CN117641258A - Apparatus and method for use in an access point multilink device - Google Patents

Abstract

The present application relates to an apparatus and method for use in an access point multi-link device (AP MLD). An apparatus for use in an AP MLD includes a processor circuit configured to cause the AP MLD to: broadcasting a beacon frame including a beacon-a presence element, wherein the beacon-a presence element indicates that there is a beacon-a frame after the beacon frame; and broadcasting a beacon-a frame including an AID bitmap element and an MTI element, wherein the AID bitmap element indicates the following non-AP MLD: the TID-to-link mapping information of the non-AP MLD is indicated in an MTI element containing a PTI bitmap field corresponding to the non-AP MLD: the non-AP MLD has cached BU at the AP MLD and has established a default TID-to-link mapping for link recommendation or a non-default TID-to-link mapping for traffic indication.

Description

Apparatus and method for use in an access point multilink device

Cross Reference to Related Applications

The present application is based on and claims priority from U.S. patent application Ser. No.63/403,822 filed on 8/31 2022, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.

Technical Field

Embodiments of the present disclosure relate generally to wireless communications and, more particularly, relate to an apparatus and method for use in an access point multi-link device (AP MLD).

Background

Wireless devices are becoming more and more popular and increasingly request 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.

Extremely High Throughput (EHT) networks, also known as IEEE 802.11be networks, achieve high throughput through a range of system features and various mechanisms. A multi-link device (MLD) is an IEEE 802.11be device having more than one Station (STA) with one Medium Access Control (MAC) interface and a single MAC address associated with the MAC interface. The MLD may be classified into an AP MLD and a non-AP MLD, wherein each STA in the AP MLD is an AP STA and each STA in the non-AP MLD is a non-AP STA.

Disclosure of Invention

An aspect of the present disclosure provides an apparatus for use in an AP MLD, wherein the apparatus includes a processor circuit configured to cause the AP MLD to: broadcasting a beacon frame including a beacon-a presence element, wherein the beacon-a presence element indicates that there is a beacon-a frame after the beacon frame; and broadcasting a beacon-a frame including an Allocation Identifier (AID) bitmap element and a multi-link traffic indication (MTI) element, wherein the AID bitmap element indicates the following non-AP MLD: traffic Identifier (TID) to link map information of the non-AP MLD is indicated in an MTI element, and the MTI element contains a per link traffic indication (PTI) bitmap subfield corresponding to the non-AP MLD: the non-AP MLD has buffered Base Units (BU) at the AP MLD and has established a default TID-to-link mapping for link recommendation or a non-default TID-to-link mapping for traffic indication.

Another aspect of the present disclosure provides a method for use in an AP MLD, wherein the method includes: broadcasting a beacon frame including a beacon-a presence element, wherein the beacon-a presence element indicates that there is a beacon-a frame after the beacon frame; and broadcasting a beacon-a frame including an AID bitmap element and an MTI element, wherein the AID bitmap element indicates the following non-AP MLD: the TID-to-link mapping information of the non-AP MLD is indicated in an MTI element, and the MTI element contains a PTI bitmap subfield corresponding to the non-AP MLD: the non-AP MLD has buffered Base Units (BU) at the AP MLD and has established a default TID-to-link mapping for link recommendation or a non-default TID-to-link mapping for traffic indication.

Drawings

Embodiments of the present disclosure are illustrated by way of example, and not by way of limitation, in the figures of the accompanying drawings in which like reference numerals refer to similar elements.

Fig. 1 is a network schematic diagram illustrating an example network environment according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure.

Fig. 2 is a schematic diagram showing an implementation example of the current multilink traffic indication scheme.

Fig. 3 is a flow chart of a method for use in an AP MLD according to some embodiments of the present disclosure.

Fig. 4 is a schematic diagram illustrating a scenario in which beacon frames and beacon-a frames are broadcast according to some embodiments of the present disclosure.

Fig. 5A is a schematic diagram of an example beacon-a presence element format, according to some embodiments of the present disclosure.

Fig. 5B is a schematic diagram of a PTI bitmap subfield in the current multi-link traffic indication scheme.

Fig. 5C is a schematic diagram of PTI bitmap subfields according to some embodiments of the present disclosure.

Fig. 5D is a schematic diagram of an example MTI control field format according to some embodiments of the present disclosure.

Fig. 6 is a schematic diagram illustrating an implementation example of a multi-link traffic indication scheme according to some embodiments of the present disclosure.

Fig. 7 is a functional block diagram of an exemplary communication station according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure.

Fig. 8 is a functional block diagram of an example of a machine or system that may perform one or more techniques (e.g., methods) discussed herein.

Fig. 9 is a functional block diagram of a radio architecture according to some embodiments of the present disclosure that may be implemented in any of the APs and/or user equipment of fig. 1.

Fig. 10 is a functional block diagram of a WLAN FEM circuit according to some embodiments of the present disclosure.

Fig. 11 is a functional block diagram of a radio IC circuit according to some embodiments of the present disclosure.

Fig. 12 is a functional block diagram of baseband processing circuits according to some embodiments of the present disclosure.

Detailed Description

Various aspects of the illustrative embodiments will be described using terms commonly employed by those skilled in the art to convey the substance of the disclosure to those skilled in the art. However, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that many alternative embodiments may be practiced using portions of the described aspects. For purposes of explanation, specific numbers, materials, and configurations are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the illustrative embodiments. It will be apparent, however, to one skilled in the art that alternative embodiments may be practiced without these specific details. In other instances, well-known features may be omitted or simplified in order not to obscure the illustrative embodiments.

Furthermore, various operations will be described as multiple discrete operations in turn, in a manner that is most helpful in understanding the illustrative embodiments; however, the order of description should not be construed as to imply that these operations are necessarily order dependent. In particular, these operations need not be performed in the order of presentation.

The phrases "in an embodiment," "in one embodiment," and "in some embodiments" are repeated herein. These phrases generally do not refer to the same embodiment; however, they may also refer to the same embodiments. The terms "comprising," "including," and "having" are synonymous, unless the context dictates otherwise. The phrases "A or B" and "A/B" mean "(A), (B) or (A and B). "

Fig. 1 is a network schematic diagram illustrating an example network environment according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. As shown in fig. 1, a wireless network 100 may include one or more user devices 102 and one or more Access Points (APs) 104, which may communicate in accordance with an IEEE 802.11 communication standard. The user device 102 may be a mobile device that is non-stationary (e.g., has no fixed location) or a fixed device.

In some embodiments, the user device 102 and the AP 104 may include one or more functional modules similar to the functional schematic of fig. 7 and/or the functional modules in the exemplary machine/system of fig. 8.

One or more user devices 102 and/or APs 104 may be operated by one or more users 110. It should be noted that any addressable unit may be a Station (STA). STAs may have a number of different characteristics, each of which shapes its function. For example, a single addressable unit may be a portable STA, a quality of service (QoS) STA, a dependent STA, and a hidden STA at the same time. One or more user devices 102 and one or more APs 104 may be STAs. One or more user devices 102 and/or APs 104 may operate as a Personal Basic Service Set (PBSS) control point/access point (PCP/AP). User device 102 (e.g., 1024, 1026, or 1028) and/or AP 104 may include any suitable processor-driven device, including but not limited to a mobile device or a non-mobile device (e.g., a static device). For example, user device 102 and/or AP 104 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.), desktop computer, mobile computer, laptop computer, ultra book (ultra book) ^TM ) Computers, notebook computers, tablet computers, server computers, handheld devices, internet of things (IoT) devices, sensor devices, personal Digital Assistant (PDA) devices, handheld PDA devices, on-board devices, off-board devices, hybrid devices (e.g., combining cellular telephone functionality with PDA device functionality), consumer devices, in-vehicle devices, off-board devices, mobile or portable devices, non-mobile or non-portable devices, mobile phones, cellular phones, personal Communication Services (PCS) devices, PDA devices including wireless communication devices, mobile or portable Global Positioning System (GPS) devices, digital Video Broadcasting (DVB) devices, relatively small computing devices, non-desktop computers, "shared living (carry small live large)" (CSLL) devices, ultra Mobile Devices (UMD), ultra Mobile PCS (UMPC), mobile Internet Devices (MID), "folded paper" devices or computing devices, support dynamic and configurable devicesDevices for joint computing (DCC), context aware devices, video devices, audio-visual (a/V) devices, set Top Boxes (STB), blu-ray disc (BD) players, BD recorders, digital Video Disc (DVD) players, high Definition (HD) DVD players, DVD recorders, HD DVD recorders, personal Video Recorders (PVRs), broadcast HD receivers, video sources, audio sources, video receivers, audio receivers, stereo tuners, broadcast radio receivers, flat panel displays, personal Media Players (PMPs), digital cameras (DVC), digital audio players, speakers, audio receivers, audio amplifiers, gaming devices, data sources, data receivers, digital cameras (DSC), media players, smart phones, televisions, music players, and the like. Other devices including smart devices such as luminaires, climate controls, automotive components, household components, appliances, etc. may also be included in the list.

As used herein, the term "internet of things (IoT) device" is used to refer to any object (e.g., appliance, sensor, etc.) that has an addressable interface (e.g., internet Protocol (IP) address, bluetooth Identifier (ID), near Field Communication (NFC) ID, etc.) and is capable of sending information to one or more other devices via a wired or wireless connection. IoT devices may have passive communication interfaces (e.g., quick Response (QR) codes, radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tags, NFC tags, etc.) or active communication interfaces (e.g., modems, transceivers, etc.). IoT devices may have a particular set of attributes (e.g., device state or status (e.g., whether the IoT device is on or off, idle or active, available for task execution or busy, etc.), cooling or heating functions, environmental monitoring or recording functions, lighting functions, sounding functions, etc.), which may be embedded in and/or controlled/monitored by a Central Processing Unit (CPU), microprocessor, ASIC, etc.), and configured for connection to an IoT network (e.g., a local ad hoc network or the internet). For example, ioT devices may include, but are not limited to, refrigerators, toasters, ovens, microwave ovens, freezers, dishwashers, trays, hand tools, washers, dryers, smelters, air conditioners, thermostats, televisions, lights, cleaners, sprinklers, electricity meters, gas meters, etc., provided that the devices are equipped with addressable communication interfaces for communicating with IoT networks. IoT devices may also include mobile phones, desktop computers, laptop computers, tablet computers, personal Digital Assistants (PDAs), and the like. Thus, ioT networks may include a combination of "traditional" internet-accessible devices (e.g., laptop or desktop computers, mobile phones, etc.) in addition to devices that typically do not have an internet connection (e.g., dishwashers, etc.).

The user device 102 and/or the AP 104 may also include, for example, a mesh station (mesh station) in a mesh network in accordance with one or more IEEE 802.11 standards and/or 3GPP standards.

Any of user devices 102 (e.g., user devices 1024, 1026, 1028) and AP 104 may be configured to communicate with each other wirelessly or by wire via one or more wireless or wire-line communication networks 130 and/or 135. User devices 102 may also communicate peer-to-peer or directly with each other with or without passing through AP 104. Any of the communication networks 130 and/or 135 may include, but are not limited to, any one of, or a combination of, different types of suitable communication networks, such as a broadcast network, a wired network, a public network (e.g., the internet), a private network, a wireless network, a cellular network, or any other suitable private and/or public network. Further, any of communication networks 130 and/or 135 may have any suitable communication range associated therewith, and may include, for example, a global network (e.g., the Internet), a Metropolitan Area Network (MAN), a Wide Area Network (WAN), a Local Area Network (LAN), or a Personal Area Network (PAN). Further, any of communication networks 130 and/or 135 may include any type of medium that may carry network traffic, including, but not limited to, coaxial cable, twisted pair, fiber optic, hybrid fiber-optic coaxial (HFC) medium, microwave terrestrial transceivers, radio frequency communication medium, white space communication medium, ultra-high frequency communication medium, satellite communication medium, or any combination thereof.

Any of user devices 102 (e.g., user devices 1024, 1026, 1028) and AP 104 may include one or more communication antennas. The one or more communication antennas may be any suitable type of antennas corresponding to the communication protocols used by user device 102 (e.g., user devices 1024, 1026, and 1028) and AP 104. Some non-limiting examples of suitable communication antennas include Wi-Fi antennas, institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 family of standards compliant antennas, directional antennas, non-directional antennas, dipole antennas, folded dipole antennas, patch antennas, multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) antennas, omni-directional antennas, quasi-omni-directional antennas, and the like. One or more communication antennas may be communicatively coupled to the radio to transmit and/or receive signals, e.g., communication signals to and/or from the user device 102 and/or the AP 104.

Any of user device 102 (e.g., user devices 1024, 1026, 1028) and AP 104 may be configured to perform directional transmission and/or directional reception in connection with wireless communications in a wireless network. Any of user device 102 (e.g., user devices 1024, 1026, 1028) and AP 104 may be configured to perform such directional transmission and/or reception using a set of multiple antenna arrays (e.g., DMG antenna arrays, etc.). Each of the plurality of antenna arrays may be used for transmission and/or reception in a particular respective direction or range of directions. Any of user device 102 (e.g., user devices 1024, 1026, 1028) and AP 104 may be configured to perform any given directional transmission towards one or more defined transmission sectors. Any of user device 102 (e.g., user devices 1024, 1026, 1028) and AP 104 may be configured to perform any given directional reception from one or more defined receiving sectors.

MIMO beamforming in a wireless network may be implemented using Radio Frequency (RF) beamforming and/or digital beamforming. In some embodiments, in performing a given MIMO transmission, user device 102 and/or AP 104 may be configured to perform MIMO beamforming using all or a subset of its one or more communication antennas.

Any of user device 102 (e.g., user devices 1024, 1026, 1028) and AP 104 may include any suitable radio and/or transceiver for transmitting and/or receiving Radio Frequency (RF) signals in bandwidths and/or channels corresponding to the communication protocols used by any of user device 102 and AP 104 to communicate with each other. The radio component may include hardware and/or software that modulates and/or demodulates communication signals in accordance with a pre-established transmission protocol. The radio may also 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 standard. It should be appreciated that this list of communication channels according to some 802.11 standards is only a partial list, and that other 802.11 standards (e.g., next generation Wi-Fi or other standards) may be used. In some embodiments, a non-Wi-Fi protocol may be used for communication 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 space), or other packet radio communication. The radio may include any known receiver and baseband suitable for communicating via a communication protocol. The radio component may also include a Low Noise Amplifier (LNA), an additional signal amplifier, an analog-to-digital (a/D) converter, one or more buffers, and a digital baseband.

Any of the user devices 102 may be implemented as non-AP MLD and any of the APs 104 may be implemented as AP MLD. The AP MLD may exchange the multi-link parameters and security capability indication information with the non-AP MLD. It is to be understood that the above description is intended to be illustrative and not restrictive.

In the current multi-link traffic indication scheme, the AP MLD indicates Traffic Identifier (TID) to link mapping information to a non-AP MLD associated with the AP MLD using a multi-link traffic indication (MTI) element and a Traffic Indication Map (TIM) element. Specifically, the MTI element includes a bitmap size subfield, an Allocation Identifier (AID) offset subfield, and a plurality of per-link traffic indication (PTI) bitmap subfields, the number of PTI bitmap subfields included in the MTI element is equal to the number of bits set to 1 in the TIM element counted from a bit position indicated by the AID offset subfield included in the TIM element, and the size of each PTI bitmap subfield is indicated by the bitmap size subfield included in the MTI element. Fig. 2 is a schematic diagram showing an implementation example of the current multilink traffic indication scheme.

A problem with the current multi-link traffic indication scheme is that in the TIM element, traffic information corresponding to AIDs assigned to non-AP STAs and non-AP MLDs using a default TID-to-link mapping but not using any link recommendation may be mixed with traffic information corresponding to AIDs assigned to non-AP MLDs using a non-default TID-to-link mapping or using a default TID-to-link mapping and link recommendation, and when a bit in the TIM element corresponding to non-AP STAs or non-AP MLDs using a default TID-to-link mapping but not using any link recommendation is set to 1, its corresponding PTI bitmap subfield is included in the MTI element without any use whatsoever, thereby increasing the overhead of the MTI element. As the size of the PTI bitmap subfield increases, so does the overhead of MTI elements.

In view of the above, it is suggested to use an AID bitmap element to indicate non-AP MLD whose TID-to-link mapping information is indicated in the MTI element to reduce overhead of the MTI element.

Fig. 3 is a flow chart of a method for use in an AP MLD according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. As shown in fig. 3, a method 300 for use in an AP MLD includes: s302, broadcasting a beacon frame comprising a beacon-A presence element, wherein the beacon-A presence element indicates that a beacon-A frame exists after the beacon frame; and S304, broadcasting a beacon-A frame comprising the AID bitmap element and the MTI element. Wherein the AID bitmap element indicates some non-AP MLDs, and TID-to-link mapping information of these non-AP MLDs is indicated in the MTI element. The MTI element contains PTI bitmap subfields corresponding to non-AP MLDs that have buffered Basic Units (BU) at the AP MLD and have established either a default TID-to-link mapping for link recommendations or a non-default TID-to-link mapping for traffic indications.

In the method 300 used in the AP MLD, since TID-to-link mapping information of the non-AP MLD indicated by the AID bitmap element is indicated in the MTI element, PTI bitmap subfields corresponding to some non-AP STAs or non-AP MLDs having default TID-to-link mappings that the AP MLD does not intend to indicate link recommendation may be removed from the MTI element (that is, the MTI element may not contain PTI bitmap subfields corresponding to non-AP STAs or non-AP MLDs having default TID-to-link mappings that the AP MLD does not intend to indicate link recommendation), and thus the overhead of the MTI element may be reduced. This also solves the problem of the non-AP MLD switching between the non-default TID to link mapping and the default TID to link mapping.

In some embodiments, there is a short interframe space (SIFS) between the beacon frame and the beacon-a frame. Fig. 4 is a schematic diagram illustrating a scenario in which beacon frames and beacon-a frames are broadcast according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. As shown in fig. 4, a beacon-a presence element is included in the beacon frame to indicate that there is a beacon-a frame after the beacon frame, an MTI element and an AID bitmap element are included in the beacon-a frame, and the beacon-a frame is broadcast after an interval SIFS from the time the beacon frame is broadcast.

In some embodiments, the beacon-a presence element includes an element identifier field indicating an element identifier of the beacon-a presence element, a length field indicating a size of the beacon-a presence element, and an element identifier extension field indicating whether a beacon-a frame is present after the beacon frame. Fig. 5A is a schematic diagram of an example beacon-a presence element format, according to some embodiments of the present disclosure.

In some embodiments, the AID offset subfield is no longer needed in the MTI element because TID-to-link mapping information of the non-AP MLD indicated by the AID bitmap element is indicated in the MTI element. Further, since the link identifier value may start from any value between 0-15, the MTI element may contain a link Identifier (ID) offset subfield to indicate the link identifier value represented by the first bit position B0 of each PTI bitmap subfield. Fig. 5B is a schematic diagram of a PTI bitmap subfield in the current multi-link traffic indication scheme, and fig. 5C is a schematic diagram of a PTI bitmap subfield according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. As can be seen from fig. 5B and 5C, the size of the PTI bitmap subfield can be reduced by indicating the link identifier offset value.

In some embodiments, the link identifier offset subfield and the bitmap size subfield are contained in an MTI control field of the MTI element. Fig. 5D is a schematic diagram of an example MTI control field format according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. As shown in fig. 5D, the link identifier offset subfield and the bitmap size subfield constitute an MTI control field of the MTI element.

In some embodiments, in the AID bitmap element, an indication bit corresponding to an AID assigned to the following non-AP MLD is set to 1: the non-AP MLD has buffered BU at the AP MLD and has established a default TID-to-link mapping for link recommendation or a non-default TID-to-link mapping for traffic indication. The indication bit corresponding to the AID assigned to the following non-AP STA or non-AP MLD is set to 0: the non-AP STA or non-AP MLD has a default TID to link mapping that the AP MLD does not intend to indicate a link recommendation. Fig. 6 is a schematic diagram illustrating an implementation example of a multi-link traffic indication scheme according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. As shown in fig. 6, the MTI element includes PTI bitmap subfields corresponding to non-AP MLDs whose corresponding bits in the AID bitmap element are set to 1.

It should be appreciated that the method 300 used in the AP MLD may be performed by a dedicated or shared device in the AP MLD, which may be implemented by software, hardware, or a combination thereof. For example, an apparatus for use in an AP MLD may include a processor circuit configured to cause the AP MLD to perform the method 300 for use in the AP MLD. As another example, a computer-readable storage medium may have stored thereon computer-executable instructions that, when executed by processor circuitry in an AP MLD, cause the AP MLD to perform the method 300 for use in the AP MLD.

Fig. 7 illustrates a functional schematic diagram of an exemplary communication station 700 in accordance with one or more example embodiments of the present disclosure. In one embodiment, fig. 7 illustrates a functional block diagram of a communication station 700 that may be suitable for use as an AP 104 (fig. 1) or a user device 102 (fig. 1) in accordance with some embodiments. Communication station 700 may also be suitable for use as a handheld device, mobile device, cellular telephone, smart phone, tablet device, netbook, wireless terminal, laptop computer, wearable computer device, femtocell, high Data Rate (HDR) subscriber station, access point, access terminal, or other Personal Communication System (PCS) device.

Communication station 700 may include communication circuitry 702 and transceiver 710 to transmit signals to and receive signals from other communication stations using one or more antennas 701. The communication circuitry 702 may include circuitry capable of operating physical layer (PHY) communication and/or Medium Access Control (MAC) communication to control access to a wireless medium and/or to operate any other communication layer for transmitting and receiving signals. Communication station 700 may also include processing circuitry 706 and memory 708 arranged to perform operations described herein. In some embodiments, the communication circuitry 702 and the processing circuitry 706 may be configured to perform the operations detailed in the figures, diagrams, and flowcharts above.

According to some embodiments, the communication circuitry 702 may be arranged to contend for the wireless medium and configure frames or packets for communication over the wireless medium. The communication circuit 702 may be arranged to send and receive signals. The communication circuitry 702 may also include circuitry for modulation/demodulation, up/down conversion, filtering, amplification, and the like. In some embodiments, the processing circuitry 706 of the communication station 700 may include one or more processors. In other embodiments, more than two antennas 701 may be coupled to a communication circuit 702 arranged for transmitting and receiving signals. Memory 708 may store information for configuring processing circuitry 706 to perform operations for configuring and transmitting message frames and for performing various operations described herein. Memory 708 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, memory 708 may include computer-readable storage devices, 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, communication station 700 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 device, a wireless telephone, a smart phone, 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 other device that may receive and/or transmit information wirelessly.

In some embodiments, communication station 700 may include one or more antennas 701. The antenna 701 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, a single antenna with multiple apertures may be used instead of more than two antennas. 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 to obtain spatial diversity and different channel characteristics that may occur between each antenna and the transmitting station's antennas.

In some embodiments, communication station 700 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 a Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) screen including a touch screen.

Although communication station 700 is shown as having a plurality of separate functional elements, two or more of these 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 of communication station 700 may refer to one or more processes operating on one or more processing elements.

Some 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, computer-readable storage devices 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, communication station 700 may comprise one or more processors and may be configured with instructions stored on a computer-readable storage device.

Fig. 8 illustrates a block diagram of an example of a machine or system that can perform one or more techniques (e.g., methods) discussed herein. In other embodiments, machine 800 may operate as a standalone device or may be connected (e.g., networked) to other machines. In a networked deployment, the machine 800 may operate in the capacity of a server machine, a client machine, or both, in a server-client network environment. In one example, machine 800 may be used as a peer machine in a peer-to-peer (P2P) (or other distributed) network environment. Machine 800 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 network router, switch or bridge, or any machine (e.g., base station) capable of executing instructions (sequential or otherwise) that specify actions to be taken by that machine. Furthermore, while only one 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 described herein may include, or operate on, a logic or multiple components, modules, or mechanisms. A module is a tangible entity (e.g., hardware) capable of performing specified operations when operated on. The modules include hardware. In one example, the hardware may be specifically configured to perform certain operations (e.g., hard-wired). In another example, hardware may include configurable execution units (e.g., transistors, circuits, etc.) and computer-readable media containing instructions that configure the execution units to perform particular operations when operated. The configuration may be under the direction of an execution unit or loading mechanism. Thus, when the device is operating, the execution unit is communicatively coupled to the computer-readable medium. In this example, the execution unit may be a member of more than one module. For example, in operation, a first module may be implemented at one point in time by a first set of instruction configuration execution units and a second module may be implemented at a second point in time by a second set of instruction reconfiguration execution units.

The machine (e.g., computer system) 800 may include a hardware processor 802 (e.g., a Central Processing Unit (CPU), a Graphics Processing Unit (GPU), a hardware processor core, or any combination thereof), a main memory 804, and a static memory 806, some or all of which may communicate with each other via an interconnect (e.g., bus) 808. The machine 800 may also include a power management device 832, a graphical display device 810, an alphanumeric input device 812 (e.g., a keyboard), and a User Interface (UI) navigation device 814 (e.g., a mouse). In one example, the graphical display device 810, the alphanumeric input device 812, and the UI navigation device 814 may be a touch screen display. The machine 800 may also include a storage device (i.e., a drive unit) 816, a signal generation device 818 (e.g., a speaker), a multi-link parameter and capability indication device 819, a network interface device/transceiver 820 coupled to one or more antennas 830, and one or more sensors 828 (e.g., a Global Positioning System (GPS) sensor, compass, accelerometer, or other sensor). Machine 800 can include an output controller 834, e.g., 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., printer, card reader, etc.). Operations according to one or more example embodiments of the present disclosure may be performed by a baseband processor. The baseband processor may be configured to generate a corresponding baseband signal. The baseband processor may further include physical layer (PHY) and medium access control layer (MAC) circuitry and may further interface with the hardware processor 802 for generation and processing of baseband signals and for controlling the operation of the main memory 804, the storage device 816, and/or the multilink parameters and capability indication device 819. The baseband processor may be provided on a single radio frequency card, a single chip, or an Integrated Circuit (IC).

The storage device 816 may include a machine-readable medium 822 having stored thereon one or more sets of data structures or instructions 824 (e.g., software) embodying or utilized by any one or more of the techniques or functions described herein. The instructions 824 may also reside, completely or at least partially, within the main memory 804, static memory 806, or within the hardware processor 802 during execution thereof by the machine 800. In one example, one or any combination of the hardware processor 802, the main memory 804, the static memory 806, or the storage device 816 may constitute a machine-readable medium.

The multilink parameters and capability indication device 819 may implement or perform any of the operations and processes described and illustrated above.

It should be appreciated that the above is only a subset of the functions that the multi-link parameter and capability indication device 819 may be configured to perform, and that other functions included in this disclosure may also be performed by the multi-link parameter and capability indication device 819.

While the machine-readable medium 822 is shown to be 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 824.

Various embodiments may be implemented in whole or in part in software and/or firmware. The software and/or firmware may take the form of instructions contained in or on a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium. These 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 computer-readable media may include any tangible, non-transitory media for storing information in one or more computer-readable forms, such as, but not limited to, read Only Memory (ROM), random Access Memory (RAM), magnetic disk storage media, optical storage media, flash memory, and the like.

The term "machine-readable medium" can include any medium capable of storing, encoding or carrying data structures for execution by the machine 800 and that cause the machine 800 to perform any one or more of the techniques of this disclosure, or that can store, encode or carry data structures used by or associated with such instructions. Non-limiting examples of machine readable media may include solid state memory, optical and magnetic media. In one example, a large-scale machine-readable medium includes a machine-readable medium having a plurality of particles with a stationary mass. Specific examples of a large-scale machine-readable medium may include non-volatile memory (e.g., 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 (e.g., internal hard disks and removable disks); magneto-optical disk; CD-ROM and DVD-ROM discs.

The instructions 824 may also be transmitted or received over a communication network 826 using a transmission medium via the network interface device/transceiver 820, utilizing any of a number of transmission protocols (e.g., frame relay, internet Protocol (IP), transmission Control Protocol (TCP), user Datagram Protocol (UDP), hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP), etc.). Example communication networks may include a Local Area Network (LAN), a Wide Area Network (WAN), a packet data network (e.g., the internet), a mobile telephone network (e.g., a cellular network), a Plain Old Telephone (POTS) network, a wireless data network (e.g., institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 family of standards (referred to as ) The IEEE 802.16 standard family (called +.>) IEEE 802.15.4 family of standards, peer-to-peer (P2P) networks, etc. In one example, the network interface device/transceiver 820 may include one or more physical jacks (e.g., ethernet, coaxial, or telephone jacks) or one or more antennas to connect to the communications network 826. In one example, the network interface device/transceiver 820 may include multiple antennas to communicate wirelessly using at least one of single-input multiple-output (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 800, and includes digital or analog communications signals or other intangible medium to facilitate communication of such software.

In various implementations, the operations and processes described and illustrated above may be implemented or performed in any suitable order as desired. Further, in some implementations, at least a portion of the operations may be performed in parallel. Further, in some implementations, more or fewer operations than those described may be performed.

Fig. 9 is a functional block diagram of a radio architecture 900A, 900B according to some embodiments that may be implemented in any of the APs 104 and/or user equipment 102 of fig. 1. The radio architecture 900A, 900B may include radio Front End Module (FEM) circuitry 904a-B, radio IC circuitry 906a-B, and baseband processing circuitry 908a-B. The radio architectures 900A, 900B as shown include Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) functionality and Bluetooth (BT) functionality, although the embodiments are not so limited. In this disclosure, "WLAN" and "Wi-Fi" may be used interchangeably.

The FEM circuitry 904a-b may include WLAN or Wi-Fi FEM circuitry 904a and Bluetooth (BT) FEM circuitry 904b. The WLAN FEM circuitry 904a may include a receive signal path including circuitry configured to operate on WLAN RF signals received from one or more antennas 901 to amplify the receive signals and provide an amplified version of the receive signals to the WLAN radio IC circuitry 906a for further processing. BT FEM circuitry 904b may include a receive signal path, which may include circuitry configured to operate on BT RF signals received from one or more antennas 901 to amplify the received signals and provide an amplified version of the received signals to BT radio IC circuitry 906b for further processing. FEM circuitry 904a may also include a transmit signal path, which may include circuitry configured to amplify the WLAN signals provided by radio IC circuitry 906a for wireless transmission via one or more antennas 901. Further, the FEM circuitry 904b may also include a transmit signal path, which may include circuitry configured to amplify the BT signal provided by the radio IC circuitry 906b for wireless transmission via one or more antennas. In the embodiment of fig. 9, although FEM 904a and FEM 904b are shown as being different from each other, the embodiment is not so limited, and FEM (not shown) including transmission paths and/or reception paths for both WLAN signals and BT signals will be used, or one or more FEM circuits (at least some of which share transmission and/or reception signal paths for WLAN signals and BT signals) will be used to be included in their ranges.

The radio IC circuits 906a-b as shown may include a WLAN radio IC circuit 906a and a BT radio IC circuit 906b. The WLAN radio IC circuit 906a may include a receive signal path that may include circuitry to down-convert WLAN RF signals received from the FEM circuit 904a and provide baseband signals to the WLAN baseband processing circuit 908 a. BT radio IC circuitry 906b may also include a receive signal path, which may include circuitry to down-convert BT RF signals received from FEM circuitry 904b and provide baseband signals to BT baseband processing circuitry 908 b. The WLAN radio IC circuitry 906a may also include a transmit signal path that may include circuitry to up-convert the WLAN baseband signals provided by the WLAN baseband processing circuitry 908a and provide WLAN RF output signals to the FEM circuitry 904a for subsequent wireless transmission via the one or more antennas 901. BT radio IC circuitry 906b may also include a transmit signal path, which may include circuitry to up-convert BT baseband signals provided by BT baseband processing circuitry 908b and provide BT RF output signals to FEM circuitry 904b for subsequent wireless transmission via one or more antennas 901. In the embodiment of fig. 9, although the radio IC circuits 906a and 906b are shown as being different from each other, the embodiment is not so limited, and a radio IC circuit (not shown in the figure) including a transmission signal path and/or a reception signal path for both the WLAN signal and the BT signal, or one or more radio IC circuits (at least some of which share a transmission and/or reception signal path for the WLAN signal and the BT signal) will be used or included in their ranges.

The baseband processing circuits 908a-b may include WLAN baseband processing circuit 908a and BT baseband processing circuit 908b. The WLAN baseband processing circuit 908a may include a memory, 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 circuit 908 a. Each of the WLAN baseband circuitry 908a and BT baseband circuitry 908b may also include one or more processors and control logic to process signals received from the respective WLAN or BT receive signal paths of the radio IC circuitry 906a-b and generate respective WLAN or BT baseband signals for the transmit signal paths of the radio IC circuitry 906 a-b. Each of the baseband processing circuits 908a and 908b may also include physical layer (PHY) and medium access control layer (MAC) circuitry, and may further interface with devices for generation and processing of baseband signals and for controlling operation of the radio IC circuits 906 a-b.

Still referring to fig. 9, according to the illustrated embodiment, the WLAN-BT coexistence circuit 913 may include logic to provide an interface between the WLAN baseband circuit 908a and the BT baseband circuit 908b to enable use cases requiring WLAN and BT coexistence. Further, a switch 903 may be provided between the WLAN FEM circuit 904a and the BT FEM circuit 904b to allow switching between WLAN and BT radio depending on application needs. Further, although antenna 901 is depicted as being connected to WLAN FEM circuitry 904a and BT FEM circuitry 904b, respectively, embodiments include within their scope sharing one or more antennas between WLAN and BT FEM, or providing more than one antenna connected to each of FEM 904a or 904 b.

In some embodiments, the front end module circuits 904a-b, the radio IC circuits 906a-b, and the baseband processing circuits 908a-b may be provided on a single radio frequency card, such as the wireless radio frequency card 902. In some other embodiments, one or more of the antenna 901, FEM circuitry 904a-b, and radio IC circuitry 906a-b may be provided on a single radio frequency card. In some other embodiments, the radio IC circuits 906a-b and baseband processing circuits 908a-b may be provided on a single chip or Integrated Circuit (IC), such as IC 912.

In some embodiments, wireless radio card 902 may comprise a WLAN radio card and may be configured for Wi-Fi communication, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect. In some of these embodiments, the radio architecture 900A, 900B may be configured to receive and transmit Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) or Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDMA) communication signals over a multicarrier communication channel. The OFDM or OFDMA signal may include a plurality of orthogonal subcarriers.

In some of these multi-carrier embodiments, the radio architecture 900A, 900B may be part of a Wi-Fi communication Station (STA), such as a wireless Access Point (AP) or a mobile device or base station that includes a Wi-Fi device. In some of these embodiments, radio architecture 900A, 900B may be configured to transmit and receive signals according to particular communication standards and/or protocols, for example, any standard of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) (including 802.11n-2009, IEEE 802.11-2012, IEEE 802.11-2016, 802.11n-2009, 802.11ac, 802.11ah, 802.11ad, and/or 802.11ax standards), and/or specifications proposed for WLANs, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect. The radio architecture 900A, 900B may also be adapted to transmit and/or receive communications in accordance with other techniques and standards.

In some embodiments, the radio architecture 900A, 900B may be configured for high-efficiency Wi-Fi (HEW) communications in accordance with the IEEE 802.11ax standard. In these embodiments, radio architectures 900A, 900B may be configured to communicate in accordance with OFDMA techniques, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect.

In some other embodiments, radio architectures 900A, 900B may be configured to transmit and receive signals transmitted using one or more other modulation techniques including, for example, 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. 9, the BT baseband circuit 908b may conform to a Bluetooth (BT) connection standard, e.g., bluetooth 8.0, or bluetooth 6.0, or any other iteration of the bluetooth standard.

In some embodiments, the radio architecture 900A, 900B may include other radio frequency cards, such as cellular radio frequency cards configured for cellular (e.g., 5GPP, e.g., LTE-advanced, or 5G) communications.

In some IEEE 802.11 embodiments, the radio architecture 900A, 900B may be configured for communication over a variety of channel bandwidths including bandwidths having a center frequency of approximately 900MHz, 2.4GHz, 5GHz, and bandwidths of approximately 2MHz, 4MHz, 5MHz, 5.5MHz, 6MHz, 8MHz, 10MHz, 20MHz, 40MHz, 80MHz (continuous bandwidth), or 80+80MHz (160 MHz) (discontinuous bandwidth). In some embodiments, a channel bandwidth of 720MHz may be used. However, the scope of the embodiments is not limited to the center frequency described above.

Fig. 10 illustrates a WLAN FEM circuit 904a according to some embodiments. Although the example of fig. 10 is described in connection with WLAN FEM circuit 904a, the example of fig. 10 may be described in connection with example BT FEM circuit 904b (fig. 9), although other circuit configurations may also be suitable.

In some embodiments, FEM circuitry 904a may include a Transmit (TX)/Receive (RX) switch 1002 for switching between transmit mode and receive mode operation. FEM circuitry 904a may include a receive signal path and a transmit signal path. The receive signal path of FEM circuitry 904a may include a Low Noise Amplifier (LNA) 1006 to amplify the received RF signal 1003 and provide an amplified received RF signal 1007 as an output (e.g., to the outputs of radio IC circuitry 906a-b (fig. 9)). The transmit signal path of circuit 904a may include a Power Amplifier (PA) for amplifying an input RF signal 1009 (e.g., provided by radio IC circuits 906 a-b) and one or more filters 1012 (e.g., band Pass Filters (BPFs), low Pass Filters (LPFs), or other types of filters) for generating an RF signal 1015 for subsequent transmission via an example duplexer 1014 (e.g., through one or more antennas 901 (fig. 9)).

In some dual-mode embodiments for Wi-Fi communication, FEM circuitry 904a may be configured to operate in the 2.4GHz spectrum or the 5GHz spectrum. In these embodiments, the receive signal path of FEM circuitry 904a may include a receive signal path diplexer 1004 to separate signals from each spectrum and to provide a separate LNA 1006 for each spectrum as shown. In these embodiments, the transmit signal path of FEM circuitry 704a may also include a power amplifier 1010, a filter 1012 (e.g., a BPF, LPF, or other type of filter for each spectrum), and a transmit signal path diplexer 1014 to provide signals of one of the different spectrums onto a single transmit path for subsequent transmission by one or more antennas 901 (fig. 9). In some embodiments, BT communication may utilize a 2.4GHz signal path and may utilize the same FEM circuitry as FEM circuitry 904a for WLAN communication.

Fig. 11 illustrates a radio IC circuit 906a in accordance with some embodiments. The radio IC circuit 906a is one example of a circuit suitable for use as a WLAN or BT radio IC circuit 906a/906b (fig. 9), although other circuit configurations may also be suitable. Alternatively, the example of fig. 11 may be described in connection with the example BT radio IC circuit 906 b.

In some embodiments, the radio IC circuitry 906a may include a receive signal path and a transmit signal path. The receive signal path of the radio IC circuit 906a may include at least a mixer circuit 1102 (e.g., a down-conversion mixer circuit), an amplifier circuit 1106, and a filter circuit 1108. The transmit signal path of the radio IC circuit 906a may include at least a filter circuit 1112 and a mixer circuit 1114 (e.g., an up-conversion mixer circuit). The radio IC circuit 906a may also include a synthesizer circuit 1104 for synthesizing a frequency 1105 for use by the mixer circuit 1102 and the mixer circuit 1114. According to some embodiments, mixer circuits 1102 and/or 1114 may each be configured to provide a direct conversion function. The latter type of circuit presents a simpler architecture than standard superheterodyne mixer circuits and can mitigate any flicker noise brought by it by using, for example, OFDM modulation. Fig. 11 shows only a simplified version of the radio IC circuit and may include (although not shown) embodiments in which each of the circuits depicted may include more than one component. For example, mixer circuit 1114 may each include one or more mixers, while filter circuits 1108 and/or 1112 may each include one or more filters, e.g., one or more BPFs and/or LPFs, as desired by the application. For example, when the mixer circuits are of the direct conversion type, they may each include two or more mixers.

In some embodiments, mixer circuit 1102 may be configured to down-convert RF signal 1007 received from FEM circuits 904a-b (fig. 9) based on a synthesized frequency 1105 provided by synthesizer circuit 1104. The amplifier circuit 1106 may be configured to amplify the down-converted signal and the filter circuit 1108 may include an LPF configured to remove unwanted signals from the down-converted signal to generate an output baseband signal 1107. The output baseband signal 1107 may be provided to baseband processing circuits 908a-b (fig. 9) for further processing. In some embodiments, the output baseband signal 1107 may be a zero frequency baseband signal, although this is not required. In some embodiments, mixer circuit 1102 may include a passive mixer, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect.

In some embodiments, the mixer circuit 1114 may be configured to up-convert the input baseband signal 1111 based on the synthesized frequency 1105 provided by the synthesizer circuit 1104 to generate the RF output signal 1009 for the FEM circuits 904 a-b. The baseband signal 1111 may be provided by baseband processing circuits 908a-b and may be filtered by filter circuit 1112. The filter circuit 1112 may include an LPF or BPF, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect.

In some embodiments, the mixer circuit 1102 and the mixer circuit 1114 may each comprise two or more mixers and may be arranged for quadrature down-conversion and/or up-conversion, respectively, with the aid of the synthesizer 1104. In some embodiments, mixer circuit 1102 and mixer circuit 1114 may each include two or more mixers, each configured for image rejection (e.g., hartley (r) image rejection). In some embodiments, mixer circuit 1102 and mixer circuit 1114 may be arranged for direct down-conversion and/or direct up-conversion, respectively. In some embodiments, mixer circuit 1102 and mixer circuit 1114 may be configured for superheterodyne operation, although this is not required.

According to one embodiment, the mixer circuit 1102 may include: quadrature passive mixers (e.g., for in-phase (I) and quadrature-phase (Q) paths). In such an embodiment, the RF input signal 1007 from fig. 10 may be down-converted to provide I and Q baseband output signals to be sent to the baseband processor.

The quadrature passive mixer may be driven by zero and 90 degree time-varying LO switching signals provided by a quadrature circuit, which may be configured to receive an LO frequency (fLO) from a local oscillator or synthesizer (e.g., LO frequency 1105 of synthesizer 1104 (fig. 11)). In some embodiments, the LO frequency may be a carrier frequency, while in other embodiments, the LO frequency may be a portion of the carrier frequency (e.g., half of the carrier frequency, one third of the carrier frequency). In some embodiments, zero degree and 90 degree time varying switching signals may be generated by a synthesizer, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect.

In some embodiments, the LO signal may differ in duty cycle (the percentage of the LO signal that is high in one cycle) and/or offset (the difference between the start of the cycle). In some embodiments, the LO signal may have a duty cycle of 85% and an offset of 80%. In some embodiments, each branch of the mixer circuit (e.g., the in-phase (I) and quadrature-phase (Q) paths) may operate at 80% duty cycle, which may result in a significant reduction in power consumption.

The RF input signal 1007 (fig. 10) may comprise a balanced signal, although the scope of embodiments is not limited in this respect. The I and Q baseband output signals may be provided to a low noise amplifier, such as amplifier circuit 1106 (fig. 11) or filter circuit 1108 (fig. 11).

In some embodiments, output baseband signal 1107 and input baseband signal 1111 may be analog baseband signals, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect. In some alternative embodiments, the output baseband signal 1107 and the input baseband signal 1111 may be digital baseband signals. In these alternative embodiments, the radio IC circuit may include an analog-to-digital converter (ADC) and a digital-to-analog converter (DAC) circuit.

In some dual mode embodiments, separate radio IC circuits may be provided to process signals for each spectrum or other spectrum not mentioned herein, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect.

In some embodiments, synthesizer circuit 1104 may be a fractional-N synthesizer or a fractional-N/n+1 synthesizer, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect as other types of frequency synthesizers may be suitable. For example, the synthesizer circuit 1104 may be a delta-sigma synthesizer, a frequency multiplier, or a synthesizer including a phase locked loop with a frequency divider. According to some embodiments, synthesizer circuit 1104 may include a digital synthesizer circuit. One advantage of using a digital synthesizer circuit is that while it may still include some analog components, its footprint is much smaller than that of an analog synthesizer circuit. In some embodiments, the frequency input to synthesizer circuit 1104 may be provided by a Voltage Controlled Oscillator (VCO), although this is not required. Divider control input may also be provided by one of the baseband processing circuits 908a-b (fig. 9) depending on the desired output frequency 1105. In some embodiments, the divider control input (e.g., N) may be determined from a look-up table (e.g., within a Wi-Fi card) based on the channel number and channel center frequency determined or indicated by the example application processor 910. The application processor 910 may include or otherwise be connected to one of the example security signal converter or the example receive signal converter (e.g., depending on in which device the example radio architecture is implemented).

In some embodiments, synthesizer circuit 1104 may be configured to generate the carrier frequency as output frequency 1105, while in other embodiments, output frequency 1105 may be a portion of the carrier frequency (e.g., half of the carrier frequency, one third of the carrier frequency). In some embodiments, output frequency 1105 may be an LO frequency (fLO).

Fig. 12 illustrates a block diagram of baseband processing circuit 908a, according to some embodiments. The baseband processing circuit 908a is one example of a circuit suitable for use as the baseband processing circuit 908a (fig. 9), although other circuit configurations may also be suitable. Alternatively, the example of fig. 12 may be used to implement the example BT baseband processing circuit 908b of fig. 8.

The baseband processing circuit 908a may include a receive baseband processor (RX BBP) 1202 for processing receive baseband signals 1209 provided by the radio IC circuits 906a-b (fig. 9) and a transmit baseband processor (TX BBP) 1204 for generating transmit baseband signals 1211 for the radio IC circuits 906 a-b. The baseband processing circuit 908a may also include control logic 1206 to coordinate the operation of the baseband processing circuit 908 a.

In some embodiments (e.g., when analog baseband signals are exchanged between baseband processing circuits 908a-b and radio IC circuits 906 a-b), baseband processing circuit 908a may include ADC 1210 to convert analog baseband signals 1209 received from radio IC circuits 906a-b into digital baseband signals for processing by RX BBP 1202. In these embodiments, baseband processing circuit 908a may also include DAC 1212 to convert the digital baseband signal from TX BBP 1204 to analog baseband signal 1211.

In some embodiments where the OFDM or OFDMA signal is transmitted through a processor such as baseband processor 908a, transmit baseband processor 1204 may be configured to generate the OFDM or OFDMA signal suitable for transmission by performing an Inverse Fast Fourier Transform (IFFT). The receive baseband processor 1202 may be configured to process a received OFDM signal or OFDMA signal by performing an FFT. In some embodiments, the receive baseband processor 1202 may be configured to detect the presence of an OFDM signal or OFDMA signal by performing autocorrelation, detect a preamble (e.g., a short preamble), and detect a long preamble by performing cross-correlation. The preamble may be part of a predetermined frame structure for Wi-Fi communication.

Referring back to fig. 9, in some embodiments, antennas 901 (fig. 9) 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 901 may each include a set of phased array antennas, although embodiments are not limited in this respect.

Although the radio architecture 900A, 900B is shown as having multiple independent 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, a functional element may refer to one or more processes operating on one or more processing elements.

The term "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," "handheld device," "mobile device," "wireless device," and "User Equipment (UE)" as used herein refer to a wireless communication device, such as a cellular telephone, smart phone, tablet device, netbook, wireless terminal, laptop computer, femtocell, high Data Rate (HDR) user station, access point, printer, point-of-sale device, access terminal, or other Personal Communication System (PCS) device. The device may be mobile or stationary.

The term "transmitting" as used in this document is intended to include transmitting or receiving, or both transmitting and receiving. This may be particularly useful in the claims when describing the organization of data sent by one device and received by another device, but only requiring the function of one of these devices would violate the claims. Similarly, when only the function of one of the devices is claimed, the bidirectional data exchange between the two devices (both devices transmitting and receiving during the exchange) may be described as "transfer". The term "transmitting" as used herein with respect to wireless communication signals includes transmitting wireless communication signals and/or receiving wireless communication signals. For example, a wireless communication unit capable of transmitting wireless communication signals may include a wireless transmitter for transmitting wireless communication signals to at least one other wireless communication unit and/or a wireless communication receiver for receiving wireless communication signals 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 indicate 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 referred to as a mobile station, user Equipment (UE), wireless communication device, or some other similar terminology known in the art. Embodiments disclosed herein relate generally to wireless networks. Some embodiments may relate to wireless networks operating in accordance with one of the IEEE 802.11 standards.

Some embodiments may be used in conjunction with various devices and systems, such as Personal Computers (PCs), desktop computers, mobile computers, laptop computers, notebook computers, tablet computers, server computers, handheld devices, personal Digital Assistant (PDA) devices, handheld PDA devices, on-board devices, off-board devices, hybrid devices, in-vehicle devices, off-board devices, mobile or portable devices, consumer devices, non-mobile or non-portable devices, wireless communication stations, wireless communication devices, wireless Access Points (APs), wired or wireless routers, wired or wireless modems, video devices, audio-video (a/V) devices, wired or wireless networks, wireless local area networks, wireless Video Area Networks (WVAN), local Area Networks (LANs), wireless LANs (WLANs), personal Area Networks (PANs), wireless PANs (WPANs), and the like.

Some embodiments may be used in conjunction with unidirectional and/or bidirectional wireless communication systems, cellular radio-telephone communication systems, mobile telephones, cellular telephones, wireless telephones, personal Communication Systems (PCS) devices, PDA devices which include wireless communication devices, mobile or portable Global Positioning System (GPS) devices, devices which include GPS receivers or transceivers or chips, devices which include RFID elements or chips, multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) transceivers or devices, single-input multiple-output (SIMO) transceivers or devices, multiple-input single-output (MISO) transceivers or devices, devices with one or more internal and/or external antennas, digital Video Broadcasting (DVB) devices or systems, multi-standard radio devices or systems, wired or wireless handheld devices (e.g., smart phones), wireless Application Protocol (WAP) devices, and so forth.

Some embodiments may be used in conjunction with one or more types of wireless communication signals and/or systems that conform to one or more wireless communication protocols including, for example, radio Frequency (RF), infrared (IR), frequency Division Multiplexing (FDM), orthogonal FDM (OFDM), time Division Multiplexing (TDM), time Division Multiple Access (TDMA), spread TDMA (E-TDMA), general Packet Radio Service (GPRS), spread GPRS, code Division Multiple Access (CDMA), wideband CDMA (WCDMA), CDMA 2000, single carrier CDMA, Multicarrier CDMA, multicarrier modulation (MDM), discrete Multitone (DMT), bluetoothGlobal 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, 3GPP, long Term Evolution (LTE), LTE advanced, enhanced data rates for GSM evolution (EDGE), and the like. Other embodiments may be used in various other devices, systems, and/or networks. />

The following paragraphs describe examples of various embodiments.

Example 1 includes an apparatus for use in an access point multi-link device (AP MLD), wherein the apparatus includes a processor circuit configured to cause the AP MLD to: broadcasting a beacon frame comprising a beacon-a presence element, wherein the beacon-a presence element indicates that a beacon-a frame is present after the beacon frame; and broadcasting a beacon-a frame including an Allocation Identifier (AID) bitmap element and a multi-link traffic indication (MTI) element, wherein the AID bitmap element indicates the following non-AP MLD: traffic Identifier (TID) to link map information of the non-AP MLD is indicated in the MTI element, and the MTI element contains a per link traffic indication (PTI) bitmap subfield corresponding to the non-AP MLD: the non-AP MLD has buffered Base Units (BU) at the AP MLD and has established a default TID-to-link mapping for link recommendation or a non-default TID-to-link mapping for traffic indication.

Example 2 includes the apparatus of example 1, wherein a short inter-frame space (SIFS) exists between the beacon frame and the beacon-a frame.

Example 3 includes the apparatus of example 1, wherein the beacon-a presence element includes an element identifier field indicating an element identifier of the beacon-a presence element, a length field indicating a size of the beacon-a presence element, and an element identifier extension field indicating whether a beacon-a frame is present after the beacon frame.

Example 4 includes the apparatus of example 1, wherein the MTI element comprises a link identifier offset subfield indicating a link identifier value represented by a first bit position of each PTI bitmap subfield.

Example 5 includes the apparatus of example 4, wherein the MTI element includes a bitmap size subfield indicating a size of each PTI bitmap subfield.

Example 6 includes the apparatus of example 5, wherein the link identifier offset subfield and the bitmap size subfield are included in an MTI control field of the MTI element.

Example 7 includes the apparatus of example 1, wherein the MTI element does not include a PTI bitmap subfield corresponding to a non-AP station (non-AP STA) or a non-AP MLD: these non-AP stations or non-AP MLDs have default TID-to-link mappings that the AP MLD does not intend to indicate link recommendations.

Example 8 includes the apparatus of example 7, wherein in the AID bitmap element, an indication bit corresponding to an AID assigned to the following non-AP MLD is set to 1: the non-AP MLD has buffered BU at the AP MLD and has established a default TID-to-link mapping for link recommendation or a non-default TID-to-link mapping for traffic indication and an indication bit corresponding to an AID assigned to the following non-AP STA or non-AP MLD is set to 0: the non-AP STA or non-AP MLD has a default TID-to-link mapping that the AP MLD does not intend to indicate a link recommendation.

Example 9 includes a method for use in an access point multi-link device (AP MLD), wherein the method comprises: broadcasting a beacon frame comprising a beacon-a presence element, wherein the beacon-a presence element indicates that a beacon-a frame is present after the beacon frame; and broadcasting a beacon-a frame including an Allocation Identifier (AID) bitmap element and a multi-link traffic indication (MTI) element, wherein the AID bitmap element indicates the following non-AP MLD: traffic Identifier (TID) to link map information of the non-AP MLD is indicated in the MTI element, and the MTI element contains a per link traffic indication (PTI) bitmap subfield corresponding to the non-AP MLD: the non-AP MLD has buffered Base Units (BU) at the AP MLD and has established a default TID-to-link mapping for link recommendation or a non-default TID-to-link mapping for traffic indication.

Example 10 includes the method of example 9, wherein a short inter-frame space (SIFS) exists between the beacon frame and the beacon-a frame.

Example 11 includes the method of example 9, wherein the beacon-a presence element includes an element identifier field that indicates an element identifier of the beacon-a presence element, a length field that indicates a size of the beacon-a presence element, and an element identifier extension field that indicates whether a beacon-a frame is present after the beacon frame.

Example 12 includes the method of example 9, wherein the MTI element includes a link identifier offset subfield indicating a link identifier value represented by a first bit position of each PTI bitmap subfield.

Example 13 includes the method of example 12, wherein the MTI element includes a bitmap size subfield indicating a size of each PTI bitmap subfield.

Example 14 includes the method of example 13, wherein the link identifier offset subfield and the bitmap size subfield are included in an MTI control field of the MTI element.

Example 15 includes the method of example 9, wherein the MTI element does not include a PTI bitmap subfield corresponding to a non-AP station (non-AP STA) or a non-AP MLD of: these non-AP stations or non-AP MLDs have default TID-to-link mappings that the AP MLD does not intend to indicate link recommendations.

Example 16 includes the method of example 15, wherein in the AID bitmap element, an indication bit corresponding to an AID assigned to the following non-AP MLD is set to 1: the non-AP MLD has buffered BU at the AP MLD and has established a default TID-to-link mapping for link recommendation or a non-default TID-to-link mapping for traffic indication and an indication bit corresponding to an AID assigned to the following non-AP STA or non-AP MLD is set to 0: the non-AP STA or non-AP MLD has a default TID-to-link mapping that the AP MLD does not intend to indicate a link recommendation.

Example 17 includes an access point multi-link device (AP MLD) comprising the apparatus of any one of examples 1 to 8.

Example 18 includes an apparatus for use in an access point multi-link device (AP MLD), comprising means for implementing the method of any one of examples 9-16.

Example 19 includes an access point multi-link device (AP MLD) comprising means for implementing the method of any one of examples 9 to 16.

Example 20 includes a computer-readable storage medium having stored thereon computer-executable instructions, wherein the computer-executable instructions, when executed by processor circuitry used in an access point multi-link device (AP MLD), cause the AP MLD to implement the method of any one of examples 9 to 16.

Although certain embodiments have been illustrated and described herein for purposes of description, various alternative and/or equivalent embodiments or implementations may be substituted for the embodiments shown and described for the same purposes without departing from the scope of the present disclosure. This application is intended to cover any adaptations or variations of the embodiments discussed herein. Accordingly, the embodiments described herein are obviously limited only by the following claims and equivalents thereof.

Claims (17)

1. An apparatus for use in an access point multi-link device (AP MLD), wherein the apparatus comprises a processor circuit configured to cause the AP MLD to:

broadcasting a beacon frame comprising a beacon-a presence element, wherein the beacon-a presence element indicates that a beacon-a frame is present after the beacon frame; and

broadcasting a beacon-a frame including an Allocation Identifier (AID) bitmap element and a multi-link traffic indication (MTI) element, wherein the AID bitmap element indicates the following non-AP MLD: traffic Identifier (TID) to link map information of the non-AP MLD is indicated in the MTI element, and the MTI element contains a per link traffic indication (PTI) bitmap subfield corresponding to the non-AP MLD: the non-AP MLD has buffered Base Units (BU) at the AP MLD and has established a default TID-to-link mapping for link recommendation or a non-default TID-to-link mapping for traffic indication.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein a short interframe space (SIFS) exists between the beacon frame and the beacon-a frame.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the beacon-a presence element includes an element identifier field indicating an element identifier of the beacon-a presence element, a length field indicating a size of the beacon-a presence element, and an element identifier extension field indicating whether a beacon-a frame is present after the beacon frame.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the MTI element comprises a link identifier offset subfield indicating a link identifier value represented by a first bit position of each PTI bitmap subfield.

5. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein the MTI element comprises a bitmap size subfield indicating a size of each PTI bitmap subfield.

6. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein the link identifier offset subfield and the bitmap size subfield are contained in an MTI control field of the MTI element.

7. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the MTI element does not contain a PTI bitmap subfield corresponding to a non-AP station (non-AP STA) or a non-AP MLD of: these non-AP stations or non-AP MLDs have default TID-to-link mappings that the AP MLD does not intend to indicate link recommendations.

8. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein in the AID bitmap element, an indication bit corresponding to an AID assigned to the following non-AP MLD is set to 1: the non-AP MLD has buffered BUs at the AP MLD and has established a default TID-to-link mapping for link recommendation or a non-default TID-to-link mapping for traffic indication, and

an indication bit corresponding to an AID assigned to the following non-AP STA or non-AP MLD is set to 0: the non-AP STA or non-AP MLD has a default TID-to-link mapping that the AP MLD does not intend to indicate a link recommendation.

9. A method for use in an access point multi-link device (AP MLD), wherein the method comprises:

broadcasting a beacon frame comprising a beacon-a presence element, wherein the beacon-a presence element indicates that a beacon-a frame is present after the beacon frame; and

broadcasting a beacon-a frame including an Allocation Identifier (AID) bitmap element and a multi-link traffic indication (MTI) element, wherein the AID bitmap element indicates the following non-AP MLD: traffic Identifier (TID) to link map information of the non-AP MLD is indicated in the MTI element, and the MTI element contains a per link traffic indication (PTI) bitmap subfield corresponding to the non-AP MLD: the non-AP MLD has buffered Base Units (BU) at the AP MLD and has established a default TID-to-link mapping for link recommendation or a non-default TID-to-link mapping for traffic indication.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein a short interframe space (SIFS) exists between the beacon frame and the beacon-a frame.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein the beacon-a presence element includes an element identifier field indicating an element identifier of the beacon-a presence element, a length field indicating a size of the beacon-a presence element, and an element identifier extension field indicating whether a beacon-a frame is present after the beacon frame.

12. The method of claim 9, wherein the MTI element comprises a link identifier offset subfield indicating a link identifier value represented by a first bit position of each PTI bitmap subfield.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the MTI element comprises a bitmap size subfield indicating a size of each PTI bitmap subfield.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the link identifier offset subfield and the bitmap size subfield are included in an MTI control field of the MTI element.

15. The method of claim 9, wherein the MTI element does not contain a PTI bitmap subfield corresponding to a non-AP station (non-AP STA) or a non-AP MLD of: these non-AP stations or non-AP MLDs have default TID-to-link mappings that the AP MLD does not intend to indicate link recommendations.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein in the AID bitmap element, an indication bit corresponding to an AID assigned to the following non-AP MLD is set to 1: the non-AP MLD has buffered BUs at the AP MLD and has established a default TID-to-link mapping for link recommendation or a non-default TID-to-link mapping for traffic indication, and

an indication bit corresponding to an AID assigned to the following non-AP STA or non-AP MLD is set to 0: the non-AP STA or non-AP MLD has a default TID-to-link mapping that the AP MLD does not intend to indicate a link recommendation.

17. An access point multi-link device (AP MLD) comprising the apparatus of any one of claims 1 to 8.