CN117220825A - Electronic device and method for facilitating wireless communications - Google Patents

Abstract

An electronic device receives a physical layer (PHY) protocol data unit (PPDU) including a PHY preamble including a Non-high throughput (Non-HT) short training field (L-STF), a Non-HT long training field (L-LTF), a Non-HT signal (L-SIG) field, a repeated Non-HT signal (RL-SIG) field, and a universal signal (U-SIG) field. The electronic device checks a control field in the PPDU. The control field indicates whether the PHY preamble in the PPDU carries payload information or not and whether the PPDU does not carry a data field carrying a payload or not. If the control field indicates that the PHY preamble in the PPDU includes payload information and the PPDU does not carry a data field, the electronic device obtains the payload information from the PHY preamble and processes the payload information.

Description

Electronic device and method for facilitating wireless communications

Technical Field

The present disclosure relates to wireless communication systems, and more particularly, to (e.g., but not limited to) wireless communication devices for low latency.

Background

Wireless Local Area Networks (WLANs) continue to evolve and have become an important technology for providing wireless data services in different environments. In addition to increasing throughput and overall efficiency requirements as an emerging and tremendous potential use case, high reliability and low latency are also contemplated. Examples of such use cases are Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR), immersive gaming, teleoffice, and cloud computing. These situations require more challenging time-sensitive techniques.

The description set forth in the background section is not intended to be construed as prior art only because it is set forth in the background section. The background section may describe aspects or embodiments of the present disclosure.

Disclosure of Invention

Embodiments allow an electronic device to facilitate wireless communications. More specifically, embodiments allow WLANs and wireless devices to increase throughput and reduce latency.

One aspect of the disclosure may provide an electronic device for facilitating wireless communication, comprising processing circuitry configured such that: receiving a physical layer (PHY) protocol data unit (PPDU) including a PHY preamble including a first Short Training Field (STF) corresponding to a Non-high throughput (Non-HT) short training field (L-STF), a first Long Training Field (LTF) corresponding to a Non-HT long training field (L-LTF), a first signal field corresponding to a Non-HT signal L-SIG field, a second signal field corresponding to a repeated Non-HT signal (RL-SIG) field, and a third signal field corresponding to a common signal (U-SIG) field; checking a control field in the PPDU, the control field indicating whether a PHY preamble in the PPDU carries payload information and whether the PPDU does not include a data field carrying payload information; obtaining the payload information from the PHY preamble if the control field indicates that the PHY preamble in the PPDU includes the payload information and that the PPDU does not carry a data field; and processing the payload information.

Processing the payload information may include: obtaining a PPDU type field from the PHY preamble, the PPDU type field indicating which payload information is included in the PHY preamble of the PPDU; and processing the payload information based on the PPDU type field.

If the PPDU type field indicates that the PHY preamble of the PPDU includes payload information for an ACK frame, the payload information may be treated as an ACK frame.

The payload information may include a receiver address field and a transmitter address field.

If the PPDU type field indicates that the PHY preamble of the PPDU includes payload information of a block ACK frame, the payload information may be treated as the block ACK frame.

The payload information may include a starting sequence control field including a sequence number of the first MSDU or a-MSDU and a block acknowledgement bitmap field indicating a reception status of the plurality of MSDUs or a-MSDUs.

If the PPDU type field indicates that the PHY preamble of the PPDU includes payload information of a PS-poll frame, the payload information may be treated as a PS-poll frame.

If the PPDU type field indicates that the PHY preamble of the PPDU includes payload information for the PS poll ACK frame, the payload information may be treated as a PS poll ACK frame.

If the PPDU type field indicates that the PHY preamble of the PPDU includes payload information for a null data PPDU advertisement frame, the payload information may be treated as a null data PPDU advertisement frame and the PPDU is treated as a null data PPDU.

The PHY preamble may further include a fourth signal field after the third field, a second STF after the fourth signal field, a second LTF after the second STF, and a channel estimation for a sounding process.

The payload information may include at least one STA information field, each of the at least one STA information field containing STA specific information about an STA intended to receive the NDP.

The CRC and Tail fields may be appended to each of N STA information fields, N being an integer greater than 0.

The payload information may be included in the U-SIG.

The PHY preamble may further include a fourth signal field subsequent to the U-SIG field, and the payload information is included in the fourth signal field.

The PHY preamble may further include a fourth signal field subsequent to the U-SIG field, some portions of the payload information being included in the U-SIG field, other portions of the payload information being included in the fourth signal field.

The one or more processors may be configured to further cause: another PPDU is transmitted in response to the PPDU after a predetermined inter-frame space, wherein the predetermined inter-frame space is shorter than a Short IFS (SIFS).

One aspect of the disclosure may provide a method performed by an electronic device for facilitating wireless communications, the method comprising: receiving a physical layer (PHY) protocol data unit (PPDU) including a PHY preamble including a first Short Training Field (STF) corresponding to a Non-high throughput (Non-HT) short training field L-STF, a first Long Training Field (LTF) corresponding to a Non-HT long training field L-LTF, a first signal field corresponding to a Non-HT signal L-SIG field, a second signal field corresponding to a repeated Non-HT signal (RL-SIG) field, and a third signal field corresponding to a universal signal (U-SIG) field; checking a control field in the PPDU, the control field indicating whether a PHY preamble in the PPDU carries payload information and whether the PPDU does not carry a data field carrying a payload; obtaining the payload information from the PHY preamble if the control field indicates that the PHY preamble in the PPDU includes the payload information and the PPDU does not carry a data field; and processing the payload information.

The method may further comprise: obtaining a PPDU type field from the PHY preamble, the PPDU type field indicating which payload information is included in the PHY preamble of the PPDU; and processing the payload information based on the PPDU type field.

One aspect of the present disclosure may provide an electronic device for facilitating wireless communication that includes processing circuitry configured such that: generating a physical layer (PHY) protocol data unit (PPDU) including a PHY preamble including a first Short Training Field (STF) corresponding to a Non-high throughput (Non-HT) short training field (L-STF), a first Long Training Field (LTF) corresponding to a Non-HT long training field (L-LTF), a first signal field corresponding to a Non-HT signal L-SIG field, a second signal field corresponding to a repeated Non-HT signal (RL-SIG) field, and a third signal field corresponding to a common signal (U-SIG) field; and transmitting the PPDU, wherein the PPDU comprises a control field, the control field indicates whether the PHY preamble in the PPDU carries payload information and whether the PPDU does not carry a data field carrying the payload, and if the control field indicates that the PHY preamble in the PPDU comprises the payload information and the PPDU does not carry the data field, the PHY preamble comprises the payload information.

If the control field indicates that the PHY preamble in the PPDU includes medium access control MAC information and the PPDU does not carry a data field, the payload information includes a PPDU type field, which may indicate which payload information is included in the PHY preamble of the PPDU.

Drawings

Fig. 1 shows a schematic diagram of an example wireless communication network.

Fig. 2 shows an example of a timing diagram of an inter-frame space (IFS) relationship between stations according to an embodiment.

Fig. 3 illustrates an OFDM symbol and an OFDMA symbol according to an embodiment.

Fig. 4A illustrates an EHT MU PPDU format according to an embodiment.

Fig. 4B illustrates an EHT TB PPDU format according to an embodiment.

Fig. 5 is a frame diagram of an electronic device for facilitating wireless communications according to an embodiment.

Fig. 6 shows a frame diagram of a transmitter according to an embodiment.

Fig. 7 shows a frame diagram of a receiver according to an embodiment.

Fig. 8 illustrates a format of a TS PPDU according to an embodiment.

Fig. 9 illustrates a format of a TS PPDU according to an embodiment.

Fig. 10 illustrates a format of a TS PPDU according to an embodiment.

Fig. 11 illustrates a format of a TS PPDU according to an embodiment.

Fig. 12 illustrates a format of a TS PPDU according to an embodiment.

Fig. 13 illustrates a format of a TS PPDU according to an embodiment.

Fig. 14 illustrates a TS MAC data format according to an embodiment.

Fig. 15 illustrates a TS MAC data format according to an embodiment.

Fig. 16 illustrates a TB sounding sequence with one or more beamformers according to an embodiment.

Fig. 17 shows a TB sounding sequence with multiple beamformers according to an embodiment.

Fig. 18 shows a non-TB sounding sequence with a single beamformer according to an embodiment.

Fig. 19 illustrates a non-TB sounding sequence with a single beamformer according to an embodiment.

Fig. 20 illustrates an NDPA frame format according to an embodiment.

Fig. 21 illustrates frame exchange for power management.

Fig. 22 illustrates a format of a TS PPDU body portion carrying a PS-poll frame according to an embodiment.

Fig. 23 illustrates a format of a TS PPDU body portion carrying an ACK frame according to an embodiment.

Fig. 24 illustrates a TS PPDU body portion format carrying a PS-poll ACK frame according to an embodiment.

Fig. 25 illustrates a TS PPDU body portion format carrying a BlockAck frame according to an embodiment.

Fig. 26 illustrates various inter-frame spaces used in a wireless local area network according to an embodiment.

Fig. 27 shows consideration of designing a short interframe space (SIFS).

Fig. 28 is a flowchart illustrating a method for transmitting a TS-PPDU.

Fig. 29 is a flowchart illustrating a method for receiving a PPDU.

Detailed Description

The detailed description set forth below is intended to describe various implementations and is not intended to represent the only implementations. As will be appreciated by those skilled in the art, the described embodiments may be modified in various different ways, all without departing from the scope of the present disclosure. Accordingly, the drawings and description are to be regarded as illustrative in nature and not as restrictive. Like reference numerals designate like elements.

The following detailed description herein has been described with reference to wireless LAN systems in accordance with the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 wireless standard, including current and future revisions. However, one of ordinary skill in the art will readily recognize that the teachings herein are applicable to other network environments, such as cellular telecommunication networks and wired telecommunication networks.

In some embodiments, devices or apparatuses, such as AP STAs and non-APs, may include one or more hardware and software logic structures for performing one or more operations described herein. For example, the apparatus or device may include at least one memory unit storing instructions executable by a hardware processor installed in the apparatus and at least one processor configured to perform operations or processes described in the present disclosure. The apparatus may also include one or more other hardware or software elements, such as a network interface and a display device.

Fig. 1 shows a schematic diagram of an example wireless communication network.

Referring to fig. 1, a Basic Service Set (BSS) 10 may include a plurality of Stations (STAs) including an Access Point (AP) station (AP STA) 11 and one or more non-AP stations (non-AP STA) 12. The STA may share the same radio frequency channel with one of the WLAN operating bandwidth options (e.g., 20/40/80/160/320 MHz). Hereinafter, in some embodiments, an AP STA and a non-AP STA may be referred to as an AP and a STA, respectively. In some embodiments, AP STAs and non-AP STAs may be collectively referred To As Stations (STAs).

Multiple STAs may participate in a multi-user (MU) transmission. In the MU transmission, the AP STA 11 may simultaneously transmit downlink frames to the plurality of non-AP STAs 12 in the BSS10 based on different resources, and the plurality of non-AP STAs 12 may simultaneously transmit uplink frames to the AP STAs 11 in the BSS10 based on different resources.

For MU transmissions, multi-user multiple-input multiple-output (MU-MIMO) transmissions or Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDMA) transmissions may be used. In MU-MIMO transmission, multiple non-AP STAs 12 may transmit simultaneously to the AP STA 11 or receive separate data streams simultaneously from the AP STA 11 on the same subcarrier through one or more antennas. Different frequency resources may be used as different resources in the MU-MIMO transmission. In OFDMA transmission, multiple non-AP STAs 12 may transmit simultaneously to the AP STA 11 or receive separate data streams simultaneously from the AP STA 11 on different subcarrier sets. Different spatial streams may be used as different resources in MU-MIMO transmission.

Fig. 2 shows an example of a timing diagram of an inter-frame space (IFS) relationship between stations according to an embodiment.

In particular, fig. 2 shows a CSMA (carrier sense multiple access)/CA (collision avoidance) based frame transmission procedure for avoiding collision between frames in a channel.

Data frames, control frames, or management frames may be exchanged between STAs.

The data frames may be used to transmit data that is forwarded to higher layers. Referring to fig. 2, when the medium is busy, access is deferred until one type of IFS duration has elapsed. If the distributed coordination function IFS (DIFS) has elapsed since the time the medium is idle, the STA may transmit a data frame after performing backoff (backoff).

The management frame may be used to exchange management information that is not forwarded to higher layers. Subtype frames of the management frame may include beacon frames, association request/response frames, probe request/response frames, and authentication request/response frames.

The control frame may be used to control access to the medium. Subtype frames of control frames include Request To Send (RTS) frames, clear To Send (CTS) frames, and Acknowledgement (ACK) frames. In the case where the control frame is not a response frame of another frame, if the DIFS has passed, the STA may transmit the control frame after performing backoff. If the control frame is a response frame of a previous frame, the WLAN device may transmit the control frame without performing backoff when a Short IFS (SIFS) is passed. The type and subtype of a frame may be identified by a type field and a subtype field in a frame control field.

On the other hand, if the Arbitration IFS (AIFS) of the Access Class (AC), i.e., AIFS [ AC ], has passed, the quality of service (QoS) STA may transmit a frame after performing backoff. In this case, a data frame, a management frame, or a control frame (not a response frame) may use AIFC [ AC ].

In some embodiments, an AP STA that enables a Point Coordination Function (PCF) may send a frame after performing a backoff if the PCF IFS (PIFS) has passed. The PIFS duration may be less than DIFS but greater than SIFS.

Fig. 3 shows OFDM symbols and OFDMA symbols according to an embodiment.

For multi-user access modulation, orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDMA) for uplink and downlink has been introduced in the IEEE 802.11ax standard known as high-efficiency (HE) WLAN, and will be used for future amendments of 802.11, such as EHT (very high throughput). One or more STAs may be allowed to transmit data simultaneously using one or more Resource Units (RUs) throughout the operating bandwidth. As a minimum granularity, one RU may include a predefined number of subcarriers and be located at predefined locations in an Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) modulation symbol. Here, the non-AP STA may or may not be associated with the AP STA when simultaneously responding in the allocated RU within a specific period such as a Short Inter Frame Space (SIFS). SIFS may refer to the duration from the end of the last symbol of the previous frame or signal extension (if present) to the beginning of the first symbol of the preamble of the next frame.

OFDMA is an OFDM-based multiple access scheme in which different subsets of subcarriers may be allocated to different users, allowing simultaneous transmission of data to or from one or more users with high accuracy synchronization of frequency orthogonality. In OFDMA, users may be allocated a subset of different subcarriers that may change from one physical layer (PHY) protocol data unit (PPDU) to the next. In OFDMA, an OFDM symbol is composed of subcarriers, the number of which is a function of the PPDU bandwidth. The difference between OFDM and OFDMA is shown in fig. 3.

In the case of UL MU transmissions, an AP STA may want to have more medium control mechanisms by using more scheduled accesses, which may allow more frequent use of OFDMA/MU-MIMO transmissions, given the different STAs with their own capabilities and characteristics. The PPDU in UL MU transmissions (MU-MIMO or OFDMA) may be sent as a response to a trigger frame sent by the AP. The trigger frame may have information of the STA and allocate RU and Multiple RUs (MRUs) to the STA. The information of the STA in the trigger frame may include a STA Identification (ID), MCS (modulation and coding scheme), and frame length. The trigger frame may allow the STA to transmit a trigger-based (TB) PPDU (e.g., an HE TB PPDU or an EHT TB PPDU) divided into RUs, and all RUs as a response of the trigger frame are allocated to the requested non-AP STA accordingly. Hereinafter, the single RU and the plurality of RUs may be referred to as RUs. The plurality of RUs may include or consist of two, three, or more RUs that are predefined.

In the EHT amendment, two EHT PPDU formats are defined: EHT MU PPDU and EHT TB PPDU. Hereinafter, the EHT MU PPDU and the EHT TB PPDU will be described with reference to fig. 4A and 4B.

Fig. 4A illustrates an EHT MU PPDU format according to an embodiment.

The EHT MU PPDU may be used for transmission to one or more users. The EHT MU PPDU is not a response to a trigger frame.

Referring to fig. 4a, the EHT MU PPDU may include or consist of an EHT preamble (hereinafter, referred to as a PHY preamble or preamble), a data field, and a Packet Extension (PE) field. The EHT preamble may include or consist of a pre-EHT modulation field and an EHT modulated field. The pre-EHT modulation field may include or consist of a Non-HT short training field (L-STF), a Non-HT long training field (L-LTF), a no HT signal (L-SIG) field, a repeated Non-HT signal (RL-SIG) field, a universal signal (U-SIG) field, and an EHT signal (EHT-SIG) field. The EHT modulation field may include or consist of an EHT short training field (EHT-STF) and an EHT long training field (EHT-LTF). In some embodiments, the L-STF may be followed by an L-LTF, an L-SIG field, an RL-SIG field, a U-SIG field, an EHT-STF field, an EHT-LTF field, a data field, and a PE field.

The L-STF field may be used for packet detection, automatic Gain Control (AGC), and coarse frequency offset correction.

The L-LTF field may be used for channel estimation, fine frequency offset correction, and symbol timing.

The L-SIG field may be used to transmit rate and length information.

The RL-SIG field may be a repetition of the L-SIG field and may be used to distinguish an EHT PPDU from a Non-HT PPDU, an HT PPDU, and a VHT PPDU.

The U-SIG field may carry information necessary to interpret the EHT PPDU.

The EHT-SIG field may provide additional signaling for the U-SIG field to interpret the EHT MU PPDU by the STA. Hereinafter, the U-SIG field, the EHT-SIG field, or both may be referred to as a SIG field.

The EHT-SIG field may include one or more EHT-SIG content channels. Each of the one or more EHT-SIG content channels may include a common field and a user-specific field. The common field may contain information about the resource unit allocation, such as RU allocation to be used in the EHT modulation field of the PPDU, RU allocated to MU-MIMO, and the number of users in the MU-MIMO allocation. The user-specific fields may include one or more user fields.

The user fields of the non-MU MIMO allocation may include a STA-ID subfield, an MCS subfield, an NSS subfield, a beamforming subfield, and a coding subfield. The user fields for MU-MIMO allocation may include a STA-ID subfield, an MCS subfield, a coding subfield, and a spatial configuration subfield.

The EHT-STF field may be used to improve automatic gain control estimation in MIMO transmissions.

The EHT-LTF field may enable a receiver to estimate a MIMO channel between a set of constellation mapper outputs and a receive chain.

The data field may carry one or more Physical Layer Convergence Procedure (PLCP) service data units (PSDUs).

The PE field may provide additional receive processing time at the end of the EHT MU PPDU.

Fig. 4B illustrates an EHT TB PPDU format according to an embodiment.

The EHT TB PPDU may be used for transmission of a response to a trigger frame.

Referring to fig. 4b, the EHT TB PPDU may include or consist of an EHT preamble (hereinafter, referred to as a PHY preamble or preamble), a data field, and a Packet Extension (PE) field. The EHT preamble may include or consist of a pre-EHT modulation field and an EHT modulated field. The pre-EHT modulation field may include, or consist of, a Non-HT short training field (L-STF), a Non-HT long training field (L-LTF), a no HT signal (L-SIG) field, a repeated Non-HT signal (RL-SIG) field, and a universal signal (U-SIG) field. The EHT modulation field may include or consist of an EHT short training field (EHT-STF) and an EHT long training field (EHT-LTF). In some embodiments, the L-STF may be followed by an L-LTF, followed by an L-SIG field, followed by an RL-SIG field, followed by a U-SIG field, followed by an EHT-STF, followed by an EHT-LTF, followed by a data field, followed by a PE field. In the EHT TB PPDU, there is no EHT-SIG field because the trigger frame transmits necessary information, and the duration of the eht_stf field in the EHT TB PPDU is twice the duration of the EHT-STF field in the EHT MU PPDU.

Since the description of each field in the EHT MU PPDU is applicable to the EHT TB PPDU, the description of the respective fields in the EHT TB PPDU will be omitted.

For EHT MU PPDUs and EHT TB PPDUs, the pre-EHT modulated field may be replicated over multiple 20MHz channels when the EHT modulated field occupies more than one 20MHz channel.

Hereinafter, an electronic device for facilitating wireless communication according to various embodiments will be described with reference to fig. 5.

Fig. 5 is a frame diagram of an electronic device for facilitating wireless communications according to an embodiment.

Referring to fig. 5, an electronic device 30 for facilitating wireless communication according to an embodiment may include a processor 31, a memory 32, a transceiver 33, and an antenna unit 34. The transceiver 33 may include a transmitter 100 and a receiver 200.

The processor 31 may perform a Medium Access Control (MAC) function, a PHY function, an RF function, or a combination of some or all of the foregoing. In some embodiments, the processor 31 may include some or all of the transmitter 100 and the receiver 200. The processor 31 may be coupled directly or indirectly to the memory 32. In some embodiments, the processor 31 may include one or more processors.

The memory 32 may be a non-transitory computer-readable recording medium storing instructions that, when executed by the processor 31, cause the electronic device 30 to perform the operations, methods, or processes described in this disclosure. In some embodiments, memory 32 may store instructions required by one or more of processor 31, transceiver 33, and other components of electronic device 30. The memory may further store an operating system and application programs. The memory 32 may include, be implemented as, or be included in read-write memory, read-only memory, volatile memory, non-volatile memory, or a combination of some or all of the foregoing.

The antenna unit 34 includes one or more physical antennas. When multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) or multi-user MIMO (MU-MIMO) is used, the antenna unit 34 may include more than one physical antenna.

Fig. 6 shows a frame diagram of a transmitter according to an embodiment.

Referring to fig. 7, the transmitter 100 may include an encoder 101, an interleaver 103, a mapper 105, an Inverse Fourier Transformer (IFT) 107, a Guard Interval (GI) inserter 109, and an RF transmitter 111.

The encoder 101 may encode input data to generate encoded data. For example, encoder 101 may be a Forward Error Correction (FEC) encoder. The FEC encoder may comprise or be implemented as a Binary Convolutional Code (BCC) encoder or a Low Density Parity Check (LDPC) encoder.

The interleaver 103 may interleave bits of the encoded data from the encoder 101 to change the order of the bits and output the interleaved data. In some embodiments, interleaving may be applied when BCC coding is employed.

The mapper 105 may map the interleaved data into constellation points to generate blocks of constellation points. If LDPC encoding is used in encoder 101, mapper 105 may further perform LDPC tone mapping instead of constellation mapping.

IFT 107 may convert the blocks of constellation points into time domain blocks corresponding to symbols using an Inverse Discrete Fourier Transform (IDFT) or an Inverse Fast Fourier Transform (IFFT).

GI inserter 109 may prepare GIs for symbols in advance.

The RF transmitter 111 may convert the symbols into RF signals and transmit the RF signals via the antenna unit 34.

Fig. 7 shows a frame diagram of a receiver according to an embodiment.

Referring to fig. 7, a receiver 200 according to an embodiment may include an RF receiver 201, a GI remover 203, a Fourier Transformer (FT) 205, a demapper 207, a deinterleaver 209, and a decoder 211.

RF receiver 201 may receive RF signals through antenna element 34 and convert the RF signals to one or more symbols.

GI remover 203 may remove the GI from the symbol.

Depending on the implementation, FT 205 may convert symbols corresponding to the time domain block into a block of constellation points by using a Discrete Fourier Transform (DFT) or a Fast Fourier Transform (FFT).

The demapper 207 may demap the blocks of constellation points into demapped data bits. If LDPC encoding is used, the demapper 207 may further perform LDPC tone demapping before constellation demapping.

The deinterleaver 209 may deinterleave the demapped data bits to generate deinterleaved data bits. In some embodiments, when BCC coding is used, deinterleaving may be applied.

Decoder 211 may decode the deinterleaved data bits to generate decoded bits. For example, the decoder 211 may be an FEC decoder. The FEC decoder may comprise a BCC decoder or an LDPC decoder. To support the HARQ process, the decoder 211 may combine the retransmitted data with the initial data.

The descrambler 213 may descramble the descrambled data bits based on the scrambler seed.

The Link Adaptation (LA) parameters of the WLAN system may be transmitted as part of the MAC header. These parameters may be carried in the HT control field in the MAC header. Hereinafter, the format of the MAC frame will be described with reference to fig. 10, 11, 12, and 13.

To reduce latency, unnecessary overhead traffic or transmissions may be removed. For example, the WLAN system may support one or more PPDU types without data fields and may carry critical information in the SIG field instead of the MAC frame.

Hereinafter, the formats of several new PPDUs according to various embodiments will be described with reference to fig. 8 to 13. The new PPDU may transmit sensitive content or information and will be referred to as a time sensitive PPDU (TS PPDU) in the present disclosure.

Fig. 8 illustrates a format of a TS PPDU according to an embodiment.

Referring to fig. 8, the TS PPDU may include or consist of an L-STF, an L-LTF, an L-SIG field, an RL-SIG field, a U-SIG field, and a time-sensitive signal (TS-SIG) field.

Fig. 9 illustrates a format of a TS PPDU according to an embodiment.

Referring to fig. 9, the ts PPDU may include or consist of an L-STF, an L-LTF, an L-SIG field, an RL-SIG field, and a U-SIG field.

Fig. 10 illustrates a format of a TS PPDU according to an embodiment.

Fig. 10, the ts PPDU may include or consist of an L-STF, an L-LTF, an L-SIG field, an RL-SIG field, a U-SIG field, an EHT short training field (EHT-STF), and an EHT long training field (EHT-LTF).

Fig. 11 illustrates a format of a TS PPDU according to an embodiment.

Referring to fig. 11, the ts PPDU may include or consist of an L-STF, an L-LTF, an L-SIG field, an RL-SIG field, a U-SIG field, an EHT short training field (EHT-STF), an EHT long training field (EHT-LTF), and a Packet Extension (PE) field.

Fig. 12 illustrates a format of a TS PPDU according to an embodiment.

Referring to fig. 12, the TS PPDU may include or consist of an L-STF, an L-LTF, an L-SIG field, an RL-SIG field, a U-SIG field, a time-sensitive signal (TS-SIG) field, an EHT short training field (EHT-STF), and an EHT long training field (EHT-LTF).

Fig. 13 illustrates a format of a TS PPDU according to an embodiment.

Referring to fig. 13, the TS PPDU may include or consist of an L-STF, an L-LTF, an L-SIG field, an RL-SIG field, a U-SIG field, a time-sensitive signal (TS-SIG) field, an EHT short training field (EHT-STF), an EHT long training field (EHT-LTF), and a Packet Extension (PE) field.

If the descriptions of the L-STF, L-LTF, L-SIG field, and RL-SIG field in the EHT MU PPDU are applicable to the TS PPDU, the descriptions of the L-STF, L-LTF, L-SIG field, and RL-SIG field in the TS PPDU will be omitted with reference to fig. 8 to 13.

Referring to fig. 8 through 13, in order to increase reliability of the U-SIG field, the TS-SIG, or both, power boosting may be applied to the L-STF, the L-LTF, or both. The boost factor may be 3dB. The TS-SIG field may be encoded with binary phase shift keying-dual carrier modulation (BPSK-DCM).

The U-SIG field may include two OFDM symbols (U-SIG-1 and U-SIG-2) having 52 bits. The 20 bits (B0 to B19) in U-SIG-1 may be located as separate fields. The separate field may also be interpreted for the next correction device. The independent fields may include a PHY version identifier field, a bandwidth field, a UL/DL field, a BSS color field, a TXOP field. The PHY version identifier may identify the PHY version and distinguish between different PHY clauses. The bandwidth field may indicate the bandwidth of the TS PPDU in a plurality of bandwidths including, but not limited to, 20MHz, 40MHz, 80MHz, 160MHz, and 320 MHz. Two types of channelization for 320MHz channels may be defined: 320MHz-1 and 320 MHz-2. 320MHz-1 may refer to a 320MHz channel having channel center frequencies numbered 31, 95, and 159. 320MHz-2 may refer to a 320MHz channel having channel center frequencies numbered 63, 127, and 191. The UL/DL field may indicate whether the PPDU is transmitted in an UPLINK (UL) or a Downlink (DL) and is set to a TXVECTOR parameter uplink_flag. The BSS Color field may indicate an identifier of the BSS and be set to the TXVECTOR parameter bss_color. The TXOP field may indicate duration information for protecting this TXOP.

The 4 bits (B16 through B19) of the Cyclic Redundancy Code (CRC) field and the 6 bits (B20-B25) of the Tail (Tail) field may be located in U-SIG-2. In order to distinguish whether it is one of the TS PPDU formats or one of the existing EHT PPDU formats, control information may be included in the U-SIG field. The control information may be located in one of the reserved fields. For example, the control information may be B25 corresponding to the Validate field. B25 may be set to 0 to indicate whether the EHT STA further stops decoding after the U-SIG, as the content should be interpreted differently. In some embodiments, the control information may be indicated with a PHY version identifier, as the PHY version identification is different between different PHY clauses. The control information may be set to 0 for the EHT and to a predetermined value other than 0 for the TS PPDU. In some embodiments, control information may be carried in a TS-SIG field. In some embodiments, the TS PPDU may not include a separate field. For example, when the control information in the PPDU indicates that the PPDU corresponds to the TS PPDU, the PPDU may not include an independent field but include a field interpreted differently from a field in the EHT PPDU. STAs supporting the newly designed TS PPDU format may interpret fields in the U-SIG/EHT-SIG differently than fields in the EHT PPDU.

In some embodiments, the TS-SIG field may be encoded with various MCSs, and the TS-SIG MCS field may be included in the U-SIG field. The TS-SIG MCS field may indicate the MCS of the TS-SIG field in a plurality of MCSs including Binary Phase Shift Keying (BPSK) 1/2, quadrature phase shift key control (QPSK) 1/2, 16 quadrature amplitude modulation (16 QAM) 1/2, or BPSK-DCM 1/2. In some embodiments, the TS-SIG field may be encoded with a fixed MCS. For example, the fixed MCS may be BPSK1/2.

In some embodiments, the TS-SIG field may include or consist of a variety of numbers of OFDM symbols, and one field may be included in the U-SIG to indicate the number of OFDM symbols in the TS-SIG. In some embodiments, the number of OFDM symbols in the TS-SIG field or the length of the TS-SIG field may be fixed. For example, the number of OFDM symbols of the TS-SIG field may be 4.

If the TS PPDU includes a data field, a U-SIG field or a TS-SIG field or both may be used to carry the payload information included in the data field.

Referring to fig. 10 to 13, the length of the ts-STF may be 4us or 8us.

The TS-STF field may be included in the TS PPDU to improve automatic gain control estimation in MIMO transmission. The TS-LTF field may provide a way for the receiver to estimate the MIMO channel between the constellation mapper output set and the receive chain. In some embodiments, the TS-LTF may support one particular GI duration and TS-LTF size. In some embodiments, the TS-LTF may support a set of GI durations and TS-LTF sizes. In order to indicate the GI duration and the TS-LTF size of the TS-LTF, a gi+ltf size field may be carried in the TS-SIG field. For example, the combination of the GI duration of the TS-LTF and the TS-LTF size may include 2xLTF+0.8 μs GI, 2xLTF+1.6 μs GI, 4xLTF+0.8 μs GI, and 4xLTF+3.2 μs GI. In order to indicate the number of TS-LTF symbols included in the TS-LTF field, a number of TS-LTF symbols field may be included in the TS-SIG field. For example, the number of TS-LTFs may be 1, 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, and 16.

Generating a time domain symbol of 2xTS-LTF corresponds to modulating every other subcarrier in an OFDM symbol of 12.8 mus (excluding GI), and then transmitting only the first half of the OFDM symbol in the time domain.

As shown in fig. 11 and 13, when the receiver requires additional time to decode the TS PPDU, a Packet Extension (PE) field may be added at the end of the TS PPDU. In some embodiments, when a receiver STA is associated with an AP, the length of the PE field may be determined by the capabilities of the receiver STA. The length of the PE field may be 4us, 8us, 12us, 16us or 20us. In some embodiments, the length of the PE field may be fixed in the TS PPDU. For example, the fixed length may be 4us.

Referring to fig. 8, 12 and 13, if the TS PPDU includes a data field, the TS-SIG field may provide a space to carry payload information included in the data field.

When modulating the TS-SIG field with BPSK1/2, the TS-SIG field may provide up to a number of bits corresponding to the number of 26xTS-SIG OFDM symbols. For example, when the TS-SIG field includes 32 TS-SIG OFDM symbols, the TS-SIG field may carry 104 bytes.

When modulating the TS-SIG field with QPSK1/2, the TS-SIG field may provide up to a number of bits corresponding to 52x of the number of TS-SIG OFDM symbols. For example, when the TS-SIG field includes 32 TS-SIG OFDM symbols supported, the TS-SIG field may carry 208 bytes.

When modulating the TS-SIG field with 16QAM1/2, the TS-SIG field may provide up to a number of bits corresponding to a number of 104x TS-SIG OFDM symbols. For example, when the TS-SIG field includes 32 TS-SIG OFDM symbols supported, the TS-SIG field may carry 416 bytes.

In some embodiments, the CRC field and the Tail field may be regularly positioned when the TS-SIG field is longer in length. For example, a TS PPDU (e.g., the TS PPDU in fig. 10 or 11) may be used to support the sounding procedures as shown in fig. 8 and 9. The frame exchange sequences for single user transmission (non-TB type transmission) and multi-user transmission (TB type transmission) are shown in fig. 9 and 8, respectively, wherein NDPA, NDP, CQI, BFRP represents NDP announcement, null data packet, channel quality indicator, and beamforming report poll.

Hereinafter, a TS MAC data format will be described with reference to fig. 14 and 15. The TS MAC data may be included in a U-SIG field or a TS-SIG field. Some of the TS MAC data may be included in the U-SIG field, while the remainder may be included in the TS-SIG field.

Fig. 14 illustrates a TS MAC data format according to an embodiment.

As shown in fig. 14, the TS MAC data format may include a TS PPDU body field, a TS indication field, a CRC field, and a Tail field. If the TS PPDU includes a data field, the TS PPDU body field may carry payload information included in the data field. The TS indication field may indicate whether the PPDU is interpreted as a TS PPDU.

Fig. 15 illustrates a TS MAC data format according to an embodiment.

As shown in fig. 14, the TS MAC data format may include two TS PPDU body portion fields separated by a TS indication field. If the TS PPDU includes a data field, two TS PPDU body part fields may form a TS PPDU body part field carrying payload information included in the data field. Multiple groups of CRC fields and Tail fields may be regularly appended to a predetermined location. For example, a CRC field and a Tail field may be appended to each N bits, or to each M station specific information field. Here, N and M are non-zero integers. The TS indication field may indicate whether the PPDU is interpreted as a TS PPDU.

Hereinafter, a probe sequence according to various embodiments will be described with reference to fig. 16 to 19. The beamformer may be an AP STA or a non-AP STA. The beamformer may be an AP STA or a non-AP STA.

Fig. 16 illustrates a TB sounding sequence with one or more beamformers according to an embodiment.

As shown in fig. 16, in operation 1601, the beamformer may send a Null Data PPDU (NDP) announcement (NDPA) frame to one or more beamformers.

In operation 1603, the beamformer may send the NDP and SIFS to one or more beamformers after the NDPA frame.

In operation 1605, the beamformer may send a beamforming report poll (BFRP) trigger frame SIFS to one or more beamformers after the NDP.

In operation 1607, each of the one or more beamformers may respond to the SIFS with a compressed beamforming/CQI frame after the BFRP trigger frame, the compressed beamforming/CQI frame including channel state information determined by each of the one or more beamformers.

Fig. 17 shows a TB sounding sequence with multiple beamformers according to an embodiment.

In operation 1701, the beamformer may transmit a TS PPDU to one or more beamformers.

In operation 1705, the beamformer may transmit a beamforming report poll (BFRP) trigger frame SIFS to one or more beamformers after the TS PPDU frame.

In operation 1707, each of the one or more beamformers may respond to the SIFS with a compressed beamforming/CQI frame after the BFRP trigger frame, the compressed beamforming/CQI frame including channel state information determined by each of the one or more beamformers.

As shown in fig. 17, the NDPA frame and NDP of fig. 16 may be replaced with a TS PPDU. The TS PPDU may include a TS-STF field and a TS-LTF field equivalent to the NDP PPDU for channel estimation of the sounding procedure of fig. 16. The TS PPDU may provide enough space to include basic information similar to the information included in the NDPA frame of fig. 16.

Fig. 18 shows a non-TB sounding sequence with a single beamformer according to an embodiment.

As shown in fig. 18, in operation 1801, the beamformer may transmit a Null Data PPDU (NDP) announcement (NDPA) frame to the beamformer.

In operation 1803, the beamformer may transmit NDP and SIFS to the beamformer after NDPA FRAME.

In operation 1807, the beamformer may respond to the SIFS with a compressed beamforming/CQI frame including channel state information determined by the beamformer after the NDP.

Fig. 19 shows a non-TB sounding sequence with a single beamformer according to an embodiment.

As shown in fig. 19, in operation 1901, the beamformer may transmit a TS PPDU to the beamformer.

In operation 1907, the beamformer may respond to the SIFS with a compressed beamforming/CQI frame after the TS PPDU frame, the compressed beamforming/CQI frame including channel state information determined by the beamformer.

As shown in fig. 19, the NDPA frame and NDP of fig. 18 may be replaced with a TS PPDU. The TS PPDU may include a TS-STF field and a TS-LTF field equivalent to the NDP PPDU for channel estimation of the sounding procedure of fig. 18. The TS PPDU may provide enough space to include basic information similar to the information included in the NDPA frame of fig. 18.

Hereinafter, information fields included in the NDPA frame and the TS-PPDU will be described with reference to fig. 20.

Fig. 20 illustrates an NDPA frame format according to an embodiment.

As shown in fig. 20, the NDPA frame may include a frame control field, a duration field, a Receiver Address (RA) field, a Transmitter Address (TA) field, a sounding dialog token field, one or more STA information fields, and an FCS field. All or some of the fields in the NDPA frame may be included in the TS PPDU as payload information.

If the NDP announcement frame contains only one STA Info field, the RA field may be set to the address of the STA that can provide feedback. If the NDP announcement frame contains more than one STA info field, the RA field may be set to a broadcast address.

The TA field may be set to an address of an STA transmitting the NDP announcement frame or an STA bandwidth signaling TA transmitting the NDP announcement frame.

The probe dialog token field may include an HE subfield and a ranging subfield. Both the HE subfield and the ranging subfield in the sounding dialog token field may be set to 0 to identify the frame as a VHT NDP announcement frame. The HE subfield and the ranging subfield may be set to 1 and 0, respectively, to identify the frame as an HE NDP announcement frame. The HE subfield and the ranging subfield may be set to 1 to identify the frame as an EHT NDP announcement frame.

In some embodiments, the U-SIG, TS-SIG field, or both may include all or part of the information of the NDPA. In order to increase reliability and not to have the STA wait for its STA specific information to be obtained from its STA information field for a long time, the CRC field and the Tail field may be appended to predefined locations in the U-SIG, TS-SIG field, or both. In some embodiments, the CRC and Tail fields are appended to every N STA information fields (N is an integer greater than 0). For example, when the TS-SIG field includes 8 STA information fields and N is equal to 2, the TS-SIG field may include STA Info 1, STA Info2, CRC, tail, STA Info 3, STA Info 4, CRC, tail, STA Info 5, STA Info6, CRC, tail, STA Info 7, STA Info 8, CRC, and Tail.

The TS-SIG may include an FCS field, as shown in fig. 10, to see if the entire information is decoded correctly. The FCS field may be 4 octets in length.

In order to support different types of information carried in the TS PPDU, there is one control field in the U-SIG or the EHT-SIG. The control field may be a PPDU type field. For example, the PPDU type field may be set to a first value to indicate that information corresponding to a sounding sequence is carried in the TS PPDU. The PPDU type field may be set to a second value to indicate that information of the PS-poll frame is carried in the TS PPDU. The PPDU type field may be set to a third value to indicate that information of the ACK frame is carried in the TS PPDU. The PPDU type field may be set to a fourth value to indicate that information of the PS-poll ACK frame is carried in the TS PPDU. The PPDU type field may be set to a fifth value to indicate that information of the BlockACK frame is carried in the TS PPDU.

Hereinafter, power management according to an embodiment will be described with reference to fig. 21.

Fig. 21 shows frame exchange for power management.

In 2101, a non-AP STA may wake up to receive a beacon frame.

In 2102, the AP STA may broadcast a beacon frame.

In 2103, when the non-AP STA detects that the bit corresponding to its AID is 1 in the TIM of the received beacon frame, the non-AP STA may send a PS-poll frame to the AP STA. The non-AP STA may remain in the awake state until it receives a bufferable unit in response to the PS-poll frame.

In 2105, the AP STA may send a PS-poll ACK frame of SIFS after the PS-poll frame in response to the PS-poll frame to indicate that the AP STA has successfully received the PS-poll frame.

In 2107, the AP STA may send a data frame in response to the PS-poll frame.

In 2109, the non-AP STA may send an ACK frame for SIFS after the data frame in response to the data frame to indicate that the non-AP STA has successfully received the data frame.

In 2111, the non-AP STA may send a PS-poll frame in response to the data frame with the more data bit set equal to 1.

In 2113, the AP STA may transmit a PS-poll ACK frame of SIFS after the PS-poll frame in response to the PS-poll frame to indicate that the AP STA has successfully received the PS-poll frame.

At 2115, the AP STA may transmit a data frame in response to the PS-poll frame.

In 2117, the non-AP STA may transmit an ACK frame of SIFS after the data frame in response to the data frame to indicate that the non-AP STA has successfully received the data frame.

In 2119, the non-AP STA may enter a doze state in response to a data frame having more data bits set to 0.

Fig. 22 shows a format of a TS PPDU body portion carrying a PS-poll frame according to an embodiment.

As shown in fig. 22, the TS PPDU body portion carrying the PS poll frame may include an independent field, a TS-MCS field, a TS-SIG symbol number field, a PPDU type field, an RA field, a TA field, a CRC field, and a Tail field as described above.

The TS-MCS field may indicate the MCS of certain portions of the TS PPDU body. In some embodiments, some portions of the TS PPDU body may be included in a U-SIG field, other portions of the TS PPDU body may be included in the TS-SIG field, and the TS-MCS field may indicate an MCS of the TS-SIG field.

The number of TS-SIG symbols field may indicate a number of TS-SIG fields.

The PPDU type field may indicate the type of the TS PPDU, for example, but not limited to, in a plurality of frames including a PS poll frame, an ACK frame, a PS poll ACK frame, and a BlockACK frame. The plurality of frames may be control frames, management frames, or time sensitive frames.

The RA field may be set to an address of a STA included in the AP.

The TA field value may be set to the address of the STA transmitting the frame or the bandwidth signaling TA. IN a PS-poll frame transmitted by a VHT STA IN a Non-HT or Non-HT repetition format, the scrambling sequence carries a TXVECTOR parameter ch_bandwidth_in_non_ht, and the TA field value may be a BANDWIDTH signaling TA.

The CRC field may be used as a check sequence to protect the fields preceding the CRC field.

The Tail field may be a six bit 0, which is required to return the convolutional encoder to a zero state.

In some embodiments, if the STA receives the PPDU, the STA may check a TS indication field in the PPDU. If the TS indication field in the PPDU indicates that the PPDU is a TS PPDU, the STA may check the PPDU type field. If the PPDU type field indicates that the TS PPDU includes a TS PPDU body part carrying a PS poll frame, the STA may interpret the TS PPDU as including an independent field, a TS-MCS field, a TS-SIG symbol number field, a PPDU type field, an RA field, a TA field, a CRC field, and a Tail field.

Fig. 23 illustrates a format of a TS PPDU body portion carrying an ACK frame according to an embodiment.

As shown in fig. 23, the TS PPDU body portion carrying the ACK frame may include an independent field, a TS-MCS field, a TS-SIG symbol number field, a PPDU type field, a duration field, an RA field, an ACK ID field, a CRC field, and a Tail field as described above.

The TS-MCS field may indicate the MCS of certain portions of the TS PPDU body. In some embodiments, some portions of the TS PPDU body may be included in a U-SIG field, other portions of the TS PPDU body may be included in the TS-SIG field, and the TS-MCS field may indicate an MCS of the TS-SIG field.

The TS-SIG symbol number field may indicate a number of TS-SIG fields.

The PPDU type field may indicate the type of the TS PPDU, for example, but not limited to, in a plurality of frames including a PS poll frame, an ACK frame, a PS poll ACK frame, and a BlockACK frame. The plurality of frames may be control frames, management frames, or time sensitive frames.

For Ack frames transmitted by non-QoS STAs, the duration field may be set to 0 if More fragment (More Fragments) bits in the frame control field of the immediately preceding individually addressed data or management frame are equal to 0. In other Ack frames transmitted by non-QoS STAs, the duration field may be a value obtained from immediately preceding data, management, blockAckReq, or duration/ID fields of the BlockAck frame minus the time (in microseconds) required to transmit the Ack frame and its SIFS. If the calculated duration includes a fraction of microseconds, the value may be rounded up to the next higher integer.

The RA field may be set to an address of a STA included in the AP.

The Ack ID field may be defined based on a value of the scrambler initialization and a value of the FCS. For example, the Ack ID field may be set to a bit sequence scrambler initial [0:6] ||fcs [30:31] obtained from a scrambler initialization value in a service field before descrambling, and an FCS field of a PSDU carrying a request frame. The SCRAMBLER initialization value may be obtained from the RXVECTOR parameter SCRAMBLER OR CRC.

The CRC field may be used as a check sequence to protect the fields preceding the CRC field.

The Tail field may be a six bit 0, which is required to return the convolutional encoder to a zero state.

In some embodiments, if the STA receives the PPDU, the STA may check a TS indication field in the PPDU. If the TS indication field in the PPDU indicates that the PPDU is a TS PPDU, the STA may check the PPDU type field. If the PPDU type field indicates that the TS PPDU includes a TS PPDU body part carrying an ACK frame, the STA may interpret the TS PPDU as including an independent field, a TS-MCS field, a TS-SIG symbol number field, a PPDU type field, an RA field, an ACK ID field, a CRC field, and a Tail field.

Fig. 24 illustrates a format of a TS PPDU body portion carrying a PS-poll ACK frame according to an embodiment.

As shown in fig. 24, the TS PPDU body portion carrying the PS-poll ACK frame may include an independent field, a TS-MCS field, a TS-SIG symbol number field, a PPDU type field, a duration field, an RA field, an ACK ID field, a CRC field, and a Tail field as described above.

The TS-MCS field may indicate the MCS of some portion of the TS PPDU body. In some embodiments, some portions of the TS PPDU body may be included in a U-SIG field, other portions of the TS PPDU body may be included in the TS-SIG field, and the TS-MCS field may indicate an MCS of the TS-SIG field.

The number of TS-SIG symbols field may indicate a number of TS-SIG fields.

The PPDU type field may indicate the type of the TS PPDU, for example, but not limited to, in a plurality of frames including a PS poll frame, an ACK frame, a PS poll ACK frame, and a BlockACK frame. The plurality of frames may be control frames, management frames, or time sensitive frames.

For Ack frames transmitted by non-QoS STAs, the duration field may be set to 0 if the more fragment bit in the frame control field of the immediately preceding individually addressed data or management frame is equal to 0. In other Ack frames transmitted by non-QoS STAs, the duration field may be a value obtained from immediately preceding data, management, blockAckReq, or duration/ID fields of the BlockAck frame minus the time (in microseconds) required to transmit the Ack frame and its SIFS. If the calculated duration includes a fraction of microseconds, the value may be rounded up to the next higher integer.

The RA field may be set to an address of a STA included in the AP.

The Ack ID field may be defined based on a value of the scrambler initialization and a value of the FCS. For example, the Ack ID field may be set to a bit sequence scrambler initial [0:6] ||fcs [30:31] obtained from a scrambler initialization value in a service field before descrambling, and an FCS field of a PSDU carrying a request frame. The SCRAMBLER initialization value may be obtained from the RXVECTOR parameter SCRAMBLER OR CRC.

The CRC field may be used as a check sequence to protect the fields preceding the CRC field.

The Tail field may be a six bit 0, which is required to return the convolutional encoder to a zero state.

In some embodiments, if the STA receives the PPDU, the STA may check a TS indication field in the PPDU. If the TS indication field in the PPDU indicates that the PPDU is a TS PPDU, the STA may check the PPDU type field. If the PPDU type field indicates that the TS PPDU includes a TS PPDU body part carrying a PS poll ACK frame, the STA may interpret the TS PPDU as including an independent field, a TS-MCS field, a TS-SIG symbol number field, a PPDU type field, a duration field, an RA field, an ACK ID field, a CRC field, and a Tail field.

Fig. 25 illustrates a format of a TS PPDU body portion carrying a BlockAck frame according to an embodiment.

A BlockAck frame may be transmitted by an STA to another STA to indicate a reception status of a data frame including a plurality of MSDUs and/or a plurality of a-MSDUs. For example, if a STA receives a data frame including a plurality of a-MSDUs from another STA, the STA may transmit the BlockACK frame to the other STA through SIFS following the data frame.

As shown in fig. 25, the TS PPDU body portion carrying the BlockACK frame may include an independent field, a TS-MCS field, a TS-SIG symbol number field, a PPDU type field, a BlockACK ID field, a start sequence control field, a BlockACK bitmap field, an RA field, a TA field, a CRC field, and a Tail field as described above.

The TS-MCS field may indicate the MCS of certain portions of the TS PPDU body. In some embodiments, some portions of the TS PPDU body may be included in a U-SIG field, other portions of the TS PPDU body may be included in the TS-SIG field, and the TS-MCS field may indicate an MCS of the TS-SIG field.

The TS-SIG symbol number field may indicate a number of TS-SIG fields.

The PPDU type field may indicate the type of the TS PPDU, for example, but not limited to, in a plurality of frames including a PS poll frame, an ACK frame, a PS poll ACK frame, and a BlockACK frame. The plurality of frames may be control frames, management frames, or time sensitive frames.

The BlockAck ID field may be set to a value based on a bit sequence of the scrambler initialization value in the SERVICE field. For example, the BlockAck ID field may be set to the first 2 or 6 LSBs of the bit sequence of the scrambler initialization value in the SERVICE field.

The starting sequence control field may contain a sequence number of a first MSDU or a-MSDU of the transmission PPDU.

In some embodiments, when a BlockAck frame is used during a block acknowledgement protocol, a BlockAck bitmap field may indicate the reception status of up to N MSDUs and a-MSDUs, e.g., the BlockAck bitmap field includes N bits. Each bit equal to 1 in the BlockAck bitmap field may confirm receipt of a single MSDU or a-MSDU in the order of sequence number, wherein the first bit of the NDP BlockAck bitmap corresponds to an MSDU or a-MSDU having a sequence number matching the value of the starting sequence control field.

In some embodiments, when a Block Ack frame is used in the fragment BA process, the Block Ack bitmap field may indicate the reception status of up to N fragments of the MSDU, e.g., where the Block Ack bitmap field includes N bits. Each bit equal to 1 in the BlockAck bitmap may confirm reception of a single fragment of the MSDU in the order of fragment numbers, and the first bit of the BlockAck bitmap corresponds to MPDUs with fragment numbers equal to 0 or N.

The RA field may be set to an address of a STA included in the AP.

The TA field value may be set to the address of the STA transmitting the frame.

The CRC field may be used as a check sequence to protect the fields preceding the CRC field.

The Tail field may be a six bit 0, which is required to return the convolutional encoder to a zero state.

In some embodiments, if the STA receives the PPDU, the STA may check a TS indication field in the PPDU. If the TS indication field in the PPDU indicates that the PPDU is a TS PPDU, the STA may check the PPDU type field. If the PPDU type field indicates that the TS PPDU includes a TS PPDU body part carrying a BlockACK, the STA may interpret the TS PPDU as including an independent field, a TS-MCS field, a TS-SIG symbol number field, a PPDU type field, a BlockACK ID field, a starting sequence control field, a BlockAck bitmap field, an RA field, a TA field, a CRC field, and a Tail field.

The TS PPDU may introduce a new IFS shorter than SIFS. Hereinafter, the new IFS will be described according to fig. 26 and 27.

Fig. 26 illustrates various inter-frame spaces used in a wireless local area network according to an embodiment.

As shown in fig. 26, if the medium is determined to be idle during SIFS, the STA may transmit an ACK or CTS frame. For example, SIFS may be 16 μs.

If the medium is determined to be idle during SIFS, the STA may transmit a beacon frame. For example, the PIFS may be (16+9) μs.

If the medium is determined to be idle during the DIFS and the back-off time, the STA may transmit a data frame or a management frame.

Fig. 27 shows consideration of designing a short interframe space (SIFS).

As shown in fig. 27, SIFS has been designed to consider the duration of PHY Rx Latency, MAC processing, and PHY Tx Latency. Since the TS PPDU does not require all MAC processing time, at least MAC processing time can be saved.

Accordingly, the STA may transmit a PPDU at a predetermined IFS subsequent to the TS-PPDU in response to the TS-PPDU. The predetermined IFS may be shorter than SIFS.

Fig. 28 is a flowchart illustrating a method for transmitting a TS-PPDU.

At 2801, the wireless communication device 30 may generate a TS-PPDU as shown in fig. 8-13.

At 2803, the wireless communication device 30 may transmit a TS-PPDU.

Fig. 29 is a flowchart illustrating a method for receiving a PPDU.

In 2901, the wireless communication device 30 may receive a PPDU as shown in fig. 8-13.

In 2903, the wireless communication device 30 may check the TS indication field in the TS-PPDU. The TS indication field may indicate whether the received PPDU is a TS-PPDU carrying payload information in the PHY preamble without a data field.

In 2905, if the TS indication field indicates that the received PPDU is a TS-PPDU, the wireless communication device 30 may obtain payload information from the PHY preamble.

In 2907, the wireless communication device 30 may obtain a PPDU type field from the PHY preamble. The PPDU type field may indicate which payload information is included in the PHY preamble of the PPDU.

In 2909, the wireless communication device 30 may process the payload information based on the PPDU type field. In some embodiments, if the PPDU type field indicates that the PHY preamble of the PPDU includes payload information for an ACK frame, the wireless communication device 30 may process the payload message in the received PPDU as an ACK frame. In some embodiments, if the PPDU type field indicates that the PHY preamble of the PPDU includes payload information for a block ACK frame, wireless communication device 30 may process the payload message in the received PPDU as a block ACK frame. In some embodiments, if the PPDU type field indicates that the PHY preamble of the PPDU includes payload information for a PS-poll frame, the wireless communication device 30 may process the payload message in the received PPDU as a PS-poll frame. In some embodiments, if the PPDU type field indicates that the PHY preamble of the PPDU includes payload information for a PS-poll ACK frame, the wireless communication device 30 may process the payload message in the received PPDU as a PS-poll ACK frame. In some embodiments, if the PPDU type field indicates that the PHY preamble of the PPDU includes payload information of an NDP announcement frame, the wireless communication device 30 may process the PPDU to include an NDPA frame and an NDP and process payload information in the received PPDU as a Null Data PPDU (NDP) announcement frame.

Various illustrative blocks, units, modules, components, methods, operations, instructions, items, and algorithms may be implemented or performed with processing circuitry.

Unless specifically stated otherwise, elements in the singular are not intended to mean one but rather one or more. For example, "a" module may refer to one or more modules. Elements beginning with "a," "the," or "the" do not exclude the presence of other identical elements, if not further limited.

Titles and subtitles, if any, are merely for convenience of use and do not limit the subject technology. The term "exemplary" is used to refer to serving as an example or illustration. To the extent that the terms "includes," "having," "carries," "including," and other like terms are used, the terms are intended to be inclusive in a manner similar to the term "comprising" as "comprising" is interpreted when employed as a transitional word in a claim. Relational terms such as first and second may be used to distinguish one entity or action from another entity or action without necessarily requiring or implying any actual such relationship or order between such entities or actions.

Phrases such as one aspect, this aspect, another aspect, some aspects, one or more aspects, an implementation, the implementation, another implementation, some implementations, one or more implementations, an example, the example, another example, some examples, one or more examples, a configuration, the configuration, another configuration, some configurations, one or more configurations, subject technology, disclosure, the present disclosure, and other variants thereof, are for convenience and do not imply that the disclosure associated with these phrases is essential to the subject technology, or that such disclosure applies to all configurations of the subject technology. The disclosure relating to such phrases may apply to all configurations or one or more configurations. The disclosure relating to such phrases may provide one or more examples. A phrase such as an aspect or certain aspects may refer to one or more aspects and vice versa, and this applies similarly to other preceding phrases.

The phrase "at least one" preceding a series of items, where any of the items are separated by the term "and" or ", may modify the list as a whole, rather than modifying each member in the list. The phrase "at least one" does not require the selection of at least one item; rather, the phrase allows meaning to include at least one of any one of the items, and/or at least one of any combination of the items, and/or at least one of each item. For example, each of the phrases "at least one of A, B and C" or "at least one of A, B or C" refers to a alone, B alone, or C alone; A. any combination of B and C; and/or at least one of each of A, B and C.

It is to be understood that the specific order or hierarchy of steps, operations or processes disclosed is an illustration of exemplary approaches. Unless explicitly stated otherwise, it is understood that a particular order or hierarchy of steps, operations or processes may be performed in a different order. Some steps, operations, or processes may be performed concurrently or as part of one or more other steps, operations, or processes. The accompanying method claims present elements of the various steps, operations, or processes, if any, in a sample order, and are not meant to be limited to the specific order or hierarchy presented. These may be performed serially, linearly, in parallel or in a different order. It should be understood that the described instructions, operations, and systems may generally be integrated in a single software/hardware product or packaged into multiple software/hardware products.

The present disclosure is provided to enable any person skilled in the art to practice the various aspects described herein. In some instances, well-known structures and components are shown in frame diagram form in order to avoid obscuring the concepts of the subject technology. The present disclosure provides various examples of the subject technology, and the subject technology is not limited to these examples. Various modifications to these aspects will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art, and the principles described herein may be applied to other aspects.

All structural and functional equivalents to the elements of the various aspects described throughout this disclosure that are known or later come to be known to those of ordinary skill in the art are expressly incorporated herein by reference and are intended to be encompassed by the claims. Furthermore, nothing disclosed herein is intended to be dedicated to the public regardless of whether such disclosure is explicitly recited in the claims.

The title, background, brief description, abstract and drawings of the drawings are incorporated herein by reference into the present disclosure and are provided as illustrative examples of the present disclosure and not as limiting descriptions. It should be understood that they are not to be used in a limiting sense or in a scope of the appended claims. Furthermore, in the detailed description, it can be seen that this description provides illustrative examples, and various features are grouped together in various embodiments for the purpose of streamlining the disclosure. This method of disclosure is not to be interpreted as reflecting an intention that the claimed subject matter requires more features than are expressly recited in each claim. Rather, as the following claims reflect, inventive subject matter lies in less than all features of a single disclosed configuration or operation. The following claims are hereby incorporated into the detailed description, with each claim standing on its own as a separately claimed subject matter.

The claims are not intended to be limited to the aspects described herein but are to be accorded the full scope consistent with the language claims and encompassing all legal equivalents. Nevertheless, no limitation of the claims is intended to encompass subject matter which is not subject to the applicable patent statutes, nor should it be interpreted in this way.

Claims (20)

1. An electronic device for facilitating wireless communication, comprising processing circuitry configured such that:

receiving a physical layer PHY protocol data unit PPDU, the physical layer protocol data unit including a PHY preamble including a first short training field STF corresponding to a Non-high throughput Non-HT short training field L-STF, a first long training field LTF corresponding to a Non-HT long training field L-LTF, a first signal field corresponding to a Non-HT signal L-SIG field, a second signal field corresponding to a repeated Non-HT signal RL-SIG field, and a third signal field corresponding to a common signal U-SIG field;

checking a control field in the PPDU, the control field indicating whether a PHY preamble in the PPDU carries payload information and whether the PPDU does not include a data field carrying payload information;

Obtaining the payload information from the PHY preamble if the control field indicates that the PHY preamble in the PPDU includes the payload information and the PPDU does not carry a data field; and

processing the payload information.

2. The electronic device of claim 1, wherein processing the payload information comprises:

obtaining a PPDU type field from the PHY preamble, the PPDU type field indicating which payload information is included in the PHY preamble of the PPDU; and

and processing the payload information based on the PPDU type field.

3. The electronic device of claim 2, wherein the payload information is processed as an ACK frame if the PPDU type field indicates that a PHY preamble of the PPDU includes the payload information for the ACK frame.

4. The electronic device of claim 3, wherein the payload information comprises a receiver address field and a transmitter address field.

5. The electronic device of claim 2, wherein the payload information is treated as a block ACK frame if the PPDU type field indicates that a PHY preamble of the PPDU includes the payload information for the block ACK frame.

6. The electronic device of claim 2, wherein the payload information comprises:

a start sequence control field containing a sequence number of the first MSDU or A-MSDU, and

a block acknowledgement bitmap field indicating the reception status of a plurality of MSDUs or a-MSDUs.

7. The electronic device of claim 2, wherein if the PPDU type field indicates that a PHY preamble of the PPDU includes payload information for a PS-poll frame, the payload information is treated as the PS-poll frame.

8. The electronic device of claim 2, wherein if the PPDU type field indicates that a PHY preamble of the PPDU includes payload information for the PS-poll ACK frame, the payload information is treated as the PS-poll ACK frame.

9. The electronic device of claim 2, wherein if the PPDU type field indicates that a PHY preamble of the PPDU includes payload information for a null data PPDU NDP announcement frame, the payload information is treated as the NDP announcement frame and the PPDU is treated as NDP.

10. The electronic device of claim 9, wherein,

The PHY preamble further includes a fourth signal field following the third field, a second STF following the fourth signal field, a second LTF following the second STF, and

the second LTF is used for channel estimation of the sounding procedure.

11. The electronic device of claim 9, wherein the payload information comprises at least one STA information field, each of the at least one STA information field containing STA specific information related to an STA intended to receive the NDP.

12. The electronic device of claim 11, wherein CRC and Tail fields are appended to every N STA information fields, N being an integer greater than 0.

13. The electronic device of claim 1, wherein the payload information is included in the U-SIG.

14. The electronic device of claim 1, wherein the PHY preamble further comprises a fourth signal field subsequent to the U-SIG field, and the payload information is included in the fourth signal field.

15. The electronic device of claim 1, wherein the PHY preamble further comprises a fourth signal field subsequent to the U-SIG field, some portions of the payload information being contained in the U-SIG field, other portions of the payload information being contained in the fourth signal field.

16. The electronic device of claim 1, the one or more processing circuits configured to further cause:

after a predetermined inter-frame space, transmitting another PPDU in response to the PPDU,

wherein the predetermined inter-frame space is shorter than the short IFS SIFS.

17. A method performed by an electronic device for facilitating wireless communications, the method comprising:

receiving a physical layer PHY protocol data unit PPDU, the physical layer protocol data unit including a PHY preamble including a first short training field STF corresponding to a Non-high throughput Non-HT short training field L-STF, a first long training field LTF corresponding to a Non-HT long training field L-LTF, a first signal field corresponding to a Non-HT signal L-SIG field, a second signal field corresponding to a repeated Non-HT signal RL-SIG field, and a third signal field corresponding to a common signal U-SIG field;

checking a control field in the PPDU, wherein the control field indicates whether a PHY preamble in the PPDU carries payload information and whether the PPDU does not carry a data field carrying a payload;

obtaining the payload information from the PHY preamble if the control field indicates that the PHY preamble in the PPDU includes the payload information and the PPDU does not carry a data field; and

Processing the payload information.

18. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

obtaining a PPDU type field from the PHY preamble, the PPDU type field indicating which payload information is included in the PHY preamble of the PPDU; and

the payload information is processed based on the PPDU type field.

19. An electronic device for facilitating wireless communication, comprising processing circuitry configured such that:

generating a physical layer PHY protocol data unit PPDU, the physical layer protocol data unit including a PHY preamble including a first short training field STF corresponding to a Non-high throughput Non-HT short training field L-STF, a first long training field LTF corresponding to a Non-HT long training field L-LTF, a first signal field corresponding to a Non-HT signal L-SIG field, a second signal field corresponding to a repeated Non-HT signal RL-SIG field, and a third signal field corresponding to a common signal U-SIG field;

the PPDU is transmitted in a state that the PPDU,

wherein the PPDU includes a control field indicating whether the PHY preamble in the PPDU carries payload information and whether the PPDU does not carry a data field carrying a payload,

The PHY preamble includes payload information if the control field indicates that the PHY preamble in the PPDU includes payload information and the PPDU does not carry a data field.

20. The electronic device of claim 19, wherein if the control field indicates that the PHY preamble in the PPDU includes medium access control MAC information and the PPDU does not carry a data field, the payload information includes a PPDU type field indicating which payload information is included in the PHY preamble of the PPDU.