WLAN radio IC circuitry 706a for further processing. The BT FEM circuitry 704b may include a receive signal path which may include circuitry configured to operate on BT RF signals received from one or more antennas 701, to amplify the received signals and to provide the amplified versions of the received signals to the BT radio IC circuitry 706b for further processing. FEM circuitry 704a may also include a transmit signal path which may include circuitry configured to amplify WLAN signals provided by the radio IC circuitry 706a for wireless transmission by one or more of the antennas 701. In addition, FEM circuitry 704b may also include a transmit signal path which may include circuitry configured to amplify BT signals provided by the radio IC circuitry 706b for wireless transmission by the one or more antennas. In the embodiment of FIG. 7, although FEM 704a and FEM 704b are shown as being distinct from one another, embodiments are not so limited, and include within their scope the use of an FEM (not shown) that includes a transmit path and/or a receive path for both WLAN and BT signals, or the use of one or more FEM circuitries where at least some of the FEM circuitries share transmit and/or receive signal paths for both WLAN and BT signals.
Radio IC circuitry 706a-b as shown may include WLAN radio IC circuitry 706a and BT radio IC circuitry 706b. The WLAN radio IC circuitry 706a may include a receive signal path which may include circuitry to down-convert WLAN RF signals received from the FEM circuitry 704a and provide baseband signals to WLAN baseband processing circuitry 708a. BT radio IC circuitry 706b may in turn include a receive signal path which may include circuitry to down-convert BT RF signals received from the FEM circuitry 704b and provide baseband signals to BT baseband processing circuitry 708b. WLAN radio IC circuitry 706a may also include a transmit signal path which may include circuitry to up-convert WLAN baseband signals provided by the WLAN baseband processing circuitry 708a and provide WLAN RF output signals to the FEM circuitry 704a for subsequent wireless transmission by the one or more antennas 701. BT radio IC circuitry 706b may also include a transmit signal path which may include circuitry to up-convert BT baseband signals provided by the BT baseband processing circuitry 708b and provide BT RF output signals to the FEM circuitry 704b for subsequent wireless transmission by the one or more antennas 701. In the embodiment of FIG. 7, although radio IC circuitries 706a and 706b are shown as being distinct from one another, embodiments are not so limited, and include within their scope the use of a radio IC circuitry (not shown) that includes a transmit signal path and/or a receive signal path for both WLAN and BT signals, or the use of one or more radio IC circuitries where at least some of the radio IC circuitries share transmit and/or receive signal paths for both WLAN and BT signals.
Baseband processing circuity 708a-b may include a WLAN baseband processing circuitry 708a and a BT baseband processing circuitry 708b. The WLAN baseband processing circuitry 708a may include a memory, such as, for example, a set of RAM arrays in a Fast Fourier Transform or Inverse Fast Fourier Transform block (not shown) of the WLAN baseband processing circuitry 708a. Each of the WLAN baseband circuitry 708a and the BT baseband circuitry 708b may further include one or more processors and control logic to process the signals received from the corresponding WLAN or BT receive signal path of the radio IC circuitry 706a-b, and to also generate corresponding WLAN or BT baseband signals for the transmit signal path of the radio IC circuitry 706a-b. Each of the baseband processing circuitries 708a and 708b may further include physical layer (PHY) and medium access control layer (MAC) circuitry, and may further interface with a device for generation and processing of the baseband signals and for controlling operations of the radio IC circuitry 706a-b.
Referring still to FIG. 7, according to the shown embodiment, WLAN-BT coexistence circuitry 713 may include logic providing an interface between the WLAN baseband circuitry 708a and the BT baseband circuitry 708b to enable use cases requiring WLAN and BT coexistence. In addition, a switch 703 may be provided between the WLAN FEM circuitry 704a and the BT FEM circuitry 704b to allow switching between the WLAN and BT radios according to application needs. In addition, although the antennas 701 are depicted as being respectively connected to the WLAN FEM circuitry 704a and the BT FEM circuitry 704b, embodiments include within their scope the sharing of one or more antennas as between the WLAN and BT FEMs, or the provision of more than one antenna connected to each of FEM 704a or 704b.
In some embodiments, the front-end module circuitry 704a-b, the radio IC circuitry 706a-b, and baseband processing circuitry 708a-b may be provided on a single radio card, such as wireless radio card 702. In some other embodiments, the one or more antennas 701, the FEM circuitry 704a-b and the radio IC circuitry 706a-b may be provided on a single radio card. In some other embodiments, the radio IC circuitry 706a-b and the baseband processing circuitry 708a-b may be provided on a single chip or integrated circuit (IC), such as IC 712.
In some embodiments, the wireless radio card 702 may include a WLAN radio card and may be configured for Wi-Fi communications, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect. In some of these embodiments, the radio architecture 105A, 105B may be configured to receive and transmit orthogonal frequency division multiplexed (OFDM) or orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) communication signals over a multicarrier communication channel. The OFDM or OFDMA signals may comprise a plurality
of orthogonal subcarriers.
In some of these multicarrier embodiments, radio architecture 105A, 105B may be part of a Wi-Fi communication station (STA) such as a wireless access point (AP), a base station or a mobile device including a Wi-Fi device. In some of these embodiments, radio architecture 105A, 105B may be configured to transmit and receive signals in accordance with specific communication standards and/or protocols, such as any of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) standards including, 802.11n-2009, IEEE 802.11-2012, IEEE 802.11-2016, 802.11n-2009, 802.11ac, 802.11ah, 802.11ad, 802.11ay and/or 802.11ax standards and/or proposed specifications for WLANs, although the scope of embodiments is not limited in this respect. Radio architecture 105 A, 105B may also be suitable to transmit and/or receive communications in accordance with other techniques and standards.
In some embodiments, the radio architecture 105A, 105B may be configured for high- efficiency Wi-Fi (HEW) communications in accordance with the IEEE 802.1 lax standard. In these embodiments, the radio architecture 105A, 105B may be configured to communicate in accordance with an OFDMA technique, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect.
In some other embodiments, the radio architecture 105A, 105B may be configured to transmit and receive signals transmitted using one or more other modulation techniques such as spread spectrum modulation (e.g., direct sequence code division multiple access (DS- CDMA) and/or frequency hopping code division multiple access (FH-CDMA)), time-division multiplexing (TDM) modulation, and/or frequency-division multiplexing (FDM) modulation, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect.
In some embodiments, as further shown in FIG. 7, the BT baseband circuitry 708b may be compliant with a Bluetooth (BT) connectivity standard such as Bluetooth, Bluetooth 8.0 or Bluetooth 6.0, or any other iteration of the Bluetooth Standard.
In some embodiments, the radio architecture 105A, 105B may include other radio cards, such as a cellular radio card configured for cellular (e.g., 5 GPP such as LTE, LTE- Advanced or 7G communications).
In some IEEE 802.11 embodiments, the radio architecture 105 A, 105B may be configured for communication over various channel bandwidths including bandwidths having center frequencies of about 900 MHz, 2.4 GHz, 5 GHz, and bandwidths of about 2 MHz, 4 MHz, 5 MHz, 5.5 MHz, 6 MHz, 8 MHz, 10 MHz, 20 MHz, 40 MHz, 80 MHz (with contiguous bandwidths) or 80+80 MHz (160MHz) (with non-contiguous bandwidths). In some embodiments, a 920 MHz channel bandwidth may be used. The scope of the embodiments is
not limited with respect to the above center frequencies however.
FIG. 8 illustrates WLAN FEM circuitry 804a in accordance with some embodiments. Although the example of FIG. 8 is described in conjunction with the WLAN FEM circuitry 804a, the example of FIG. 8 may be described in conjunction with the example BT FEM circuitry 704b (FIG. 7), although other circuitry configurations may also be suitable.
In some embodiments, the FEM circuitry 704a may include a TX/RX switch 802 to switch between transmit mode and receive mode operation. The FEM circuitry 704a may include a receive signal path and a transmit signal path. The receive signal path of the FEM circuitry 704a may include a low-noise amplifier (LNA) 806 to amplify received RF signals 803 and provide the amplified received RF signals 807 as an output (e.g., to the radio IC circuitry 706a-b (FIG. 7)). The transmit signal path of the circuitry 704a may include a power amplifier (PA) to amplify input RF signals 809 (e.g., provided by the radio IC circuitry 706a- b), and one or more filters 812, such as band-pass filters (BPFs), low-pass filters (LPFs) or other types of filters, to generate RF signals 815 for subsequent transmission (e.g., by one or more of the antennas 701 (FIG. 7)) via an example duplexer 814.
In some dual-mode embodiments for Wi-Fi communication, the FEM circuitry 704a may be configured to operate in either the 2.4 GHz frequency spectrum or the 5 GHz frequency spectrum. In these embodiments, the receive signal path of the FEM circuitry 704a may include a receive signal path duplexer 804 to separate the signals from each spectrum as well as provide a separate LNA 806 for each spectrum as shown. In these embodiments, the transmit signal path of the FEM circuitry 704a may also include a power amplifier 810 and a filter 812, such as a BPF, an LPF or another type of filter for each frequency spectrum and a transmit signal path duplexer 804 to provide the signals of one of the different spectrums onto a single transmit path for subsequent transmission by the one or more of the antennas 801 (FIG. 8). In some embodiments, BT communications may utilize the 2.4 GHz signal paths and may utilize the same FEM circuitry 804a as the one used for WLAN communications.
FIG. 9 illustrates radio IC circuitry 706a in accordance with some embodiments. The radio IC circuitry 706a is one example of circuitry that may be suitable for use as the WLAN or BT radio IC circuitry 706a/706b (FIG. 7), although other circuitry configurations may also be suitable. Alternatively, the example of FIG. 9 may be described in conjunction with the example BT radio IC circuitry 706b.
In some embodiments, the radio IC circuitry 706a may include a receive signal path and a transmit signal path. The receive signal path of the radio IC circuitry 706a may include at least mixer circuitry 902, such as, for example, down-conversion mixer circuitry, amplifier
circuitry 906 and filter circuitry 908. The transmit signal path of the radio IC circuitry 706a may include at least filter circuitry 912 and mixer circuitry 914, such as, for example, up- conversion mixer circuitry. Radio IC circuitry 706a may also include synthesizer circuitry 904 for synthesizing a frequency 905 for use by the mixer circuitry 902 and the mixer circuitry 914. The mixer circuitry 902 and/or 914 may each, according to some embodiments, be configured to provide direct conversion functionality. The latter type of circuitry presents a much simpler architecture as compared with standard super-heterodyne mixer circuitries, and any flicker noise brought about by the same may be alleviated for example through the use of OFDM modulation. FIG. 9 illustrates only a simplified version of a radio IC circuitry, and may include, although not shown, embodiments where each of the depicted circuitries may include more than one component. For instance, mixer circuitry 914 may each include one or more mixers, and filter circuitries 908 and/or 912 may each include one or more filters, such as one or more BPFs and/or LPFs according to application needs. For example, when mixer circuitries are of the direct-conversion type, they may each include two or more mixers.
In some embodiments, mixer circuitry 902 may be configured to down-convert RF signals 807 received from the FEM circuitry 704a-b (FIG. 7) based on the synthesized frequency 905 provided by synthesizer circuitry 904. The amplifier circuitry 906 may be configured to amplify the down-converted signals and the filter circuitry 908 may include an LPF configured to remove unwanted signals from the down-converted signals to generate output baseband signals 907. Output baseband signals 907 may be provided to the baseband processing circuitry 708a-b (FIG. 7) for further processing. In some embodiments, the output baseband signals 907 may be zero-frequency baseband signals, although this is not a requirement. In some embodiments, mixer circuitry 902 may comprise passive mixers, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect.
In some embodiments, the mixer circuitry 914 may be configured to up-convert input baseband signals 911 based on the synthesized frequency 905 provided by the synthesizer circuitry 904 to generate RF output signals 809 for the FEM circuitry 704a-b. The baseband signals 911 may be provided by the baseband processing circuitry 708a-b and may be filtered by filter circuitry 912. The filter circuitry 912 may include an LPF or a BPF, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect.
In some embodiments, the mixer circuitry 902 and the mixer circuitry 914 may each include two or more mixers and may be arranged for quadrature down-conversion and/or up- conversion respectively with the help of synthesizer 904. In some embodiments, the mixer circuitry 902 and the mixer circuitry 914 may each include two or more mixers each configured
for image rejection (e.g., Hartley image rejection). In some embodiments, the mixer circuitry 902 and the mixer circuitry 914 may be arranged for direct down-conversion and/or direct up- conversion, respectively. In some embodiments, the mixer circuitry 902 and the mixer circuitry 914 may be configured for super-heterodyne operation, although this is not a requirement.
Mixer circuitry 902 may comprise, according to one embodiment: quadrature passive mixers (e.g., for the in-phase (I) and quadrature phase (Q) paths). In such an embodiment, RF input signal 807 from FIG. 8 may be down-converted to provide I and Q baseband output signals to be sent to the baseband processor.
Quadrature passive mixers may be driven by zero and ninety-degree time-varying LO switching signals provided by a quadrature circuitry which may be configured to receive a LO frequency (fLO) from a local oscillator or a synthesizer, such as LO frequency 905 of synthesizer 904 (FIG. 9). In some embodiments, the LO frequency may be the carrier frequency, while in other embodiments, the LO frequency may be a fraction of the carrier frequency (e.g., one -half the carrier frequency, one-third the carrier frequency). In some embodiments, the zero and ninety-degree time- varying switching signals may be generated by the synthesizer, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect.
In some embodiments, the LO signals may differ in duty cycle (the percentage of one period in which the LO signal is high) and/or offset (the difference between start points of the period). In some embodiments, the LO signals may have an 85% duty cycle and an 80% offset. In some embodiments, each branch of the mixer circuitry (e.g., the in-phase (I) and quadrature phase (Q) path) may operate at an 80% duty cycle, which may result in a significant reduction is power consumption.
The RF input signal 807 (FIG. 8) may comprise a balanced signal, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect. The I and Q baseband output signals may be provided to low-noise amplifier, such as amplifier circuitry 906 (FIG. 9) or to filter circuitry 908 (FIG. 9).
In some embodiments, the output baseband signals 907 and the input baseband signals 911 may be analog baseband signals, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect. In some alternate embodiments, the output baseband signals 907 and the input baseband signals 911 may be digital baseband signals. In these alternate embodiments, the radio IC circuitry may include analog-to-digital converter (ADC) and digital-to-analog converter (DAC) circuitry.
In some dual-mode embodiments, a separate radio IC circuitry may be provided for processing signals for each spectrum, or for other spectrums not mentioned here, although the
scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect.
In some embodiments, the synthesizer circuitry 904 may be a fractional-N synthesizer or a fractional N/N+l synthesizer, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect as other types of frequency synthesizers may be suitable. For example, synthesizer circuitry 904 may be a delta-sigma synthesizer, a frequency multiplier, or a synthesizer comprising a phase-locked loop with a frequency divider. According to some embodiments, the synthesizer circuitry 904 may include digital synthesizer circuitry. An advantage of using a digital synthesizer circuitry is that, although it may still include some analog components, its footprint may be scaled down much more than the footprint of an analog synthesizer circuitry. In some embodiments, frequency input into synthesizer circuity 904 may be provided by a voltage controlled oscillator (VCO), although that is not a requirement. A divider control input may further be provided by either the baseband processing circuitry 808a-b (FIG. 8) depending on the desired output frequency 905. In some embodiments, a divider control input (e.g., N) may be determined from a look-up table (e.g., within a Wi-Fi card) based on a channel number and a channel center frequency as determined or indicated by the example application processor 710. The application processor 710 may include, or otherwise be connected to, one of the example secure signal converter 101 or the example received signal converter 103 (e.g., depending on which device the example radio architecture is implemented in).
In some embodiments, synthesizer circuitry 904 may be configured to generate a carrier frequency as the output frequency 905, while in other embodiments, the output frequency 905 may be a fraction of the carrier frequency (e.g., one-half the carrier frequency, one-third the carrier frequency). In some embodiments, the output frequency 905 may be a LO frequency (fLO).
FIG. 10 illustrates a functional block diagram of baseband processing circuitry 708a in accordance with some embodiments. The baseband processing circuitry 708a is one example of circuitry that may be suitable for use as the baseband processing circuitry 708a (FIG. 7), although other circuitry configurations may also be suitable. Alternatively, the example of FIG. 9 may be used to implement the example BT baseband processing circuitry 708b of FIG. 7.
The baseband processing circuitry 708a may include a receive baseband processor (RX BBP) 1002 for processing receive baseband signals 909 provided by the radio IC circuitry 706a-b (FIG. 7) and a transmit baseband processor (TX BBP) 1004 for generating transmit baseband signals 911 for the radio IC circuitry 706a-b. The baseband processing circuitry 708a may also include control logic 1006 for coordinating the operations of the baseband processing
circuitry 708a.
In some embodiments (e.g., when analog baseband signals are exchanged between the baseband processing circuitry 708a-b and the radio IC circuitry 706a-b), the baseband processing circuitry 708a may include ADC 1010 to convert analog baseband signals 1009 received from the radio IC circuitry 706a-b to digital baseband signals for processing by the RX BBP 1002. In these embodiments, the baseband processing circuitry 708a may also include DAC 1012 to convert digital baseband signals from the TX BBP 1004 to analog baseband signals 1011.
In some embodiments that communicate OFDM signals or OFDMA signals, such as through baseband processor 708a, the transmit baseband processor 1004 may be configured to generate OFDM or OFDMA signals as appropriate for transmission by performing an inverse fast Fourier transform (IFFT). The receive baseband processor 1002 may be configured to process received OFDM signals or OFDMA signals by performing an FFT. In some embodiments, the receive baseband processor 1002 may be configured to detect the presence of an OFDM signal or OFDMA signal by performing an autocorrelation, to detect a preamble, such as a short preamble, and by performing a cross-correlation, to detect a long preamble. The preambles may be part of a predetermined frame structure for Wi-Fi communication.
Referring back to FIG. 7, in some embodiments, the antennas 701 (FIG. 7) may each comprise one or more directional or omnidirectional antennas, including, for example, dipole antennas, monopole antennas, patch antennas, loop antennas, microstrip antennas or other types of antennas suitable for transmission of RF signals. In some multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) embodiments, the antennas may be effectively separated to take advantage of spatial diversity and the different channel characteristics that may result. Antennas 701 may each include a set of phased-array antennas, although embodiments are not so limited.
Although the radio architecture 105A, 105B is illustrated as having several separate functional elements, one or more of the functional elements may be combined and may be implemented by combinations of software-configured elements, such as processing elements including digital signal processors (DSPs), and/or other hardware elements. For example, some elements may comprise one or more microprocessors, DSPs, field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), application specific integrated circuits (ASICs), radio-frequency integrated circuits (RFICs) and combinations of various hardware and logic circuitry for performing at least the functions described herein. In some embodiments, the functional elements may refer to one or more processes operating on one or more processing elements.
The word “exemplary” is used herein to mean “serving as an example, instance, or illustration.” Any embodiment described herein as “exemplary” is not necessarily to be construed as preferred or advantageous over other embodiments. The terms “computing device,” “user device,” “communication station,” “station,” “handheld device,” “mobile device,” “wireless device” and “user equipment” (UE) as used herein refers to a wireless communication device such as a cellular telephone, a smartphone, a tablet, a netbook, a wireless terminal, a laptop computer, a femtocell, a high data rate (HDR) subscriber station, an access point, a printer, a point of sale device, an access terminal, or other personal communication system (PCS) device. The device may be either mobile or stationary.
As used within this document, the term “communicate” is intended to include transmitting, or receiving, or both transmitting and receiving. This may be particularly useful in claims when describing the organization of data that is being transmitted by one device and received by another, but only the functionality of one of those devices is required to infringe the claim. Similarly, the bidirectional exchange of data between two devices (both devices transmit and receive during the exchange) may be described as “communicating,” when only the functionality of one of those devices is being claimed. The term “communicating” as used herein with respect to a wireless communication signal includes transmitting the wireless communication signal and/or receiving the wireless communication signal. For example, a wireless communication unit, which is capable of communicating a wireless communication signal, may include a wireless transmitter to transmit the wireless communication signal to at least one other wireless communication unit, and/or a wireless communication receiver to receive the wireless communication signal from at least one other wireless communication unit.
As used herein, unless otherwise specified, the use of the ordinal adjectives “first,” “second,” “third,” etc., to describe a common object, merely indicates that different instances of like objects are being referred to and are not intended to imply that the objects so described must be in a given sequence, either temporally, spatially, in ranking, or in any other manner.
The term “access point” (AP) as used herein may be a fixed station. An access point may also be referred to as an access node, a base station, an evolved node B (eNodeB), or some other similar terminology known in the art. An access terminal may also be called a mobile station, user equipment (UE), a wireless communication device, or some other similar terminology known in the art. Embodiments disclosed herein generally pertain to wireless networks. Some embodiments may relate to wireless networks that operate in accordance with one of the IEEE 802.11 standards.
Some embodiments may be used in conjunction with various devices and systems, for example, a personal computer (PC), a desktop computer, a mobile computer, a laptop computer, a notebook computer, a tablet computer, a server computer, a handheld computer, a handheld device, a personal digital assistant (PDA) device, a handheld PDA device, an onboard device, an off-board device, a hybrid device, a vehicular device, a non- vehicular device, a mobile or portable device, a consumer device, a non-mobile or non-portable device, a wireless communication station, a wireless communication device, a wireless access point (AP), a wired or wireless router, a wired or wireless modem, a video device, an audio device, an audio- video (A/V) device, a wired or wireless network, a wireless area network, a wireless video area network (WVAN), a local area network (LAN), a wireless LAN (WLAN), a personal area network (PAN), a wireless PAN (WPAN), and the like.
Some embodiments may be used in conjunction with one way and/or two-way radio communication systems, cellular radio-telephone communication systems, a mobile phone, a cellular telephone, a wireless telephone, a personal communication system (PCS) device, a PDA device which incorporates a wireless communication device, a mobile or portable global positioning system (GPS) device, a device which incorporates a GPS receiver or transceiver or chip, a device which incorporates an RFID element or chip, a multiple input multiple output (MIMO) transceiver or device, a single input multiple output (SIMO) transceiver or device, a multiple input single output (MISO) transceiver or device, a device having one or more internal antennas and/or external antennas, digital video broadcast (DVB) devices or systems, multistandard radio devices or systems, a wired or wireless handheld device, e.g., a smartphone, a wireless application protocol (WAP) device, or the like.
Some embodiments may be used in conjunction with one or more types of wireless communication signals and/or systems following one or more wireless communication protocols, for example, radio frequency (RF), infrared (IR), frequency-division multiplexing (FDM), orthogonal FDM (OFDM), time-division multiplexing (TDM), time-division multiple access (TDMA), extended TDMA (E-TDMA), general packet radio service (GPRS), extended GPRS, code-division multiple access (CDMA), wideband CDMA (WCDMA), CDMA 2000, single-carrier CDMA, multi-carrier CDMA, multi-carrier modulation (MDM), discrete multi- tone (DMT), Bluetooth®, global positioning system (GPS), Wi-Fi, Wi-Max, ZigBee, ultra- wideband (UWB), global system for mobile communications (GSM), 2G, 2.5G, 3G, 3.5G, 4G, fifth generation (5G) mobile networks, 3 GPP, long term evolution (LTE), LTE advanced,
enhanced data rates for GSM Evolution (EDGE), or the like. Other embodiments may be used in various other devices, systems, and/or networks.
The following examples pertain to further embodiments.
Example 1 may include an apparatus of a station device for signaling unavailability to an access point (AP), the station device comprising processing circuitry coupled to storage, the processing circuitry configured to: generate a first frame indicating that the station device will be unavailable on a communication link; cause the station device to transmit the first frame on the communication link to the AP prior to associating to the AP; generate a second frame indicating that the station device is available on the communication link; cause the station device to transmit the second frame on the communication link to the AP after being unavailable after transmitting the first frame; and identify an 802.11 authentication response received from the AP, after transmitting the second frame, indicating that the station device has been authenticated to the AP.
Example 2 may include the apparatus of example 1 and/or any other example herein, wherein the first frame is an 802.11 authentication request frame.
Example 3 may include the apparatus of example 2 and/or any other example herein, wherein one bit of a power management field of the 802.11 authentication request frame indicates that the station device will be unavailable on the communication link.
Example 4 may include the apparatus of example 1 and/or any other example herein, wherein the first frame is an unassociated availability frame, and wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to: cause the station device to transmit an 802.11 authentication request frame on the communication link to the AP prior to transmitting the unassociated availability frame.
Example 5 may include the apparatus of example 1 and/or any other example herein, the processing circuitry is further configured to: cause the station device to transmit an 802.11 association request frame on the communication link to the AP after receiving the 802.11 authentication response frame, wherein the 802.11 association request frame indicates that the station device will be unavailable on the communication link; cause the station device to transmit a third frame on the communication link to the AP after being unavailable after to transmitting the 802.11 association request frame, the third frame indicating that the station device is available on the communication link; and identify an 802.11 association response frame received from the AP, after transmitting the third frame, indicating that the station device has been associated to the AP.
Example 6 may include the apparatus of example 5 and/or any other example herein,
wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to: cause the station device to transmit an acknowledgement to the 802.11 association response frame, the acknowledgement indicating that the station device will be unavailable on the communication link.
Example 7 may include the apparatus of any of examples 1-6 and/or any other example herein, wherein the station device is a multi-link device (MLD) associated to a second AP on a second communication link while unassociated to the AP on the communication link.
Example 8 may include the apparatus of example 1 and/or any other example herein, wherein the station device is available to a second AP on a second communication link while unavailable to the AP on the communication link.
Example 9 may include a computer-readable medium storing instructions to cause processing circuitry of an access point (AP) for signaling unassociated station device availability, upon execution of the instructions by the processing circuitry, to: identify a first frame received from a station device (STA) on a communication link, the STA unassociated to the AP; determine, based on the first frame, that the STA is unavailable on the communication link; refrain from causing the AP from transmitting to the STA on the communication link based on the first frame; identify a second frame received from the STA on the communication link; determine, based on the second frame, that the STA is available on the communication link; and cause the AP to transmit, after receiving the second frame, an 802.11 authentication response frame indicating that the STA has been authenticated to the AP.
Example 10 may include the computer-readable medium of example 9 and/or any other example herein, wherein the first frame is an 802.11 authentication request frame.
Example 11 may include the computer-readable medium of example 10 and/or any other example herein, wherein one bit of a power management field of the 802.11 authentication request frame indicates that the STA will be unavailable on the communication link.
Example 12 may include the computer-readable medium of example 9 and/or any other example herein, wherein the first frame is an unassociated availability frame, and wherein execution of the instructions further causes the processing circuitry to: identify an 802.11 authentication request frame received from the STA on the communication link prior to receiving the unassociated availability frame.
Example 13 may include the computer-readable medium of example 9 and/or any other example herein, wherein execution of the instructions further causes the processing circuitry to: identify an 802.11 association request frame received from the STA on the communication link after transmitting the 802.11 authentication response frame, wherein the 802.11 association
request frame indicates that that STA will be unavailable on the communication link; refrain from transmitting to the STA based on the 802.11 association request frame; identify a third frame received from the STA on the communication link, the third frame indicating that the station device is available on the communication link; and cause the AP to transmit an 802.11 association response to the STA on the communication link after receiving the third frame, indicating that the STA has been associated to the AP.
Example 14 may include the computer-readable medium of example 9 and/or any other example herein, wherein execution of the instructions further causes the processing circuitry to: Identify an acknowledgement to the 802.11 association response received from the STA on the communication link, the acknowledgement indicating that the STA will be unavailable on the communication link.
Example 15 may include the computer-readable medium of example 9 and/or any other example herein, wherein the AP is an AP multi-link device (MLD).
Example 16 may include a method for signaling unavailability to an access point (AP), the method comprising: generating, by processing circuitry of a station device, a first frame indicating that the station device will be unavailable on a communication link; causing, by the processing circuitry, the station device to transmit the first frame on the communication link to the AP prior to associating to the AP; generating, by the processing circuitry, a second frame indicating that the station device is available on the communication link; causing, by the processing circuitry, the station device to transmit the second frame on the communication link to the AP after being unavailable after transmitting the first frame; and identifying, by the processing circuitry, an 802.11 authentication response received from the AP, after transmitting the second frame, indicating that the station device has been authenticated to the AP.
Example 17 may include the method of example 16 and/or any other example herein, wherein the first frame is an 802.11 authentication request frame.
Example 18 may include the method of example 17 and/or any other example herein, wherein one bit of a power management field of the 802.11 authentication request frame indicates that the station device will be unavailable on the communication link.
Example 19 may include the method of example 16 and/or any other example herein, wherein the first frame is an unassociated availability frame, the method further comprising: causing the station device to transmit an 802.11 authentication request frame on the communication link to the AP prior to transmitting the unassociated availability frame.
Example 20 may include the method of example 16 and/or any other example herein, further comprising: causing the station device to transmit an 802.11 association request frame on
the communication link to the AP after receiving the 802.11 authentication response frame, wherein the 802.11 association request frame indicates that the station device will be unavailable on the communication link; causing the station device to transmit a third frame on the communication link to the AP after being unavailable after to transmitting the 802.11 association request frame, the third frame indicating that the station device is available on the communication link; and identifying an 802.11 association response frame received from the AP, after transmitting the third frame, indicating that the station device has been associated to the AP.
Example 21 may include the method of example 20 and/or any other example herein, further comprising: causing the station device to transmit an acknowledgement to the 802.11 association response frame, the acknowledgement indicating that the station device will be unavailable on the communication link.
Example 22 may include the method of any of examples 16-20 and/or any other example herein, wherein the station device is a multi-link device (MLD) associated to a second AP on a second communication link while unassociated to the AP on the communication link.
Example 23 may include the method of example 16 and/or any other example herein, wherein the station device is available to a second AP on a second communication link while unavailable to the AP on the communication link.
Example 24 may include an apparatus comprising means for: generating a first frame indicating that the station device will be unavailable on a communication link; causing the station device to transmit the first frame on the communication link to the AP prior to associating to the AP; generating a second frame indicating that the station device is available on the communication link; causing the station device to transmit the second frame on the communication link to the AP after being unavailable after transmitting the first frame; and identifying an 802.11 authentication response received from the AP, after transmitting the second frame, indicating that the station device has been authenticated to the AP.
Example 25 may include one or more non-transitory computer-readable media comprising instructions to cause an electronic device, upon execution of the instructions by one or more processors of the electronic device, to perform one or more elements of a method described in or related to any of examples 1-24, or any other method or process described herein.
Example 26 may include an apparatus comprising logic, modules, and/or circuitry to perform one or more elements of a method described in or related to any of examples 1-24, or any other method or process described herein.
Example 27 may include a method, technique, or process as described in or related to any of examples 1-24, or portions or parts thereof.
Example 28 may include an apparatus comprising: one or more processors and one or more computer readable media comprising instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform the method, techniques, or process as described in or related to any of examples 1-24, or portions thereof.
Example 29 may include a method of communicating in a wireless network as shown and described herein.
Example 30 may include a system for providing wireless communication as shown and described herein.
Example 31 may include a device for providing wireless communication as shown and described herein.
Embodiments according to the disclosure are in particular disclosed in the attached claims directed to a method, a storage medium, a device and a computer program product, wherein any feature mentioned in one claim category, e.g., method, can be claimed in another claim category, e.g., system, as well. The dependencies or references back in the attached claims are chosen for formal reasons only. However, any subject matter resulting from a deliberate reference back to any previous claims (in particular multiple dependencies) can be claimed as well, so that any combination of claims and the features thereof are disclosed and can be claimed regardless of the dependencies chosen in the attached claims. The subjectmatter which can be claimed comprises not only the combinations of features as set out in the attached claims but also any other combination of features in the claims, wherein each feature mentioned in the claims can be combined with any other feature or combination of other features in the claims. Furthermore, any of the embodiments and features described or depicted herein can be claimed in a separate claim and/or in any combination with any embodiment or feature described or depicted herein or with any of the features of the attached claims.
The foregoing description of one or more implementations provides illustration and description, but is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the scope of embodiments to the precise form disclosed. Modifications and variations are possible in light of the above teachings or may be acquired from practice of various embodiments.
Certain aspects of the disclosure are described above with reference to block and flow diagrams of systems, methods, apparatuses, and/or computer program products according to various implementations. It will be understood that one or more blocks of the block diagrams and flow diagrams, and combinations of blocks in the block diagrams and the flow diagrams,
respectively, may be implemented by computer-executable program instructions. Likewise, some blocks of the block diagrams and flow diagrams may not necessarily need to be performed in the order presented, or may not necessarily need to be performed at all, according to some implementations.
These computer-executable program instructions may be loaded onto a special-purpose computer or other particular machine, a processor, or other programmable data processing apparatus to produce a particular machine, such that the instructions that execute on the computer, processor, or other programmable data processing apparatus create means for implementing one or more functions specified in the flow diagram block or blocks. These computer program instructions may also be stored in a computer-readable storage media or memory that may direct a computer or other programmable data processing apparatus to function in a particular manner, such that the instructions stored in the computer-readable storage media produce an article of manufacture including instruction means that implement one or more functions specified in the flow diagram block or blocks. As an example, certain implementations may provide for a computer program product, comprising a computer- readable storage medium having a computer-readable program code or program instructions implemented therein, said computer-readable program code adapted to be executed to implement one or more functions specified in the flow diagram block or blocks. The computer program instructions may also be loaded onto a computer or other programmable data processing apparatus to cause a series of operational elements or steps to be performed on the computer or other programmable apparatus to produce a computer-implemented process such that the instructions that execute on the computer or other programmable apparatus provide elements or steps for implementing the functions specified in the flow diagram block or blocks.
Accordingly, blocks of the block diagrams and flow diagrams support combinations of means for performing the specified functions, combinations of elements or steps for performing the specified functions and program instruction means for performing the specified functions. It will also be understood that each block of the block diagrams and flow diagrams, and combinations of blocks in the block diagrams and flow diagrams, may be implemented by special-purpose, hardware-based computer systems that perform the specified functions, elements or steps, or combinations of special-purpose hardware and computer instructions.
Conditional language, such as, among others, “can,” “could,” “might,” or “may,” unless specifically stated otherwise, or otherwise understood within the context as used, is generally intended to convey that certain implementations could include, while other implementations do not include, certain features, elements, and/or operations. Thus, such conditional language
is not generally intended to imply that features, elements, and/or operations are in any way required for one or more implementations or that one or more implementations necessarily include logic for deciding, with or without user input or prompting, whether these features, elements, and/or operations are included or are to be performed in any particular implementation.
Many modifications and other implementations of the disclosure set forth herein will be apparent having the benefit of the teachings presented in the foregoing descriptions and the associated drawings. Therefore, it is to be understood that the disclosure is not to be limited to the specific implementations disclosed and that modifications and other implementations are intended to be included within the scope of the appended claims. Although specific terms are employed herein, they are used in a generic and descriptive sense only and not for purposes of limitation.
Claims
What is claimed is:
1. An apparatus of a station device for signaling unavailability to an access point (AP), the station device comprising processing circuitry coupled to storage, the processing circuitry configured to: generate a first frame indicating that the station device will be unavailable on a communication link; cause the station device to transmit the first frame on the communication link to the AP prior to associating to the AP; generate a second frame indicating that the station device is available on the communication link; cause the station device to transmit the second frame on the communication link to the AP after being unavailable after transmitting the first frame; and identify an 802.11 authentication response received from the AP, after transmitting the second frame, indicating that the station device has been authenticated to the AP.
2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the first frame is an 802.11 authentication request frame.
3. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein one bit of a power management field of the 802.11 authentication request frame indicates that the station device will be unavailable on the communication link.
4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the first frame is an unassociated availability frame, and wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to: cause the station device to transmit an 802.11 authentication request frame on the communication link to the AP prior to transmitting the unassociated availability frame.
5. The apparatus of claim 1, the processing circuitry is further configured to: cause the station device to transmit an 802.11 association request frame on the communication link to the AP after receiving the 802.11 authentication response frame, wherein the 802.11 association request frame indicates that the station device will be unavailable on the communication link;
cause the station device to transmit a third frame on the communication link to the AP after being unavailable after to transmitting the 802.11 association request frame, the third frame indicating that the station device is available on the communication link; and identify an 802.11 association response frame received from the AP, after transmitting the third frame, indicating that the station device has been associated to the AP.
6. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to: cause the station device to transmit an acknowledgement to the 802.11 association response frame, the acknowledgement indicating that the station device will be unavailable on the communication link.
7. The apparatus of any of claims 1-6, wherein the station device is a multi-link device (MLD) associated to a second AP on a second communication link while unassociated to the AP on the communication link.
8. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the station device is available to a second AP on a second communication link while unavailable to the AP on the communication link.
9. A computer-readable medium storing instructions to cause processing circuitry of an access point (AP) for signaling unassociated station device availability, upon execution of the instructions by the processing circuitry, to: identify a first frame received from a station device (STA) on a communication link, the STA unassociated to the AP; determine, based on the first frame, that the STA is unavailable on the communication link; refrain from causing the AP from transmitting to the STA on the communication link based on the first frame; identify a second frame received from the STA on the communication link; determine, based on the second frame, that the STA is available on the communication link; and cause the AP to transmit, after receiving the second frame, an 802.11 authentication response frame indicating that the STA has been authenticated to the AP.
10. The computer-readable medium of claim 9, wherein the first frame is an 802.11 authentication request frame.
11. The computer-readable medium of claim 10, wherein one bit of a power management field of the 802.11 authentication request frame indicates that the STA will be unavailable on the communication link.
12. The computer-readable medium of claim 9, wherein the first frame is an unassociated availability frame, and wherein execution of the instructions further causes the processing circuitry to: identify an 802.11 authentication request frame received from the STA on the communication link prior to receiving the unassociated availability frame.
13. The computer-readable medium of claim 9, wherein execution of the instructions further causes the processing circuitry to: identify an 802.11 association request frame received from the STA on the communication link after transmitting the 802.11 authentication response frame, wherein the 802.11 association request frame indicates that that STA will be unavailable on the communication link; refrain from transmitting to the STA based on the 802.11 association request frame; identify a third frame received from the STA on the communication link, the third frame indicating that the station device is available on the communication link; and cause the AP to transmit an 802.11 association response to the STA on the communication link after receiving the third frame, indicating that the STA has been associated to the AP.
14. The computer-readable medium of claim 13, wherein execution of the instructions further causes the processing circuitry to:
Identify an acknowledgement to the 802.11 association response received from the STA on the communication link, the acknowledgement indicating that the STA will be unavailable on the communication link.
15. The computer-readable medium of claim 9, wherein the AP is an AP multi-link device (MLD).
16. A method for signaling unavailability to an access point (AP), the method comprising: generating, by processing circuitry of a station device, a first frame indicating that the station device will be unavailable on a communication link; causing, by the processing circuitry, the station device to transmit the first frame on the communication link to the AP prior to associating to the AP; generating, by the processing circuitry, a second frame indicating that the station device is available on the communication link; causing, by the processing circuitry, the station device to transmit the second frame on the communication link to the AP after being unavailable after transmitting the first frame; and identifying, by the processing circuitry, an 802.11 authentication response received from the AP, after transmitting the second frame, indicating that the station device has been authenticated to the AP.
17. The method of claim 16, wherein the first frame is an 802.11 authentication request frame.
18. The method of claim 17, wherein one bit of a power management field of the
802.11 authentication request frame indicates that the station device will be unavailable on the communication link.
19. The method of claim 16, wherein the first frame is an unassociated availability frame, the method further comprising: causing the station device to transmit an 802.11 authentication request frame on the communication link to the AP prior to transmitting the unassociated availability frame.
20. The method of claim 16, further comprising: causing the station device to transmit an 802.11 association request frame on the communication link to the AP after receiving the 802.11 authentication response frame, wherein the 802.11 association request frame indicates that the station device will be unavailable on the communication link;
causing the station device to transmit a third frame on the communication link to the AP after being unavailable after to transmitting the 802.11 association request frame, the third frame indicating that the station device is available on the communication link; and identifying an 802.11 association response frame received from the AP, after transmitting the third frame, indicating that the station device has been associated to the AP.
21. The method of claim 20, further comprising: causing the station device to transmit an acknowledgement to the 802.11 association response frame, the acknowledgement indicating that the station device will be unavailable on the communication link.
22. The method of any of claims 16-20, wherein the station device is a multi-link device (MLD) associated to a second AP on a second communication link while unassociated to the AP on the communication link.
23. The method of claim 16, wherein the station device is available to a second AP on a second communication link while unavailable to the AP on the communication link.
24. A computer-readable storage medium comprising instructions to perform the method of any of claims 16-23.
25. An apparatus comprising means for performing any of the methods of claims 16-23.
Priority Applications (1)
Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
---|---|---|---|
PCT/US2022/044975 WO2024072379A1 (en) | 2022-09-28 | 2022-09-28 | Enhanced unavailability mode for station devices unassociated to access points |
Applications Claiming Priority (1)
Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
---|---|---|---|
PCT/US2022/044975 WO2024072379A1 (en) | 2022-09-28 | 2022-09-28 | Enhanced unavailability mode for station devices unassociated to access points |
Publications (1)
Publication Number | Publication Date |
---|---|
WO2024072379A1 true WO2024072379A1 (en) | 2024-04-04 |
Family
ID=90478854
Family Applications (1)
Application Number | Title | Priority Date | Filing Date |
---|---|---|---|
PCT/US2022/044975 WO2024072379A1 (en) | 2022-09-28 | 2022-09-28 | Enhanced unavailability mode for station devices unassociated to access points |
Country Status (1)
Country | Link |
---|---|
WO (1) | WO2024072379A1 (en) |
Citations (4)
Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
---|---|---|---|---|
US20190053052A1 (en) * | 2012-01-06 | 2019-02-14 | Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. | Systems and Methods for Authentication |
US20210007168A1 (en) * | 2019-07-01 | 2021-01-07 | Qualcomm Incorporated | Signaling for multi-link communication in a wireless local area network (wlan) |
US20210298059A1 (en) * | 2017-12-20 | 2021-09-23 | Qualcomm Incorporated | Systems for communicating with unassociated stations |
US20220264652A1 (en) * | 2019-07-04 | 2022-08-18 | Canon Kabushiki Kaisha | Temporary aids for unassociated stations in communication networks |
-
2022
- 2022-09-28 WO PCT/US2022/044975 patent/WO2024072379A1/en unknown
Patent Citations (4)
Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
---|---|---|---|---|
US20190053052A1 (en) * | 2012-01-06 | 2019-02-14 | Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. | Systems and Methods for Authentication |
US20210298059A1 (en) * | 2017-12-20 | 2021-09-23 | Qualcomm Incorporated | Systems for communicating with unassociated stations |
US20210007168A1 (en) * | 2019-07-01 | 2021-01-07 | Qualcomm Incorporated | Signaling for multi-link communication in a wireless local area network (wlan) |
US20220264652A1 (en) * | 2019-07-04 | 2022-08-18 | Canon Kabushiki Kaisha | Temporary aids for unassociated stations in communication networks |
Non-Patent Citations (1)
Title |
---|
LAURENT CARIOU (INTEL): "LB266 CR for CIDs related to 35.3.7", IEEE DRAFT; 11-22-1429-03-00BE-LB266-CR-FOR-CIDS-RELATED-TO-35-3-7, vol. 802.11 EHT; 802.11be, no. 3, 15 September 2022 (2022-09-15), Piscataway, NJ USA, pages 1 - 38, XP068194024 * |
Similar Documents
Publication | Publication Date | Title |
---|---|---|
US20240031871A1 (en) | Multi-link traffic steering with traffic indication map | |
US11991764B2 (en) | Multi-link re-setup and link change | |
US20210185607A1 (en) | Multi-link parameters and capability indication | |
US20230292245A1 (en) | Initial power state after traffic identifier mapping function | |
US20210136605A1 (en) | High throughput control information and field extension | |
US11696353B2 (en) | Single-radio multi-channel medium access | |
US20210120612A1 (en) | Association identification re-assignment | |
US20210112543A1 (en) | Method and apparatus used in wlans | |
US11917677B2 (en) | Enhanced channel access for multi-link devices | |
US11882474B2 (en) | Null data packet frame format | |
EP4057534A1 (en) | Method and apparatus used in wlans | |
US20210274489A1 (en) | Enhanced retransmission mechanism using multi-link capability | |
US20210100053A1 (en) | Method of multi-link power save indication | |
EP4203560A1 (en) | Enhanced wi-fi fast roaming transition for mobile devices | |
US20220116830A1 (en) | Link recommendation for basic service set transition management request for a multi-link device | |
US20210314948A1 (en) | Extreme high throughput resource unit allocation table | |
WO2022094297A1 (en) | Restricted service periods | |
EP4190020A1 (en) | Traffic identifier mapping | |
US20230133701A1 (en) | Target wake for multi-link operation restrictions | |
US20220117020A1 (en) | Group addressed bufferable units (bus) indication in traffic indication map (tim) for multi-link operation | |
US20210120432A1 (en) | Method and apparatus used in wlans | |
US20230362992A1 (en) | Enhanced multi-link device operation in an access point multi-link device and mobile environment with enhanced multi-link single-radio | |
US20230127299A1 (en) | Enhanced signaling of dynamic quality of service over wi-fi | |
US20220330369A1 (en) | Ultra-low latency medium access control design for 802.11 | |
US20240008087A1 (en) | Multi-link device enhanced multi-link single-radio operation with a legacy station device support |
Legal Events
Date | Code | Title | Description |
---|---|---|---|
121 | Ep: the epo has been informed by wipo that ep was designated in this application |
Ref document number: 22961157 Country of ref document: EP Kind code of ref document: A1 |